Art: Eric Verret

The Point of Art

The Ink and Acrylic Paintings of Eric Verret

By JoAnna Ordonez

Millions of little dots, that’s how Austin artist, Eric Verret describes his work, ink and the technique of pointillism. What is pointillism you ask? It’s the art of producing a painting with many little dots of color all layered over and again to produce a bright and intriguing work of art. Verret explained “it’s my favorite way of bringing my world to paper”.

Eric, a Navasota native, soon found his way to Austin and worked as a stonemason for over 20 years. It was about 5 years ago that Verret left his job in stone to pursue his artwork fulltime. “I’ve always painted and drawn and mom was an artist too, and then one day I gravitated to the ink and markers,” added Verret.

When you first see one of his paintings, the colors are bright and vibrant and really draw you in. It’s amazing how 3 to 6 colors can have such a rich and full effect that gives you the look of a fine art painting evocative of Monet or Van Gogh. I asked Eric what people thought of his paintings

and he added “when people see my paintings they smile really big, the colors are bright and subject matter is very light hearted and 3d glasses works with my pieces too. “

Verrets subject matter focuses on the quiet spaces in our world, from Texas landscapes to the world under the sea, he finds those special places we all long for. “I love the ocean, so I take that world and make it more imaginary and then translate it to paper. I also love to take walks in the woods, deep back where no human influence has been, to really quiet places that actually exist and make them into a more cartoon world as Dr. Seuss did.” adds Eric.

Eric takes 20 to 40 hours to complete one painting and finds that it can be very relaxing, meditative and rewarding. Starting with a blank piece of paper, he begins an outline of his drawing with the lightest color and then slowly adds more colors from lightest to darkest until the full effect is achieved. Layer by layer the depth grows until the colors jump off the paper and the image is complete.

“I’d like to bring a little bit of light into everybody’s world, some what like a song” adds Eric. His work is bright and cheery, inspiring and fun. His paintings are doing just that and showing how a self-taught artist can bring color and inspiration to light.

Visit Verret online at www.ericverret.com and look for him at Austin Art Shows this fall including the Art on the Square in Georgetown.

JoAnna Ordóñez is a local glass artisan and owner of Vidriosa Glassworks. Her work can be found at The Lucky Lizard (412 East 6th Street), and The Oasis Gift Shop (Comanche lane) and Local Art Shows. Visit her online at www.4coolglass.com.