After graduating from college and working as a professional artist in the advertising industry, Jacqueline Gnott eventually chose to follow the path in life that she was destined for—painting in watercolors. The Indiana-based artist explains that she had come across a book of the works of John Stuart Ingle, The Eye and the Heart, containing watercolors rendered in meticulous detail. “In college I was taught that to paint in watercolor it must be loose, but seeing the realistic and detailed watercolors of Mr. Ingle I knew that I could both paint in realism and use my favorite medium. And that is what I’ve done for most of my life,” says Gnott. 
Still Life with Cherries & Crystal Candy Dish, watercolor, 22 x 16"
Indeed, her watercolors defy the expectations one might normally expect with the fluid medium. Her paintings are sharp, vivid and highly representational. This can be seen in the way she captures the translucency and highlights of the blue glass in Still Life with Daffodils & Cobalt Glass or the glossy sheen of a bowl of cherries in Still Life with Cherries & Crystal Candy Dish.
Still Life with Peaches, watercolor, 13½ x 19"
“I have a huge collection of antique colored glass. I was looking at the cobalt bottles and how sparkly they were in the sunshine,” Gnott says of Still Life with Daffodils & Cobalt Glass. “So I went with some springtime daffodils to complement the glass. That is the way I build a still life. Starting with one item (glass, a flower, a piece of fruit) and constructing everything around that. When painting, I always do the backgrounds first to set the stage for the still life. Then as I get into subjects, I work from light to dark, very slowly, drying in between each glaze.”
Still Life with Daffodils & Cobalt Glass, watercolor, 17½ x 10½"
Still Life with Peaches captures the summer fruit in bright light. “Since I use a lot of both fruit and flowers in my watercolors, I can easily be inspired by things that are in season,” she says. “Some of my ‘props’ come directly from our local farmers. In my more recent paintings I’ve tried not to make things too ‘busy.’ Working with a limited number of objects and trying to create more of an atmosphere around them, using the natural sunlight to give diverse effects on both the backgrounds and the objects themselves.” 
Still Life with Peonies & Silver, watercolor, 19 x 21½"
At the moment, Gnott is only painting large watercolors and entering them into prestigious shows in the United States and abroad. She currently lives in Indiana with her black German shepherd, Bellarina. —
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