Carolann George

Carolann was brought up in Merrick, Long Island, New York.  She always enjoyed drawing and wanted to continue studies in the art field, but pressure from her parents to concentrate on a more lucrative field convinced her to major in education, with art as a minor field of study.  She attended Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA where she met her husband Norm.

After college Carolann worked in New York City for a year and attended life drawing classes at the famous old art school The Art Students League.

Norm was in the Navy when they married so they moved around spending several years in California before reaching Illinois.  After his discharge the couple took up residence in Deerfield near Chicago.  They have two children, both boys.  Carolann continued her art study whenever possible, learning stained glass and other crafts while teaching in the local elementary schools.  She furthered her formal education by taking courses in art therapy at the University of Illinois, which could be applied to her teaching positions.

"When it came time to think about retirement, The Art Alliance was a motivating factor in our decision to choose Boca Grande," admits Carolann.  "I finally had time to begin serious painting."  In their nine years of living in beautiful Boca Grande, she has taken many workshops offered by the Art Alliance.  Now mastering the challenging techniques of watercolor, she has began studying oil painting.  She continues her classes with teachers in Illinois during the summer months.

Carolann has been an exhibiting member of the Art Alliance for three years and enters all the shows.  This necessitates even more painting.  She recently painted murals of dinosaurs in her young grandson's bedroom that turned out so realistic he was afraid to sleep there.  "I had to soften them up and give them smiles," Carolann added.

When they moved to their new home in Boca Bay, the couple planned a double studio arrangement.  The upstairs watercolor studio doubles as an office and sewing room.  The ground floor studio that opens onto a garden is for oil painting.  Her love of color can be seen throughout their cheerful home and samples of her painting make lovely additions to the decor.