Except for the Harry Potter-themed guest bedroom, Paul Grecian and Linda Doucette’s farmhouse is more art studio than living space. That works out fine for the husband and wife, who are both nationally recognized artists in their respective mediums.
Linda fell in love with wool as an exchange student in Scotland, and the former 5th Avenue designer practices a unique method of felting that culminates in thick tiles with multiple layers of fiber. Paul embraces nature photography as an art form in creating an image that becomes an experience.
The couple travels together exhibiting their work at side-by-side booths.
Both grew up the children of artists. Linda dabbled in everything from paint to puppets. Her mother was a painter and art teacher who always kept a plentiful supply of art supplies around the house. As an adult, Linda explored her own path as a fiber artist, smitten by all the sheep she saw in Scotland.
“There were sheep everywhere,” she says. “At the weaving labs in Scotland, everything was wool. It was just beautiful. I had never experienced wool yarns and wool fiber.”
That planted a seed in Linda, who advanced to a career in designing home furnishing fabrics. She was at work in uptown Manhattan during Sept. 11, and the aftermath of that tragedy became an epiphany moment. Linda quit her job in New York City and bought the farmhouse next to her parents in a place she describes as Middle of Nowhere, Pennsylvania. She added a herd of alpacas to the seven acres there in addition and planted her own gardens. The alpacas provided fiber for spinning as she evolved into the artist she is today.
Linda only relies on her felting needle as a design tool to hold the wool in place to create the hand felted wood art she is known for today. She wet felts, using soapy water and friction to create the art. Her flower gardens provide both inspiration and the natural dye to color the wool and alpaca fiber.
Framing properly was a challenge that Linda solved with an aha moment in the middle of the night. She wanted her artwork to have a finished look and stay within the confines she intended. Sewing carpeting onto the back of the thick finished piece and using Velcro to stabilize it in the frame proved to be the answer.
“It’s a simple and straightforward solution but coming up with it was not,” she says.
Linda and Paul share a framing studio on the first floor of the house in addition to each having individual studios upstairs. Linda also has a wet studio in the basement.
Like his wife, Paul is also the son of a painter. His mother worked in pastels and charcoal. Paul enjoyed photography early on but studied animal behavior in college. He made a career as an information scientist in the biological sciences for 17 years. On weekends, he honed his skills in photography, often escaping to a local park. He began submitting his photos for publication and became a regular contributor to Bucks County Town & Country Living magazine. His six-page spread of stunning photos won an IRMA (International Regional Media Association Award), a boon for the relatively new magazine. From there, Paul began submitting his work to more publications and exhibiting at local art and crafts shows. He became a full-time visual artist in 2003.
“My inspiration comes from looking out the window,” says Paul, whose portfolio includes a playful series on barn cats right in his own backyard. “To me there’s beauty everywhere, and it’s more of an internal process of finding it then exploring to find it. The art process for me is more about showing the aesthetic experiences that we can have and it’s up to us to find them. The landscape isn’t what’s beautiful. It’s the way we see things that’s beautiful.”
Paul will linger in a location as long as it takes to get a sense of habitat. His bird images, for example, incorporate the surroundings. He is intentional about using the lines and colors that surround the bird, which is just one component of the image.
Two artists in one household works well.
“We can bounce ideas off of one another,” Linda says. “We understand the artist angst and uncertainty. We understand the ups and downs of the business. We can talk about display. We can talk about our schedule. It’s wonderful. It’s just a delight to have somebody who is so in tune with the art world.”
Paul and Linda enjoy sharing their passion about their art with patrons who visit their booths. Look for them in 2024 at these Rose Squared Art Shows: Spring Rittenhouse Square (May10-12), Celebrate Morristown (June 1-2), Chase Center (July 27-28), Ludwig’s Corner (Sept. 14-15) and Fall Rittenhouse Square (Oct. 11-13).
