Mother-Daughter Duo Equate Art With Love

DAYTON

- Art is love to mother-daughter watercolorists and Dayton natives Iola Bram­hall and Jill Ingram.

Bramhall, 92, was born in Dayton and started draw­ing when she was six years old. In the seventh grade she learned how to paint. She painted with oil paints and pastels for most of her life and her passion for art encouraged her daughter, Ingram, to fall in love with art as well.

"I remember the first time I got into (painting with) orange and yellow," Ingram said. "I was making autumn colors. I didn't even know autumn existed. I just wasted her paint."

Bramhall remembers In­gram's passion for painting and said the fascination with her mother's art supplies wasn't a waste.

Ingram went on to start a family and as her chil­dren grew up, she realized she needed to refocus on her hobbies, so she started taking watercolor painting lessons.

" I realized my kids weren't going to take me on their dates with them," Ingram said. "So I needed to get my own life."

Ingram said she thought watercolor painting wouldn't be messy like oil painting, which was part of why she took the lessons. It's still messy, she said, but she be­lieves it's worth it.

Ingram brought her new passion for watercolor to her mother and passed on what she knew. In 1999 the women moved in together and started painting under the same roof.

While they get along like lifelong best friends, Ingram said the few fights they've had have all ended in com­promise. Ingram said the big­gest dispute she can remem­ber was a debate over which drawer a spatula should go in. After months of debate, In­gram finally asked Bramhall why she preferred a drawer and her reasoning, because it was closer to the mixer, made Ingram admit it was the better drawer. But after the debate was settled, Bramhall put some of the spatulas in Ingram's drawer anyway.

The women share more than familial love and the ability to compromise. They inspire each other and speak the language of art.

Bramhall recently defied her age and painted five new pieces. She said she was de- termined to finish

"There were two slides I wanted to paint before I quit altogether," Bramhall said. "So that's why I kept going."

Bramhall said she doesn't know if she is ready to retire from painting and ultimately it may depend on the inspiration.

And what does Bramhall look to for inspiration?

" Well, not flowers" Bramhall said. "I don't like to paint flowers."

The women both laughed at this comment and Bramhall's decidedness against the traditionally attractive subject.

"We like people," Ingram said. "We're both really in- terested in people."

The visually and emotionally more complex subject leads to a different fixation for Ingram and Bramhall.

Ingram describes her painting the way young lovers might describe being together.

"When you're in the painting mode, you get obsessed with it," Ingram said. "Everything you see is a value and a color and a hue, and that shape, and then you can't speak hellip; it's exciting."

Bramhall said being in love is exactly how she would describe the two slides she worked exten- sively to finish for the com- ing exhibit.

The pieces, dubbed the "Upside-Down Girl" is an image of a woman, Ingram's cousin, lounging on a couch with brightly colored shoes on her feet, stretching up into the air.

"(The image) was so wonderful," Bramhall said. "I wanted to paint it."

Ingram said the piece was an exercise in design for her mother. Ingram said Bramhall had to schedule her painting because it was such a big project,

"She would drink her coffee and then paint a leg, and then the next day paints another leg," Ingram said.

Bramhall said of the two different sized paintings of a similar relatable image, she relied on Ingram's help for the prep work on the larger version of the piece. Once she finished it, she said she felt overwhelmed by what she had accomplished.

"It's beyond me as a painter," Bramhall said. "When women see this girl, they will laugh because it's ridiculous, but also, they're in love."

The painting experience also holds a spiritual element for the women.

"I felt like I was being directed when I painted the second upside-down girl," Bramhall said.

Ingram agreed and said sometimes when she paints it feels like she is connected, like the act of painting by- passes her brain, and the art comes from somewhere else.

Beyond that, Ingram said art is an essential part of life that helps people feel whole.

"Arts validate the richness of human life," Ingram said. "It's the thing that makes our life marvelous."

Ingram's art is on display at the Weinhard Hotel with the work of Monica Stobie. Bramhall's art is at the We- naha Gallery. Both Ingram and Bramhall's art will be on display at the Weinhard Hotel from Aug 11 to Sept 9. There will be a reception at the Weinhard on Saturday, Aug 11 from 4 to 7 p.m.