William Lum
Finding my family is how I got started into watercolor painting. I found my birth parents at age 40 and when I spoke to the father I never knew, he told me about my family history including his uncle, who was a famous watercolorist. Sometime later I stumbled upon a cheap watercolor paint set and was wondering if I could paint, since my great uncle painted. So my neighborhood street corner in Sunnyvale, CA, was the subject in my first painting attempt in December 1993, which I titled Suburbia #1. Much to my surprise there was a major positive reaction from friends about my experiment at painting and so I kept painting. In April 1998, I made the decision to quit art entirely so that I could devote more time to my family and work.
After 17 years of no art, in 2015, now retired, kids gone, and newly moved into Placer County, I realized I have the time to pursue my watercolor painting again. Thus I have started watercolor painting again with much of the same intention of capturing images from my day to day life experience and new region of Placer County. As a counter to negativity in this world, I hope my paintings will enable people to see what is beautiful around them and to realize there is much joy in many simple things.
I’m a member of Sac Fine Arts/WASH, Rocklin Fine Arts, Folsom Arts Association, Placer Arts, and the Lincoln Plein Air group.
