Charles Frances
CHARLIE FRANCES - BIOGRAPHY
Charlie Frances, born in ’69, grew up on the coastlines of Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach, VA. He discovered watercolor painting later in life after selling his Geographic Information Systems firm. In 2013, Charlie was encouraged by a friend to try painting as he was going through cancer treatments. It turned out to be the perfect therapeutic distraction from chemo and radiation. Painting continues to be part of his spiritual, physical, and mental healing.
Charlie is primarily a self-taught watercolor artist who has been fortunate enough to have won numerous awards in regional competitions. His work is in private collections in the U.S. and Europe.
Frances is also the president of C Art, LLC and a Signature Member of the Virginia Watercolor Society. He holds memberships with Southern Watercolor Society (exhibiting member), Chesapeake Bay Watercolorists, and Southside Artists Association.
Charlie holds two degree s in geography: B.S., Old Dominion University (1991) and M.A., Kansas State University (1994). He still does not know all of the state capitals. Frances’s studio is in Virginia Beach. When not there, you may find him by the saltwater or on his yoga mat trying to keep balance.
CHARLIE FRANCES - ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a watercolor artist who creates stimulating ways of looking at culture’s faces, places, and traces. I paint because I love the way the medium appears and mixes, allowing an introvert to scream with the joys of color. I believe art is an expression of the soul, not just mine, but the subjects and the viewers. Painting with water has been a meditative release for a controlling perfectionist and brain cancer survivor because one never has total command, like juggling jellyfish. When the viewers says “that is different,” or “that is unique,” I feel successful.
CHARLES FRANCES - SELECTED AWARDS & PRESS
2140 Vista Circle, Suite 504, Virginia Beach, VA 23451, 757.975.2972, c.art@cox.net, cwatercolors.com
In February 2018, Charlie Frances participated in his first art exhibition. Awards were soon to follow in other competitions later that year. The following are selected awards of note:
2022
Award of Distinction in Watercolor, Everything is All Right in the Grill, VA Artists Juried Exhibition, Hampton, VA
Most Creative Award, Here’s To Me Being Me, Going Rogue, VA Beach Artists Gallery, VB, VA
2021
Best in Show, Awash in Color, Milkshaker, Chesapeake Bay Watercolorist, Norfolk, VA
Accepted Exhibiting Artist, Milkshaker, VA Watercolor Society Exhibition, Portsmouth
2020
Accepted Exhibiting Artist, Parksley Market, VA Watercolor Society Exhibition, Portsmouth
Third Place, A Cuban Classic, Chesapeake Cuffee Library, Puzzlepalooza Exhibition, Chesapeake, VA
Award of Excellence, Parksley Market, Following the Light, Virginia Beach Art Center, Artists Gallery
Hillerson Award, Light Roast, Virginia Artists Juried Exhibition, Charles Taylor Center, Hampton, VA
Birdsong Award, Dark Roast and Pondering Rebirth, Suffolk Art League, Suffolk, VA
2019
Honorable Mention, Red, White, and Blue, Small Works, Charles H. Taylor Arts Ctr., Hampton, VA
Second Place, Next Customer Please, Chesapeake Bay Watercolorists, 2019 Winter Show, VB, VA
Honorable Mention, A Cuban Classic, Artists Gallery, Cultural Kaleidoscope Exhibition, VB, VA
Third Place, Stage Presence, Chesapeake Bay Watercolorists, Spring show, Virginia Beach, VA
2nd Place, Facing Your Fear, Southside Artists Association-Spring, Chesapeake, VA
2018
Award of Merit, Mojito!, Fork & The Cork Exhibition, Artists Gallery, Virginia Beach, VA.
People’s Choice, Crown of Thorns, Southside Artists Association, Spring show, Chesapeake, VA
Second Place, Colored Admission, Chesapeake Bay Watercolorists, Fall show, Norfolk, VA
People’s Choice Award My Cherries Amour, Chesapeake Bay Watercolorists, Fall show, Norfolk, VA
Wells Fargo Choice Award - Family Reunion (Penguin Party), CBW, Fall show, Norfolk, VA
Butler Memorial Award - Arthur’s Country Store, Suffolk Art League's 2018 Annual Juried Exhibition, Suffolk, VA.
PRESS-NEWS
“A Little Wiggle Room” - Promotion for Hampton Arts League Member Exhibition at Charles Taylor Center, Hampton, VA. 2020 and 2022
Alison Johnson, ‘Letting Paintbrush Take Over’ The Virginian Pilot, November 2019
Located in Virginia Beach, Virginia
Email: c.art@cox.net
Website: www.cwatercolors.com
