People: Artist Connie Spitzer

A local watercolorist, whose dreams of growing up to be an artist were dashed in the first grade when her drawing didn’t make the wall for back-toschool night, didn’t pick up her first set of paints until decades later. Now, she’s delighting locals and visitors alike with her charming, quirky watercolors of everything that’s special about Coronado.

“I didn’t think I was an artist,” says Connie Spitzer, as she sits on a wooden rocking chair on her front porch in the late afternoon sun. “In the first grade, everyone in the class was asked to draw a picture of an Indian papoose. The best pictures were hung on the wall for back-to-school night, and my picture wasn’t chosen…I was so sad! I remember it like it was yesterday. I just assumed I couldn’t draw.”

In fact, Spitzer says she didn’t have much to do with art, until many moons later when her artist friend, Doris Rice, noticed the bright and happy colors she painted the exterior of her cottage on C Avenue. It was “dull and grey,” but Spitzer painted the outside a cheerful yellow, with a bright blue door. Rice told Spitzer that she could “tell she was an artist” from the colors she painted her house.

“I said, ‘but I can’t draw a thing, I’m horrible,’” recalls Spitzer. “I even have horrible handwriting!”

But her friend kept after her, and every time she came to town, she would try to get Spitzer to paint. Finally, someone lent her some paints, just so she could try it. Her first week, she painted for five days straight, and on the fifth day, something clicked: she painted a piece of art she was proud of.

“I painted the Coronado boathouse, and I could look at it and see … this actually looks like the boathouse,” she says with a smile. “I was hooked! I had to do more of it.”

Ten years later, Spitzer developed something of a local following, selling prints from her website, CoronadoWatercolor.com. She’s painted everything from the old ferry landing ticket booth and the Coronado Hardware Glass and Paint Store to the view from the Coronado Shores, the Hotel Del, and Boney’s Bayside Market. She’s even employed a drone to capture real-life images she can paint from.

Spitzer’s whimsical lines and fresh perspective on special Coronado places are popular with the locals who buy her prints and notecards. She even paints portraits of people’s homes, mainly for buyers from her real estate business (yes, she has a day job too!)

But for Spitzer, painting is all about the mental escape. “When I paint, there is this part of your mind that you go to, that is so relaxing, and you can kind of tune out the daily problems,” says Spitzer. “You don’t concentrate on anything but painting…you’re totally in the moment.”

Spitzer has been commissioned to paint pictures for the Coronado Golf Course, and she’s even been featured on a video created by Coronado Public Art Commissioner, Brad Willis, one of her biggest fans.

A collection of Connie's cheerful Coronado watercolor paintings.

“Connie’s watercolors are truly modern, indigenous folk art that celebrate the beauty of our community in a lyrical fashion that brings me pure joy,” says Willis. “Connie’s pieces are intentionally innocent, capturing the experience of her perspective rather than seeking a technical representation of it.”

While watercolor, as a medium, is fluid and freeing, Spitzer admits it can be unforgiving. “My personality is perfectly matched for it, because I am easy going, and if I make a mistake, I can try to lift it, or I can just make the best of it and keep going,” says Spitzer. “I am very joyful when I paint, so I don’t worry about little mistakes. My work isn’t perfect, and that’s okay!”

Spitzer says she still struggles with things like perspective, especially when she’s painting a building or structure. That’s when her husband, Frank, steps in to help.

“He will come in and adjust the lines, or shift them a little, and it helps me with the perspective,” says Spitzer of Frank, who is also her partner in the real estate world.

Spitzer says that color is the most important element of her paintings. “I just love colors, the brighter the better!” says Spitzer, who gestures towards her bright blue glasses and colorful outfit. “That’s what Doris saw in me…that I like and know color.”

Spitzer says she is always inspired by the beach, and loves being surrounded by water. Although she grew up in landlocked West Virginia, she remembers a family vacation to North Carolina, and how special it felt to be on the ocean.

“I feel close to God when I’m at the beach,” says Spitzer. “There’s just something that makes you feel like, there’s something bigger than you. It’s calming.”

After moving to San Diego and living in Poway, her husband brought her to Coronado for her 40th birthday. Once she found out how great the schools were, there was no going back to North County. Spitzer, Frank and their two children moved to the island and they are on their 23rd year of living in Coronado .

“Coronado is such a special community, it’s really a small town,” says Spitzer. “I love the community, and I love how people step up and help each other.”

Spitzer says she hopes to fill her days with more painting, and continue to embrace her unique take on Coronado neighborhoods, cityscapes and special places.

“I’m a different artist, and things don’t look exactly how other people see them,” says Spitzer. “But I think this is okay. If I was a perfectionist, it would drive me crazy.”

Learn more about Connie Spitzer’s art at Coronadowatercolor.com.

Available for purchase at redbubble.com/people/cspitzer5/shop

• Christine Van Tuyl is a freelance writer who lives in Coronado with her husband and two children.

(Below) Connie Spitzer started painting about ten years ago when an artist friend noticed the colorful paint she selected for the outside of her house. (Right) Connie outside her colorful house.

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