March Artist of the Month
Meet Judy Noonan
Judy Noonan has been a museum lover all her life. She grew up outside of New York City and attended a small private high school in Manhattan…right across the street from the Museum of Modern Art. All of her travels since that time have included museum visits. She did not realize that some years later she would be creating art of her own.
Life was full of things to keep Noonan busy. She graduated from Northeastern University where she met her husband and now her favorite critic. Noonan worked most of her life in the financial sector of business, including sales management for financial software and corporate training and retired as a bank training officer. She and her husband have two daughters and four grandchildren who are the center of their lives. 
Noonan began her artistic career as a “hobbyist” making hand-stamped greeting cards. A good friend introduced her to watercolor at a Wellesley Recreation Center class. She took local classes in Wellesley and Needham for many years. She enjoyed the process of Watercolor and appreciates the fact that “when you are done, you’re done.” She is now painting with acrylics and “there are so many more options…it’s hard to know when you are finished.” Noonan is enthralled with all the choices, learning about new mediums and techniques.
Noonan had joined the WSA many years ago as an associate member and recalls with anxiety the jurying process when she realized that she was ready to exhibit. Of course, it went very well. She began exhibiting for the WSA and won an honorable mention award from juror David Curtis. This was one of her first paintings done en plein air. She also exhibited at the Unitarian Church in Watertown with her friend and sold several paintings. She does not focus on selling however and gives many paintings to special people in her life. She ponders, “I can see my work on display in five different homes.”
Judy has taken many classes and workshops over the past fifteen years. One of her favorites wasworking with Paul George at the Lexington Arts and Crafts Center. She also learned a great deal at a workshop with Robert O’Brien in Vermont. At the Wellesley COA, she studies acrylic painting with Maris Platais where she is struck by his “metaphysical” view of art.
For now Noonan is on working a lot in her home studio and increasing her plein air painting. Her focus is on composition and subject matter and she is hoping to gain more ease in these areas by painting en plein air. She and her husband are headed to the North Shore where she plans to paint seascapes outdoors despite the chilly temperatures. Noonan continues “to love the process” and enjoys becoming lost for hours while creating.
