Stingl: Retired newsman shows his softer side in a lifetime of watercolors and sketches

You can see a retrospective of Bob O'Meara's passion for watercolor painting on exhibit now at the Milwaukee Catholic Home where he lives.

And you might see Bob himself on a sidewalk around town, sketchpad in his lap, capturing the essence of a building or streetscape that he admires.

The creative impulse that began in childhood still has a hold of this soft-spoken 94-year-old. 

Our careers didn't overlap by much, but I knew Bob as a newsman for The Associated Press in Milwaukee. He retired in 1987 after 39 years on the job.

Throughout all that gritty news gathering, and while raising six children with his late wife, Peg, Bob managed to carve out time for painting and sketching. His studio, if you can call it that, was the dining room at home in Shorewood.

"All of a sudden, he's clearing off the dining room table and getting some paints out. Sometimes, we'd all just be sitting around watching him," recalled daughter Anne.

She and her father go out for a couple hours every Saturday morning to find something interesting to sketch. They favor local landmarks like the Veterans Home, Wisconsin Club, Milwaukee Art Museum, Conservatory of Music, Veterans Park, the central library and others. When it's cold or rainy, they sketch indoors or from the car.

"We get a lot of people stopping and talking to us. What are you doing? Are you here with a class? I'll be like, well, I'm here with my dad. That's been fun," Anne said.

"I still go out by myself during the week sometimes," Bob told me. "I drive around until I find something interesting, sometimes old, ornate homes."

He sketches with a Sharpie and then sometimes adds color later.

"I've been at it a long time," he said.

He credits Anne with being the sparkplug that ignited his interest in the current retrospective, though he has exhibited his work at various galleries over the years. When Anne Catalane, community outreach director at the Catholic Home, asked Bob when he might want to present the show, he replied, "I'm not getting any younger."

Just before the opening reception Thursday, I walked with Bob past the 40 framed works on the walls of a gathering room. In addition to local scenes, there are images from New York, Arizona, Kentucky, even Paris.  

We lingered in front of a few favorites, his and mine. There's one of his brother-in-law's farm in Grant County from 1977. It's called "Morris's Farm" because Maurice thought the real spelling of his name sounded too French.

Bob pointed with his cane at one of the earliest paintings in the show, from 1950. It is a handsome but abandoned mansion that Bob spotted in Poughkeepsie on a return drive to Wisconsin.

"Wash Day" portrays a country home with sheets on a clothesline. In 1970, Bob drove by that place in Rock County without stopping, but later decided to re-create it. "It's purely imaginary based on what I saw," he said. He gave the home a rainbow paint job against the bare trees, and turned the yard into a quilt of color.

Bob sold a few paintings at the show. Some on display had been loaned back to him by their owners. He estimates that 200 were sold over the years. His art has been more of a second career than a hobby to him.

Daughter Anne is already pushing for an exhibition of his more recent driving-around sketches as a way to keep the creative fire burning.

"I don't want him to feel this is his last show," she said. "We've got to start planning the next one already."

The Bob O'Meara exhibit runs through July 14 at the Milwaukee Catholic Home, 2462 N. Prospect Ave. The number there is (414) 224-9700.

Contact Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or jstingl@jrn.com. Connect with my public page at Facebook.com/Journalist.Jim.Sting