For Homewood artist Tom Francesconi, the seed that grew and blossomed into his career as a watercolor artist was planted long ago and without his realizing it.
“I was introduced to watercolor by my uncle, who was from California,” Francesconi said. “Every year, he would send my mother, his sister, a Christmas card that he painted. He was kind of a Sunday painter who always mentioned taking weekend art classes. I think that was my first introduction.”
Years later, Francesconi’s uncle took him to a watercolor exhibition of California School masters in Laguna Beach, an experience he has never forgotten. “I still have the candle from that show,” Francesconi said. “I didn’t realize it at that time, but that made an impression on me.”
Francesconi grew up in Park Forest, studied at Eastern Illinois University, Prairie State College, and at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. His background led him to a career as a commercial artist, where he worked for about a decade before launching his career as a watercolor artist.
He met his future wife, Barbara, at a St. Patrick’s Day gathering after work at Butch McGuire’s. At the time, Barbara had recently broken up with her boyfriend, and she was waiting to meet a friend of a friend named Todd while standing near Tom in the crowd. Thinking that Tom was Todd, the pair struck up a conversation.
“The rest is history,” Francesconi said. “You meet people when you’re going to school and stuff, but the best connections are those that are by chance.”
The Francesconis have been married for 41 years and have two adult sons. “Ours is a marriage made in heaven,” Francesconi said.
In 1987, Tom was working at an art studio and making a name for himself as a transparency re-toucher and had been offered a partnership at work. Barbara was thriving as a teacher, but both Francesconis made the decision to leave their places of employment so Tom could concentrate on his art career. “I wanted to paint, and nothing was going to change that. Fortunately for me, Barbara was willing to go down that route,” Tom said.
Today, Francesconi has built an impeccable reputation as a watercolor artist and is a sought-after celebrity in the world of watercolor art. He said that his status there did not happen automatically. “Basically, my world is if I’m not in the studio, I’m teaching, and I’m always exhibiting.”
He enters exhibitions annually and explained that entering an exhibition is a multi-step, time-consuming process that involves several stages of preparing and transporting his work, submitting and shipping it, and arranging for the return of the pieces when the exhibition is over. The work he submits may be judged along with hundreds of other entries via a vetting process that culls the submission pool into a smaller group of 100 candidates. “Of those, they may select 20 to receive awards in descending order, so I might get an award of $1000 or $100 after all that.”
But entering exhibitions is a must to advance in the field. Francesconi’s success in exhibiting his art has not only showcased his artistic talent, but also has earned him membership in several important watercolor societies, including the Transparent Watercolor Society of America where he has been honored with Master status.
His art has been included in eight books on American Watercolor, and he has won numerous awards in regional and national exhibitions. He has written articles for various watercolor magazines, and he also has served as president of the Transparent Watercolor Society of America and as the executive director of the Illinois Watercolor Society.
“I teach in Chicago weekly at the Old Town Triangle Center. They have painting classes, a gallery, and they do multiple shows. I started teaching there about 20 years ago – every week, every Saturday for 20 years,” he said.
These days, Francesconi travels to watercolor workshops all over the world, where he shares his expertise with attendees. “Getting into exhibitions is what feeds my workshops because the people who are looking to bring an artist to their workshops are looking in national catalogues for names.”
Despite all the acclaim, Francesconi is a humble man.
“If someone tells me I’m talented, I’m not impressed. I admit I was given talent, but I didn’t ask for it and then earn it. But I worked really hard, so I know where I’m at. Some of my students say, ‘I can’t do that because I don’t have the intelligence’ and I keep telling them anybody can do this if you work hard enough, and if you use it, you will keep it.”
“I can’t say that I always knew I was going to be a painter,” Francesconi said. “But I always thought I would be involved in art in some shape or form. It’s the only thing that made me happy.”
To find out more about Tom Francesconi and his classes and his art, go to [email protected] or www.tomfrancesconi.com.
