08-20-2023 Harford Magazine - Flipbook - Page 24
Paints, brushes and palette used by artist John Sauers, who was named a Harford County Living Treasure last year.
BY MIKE KLINGAMAN
PHOTOS BY KENNETH K. LAM Harford Magazine
alette in hand, John Sauers sat at his
easel, the swish of his brush strokes
the only sound on the hushed Virginia
mountainside. Suddenly, Sauers tensed.
He felt eyes on him. Something was near, and
watching.
“I turned slowly, and there they were — 14
turkeys, lined up in a row, all standing there looking
at me,” the artist said. “I don’t know what they
thought. I just kept painting.”
Sauers’ admirers range far and wide. At 90,
the Darlington resident has exhibited in galleries
throughout the country, won more than 20 awards
and sold nearly 300 of his works for as much as
$2,000. Last year, the Harford County Council
honored Sauers as a Harford Living Treasure, a
nod to his plein-air (outdoor) paintings and his
penchant for mentoring others.
In a career spanning several generations, he has
produced more than 2,200 paintings in oils and
watercolors, as well as 2,500 sketches, in pencil and
charcoal. Moreover, the soft-spoken, self-effacing
nonagenarian is still at it, determined to capture the
P
whimsy of nature on canvas, whatever the weather.
He has braved subfreezing temperatures, when
the watercolors produced offbeat, crystal-like
textures on his paintings. He has toiled in sleet
storms where the icy droplets mixed with oils and
gave his works a rare, gritty appearance. And he has
painted in blustery 40-mph winds, anchoring his
easel with two-by-fours to hold it firm.
It’s a craft Sauers says he will pursue to the end.
“I have 20-20 vision [since laser eye surgery]
and no arthritis in my hands,” he said. “I told [the
pastor], ‘Maybe I ought to slip a little extra in the
offering plate.’ “
In 2020, while hospitalized with COVID-19
for nearly a month, he made drawings in his
sketchbook to pass the time.
“They’ll carry me out with a No. 6 brush in my
hand,” he said.
Sauers’ pluck inspires his peers, those who know
him say.
“John is a super trouper whose work ethic is
contagious,” said Pam Wilde, of Abingdon, an
award-winning plein-air artist. “You think, ‘If a
Right: Sauers, and his wife of 66 years, Jeanette, moved back to Harford County in 2004 to be near family.
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| Fall 2023 | harfordmagazine.com
