IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Penny Sims
Shore birds are a favorite subject for Boca Grande artist Penny Sims. She loves the birds, but just about anything in and on the water is likely to end up as a subject on her canvas – or wooden plank, or whatever she decides to use as the base for expressing her love for the world around her.
Love is a word that comes easily to Penny, and it comes with a ready smile and often with fresh-baked cookies. Among the things Penny loves is Boca Grande, where she and her husband Bill have lived for the last five years. They lived in Punta Gorda for about 15 years before moving to the Island, where they now have a home in Boca Bay.
Before coming to Southwest Florida, Penny and Bill lived in Louisville, Ky. She was an English teacher and he was an executive with Ralston Purina. They have three grown children and seven grandchildren. While she lived there she enjoyed fiber art doing a lot of sewing with her mother, who was skilled and creative with a sewing machine. Penny also was an avid gardener.
When she moved to Punta Gorda, she lived across the street from the Visual Arts Center and thought it would be nice to learn to draw. She had a flare for it, but was untrained and did not know how to translate the art she saw in her mind to paper or canvas. She signed up for a class in drawing and it helped give her a starting point.
“For that class we were told to bring a pencil, an eraser and a ruler,” she said. It helped her “measure in her mind” and translate what she saw to the paper.
“That class was all in black and white,” she remembered, “and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful to add some color?’”
She tried different media to bring color to her drawings. Colored pencils worked well, but the process was too slow-paced for her. Eventually she discovered “dry pastels,” which are powdery and allow the artist to cover large areas quickly, providing a base color and also giving variation by changing the strength used and the thickness of the line.
Penny started painting seriously at that point, and discovered she had a real talent for it. With no formal training, she is now recognized as an outstanding artist, exhibiting at the Visual Arts Center, as well as being part of collections in galleries throughout the U.S. and in a couple of European countries. Her work has been included in the National Art Exhibition at the Visual Arts Center. She sells her work through Gilchrist Interiors, in Boca Grande, and is represented by Sue Sligar.
Today Penny paints mostly in oils, although she was pretty happy with using the dry pastels. The change came when Penny’s daughter mentioned how nice it would be to have an oil painting of her children. Grandma could not resist. Oil it would be, and now oil is often her medium of choice.
Her subject matter can be just about anything nautical, such as creatures she sees on the beach, or something in town. Glory Be, their beautiful English golden retriever (who seems to know she is the star of the house) is another favorite muse.
“Boca Grande in all its beauty” sums it up for her.
“I have a couple of big pieces I am working on now,” Penny noted. “Every time, I wonder if I can really do this. But once I get started, I am OK and can enjoy what I’m doing.”
She has converted an extra bedroom into her studio. Her artwork decorates every room of her house. It is not like a formal gallery, but more like a picture book of what to see in and around Boca Grande.
Recently she took on a special project for one of her favorite Boca Grande organizations, the Boca Grande Woman’s Club, specifically the Boca Bargains resale shop they operate. The shop sits at the corner of Park Avenue and Banyan Street, and started as a rummage sale in 1986. They now have two buildings and feature clothes, shoes, artwork, housewares, jewelry, furniture, games, toys, bicycles and so much more.
Penny loves the Boca Grande Woman’s Club.
“Everyone is so positive,” she said.
She actually loved the shop even before she moved to the island. Once here, though, she knew this was an organization she wanted to be part of. She joined and soon became a shop volunteer, handling the new items coming in, seeing everything the store has to offer and helping sort and price things.
She works every Monday from 9 to 11 a.m., accepting donations of all sorts. She works other days as well, if there is a need.
“There is something new to see and do every day,” she said about her volunteer work.
She is proud of the community spirit of the Woman’s Club and said it really lives up to its motto: “Making a difference through service to our community.” She said this is true of every aspect of the group, including how it handles donations to the shop, as they never waste items, but pass them along if they can’t use it.
Speaking of that nasty hurricane, it not only wrought widespread destruction on the homes and business of our island, it had the audacity to tear down the Boca Bargains sign. Luckily, it left the rest of the shop untouched. The sign is essential to let people know what is going on in that corner cottage, so it had to be repaired or replaced before the store was scheduled to open on January 7.
Penny, being both an artist and a shop volunteer, seemed like the perfect one for the job. She really didn’t know anything about sign painting, but did not hesitate to take on the job.
“The old sign was attached to the building, but I thought it needed to be more prominent. So, with the help of a couple of others, I redid the sign to make it free-standing,” she said.
She decided to stick with a proven winner and make the new sign in the image of the old one – with a couple of embellishments.
“I thought it needed a little more color, to reflect the beauty of our tropical area,” she said. “So the new one has more color to it.”
The nautical feel of the old blue lettering and border on a field of white, now has a coral “pop” of color for the name of the shop, and a more earthy green as the trim.
As simple as the sign appears, it was a bit of a struggle for Penny, who likely would have added some sandpipers or dolphins if she had allowed herself to let go. “Understated” is what Boca Bargains is about, though, so Penny restrained herself and went for elegant instead. She used the same font for the lettering, so no one need worry that the new sign represents a deviation from the well-loved attitude and approach the store has had since its inception.
Penny asked her son, Scott, a woodworking hobbiest, to help with the project. Scott and his family live north of Tampa, in the town of Lutz. Even with the distance between them, he was happy to help out. He chose poplar for the wood, for its strength and longevity. He even found a special outdoor water-based, glossy urethane paint to protect it from future weather damage.
Once the sign itself was provided for, she turned her mind to how it would hang. She asked for some advice from the folks at BCB Homes on Park Avenue. Jeff Blevins, BCB’s vice president over Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee county projects, offered not only his advice, but put two of his employees on the project. Chris Shaffer and Andrew Hagarty came and together they designed and installed a stand-alone signpost and hung the new sign on it. It was completed on January 6, the day before the shop’s opening.
“I am so grateful for all their volunteer time,” Penny said. She was not sure it would have gotten completed at all, let alone by the opening day, without all the assistance.
