CK painter depicts ‘Life as a Navy Wife’

Denise Cormier Mahoney takes to heart her friend’s mantra: “I want to be inspired by where I live.’’

As the spouse of a U.S. Navy officer, the Silverdale painter has shuttled from her native New Brunswick, Canada to Connecticut to Italy to Georgia to Maine to Central Kitsap.

At each stop, she has documented the region in colorful landscapes and seascapes: the swamps of the South, the rugged Maine coast, the romantic Mediterranean, the lighthouse at Point No Point.

Mahoney’s tranquil watercolors are presented at the solo show “Life as a Navy Wife’’ Oct. 4-31 at the Glitz the Gallery in downtown Bremerton.

A public reception is set for 5-8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4 at the gallery at 433 Pacific Ave.

This is the first solo show for Mahoney, who moved to Silverdale two years ago with her two children and husband, Brian, a Navy lieutenant.

“Every place we’ve lived, there’s something to appreciate about it,’’ she said.

Mahoney grew up in the French-speaking hamlet of Memramcook, New Brunswick.

As a child, she created in oils and lithographs before discovering the less-messy watercolors as her medium.

“It was always a dream.’’ she said. “I’ve dreamt of being an artist since I was a little girl.’’

Mahoney studied at the Nova Scotia College of Arts and Design, then spent a year working with the handicapped in Botswana as part of a student exchange program. She met Brian while in college, and the new couple made their first home in Connecticut in 1984.

During a two-year stint in Italy, Mahoney snapped photos she later transformed into paintings. When Brian told her they were being transferred to Washington, she thought he meant Washington, D.C.

“We moved here, which seemed like the end of the world,’’ she said.

But Mahoney found company joining the Poulsbo Artists League. Her donated paintings have raised money at the annual auction at King’s West School — where her children attend — and the Dolphin Scholarship auction at the submarine base at Bangor.

Mahoney’s local paintings depict the Theler Wetlands, Point No Point and a Sequim herb farm. She works on site and from photos and uses her kitchen table as a studio.

“When the painting sign is on, they eat at another table,’’ she said of her family.

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