The Great Waugh of China
Wes Waugh presents Artwork from the People’s Republic at Blowing Rock Frameworks

By Jeff Eason

High Country artist is well known for his beautiful and colorful depictions of famous and not so famous area locales. Downtown Blowing Rock, Grandfather Mountain and Hound Ears Rocks are but a few of the Blue Ridge Mountain attractions that Waugh has immortalized in blazing color.

Last year, however, Waugh turned his eye to a new subject. After a three-year wait, Waugh and his wife, Lynne, received word from Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI) that a baby girl was waiting for them at the Heng Feng Orphanage in Southeastern China in the Jiangxi Province. The resulting trip to China for Wes, Lynne and daughter Andie to meet and adopt new family member Genevieve Li Jing took several weeks, long enough for Waugh to take hundreds and photos and draw sketches of his new daughter’s homeland. Those images were the basis of a series of watercolor paintings that Waugh finished back at his High Country studio.

Waugh’s new paintings of China, along with some new paintings of High Country landscapes, are now on display at a special exhibition at Blowing Rock Frameworks and Gallery from now until November 1. The exhibition is titled Wes Waugh: Watercolors of the High Country and China.

The gallery will host an artist’s reception for Waugh’s show on Saturday, October 25 from 5 to 8 p.m. The reception is free and the public is invited.

“We were in China for two-and-a-half weeks in October and November last year to adopt our new daughter Genevieve,” said Waugh. “She will turn two on the day of the new art reception. While we were there we traveled through Hong Kong and into the southern part of the Chinese mainland. One of the most amazing things we saw was the Hong Kong Harbor. Thousands of people live on boats in the water. You have this old culture on the water that is surrounded by a very modern landscape.”

While in China, the Waughs were able to visit a variety of different settings and met both rural and urban citizens of that country.

“We went to Nanchang for the adoption with a group of other parents,” said Waugh. “It is a city filled with working class people who are very curious yet humble and very hard working. There is absolutely no sloth that you can see in that society.

“From our arrival in Nanchang, it was a crazy day right up until the time we got Li Jing, literally no time to prepare ourselves for much of anything other than to act and react.”

The Waughs stayed in the Galactic Peace Hotel along with the other adopting parents. After a lengthy CCAI meeting, the parents were finally able to meet their new babies.

“The meeting ended at 4:40 p.m., giving us just enough time to run back to the room and grab the cameras and psychologically prep ourselves for the culmination of our three-year wait,” said Waugh.

At 5 p.m., CCAI guides began to go down the list of which babies were to go with which parents. “We were somehow about halfway down on the list,” said Waugh. “I was able to sneak a peak through the door a few times and spotted a little Pebbles Flintstone hairdo way back in the room, and knew immediately it was her. When she came out in the orphanage director’s arms, I just remember her eyes, runny nose and petrified look.”

Quiet and scared, Genevieve was handed into the loving arms of her new family and began her journey to the High Country.

“As corny as it sounds, we seemed to have an immediate warmth and connection from and with this child,” said Waugh. “Some of the others in our group really struggled with issues regarding attachment, grieving, bonding, eating and sleeping, so we feel very fortunate. Who knows what may come later—like when she turns 16—but the initial few days were nothing but easy with Li Jing.”

Even with all of the events surrounding the adoption, Waugh and his family still had an opportunity to see the pagodas, bonsai gardens and zoos of Nanchang. They took in flea markets, parks and restaurants, places where Waugh took the many photographs that would provide the jumping off point for his new series of paintings.

“Nanchang is truly a city devoid of westerners,” said Waugh. “To take (5-year-old, blonde) Andie out in public is to attract a crowd quickly. She was captured by numerous cell phone cameras wherever we traveled.”

In the year since the Waughs have returned to China, the family has settled into a new routine with their new family member. Wes takes advantage of his home studio to tackle his share of the new workload.

“It’s the challenge of fatherhood,” said Waugh. “It’s like having a dual career: One with art and one with a baby. Both careers are filled with challenges and rewards.”

Wes Waugh: Watercolors of the High Country and China features approximately 30 new pieces by the artist. In addition to the original artworks that are for sale, Waugh sells prints of his work through his company Bear Trail Studios.

For more information on the current exhibit, call Blowing Rock Frameworks and Gallery at (828) 295-0041 or visit www.blowingrockgalleries.com.