By Christine Hamelin
with photography by Bernard Clark
Rodney Watson — a retired private eye and now a prolific, internationally known, award-winning artist who works in several different media — is someone who has learned to observe the world carefully. Whether he’s sketching a Kingston landmark, painting a beloved family pet or sculpting an alligator out of sand, he’s following the advice of his high school art teacher, Mr. Gill: “Draw what you see, not what you think.”
Rod was born in Campbellford in 1966 and grew up in Cobourg, and then Trenton. His early years were difficult: his father, Gerald Watson, was killed in a car accident when Rod was 4. “I do not have many memories of him. I just have one or two photographs,” he says. His mother, Shirley, a hard-working waitress, was left to raise Rod and his younger brother on her own. “She did the best she could,” says Rod, and “she taught us that anything is achievable if you put your mind to it.” Fortunately, the two boys enjoyed drawing. “Paper and pencils were cheap. That’s pretty much what got me into art and being handy. I had to manage a lot of things for myself, like putting toys together.” He was making his own meals from the age of 10 and looking after his brother as well. When he was 12, another brother was born, “and then I had to care for him too.” He adds, “I didn’t think anything of it, because I didn’t know any different.”
His first success as an artist took place when he was in Grade 4. “McDonald’s had just come to town and had a contest . . .”
