Saturday, June 18, 2005

 

Source: GERRY HOSTETLER, Staff Writer, The Charlotte Observer

 

Brian Pickett Made Life A Work Of Art

 

He gave a hint, at age 7, of his future in art.  Mom, his severest critic at the time, insisted that the wall be painted again, to match the other three.

 

R. Brian Pickett of Concord, owner of Artistry of Distinction, died of a massive heart attack June 7.  He was 43 and also was a musician, producer, performer and songwriter.

 

It was his musical talent that first brought him into contact with Candace Walters of Camelot Music, where she worked and where he bought sheet music.

 

On their first date, Feb. 27, 1992, he took her to see the hilarious "Wayne's World" movie. "It was perfect for our relationship," she said. They married May 19, 1995, and added Carson, Ali and Zachary to the family.

 

"We laughed a lot," said his wife. "That's something I'll always cherish. It's something that's always been important to me - you have to laugh.

 

"He was a hard worker and went out of his way to make people happy. He was so excited when he realized that he really was pleasing clients with his artwork.

 

Made everything fun

 

"Even though he came in making a mess with his ladders and paints, he made everything fun for everybody," Candace said. "It was his personality, his jokes that made everybody love working with him. Even though his work would be finished, they'd try to find something else for him to do, just to keep him around."

 

That couldn't have been too hard, as flexible as he was. Brian could handle anything from an 8-by-10-inch portrait to an 80-by-100-foot mural.

 

His mom, Ruth Blackwelder, said, "He was a very affectionate child, my youngest boy. He was a loving husband and father and he loved me."

 

He was bright, talented and athletic. "He didn't have to dig very hard to get his education," Ruth said. "He picked it right up. He played drums at Carmel Junior High and played football and baseball with the Matthews Athletic Association and Pop Warner football. He was very good but never pursued it in school."

 

When he got his first car, he loved to fiddle with it, his mom said. "He was such a happy, fun-loving person to be around.  He had the smile, the laugh..."

 

"He was always into instruments," said friend Thomas Setliff, a friend since third grade.  As teens, the pair caught a bus from Charlotte to Greensboro to see a Peter Frampton concert.

 

Loved big skies

 

"He stayed pretty busy," his wife said. Brian not only played music, but also had his own recording studio, was a producer, engineer and song writer.

 

"That was something he did miss and wanted to get back to when the art business slowed down," Candace said. "But it never did."

 

His most recent recording was of the Lucia Baptist Church singers, before his art career really took off, his wife said.

 

Brian's work can be seen in Concord at Troutman's Barbecue, Shape Express in Charlotte, and at Showmars in Monroe. Check out his murals at The White Horse in Matthews and at Tryon House, where he recently finished a 20-by-30-foot mural, "Pantazi Lost Garden" - complete with a big sky.

 

"He always loved to put big, beautiful skies in his work," Candace said. "He loved painting skies. Now, when I see a beautiful cloud in the sky, I'll think he painted it for me."

 

And who's to say he didn't, Candace?