Zan Lombardo, giving voice to nature
Islander artist Zan Lombardo has been creating with watercolor for most of her life. She’s recently teamed up with fellow islander artist Deb Zwetsch, with whom she will be traveling to many surrounding islands, such as North Captiva, Cabbage key and Gasparilla.
“We’re going to do artwork for approximately this whole upcoming year and then have a show at Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers,” Lombardo said.
The show, aptly named “Island 2 Island,” will showcase the two women on each island, in their medium — watercolor and hand-painted silks. Lombardo, who was previously a middle school art teacher, said she began painting giant (up to 4 feet tall and 30 feet long) watercolors in 2007, although watercolor has always been her chosen medium.
“What I do with my watercolor is give voice to nature, and I do that through puddles and blossoms,” Lombardo said.
Both artists, said Lombardo, have been greatly influenced by living on the island and being surrounded by tropical plants and wildlife, although the work of Zwetsch often finds its way onto scarves or other types of clothing in her Zwear line.
Although, Lombardo admits, making a living as an artist is no easy feat, she said she considers herself to be a serious artist, as she is well-known in the Southwest Florida region.
“I think my work is successful when it gives me the same goose bumps when it’s done that it did when I first saw the original thing that inspired me,” Lombardo said.
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