Benbrook’s love of animals highlighted in Herrick exhibit

Ally Benbrook did not begin her career as an artist until the age of 55 when she and her mother took painting classes together. She said her mother did not like it at all, but she instantly found a passionate love for the art of working with watercolors. This, along with her lifetime love of animals, altered her path in business, adding another layer in her life that brings her a joy she compares to none other.

“I loved it,” she said. “I felt like my entire life had come together into this.”

Ally Benbrook did not begin her career as an artist until the age of 55 when she and her mother took painting classes together. She said her mother did not like it at all, but she instantly found a passionate love for the art of working with watercolors. This, along with her lifetime love of animals, altered her path in business, adding another layer in her life that brings her a joy she compares to none other.

“I loved it,” she said. “I felt like my entire life had come together into this.”

With an exhibit, that fills the walls of the Dr. William Herrick Community Health Care Library until the end of June, patrons of the arts can witness the masterful techniques in which Benbrook captures the essence of her passion with each stroke of the brush.

Benbrook has an unprecedented ability to seize a moment in time of man’s best friend, with the facial expressions that any dog lover can relate to. And much like the “Mona Lisa,” her dog and cat paintings seem to follow you from whatever angle you approach it. But her talent goes far beyond the household pet. With a lifetime love of horses, she creates master works of art that capture both the relationship of the domesticated horse and the spirit of its wild and wonderful free beginnings.

Benbrook said working with watercolors is much like working with animals because you train and train, but when they get out into competition they do not always do what you tell them.

“And watercolor is the same way,” she said. “You have to learn to say. ‘That happened,’ and move forward with it and make it work. It was like magic to me. And in working with watercolors, I found that I became more perfect when I stopped trying to be perfect.”

She said watercolors do not get the same reception as other media in art, and believes that it is more of a monetary issue rather than the art itself, so she is extremely happy when her paintings are recognized in juried shows. She said one of her main long-term goals is to change that perception of watercolors.

“There are a lot of people working on changing that perception and I hope to contribute to that,” she said.

Benbrook lives in El Cajon. 

 To see more of Benbrook’s artistic side and a glimpse of her “Last Connection Series,” visit allybenbrook.com.