If you've walked the sidewalks of San Diego, you may have seen him — a man in a rice paddy hat, spattered coveralls, working at an easel in fading dusk light. That's Tony Trowbridge. And he's been doing this for years.
Tony is a plein air watercolorist — an “art monk,” as he calls himself. Just a portable easel, professional-grade watercolors, and an eye that sees beauty where others walk past. He paints outdoors, in real time, capturing the light and mood of San Diego as it happens — originals that belong in galleries, born on the street.
His journey into watercolor began almost by accident: he spilled water onto some watercolor ink he'd been using for calligraphy, and something clicked. Friends paid for his first watercolor workshop when he couldn't afford it — and there he met his mentor. Later, he reconnected with his estranged father Douglas Trowbridge, only to discover that his dad was himself a watercolor master.
“I want to show people how cool watercolor is. It isn't just for old ladies and little babies.”
When Covid hit, it was devastating. “I paint outside, and no one was allowed outside,” he says. He'd set up by the beach only to be told by officers that a nearby fisherman could stay because fishing was “sustenance,” but the painting had to stop. The officer didn't realize — this is how Tony gets by. “My overhead is super-low,” he notes bemusedly.
But Tony is bamboo. He bends with the wind. He bends with Covid. He bends with whatever comes. He treats every challenge as an exercise in humility — and often leaves a painting behind as a token of good will.
“When I go into my painting zone, I just transcend everything and get into my own world. Because of my hat, I literally have tunnel vision. I lose track of time and space.”
