Claire Wilson Online Gallery

Photos collected by Nate Wilson of paintings made by his late grandmother, Claire Wilson.

My "Mema" came from Birmingham, AL and settled in Pensacola, FL where she married my grandpa, James Rolland Wilson. They built a house and raised 7 children, then turned the home into a gallery to display all the paintings she made. Most of her paintings are seascapes of the beaches and waters of the Gulf of Mexico, although she developed many landscapes of the Texas and Arizona deserts near the home they made in Texas for a season of life. My Mema and Grandpa have both passed away, and their home art gallery is no longer active, so I wanted to preserve as much as I can of the beautiful work of this remarkable woman on this website. Additional photos of her works are invited. Please send them to . I have made up most of the titles, so please inform me of the proper titles for these works if you know of them. More information about the context of these works is also welcome.

Sargassum - Seven feet in height, this painting dominated most of the displays of her work over the years, but it was never bought. The detail is breathtaking; the longer you look at it the more creatures you see.

Old Homestead

Saguaro. On display at my home in Manhattan, KS

Washer Woman

A Place in the Sun. This is based on her daughter Kathy.

Safe Home. One of several shorescapes based on Pensacola's Quayside West. Part of the security on the shore is represented by the various crosses spanning the upper part of the painting.

Young Self Portrait?

Gulf Beach Seashore

Windsong House which the Wilson family rented for several years in Alvin, TX

The Old Mill in Mtn Brook, Alabama - a work commissioned by my Mom and on display at her home in Birmingham, AL.

Mema was fascinated with some harpists at a Christmas concert and painted this.

Autumn Cabin

Autumn Leaves - Representing how quickly her two daughters grew up.

Beachcombers - Representing my Mom and my sister.

Butterflies and Flowers - an early work.

Catamarand beach scenes sold pretty well at her gallery.

C. Flowers - On display at my parent's home in Birmingham, AL

Seascape with jellyfish and crab.

Snow is rare in the South, so it held a special fascination for her. This painting also reflects her view of marriage.

Claire painted many pictures of the fishing boats that she saw coming in from Pensacola Bay.

I think this was a neighbor girl in Claire's rowboat docked on the Bayou Grande.

Claire was impressed by what she saw on a trip to the Grand Canyon, but didn't feel she could make a detailed paining of it. She saw it as the work of a masterful creator God which couldn't be duplicated by a human paintbrush. This was also the way she felt about sunsets. She tried once to paint a sunset and decided never to do that again.