A man with two arts

Cedric Watson is not only an accomplished artist, he's also a blues harmonica player performing locally.

Cedric Watson poses in his music room at his Arkansas-side home on Tuesday. Several paintings and drawings, such as this depiction of Malcolm X, fill one wall in the room.
Cedric Watson poses in his music room at his Arkansas-side home on Tuesday. Several paintings and drawings, such as this depiction of Malcolm X, fill one wall in the room.

Local artist Cedric Watson's black fedora is circled by a series of linked, silver harmonica cover plates, indicating it's not just the visual arts where he excels.

Watson's shown his considerable gifts for art with representational charcoal drawings at local galleries and Regional Arts Center shows, where one of his western-themed works was a Purchase Award winner.

Lately, though, he's been a blues man, too, playing the harmonica with bands and also going solo. You can find him at venues like Twin City Sports Bar downtown on East Broad Street. He also played background music for the recent art show reception for his friend Danny Helms.

Pretty much self-taught with his art and his music, Watson found that growing up they were both part of his family life, giving him early inspiration. With his music, that started when he was around 10 years old.

"Again, my dad, he used to mess around with a harmonica," Watson recalls. His father Kendall always had one or more around the house, and Cedric's curiosity was stoked.

"He gave me one. He was just being nice to me one day. You know, you see your daddy doing it," recalled the younger Watson. "I got one and kind of drove my mom and my sister and them crazy for a long time. I mean for a long time."

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Cedric, now 35, started listening to those older blues players: Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, B.B. King (whom Watson has drawn) and others in that old school vein. "I started hearing those blues singers play the harmonica," he recalled. Once he heard them doing what he didn't even know could be done, he was inspired.

So he practiced and practiced and learned on his own.

"I would listen to that music and try to mimic whatever I heard them doing," Watson said, adding, "Eventually, I started to hit some good notes by accident." This was part of the learning process for him.

Over time, he got pretty good, and a few years back he started playing at local venues with friends, such as the Fat Jack's Oyster and Sports Bar blues jam session.

"Then I was sitting in with bands, but now I actually just go in solo. I've got my own backing tracks," said Watson, who works at an arts and crafts supply store, meaning he's always around art of some sort.

But in music, he primarily enjoys a relaxed setting like a reception, where his music can sink into the background as easy-to-listen-to jazz and blues. But all of it's fun for him.

He made the harmonica cover plate hat band by using harmonicas that he blew out. Every time he does a show, he dons that hat. Blues Traveler's John Popper was an inspiration for this stylish choice.

"I can not only do blues, but I can do rock, like rock harmonica," Watson said of his music. "I can do it, yes sir." He'd like to combine an art show and playing music sometime. You'll likely see him set that up in the future. In addition to Twin City Sports Bar's Soul Session show, he played at Railfest.

What does Watson get from playing music? It's simply in what he plays.

"I like the older style blues music. To me it just don't get no better than that. I like the old songs that actually mean something. You know, it ain't just a bunch of off-the-wall singing, but it's a song that tells a story," he said. "That's the type of music I like."

And mentally, playing music in front of others on his own has taught him to open up. It's been a growth point. He's been a person who liked to stay in the background, he admits. "But I had to come out of my shell," said Watson, who's also started writing his own blues originals.

On one wall in his music room where he practices, Watson has displayed some of the drawings that show his felicity at charcoal and graphite drawings. Working from photographs, he's a skillful artist at depicting the nuances and complexity of a face. Western themes are also a favorite, such as horses, which he also grew up around.

Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, the guitarist Slash-they're just some of the iconic people who gaze out from the wall, a backdrop for his music practice. He often works on multiple pictures at the same time and recently started working on acrylic portraits. Alongside the faces, drawings of cloudscapes also reveal his skill with realism.

With the art, he explains, it came naturally with family members, such as older cousins and his dad and brother, doing it. "Naturally, I just kind of jumped on board," he said. But he says he's the one who took it seriously, sticking with it from a young age onward.

"It's like one of those things I was supposed to be doing," Watson said. "Especially since I was my daughter's age, I used to try to draw all the time." Then right around the 5th and 6th grades, he recalls, he became good at it, particularly with portraits.

"I'll say it like this: people used to tell me all the time you know, Cedric man, you've got a gift, you've got a gift, that ain't just something that's just happening," he said. If he's doing a portrait, he works with a reference photo, but he studies it and focuses his attention on the details.

"Once I take off, I always start with the eyes," Watson said. In his mind, he has it all down before he even starts. He likes to know where he's starting and where he's finishing, a blueprint he can visualize before starting.

"Before I start on that picture, I already know where I'm going with it," he said. He's tried using techniques from other artists, but that doesn't work for him. He's inspired by the art of Karmel Timmons, though, whose work also explores western themes with horses and cowboys.

Look for Watson's work to be displayed in a show at the Regional Arts Center early this coming year. In the interim, you might find him playing the harmonica somewhere.

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