don cadoret

TIVERTON — An internationally recognized painter, Don Cadoret’s fascination with art began as it does with most children, with coloring books and crayons. It was an inexpensive activity for the family of eight Cadoret children.
But, there was something a little bit different about Cadoret’s work.
“I’d carefully shape things and outline them,” Cadoret recalled.
Then he learned to paint. Seated at the kitchen table, he eschewed his paint-by-number instructions and embellished in his own way.
At age 12, he exhibited his first piece of art in a Boston Globe student competition. At 16, Cadoret sold his first commissioned painting.
“I was self-taught,” said Cadoret, a graduate of Springfield College. “I studied everything but art.”
He majored in health and recreation. He wrote for The Student, the school newspaper, and upon graduating into a bad economy in 1982, Cadoret worked in journalism for 13 years, painting for hours after work and selling most of his pieces.
When the newspaper he worked for was bought out, Cadoret decided to leave and make painting his sole career.
Today, Cadoret has painted and sold thousands of pieces. He’s known as a story painter. His work could simply be called folk art, but it’s really a lot more as each piece tells a story, either about himself, an idea or event, or someone else.
“It’s not really folk art, it’s too sophisticated for that,” Cadoret said.
With acrylic paint, Cadoret paints bright, crisp images in great detail on masonite wood. They appeal to the inner child with their colorful scenes of children, houses, animals and Americana-inspired themes.
“I like high key color,” Cadoret said, dotting some green on the wood to create a flowering tree.
Some of Cadoret’s paintings have up to 20 coats of paints and glazes on them in order to perfect the colors and textures.
Cadoret works in a studio in his Tiverton home. His wife, Johanna, is a kindergarten teacher, which further fuels Cadoret’s work.
His studio was carved out of a closet in one of the home’s bedrooms. With the door removed, Cadoret put in a worktable, shelves, and an assortment of paints and brushes and other tools.
The rest of the room serves as a seating area and is adorned with his finished work on the walls. A door leads to the deck outside giving the artist a great garden view and a breeze in the summer months.
“I’d be lost in a large studio,” Cadoret said. “It’s always been a home studio. I enjoy a certain amount of privacy and solitude. That’s what is required for me.”
He starts a painting by cutting out the size of masonite wood he needs. Then, it’s painted black and the color is added on top.
“I do the background first and lift up to the surface,” Cadoret said. “I try to give it dimension.”
Each tiny brush stroke adds depth to the painting as he builds his story in great detailed images.
Cadoret generally paints in three to four hour blocks in the morning and afternoon, sometimes up to 18 hours a day when he’s backed up with commissions or preparing for an exhibit.
“I’m fortunate to be able to get away with it,” Cadoret said. “I can paint like a child as an adult.”
His work has been exhibited in the White House and is in the collection of the Smithsonian, and in galleries, shows and museums all over the country. He is a member of the Museum of American Folk Art, Newport Artist’s Guild, Folk Art Society of America, Friends of Arts in Tiverton, the Sakonnet Arts Network, and he serves on the Board of Directors of SouthCoast Artists.
Cadoret is currently working on an illustrated children’s book, commissioned pieces and a calendar. He also publishes a quarterly newsletter about his work.