Painting has always been a hobby for The Woodlands resident Joe Collard. Since retiring in 2003, he has managed to paint 80-100 pieces each year, most of which are inspired by his travels.

Although Collard has had a knack for realistic oil painting since he was 14 years old, his craft has never been a full-time job, he said.

“I’m not trying to sell paintings, and I’m not a professional artist,” Collard said. “I’ve had a hobby all my life, and when I retired it became nearly a full-time hobby.”

Collard first moved to the Greater Houston area in the early 1970s to work as the director of employee relations for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, he said. In 1976, he began working for Mitchell Energy and Development Corporation, which was owned by George Mitchell, the founder of The Woodlands.

After a six-year stint with Mitchell’s corporation, Collard joined an executive search firm through which he recruited energy officers and board members for companies all over the world. As a result, Collard was able to visit more than 40 countries and lived in Amsterdam for a few years, which inspired his artistic side, he said.

“Being an artist, [a lot of] the great artwork in Europe is in Amsterdam,” Collard said. “It’s a walking city; it’s less expensive than Paris or London. I loved being in Amsterdam, and I traveled almost every week to other cities in Europe.”

Now that Collard is retired, he still finds time to travel, and he paints landscapes based on the places he has visited. He has also coordinated a weekly portrait-painting group through The Woodlands Art League for the last 10 years, he said.

“I like pictures of people,” Collard said. “I like the expressions of people. I think my friends at the portrait group would say I’m more of a landscape painter than a portrait painter, but I really admire the portraits.”

Together, the portrait group has painted more than 400 people in the last decade, Collard said. He can typically paint one portrait in about an hour and a half.

“I paint too fast, but part of it is because I’m an outdoor painter,” Collard said. “When you paint outside, the sun is changing, which means the shadows are changing. All the colors are changing, so you’ve got to finish it in two hours.”

In addition to his involvement with WAL, Collard is also part of the national Outdoor Painters Society. He also meets weekly with another group of artists who all learned from Dick Turner, who could paint intricate-looking landscapes quickly, Collard said.

“These are my best friends,” Collard said. “My painter friends are dear friends. I’ve been fortunate.”

Collard has painted many landscapes of locations in Big Bend National Park and shrimp boat docks in Galveston, he said. Most of his paintings involve water because he likes painting reflections, and he also likes contrast in his paintings with the lighter area being the focal point.

“A lot of things inspire me,” Collard said. “You can make a painting out of anything.”