TWSA Show

Well I am back from Kenosha and the TWSA show. Some very interesting and good art and some that were a matter of taste. This is me with my painting. The gallery was first rate along with the placement of the paintings. While I was there, it was rainy and cold. For June, this seems strange. So much for global warming.




The highlight of my night was getting to meet John Salminen. We sat together for dinner and had some interesting talks. For those of you reading my blog who don't know John Salminen, I will post a link to his website under interesting websites on the right. You will see why he is a prominent and leading watercolor artist of our day. For those of you who do know, know that I was lucky to have had the opportunity to talk with him.

I also saw the works of of Cheng-Khee Chee up close. He also attended the dinner. It was good to see Judy Morris again and hopefully we will run into each other again. I will also have a link to their sites as well.

Latest WIP

I am working on a "going green" painting. This is just the start of a rather large watercolor. The flower is a Hydranga. Just starting and documenting as I go.

Accepted into TWSA

Just heard word last week that my painting Reflections 1 will be part of the Transparent Watercolor Society of America show for 2009! TWSA has strict regulations when it comes to paint materials and technique. Such as, this show is strictly for artists who work in transparent watercolors only. No opaque, no acrylic, strictly transparency. I really favor this idea because when it comes to "watercolor societies", it was my impression (before I became involved) that that was what they were all about. For most of the others, you can use acrylic, tempera, casein or a mix of several just as long as the paint base can be diluted with water. And you can also use yupo paper or canvas panels made for watercolor along with of course watercolor paper. But to me, if you are going to do something on canvas to have it look like an oil painting, why do you want a watercolor to look like a transparent oil painting?

I am a purist. All my paintings have been done with transparent watercolor. That is what I like about watercolor. For this society in particular, even painting somewhat opaquely will not be accepted. My painting is simple, but it does show the transparency of the medium and I believe that is why it was chosen.

The show is going to be held at the Kenosha Public Museum in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The opening is June 6, 2009. Judy Morris, who in my book. is one of the best watercolor artist around has been included in the 2008 edition of "Who's Who of American Women"," Who's Who in the World 2000", and" Who's Who in the recent addition of Who's Who in America". Wow! That is a lot of Who's Who!

BEST IN 2007

This is the Jan./Feb. 2008 edition of "Watercolor Artist" magazine previously named Watercolor Magic which will be available in art magazine sections in prominent bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders. They have included the best of watercolors for 2007. These are paintings that won a major award and they are all wonderful artists. I am pleased to be among the award winners and took great pride in a quote from Dean Mitchell regarding my painting "Venetian Gold". I respect Dean's work very much. His work is among the best.

The editior's note on page 4 has a quote from yours truly in her column. Everything is absolutely true and now I know where I stand in the international art world. This year has been the most transitional year of my life in a very good and yet sometimes unsure way. I guess that is what change is all about.

Good things can happen when you least expect them.

"Saveurs de la Provence"

Saveurs de la Provence translated is flavors of Provence. This latest watercolor reminds me of the linens that I bought while traveling in the South of France last year. A comment that I would like to make is that the French are not afraid to use color and they do so with a lot of style and class. This is a brand new painting that I just completed this evening and I was not sure of the final result. But when all was said and done, I am pleased with the result. Every painting has a certain mood. The lighting that I tried to convey was one of being late at night and looking for a late night snack. There is just a single source of light in the room and shined on this table with linens strewed about to create some interesting shadows patterns on the colorful linens from Provence while the "marionette" watches over the scene.

I wanted the viewer to feel like they just stepped into a French dining room in Provence. I found a fun webcam linked to a French bakery in Paris. It shows them making the breads in their ovens. The site is: www.siteparc.fr/bonneau/webcam.htm.

"Made in Italy"

Bon Giorno! Guess what these are? They are glass "candies" made in Italy. I picked them up from the island of Burano near Venice. They sell these all over Italy. All are very colorful and made to look like the real thing. This painting made it into the 2005 National Watercolor show whichs take place on the West Coast usually in a suburb of LA. This is quite different than my Venetian Gold. I used several different colors and displayed them all on a murano glass plate. Looking back, I see a lot that I could of added to the painting but choose instead to go with the white plain background. I like the fact that with all of these paintings, the objects that I have collected bring back good memories of where I was and what the day was like. Burano is a fishing village where all the houses are painted different bright colors. This is also an island where they make hand-made lace. I would recommend anyone to visit if you ever go to Venice.

"Afterglow"

Here is my latest painting "Afterglow". Now a lot of people that have looked at this love it but have to look deeper into the painting to see what is really going on. Everybody wants me to do another painting just like Venetian Gold, I feel a need to mix it up a bit. The goblet in the center is a piece of murano glass from Italy, the scarf is from Florence (once again) and the bottle of liquer is from France. (See here is a mix of my French and Italian themes again.) Some say it is so feminine and I say yes it is, is that a problem. What I tried to capture was a sense of flowing movement. The painting is 23x30. Upon studying it, observers begin to see what I saw while painting it. I wanted it to "glow".