THE YEAR IN ART
2020 successes
…
Sadly, in 2020 art shows were closed to the public because of the pandemic.
The upside — many had a much stronger online presence.
Follow the links to see these amazing shows
in the comfort of your living room!
The show was meant to be in April, 2020 at the historic Salmagundi Club in New York City. Excited to have my second accepted painting in AWS, I had tickets to see the show and attend the awards ceremony with Gail Vines… but the show was cancelled and that trip evaporated along with everything else after the pandemic. Such an honor nonetheless! I’m happy to say the painting which did travel to New York and back, is now sold and happy in its new home with the Leonard family!
Jurors: Antonio Masi / Susan Murphy / Carla O’Connor / George Politis / Donna Zagotta
This portrait was inspired by a photo of Erin Leonard from one of our joint family camping trips to the Copeland Islands near Lund BC.
The BACK STORY
AMERICAN WATERCOLOR SOCIETY
“Gotta Problem with That”
NWS VISIONS ADJOIN
“She’s Golden”
Jurors: Mary Ann Beckwith / Robbie Laird
Visions Adjoin was a joint show between Canada and the National Watercolor Society in the US. This painting traveled to Canada, then showed at the NWS gallery in San Pedro. There’s a remarkable book that was created in conjunction with the show, where every painting gets its own page! See me flip through some of the pages HERE.
You can order a copy of the book through LULU HERE.
Verna Pooler posed for this portrait in a workshop at Menucha
The sun came out just in time to create interesting shadows. It began as a demo of pouring watercolor paint, with no plan in mind. After sketching the shapes of her features over the dried pour I proceeded to layer darker paint to achieve the desired values, lifting as needed. Using collage in my paintings helps me distill elements down to the essential. Adding acrylic marbled paper and hand textured citrasolv papers created an age dimension. I left lots of ambiguity but felt it was necessary to add the cane which also wasn’t in the picture, both to create a diagonal and to support the hand. One thing I love about Verna, who has taken my workshops in Italy and Hawaii, is her jaunty attitude, expressed in this portrait. She wasn’t actually wearing a ring on her hand, but it was already there from the pour and looked good. But she always wears her husband’s ring on a gold chain which the title alludes to, as well as to my perception that she’s “good as gold”!
Juror: Ron Stocke
PURCHASE AWARD!
“Gossamer Wings” now hangs in the Northwest Watercolor Society’s permanent collection at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
Read about the transformation from “Party Girl” (below) — which won 2nd place in Oregon Society of Artists’ Rose Show in 2013 — to “Gossamer Wings” (right).
NORTHWEST WATERCOLOR SOCIETY
“Gossamer Wings”
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL WATERMEDIA
“Ferry To Dubrovnik”
Award
Juror: Linda Daily Baker
See the show VIDEO
This painting is about the play of light on Elvina’s face as we were traveling in Croatia. I painted a demo in the workshop, cropped really tight to fit my 10×10 paper, then when returning home I enlarged it to full sheet width, deviating from the reference to make this “storybook” image.
Joyce Hicks also gave this painting 4th place in WSO’s 2019 Fall convention.
Juror: Susan Webb Tregay
“Enigmatic Vision” is another painting that was very much transformed by marbling.
Originally called “On The Horizon”, showing my son Dane (center) with two friends, the piece is painted on 300# watercolor paper and was designed to include a 4-inch painted “mat” with the background seascape flowing to the edge.
I permanently attached it to a wood cradled panel, extra deep, by American Easel, then I marbled it to soften the background and draw focus to the figures.
See all the accepted entries HERE
ISEA MEMBER SHOW
“Enigmatic Vision”
Juror: Michael Reardon
This experimental portrait of a past student, Carol, is a commentary on aging. I use acrylic on the paper, then a watercolor pour before adding layers of pigment, which gives the paint enhanced lifting properties. At one point I sprayed the mouth with water, just to soften it a bit, and all the paint ran! While I had to redo her mouth, it ultimately gave me the darker values needed. Sometimes it takes working and reworking to get it right.
See the show VIDEO
WATERCOLOR SOCIETY OF OREGON
WSO SPRING
“Come Up The Years”
WATERCOLOR SOCIETY OF OREGON
WSO FALL
“Passages”
Award of Distinction
Juror: Kristi Grussendorf
I was in New York City for the American Watercolor Society show in 2019, and went to see the rebuilt world trade center. On this blustery day, I caught an expression on a woman’s face that summed up my thoughts. After sketching “Svetlana” (what I call this stranger that I felt a connection to) several times, I preferred this loose, expressive version to the more carefully rendered “accurate” one. I left off much of the detail and patterning in her clothing, used soft, wet washes and played warm against cool color, to allow the viewer to focus on the feeling. “Passages” is my tribute to the melting pot nature of our country, and that while we will not forget the storms, we move on. It is about letting go, and searching for what is good and right.
See the show VIDEO
