Posted: July 01, 2009
This is a detail from a watercolor painting I am currently working on. The white ice box has had four coats of paint so far, and I’m not done yet…..
It’s ironic - I usually paint dark areas in one intense wash, but the white areas - I carefully inch up on. I make puddles of: aureolin yellow, quinacridone red and cobalt blue - with just the barest hint of color in the water. I put each color on my paper separately, but let the colors touch one another. Then I tilt the paper so the colors flow together on the paper and blend a bit. Hints of warm and cool in your whites will make them come alive - or turn into a dingy ice machine on a cold winter day……
Posted: June 27, 2009
‘Fry Guy’ - New Original Mixed Media Painting
I had taken a workshop with Mary Whyte at Springmaid (Myrtle Beach SC) last year & loved her pictures with steam rising. Here’s my verson. ’Fry Guy’ is from the Pennsylvania State Farm Show in Harrisburg PA. I used the cadmium red light (as suggested by an artist in an early blog post) with cobalt blue, raw sienna, and perylene green for a dark. I don’t usually use opaque colors, but I liked that red!
I just entered Fry Guy in the Berks Art Alliance Juried Exhibit. The lady at take in was supposed to be checking the frames for damage. She said, Wow! when I took it out and spent a long time looking at the painting instead of the frame… Now that’s a compliment! Hope the judges feel the same way, but I won’t be upset if it’s declined. There is such a variety of good works at these juried exhibits, the artists who win one year are often declined the next!
My First Museum Exhibit!
After meeting with director Stella, at the Ratner Museum in Bethesda, I have an exhibit booked for 2013! The Ratner is a small museum and it is a group showing, but I am thrilled. And, believe this or not, they don’t take any commission……..
Posted: June 23, 2009
This is Dussman’s Auto, a small watercolor of the view from my local convenience store. I take a lot of photos when I run out to pick up milk or other odds and ends - morning and evening are the best photo times.
Good Advice For Artists
Years ago, Dean Mitchell advised wanna be artists to enter the juried exhibits and keep trying to improve your painting skills until you can get in. That’s what I did. Lots of times in the beginning, I didn’t get in. I studied the accepted art, took classes and worked hard. Now my entries are accepted in the juried exhibits more often than not, and I’m winning awards! Now what?
Currently, I’m looking at exhibiting in museums and contemporary art centers. I feel it’s the next step. Artists need to keep in mind, there are only steps in an art career - not destinations. Even the most respected artists in our great nation are only known to a handful of people - there are no ‘rock stars’. You keep working or you’re history. So enjoy your painting, whatever level you’re at. That’s the best advice.
What I Did On My Summer Vacation
Last week, I went to Virginia to the Contemporary Art Center in Virginia Beach and the Chrylser Museum of Art. There are so many places to see and think about - it’s overwhelming. What do you do in that case? Look for a mentor - someone who has been there and done that. On an artist friend’s advice, I contacted the Ratner Museum in Bethesda, and I’m going today to talk to the director. I’ll let you know what happens!
Posted: June 14, 2009
Thank you Annapolis Watercolor!
On June 10, I drove down to Annapolis to do a one hour watercolor demonstration. What hospitality - the members took me out to dinner at a wonderful restaurant and then to the Maryland Hall For the Creative Arts for their monthly meeting. I had planned the painting carefully, painted furiously and finished on time. One member, Tisha, graciously let me stay overnight at her home and if that wasn’t enough, made homemade granola and yogurt for breakfast. Of course, I gave Tisha the demo…… Thanks, Annapolis, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Upcoming Classes & Workshops
Posted: May 27, 2009
PWS Juried Show
It’s raining great art at my house - today I spent all day organizing entries for the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s 30th Juried Exhbition. There’s still time to enter, so download the prospectus and send your entry in today! If you have any questions, just drop me an email to debiwatson@comcast.net.
Want To See ALL My Recent Paintings?
I also downloaded a bunch of my paintings to my Flickr site, so if you want to see a wide variety of my work, visit there and click on the paintings group.
American Artist posted the winners of their Hot 100 competition.
Thank you everyone, for voting me best teacher!
Posted: May 18, 2009
Spring has been 
incredibly busy for me. Here’s some of what’s happening.
Lancaster Art Exhibit Worth Seeing
This painting, ‘Workhorse’ will be included in the Women’s Expressions 2009, an invitational art sale. This exhibit is put on by Lancaster General Hospital and is open to the public on Sunday, May 17th from 2 - 4:30 p.m. at Womens and Babies Hospital on Good Drive in Lancaster PA. This exhibit will continue through June 5th, then the artwork will be auctioned off.
Want to Enter Yellow Springs Art Sale?
Yellow Springs is an art community towards Phili and they have an art sale as their fundraiser each year, selling thousands of dollars worth of art. (I sold some, and bought one from another artist.) They will jury on October 1, 2, and 3, 2009 for new artists. If you want to apply, visit their website or call 610.827.7414 for an application.
Pennsylvania Watercolor Society Get Togethers
I feel like a workhorse sometimes, so I’m planning some fun things for my artist friends. I started a blog for PWS activities. If you sign up to receive the blog (click at the bottom where it says ’subscribe to’ and follow the directions) you will get new blog posts by email and keep up with all that’s going on. (People who are going to attend - please post a comment that says you’re coming.) Some of the activites: paint togethers on posted Sunday mornings at the York Art Association at 220 S. Marshall St. York PA. & get togethers for painting and/or photographing and a bag lunch at different places with beautiful gardens.
Two of my favorite places are:
1. the Amos Herr Homestead in Landisville PA at the junction of Harrisburg Pike and Nissley. This is always open and free - you drive towards the municipal building and turn right, parking by the homestead. I have about fifty photographs of irises and the gardens that I took there last year on my Flickr site, if anyone wants to paint them, feel free.
2. The Conestoga House & Gardens at 1608 Marietta Ave, Lancaster PA. This will open on June 17th and is free to the public on Wednesdays from 1 - 8 p.m. during June, July & Aug. They allow painting on site (just don’t set up on the walkways) and have tables for bag lunches (please take your trash with you when you leave).
The Pennsylvania Juried Exhibit’s deadline for entries is coming up fast. As chairperson, I work closely with the judge, and I think my entering is a conflict of interest. Other artists said, “oh no, it’s not”, so I emailed John Salminen, who show and judges a lot, for his advice and he had the same feelings about it that I did. I’ll save my entries for other juried exhibits I’m not involved with. Luckily for me, there are tons of juried exhibits in the spring anyway!
Posted: April 29, 2009
Fast & Furious Class Demonstrations
On Tuesdays, I teach a morning and an afternoon class in watercolor. Here are two finished demonstrations of sleeping cats. In the cat with pots, I showed two ways to get a smooth transition from color to shadow. I used water to thin out the paint on the right side of the blue pot, using thicker blue paint in the middle of the pot and then black. On the red pot, I painted just red to black. After it was dry, I used Mr. Clean’s magic eraser to lift out the highlights on the red pot. The bricks, pots & shadows were done with cobalt blue, quinacridone red and aureolin yellow - it makes great grays when you let it mix on the paper. To make the green, I used a bit of thalo blue with the yellow and perylene green for the black. (And a touch of burnt sienna for the cat’s colored areas.)
The Trick Is Not To Overmix It
In the second demo, I used all the leftover bits of color on my palette behind the cat, working quickly on dry paper so I got soft blending. Then I used the mixture of the leftover colors to put a strip of blue gray across the bottom. While that was drying, I went back to cobalt blue, aureolin yellow and quinacridone red for the shadows on the cat, putting the colors down and letting them mix on the paper. The class said it looked too garish while it was wet. There lies the trick! If you let wet washes alone, they often shape up nicely as they dry. Then I painted the black face and the ears. I rubbed the shadow edges with a soft brush and dabbed with a paper towel to soften the edges, and used a few strokes of white for whiskers. I thought the stripe across the bottom was boring, so I used a stencil to lift out goldfish and painted sweet dreams for this fellow.
Posted: April 23, 2009
This is “My Sister Lisa” - a watercolor painting by local artist and friend, Susan Harper. It was accepted for the next Splash - The Best of Watercolor book!
Can I do that? To have your painting included in the book, first, enter their 2010 competition, and if chosen, you have to send a large digital file. Where can you get a file that large? Here’s what Susan wrote -
“I got my painting scanned at Cornerstone Graphics for Splash, if you need a superb, excellent color scan of your work, Cornerstone is the place to go. Plus, their price includes a proof and guaranteed color – so corrections aren’t additional. Cstone also does Glicee prints – not sure of the cost on those, but it’s probably good. They are in Lititz (PA) and the website is http://www.corgratech.com Mike Winpenny would be the contact person there. I’ve known Mike for over 20 years and they are good people over their and super fast.”
Places
-I went to the Allentown Museum yesterday to see their juried exhibit. $11 to get in and it was a great museum. The juried exhibit was very modern, but all quality, unique and interesting, even the piece made of goat skin. (I loved the broken flag made of barbed wire & glass and the image made of actual crayons.) They also had an exhibit of impressionism, a children’s area that every little kid would love, and more that we didn’t have time to see. The works on paper were matted all in white, single mats (one beige exception), mostly with narrow frames. Okay, they had very little traditional work, but I’m going to enter next year anyway. Who knows? Susan Harper was not expecting to get accepted to Splash, but it happened. Enter a few things and go see the show whether you get in or not. Always interesting…..
Posted: April 20, 2009
It’s not about who you know, it’s about who knows you!
I’m always ‘gathering information’ on how the art world works. The gallery owner said, to get into a gallery, they need to know who you are. The curator said, to approach a museum or art center, they have to know who you are……
A friend, back from a vacation, called me in amazement. “Debi!” he said excitedly, “I talked to the watercolor people up there and - they know who you are! ” He was more impressed by this than any of the awards I’ve won.
How do you get people to know who you are?
From 717 magazine (under Harrisburg magazine), Gallery Space by Scott Campbell: “(Debi Watson) - althougth a devotee of representational watercolor, the Lancaster County artist is cultivating a more painterly quality in her work. Watson’s treatment of foliage combines traits of exactitude and impressionism that are blended with consummate skill. Some paintings, which appear tightly rendered at first glance, eventually reveal to the viewer indistinct and suggestive passages.”
News of an award or article in a magazine reaches some people, but probably not the important people in your art circle. So send it to them, share it with them, put yourself in front of them again and again (without being obnoxious, of course.) Were you mentioned in the paper or a magazine? Put it on a postcard with a great image and send it out. Won an award? Share it with as many people as possible, but especially the ones who can further your career. And always make a connection with a real person. When you pick out a gallery or group you want to target, find out who would review your images and address your cards specifically to that person.
It’s OKAY to brag!
When some people have heard of you, you’ll start to get ‘a name’. If you do really well, you’ll become ‘a big name.’ You have to learn to brag. I still have a problem with it, that delicate balance between promoting yourself and ‘being too forward.’ (I think it’s a woman thing.) My daughter helps and encourages me, pointing out when I’m downplaying myself. (If you want to read more about women and marketing, check out her free website, just for women - womenwise marketing. ) I think it will always be easier to brag about my daughter than myself, but I’m learning.
There are thousands of good to great artists out there, but the ones that market are the ones that sell, so start marketing today!
Posted: March 30, 2009
Nicholas Simmons came to the York Art Association this Sunday and did a wonderful demonstration for us.
I had been impressed by his painting, which was Best of Show at the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s last juried exhibition, and more impressed by Nick, himself.
Nick has a video on painting, but there is nothing like seeing the artist actually painting. I will drive two or three hours to see a demonstration, as I learn a lot about painting that way. Some are so-so, but some are beyond great, and Nic’s demo was exactly that.
