This is an 8 x 10 oil on board – my first attempt at clouds.  I realized that this is the third painting I’ve done of railroad tracks – must be subconscious because I’m certainly going places this summer.

New Watercolor ‘How To Paint’ Article

Currently, I’m working on a new painting project – demonstrating how to paint snow for Watercolor Artist magazine, December’s issue.  (Of course, I’m using my new paper from St. Cuthbert’s Mill in England – I’ll let you know how I like it.)  I’m doing a new video to go along with it.  The painting will be a snowy alley at dawn, with a snow covered  truck and paper boys on their route. 

 Shows Worth Seeing

I would recommend the Portrait Exhibit at the Brandywine Museum in Chadd’s Ford and the Lancaster Art Association in Strasburg, PA  juried exhibit - many interesting pieces of art.  While I was in New York, I took in the Rockwell Western Museum, which I discovered has nothing to do with Norman Rockwell, (but the National Gallery in Washington has an exhibit of Rockwell’s work that lasts until January, so I’ll get to see that, too.)  Being self-taught, I try to see the best art I can, often.  

I’ve been spending a lot of time immersed in learning about oil painting, trying different things, reading about how to paint and seeing great paintings.  It’s a busy summer.    After I get the video and article done, I will be finishing another snow scene for the upcoming Berk’s Art Alliance juried exhibit in Reading, PA and have a commission to paint my dentist’s horses.   Saturday, July 31st, I’ll be one of two judges for the Lititz Outdoor Art Exhibit - another great local show to visit, and this one has free admission.  Hope to see you there.

The Missouri Watercolor Society is doing a great job of promoting watercolor with a beautiful new on-line magazine  called ‘Watercolor Studio’ that’s free.  It has many pages of news about the watercolor world and several articles on how to paint, including one on how I painted the pier painting on the left.   ( My article starts on page 14.)

This week I had watercolor paintings accepted into the Illinois small works juried exhibit and the Colorado juried exhibit.  I received my award from the Baltimore Watercolor Society’s juried exhibition – a full pack of 300 pound cold pressed watercolor paper from St. Cuthbert’s Mill in England.  I can’t wait to paint something wonderful on it.

What I Learned About Plein Air Painting

Plein air painting is not for sissies.  With plein air painting, you’re at the mercy of the elements.  It was hot. I stayed in the shade and still got sun burn, even with factor 30 lotion.  Luckily we were provided with water and bathrooms, also a necessity.

You need a lightweight but sturdy painting easel.  You need good drawing and composition skills.  You need to be a fast painter – the light keeps changing.

What I learned about plein air painting – I am not a plein air painter.  I’m much happier in the studio, with air conditioning. 

New Photos

 However, I love to take photos.  I just uploaded several hundred photos from three beautiful gardens onto my flickr account and everyone is welcome to paint them. 

Plein Aire Painter – Oil – 8 x 10 $100 Framed

Hold on to your hats – I’m jumping into the oils.  This painter was at Monhegan Island in Maine.

“Debi,
Yes, both paintings are original and what you are doing is completely ethical. For centuries artists have painted the same image either with the same medium or with a different medium. For example, Gilbert Stuart did at least a dozen paintings of George Washington from the original painting he created from life. They are now considered to be among his most valuable portraits, so obviously the copies were well accepted and prized.
Thanks for asking. Steve”

This is “Heading For The Weekend“, a new original (watercolor) figurative painting, size 15 1/2″ x 11 1/2″.

‘Debi Watson’ No More

I recently wrote in my newsletter that I feel ‘Debi’ doesn’t sound like a serious artist.  I asked a gallery owner and he agreed.

After all, Andrew Wyeth wasn’t called Andy.

And initials are even better.  (think N.C. Wyeth)

After getting a lot of feedback from my readers, I decided to go with D. Watson.  It sounds serious, maybe mysterious and possibly male, or who the heck knows?  It turns out many artists use their initials to sign their original paintings, so I’ll be in good company.  I’ll be changing over gradually.

Oils Vs Watercolor Con’t

And I rapidly found out that I don’t have the convenience of cropping oil canvases like I do with my watercolor paintings.  That means I have to do more planning, maybe a watercolor sketch to test my diminsions before I start the oil……..

It’s ironic – for years I while I was learning to paint with watercolors I was told, “No, no, no!  That’s not how you paint with watercolors.” because I do full color realism, not loose and watery paintings.

Along the way, while I was, according to most teachers, doing things ‘wrong’ I gve myself an education on art in general and came to love the mysterious, loose effects you can easily get with watercolors.

Now, after learning how to paint watercolors ‘wrong’, I’m planning to apply those same concepts to my oil paintings.  You can bet they won’t be traditional oil styles, just what I make up as I go along.  Doing it the wrong way is a lot more fun and your work stands out as totally original, which this oil isn’t, but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.

P.S. Hard Work Does Pay Off

My daughter, Kelly, is a writer and has had an article accepted by Forbes magazine, click here to see her on their web site.  Congrats, Kelly.

This group was at Yellowstone National Park, getting ready for a long day of trail riding.  I tried to minimize the background to put more attention on my subject – different for me.  I’m really tempted to put a tree or a distant mountain in the right corner, but adding things often changes the composition for the worse instead of better.  I used a new color from Cheap Joe’s for the horses – transparent oxide brown.  Image size 12 x 16.  Does it look complete?

This morning I finished Shades of Winter – a half sheet painting that began as a class demonstration.  The scene is an old railway stop on Rt 30 East (of Lancaster.)  I was out early, and the warm sunrise hitting the snow made fog or glare, I’m not sure which, but it sure was dramatic.  Price:  $600 framed, in an 18 x 24 black frame.

Taking the Baltimore Watercolor Society’s bus trip to NYC to see the AWS exhibit with friends was a great, fun adventure. 

AWS Exhibition – Subject and Style 

101  paintings were on display, with styles and subjects ranging from realistic Alligators to Zany cats, but the show was dominated by figurative and landscape scenes. 

 John Salminen has set the standard for city scenes and was the top winner again this year.  Since he’s done so well, the painting of city scenes has flourished across the nation and AWS had them in abundance, especially in the award winners.

And Where Have All The Flowers Gone?  There were no florals at the show this year.  As a subject, flowers are the kiss of death for artists entering  juried shows, but there’s usually a token flower somewhere.  Not this year. 

Is Photorealism Dead in Watercolor?

Since the fiasco with the top AWS winner a few years back, photorealism has been missing from many juried exhibits.  (Maybe we should put it on a milk carton.)   Painterly is what you see now and while it’s beautiful, I would have liked to see one photorealistic piece.  Still life also, was almost absent, with only one or two small works.

Transparent VS Opaque and Does Size Matter?

There was a nice mix of tradition transparent watercolor and completely opaque paintings.  Fritz Briggs, also on our bus trip, won an award for his traditional piece, done on a quarter sheet.   While most of the winners were still full sheet or larger, there were more small pieces than I’ve seen in the past few years, and less ’big’ framing.  With oversized shipping costs at an all time high, maybe everyone is cutting back a bit. 

New Talent – There were definately a lot more asian artists making a splash at AWS this year, and they can really paint.   65 of the exhibiting artists were AWS signature members - I think, fewer than other years, with a bit more ‘new blood’ getting in.   Maybe one day, I’ll be there myself.  In the meantime, congratulations to everyone who did get in – it was an impressive show. 

I got a letter yesterday - “Congratulations!  Your art has been accepted in Art of the State:  Pennsylvania 2010 at The State Museum June 27 – September 12.  There were only 150 works chosen from 2,076 entries.”

This watercolor painting is a scene from Columbia, PA, coming down from Chickies Rock. 

I painted this because of a remark made by a teacher at a workshop I took.  John Salminen, a very well known artist, had looked at one of my other paintings (a schoolbus) and remarked that I’d made a mistake, I should have made the road equal on both sides of the white line.   He explained that the uneven road in my photo was probably caused by camera distortion.  I snorted.

 “John,” I asked, “have you every been to Pennsylvania?”  It wouldn’t matter where it was, he explained, roads were the same all over the country.  I don’t think he’s been to Pennsylvania - our roads are a bit different.    I’m just going to paint what I see.  If my roads seem uneven, it’s not camera distortion, it’s life as usual, in Pennsylvania.