One thing I love about winter is staying inside and painting.
This happy little snowman is a tiny painting, 5″ x 7″, done as a demo at my Monday classes at Mulberry Art Studio in Lancaster.
Snow helps simplify shapes and colors, so that the shading is easier to see and understand. (For more painting tips, be sure and sign up for my monthly newsletter.)
First 2010 Exhibit
My first show for the New Year will be at the Sally Danyo Gallery at the York Art Association, 220 South Marshall Street, York, PA, February 14 – April 11.
Do You Need Backup?
Another new 2010 thing is learning how to back up my web site. (Yikes!) It is a pain, but not as bad as losing the whole thing. Check out Kelly’s (my daughter and owner of One Woman Marketing) article “Eight Things I Learned When My Website Got Hacked.”
“It’s Always Trash Day Somewhere” Original Watercolor 2009 10 x 14″ $600 framed
I actually changed this watercolor painting a bit on my daughter, Kelly’s advice. (She always gives me excellent advice.) I added a face to the garbage man (peeking out from his hood) and a little dog following the guy across the street. I’ll show the redone picture when it gets back from a show.
It’s usually trash day when I go out to take photos, so I decided to embrace it for the original watercolor painting above and put in the whole truck. Below, I started a new series in my Small Town America landscapes, of back alleys with an alley cat in each one. Here’s the first. Can you find the cat?
Alley Cat Series #1 Original Watercolor 2009 12 x 8″ $450 framed
New Original Watercolor – Early Morning – 13″ x 21.5″ Price: $750 framed
This was the view from my hotel in Boone, NC this summer. I was there teaching a watercolor workshop at Cheap Joe’s. The sunrises were beautiful and the road reminded me of a river, with humanity flowing through the gorgeous mountain scenery.
I can’t believe I’ve been a professional watercolor artist for ten years now. Not only have I had an exciting time learning about the watercolor art world, I’ve also discovered a lot about myself as an artist.
2010—Getting Focused On Watercolor
Next year, I’ll be working on a series of watercolor landscapes and figurative scenes from my world. I was thinking of calling it faces and places, but that’s kind of trite. I enjoy painting blue collar America - where their lives happen and who they are – (which is my kind of people.) It isn’t usually as pretty as the scenes most watercolor artists paint, but it’s real. And it’s interesting.
What about YOUR art?
What are your plans and goals for 2010? Comment and let me know. I think everyone should set goals – it’ll help you improve as an artist and figure out who you are. And if you think of a better name for my series, please shout it out. I always need help with names.
Artists are the ones that get so close to the paintings, they make the guards nervous.
Yesterday I went to the National Gallery in Washington D.C. with friends Vickie Branas and Janet Belich. Janet was taking photos, so she’s the invisible third party on this trip.
I’m starting some big watercolor paintings with figures, so I wanted to see how the great watercolor artists had done it. My favorite was the impressionists (and the American portrait painters.)
The modern art in the east building … I just don’t know. Is a white canvas really art?
This is my third year sending calendar magnets to galleries, buyers, etc. Yesterday I mailed fliers for my upcoming art show at Hanover and watercolor workshop near Hershey. The lady working at the local post office glanced at my return address on the envelopes and smiled suddenly.
“Oh, you’re the artist!” she said. “I have your magnet at my desk. We love it when you send new postcards. Everybody at the post office passes them around to see.”
Okay, it’s the local post office, but I have name recognition and people who care about my art. It’s all about making it personal and keeping it in front of their faces.
New Watercolors! – Hanover Art Guild Oct 3 – 24 Reception is Saturday Oct 3 from 2 – 4 p.m.
PWS Workshop – October 26 – 30 at Union Deposit Fire Hall (near Hershey, PA) contact Rose Sivar at (717) 564-4899
The painting on the right is 4″ x 10,” done as a demo while I was artist in residence at Willow Valley, PA. I have submitted this to the Allied Artists of America (New York) for their next juried exhibit.
My summer was so busy. The people at Cheap Joe’s, where I taught a week-long watercolor, workshop were wonderful and treated me like a queen. (My hotel suite had my own jacuzzi and fireplace!)
My students gave me an A++ as a teacher! Even the ones who were teachers themselves said they learned a lot, and we had fun.
Dean Mitchell’s gallery talk (at New York’s Adirondacks National Juried Exhibit) affirmed everything I believe about art. Dean said that painting is more than just staying in the lines. He said if students would let go of trying to make their painting look like something specific and just play with their colors, they would learn more about creating art.
“Bubbles” (left) sold at the Adirondacks show and is going to the beautiful Cotswolds in Glouchestershire, England! My first international sale — how exciting.
Judging York Plein Aire Festival – On Sunday I judged the first ever York Fair’s Festival. Click on this video to see the painters and thanks Bill Erwin for all your work.
Upcoming Shows:
Juried exhibitions – I had paintings accepted in the Keystone National Juried Exhibit, Pittsburgh Watercolor Society, Kentucky Watercolor Society, Kansas Watercolor Society, North East Watercolor Society and two pieces in the juried Women’s Perspective Exhibition in Philadelphia.
Solo Show: I will be exhibiting original artwork at the Hanover Area Arts Guild at 32 Carlisle Street Hanover PA 17331 (717-632-2521) from October 1st through the 23rd. The opening reception will be Saturday, October 3 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Backyard Bunny is an original watercolor painting I finished yesterday. Image size is 12″ x 18″. I saw the bunny while walking, but didn’t have my camera. I went back with my camera the next morning and took reference photos to recreate the scene I missed.
Welcome to my world of watercolor! I bought some cheap paints in 1983 and got hooked. Now I've been a professional artist and teacher for over nine years. Read more...
One thing I love about winter is staying inside and painting. 
Artists are the ones that get so close to the paintings, they make the guards nervous.
Original watercolor painting: “Forgotten Places.” 21 x 29
“Bubbles” (left) sold at the Adirondacks show and is going to the beautiful Cotswolds in Glouchestershire, England! My first international sale — how exciting.
