Featuring artists:

• Carole Barnes
• Carrie Brown
• Cathy Searle
• Linda Baker
• Linda Benton McCloskey
• Lucy Weigle
• Me, Debi Watson

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? 

Original watercolor painting: “Forgotten Places.” 21 x 29

This painting won the watercolor award the York Art Associations’ Juried Art Exhibit!

It really is an honor. If you see the quality of work in this show, you’ll understand why.

The awards and reception is Sunday, Oct. 11 from 2 – 4 p.m., and I’ll be there to get my award!

This scene is from beside the new convenience store on N. Hills Rd in York, PA, where I got my feet really muddy while taking reference photos.

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.

The Adirondacks 2009 National Art Exhibition opened August 21 and I was there!  On the left is me and the judge of awards, Dean L. Mitchell.

A huge crowd turned out for the opening and ribbon cutting. It was eye opening to see that out of the best paintings in the nation, many were from artists in our area, including Denny Bond and Carole Pickle, who both won awards.

Dean Mitchell gave a gallery talk on Saturday morning to a packed room.  He commented on what he liked about the award-winning paintings and his thoughts on art in general.  In the current art world where anything goes, it’s validating to find a top artist who shares your point of view.

Cheap Joe’s and Art Blogging

Next, I’m on the road to Cheap Joe’s to teach my first workshop there, and my daughter, Kelly, is finishing her first ebook on blogging.  (I’ve already learned a lot of things, just by proofreading.)  I’ll keep you posted on when the e-book is available and how my week goes.

I wanted to do this watercolor painting as a video demonstration, but it didn’t work out, so I’m putting it in as a step-by-step lesson.  Let me know if you think it’s understandable.

This is my drawing.  The grey is Pebeo masking fluid and I applied it on the beach with a toothbrush, trying for a random pattern.   (I got the shadow of my head in the middle, but the rest of the photos I did right…..)

Okay, it seems like I did a lot, but it’s really just a first watercolor wash.  Using a big brush, I did a wash of cobalt blue and  burnt sienna to the sky and the water.

I used cobalt, sienna, quinacridone red and aureolin yellow on the beach, and spattered it with water while it was wet, to make the blotches.  When it was completely dry, I spattered the beach again with  a toothbrush and misket.

I painted the rocks and the beach again, using the same colors, but I added some ultramarine blue to go a little darker, and switched from aureolin yellow to quinacridone gold to jazz it up, spattering the golds into the purpley mix I had going.  I added salt while the watercolor was still wet for more texture.  Now I’ll take off the masking…

Now I start adjusting values.  I put in some dark values in the hair and blue jeans, and a dark shadow on the lower left.  I softened up some the white edges and smudged up some of the far-away rocks.  I start painting the seaweed, or whatever it is, with the quinacridone gold, burnt sienna and other colors.  I lifted out the hard line between the shore and the water.

I decided the rock on the right of the couple was too distracting, so I lifted most of that up, kept softening edges and painting seaweed.

I keep painting the detail.  I am using a smaller brush now.  I think the sky is boring, so I add a wimpy looking storm on the left and put some soft streaks in the water.  I put slightly darker streaks in the water and lift out a few lighter streaks.

Here is the finished painting.  I put some greys in the wave and shadows under the wave.  I added a faraway land on the right and felt that improved the painting’s composition.  I added some crashing waves to the rocks in the left of the ocean, so your eye has a lot to look at.

I took artist Nick Simmons’ advice and filled the area above the little girl’s head in with the green color I’d used before.  I also made the gray around the left side of the Amish girl darker, so she stood out more.

One comment you won’t see was an email from Irene in Charlottesville:

This is a watercolor painting I’m looking for feedback on.  The thing that’s bothering me is the area above the little girl’s head.  I keep changing it and nothing has suited me.

What do you think?