MSW Show at Fine Arts Center

The Mid-Southern Watercolorists Annual Fall Members Show will be hung at the Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs during the month of January. Although I did not originally enter a painting in the fall show, there were a few extra spaces available at the Fine Arts Center, so I'll be exhibiting my painting Valley Ranch there. This painting is loosely based on a beautiful valley in the Rocky Mountain foothills. There will be a reception at 5 pm on Friday, January 1st, during Hot Springs Gallery Walk.

MSW Website Coordinator

I've recently taken on the job of Mid-Southern Watercolorists website coordinator.  I don't actually maintain the website itself; my job is to interface between MSW and the website administrator to ensure that the data on the website is up to date.  We've just gone through a large update process for members and the annual exhibit images, but there are always small changes to be posted.  Take a look at the website at www.midsouthernwatercolorists.com.

John Salminen Abstract Workshop

Last week I attended a 4-day workshop sponsored by Mid-Southern Watercolorists given by John Salminen, built around creating a full-sheet abstract watercolor.  I'd never tried to paint my own abstract, so I thought this might be a worthwhile new experience.  In addition, the workshop got very high marks by others who had taken it.  Using some of John's methods, we designed an interesting white space, and then enhanced the overall design with brushed watercolor, watercolor sprayed from a mouth atomizer, collage, and acrylic.  John and his wife Cathy helped us continually apply design principles as we developed our paintings.  The step-by-step approach resulted in striking paintings by everyone in the class.  I've posted an image of mine here.

EPCOT World Showcase

In January, we spent a few weeks in Florida - Orlando and Sarasota - to remind ourselves what warm weather is like.  One day we went to EPCOT, and I took some photos of some of the "country areas" there.  I'm always on the lookout for new urban type scenes to paint, and EPCOT provided several picturesque settings with plenty of pedestrians.  In the last two weeks I painted two of them, Morocco and France, which are shown here.  Next week I'll be attending the John Salminen workshop at Mid-Southern Watercolorists, and I'll probably be painting another urban scene or two.

Painting Juried Into MSW 2008 Annual Exhibit

This week, I found out that my painting Lazy Afternoon was juried into the Mid-Southern Watercolorists 2008 Annual Exhibit.  This is a vignette style painting, and is one of my all-time favorites.  I feel fortunate, as there are many high-quality submissions to the MSW exhibit each year.  I'll also be displaying this painting at Richard Stephens' Student Exhibit at the Garland County Library in Hot Springs during March.  The Reception for that exhibit is at 5 pm on Wednesday, March 5.

Portrait Demonstrations

Because I won the Gold Award at the Mid-Southern Watercolorists 2007 Annual Exhibition, I was invited to present "How I Did It" at the January MSW meeting.  Because of time constraints, I spent most of the time describing my portrait-painting process, and just demonstrated a few of the steps.  I've attached a photo of me in the process.  (It was more fun than it looks like.)

I'll be repeating this program at the Brush Strokes meeting on February 22.  There, I'll do the painting vertically, to avoid having to have the overhead mirror set up.  I've also prepared a handout of the steps so people can leave with some simple instructions.

Mid-Southern Watercolorists Gold Award

This year the 37th Annual Mid-Southern Watercolorists Juried Exhibition included 38 paintings selected from 172 entries submitted by members from 9 states, and I felt fortunate to have my painting Biker juried into the exhibit. The exhibit is ongoing until May 19 at the Cox Creative Center, 2nd floor, 120 Commerce Street, Little Rock, AR 72201. It is a terrific venue... one can stand in the center of the exhibit area and see almost all of the paintings without having to walk from room to room.

Last night awards were announced, and I was extremely pleased to receive the Gold Award, the top award, for my painting. It was a real honor to be highly placed among so many excellent watercolor artists, and an experience that I won't forget for a long time.

Biker was also selected by the Arkansas Art Center as part of an 18-painting traveling exhibit that will be shown in vairous venues around Arkansas during the rest of 2007.