Awards and cancellations

As it turns out, I'm not going to teach at Pinnacle this year because of a lack of signups....but I'm going to take a class instead, so the weekend will still be productive. I will learn about silk-screen printing, and I have all sorts of ideas for possible subjects.

I also have some belated updates on some exhibitions. I had two paintings included in the West Virginia Watercolor Society juried exhibition, Aqueous 2011, earlier this summer, juried by Roanoke, Va., artist Nancy Stark, and the original butterfly painting (Yellow Wings) won a merit award.

For more on WVWS, visit the website http://www.wvwatercolorsociety.org/

"One Moment"

In late August, I sent the larger butterfly painting (Shall We Gather), and my recently completed portrait (One Moment) to the Randolph County Community Arts Center for their annual Gala Exhibition. Amazingly, my portrait won first place behind an amazing best-of-show work by Buckhannon artist Laurie Goldstein-Warren.

The Gala is a mixed-media show, including fiber, sculpture, and photography, so it's nice to see that  my watercolors can stand out among a wide range of styles. The juror for the show was Betty Carr. A list of participating artists can be found at the RCCAC site at http://randolpharts.org/exhibits/10th-annual-gala-juried-art-exhibition.html.

Next, I have a couple of new shows on the horizon. I have joined the Shenandoah Valley Watercolor Society, based in Harrisonburg, Va., and their member show begins this weekend at the wonderful gallery at the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. I have three paintings headed there.

Then, I've been invited back to Tamarack in January for their Emerging Artists show. Last January when I participated in the Architectonic show, I told myself it would be the only opportunity I would ever have to show in such a professional space. So I'm happy to be wrong and look forward to seeing where the journey takes me as I paint for the show this winter.

Scrub-a-dub-dub

So I've been daring, and I've scrubbed out the dominant fall on this iris and repainted it. I'm not sure that it's any better than the original version, but I think it matches the upper standards a little better now. I've decided that I don't like the glazing properties of Aquabord

I'm using staining colors so I thought I might be able to glaze from a technical standpoint, but it turns out that I didn't like the effect. I like the mottled results from flooding an area with mingled colors. That's how the upper standards were painted, and that's what I wanted to accomplish with the re-do of the fall.

However, in trying to get areas appropriately dark, I think I lost the mottled effect. But I still think it matches a little better. The first version felt highly finished, and really didn't look like watercolor anymore. It had the look of acrylic. I like the blemishes that indicate that watercolor was at work.

Class at Pinnacle

A view of my palette

I'm still working the Aquabord Iris (I've been trying out its advertised scrubbing properties) and I will post an update soon.

However, I also wanted to mention that I will be teaching at the Hardy County Extension Service's annual women's craft retreat in October. This will be the third year that I've participated as an instructor. The Retreat begins on Friday evening, Oct. 7 and will end at noon on Sunday, Oct. 9.

I can't figure out how to link to a pdf on Blogger, so I've posted the information form on my website for download. Go to my site to see the link: http://www.waitesrunstudios.com/2011_CraftRetreat.pdf