THURSDAY PAINTINGS

Two of my paintings hanging at the GCWS show

Today I'm not showing a W I P, but sending you the link to go check out some information about the Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society show which is hanging now at The Barn  (Woman's Art Club Center) 6980 Cambridge, Mariemont, Ohio.

Click here for information.

QUICK REVIEW OF 2014

At the end of each year I usually take a look back at what happened in the prior Art Year.

This past year my artwork was accepted into:

• 121^st Woman’s Art Club Juried Exhibit – The Anniversary Clock won the Winsor & Newton Award
• Georgia Watercolor Society National Exhibit - Swirls
• Hoosier Salon – Japanese Tea won the Outstanding Watercolor Award and sold that evening!
• 46^th Annual ViewPoint National Juried Exhibit – Swirls and Daisies on Daisies
• The Artist’s Magazine 31^st Annual Art Competition: Still Life/Interior (Finalist) – “Oriental Roses” (Acrylic), “Yin Yang Mums” (Watercolor)
• Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s 35^th Annual International Juried Exhibition (received Signature) – Flights of Fancy
• Watercolor Society of Indiana Annual Juried Show (received Signature) – Industrial Revolution
• Two of my paintings have been published in the book Artistic Touch 6 – Red Paisley Scarf and Flights of Fancy

In addition, I held two workshops.

My plan for this year is to take time to simply produce more work, so I may not be entering as many shows this year.  It will depend on what I have available, and I’m not going to put myself under that “deadline” pressure.  We shall see!

My best wishes to all of you in your artistic endeavors this year.

WOMAN'S ART CLUB AWARD

I received my Winsor & Newton Award from the Woman’s Art Club of Cincinnati in the mail.

 

The palette closed.

The palette open - paints are in a drawer that slides out.

It’s much heavier than it looks!  I will probably not use the palette, but will certainly use the paints.  I have used Daniel Smith paints for years, but will give these W&N colors a good try in an upcoming painting.

Colors included are transparent yellow, Winsor yellow, scarlet lake, alizarin crimson, Winsor green (blue shade), cobalt blue, Winsor blue (green shade) yellow ochre, burnt sienna, burnt umber, raw umber and lamp black.

As you know, I don’t use black, but will try to find a way to incorporate it into a painting, since it’s here!

Also included with my award was a short letter from the Club’s president.  In it, she told me:  “The judge was captivated by your perspective and amazing detail.”

 

The Anniversary Clock
Winsor & Newton Award
Woman's Art Club 2014 Show

It’s always nice to know the reasoning behind an award, but you don’t always have the opportunity to hear it, so I appreciated her note.

WOMAN'S ART CLUB SHOW

Once again I was fortunate enough to have a painting accepted into the Woman's Art Club exhibit - the 121st Annual!

My painting also won the Winsor & Newton award.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be at the opening since it was the last day of the Carol Carter workshop at GCWS.

My painting on the wall.  I didn't think it made a good presentation,
but maybe I'm just being hard on myself.

However, a friend and I went out to Mariemont to view the show and have lunch - a great day - art, food and friendship!

Here are some photos from that day:

I loved this necklace.  I have tried beading, but it's
just not my cup of tea!

This beauty is a poured painting by my friend, Carolyn Hibbard.
(Sorry about the reflection, couldn't get a better shot)

Took a photo of this one for my hubby - the title is
"Now, That's A Lot of Bull"!!!

An overview of the show looking toward my painting at the front.

Photo toward the back corner.

Photo of other back corner, with my friend posing!

WOMAN'S ART CLUB 121ST ANNUAL EXHIBIT

One of my paintings was accepted into the Woman's Art Club show again this year.

This show is always excellent - made up of only women artists from the Cincinnati area!

Hope you get a chance to attend either the reception or another day while the show hangs - at "The Barn" - the Woman's Art Club Cultural Center - in Mariemont.  (See sidebar for more info).

The Anniversary Clock
Watercolor (30x22)

ADIEU TO 2013

Another year has come and gone.  Last December we survived the Mayan apocalypse; this year we survived the ravages of snow, ice and the floods they left behind.  Wonder what’s in store for 2014?

2013 was a pretty good year for me.  My artwork was accepted into:

• Rising Sun 11^th Annual Juried Exhibit
• Woman’s Art Club 120^th Juried Exhibit
• Georgia Watercolor 34^th National Juried Art Show
• 45^th Annual ViewPoint National Juried Exhibit
• Ohio Watercolor Society 36^th Annual Juried Show (Signature status)
• Georgia Watercolor Society Annual Signature Member Show
• Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s 34^th Annual International Juried Exhibition
• Georgia Watercolor Society Annual Juried Member’s Show – 3^RD Place Award
• Watercolor Society of Indiana Annual Juried Member’s Show - Award
• National Watercolor Society 92^nd Annual Exhibit traveling show

One of the bloggers recently mentioned how many paintings she had produced this year which prompted me to go back and count.  I came up with 8 completed, not counting any I did for classes.  Even though I knew the tally would be low, I’m disappointed in myself.  Perhaps I will do a quick recount, 8 seems terribly low volume! 
(Well, DUH, I just did a quick recount and came up with 13 - didn't check the "bin" paintings!)

Since my term as President of Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society will be over in March, and I don’t plan on taking on any more administrative responsibilities, perhaps this year I’ll be able to get at least** one painting a month completed – that seems like a reasonable thing to accomplish, even as slowly as I paint.  

** Note to self - "Deb, this means you can paint MORE THAN ONE PAINTING A MONTH"!

Here’s hoping that 2014 will be a productive, profitable, happy and healthy year for all of us!

H A P P Y  N E W  Y E A R!

DISTRICT CHAPTER 119 CPSA EXHIBITION

Since I had to drop off some paintings for a show, and since one of my friends has just started in colored pencil, and since the CPSA District show was on at the Mariemont Barn, we made an “art day” of it!

We enjoyed the show, and I took a few photos of my favorite paintings.

I hope that I have gotten all of the names and paintings correctly matched up here (my apologies if I did not).

Of course, a delightful and humorous lunch was enjoyed by all!  We had a great day.

Debbie Hook

Margi Hopkins



Autumn Huron



Autumn Huron

Tom Kinarny

Tom Kinarny

Vanessa Lawrence

Mike Paolercio

Mike Paolercio

Donna Schwarz

John Smolko

John Smolko

Katherine Thomas

Katherine Thomas

Katherine Thomas

According to the brochure, the show will run from September 6 – 28

Woman’s Art Club Cultural Center
6980 Cambridge
Mariemont, OH 45227

It’s certainly worth stopping by.

WOMAN'S ART CLUB OPENING RECEPTION

The Artist with her Painting - "Red Paisley Scarf" winner of the Cherry Bender Memorial Award

Last Sunday was the opening of the Woman’s Art Club 120th Annual Juried Exhibition. Wow, 120 years. And if you look at the Cincinnati Art Club’s longevity, you will see they are 121 years old. Hmmmm . . . . guess you can figure out that at that time the gals decided that if they couldn’t be in “the” art club, then they would just create their own!

The group currently has its home in “The Barn”! Sounds goofy, right? Well, the official name is the Woman's Art Club Cultural Center, and it’s actually beautiful. It’s an old dairy barn that has been beautifully renovated, located in the community of Mariemont, Ohio (pronounded Mary Mont for you non-Cincinnatians – which is pronounced Sin Sin Nat Ee, not Sin Sin Nat Ah! – unless you hail from Cincinnati, in which case that is an acceptable pronunciation!) As you can tell, the city can be confusing to furriners.

But I digress . . .

Sunday was a beautiful day for an art show, or anything else you wanted to do. My husband drove me out as he had promised he would if I won an award. The juror this year was Chris Leeper who does all media, especially a lot of watercolor, so I figured I had a fighting chance! I think he juried in a good show, not predominately any one medium or genre – and there were 21 watercolors in the mix! I did win the Cherry Bender Memorial Award, so I was very pleased. Each time I’ve entered the show my work has gotten in, but this was my first award.

As usual, the opening was well attended. It’s always fun to see people I don’t often see and catch up on what they are up to.



Some of the crowd, following the awards ceremony.

On our way home we stopped at Graeter’s (yes, again, for you non-Cincinnatians, that’s the correct spelling!) for ice cream. I was a good girl and ordered one dip of something Mike would also like and he ate half – however, I was not allowed to get “any of that coffee junk” which meant I missed out on the best mocha chip I’ve every had, anywhere! Then we also made a short diversion when we got to Columbia-Tusculum area since he was interested in looking at a few of the old Victorian houses up on the hill. Wow, and I thought Mt. Adams’ streets were steep!

My painting, behind the musicians - who were quite good!

Anyhoo . . . then it was home where I could “slip into something comfortable” for the rest of the day!

SHOWS

You may have noticed on my sidebar, two of my recent paintings have been accepted into shows.

Of course, any time that I am juried into a show, especially a national show, I’m thrilled! But I also realize that there are many, many entries in these shows, and varied jurors looking at those entries, so I’m not going to make it into all of the shows I enter.

Case in point, this year as always (or so it seems!) the painting I entered into TWSA was not accepted. This has now become a matter of pride and I’m even more determined to get into that show some day, so I’ll “keep on keepin’ on” and try, try again.

When I have a strong painting that is not accepted into a show, it can sting. But I don’t let it get me down for more than a few minutes! I’ve had several paintings that were not accepted into one show, but then accepted into the next one.

An honest judge will tell you that the judging process is subjective, and that, had they looked at those same paintings on another day they may have juried in a far different show.

So, my words of wisdom to those of you who get upset when you are “rejected” are:
• enjoy and celebrate your successes (preferably with friends and wine!)
• don’t let the rejections get you down but instead –
• review and re-critique your paintings to see where you may need to make improvements, and –
• KEEP ON TRYING!

SHOW OPENING AND APRIL FOOLS

Part of the crowd at the Woman's Art Club opening, eagerly awaiting the awards ceremony.

Sunday was April Fool's day - and our local area weather played a great joke on us, since . . . .

Sunday dawned gray, foggy, damp and cold (barely 40 deg.)!  But, meeting friends for one of our local Sunday breakfasts was a treat - not to mention yummy sausage patties, country ham, and omelette to order - cooked by the gentlemen of our local conservation club.  Yes, I said gentlemen!  That's actually one of the reasons I like to go - to watch the guys flip the omelettes up in the air and catch them in the pan - they are pretty good at it!

Anyway - following breakfast - with a surprise appearance from one of our other friends - I bundled up and read through art mags until it was time to leave for the Woman's Art Club opening.  I barely noticed that it was getting brighter outside, but when I went upstairs to change clothes I noticed how sunny it was getting - and how warm! 

Turned out to be a beautiful day - sunny and warm (75 deg) after beginning with that awful start - as though April 1 really was saying "April Fool's, you thought it was going to be a yukky day but . . . GOTCHA!"

So . . . it also turned out to be a great day for an art opening!  The Woman's Art Club of Cincinnati show opened from 1-4 (see my sidebar for more info) and I, along with many others, attended the opening.

I had just stepped inside the door when a cohort from the Cincinnati Art Club grabbed me for a chat; then on my way to the ladies room (my first stop on any formal occasion!!!) I was stopped again by another friend, her husband, and my good friend Rhonda and her husband Jerry Carpenter! 



After leaving the ladies' room, my plan was to go slowly around the room to view the show.  Didn't happen!  People kept coming up to me and chatting and before you knew it, it was time for the awards (none for me!).  More chatting and, then, suddenly, the room was almost empty! 

I finally got a chance to walk around and take a few photos before I left.

My painting, "Secrets of the Geishas" is inside the arch, second from left.