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"First Slow Worm of the Season" by Deborah Rush |
In this issue
- Inspiration: Deborah Rush talks about “First Slow Worm of the Season”
- 2011 Paintouts announced
- Gallery North’s February show
- Workshop: Winterscape in watercolor
- ATC swap in Nashville
- Outside BWS: Calendar of important watercolor dates
Presidential column
by Kriste Lindberg
We’re one month into the new year!
And our next meeting is right around the corner – Feb. 14. That’s Valentine’s Day. What better way to spend it than with your paint pals?
Seriously, it’ll be a good time.
We have a number of good but brief business items to discuss, including updates to meeting programs, paintouts, workshops, product information sharing, distribution of a new membership list, as well as a great program – Jacki Frey on hearts! Isn’t that just so appropriate for the holiday? Be sure to pack your paints, watercolor paper, a couple of sheets of inexpensive copy paper and scissors. She will have members design with repeating shapes and different color schemes.
We also invite you to explore the evolving Visual Arts Guild, the subset of the new Arts Alliance of Greater Bloomington that embraces our medium. You may be interested either from an individual or group perspective. Their representative, Joanne Shank, and I “did lunch” last week. We are thinking that a liaison would be helpful to expedite communication with BWS. If you are interested in filling this position, please contact me at kriste.lindberg@gmail.com . More information on the Visual Arts Guild can be found at: http://www.bloomingtonarts.org/.
Be my Valentine on the 14th.
Put the 2011 Paintouts on your calendar now
The 2011 Paintout Plan offers both rural and urban settings in Monroe, Brown and Owen counties. Paintout Chair Jacki Frey announced the following events:
April 30, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
McCormick’s Creek arched stone bridge (just past the parking area for the waterfall)
May 21, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
T.C. Steele Studio
If you want to compete in the judging, you must register ahead of time by calling 988-2785.
June 18, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Bloomington Farmers’ Market
City Hall parking lot at Morton and Sixth streets
July 16, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Member Deborah Rush has invited BWS painters to her aunt’s farm in Smithville.
Map and details will be provided.
Aug. 20, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Shop fronts at Henderson and Hillside.
Charming row of shops with interesting awnings and signage. The bonus is a topnotch bakery.
Sept. 10, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
IPAPA Paintout at T.C. Steele Studio
If you want to compete in the judging, you must register ahead of time by calling 988-2785.
Oct. 15, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Musgrave Orchard, 8820 N. Old State Road 37
Large veranda and picnic tables make this a good spot for our Paintout Finale pitch-in.
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2010 Signature Members Vi Working and Bob Burris, pictured with Dan Alexander, who as 2nd vice president was in charge of the Signature Membership Selection. Gillian Harris also was honored with Signature Member Status but was unavailable for the photo. |
Bucklew art raffle
Owen County’s Delta Theta Tau Sorority sponsors an annual raffle of a Ken Bucklew watercolor, and Zoe Dean will be selling tickets for the March 15 drawing. Tickets are one for $5 and three for $10. You can contact Zoe at sdean@bluemarble.net to buy your chances.
Looking for an ATC Swap?
If the BWS Holiday Party ATC Swap whetted your interest in these miniature artworks, check out the monthly swaps at Wishful Thinking, 59 E. Main St., Nashville.
February’s theme is Queen of Hearts. To join the fun, you make six ATCs and either drop them off at the store or mail them with a self-addressed envelope with return postage (about $1.30). The address is Wishful Thinking, P.O. Box 573, Nashville, IN 47448.
And if you need some inspiration, consider going to the Let’s Play Cards class Feb. 15 at the store. You can swap with others in the class or submit your ATCs to the store’s swap. The class is free but you need to make a reservation by calling 988-7009 or e-mailing wishful@wishfulthinking-in.com.
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Nancy Davis Metz with "P'ri Hagafen" |
Member news
James Min-Ching Yang has an exhibition of Chinese Calligraphy and Paintings at Gallery Group, 109 E. Sixth St., Bloomington from Feb. 4 to March 23.
A painting started at the Butler Winery paintout in 2009 has won a third place prize in a Kentucky Watercolor Society new member show. “P’ri Hagafen” by Nancy Davis Metz received the honor in December.
"Don't Touch My Junk!" by Jerome C. Harste was named first runner up in the Options Juried Art Show. In his Artist's Statement about the work, he wrote:
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"Dont Touch My Junk!" by Jerome C. Harste |
I’ve always been fascinated with hands in part because my Uncle Bill had hands so big he could rip the seams out of a pair of working man’s gloves just by closing his fist. In the late 2000 I wrote a piece called “Hands,” one of a series of memoirs commemorating our century –old Minnesota farm. I concluded that piece by saying I always wanted hands like that and even you, the reader, could give me a pat on my butt if you had big enough hands. When John Tyner objected to the San Diego airport screening procedures by saying “Don’t touch my junk!,” I immediately thought of hands. This time – unlike my earlier vision – I saw them as negative. This piece is meant to be critical, capturing the personal as well as impersonal invasiveness of hands on our psyche.
Watercolor Winterscape Workshop
Jacki Frey will be teaching a workshop on painting winter scenes with trees, snow and a creek Friday, Feb. 18 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“I have a variety of photos taken of our creek, and I also have a scene of a distant barn across a field in the snow,” Jacki said. She invites anyone interested in attending the workshop to look at the photos at the Feb. 14 BWS meeting and select one. That will allow participants to draw ahead of time. Jacki suggests working on a half sheet of watercolor paper but says a quarter sheet is also acceptable.
The workshop costs $40 and will be conducted at Jacki Frey’s Studio, 5024 W. September Drive in com.Bloomington. Jacki asks anyone interested in attending to please RSVP me at jackifrey@hotmail.com.
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| "First Slow Worm of the Season" by Deborah Rush |
Inspiration
For Deborah Rush, it’s all about a personal connection
You may recognize the blonde girl in the painting. She’s Rebecca, who also appeared in Deborah’s painting “Rebecca and Henry,” one of the eight paintings included in the 2010 BWS notecard sets.
The painting featured here, “First Slow Worm of the Season,” originated as a photo Deborah’s friend in England took of her daughter Rebecca and another little girl.
“Being a country girl, I could relate to how charmed these girls were by this ugly worm,” Deborah said, explaining that she likes to paint subjects that stem from memories, especially those of rural life. Deborah grew up on a farm in southern Monroe County.
She has drawn portraits since childhood and trained as a graphic artist, but she has been painting only 18 months. “I always wanted to paint when I retired,” Deborah said. When her position at IU Press was riffed, she took a class with Jacki Frey at the Waldron. “I got started in watercolor the right way,” she said.
Deborah says she doesn’t think a lot about the painting process. “I don’t plan the composition,” she said. “I draw. I add and delete. And as I work on the drawing, I can’t wait to start painting.”
Deborah achieves her delicate skin tones with Opera Rose and Cadmium Yellow, and she glazes shadows with either very diluted Indigo or Prussian Blue, a color she labels as “gorgeous.”
“As difficult as the financial future may be, I consider watercolor a real gift,” she said. “I can’t remember the last time I was so happy doing something.”
Do you have a painting you'd like to talk about? E-mail nmetz@indiana.edu to volunteer to be featured in a future Inspirations column.
Gallery North announces new hours, jewelry exhibit
Gallery North’s Midwinter Extravaganza will feature three jewelry artists : Amy Greely, Sara Applegate and Teresa Hayden. The show runs from Feb. 2 to 25, but by visiting early you can shop for Valentine gifts. The opening reception is Friday, Feb. 4, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Gallery North on the Square is now open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. or by appointment. The gallery phone is 339-5729.
Currently, BWS members Gillian Harris, Jeanne Iler, Cathy Korinek and Carolyn Rogers Richard exhibit at Gallery North.
Outside BWS
Feb. 18
Submission deadline for 5th annual Celebration of Hoosier Women Artists
Accepted works to be exhibited for one year in the lieutenant governor’s office
For more information, go to http://www.in.gov/lg/3106.htm.
March 14 – 17, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Watercolor Society of Indiana Workshop
Richard Stephens, instructor
The Woods at Castleton Apartment Clubhouse
March 28 – April 25
Cardinal Fellow Exhibit
Watercolor Society of Indiana
Hilbert Circle Theatre, Indianapolis
April 9
Submission deadline for Illinois 27th Annual Open Juried Exhibition 2011
Download prospectus at www.illinoiswatercolorsociety.org.
April 9
Postmark/E-mail deadline for Swope Art Museum’s 67th Annual Wabash Valley Juried Exhibition
Download prospectus at http://www.swope.org/forms/2011WVEP.pdf.
