Watercolor West Exhibition

I'm pleased to announce that I just received my acceptance into the 42nd Annual Exhibition of Watercolor West for my painting entitled "Blue Mosque". Watercolor West distinguishes itself from other watercolor societies by mandating that all work must be in transparent watercolor and not in other water media.

The profile of this mosque in Istanbul was so strong that I limited my palette to mostly cobalt blue and permanent orange, two of my most often used colors. The mosque isn't really blue either:).

National Watercolor Society 90th Annual Exhibition

I am very pleased to learn that my painting, Fountain, Sonoma Plaza, was accepted into the 90th Annual Exhibition of the National Watercolor Society. This is indeed an honor. The NWS show attracts submissions by some of the finest watercolorists in the country.

The show opens October 30 at the NWS headquarters in San Pedro, CA.

This painting is a studio painting based on a plein air painting I did during the Sonoma Plein Air event in 2009, which fortunately sold. I'm always attracted by fountains and water. The presence of these two elements plus the Ghirardelli Building looming in the background sold me.

Canale Grande

I was recently asked if the painting on the Epperson invitation was mine. In fact it is.

It's a painting I did a few months ago based on a photo I took from a vaporetto while leaving Venice. We were heading to the train station very early one morning and the light was magical.

I haven't worked from a photo in many, many years. So this was an experiment to see if I could ignore a lot of the extraneous information and make a painting that isn't too stiff, a common problem with painting from photos. One thing I did was I used a black and white print. This allowed me to create my own color palette and it was fuzzy enough that I couldn't rely on it for much information aside from some values.

So working from the photo was okay this time. Otherwise this image would never have been painted: the viewpoint is essentially impossible, since it was from a moving vaporetto, and the quality of light only lasted about another 15 minutes.

5 Watercolorists Exhibit Extended

The 5 Watercolorists exhibit at the Epperson Gallery has been extended to August 15th. If you haven't had a chance to see it, you'll have another month.

Art vs. Oil Spill 2

After finishing the first painting for Art vs. Oil Spill, I had to go to a dental appointment. In an effort to ignore the whining saw sound in my mouth, I tried to think of other things. One of them was a different take on the previous painting of whooping cranes. Here it is. I like it a bit more. It captured the feel I wanted in the first place.

All of the information from the first post applies here as well. Please consider visiting Zazzle.com/artvsoilspill/ and helping the wildlife of the Gulf.

Art vs. Oil Spill

Paul Jackson has put together a store at Zazzle.com to raise money for wildlife hurt in the BP oil spill. This Zazzle store features a collection of artwork donated by artists from around the world to benefit wildlife rescue operations. It's rare that artists can use their work to benefit the greater world. Due to Paul's work, perhaps this will help. Click here for the art vs. oil spill site on Zazzle.

Proceeds from your purchase will benefit an organization that is all volunteer and they will use the funds where they can do the most good.

The name of the organization is Wildlife Rehabilitation & Nature Preservation Society, Inc., or WRANPS. They were formed in 1983 and are a 501 (c) 3. Their info can be verified on Guidestar, the website that monitors US Non-Profits. Their address is PO Box 209, Long Beach, MS 39560.

Please feel free to donate to them directly. Make checks payable to Wildlife Rehabilitation and Nature Preservation Society. In the note line of your check, please include art vs. oil spill.

Thanks!


(in the note/subject line of your check, please include "art vs oil spill") Attn: Jan Dubuisson
Thank you for all that you can do to help!!