Northwest Watercolor Society’s Online Waterworks show through June 30, 2021
Sunshine Rose, seen above, is one of the 70 watercolor paintings chosen from 420 submissions to this show of members of the Northwest Watercolor Society where I’ve been a signature member since 2012. It’s 30″ x 22″ and currently unframed. Check out the whole show online at the NWWS web site and scroll down to browse through the paintings. This one really stands out, doesn’t it? The juror was Liana Bennett.
There’s nothing like the color orange to summon hope for a brighter day as the petals in his painting glow. This watercolor appears as an abstract because of its cropping from a photo of a yellow rose. It’s point of view is so close-up that it becomes a sky at sunrise, or a bright NW tree fungus or maybe the peel of an orange fluttering your way. What do you see?
The rose was spotted and the image, below, captured at Butchart Gardens near Victoria, BC… which is flower porn for plant lovers! There you’ll see more vivid blooms than you can possibly imagine confronting you at every turn, all cultivated in harmonious beds with other flowers. This was my reference photo.

American Women Artists Spring Online Show

This is the 2nd year I’ve been a part of an AWA’s show of amazingly skilled women artists of all mediums ….mostly representational. So, I’m now considered an “Associate with Distinction!” There were 1,223 entries, of those 120 were juried into the show by Juror Diana Reuter-Twining. If you’ve read my prior posts you’ve seen this painting before, “CascadeDance,” also 22″ x 30″, which was in last fall’s NWWS International Open show. It’s a winner and earned the Jack Richeson Award at that show!
Below is my reference photo, also from Butchart Gardens. I’ve enjoyed painting white flowers this year….finding color in them. You can see how I departed from the white dahlia photo, enhancing the shadows with beautiful blues, a warm core and particularly enjoying the dancing petals as they unfold.

Inspiration is everywhere but last year brought lots of possibilities with references from an important birthday at Butchart Gardens. Maybe it will be possible to return soon as the pandemic gets under control and borders open? Hey, it’s outdoors…..but crowded. In the meantime I still have good references from my 2019 trip to play with!
Stay well, wear a mask! Maybe one with a flower!