watercolor

As a new milestone in my life as a fine artist, I have earned the status of a lifelong member of The Whiskey Painters of America. May sound silly, but this is an exclusive art group with a list of requirements for membership and unique guidelines for the creation of miniature watercolor paintings with alcoholic spirits to dilute the colors. Since I first heard about this organization many years ago I was intrigued. A few months ago I did some … Read More

I’ve been busy painting, exploring a peculiar new twist on watercolors… I am using whiskey in place of water! I call these artworks whiskey-colors. This is not my unique idea; it is a technique heralded and practiced by an art group called the Whiskey Painters of America. More about that organization below – let’s get onto the fun part. Shown here are my series of six whiskey-color paintings. I painted each to represent the name of a popular cocktail made … Read More

I am proud to share my latest art show news. First, my scratchboard “I Love A Challenge” is an award-winner in the 14th Annual Exhibition of the International Society of Scratchboard Artists (ISSA). My still-life of favorite game pieces won the Ampersand Award for the Active Member Division. Forty-two artists from around the world are represented with 60 outstanding scratchboard paintings. This year’s show takes place through November 15, 2025, at the Page-Walker Arts & History Museum, Cary, NC. The … Read More

My colorful watercolor “Puppy Love” is a winner again, just chosen as 1st Place in the Community Artists League 2025 Open Show in Athens TN. The painting was selected from 84 artworks in all media, submitted by 32 artists. The juror weighed overall composition, contrast, use of medium, proportion, and other design criteria in chosing the award winner. The show is beautifully displayed at the Living Heritage Museum, Athens TN, through May 29th, 2025. “Puppy Love” was also recently one … Read More

A walk through my friend Lil’s gorgeous gardens inspired my newest scratchboard “Summer Hummer.” I had been pondering a suitable painting subject to use some new metallic watercolors. A male ruby-throated hummingbird seemed perfect, with his sparkling emerald crown and red throat. I could paint our summer visitor as if he were hovering in front of a flower to sip nectar; Lil’s brilliant red tubular flowers of “Crocosmia Lucifer” (native to South Africa) gave me the ideal floral reference. A … Read More

As you can see, it’s not a self-portrait or even a human portrait. It’s my dog Maggie, who is now 11 years old. My reference was one of many photos I took of her the first day we adopted her as a 7-lb shelter puppy. Her innocence fooled us then – she turned out to be the most challenging pup we ever raised. Today she is calm and loving, but she occasionally shows her stubborn and independent streak! Her eyes … Read More

I’ve been using all my art time recently to paint, finally taking a breather to show you what I’ve been up to. My concentration for the past couple of years has been on scratchboarding, which I love. But it was time to change gears and get back to watercolors. As a longtime member of the Tennessee Watercolor Society, I wanted to have at least two new show-worthy watercolor paintings to enter the 2024 biannual exhition, to be held in Knoxville … Read More

Knoxville Tennessee hosts a First Friday ArtWalk every month. In October two of my paintings will be featured in a gallery opening! The Emporium Center presents “As We Interpret Our World,” a special juried exhibition of artists from the 200+ members of the Art Guild of Tellico Village. My scratchboard “I Love A Challenge” and my watercolor “Blackberry Blossom” were selected to appear among 48 works of mixed media chosen for this show. But wait, there’s more… “I Love A … Read More

Since I was a child I have loved all sorts of arts and crafts projects. When I was in art school I was actually much more drawn to 3-dimensional arts, like weaving, pottery, jewelry, and sculpture. My big switch to painting came when I was teaching public school art in grades 7-12. I knew that, if I wanted to do a good job teaching drawing and painting, I needed to brush up on my own skills! I started painting in … Read More

I’ve just learned that my watercolor painting on Aquabord™ “Baby Boomer” has been awarded the 2nd Place “Award of Excellence” in the Tennessee Watercolor Society’s 2023 Online Exhibition. In chosing the show and award winners, Juror Mary Ann Beckwith said “It is a wonderful collection of paintings executed with creativity and skill exemplifying the many competent watercolorists of the TnWS. I selected paintings with strong content, design, and beauty, drawing my attention and keeping it. It was difficult to pare … Read More