Back to the Picture » Blog Archive » Watercolors in Bloom, 5/7

Watercolors in Bloom, 5/7 - 6/4/11

Peg Conley

Eileen Downey

Jim Gorman

Shaun Johnson

Tisha Kenny

May 7 through June 4, 2011

Artists’ Talk - Saturday, June 4, 2011 - 7-9 pm

Back to the Picture hosts a casual evening of discussion with the artists of Watercolors in Bloom, on Saturday, June 4, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. The discussion will begin at 7:30 pm. Light refreshments will be served.

7:00 pm: Doors open.

7:30 pm - 7:50 pm: Artists’ introduction & statements.

7:50 pm - 8:15 pm: Floor opens for questions.

8:15 pm - 9:00 pm: Mingling time.

Join us for an intimate evening of wine, cheese, and friends!

Artist talk moderated by Randy Figures.

Back to the Picture Gallery 934 Valencia Street @ 20^th Street - San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 826-2321

The soft, almost etherial presence of a watercolor painting often belies the talent and skill necessary to achieve such subtlety. Years of patient practice and study are sometimes required to achieve the most simple and efficient delivery of pigment to paper in the fewest strokes possible.

In Watercolors in Bloom, five artists exhibit skill honed over years of dedication to the medium, rendering images of inspiration, revelation, tranquility, solitude, and jubilation. The works on exhibition are executed in techniques ranging from traditional Chinese Sumi-e painting, mixed media works with watercolor elements, to examples of “bloom” and “tooth” utilized to achieve effects unique to the watercolor medium. The resultant paintings range from wide-open desert vistas, quiet forest scenes, to studies of botanical subjects.

Click here for a slideshow of works in Watercolors in Bloom on ArtSlant.

Learn more about the artists here.

Watercolors in Bloom - Artists’ Statements

Peg Conley

I have always been “nurtured in Nature”. My watercolors reflect my love for the beauty inherent in all of Nature. I was first introduced to the medium of watercolors many years ago when in college. My degree was in Interior Design and we learned to do our renderings in watercolor. I loved the way the medium was fluid and sometimes unpredictable. Though I took many classes in drawing, design, and photography, I never took an official painting or watercolor class. I just played with it after the rendering class. In fact, I still play with it! I continued throughout my adult life as I went about being a designer, moving “out west”, getting married, raising kids, having a career in sales, getting divorced…all the while I kept playing with watercolors. Writing in a journal and painting were constants in my life, and I always seemed to marry the two. As I work on an image, I might “get” the words that go with it. Or I might jot down some words, then recall a painting I’ve done that seems to fit perfectly with the words…that’s how “Words and Watercolors”, my unique card line, was born.

Getting married a 2nd time allowed a move to San Francisco from Seattle two years ago. We moved to the urban environment of the Bayview District (a far cry from West Seattle). Quesada Gardens quickly became one of my favorite places. One day, rather than painting flowers (my typical subject matter with a calendar titled In the Garden, published by Brush Dance for the past 6 years), the light pole and electrical wires caught my eye. After capturing the “Lines of Communication”, I was inspired to capture more images of power lines in this urban view of my new world. With the move to San Francisco, my “inner artist” has been released! I left the Corporate World to focus my attention on my Art. Last spring, I launched “Words and Watercolors”, greeting cards comprised of my two favorite mediums…my writing and painting. My watercolors have been described as elegant, delicate, and a “place where the fairies live”! I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I’ve enjoyed painting them.

Visit www.wordsandwatercolors.com - Peg Conley’s website

Eileen Downey

My relationship with watercolor has been long and intense. I’ve always loved my watercolor set: the Prang eight-color box, the German set from Frankfurt, and my current English set. The watercolor sets have traveled with me, like a car. As a child and teenager, my Prang watercolors in a grey metal box were always at hand. The foldout cover with three compartments was the mixing tray. As a teenager, I painted clothes and costumes. I often tried to discover the correct formula for painting the foliage of trees. (Later, I learned there is none.) Mostly, I was playing around. However, one time, it might have been in the second grade classroom, I tried to paint a whole scene. I had a definite idea of what it should look like. The execution fell short of the vision; but the encounter with the struggle was exhilarating.

After the university, I traveled in Europe. In Germany - Frankfurt, was it? - I gave up the most recent Prang eight-color set, for a sixteen-color set that was twice the size. This German set held half-pan cakes that were wrapped in metal foil and fitted into a black metal box. There were two foldout flaps for mixing colors. The flaps were white. After Europe, this set went with me for a seven-year sojourn in Manhattan, and then back to the Bay Area. Finally, after many years, the German set rusted out. In more recent years, I’ve squeezed watercolor paint from tubes into an English-made metal box. Also, more recently, I’ve experimented with various papers.

Watercolor paper comes in different finishes: smooth (cold-pressed), medium (hot-pressed), and rough (called rough). Each finish introduces a world unto itself. Smooth paper can give you “blooms” while the “tooth” of rough paper can render detail or texture. With “tooth” and, especially, with “blooms”, it’s a struggle to be relaxed (playful) enough to allow accidents, and yet attentive enough to recognize and use those events, or markings, as parts of the composition. Mental and physical preparation before-hand is important. I like to be well rested and to have my paints and supplies all lined up. As parts of the composition, the markings themselves are nature; that is, they show the nature of paint. What’s interesting to me is the interaction among the elements: the pigment, the medium (gum Arabic), and the paper. Watercolors in Bloom: the bouquets of springtime and the chemistry of “blooms”.

Jim Gorman

Nature elements, organic form, wildlife - these have long been prompts for my artwork. Visiting remote, unique landscapes are, for me, magnetic events. Often I will see a quality in these environments I want to expand on. The swiftness and luminosity of watercolor along with it’s portability allows for good visual notes helping me to remember how forms impressed me. I’ll bring this unfolding feeling into my studio and develop finished renderings that express my captivation. The three works shown here are from desert observations; the Great Basin, Canyonlands, the Mojave.

Shaun Johnson

Watercolors are my first love. I primarily paint in oil, but when painting flowers, nature, and objects like fruit, I choose watercolor. With watercolor, there’s a quiet sensuality to it that pays homage to such things appropriately.

Visit Shaun Johnson’s blog here.

Tisha Kenny

My paintings represent a number of different “journeys” in my life that are represented through landscapes of places I have visited and/or have been inspired by to paint. Travel sites for inspiration include trips around the United States, Japan, and Hawaii, as well as from combination of photos I take as well as from memory. In addition, long time study of brush painting, particularly flowers, and recently more “plein aire” add to how I draw inspiration for creativity. They also represent spiritual journeys through the experience of just doing art; in particular, studying brush painting and Ikebana flower arrangement. Both studies lead to representing life through “simplicity and depth”, capturing this after years of study.

The “Bone” style / technique of Chinese Brush Painting leads to letting go to the present moment to capture the energy and essence of each aspect of the painting in one stroke. The “Meticulous” technique starts with the foundation of the Sumi-e ink and builds upon that with multiple layers of ink and color to bring out the depth of the subject matter. The impressionism style of painting lets me enjoy even more my love of color and seeing its beauty in nature.

Watercolors in Bloom is curated by Randy Figures.