Our June Get-Together
June 13, 6 p.m.

Zoom and/or in-church Presentation. If you are vaccinated you can attend in person at the First Christian Church’s Great Hall, 205 E. Kirkwood Avenue. Free parking is available in the IU Poplars Garage, opposite the Runcible Spoon on Sixth Street. Pay parking is available on the street and in the Fourth Street Garage across from the former Waldron Building. To attend via Zoom, look for a link in an email from Joanna Samorow-Merzer or from Carol Rhodes.

AGENDA

First off: The installation of new officers by Joanna Samorow-Merzer. No Business Meeting is planned.

Following installation, Cassidy Young will introduce the 2022 BWS Scholarship Winner Jesse Kogge over Zoom. The presentation will be broadcast both in the church and to home viewers. This meeting’s presentation will be an opportunity for our members to virtually meet Jesse and to hear all about him, his art, his goals, and his future plans.

For in-person activities, bring your summer-inspired painting such as flowers, people at play, a summer event or vacation location, along with a small refreshment offering to share. Before and after the formal meeting we will be able to casually talk in the church about how our art and inspiration may have developed during the absence of face-to-face meetings.

Inside BWS

Election Results

by Joanna Samorow-Merzer
BWS President, 2021-2022

On May 9^th, the BWS election took place.  With the majority of votes in favor, the quorum was met and the proposed slate of officers was accepted.  The work of the new Executive Board will begin as of July 1^st, 2022, and will last through June 30^th, 2023.  Here are the newly elected Executive Officers:

President:  Carol Rhodes
1^st VP:  Katya Alexeeva
2^nd VP:  Andy Roberts
Secretary:  Charlotte Griffin
Treasurer:  Barbara Coffman

Congratulations to the new Executive Board!

Dues Are Due!!

FRIENDLY REMINDER: Annual dues should be paid by the end of June. As things stand, our current BWS year ends in June, and our new year runs from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.  Please check our website for the cost of different levels of membership and information regarding payment options. You may also contact Carol Rhodes, Treasurer, or Patty Uffman, 2nd Vice President, for more information. (After July 1 contact Barbara Coffman, Treasurer, or Andy Roberts, 2nd Vice President.)

BWS Membership Show!

by Jeanne Dutton

Greetings, fellow artists! It’s going to be a fun summer as we prepare for our 2022 Membership Show in October and November.

The theme this time around is “We Paint…Historic Bloomington!”  Events and activities are scheduled and there’s something for EVERYONE!

Most of you will remember the “We Paint…Cemeteries!” project and exhibit a few years back.  That was a collaborative project with the Monroe County Historic Center.  So is this one! We’re still working out the finer details, but save these dates and we’ll see you then

1. Garden Walk June 11-12Two of the homes on the walk are historic homes.

2. Docent Tour of the Monroe County Historic Center (MCHC) – FREE EVENT. Wednesday, June 15, 11:00 a.m. MCHC is providing a docent tour with Andrea Hadsell, MCHC Education Manager.  Learn about our county’s history and famous Bloomingtonians, take photos of exhibits, and enjoy the morning! Maximum participation is 20 artists. Registration starts now!  To save your space, email to me at  info@bloomingtonwatercolor.org

3. Architectural Drawing Class — Saturday, July 23, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Education Room, MCHC. Steve Dawson, well known artist and BWS friend, will instruct the class and provide a book for you to take home. STAY TUNED for REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS and FEE INFORMATION. (It won’t be a big fee, I promise!) Maximum participation is 20 students. After the class, and weather permitting, Steve will invite students to join him outside on the lawn to practice their skills.  (Thank you, Steve!)

4.  Downtown Paint Out — Saturday, August 6, 9:00 – 1:00 p.m., MCHC Education Room. MCHC will be the headquarters for the paint out for cooling off, use of rest rooms, and painting indoors, if desired. So many wonderful old buildings, including MCHC, churches, the courthouse, Princess Theatre, etc. How about the soon-to-be-shortened Johnson Creamery smokestack?!  Paint plein air or bring your photos and paint inside.  

5.  Opening Reception for We Paint…Historic Bloomington! — Friday Gallery Walk, October 7, 5:00 – 8:00, The Vault at Gallery Mortgage.

6.  Second Reception — Friday Gallery Walk, November 4, 5:00 – 8:00. The Vault at Gallery Mortgage.

7.  A SECOND EXHIBIT — Summer 2023. As a special opportunity for BWS, MCHC will host an exhibit of our paintings.  More details to come on this event as we get closer.

Bloomington Garden Walk

by Charlotte Griffin

BWS has been invited to participate with the Bloomington Garden Club in the Bloomington Garden Walk by having artists painting in each of 6 locations.   The dates and times are listed below:

Saturday, June 11, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sunday, June 12, 12 noon to 4 p.m.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

BWS considers this a Plein Air paint out.  However, BWS creates a signup sheet and the artist who signs up commits to be at the garden, rain or shine, for the time slot.  The artist should bring their gear (including an umbrella possibly) and set up in the garden so that they do not hinder the walking traffic (there can be over 800 people walking the gardens over the two days).  

There are 5 gardens plus the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center community/university garden.  There will be a flower arrangement display at Hilltop Garden for those who would like to paint Still Life.  

If you would like to participate, contact me with the garden location (address) and time that you would like to paint; I will get back to you as to whether the slot is yours. (See next article, Using the Garden Walk to Get a Jump on Our Membership Show for garden descriptions.)

Here’s an Idea: Using the Garden Walk
to Get a Jump on Our Membership Show

by Betty Wagoner

The BWS Fall Member Show is going to be “We Paint… Historic Bloomington” and here is an opportunity.  Two of the houses on the Garden Walk qualify as “Historic” because they are in Bloomington proper and were built before 1940.  

If you would like to sign up to be the artist in one of these gardens and perhaps capture part of the house in your picture of the garden, here is your chance.

Attached are descriptions of the various gardens that will be painted.  Slots are available at #3 and #4 and at Hilltop, but contact Charlotte Griffin for current information.

503 S Eagleston, built 1928.

905 S Madison St., built 1925.

1. Doug McKinney & Peter Burkholder — 2501 Cedarwood Circle. 

This garden features 10 varieties of redbuds, 22 varieties of perennial hibiscus, many irises and an uncountable number of daylilies. There is something always in bloom throughout the growing season. 

2. Jack Baker & Barbara Bulla-Baker — 905 S. Madison St .

Right onto The Stands Dr. Left on Rogers Rd., which turns into Winslow, to Rogers St. Right on Rogers. Right on W Dodds St. Right on Madison. Garden is on the left. 

This garden is a continuing work of sinuous informal beds, formal boxwood partitioned beds, and “secret garden” seating areas. Self-curated, the garden expresses the owners’ love of texture, color and scent. 

3. Victoria and Bill Witte — 1300 E. Maxwell Ln. 

Right on Dodds, cross S. Walnut St. Left on Henderson. Right on E Maxwell. Garden on corner of Maxwell and Highland. 

The addition of an owner-designed deer fence allowed for the renovation of an older gardens and the opportunity for new gardens around the house and patio. The flowering shrubs provide a habitat for butterflies, bees and birds.

4. Maurice Garnier — 925 E. University.

North on Highland. Left on University. Garden is on the right. 

Here is an outstanding example of a naturalistic, all season, meadow-style garden. The garden is a tapestry of native plants and spring bulbs, designed for continuous bloom and long-term, low-cost maintenance.

5. Richard and Conna Oran — 503 S. Eagleson (formerly Jordan) .

East on University. Left on Eagleson. Garden is at the corner of Eagleson and Hunter. 

This garden was re-designed to accommodate the loss of large trees. All the area in this small city lot has been filled with an interesting array of shrubs and assorted perennials (many native), as well as vegetables and herbs.

6. Hilltop Garden and Nature Center — 2367 E. 10th St.

North on Eagleson. Right on 10th to Hilltop Garden on the left, just before the 45/46 Bypass. 

The flower show theme, Flags and Flowers, presents delightful flower arrangements coordinated with national flags. Also at Hilltop, tour IU’s unique Shakespeare Garden containing only plants mentioned in his writings, plus the refreshing Shade Gardens. 

A Follow-Up Report:
Wiley House Museum Paint Out

by Betty Wagoner

Sandwiched between storms and rain, six BWS members attended a
paint-out at the Wylie House Museum in Bloomington.  We painted in the
Museum, on the Museum grounds, and in the Education Center (the barn).
We were greeted warmly by the Museum staff and student trainees.  All
enjoyed coffee, donuts, and cookies while painting at this pleasant and
beautiful site.  Painters include:  Barbara Coffman, Kathy Barton,
Andy Roberts, Marcie LeMasters, Jennifer Wyrick and Betty Wagoner.
Marcie and Jennifer are new BWS members.

A Little History
by Linda Bransletter, BWS Historian

I found BWS had a paint out at Bunham Woods Nursery in August 2006.  The Herald Times wrote an article titled ” Making Art Outside”.  This showed a photo of BWS artist Carol Rhodes painting at the nursery.  Also Paul Sharp had completed a sketch to help him remember the shapes and shadows as the day progressed.  Elizabeth Carey was another painter at the BWS paint out. Her painting focused on the butterflies and insects among the flowers.

Beyond BWS

The Watercolor Society of Indiana’s Juried Exhibit is scheduled to run from August 5 to September 24 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Final selection of work is pending but several BWS members have entered paintings for inclusion in this show.

The Watercolor Society of Indiana is also hosting a four-day workshop with Ken Call on “Portraits” to be held from July 5 – 8 at the Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 Meridian St., Indianapolis.

The Hoosier Art Salon’s 98th Annual Exhibition and Awards will by held at the Indiana State Museum from August 26 to October 26. Apply online from May 2 to June 10 at juriedartservices.com.

The Brown County Art Guild is putting on a fundraiser called “Art in the Garden” on July 25, 5 – 8 p.m.,in Nashville. Tickets for their annual raffle are also on sale.

Hancock County Arts 2022 Will Vawter Juried Art Show will be held from June 4 to July 16.

The Wabash Valley Artists Society juried show will be at The Arts Federation in Lafayette, September 2 – 30. See the organizations website for a prospectus and further information.  The Wabash Valley Artists Society also has several upcoming paint-outs of interest:

June 4, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Wyatt LeGrand Plein Art Workshop, 102 S 10th Street, Lafayette.

June 18, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., The Farm at Prophetstown, 5545 Swisher Rd., West Lafayette.

July 2, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Delphi Canal Days, 1030 N. Washington St., Delphi, Ind.

July 14, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. , Jerie Art Home for Bastille Day, 3635 Goodall Court, West Lafayette.

July 30, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Yea Creek Orchard — Sunflower Festival, 5618 S. 200 E, Lafayette.

Guido Frick Workshop

Upland Plein Air and the Arts Alliance of Greater Bloomington are offering a Guido Frick plein air workshop, “Adding Power and Emotion to Your Painting,” June 3 – 5. The class size is 6 to 10, and the experience is geared for intermediate and advanced painters. The cost is $550. For additional information and to reserve your place, contact Babette Ballengers. Visit https://www.guidofrickfineart.com to learn more about the instructor.

Viridian Moon Gallery plans to launch a fundraising campaign in support of this Ukrainian non-profit organization: https://shelter-plus.com/support/eng. Artists have designated a percentage of their sales during this time period to go to the organization.

Indiana Heritage Arts will sponsor the West Baden Paint Out on August 12 and 13 at West Baden Springs Hotel. Artists can paint the beautiful West Baden Springs Hotel and gardens and then sell their art in the hotel lobby on Saturday afternoon. There is no registration fee, but interested artists should call the Brown County Art Gallery at 812-988-4609.

Membership News

Andy Roberts. Here are two watercolor paintings I started last fall during Upland Paint Outs that I recently finished in my studio. The first one is a pen and ink with watercolor of a gate and stone fence at the Marshall Township Park’s “Avoca Fish Hatchery” in Lawrence County. The second one is the Tulip Trestle viewed from the observation deck.

Jerome Harste. I’ve been teaching a Zoom class on how teachers might use art to support students in becoming critically literate. We have been studying several artists including Jacob Lawrence and William R. Johnson. Adopting their techniques and following these artists’ lead, I have decided to do a series of painting on Education. Here is my first attempt called, “Teaching Critical Race Theory.” The elaborated title, which I am somehow going to affix to the painting, is: “In 2022 Texas banned the teaching of Critical Race Theory, an educational movement inviting all teachers and all students to explore the systematic causes of racism in our society for purposes of doing something to stop it. Many are questioning the constitutionality of such a law.“

MarySue Schwab. We are painting in Arizona. This is a watercolor from Walnut Canyon, Arizona.

Bill worked on this drawing of Walnut Canyon for a painting. The rim is 7,000 ft. And there are 240 steps to decend into the canyon where there are cliff dwellings. Quite a hike up!

Susan Savastuk. I currently have art work at The Dimension Mill on Madison and Rogers. I also won a second place award for my 2022 Echo Hero Art submission, entitled ”Compostables”.  I did a painting demonstration of my Covid Mask Pointillism process for the  Bloomington 50+ Expo held at Switch Yard Park.

Bess Lee. I have been influenced by a group of artists who call themselves, “Artist for Climate Awareness.” They go be to thinking about all the animals that I really love. Here are two of my most recent paintings. My plan is to continue to paint imagines that pertain to this theme.

Calendar

June 3-5 — Upland Plein Air Workshop with Guido Frick.

June 4 — Wyatt LeGrand Plein Art Workshop, Lafayette.

June 4-July 16 — Hancock Valley’s Will Vader Art Show.

June 10 — Last day to enter a painting in the Hoosier Salon’s Juried 2022 Exhibit.

June 11-12 — The Bloomington Garden Walk

June 13 — Monthly BWS Meeting, 6 p.m.

June 15 — Docent Tour, Monroe County Historical Center, 11 a.m.

June 18, — Wabash Valley Paint Out, The Farm at Prophetstown, West Lafayette.

July 2 — Wabash Valley Paint Out, Canal Days, Delphi.

July 5-8 — WSI’s 4-day Workshop with Ken Call, Indianapolis.

July 14 — Wabash Valley Paint Out, Bastille Day, West Lafayette.

July 23 — Architectural Drawing Class, Monroe County Historical Center, 10:30 a.m.

July 25 — Brown County Art Guild Fundraiser, Nashville.

July 30 — Wabash Valley Paint Out, Sunflower Festival, Lafayette.

August 5-September 24 — WSI’s Juried School, Indianapolis Museum of Art.

August 6 — BWS’s Downtown Paint Out, meet at the Monroe County Historical Center.

August 12-13 — Indiana Heritage Arts Paint Out at West Baden.

August 26-October 6 — Hoosier Salon Juried Show, Indiana History Museum, Indianapolis.

September 2 — Wabash Valley Art Show, Lafayette.

April 11 – Meeting 6 to 7 p.m.

The April 11th meeting will be in person and online. If you are vaccinated and wearing a mask, you can attend in-person at the First Christian Church’s Great Hall, 205 E. Kirkwood. If attending the meeting in person, dress in layers as windows will be open to facilitate ventilation.

Free parking is available in thr IU Poplars Garage, across from the Runcible Spoon. Pay parking is available on the street and in the Fourth Street Garage, across from the former Waldron building.

To attend the meeting via Zoom, look for the link in an email from Joanna Samorow-Merzer or from Carol Rhodes

Program: ONE STROKE FLOWERS IN WATERCOLOR by Beverly S. Mathis

DEMONSTRATION:

For a change of pace, let’s do a painting in one sitting, without a detailed plan, and
have some fun. We will capture the simplicity and beauty of flowers by using your
watercolor brushes in a new way. And learn how to paint a loose watery
foreground. What you learn can be used for a framed piece of art, or smaller
pieces such as greeting cards.

SUPPLIES:

One piece of 140# HOT PRESS watercolor paper, such as a quarter sheet of Arches
or your favorite brand, or a page from a watercolor tablet, whatever you have.

Masonite board (or other waterproof board)
Masking Tape
Assorted WC brushes in lots of different sizes and shapes (round, pointed, blunt,
filbert, flat, etc.) Any kind of synthetic, blend or sable will work.
Transparent watercolors, and opaque gouache
Palette with plenty of mixing areas
Water container
Paper towels
No.2 or HB pencil, and kneaded eraser
Masking fluid, old brushes for applying, and pickup for removing
Old Windex pump bottle, or adjustable nozzle sprayer, that makes DROPLETS of
ater and not a mist

Inside BWS

A Request From Our President

In early March, Gabe Colman gave me a tour of the Teachers Warehouse located in a former Monroe County school.  The Teachers Warehouse provides free school supplies for local teachers and their students.  There are chairs, bookcases, shelves, backpacks, books, papers, notebooks, pens, pencils, knitting supplies, and so much more.  Please check your homes and see what you have there that you could donate to the Teachers Warehouse. Every item matters. You can go to the website of theTeachers Warehouse for examples of what you can donate.

Joanna Samorow-Merzer

Ad Hoc Nominating Committee

The 2022-23 Nominating Committee is made up of Sarah Ward as the Chair and Zain Mackey and Meri Reinhold as committee members.  The committee is eager to hear from anyone who would like to serve in the vacant slots for officers and chairs. Still needed — Someone to run for President and these committees chairs: Activities, Paint-Out, and Publicity. Contact Sarah Ward or any member of the Nominating Committee (see the Membership Roster for email addresses and telephone numbers).

 Paint-Outs

Chair: Betty Wagoner reports the following:

• The May 21 paint out will be at the Wiley House.
• The June 11 and 12 paint out will be part of the Bloomington Garden Club Garden Walk. There will be a signup distributed to let members signup for a 2 or 4-hour slot to be an “Artist in the Garden” at one of 5-6 gardens that will be on display.
• The July 16 paint out will be at Hilltop Garden and Nature Center.
• The October 8 paint-out will be a Peden Farm.

Historical Note

Linda Branstetter, BWS Historican, sent in this historical note: In April of 2012, BWS had an art supply drive for Henryville Schools that were affected by the March 2nd tornado.

Outside BWS

Upland Plein Air 2022 Member Exhibition

The Upland Plein Air 2022 Member Exhibition will hang at Viridian Moon Gallery April 1 – May 15. The opening reception will be 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 2.

Votes will be taken for peoples choice awards so come and submit a vote for your favorite painting

T.C. Steele Historic Site

Cate Whetzel, Program Developers for the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites wrote to say: “Hello everyone! Please contact me if you would like to paint at the site for Arts of the Earth Day. Just a correction—the event is next MONTH, Sat. April 23, between 12-4pm.” (Cate can be contacted by email via the Indiana State Museum site on the Internet.)

Watercolor Society of Indiana

The Annual Watercolor Society of Indiana Membership Exhibit will be held at the
Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis from May 14 to July 8.
Deadline to register April 29th. $16 Entry. The Membership Exhibit Opening Reception
and Luncheon will be held on Saturday, May 14, 2022. 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm. $20 per person.

The 40th Annual WSI Juried Exhibit will be held at Newfields/Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 N. Michigan Rd., from August 5, 2022 – September 24, 2022. Deadline to enter is May 6th. Artist Ken Call, AWS, NWS, TWSA MS is this year’s juror. $35 for one entry. $45 for two entries.

Hoosier Art Salon

The Hoosier Art Salon in New Harmony announces its Spring Workshops:
John Michael Carter — 3-Day Portrait (April 25-27)
Mary Beth Karaus — 3-Day Still Life (April 25-27)
Douglas David — 2-Day Clouds and Skies (April 25-26) ;
Douglas David — 3-Day Lilacs, Peonies, and Hydrangeas (April 27-29

Workshops in New Harmony are not just about learning, they are about your experience with other artists! The April workshops are just three weeks away. Join the other artists who have already signed up.

Bloomington Portrait Group Moves Outside to Switchyard Park for Summer Schedule

The Bloomington Portrait Group will meet at the Switchyard Park Shelter from April 14 through October 27. Sessions are from 1 to 3 p.m., every other Thursday. The $30 model fee is divided among participating artists. The summer line-up includes some teenagers, the directors of Monroe County’s Habitat for Humanity and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate), and Sylvia McNair, Metropolitan Opera star, two-time Grammy winner, and IU Jacobs School of Music emerita professor.
If you would like to be included in the announcement list, email BWS member Claude Cookman, who also directs the BPG.

Member News

NEW MEMBER:  Our newest member, Marcie LeMasters, is ready to embark on a new phase of her creative journey.  Marcie has been in Bloomington since 1970 while she was earning a fine arts major in photography from I.U. and much more recently enrolled in an online watercolor class during the pandemic.  She says it piqued her interest and was a fabulous investment of $27.00!  She has been a personal trainer and yoga instructor, is now semi-retired but still works as bookkeeper for A-1 Window Cleaning Services which her late husband started.  Please join me in welcoming Marcie to Bloomington Watercolor Society!

Tim Lewis. I recently donated one of my original watercolors to WSI for their Colorvision 2022 Silent Auction. The proceeds for this auction will go towards watercolor classes for kids aged 5-12 at The Christamore House as well as demonstrations and classes in communiuties throughout Indiana. Donated paintings will hang at Sak’s Third Floor Gallery at Sak’s Fifth Avenue here in Indianapolis during the auction. More information about this activity is available at https://www.watercolorsocietyofindiana.org/Silent-Auction-2022. 

Jacki Frey. Juniper Art Gallery and Gifts in Spencer is hanging their new spring  show. I have 4 paintings in the gallery space for spring. Please check out their website at https://juniperartgallery.com  or stop by, 46 E. Market Street, downtown Spencer. 

Sandy Hall received best of Show in the Friends of TC Steele members exhibit,  held in March at the Brown County Gallery,  Nashville IN. Kudos to Betty Wagoner who organized this wonderful show.

Sandy teaches a watercolor class once a  month at the Hancock Co Arts Gallery,  20 N State in Greenfield,  IN. April’s topic is painting a feather. 

This one is a study of my granddaughter using fluid acrylics and marker on yupo. I love to paint images that tell a story. 

P. S. Forgot to include information about our Will Vawter Juried show.  Due in May for June 4 entry day.Visit website for Hancock County ArtHere’s the brochure   http://www.hancockcountyarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Vawter-Entry-Brochure-2022_Revised.pdf

MarySue Schwab. I recently won second place in the TC Steele Members show. My Painting is called, “Yellow Glen” and is oil on linen board. I have also been accepted in the129th Women’s Art Club Show in Cincinnati. The painting is a watercolor of pears on a tree called, “Study in Green.”

Susan Savastuk. My Boomingfoods Gallery B show closed on March 28^th.  I sold 30% of pieces and received 3 commissions during the 3 month show. $100 raised for Middle Way House.

                                                                        

I had 2 pieces in the Friends of T.C. Steele show at Brown County Art Gallery in Nashville. 
One piece sold. Show closed March  27^th.

__________________________________________________________________________

I entered the City of Bloomington Environmental Commissions’ Eco-Heroes Art Contest. This years theme is “Fighting Fragmentation”.  The awards ceremony will be April 23^rd @ 10:00 AM at Cascades Park.  Email Ben Sharaf at environment@bloomington.in.gov for more information.

I also submitted one piece to the Upland Plein Air Show at Viridian Moon Gallery, runs from April 1-May 15^th.

Finally, I also have a number of paintings hanging at the Art Alliance Center at College Mall.

Tricia Went. A triple portrait commission in acrylics has been consuming my studio time for the past 4- 5 months. Also, I have been showing watercolors and acrylics in several local juried shows, one recently in California, and two in the Elsinore Gallery in Salem, OR.  This summer, I plan to be painting plein aire in the Willamette Valley Lavender Festival, which culminates with a two day July show in the Chehalem Art Center in Newberg.      

I finally feel back in the groove after the move from Indiana, but I will always miss my BWS art family. 

Weekly, now that covid is behind us, I am painting in McMinnville with several artists working in watercolor, critiquing and mostly socializing!   

Kathy Barton wrote to say that her husband, Craig D. Barton, has received “Artist in Residence” status at Glacier National Park and at Crater National Park. She also has invited BWS members to come and see Craig’s photographic series, “Wide Awake and Dreaming” Show at the Monroe Convention Center, Ralph Rogers Room, Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Nina Ost. These two pictures are done by transferring photo to paper and then masking the area of lightest value and applying rose, yellow, gold and blue paint with a mouth atomizer. After the first coat is dry, you mask next lightest value and blow paint . Repeat for a few more applications until only the darkest area is not masked. When dry, peal and reveal. I’m still working on concentrating paint to control color. It isn’t cheating to do brush touch ups. I can forward specific instructions if anyone likes.  The surprise at the end is fun!

Inspirational Tips & Techniques

Brenda Ueland in her book, “If You Want to Write: A Book About Independence and Spirit“:

“When Van Gough was a young man in his early twenties, he was in London studying to be a clergyman. He had no thought of being an artist at all. He sat in his cheap little room writing a letter to his younger brother in Holland, whom he loved very much. He looked out his window at a watery twilight, a thin lamppost, a star, and he said in his letter something like this: “It is so beautiful I must show you how it looks.” And then on his his cheap ruled note paper, he made the most beautiful, tender, little drawing of it. When I read this letter of Van Gogh’s it comforted me very much and seemed to throw a clear light on the whole road to art. Before, I thought that to produce a work of painting or literature, you scowled and thought long and ponderously and weighted everything solemnly and learned everything that all artists had ever done aforetime, and what their influences and schools were, and you were careful about “design” and “balance” and getting “interesting planes” into your painting, and avoided, with the most astringent severity, showing the faintest “academical” tendency, and were strictly modern. And so on and so on. But the moment I read Van Gogh’s letter I knew what art was, and the creative impulse. It is a feeling of love and enthusiasm for something, and in a direct, simple, passionate and true way, and you try to show this beauty in things to others, by drawing it. And Van Gogh’s little drawing on the cheap note paper was a work of art because he loved the sky and the frail lamppost against it so seriously that he made the drawing with the most exquisite conscientiousness and care.”

Calendar

April 1 – May 15 — Upland Plain Air Show, Viridian Moon Gallery

April 14 — Bloomington Portrait Group, Switchyard Park Shelter, 1-3 p.m.

April 23 — Art of Earth Day, T.C. Steele Historic Site, 12-4 p.m.

April 25 – 29 — Hoosier Art Along Spring Workshops

April 29 — Last day to register for Annual WSI Membership Exhibition

May 6 — Last day to register for Annual WSI Juried Exhibition

March 14 meeting

Dawn Adams to demonstrate

painting techniques for water imagery

“Water is a dimensional element,” Dawn Adams writes. “The surface has one visual story, but what happens beneath the surface has its own story and both contribute significantly to the look of water.  This layering of realities is something I have tried to mimic in paint. Using thin layers of oils in a variety of techniques with mostly translucent glazes helps to create the visual depth of water. I will be demonstrating some of these techniques, like sponging, combing, and resist, and will also show some examples of the cumulative results.”

Dawn will bring some blank canvases and several others with a specific image in development. Each example will have another technique layered on it. She will show techniques on the blanks and then show how it has changed the painting. She will be paying attention to how long it takes to develop these consecutive paintings. She may actually paint on one or more of them or stay with the blank canvases and then show the panels she has already worked on as they are. She may bring another completed painting to point out some of the techniques. She expects to be doing this by moving panels in and out of a specified spot on the table during the presentation.

Because Dawn works in oil, it will be difficult to translate to watercolor during the demo. She suggests using the demo as a springboard for experimentation later and lists the following utensils:

• plastic bag
• combs made from erasers and other squeegee implements
• spray bottles with water and oil paint solvent
• brushes with bristles cut from them to make “teeth”
• mineral spirits
• linseed oil

The March 14 meeting will be in person and online. If you are vaccinated and wearing a mask, you can attend in-person at the First Christian Church’s Great Hall, 205 E. Kirkwood. If attending the meeting in person, dress in layers as windows will be open to facilitate ventilation.

Free parking is available in thr IU Poplars Garage, across from the Runcible Spoon. Pay parking is available on the street and in the Fourth Street Garage, across from the former Waldron building.

To attend the meeting via Zoom, look for the link in an email from Joanna Samorow-Merzer or from Carol Rhodes.

From the president 

“We Paint… Van Gogh’s World!” is on until March 27 and it is a great show. We can be proud of all the BWS artwork that is exhibited at the Vault at Gallery Mortgage. Please make sure that you go to the gallery to see the show.   will be a wonderful treat for your eyes and your soul!

I’d like to express my gratitude to many people who were involved in creating and supporting this exhibit:

• Gabe Colman for serving in various capacities: curator, judge, emcee, adviser and moral support.
• John La Bella who sponsors the Best of Show award and graciously shares his space with us for the exhibit.
• Becky Lagle for her help.
• Andrew Preston from Preston Arts Center for donating door prizes and being such a great friend to BWS.
• Susan Cull and Rebecca Stanze from Teachers Warehouse, who have promoted the show with enthusiasm.
• Emily Rosolowski for serving as one of the judges.
• Wes Lasher, videographer, for taping and editing the YouTube video.
• Cyrilla Helm at MCCSC for sending out the scholarship flier with the show info to their mailing list.
• And from our own membership I want to thank:
• Jeanne Dutton for her ideas, energy and time in organizing and creating this fabulous show.
• Carol Rhodes, Barbara Coffman, Charlotte Griffin for help with SmugMug, YouTube, Square, the website and their all-around constant support and work. Charlotte kept Jeanne going with a latte!
• Kathy Truelove Barton for her help at a very busy take-in day and for buying Jeanne’s lunch!
• And to all the BWS artists who made this exhibit so beautiful with their artwork. And to many of you who created and donated the greeting cards for sale during the March 4 reception.

I also want to congratulate our winners Barbara Coffman for Best in Show and Joe Lee for Silver Second. And congratulations to these artists whose paintings were sold: Candi Bailey, Barbara Coffman, Claude Cookman, Charlotte Griffin, Joe Lee, Penny Lulich, Denise Lessow and Sharon Parsons.

With my gratitude to all of you,

Joanna Samorow-Merzer

BWS President, 2021-2022

We Paint … Van Gogh reception

BWS finally celebrated its fund-raising show, “We Paint … Van Gogh’s World,” March 4; snow the first week of February had delayed the reception a month.

So far, eight paintings have sold, an all-time high for BWS shows, with 50 percent of the sales benefiting Teachers Warehouse. In addition, 100 percent of the sales of hand-painted cards goes to Teachers Warehouse.

All artists exhibiting work were entered into a drawing for door prizes provided by Preston Arts Center in Louisville. Charlotte Griffin took home the postcards, Nancy Metz won the Van Gogh watercolor paper, and Zain Mackey won the Van Gogh paint box. Meri Reinhold won the grand door prize: a Sierra pochade paint box.

Jeanne Dutton, coordinator for the event, offers much thanks to ALL those who helped with the show – from Patty who proofed and edited the prospectus right on through to Charlotte and Carol who helped tidy up after the reception. The artists.  Teachers Warehouse. Those patrons who purchased paintings. Our curator, Gabe Colman. Our host and sponsor, John La Bella. Our other sponsor, Andrew Preston of Preston Arts Center, who graciously donated the door prizes.

Bloomington Portrait Group work

shown at State of City event

An audio slideshow featuring more than 150 portraits by members of the Bloomington Portrait Group was shown as a prelude to Mayor John Hamilton’s State of the City Address in late February. It’s online at this URL:

Many BWS members also participate in BPG, and you will see their work in this video. 

Since January 2017, the group has met every other Thursday afternoon to draw and paint from live models. There are no dues, but participants share the cost of the model fee. Artists work in a wide range of mediums from oil and watercolor to charcoal, graphite, pastel, collage, even the old Renaissance favorite, silverpoint. All are welcome. Models represent our community’s rich diversity in age, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. During school vacations we try to schedule children. Our youngest model was 8; our oldest a nonagenarian. They also include people who help make Bloomington a great place to live. “Interesting faces, interesting lives” has become the group’s motto. In March, BPG is meeting at the Vault at Gallery Mortgage. From April through October, it will meet at the Switchyard Park shelter. Covid protocols apply.

If you have questions or would like to be put on the BPG announcement listserv, please contact the director, Claude Cookman. His email is in the Member Directory, which was most recently updated in a March 4 email from Patty Uffman.

BWS Paint Out schedule

May 21 – Wylie House

June 11-12 – Bloomington Garden Walk

July 16 – Hilltop Garden at IU

BWS doesn’t just happen;

It takes volunteers

Please consider volunteering for available vacant slots on the BWS Executive Board and committees in 2022-2023. Some of the officers and chairs will continue serving, and available vacancies are listed below. Let president Joanna Samorow-Merzer know if you have any questions If you are interested in volunteering for any vacant slot, please contact the Nominating Committee Chair Sarah Ward. Her email is listed in the Member Directory emailed to you March 4 by Patty Uffman.

BWS Executive Board Officers Available Slots 2022-2023

President – Presides over all regular meetings. May attend all committee meetings, except the nominating committee, as an ex officio member. Oversees Executive Board and Chairs. Signs checks.

1st Vice President – Presides over all meetings in the absence of the president. Becomes president of BWS in the event that the office of president becomes vacant. Oversees the Show Committee.

Secretary – Keeps a record of all meetings including board  meetings. Beginning in July of even numbered years, reviews the By-Laws along with one other member.

BWS Committees Chairs Available Slots 2022-2023

Activities – Ensures that BWS offers at least one workshop, paint-outs and other activities.

Paint-Outs – The term on this position is from January 2023 through December 2023. The Chair ensures that BWS provides opportunities to work en plein air, planning paint-outs. Please note that Betty Wagoner will end her term as the Chair with the final October 2022 paint-out.

Publicity – Distributes information about BWS, using appropriate media.

Refreshment – Works with the committee to provide refreshments at meetings, receptions, and other group functions.

Scholarship – Oversees, with the committee, the scholarship application process and assures delivery of the scholarship in appropriate form. Please note that Jeanne Dutton is willing to either continue or to step down if someone else wants the position.

Show – With help from volunteers, the Chair leads the annual Membership Show in the fall and arranges a venue for the annual member show for the next year. Please note that Jeanne Dutton manages the Winter Benefit show/Art of Chocolate.

Reminder:

“Like” the BWS page on Facebook.

Remember …

… April 2012 when the Bloomington Watercolor Society teamed up with the Parks and Recreation Department to paint pictures of local parks.   Deborah Rush had her painting selected to go on the front cover of the Parks and Recreation Departments Program Guide from May to August. Delores Schnider and Diane Probst had their paintings illustrated on the inside cover.

Member News

Tim Lewis was recently elected to the Watercolor Society of Indiana Board of Directors as Annual Juried Show Chair for 2022 and 2023. He has also been busy showing his work. He will have three paintings at the Watercolor Society of Indiana Show at Whitewater Valley Arts Association gallery in Connorsville. This show runs from April 3 through May 5. He also is showing two paintings at the Art of Transportation show at the 20 North Gallery in Greenfield. That show runs from March 2 through 26. Tim also had two paintings in the Nature’s Inspiration show at the Cool Creek Nature Center in Fishers last month

Friends of TC Steele Member Art Show runs from March 5 – 27 in the Stevens Education Studio at the Brown County Art Gallery. A number of BWS members have paintings in the show.

Andy Roberts sends along two photos of recent paintings done in Florida. “Sanibel Post Office Circa 1926” was exhibited at the Sanibel Historical Village and Museum on Sanibel Island during the month of February and was sold while on display. The second painting is a fun rendition of a popular restaurant on Captiva Island, “The Bubble Room,” a very eclectic place. “I hope everyone in Bloomington is getting through this winter and looking forward to spring and painting outdoors in Indiana,” Andy writes.

Three BWS members have had work juried in to the 2022 Kentucky Watercolor Society Aquaventure Show. Sara Steffey McQueen’s “Lotus Mandala,” Penny Lulich’s “Last Catch” and Nancy Metz’s “Honey Horn Camellia” and “Vevie’s Morning Glories” will hang at the Lyric Theatre in Lexington, Ky., until April 15.

Stephen Edwards has received word that “Sky Pilot” has been awarded an Honorable Mention in the 2022 Abstracts International Light, Space & Time Exhibit. “As I don’t do many abstract paintings, it was a pleasant surprise to get this award out of over a thousand entries,” Stephen writes.

Jerry Harste, who has been “wintering” in Myrtle Beach, writes: “To pass the time I have been trying my hand at painting the marsh at Pawley’s Island. A close-up called “Marsh Water” is my third painting in what has become my marsh series. The first two marsh painting can be seen on Facebook). In addition, I have been showing some of my work at the William H. Miller Gallery here in Myrtle Beach and am happy to report that my “Zen Reader” sold as part of the 11th Annual Collectors’ Event sponsored by the Burrough-Chapin Art Museum.

Kitty Garlock says she rarely finishes a painting, especially in the last two years when one would expect to be prolific. “So since I just finished one I want to share it,” she says. “This is the home of my good friend Teresa Kinder whose only daughter was married in Australia last October (needless to say no one was allowed into the country at that time so Teresa did not get to be there). I wanted her daughter to have a memory of her home living so far away so I picked up a painting I had started in 2019 at an Upland paint-out at Teresa’s house and gardens and finished it for Lily and Lewis when they visited recently as their country just opened up. So now she has a little bit of home at their home in Australia.”

Beyond BWS

Well-known artist Luke Buck will demonstrate his watercolor and gouache techniques at the Brown County Art Guild March 19 and 20. Painters of all skill levels will benefit from his honed mastery and many years of teaching. The workshop, “Watercolors with Luke Buck,” will be housed at the Guild and lunch will be catered. $225 members, $250 non-members. For more information, go to https://browncountyartguild.org/product/watercolors-like-buck/.

The Upland Plein Air 2022 Member Exhibition will hang at Viridian Moon Gallery April 1 – May 15. The opening reception will be 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 2.

Jasper Community Arts is looking for solo and group exhibits for 2023 to fill our new galleries in the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center! Email submissions or questions to visualarts@jaserindiana.gov. The deadline is March 11. 

From Hayley Parnell, the marketing director for Mallow Run Winery and The Sycamore Event Center in Bargersville, Ind. “Every year we release our special Artist Series wine with a local artist-created label on the bottle. This year we are happy to dedicate our proceeds to the 100th Anniversary of the Historic Artcraft Theater in Franklin, Ind., and encourage artists to submit artwork inspired by this wonderful local business. The link to the information page for any artists interested in entering this competition is https://mallowrun.com/artist-series/. The deadline is March 15.

Calendar

March 14 BWS Monthly meeting. 6 p.m. Online and in person at First Christian Church, 205 E. Kirkwood

Now – March 27 “We Paint … Van Gogh’s World,” The Vault at Gallery Mortgage, 121 E. Sixth St.

March 11 Deadline to apply for 2023 exhibition at Thyen Clark Cultural Center in Jasper, Ind.

March 15 Deadline to enter Mallow Run competition

March 19-20 Watercolors with Luke Buck Workshop, Brown County Art Guild

March 28 Pick up paintings from “We Paint … Van Gogh’s World” 10 a.m. to Noon

April 1 – May 15 Upland Plein Air 2022 Member Exhibition, Viridian Moon Gallery, with reception April 2, 3 to 5 p.m.

May 21 Paint-out at Wylie House

June 11-12 Paint-out at Bloomington Garden Walk

July 16 Paint-out at Hilltop Garden at IU

February Program
February 14 via Zoom, 6 p.m.
Painting Easy Trees in Watercolor
by Carol Rhodes

There are as many ways to paint trees as there are artists who paint them. In a hands-on demonstration over Zoom, Carol Rhodes will show you some quick tree-painting techniques. After viewing a couple of short videos, she will show you how to make foliage with a brush using a dabbing method and a stabbing method on both wet and dry paper, and then demonstrate the use of two types of sponges. She will talk about the nature of various tree types, the colors you might use for wood and foliage, and how to make spontaneous branches with brush strokes. 

Supplies to bring:

Paints and Brushes:

• a variety of greens, blues, and violets
• Burnt Sienna
• Indigo
• Cobalt Blue
• Cadmium Yellow or Cadmium-free yellow
• NOTE: Cheap paints are fine. Sponges will absorb lots, so you may not want to waste your expensive tubes.

• #10 round or larger
• a mop brush
• a smaller brush with a pointed tip

Sponges:

Sea sponge
Cellulose sponge (O-Cello or Kroger brand. They are the kind that dry hard.)

Watercolor paper, practice-grade
Large plate or mixing surface
Water container
Paper towels
Plastic or tub for underneath your work surface. Sponging gets messy!
Rubber gloves optional

A Note from BWS President
Joanna Samorow-Merzer

“I’d like to announce that the Nominating Committee has been appointed.  Please meet our three-person Nominating Committee:

Sarah Ward – Chair
Zain Mackey – Member
Meri Reinhold – Member

I want to thank Sarah, Zain and Meri for their willingness to serve in this capacity.  The Nominating Committee will select a slate of officers for the next administrative year 2022-2023.

Some of the Officers & Chairs will continue, but we have these available vacant positions for the next year starting in July 2022 – ending in June 2023:

Executive Board

1. President
2. 1^st Vice President
3. Secretary

Committees

• Activities
• Paint-Out – the term on this position is from January 2023 through December 2023.
• Publicity
• Refreshment
• Scholarship
• Show – please note that the Show Chair is needed for the annual fall show (Jeanne Dutton manages the Winter Benefit show)..

Those of you who are interested in serving as Officers on the Executive Board or Chairs on the Committees, please contact the Chair of the Nominating Committee, Sarah Ward.  Sarah’s contact info is in the membership roster.”

Inside BWS

“WE PAINT…Van Gogh’s World!”
February 4 – March 28, 2022
An Exhibit Benefitting Teachers Warehouse!

The Bloomington Watercolor Society winter show is proud to support Teachers Warehouse, an outstanding organization which touches all our lives in one way or another.  Founded by the Rotary Club of Bloomington, Teachers Warehouse serves over 2000 teachers from across five counties by providing free books, classroom supplies, and furniture.  https://teacherswarehouse.org/

Original paintings are on exhibit at the Vault at Gallery Mortgage, 121 E 6th Street, Bloomington, Indiana.  Wall art, artist prints and original hand-painted greeting cards will be available at the reception desk.   Cash, check, or credit card accepted.  To purchase paintings from the exhibit, please contact Teachers@BloomingtonWatercolor.org.  Note that 50% of wall art and prints benefits Teachers Warehouse, and 100% of greeting card sales.

Opening Reception:  Gallery Walk Friday, February 4, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.  Mask required.
Second Reception:  Gallery Walk Friday, March 4, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.  Mask required.

Gallery exhibit hours are 9:00 – 5:00, Monday through Friday, February 4 – March 28, 2022.

Beginning February 5, the online exhibit of “We Paint…Van Gogh’s World” can be viewed at https://bloomingtonwatercolor.smugmug.com/We-Paint-Van-Goghey 

Showing at
The Vault at Gallery Mortgage
121 E 6th Street, Bloomington, IN 47408
VIRTUAL OPENING RECEPTION and AWARDS: Gallery Walk Friday, February 4

Gallery Hours: 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday;
9am – 8pm Gallery Walk Friday, February 4
9am – 8pm Gallery Walk Friday, March 4

Door Prizes: As a reward for entering, Preston Arts Center in Louisville has donated:
Van Gogh Watercolor Pad Value $20.75
A set of 25 Van Gogh brand postcards  $15.55
A Van Gogh watercolor pocket box with 12 pans and SMRP $67.55
A Plein Air Pochade box, value $156.

A Historical Tidbit

Linda Bransletter, BWS Historian, reported that she found an article in the Herald Times dated June 3rd, 2012 on Connie Bronson who passed in November.  Connie designed a mural at Renwick Village called “String Ensemble”.   Her watercolor was transferred to vinyl measuring 18 1/2 ft. square and was visible from Sare Road on the side of the Renwick multi-story buildings.   The mural was to be changed periodically so it may not be there now.   But the article talked about Connie taking up painting at 65 and winning numerous awards.   Her paintings, the Times reported “made people smile.”

NEW MEMBER JOINS BWS

We would like to welcome Pamela Cotton to our growing organization that now has 90 members!  Pamela was nice enough to write a brief introduction, recently sent to our membership chair, Patty Uffman.

Hello.  I am Pamela Cotton and have recently moved to Bloomington.  My professional training and practice has been as a clinical psychologist.  I currently teach and write about psychological resilience.  I have begun to experiment with water color and Haiku to express some of the ideas.  I am a beginner in terms of painting and drawing, and I want to bring beginner’s mind to this art form.  I look forward to meeting all of you and learning together.  Thank you for welcoming me.

Outside BWS

Friends of T.C. Steele, Member Art Show

The Friends of T.C. Steele Show is open to all members of Friends of TC Steele.  Non-members may enter the show by joining the Friends at the show registration.

Show Details.

Win up to $1000.
Show Dates: March 5 – 27, 2022.
Location: Brown County Art Gallery, Nashville, IN.
Registration deadline: February 21, 2022.
Delivery Date: February 26 and 27, 2022, 12 -3 p.m.

Do you have a child or grandchild who would like to exhibit their art
in a show?  Added this year is a youth category for anyone 18 and
under.

2022 New Harmony First Brush of Spring Art Sale

Attention Artists! Great news for this year’s traditional Art Sale!  We are reducing the commission rate for this event!

Everyone knows that New Harmony visitors love to patronize the arts.  Simply put, they want more art at our sale!  To meet that demand, we have dropped our commission rate to increase artist participation. Artists will retain 90% of the purchase price at our traditional Art Sale in the Ribeyre Center (Gym). We want artists to sell more work and give buyers an array of art choices. BOOTH SPACE IS LIMITED 

Hoosier Salon will handle the event promotion and you will handle the sales. You can also help promote by posting on your website, Facebook and Instagram accounts. The Ribeyre Center is located at the corner of Main and Tavern Streets, under the clock tower.

Our traditional Ribeyre Center Art Sale will occur Saturday, April 23 from 9 am–12 p.m. Our Saturday only Art Sale in the main gym will be operated by you or a representative for you. The booth space available is approximately 9’ X 9’ for a $100 fee if received before March 1 and a $125 fee if received after March 1. You must provide the display and easels; tables are provided. This operates on an honor system. Artists are expected to provide the Hoosier Salon with the 10% commission of total sales before May 23, 2022. Hoosier Salon, PO Box 338, New Harmony, IN 47631.

Bring your painting(s) between 8 and 9 a.m.  Sale begins at 9 a.m. and continues until 12 p.m.  All paintings and displays must be removed following the sale. There is no limit on the number of paintings if you stay within the allotted space, but you must provide your own easels or display. Panel rental for your booth space can be reserved by contacting Linda Volz at lvolz@hoosiersalon.org

AquaVenture 2022 — Call for Artists

The Kentucky Watercolor Society is excited to announce information regarding the AquaVenture 2022 exhibition and to encourage members and non-members to submit entries for the show. This exhibition will be held as an in-person exhibit at the Lyric Theatre, 300 E. Third St. in Lexington from March 7- April 15, 2022. We want everyone to enjoy the art in a safe manner and ask that all who come to view the show wear a mask when visiting the gallery.

CALENDAR
Entry Deadline- Friday, February 4, 2022
Notification- Monday, February 14, 2022
Delivery- Thursday, February 24, 2022
Opening Reception- Friday, March 11, 2022 5-8 PM
Show Open To Public- March 7- April 15, 2022
Pick up work- Saturday, April 16, 2022

4th Arts of Earth Day — April 23
T.C. Steele State Historic Site

On Sat. April 23rd, T.C. Steele State Historic Site will hold its fourth Arts of the Earth Day. Because it is the same day as the Wildflower Foray the event is now being advertised as free outdoor grounds for everyone. 

T.C. Steele welcomes artists to register and paint outdoors on site from 12p.m. to 4p.m. Cate Whetzel asks artists to email her (museumcommunication@indianamuseum.org) with their name and estimated timeframe at the site (ex. first and last name, painting from 12-3pm). Cate will create a guest list of participating artists. In appreciation T.C. Steele offers registered artists a visit to the Large Studio and complimentary bottled water, coffee or tea in the Visitor Center.

Cate hopes to have artists of all mediums! Arts of the Earth is a program to welcome spring and the return of warm weather, and to offer our visitors an inspiring day outdoors. Although we cannot guarantee it, it’s likely the daffodils will be in bloom!

Cate also reported that T.C. Steele is adding a Teddy Bears’ Picnic for kids from 1-2 p.m. in the hopes of drawing kids and families. Admission for the Teddy Bears’ Picnic is $4/kid. No charge for an accompanying adult.

Please Note: The Teddy Bears’ Picnic will require a wristband. Visiting the Large Studio or House on a scheduled tour at 10:15, 1:15 or 3:15 will require full site admission  (Admission is free for Registered Artists but for others: $10/adult; $8/senior; $5/child).  The House and Studio will NOT be open for self-guided visits, but Cate said she would be happy to take a registered artists-only group into the Studio in the afternoon.

Art Illiana Gallery: Call for Artists

Show Title: Phenomenon (Open to all North American Artists)
Opening: Friday April 2, 2022 
Closing: Friday June 3, 2022 
Arts Illiana Gallery, 23 N. 6th Street, Terre Haute, IN 47807 

Call for Entry January 7, 2022
Deadline: March 18, 2022

Opening: April 1, 2022
Closing: June 3, 2022

Guest Curator: Donna Meyer

Member News

Candace Bailey wrote to say, “This toaster was a white elephant Christmas present to a family member. We tried it out last night. It actually works and the image on the toast is fairly accurate.”

Kriste Lindberg.  “This watercolor and ink painting is inspired, in part, by Van Gogh as well as a recent trip I made to the Indianapolis Zoo for the holiday festivities.  It was quite surprising to see live flamingos amongst the chilly holiday lights!”

Zain Mackey. “Had a day of thinking about science fiction and hauled out the cling wrap. Here is the watercolor result, called ‘Birth of a Planet.'” 

Susan Savastuk

“I have a show up at Bloomingfoods West on 6th St. in their Gallery B. There will be an open reception on February 4th from 5-8 during the gallery walk. The show runs until March 27, 2022.

 I will be participating in the BWS Van Gogh show at the Vault. My painting is entitled, ‘Artist Studio’ It is an oil on canvas board, 6″x6”.  The studio belongs to my neighbor Vida Stanfield.

I am involved in a commissioned project to paint on book covers for an art collector in Richmond IN. The smooth surface of the white book cover is very responsive to oil paint. Title: ‘Time Standing Still’,  11’x 8” oil on smooth surfaced book cover.”

Sara Steffey. “I’ll be in a small group exhibit for the month of February at By Hand Gallery in Bloomington (inside Fountain Square Mall). The Exhibit title is ‘Stories of the Ancestors‘, and the opening reception is February 4^th, 5—8 p.m. The painting I’ll exhibit is titled ‘My Ancestral Wall,’ and is done on canvas in acrylic.

Also, I’m bringing some heart paintings into the Arts Alliance Center Gallery for February. There are a few BWS members that exhibit in the Mall Gallery & Community Space.”

Andy Roberts. “This is a small pen and ink- watercolor I did this week in SW Florida. I am enjoying the Plein Air Painters group that I belong to here. We paint every Thursday at a different location. Weather has been cooler than normal but not like Indiana.” 

Henry Leck. “I took two paintings over to the Brown County Art Guild. The painting entitled ‘Snow Packed Path’  received Honorable Mention.”

Kathy Truelove Barton. “I have 2 pieces entered in The Art Guild Patron Show in Nashville, Indiana. My painting is titled ‘Between Chores’ and was painted on property belonging to Harry and Anabel Hopkins in Brown County Indiana. Anabel rejoined our BWS for 2022.  Welcome back Anabel. The show at the Guild closes February 19th with awards on that day and is open to the public with masking and distancing requested; see the web page for hours and directions.

MarySue Schwab wrote to say that although see didn’t get to the gallery prior to drop-off for the Van Gogh show, she would like to share her sunflower piece –acrylics on a clay relief, in a shadow box. MarySue said she was glad she made the effort as it is now ready for another show! Sunflowers on this very cold day! Stay warm everyone!  She closed by saying she was planning on working on some spring flowers today.

Katya Alexeeva. “My panting “Mystical Visit” won 3^rd place in The Brown County Art Guild Patron Show. This painting was done in oil on canvas 24″x30″. Attached is the short Russian story that inspired the painting. The Patron Show is at the Art Guild in Nashville. It is open to the public. It closes February 19th with an awards ceremony.”

 Tom Cat and Angel

 “Peace upon you”, Angel said gently, having a seat on a thick branch near Tom Cat shaking the snow off from the branch.   “Hello!”, responded Cat uncovered his green eye, looked over Angel and turned away.

Angel hid his bare feet under his wings and looked down.  A snowy yard full of laughter, screams and squeaking footsteps was lying beneath them.

 “You’ve climbed high “, Angel said, assessing the distance to the ground.

  At least a snowball won’t reach here.

Angel nodded with understanding and picked up his hanging wings.  They kept silent for a while.

“Have you come for my old lady?”, without turning his head, asked Cat.

Cat’s voice was lazy, but Angel immediately saw the pain and anxiety surrounding him.

 “No, I’m not going to take anyone”.

 “A-a-a”,—a cloud of anxiety has been broken.  “She says every day that soon an Angel will take her”, explained Cat.  “I see, probably another one will come”.

They were quiet, but apparently Cat was concerned about Angel’s presence and he asked as indifferently as possible,   “Well, why are you here?”

-Well, I am taking a break and sat down. I saved a kid in your town himself. Oh, that’s a tough job. I’m on my way home now.

-So, you are ……. Can you cure a disease?

 – Depends on the disease. But I can do a lot, I am a Guardian.

“So, why are you sitting here!!! “, Cat roared.  “Come on!”

 And he, like a red-headed vortex, hit the ground. The Angel landed nearby quietly.

 The old lady was so skinny, that it took Angel some time to see her among the pillows.

Her eyes were closed and her chest was stirring, filling the room with a wheeze,  whistle and sobs.

Angel bent over her, put white wings on her chest, and whispered something gently and quietly.

While he was standing there, Cat threw some wood in the oven, shoved a cold kettle on the stove and put a large cup of milk, pouring some herbs in it – preparing a drink for the mistress. /   dusting

When the Angel straightened up, the old lady’s breath became smooth and quiet, and her cheeks gained color.

  “Let her sleep,” said Cat to Angel, “she is so weak”.

 Cat turned away and quickly wiped his eyes.

“I guess, I’ll stay here”, said Angel, stirring up the honey. “Until Anna gets up”.

 How do you know that she is Anna?

 I am Angel and I know your name is Murr

“So, I think we’ve kind of met”, chuckled Cat.   ‘And what do I call you?”

 We don’t have names. I am just Angel.

  Cat silently moved up the cream to Angel and took a sip out of the mug.

The wall clock was ticking over the table, the firewood was crackling in the stove, and the wind was growling outside the window.

 “You asked me, why I climbed so high”, chuckled Cat suddenly, “it comes out I had been waiting for you”.

And listening to the wind the Cat thoughtfully added, “I have to knit you socks.  Well, you are barefoot in the snow…”

Membership Tip & Techniques

Bess Lee: Use up Your Paints and Play! While I was painting my piece for the BWS Van Gogh exhibit, I had a new thought and a new idea for practicing – without expectations or boundaries.  I have been trying to figure out a way to PRACTICE more knowing it will improve my skills without being disappointed in what I’m doing…letting go enough to practice.

So, I had leftover paint, this time acrylics, (but I also did this same “freeing” experiment with watercolor that I had squeezed out of the tubes). I had finished my piece, had paint left over and I said to myself “just PLAY with this paint”.

So I looked at about 15 more Van Gogh images and just started painting. (This also reminded me of the MUSE-seum class that Carol Rhodes and Nancy Metz are teaching again in the spring time. If you’ve never taken it, I highly recommend. I’m taking it myself for the fourth time.). So I took my leftover paints and I just said “play! play! play! Here was my result.”

Good practice and a LOT of fun.  My new “go-to” for practicing… use up those leftover paints!

Carol Rhodes: Paint Like the Masters. Carol shared some tips from taking a “Paint Like the Masters” course in which Van Gogh was featured:

1. Allow brush strokes to show, giving the impression of movement.
2. Particularly in background areas, emphasize stroke.
3. Use opaque colors—strident, bluish greens and blues are prevalent in many paintings. 
4. Paint complementary and contrasting strokes next to each other (called “simultaneous contrast”). Portraits often contain reds and greens in staccato strokes.
5.  Use broken dark lines (especially very dark blue) to define shapes.

February Calendar

February 1 to 19 — See Sara Steffey”s work at By Hand Gallery, Bloomington.

February 1 to 19 — See Brown County Art Guild Patron’s Show, Nashville.

February 4 — Virtual Opening Reception of Van Gogh Show at Gallery Mortgage, 5 – 8 p.m.

February 4 — Opening Reception of Susan Savanuk’s Show at Gallery B, Bloomington.

February 4 to March 28 — Van Gogh Show, Gallery Mortage, Bloomington.

February 4 — Deadline to enter AquaVenture 2022.

February 14 — BWS Business Meeting and Program, Zoom, 6 – 8 p.m.

February 19 — Closing and Awards Ceremony, Brown County Art Guild Patron’s Show.

February 26 to 27 — Delivery date of paintings for Friends of T.C. Steele Show.

March 1 — Deadline to reserve booth at New Harmony’s First Blush of Spring Show.

March 5 to 27 — Friends of T.C. Steele Show, Nashville.

March 7 to April 15 — AquaVenture 2022 Show, Louisville, KY.

March 18 — Deadline to enter Phenomenon Show in Terra Haute.

April 2 — Opening of Phenomenon Show in Terra Haute.

April 23 — 4th Arts of Earth Day at T.C. Steele Historical Site.

April 23 — Ribeyre Center Art Sale, New Harmony.

January 10 meeting

Watercolor pencil and watercolor painting

The January meeting will be a 6 p.m. Zoom meeting; no one will be gathering at First Christian Church that night. Watch your email for the Zoom link.

Following a brief business meeting, Betty Wagoner will review a few examples of watercolor pencil artworks that have and have not employed watercolor paints. She will then lead members in an exploration of a few watercolor pencil techniques and some color-mixing techniques combining both mediums. Using both watercolor pencils and watercolor can provide a greater range of colors and values. The program will be a combination of demonstration and viewer participation.

Supplies needed for the watercolor pencil and watercolor paint program:

• a watercolor brush (round) #4 or #6
• watercolor pencils in primary and secondary colors
• watercolor paints in primary and secondary colors or whatever is on
• your palette
• 3-4 small pieces of #140 watercolor paper or thick paper, as found
• in journals for water-based mediums. (Scrap paper will do. It is
• important not to use standard weight paper, such as typing paper.)
• pencil
• water

We Paint … Van Gogh’s World

by Jeanne Dutton

It’s time to prepare for our first BWS show of 2022, a show that will benefit Teachers Warehouse!

Take inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh’s swirls, stars, self portraits, sunflowers and vibrant colors.

Here are the links to the full prospectus and a few links to inspire you:

https://bloomingtonwatercolor.org/home/activities/member-shows-workshops/show-rules/prospectus/

The first deadline is Jan. 10 when you should submit an image of your painting if you want it to be considered for publicity. Please send to Teachers@BloomingtonWatercolor.org.

Delivery date is Feb. 1 at the Vault at Gallery Mortgage, 121 E. Sixth St., #1, Bloomington. The Opening Reception is during the Feb. 4 Gallery Walk.  

All paintings must be for sale; 50 percent of the sale will go to Teachers Warehouse.

BWS Art Scholarship Fund Auction

Artwork by BWS artists generated $461 in sales through the online auction sponsored by the Foundation for Monroe County Community Schools. Seventy percent of that goes to the BWS Art Scholarship, a total of $322.70.

A big THANK YOU to these participating artists for their generous donation: Jerry Harste, Charlotte Griffin, Phil Bowsher, Jo Weddle, Connie McEntyre, Linda Branstetter, Bess Lee, Kriste Lindberg, and Lynne Gilliatt.

And thank you, too, to those who participated as bidders!

Clockwise from top left: .Members made three-dimensional ornaments. The First Christian Church tree was adorned with the BWS ornaments. Jo Weddle outlines the evening’s schedule. Bundt cakes were given to members at the party and to those participating through Zoom. Carol Rhodes moderates the Zoom session with BWS President Joanna Samorow-Merzer addressing the group from the screen. Carol Rhodes displays one of the three-dimensional ornaments for the Zoom audience. Diane Thrasher, Bob Thrasher, Sharon Parsons, and Sara Steffey McQueen enjoy the gathering at First Christian Church. Jacki Frey points out a card to Jerry Harste as Barbara Coffman examines another. Members painted cards for an exchange. (Photos by Claude Cookman/Bundt cake photo by Candi Bailey)

Holiday Party: An in-person event!

by Jo Weddle

Twenty-two members attended the BWS holiday party at the First Christian Church this year. Five additional members connected to this event through Zoom in their homes. Reports from those in attendance say they really enjoyed the evening; the thing they enjoyed most was being able to be together after being separated by the pandemic for such a long time.

Tasty individual bundt cakes and mixed nuts were served along with cold punch and/or hot tea or coffee.

Many brought artistically painted postcards and creatively made ornaments to place on a BWS Christmas tree in the church’s Chapel Gathering Place.  Through a drawing, everyone who brought a postcard took home one or two cards made by someone at the party. We all enjoyed looking at the cards and ornaments everyone made; what a creative group of members we have! Thanks for planning and assisting with the party go to Carol Rhodes, Charlotte Griffin, Diane Thrasher, Jeanne Dutton, and Mary Walker.

Obituary

Connie Brorson, founding member of BWS

Connie Kay Brorson, 87, passed away Nov. 28 in Naples, Fla. She was a founding member of BWS and with her husband, Carl, had hosted BWS paint-outs and holiday parties at Meadowood for years.

The obituary published in Indiana.funeral.com included this paragraph:

“After retirement in 1991, she and Carl moved to Bloomington IN where she soon made many friends and took up Watercolor painting. Her watercolor paintings were a way of sharing her imagination and joy of life with others. With bold colors and curving lines, she painted swaying forms to represent a familiar image in a whimsical way. Her goal was to capture cheerful and often humorous spontaneity in her paintings. She was a member of the Bloomington Watercolor Society and the Watercolor Society of Indiana, and displayed her works in museums, official buildings and various art galleries.”

Memorial donations may be made to the Laughlin Family Fund at the Rush County Community Foundation, 117 N. Main St., Rushville, IN 46173. This fund supports a monetary award for outstanding first-year teachers in Rush County, Ind., Connie’s birthplace.

Member News

Henry Leck has a show coming up in January at Viridian Moon Gallery. The opening reception is Saturday, Jan. 8, 3 to 5 p.m.

Lynne Gilliatt is preparing for her 2023 show at The Vault at Gallery Mortgage. She will have a joint show with Jean Haley, who dyes the wool pieces on which Lynne does here abstract stitchery.

Andy Roberts sent in paintings from an Ivy Tech Class, Discovering Your MUSEum, taught by Carol Rhodes and Nancy Metz. “If you have never taken a class with Nancy and Carol, then I would encourage you to do so,” he wrote. “Their classes are a way to stimulate new ideas and artist growth while learning from them and fellow students. I am sharing my paintings from the most recent class. The first two are on Yupo and the third one paper, all watercolors. “

Paintings by Andy Roberts: Goose Pond November Sunset, Hopkins Pond Lilies, and Water Lily Adventure

Beyond BWS

Eric Rhoads is hosting Watercolor Live, an online conference Jan. 27 – Jan. 29. The faculty includes top watercolor artists such as Carol Carter, Alvaro Castagnet, Thomas W. Schaller, Birgit O’Connor and many more. Go to https://event.watercolorlive.com/tickets for information, pricing, and registration.

Friends of T.C. Steele Art Show will run from March 5 to 27 at the Brown County Art Gallery in Nashville, Ind. The show is open to all members of Friends of T.C. Steele. Non-members may enter the show by joining the Friends at the show registration. The registration deadline is Feb. 21. The delivery dates are Feb. 26 and 27, from noon to 3 p.m., and the pick-up date is March 28 from 1 to 3 p.m. Do you have a child or grandchild who would like to exhibit their art in a show? Added this year is a youth category for anyone 18 and under. The Prospectus is at https://tcsteele.org/2022-member-art-show-registration/. Artists may register online or print the PDF form and mail it. For more information, contact BWS member Betty Wagoner.

Calendar

Jan. 8 3-5 p.m. Opening reception for Henry Leck’s show at Viridian Moon Art Gallery

Jan. 10 6 p.m. Monthly BWS meeting, Zoom only; no in-person meeting

Jan. 10 Deadline for submitting publicity image of painting for the “We Paint … Van Gogh’s World” to Jeanne Dutton

Jan. 27 – 29 Watercolor Live, an online conference

Feb. 1 Deliver paintings to The Vault at Gallery Mortgage for the “We Paint … Van Gogh’s World” show

Feb. 4 Opening Reception for the “We Paint … Van Gogh’s World” show

Feb. 21 Deadline for registering to enter the Friends of T.C. Steele Art Show

Feb. 26-27 Deliver paintings to The Friends of T.C. Steele Art Show at Brown County Art Gallery

March 5 – 27 Friends of T.C. Steele Art Show, Brown County Art Gallery

March 28 Pick up paintings from the Friends of T.C. Steele Art Show

Holiday Party — December 13

Our Annual Holiday Party will be held Monday, December 13, at First Christian Church, 205 East Kirkwood, Bloomington. Starting time: 6 p.m. or ONLINE from 6:30 to 7:00.

Members and guests are invited. This year it will not be a dinner but a dessert, and everything is entirely complimentary. At the party, attendees will enjoy personally wrapped individual Bundt cakes of their choosing, hot coffee and tea, and cold holiday punch.

To stay at home, but contribute a card and/or ornament to receive a Bundt cake, email Jeanne Dutton jeanne.dutton@att.net by December 7th.

Here are the Party Details:

 This year’s Holiday Party is to be a social evening – an opportunity to be together. During the party there will be an optional activity if you are motivated to create some festive art. You can choose one or both of these alternatives.

• You can bring one or two painted watercolor postcards made on any theme (a greeting card like “thinking of you” or “get well”; a special occasion holiday card such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, etc.; a scene from a place you have visited or a local feature, etc.) You can purchase ready-made watercolor postcards or cut a card out of your own watercolor paper (4 x 6 inches in size). The idea is to bring one and take one someone else made home, or bring two, take two home.
• You can make one or more small painted structure(s) that could be made to hang on a tree. We will place our creations as ornaments onto a holiday tree, to leave at the church during December and half of January. Artists will be able to take their pieces home sometime after Epiphany. (Aquagami is a great way to participate; see Nancy Metz’s Pinterest page at https://www.pinterest.com/ndmetz/aquagami/ .)

If you can’t meet in-person but want to partake:

• All at-home members are invited to join virtually for a half an hour or so while we show everyone’s artwork.
• If you create and contribute a piece of art, you can get a little Bundt cake as a gift from BWS. Here’s how:
  • Before the party, Carol Rhodes will arrange to pick up your creation and deliver a Bundt cake to you. (She’ll be in touch about the schedule.)
  • At the party, we’ll do a Zoom so you can connect to everyone and view a display of the artworks of fellow BWS members along with yours.
  • If you do choose to stay at home but send your artwork, please email Jeanne Dutton at Jeanne.dutton@att.net by the end of the day on December 7. (She will be ordering the cakes and coordinating with Carol.)

The deadline to say you were coming to the church was December 1 as we needed to know how many to expect to plan for refreshments and table setup. So December 7 is your last opportunity to participate. We’d love to see you on Zoom if not in person.

January Program News

Betty Wagoner will conduct the January 10 program entitled “Watercolor Pencil and Watercolor Painting.” Here is what Betty said about the program: “We will explore a few watercolor pencil techniques that can be used with watercolor painting. Using watercolor paints can provide more colors than available in watercolor pencils, notably by mixing colors. We will review a few examples of watercolor pencil artworks that have and have not employed watercolor paints in the artworks. Because of the Zoom format, the program will be primarily demonstration, but it will be possible for viewers to try out a few techniques while watching the program.”

Inside BWS

A Note from Our BWS President

Every year the BWS president, with the help of the board,  appoints a three-person Nominating Committee to select a slate of officers for the next year. I hope you will consider volunteering some of your time for the Nominating Committee. Being on the Nominating Committee will not absorb a lot of your time; it’s a short term commitment. Those of you who would like to serve on the Nominating Committee, please contact me. Thank you, Joanna Samorow-Merzer

Ride Sharing

Some of our members have difficulty driving at night and getting to the in-person meetings, especially during the winter.  To make it easy for these members, people can now write to carpool@bloomingtonwatercolor.org asking to join, and Carol Rhodes will subscribe them to a list connecting those who are interested in rides.  Members can chat with each other about ride-sharing by sending email to carpool@bloomingtonwatercolor.org. Carol Rhodes is monitoring the list and can help arrange rides to and from meetings.

Announcing the BWS Benefit Exhibit
February & March 2022

“We Paint…Van Gogh’s World!”

Stars! Swirls! Sunflowers! Self Portraits! Vibrant Colors!

What does the man, the artist, his work, inspire in you??

The Vault at Gallery Mortgage once again welcomes BWS for our annual benefit exhibit. 

Any 2D medium is welcome in this show, so get creative!  Three judges will determine who wins the cash prizes for Best of Show and Silver Second.  Artists who enter a painting will have their name put in a hat for the drawing for door prizes donated by none other than Andrew Preston of Preston Arts Center. (Heads up!  The grand door prize is a Sienna Pochade Plein Air Paint Box Medium, value $156!)

This year, our BWS show will benefit an outstanding organization, one which touches all of our lives in one way or another…Teachers Warehouse!   Founded by the Rotary Club, TW served over 2,200 teachers from across five counties in 2020-2021.  Check them out at https://teacherswarehouse.org/

Watch your email for all the details and the full prospectus and video links that will certainly inspire you.  Here’s one now!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHnRfhDmrk

Delivery is Tuesday, February 1, 10-12.

Deadline for photos for the SmugMug gallery and publicity is January 10.

Questions?  Email Jeanne Dutton at Teachers@BloomingtonWatercolor.org

Outside BWS

Friends of TC Steele

Betty Wagoner, BWS Paint Out Chair, announced that the Friends of TC Steele Member Art Show will be held March 5 to the 28th. This information will be added to the BWS Show Calendar and to Brushstrokes once the prospectus is complete.

Think About Giving Art this Holiday

Every weekend between now and Christmas the Arts Alliance Center in the Bloomington College Mall is open for business, featuring local artist, many of whom are BWS members. Christmas is a great time to give a piece of original art to a friend whether authored by you or one of the members of our group.

Art Illiana Gallery — Call for Entries

Art Illiana Gallery (26 N. 6th Street, Terra Haute) has an open call for entries to “The Crow Show.” Entries can be submitted between now and December 24. The show will run from January 7 through March 18. Entries must be original works in any art medium and completed within the last 5 years. For more information see the prospectus.

https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.artsilliana.com/EmailTracker/LinkTracker.ashx?linkAndRecipientCode%3DnM3B5ZASEa5zihBWht%252bZndWFXeo01x9iXwNurCe2aUd%252bfL9Xqgp7WplzP%252bPTOFeknZMcly9EUu9Mz9T5s7LZcZQCZTSYLp88d0Ox%252bL0dVyY%253d&source=gmail&ust=1635615995870000&usg=AFQjCNGGoLPyWI2NLmKPwPfXV0gSmWx4dA

Show Calendar

As a service to its members, BWS is initiating a show calendar project – a listing of upcoming shows that may be of interest to BWS members. We want our exhibitors to have an easy way to find upcoming opportunities, and we want to encourage those who are less experienced or new to exhibiting.

The show calendar will be updated and sent to you every month as an attachment to the email announcing the publication of Brushstrokes.

The December update to the Show Calendar is attached to the email announcing that the December Newsletter is now online. This is a list of upcoming shows and exhibition opportunities that may be of interest to BWS members.

Barbara Edmonds, who complies the information on this spreadsheet for BWS, asked that we emphasize that members please send any information for local area or regional shows to showinfo@bloomingtonwatercolor.org. She also wants members to know that all the ONLINE COMPETITIONS are usually INTERNATIONAL, and thus they are listed at the very last of the spreadsheet. 

Membership News

Mary Sue Veerkamp-Schwab has been commissioned to paint a mural on the office wall at St. Paul Newman Center in Bloomington. The wall will have icons of the 2 saints of the parish and two of the archdiocese. Featured will be inspiring quotes from the saints. “The whole piece will come together by creating a background that will appear to be marble or an old manuscript. I am having fun creating the faux cracks“ says MarySue. MarySue has extensive experience teaching using her calligraphy skills in her art. One of her secrets is to use a level to get each line straight. “It’s time consuming but worth it in the end. I use white charcoal pencil to make the lines, which are easier to remove than pencil.” 

Congratulations Kitty Garlock!! In May of 2019 BWS had a paint-out at the Hinkle-Garton Homestead on 10th Street with a show that followed where all the pictures produced at the paint-out were for sale.  Kitty Garlock donated her picture “Call to Lunch” for possible future use or sale to Bloomington Restorations Inc, the foundation that maintains the home.  Little did she know that the foundation would eventually create a cookbook of Daisy’s recipes around this idea and use her painting for the cover. 

On Saturday, December 3rd these books will go on sale at the homestead for $14.95.  Kitty states that it was an unexpected honor for the foundation to use her painting for the book cover and she is proud to represent both Upland Plein Air and Bloomington Watercolor Society in this project. 

The accompanying photo was taken from the Hoosier Times Home page, Nov. 13, 2021.

Tips & Techniques

Motivate your Art Practice with Small, Quick, Daily Paintings 

Editor’s note. This is another in an occasional series of tips and techniques from fellow BWS members. Please share your ideas and images with Brushstrokes’s co-editors Nancy Davis Metz and Jerry Harste.

Text and images by Claude Cookman

Is it just me? Or do you also have trouble finding the motivation to go into your studio and paint regularly? Perhaps the solution is to lower our ambitions — to work small, quick, and daily.

I have lost track of how many large, ambitious paintings I’ve started, only to lose interest or get stuck and toss them on my unfinished pile. Invariably, it takes days or weeks to psych myself up to begin another big project. 

In early November I started a practice that motivates me to work, primarily because it lets me finish every painting. Few ideas are original and I discovered this one years ago in Carol Marine’s book, Daily Painting: Paint Small and Often to Become a More Creative, Productive, and Successful Artist. I was reminded of it recently by a YouTube video. The concept is to create small paintings, in a limited time frame, every day, or as often as you can.

I work with pastels, but you could use watercolor, oils, acrylics, ink, indeed, any medium. I have chosen a 6- x 6-inch format, but any small format will suffice. I try to finish my pieces in an hour or less, which keeps me from overworking them. Many of us aspire to paint more loosely. A short time frame helps achieve that quality. 

For me, it’s important to draw from a physical, three-dimensional motif. So, I set up a still life, limited to two items, the night before and arrange the lighting. You could work from photographs or sketches and choose any motif or genre. Most nights, I also select my palette of pastel sticks.

Much of the creative fun comes from choosing the objects. Because I love to cook, a lot of the paintings showcase food. I like to juxtapose organic with human-made objects; rough textures with glass, plastic or metal; verticals against horizontals. I also like to arrange items that might suggest a narrative or pick two objects so incongruous they leave the viewer scratching her head. 

Organizing the night before lets me get started first thing in the morning when my energy is high. It also allows my subconscious to percolate overnight. Often, I awake with ideas about the composition or color scheme. For example, the actual background of the accompanying examples is a white sheet. The painted backgrounds all flow from my subconscious as I play with color and abstract mark making. 

This approach lets me experiment without worrying about ruining a high-stakes painting. I have several brands of pastels from hard to soft sticks, pan pastels, and pencils. And I paint on five different surfaces from grit to velour. I’m only beginning to explore the permutations. 

Working small, quick, and daily lets me practice my craft without the pressure of having to make a perfect painting. I learn almost as much from a small painting as a large one. Composition, color scheme, value structure, edges, focal point, and other decisions are necessary for a painting of any size. Past a certain point finishing large paintings often becomes just a matter of rendering.

When I do my next large piece, I expect the skills I have internalized through this daily habit will manifest themselves in my intuitive mark making. To help ensure this, I keep a journal in which I record my discoveries and articulate my process for each painting. 

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Best of all, I awake most mornings excited about going to my studio and working. Finishing a painting almost every day motivates me to start the next one. 

December Calendar

Between Now and December 13 — Make a card or “structure” for BWS Holiday Party.

Between Now and December 31– Make a 2021 tax deductible donation to BWS Scholarship Fund.

Between Now and February 1– Create a painting for the BWS Benefit Show (Delivery of painting will occur on February 1; Photos for SmugMug Gallery are due January 10).

December 13 — BWS Holiday Party, First Christian Church.

December 24 — Last day to submit paintings to “The Crow Show” in Terra Haute.

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BWS November Meeting — November 8, 6 p.m.

Attention: The November Meeting will be a Zoom Meeting. To attend the meeting via Zoom, look for the link in an email from Joanna Samorow-Merzer or from Carol Rhodes.

Program:

At the November meeting Cassidy Young will be highlighting photoshop tools and techniques. She will be going over the most commonly used reasons 2D and traditional artists use photoshop and she will compare photoshop with other free or low-cost apps and websites that provide similar tools. 

Inside BWS

Announcements

President Joanna Samorow-Merzer wants to remind members that volunteers are needed to serve on the Ad Hoc Nominating and Publicity Committees (either full-time or single assignments). 

Jeanne Dutton wants to remind members that they can display a piece of art or sets of cards for sale on the FMCCS online auction site. All that is needed is a good photo and a description. Seventy percent (70%) of any sale goes to our BWS scholarship. Contributions are due no later than November 22.  The auction, itself, will be held November 29. Contact Jeanne Dutton for assistance at jedutton@att.net

New: A BWS Meeting Ride-Share

Some of our members have difficulty driving at night and getting to the in-person meetings during the winter.  To make it easy for these members, Carol Rhodes came up with a plan to create: carpool@bloomingtonwatercolor.org. People can now write to that address asking to join and Carol will subscribe them. Those who sign up will get alerts about new subscribers, and as more accumulate, the members can start chatting with each other about ride-sharing.

Visit the BWS 2021 Membership Show

The BWS Member Show opened at the Viridian Moon Art Gallery on October 1 and will be open for visitors until November 13. 

Everyone in BWS, including our President Joanna Samorow-Merzer, wants to thank the committee for organizing the show: Jacki Frey, Kathy Barton, Cathy Korinek and Andy Roberts.  Joanna adds, “Special thanks for designing the flier to Tim Lewis and Kathy Barton. I want to thank Carol Rhodes and Charlotte Griffin for creating our online exhibit at SmugMug gallery and many thanks to Irina Shishova and Katya Alexeeva for making it possible for BWS to have the exhibit at the Viridian Moon Gallery. Congratulation to the award recipients and to all members who provided artwork.”

Representing the Show Committee, Kathy Truelove-Barton, declared that there were 15 attendees at the Opening of the Membership Show held on October 9.  She congratulated the following members who won awards for the works they were showing:

• Jacki Frey, First
• Mary Sue Schwab, Second
• Philip Bowsher, Third
• Gallery Choice went to Susan Savastuk, with the runner up award going to Barbara Coffman

Please Take Note:  Pick up date for the BWS show is November 17th between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

BWS’ Annual Holiday Party
Your Participation is Important

Our Annual Holiday Part will be held Monday, December 13, at First Christian Church, 205 East Kirkwood, Bloomington. Starting time: 6 p.m.

There is no cost to attending this year as all expenses are being covered by BWS. Please feel free to bring your spouse, a partner, or a guest. The only requirement is that you register by December 1 as BWS needs a count. Joanne Weddle, Program Chair, explains this year’s holiday swap:

“First you may create one or two watercolor postcards in a design of your choice.  People can make their own postcards from just a sheet of watercolor paper (4″x6”).  If we meet face-to-face, I will have postcards at our November meeting for people to pick up and use.

Second, members can create a “structure” out of watercolor paper such as a Christmas ornament or a Christmas decoration. Little wooden easels are available from Etsy.com. They promise 24 hour delivery.

Remember to register for the Holiday Party by December 1 by sending an email to jweddle2@comcast.net

Support the BWS Scholarship!

Jeanne Dutton submitted this report.

This past spring 2021, we weren’t able to award our scholarship to a deserving MCCSC senior.  Getting the word out was a bit difficult.  But with students back in the classroom and communication support from Teachers Warehouse, perhaps we can make the award in 2022!

Here are two ways you can help bolster the scholarship fund.

1, Make a tax deductible donation to the Foundation for Monroe County Community Schools!  Just go to Donate to Foundation of Monroe County Community Schools and fill in the form.  NOTE:  In the comments section, please say, “For the Bloomington Watercolor Society Scholarship.”  Easy peasy!

2, The FMCCS online auction!  The 2020 auction raised $190 for the BWS scholarship fund, as FMCCS directs 70% of whatever a piece of art sells for to our fund.  Please consider offering a piece of art, original greeting cards, or print.  Items are due by November 22.  The auction, itself, takes place on November 29. For more information on how to offer an item for the auction, please contact Jeanne at info@bloomingtonwatercolor.org, or Cyrilla Helm at FMCCS, mhelm@mccsc.edu.

Thank you in advance!

Announcing the BWS Benefit Exhibit
February & March 2022

“We Paint…Van Gogh’s World!”

Stars! Swirls! Sunflowers! Self Portraits! Vibrant Colors!

What does the man, the artist, his work, inspire in you??

The Vault at Gallery Mortgage once again welcomes BWS for our annual benefit exhibit. 

Any 2D medium is welcome in this show, so get creative!  Three judges will determine who wins the cash prizes for Best of Show and Silver Second.  Artists who enter a painting will have their name put in a hat for the drawing for door prizes donated by none other than Andrew Preston of Preston Arts Center. (Heads up!  The grand door prize is a Sienna Pochade Plein Air Paint Box Medium, value $156!)

This year, our BWS show will benefit an outstanding organization, one which touches all of our lives in one way or another…Teachers Warehouse!   Founded by the Rotary Club, TW served over 2,200 teachers from across five counties in 2020-2021.  Check them out at https://teacherswarehouse.org/

Watch your email this week for all the details and the full prospectus and video links that will certainly inspire you.  Here’s one now!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHnRfhDmrk

Delivery is Tuesday, February 1, 10-12.

Deadline for photos for the SmugMug gallery and publicity is January 10.

Questions?  Email Jeanne Dutton at Teachers@BloomingtonWatercolor.org

Outside BWS

NEW! Show Calendar

As a service to its members, BWS is initiating a show calendar project – a listing of upcoming shows that may be of interest to BWS members. We want our exhibitors to have an easy way to find upcoming opportunities, and we want to encourage those who are less experienced or new to exhibiting.

The show calendar will be updated and sent to you every month as an attachment to the email announcing the publication of Brushstrokes.

The November update to the Show Calendar is attached as an email to this Newsletter. This is a list of upcoming shows and exhibition opportunities that may be of interest to BWS members. To suggest additions to the show calendar, send a newsletter, web site, email – whatever – that includes a link to the prospectus to showinfo@bloomingtonwatercolor.org. 

The following announcement (Art Illiana Gallery — Call for Entries) is an example of the type of information that is available on the November Show Calendar.

Portrait Group featured in Herald-Times

The Bloomington Portrait Group, which shares many members with BWS, was featured recently in a Herald-Times article accessible at this URL:
https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/local/2021/11/02/pdvnch-models-bloomington-portrait-group-first-session-since-covid/6181908001/

The model was Bloomington poet and designer PDVNCH, who performed a poem he wrote about his experience modeling for the group in early 2020. 

With fall’s cooler weather, BPG has moved indoors, meeting every other Thursday afternoon at the Vault at Gallery Mortgage 121 East Sixth Street. All are welcome. For more information, contact Claude Cookman at ccookman@indiana.edu

Art Illiana Gallery — Call for Entries

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Art Illiana Gallery (26 N. 6th Street, Terra Haute) has an open call for entries to “The Crow Show.” Entries can be submitted between now and December 24. The show will run from January 7 through March 18. Entries must be original works in any art medium and completed within the last 5 years. For more information see the prospectus.

https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.artsilliana.com/EmailTracker/LinkTracker.ashx?linkAndRecipientCode%3DnM3B5ZASEa5zihBWht%252bZndWFXeo01x9iXwNurCe2aUd%252bfL9Xqgp7WplzP%252bPTOFeknZMcly9EUu9Mz9T5s7LZcZQCZTSYLp88d0Ox%252bL0dVyY%253d&source=gmail&ust=1635615995870000&usg=AFQjCNGGoLPyWI2NLmKPwPfXV0gSmWx4dA

Look for other opportunities to show you work at the email attachment to this Newsletter!!

77th Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition

Opening Reception andAward Ceremony

Friday, November 5th, 5pm – 8pm

Join us this Friday, November 5th for the opening of the 77th Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition! We will be hosting a reception from 5pm – 8pm on the 3rd floor as part of First Friday to celebrate the featured artists and their works. Be among the first to check out the exhibition on the 2nd floor. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres from Gingersnaps Coffee House & Cafe and a cash bar from Verve Cocktail Lounge. Stick around for the awards ceremony to hear a word from juror Drék Davis about the 77th Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition and the outstanding works included.

Hancock County Art Gallery

Sandy P. Hall wrote to say that she is offering one hour sessions at the Hancock County Art Gallery during the month of November. The subject is still-life and the theme is “birds.” Sessions average five participants with supplies provided by the gallery. The charge for each session is $30 with proceeds going to paying the heating bill for this non-profit gallery. Contact sandyphall13@gmail.com for more information. The Hancock County Art Gallery is located at 20-A North State Street, Greenfield, Indiana 46140.

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Sell Your Art at Holiday Fair

There is still room in the Holiday Shows every weekend during the month of November at the Arts Alliance Center in the Bloomington College Mall.  Booth fees start at $50 for the weekend. Artists can share a table with a friend(s).  For more information contact coordinator.space@bloomingtonarts.org

Upland Plein Air Show

Consider yourself invited: The second opening of the 2021 Fall Member Exhibition of Upland Plein Air is November 5 from 5-6 p.m. at the Vault, Gallery Mortgage, 121 East Sixth Street, Bloomington, IN, 47401.

Member News

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Welcome Zain Mackey!! Zain is a new member of the Bloomington Watercolor Society.

On behalf of the organization we look forward to getting to know you and appreciate your sharing two of your latests works (above).

Jacki Frey. Here is a couple of recent works:

“Red barn ..Vermont” (above) is going to the Indiana Pein Air Painters member show. The show is at the Harrison Art Center, 1505 Delaware Street, Indianapolis and runs from November 5 through December 31.

The yellow house (see opening of the Newsletter), located in a westside neighborhood of Bloomington, was painted yesterday and today. 

Steven Edwards. Only two items to offer for the newsletter. The Award winners for the Philadelphia Watercolor Society’s 121st Annual Works On Paper were announced on October 24th. It is with great pleasure to announce that “Looking For Patch” was given the “Award for Excellence in Water Media”. The show was juried by Ray Balkwill for selection and Mary Whyte for awards. The exhibit will be on display at the Community Arts Center, Wallingford, PA now thru November 23^rd. Here is a link to the exhibit:

Philadelphia Water Color Society – Home (wildapricot.org) 

Also “Soulmates” was accepted into the 77^th Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition by juror Drék Davis. The exhibit will be on display at the Swope Museum in Terre Haute Indiana, November 5^th thru January 6^th. Awards and reception to be held on November 5^th.

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Timothy Lewis. I will be delivering my watercolor, “Inflation”, to Fishers City Hall Art Gallery next week for the Watercolor Society of Indiana show there running from November 4th through the 28th.

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Among my paintings in October I did a three painting series on the driftwood we saw along the beach on Pockoy Island, a part of the Botany Bay Plantation Preserve in South Carolina. These are only three of the dozens of dead trees bleached along that beach.

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Barbara Coffman. My ink and watercolor portrait was accepted into the 77th Wabash Valley Exhibition at the Swope Gallery in Terre Haute. The exhibition opens on Friday, November 5. This is my first juried show!

The painting – “Conscience of the Congress” – is my tribute to John Lewis, U.S. Congressman from Georgia, who passed away last year.

MarySue Schwab. When I wrote to Mary Sue asking if she had a photo of the painting she submitted to the BWS Membership Show for publication in this Newsletter, she asked that I remind members that she gives private art lessons to anyone interested. With some 40 years of teaching experience and her artistic acclaim this is a great opportunity to learn from one of our best. MarySue also announced that she and her husband, Bill, both had paintings juried into the 2021 Richmond Museum Art Show in Richmond, Indiana.

Jerome Harste. I want to share a new children’s book that I think bears your attention. In my estimation it is children’s literature in a new key. This book is written so that it allows readers to use their iPhones to point at QR codes and hear the music that accompanies the text. The url below takes you to a video that allows you to experience what I see as a breakthrough in an art field close to lots of members’ hearts. I also see it as a possibility for artists of all ilks to add a new dimension to their work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QsrRBkzOmo

Dates to Remember

• November 8 — BWS November Meeting via Zoom, 6 p.m.
• November 17 — Pick up paintings — BWS Membership Show.
• November 22 — Last day to submit item to the FMCCS Online Auction.
• December 1 — Deadline for registering for BWS Holiday Party.
• November 1 and December 13 — Make a card or “structure” for BWS Holiday Party.
• November 1 to December 31– Make a 2021 tax deductible donation to BWS Scholarship Fund.
• November 1 to February 1– Create a painting for the BWS Benefit Show (Delivery of painting will occur on February 1; Photos for SmugMug Gallery are due January 10).
• December 13 — BWS Holiday Party, First Christian Church.
• December 24 — Last day to submit paintings to “The Crow Show” in Terra Haute.

Remember: “Every artist was first an amateur”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Oct. 11

Let’s get ready for our Holiday Party

This year BWS members are invited to create two items for the holiday party on Monday, Dec. 13. First, you may create one or two watercolor postcards in a design of your choice. Members are also invited to create a “structure” out of watercolor paper. At Monday’s meeting Joanne Weddle will share examples of both cards and structures.

To attend the meeting via Zoom, look for the link in an email from Joanna Samorow-Merzer or from Carol Rhodes.

If you are vaccinated and wearing a mask, you can attend in-person at the First Christian Church’s Great Hall, 205 E. Kirkwood. If attending the meeting in person, dress in layers as windows will be open to facilitate ventilation.

Free parking is available in the IU Poplars Garage on Sixth Street, across from the Runcible Spoon. Pay parking is available on the streets and in the Fourth Street Garage, across from the former Waldron building.

Annual BWS paint-out and picnic

at Switchyard Park shelter

Saturday, Oct. 9

Starting at 10 a.m., Lunch at 12:30 p.m.

Stay as late as you like

Bring art supplies or an art project plus a brown-bag lunch. Paint or sketch this beautiful park and enjoy a picnic lunch with BWS friends. Coffee, iced tea, cups and ice will be provided. This is not a shared lunch because of COVID-19. Sweets or snacks that can be prepared and offered safely would be greatly appreciated.

The main entrance to the park is on Rogers Street between Rockport Road and Grimes Street. The parking lot at the Rogers Street entrance is the closest to the shelter. Restrooms are near the shelter.

Masks are required when not maintaining social distance.

Carol Carter shares her

‘imaginary color’ approach

at BWS fall workshop

by Claude Cookman

The artist swishes her No. 10 brush in a gallon bucket of clean water, leans over the table and saturates a gladiolus petal with the clear liquid. She charges the brush with Alizarin Crimson, touches it to the water, and we watch with her on a large digital screen as the brilliant red explodes — branching out in a thousand bifurcations — across the glistening surface.

Then Carol Carter, the artist, transforms into Carol Carter, the teacher, and 18 of us in the Great Hall of Bloomington’s First Christian Church plus another seven on Zoom follow her as she guides us through painting our own vivid glads.

During a two-day Bloomington Watercolor Society workshop in early September, Carter, an award-winning artist and teacher who lives in St. Louis, shared her process and immersed us in her “imaginary color” approach.

BWS Treasurer Carol Rhodes, who did an immense amount of work coordinating the event, explained why she invited Carter: “Her abstract approach to painting and her deeply saturated, fantastical use of color is unlike any of our recent presenters.”

Carter’s method

Carter describes herself as a cell painter, completing one shape, or cell, at a time. She starts from the back and paints forward, saving the focal point for last. “Think of the paper like a stage,” she says. “You are setting the stage for the main character.”

The text on Carter’s T-shirt read, “Just Add Water,” and she lives up to that motto by resolutely painting wet into wet. “You can never have enough water” is a mantra she repeats frequently. She wets each cell with clear water before adding paint. All mixing is done on the wet paper, never a palette.

She also uses fresh paint. Instead of rewetting cracked, caked pigments in palette wells, she squeezes out a pea-size dab of each color. She likens this to eating fresh, instead of stale, vegetables — the best way to get vibrant color.

Carter calls herself “a one-and-done” painter, meaning she gets the colors, values, and paint density on the first application. She does not add paint after the first round dries, limiting any adjustments to occasionally softening an edge to make a transition between shapes.

The major technical skill she wanted to teach was how to break down a reference photo into a drawing we could paint from. “Reference photos give you every nuance — too much information!” she exclaimed. “Get just the essence.”

She urged us to simplify by omitting unimportant detail and by seeing component shapes instead of subjects. She elaborated with an example from her student days. In a life-drawing class, she was struggling to capture the model’s elbow. After several failed attempts, she had a break-through: Don’t paint the elbow, she realized, paint a beautiful shape. Viewers will figure it out.

Carter’s most distinctive technique put a contour line around most of those shapes. After wetting a cell, she had us paint the edge with a small brush, applying half the paint inside the wet shape and half outside. Using a brush with clear water, we feathered out the paint on the inside and finally painted the shape with a base color, often applying a second color. She painted most of her shapes with thick pigment, created gradients, and in some places feathered lighter densities out to paper white.

Imaginative color

Many of us signed up for Carter’s workshop after seeing her creative approach to color in her online galleries. We were not disappointed.

“Color is a connective voice,” she said in an interview. “Color can win you an audience when an image can’t.

“Don’t use local color,” she insisted. “Get away from brown hair, flesh skin. Change it up a bit. Play with color.”

“Realistic color is: a brown door equals sepia, burnt sienna, and brown pigment,” Carter explained. “But inventive color is: a brown door is a dark value [that] can be a blue, a green, a dark-value purple or even a dark-value red.”

Focusing on value “frees you up to plug in any color,” she continued. “Once you see color as value, you can be inventive with your color choice.”

To see those values, she uses a red glass which filters out color.

She recommends picking “a warm and a cool and maybe a complementary color.” Then, “use color as emotion to dictate the message you are trying to convey,” she said. You can use a hot, fiery palette or a cool, moody palette or even a green face.” She has painted “a lot of green figures in orange pools,” the opposite of naturalistic warmed-toned figures in cool water. “I flipped the sensibility,” she said.

Good advice comes in threes

Carter had three major pieces of advice for BWS members:

1. Work every day. “If you want to be a painter, go into the studio six days a week and paint,” she admonished. “On Sunday, look at what you’ve painted.”

2. Push your gift. Art is extremely complex. Not every artist can be good at every aspect, but, “every artist has something that they’re naturally good at,” Carter insisted. “That’s the path you should follow — what you’re good at — and not beat yourself up for what you’re not good at.”

“Early on, I recognized my gift was color,” she said. “So I pushed that as something that would always permeate my growth as an artist. I struggle with value or composition or content. So I explore the color, and the value comes secondarily.”

3. Paint what you love. “At some point you have to let go of the how [technique] and move to the why [motivation],” she told the group. In an interview, she expanded on this from her own artistic trajectory.

“For the first five years of my career, after college and before I went to graduate school [at Washington University in Saint Louis], I struggled with what to paint,” she related. “I was a realistic painter. I was a plein air painter. I did a bunch of different imagery that was polished. But it wasn’t really from the heart.

“At graduate school, they don’t care what you paint, but you have to defend why you painted it,” she continued. “And I realized early on that I was giving no thought to why I was painting. I was just painting what I thought my clientele wanted. It was nothing from within.”

She reset her practice, spending most of her first graduate year painting color abstractions. When a blue shape kept reappearing, a professor asked what it was about. Carter, who grew up in Florida loving swimming pools, realized the abstract shape referenced those pools.

“Why don’t you paint the pool?” the professor asked. For the next year Carter did just that. “It connected to the why I was painting which was autobiographic, narrative, and personal,” she said.

“That launched the rest of my career, which is based around imagery that I feel profoundly connected to as an artist,” she said. “I’m no longer a realistic painter, but I am a representational painter. I’m no longer an abstract painter, but abstraction figures in my work.

“I think too many artists never get to the why of what they’re painting,” she said. “They keep answering the how. You do need how. My work is very how oriented. But it doesn’t just dwell on that. And that does not drive me as an artist. It’s the why.”

She summed it up in a single sentence: “I think the most important thing to learn from me as an artist is to paint what you love.”

Carter explores motifs she loves by working in series. She introduced us to two of them — flowers and horses — in her workshop. During breaks she shared others, including large-scale faces and people in swimming pools. She is currently painting a series of 6- x 6-inch dog portraits. She has completed 100 and intends to add another 20. At that point, she will exhibit them and probably move on to a new subject, perhaps ice in a glass of water which she has started exploring.

Regarding her motivation as a teacher, Carter said, “I feel like my job as an art instructor is to inspire people to take a risk and do something different.” 

 That “something different” may involve a continuing collaboration between Carter and interested members of BWS. At dinner on Friday, Carter, Carol Rhodes, Jacqueline Fernette, and others connected the idea of painting what you love to the question of how art could make a difference. They hit on the notion of painting subjects that are likely to disappear because of global warming. They plan to invite artists who wish to be involved to engage with Carter in this effort to raise consciousness about the climate change crisis.

Stay tuned to Brushstrokes for developments. 

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Welcome Connie!

Our roster of new members continues to grow. This month we would like to welcome Connie McIntyre, who brings our roster to a total membership of 80 as of Sept. 30. We look forward to meeting you, Connie!

BWS field trip to the LUME at Newfields

A group of BWS members and friends traveled to Newfields in Indianapolis Sept. 30 for the immersive Van Gogh experience in THE LUME.

NEW!

Show Calendar

As a service to its members, BWS is initiating a show calendar project – a listing of upcoming shows that may be of interest to BWS members. We want our exhibitors to have an easy way to find upcoming opportunities, and we want to encourage those who are less experienced or new to exhibiting.

The show calendar will be updated and sent to you every month as an attachment to the email announcing the publication of Brushstrokes, edited by Nancy Metz and Jerry Harste.

This is a member-driven project. A few people have made initial entries to get the calendar started, but it will be successful only if other members take an active role in keeping the spreadsheet populated with new opportunities.

To add entries to the show calendar: Send a newsletter, a email, a listing on a website, or other resources referencing the show – preferably including a link to the prospectus or the prospectus itself – to showinfo@bloomingtonwatercolor.org; one of our members will extract the information needed and enter it on the spreadsheet.

We would like your input on the calendar itself:

Does it include the information you want and need to make a decision about entering a show?

What show-sponsoring organizations would you like to see listed in addition to BWS? Watercolor Society of Indiana? Upland Plein Air? Indiana Plein Air Painters Association (IPAPA)? Others?

You can download the Excel spreadsheet, save it to your own computer, and modify it however you like to best serve your needs. For example, one member said she was going to add columns so that she could track which artworks she had entered or exhibited at which show. This will not affect the BWS master document.

To enable BWS to best serve its members in this way, please send your feedback and entries to showinfo@bloomingtonwatercolor.org.

Member News

Connie McIntyre shares a recent painting in which she added some wildflowers she grows as a little added factor. “I have so much fun creating these pictures,” she said. “To me it is truly a form of therapy.”

Sandy Hall sent a painting she is exhibiting at Greenfield’s Riley Festival Oct. 7-10. The theme is based on James Whitcomb Riley’s Poem, “The Bumblebee.” Artwork is housed at 2 W. Main St. Sandy also announced publication of Argyle’s New Friend, which features her illustrations, which were done in acrylics. The book is a sequel to MOMMS, the Mountain of Mismatched Socks.

Left to Right: “The Bumblebee” by Sandy Hall, Argyle’s New Friend book cover, “Agapanthus Flowers” by Sandy Hall

Last month Tim Lewis was juried in as a member of the Art IN Hand Gallery in Zionsville. Both of his entries, “Winter Oak” and “Waiting,” were juried into the annual Open Space: Art About The Land exhibit put on by Minnetrista and the Redtail Conservancy. The show will run Oct. 2 through Nov. 7 at the Minnetrista Center in Muncie, from Nov. 17 through Dec. 23 at the Art Association of Henry County in New Castle, and then finish at the Anderson Museum of Art in Anderson from Jan. 12 through Feb. 20. His painting, “Inflation”, will be a part of the Watercolor Society of Indiana exhibit at the Gallery at Fishers City Hall from Nov. 4 – 28.

Counterclockwise from Top Left: “Inflation,” “Winter Oak,” and “Waiting” watercolors by Tim Lewis

“Head Scout,” a painting by Penny Lulich, made it into the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society Aqueous International Exhibition, which runs through Nov. 30. Carla O’Conner was the juror. Penny writes: “This was my fourth painting to be juried into shows this year, which was completely unexpected as it is my first year to submit to any show outside of BWS member exhibits. I would sure like to encourage others who might be thinking of submitting, to do it. It can definitely be stepping outside of one’s comfort zone (I know it was for me), but the reward of getting an acceptance is worth any discomfort or even a few rejections along the way (yes, I had a few of those as well). If you’d like to visit the show, here is the link:  https://www.pittsburghwatercolorsociety.com/page-1735944.”

MarySue Veerkamp-Schwab has been awarded Signature Member status in the Watercolor Society of Indiana.

Lynne Gilliatt reports she is making abstract patterns on hand-dyed rectangles for a Spring show with Jean Haley here in Bloomington. She uses plain embroidery cotton thread and makes the colors pop. She has also been writing essays for The Ryder Magazine. Her third one, called “Cooling Off,” will probably be published in October.

“Citrus Bowl” by Joanna Samorow-Merzer is one of the many watercolors currently on display in the BWS Member Show at Viridian Moon Art Gallery.

Carolyn Rogers Richard was invited to submit a painting for the Brown County Rotary Club’s annual Taste of Art charity fundraiser auction, which will take place Oct. 15 at 7:15 p.m. at the Seasons Lodge Conference Center, 560 SR 46, Nashville. A silent auction will also be offered 6 to 7 p.m. Details and tickets are available on the Rotary website at rotaryclubofbrowncounty.org. An article will appear in the Oct. 10 Bloomington Herald Times art section.

Calendar

Oct. 9 BWS Paintout and Picnic, 10 a.m./lunch at 12:30 p.m., Switchyard Park shelter

Oct. 9 Member Show Reception, 5-7 p.m., Viridian Moon Art Gallery

Oct. 11 Monthly BWS Meeting, 6 p.m. In person at First Christian Church and via Zoom

Sept. 13

BWS goes in-person (as well as online)

Greetings! Our new administrative year of 2021-2022 will begin with our first in-person and simultaneous Zoom Show and Share meeting. For at least this month we will limit onsite participation to only 25. I emailed members in late August a link to sign up to attend in person. All the details concerning the Sept. 13 meeting are in that email. [You can also find the link and details about the meeting in a Sept. 3 email from Carol Rhodes.]

In September we will have a two-day workshop with Carol Carter and a trip to The Lume exhibit in Indianapolis. In October/November our annual membership show will take a place in the Viridian Moon Gallery.

Kathy Barton graciously stepped up to help with the publicity for our October show, and Andy Roberts (our 1st VP) offered to help as needed. And now I need other members to help with future publicity through individual small assignments. Please consider either helping with one assignment or becoming the Publicity Chair, and let me know.  My contact info is available in the membership roster.

Joanna Samorow-Merzer

BWS President, 2021-2022

Sept. 13 meeting logistics

• If you are vaccinated and wearing a mask, you can attend in-person at the First Christian Church’s Great Hall, 205 E. Kirkwood, but you MUST sign up at this site: https://tinyurl.com/BWSsignup. To make this work, you need to use it on a personal computer or else download an app. If that is inconvenient, contact Carol Rhodes and she will add you to the signup sheet. This measure is being taken to avoid overcrowding.
• To attend the meeting via Zoom, look for the link in an email from Joanna Samorow-Merzer or from Carol Rhodes.
• Free parking is available in the IU Poplars Garage on Sixth Street, across from the Runcible Spoon. Pay parking is available on the streets and in the Fourth Street Garage, across from the former Waldron building.
• If attending the meeting in person, dress in layers as windows will be open to facilitate ventilation.
• The program will be a Show-and-Share session with in-person and Zoom attendees showing the works they have done this summer.

Oct. 1 – Nov. 13

Annual Membership Show

at Viridian Moon Art Gallery

“Celebrate Life” is the theme of this year’s Membership Show that will hang Oct. 1 – Nov. 13 at Viridian Moon Gallery, 1600 W. Bloomfield Rd., Suite B. An Opening Reception is scheduled at the Viridian Moon Gallery on Oct. 9.

To enter, one’s membership dues must be paid for 2021. Paintings should be created with aqua media on a two-dimensional substrate. Please note, the term watercolor excludes encaustic or oil. Watercolor paintings may include other mediums (collage, pastel, pen and ink, etc.) as long as their use does not exceed 50 percent of the work. Each member may submit only one painting. The painting may be as small as a 10 x 12 framed. The maximum size is 24 inches including the frame. There will be an entry fee of $20, but there is no commission fee. All paintings submitted must be new to a BWS show, created without the help of an instructor, and suitable for public viewing. They must be created as original pieces; copying published imagery is not permitted. Artists shall consent to the photographing of artwork for the purposes of cataloging, publicizing and/ or archiving of the show.

Artwork should be matted and framed with flat hangers. No sawtooth hangers or screw eyes are permitted. Wires should be stretched tightly and attached 1/3 of the way down the vertical dimension. Neutral matting and framing is encouraged.

The show prospectus details labeling and delivery instructions. It is available at https://bloomingtonwatercolor.org/home/activities/member-shows-workshops/show-rules/prospectus/. If you are unable to deliver your painting yourself, please make arrangements for someone else to do so.

It is strongly encouraged that art be for sale; however, this is not a requirement. Purchases will be handled by Viridian Moon Gallery. There is no commission fee. Purchaser may take painting at time of the sale. Another framed painting of the same size and by the same artist can be hung to take the place of the sold art.

The BWS Artist Biography Binder will be available for patrons during the show. Please consider including your information. Bring a printed copy of the biography you want included on delivery day.

Email invitations will be sent out near the time of the show opening. Help promote the show and BWS by forwarding the invitations and posting them on social media. Please consider submitting, for publicity purposes, an image of the painting you will show. Images need to be submitted to Jacki Frey no later than Sept. 20. Questions not answered by a careful reading of the prospectus can be answered by Jacki Frey, Kathy Barton, Kitty Garlock, or Cathy Korineck as well as by Andy Roberts, BWS 1st VP. See the prospectus for Jacki Frey’s contact information: https://bloomingtonwatercolor.org/home/activities/member-shows-workshops/show-rules/prospectus/.

Important Show Dates

Sept. 20: Submit images for publicity to Jacki Frey

Sept. 29: Deliver art to Viridian Moon Gallery, 1600 W. Bloomfield Rd., Suite B, between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Oct. 9: Reception at Viridian Moon Gallery

BWS MEMBERS and GUESTS:  

Announcing the BWS Road Trip to THE LUME: Van Gogh

Thursday, Sept. 30

TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED 

Cost $16 per person

MASKS REQUIRED ON THE BUS and at NEWFIELDS

You are invited to join your watercolor friends on a road trip to Indianapolis to visit the wonderful all-sensory exhibit at THE LUME. https://discovernewfields.org/lume.

Please read and discover all the details and how to register at https://bloomingtonwatercolor.org/home/activities/special-activity-for-members.

BWS Welcomes New Members

In August BWS boosted its membership roster with the addition of five new members:

• George Beckerman
• Laura Brown
• Rita Davis
• Zain Mackey
• Shari Ross

Most have signed up for the Carol Carter workshop in September, but we hope we will also see our new members at upcoming meetings on the second Monday of the month — whether in person or on Zoom!  Glad to have all of you joining our organization!

Oct. 9

Last paint-out of 2021

BWS has reserved the shelter at Switchyard Park for its final paint-out of the year. The park is full of interesting features to paint, including children playing, skateboarders, dogs in a dog park, walking trails, woods and grasslands.

Traditionally, the final paint-out is a combined luncheon picnic with shared food. COVID alters these plans. It is probable that each of us will be responsible for our own food.  Masks and social distancing will most likely be required except when eating lunch.

Please watch for updated information closer to the date.

Story Inn paint-out

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Many members show work

at Bloomington Portrait Group’s

exhibition at Viridian Moon

An exhibition by the Bloomington Portrait Group continues at Viridian Moon Gallery, 1600 W. Bloomfield Rd., through Wednesday, Sept. 29. Gallery hours are 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, go to https://www.viridianmoon.art/events.

You might think about the portrait group as the grandchild of BWS. It is an offshoot of Upland Plein Air, which grew out of BWS. The three groups share many members.

For this exhibition, 18 artists submitted 58 images. Gallery owner Irina Shishova was able to hang 46.

“It’s been three years since our first exhibition,” said BPG director Claude Cookman, “and we were not sure what to expect. We are delighted and impressed by the wide range of styles, the high level of technical skill, and the deep level of inner character the artists have captured.”

Many of the models are well-known Bloomington personalities. It is particularly interesting to compare how several artists visualize the same models. The exhibition also documents the Covid-19 era with several self-portraits featuring masks.

BPG has resumed in-person sessions outdoors at Bloomington’s Switchyard Park. They will move to an indoor venue in late October. There are no dues, but participants share the cost of the model. If you would like to paint or draw at these sessions, please contact Claude Cookman.

Above left: Meri Reinhold describes the process she used for creating her self portrait to Barbara Coffman and Kitty Garlock. Top right: Jane Matranga and Cassidy Young share a moment in front of Cassidy’s portrait of her son. Bottom right: BWS President Joanna Samorow-Merzer studies one of the portraits. All photos by Claude Cookman

Member News

Tim Lewis shares two small commission watercolors he completed in August. His latest watercolor, “Blowin’ in the Wind” graces the top of this month’s Brushstrokes. It is an 11 x 15 inch painting of the beautiful red and yellow leaves on a sapling spotted in West Park in Carmel, Ind. “They were quite striking against the cloudless, autumn sky – a great memory of a beautiful day,” Tim says.

Left: Five Siblings by Tim Lewis/Right: The First by Tim Lewis

Kriste Lindberg writes: “Why don’t you just get your art journal back out, again?”  That was the comment from a friend as we wrapped up a stormwater art project on Kirkwood during Pridefest 2021. Our conversation of connecting people to education of a subject through art had evolved into one of how to connect to the heart (I had experienced that during a vacation 12 years ago with fellow BWS members Joanne Weddle and Jan Britton). Sometimes it just takes a little nudge. The next day, Sunday morning, I grabbed my art journal, a coffee mug, and headed back downtown…  Thanks to our sponsors, Pridefest 2021 volunteers, and Bloomington Paint & Wallpaper.

Robin Edmundson will be part of a small group show at the Hoosier Salon Gallery in New Harmony, Ind. “Falling for Art” will hang at the gallery, 507 Church St. in New Harmony Sept. 25 to Nov. 7.  The gallery is open Thursday through Sunday. https://hoosiersalon.org/new-harmony-current-exhibition/.

Sandy Hall’s paintings: The Workman, The Guardian and A Monet Moment

“The Workman” by Sandy Hall was chosen for the Watercolor Society of Indiana exhibit in Indianapolis. The show is on view now thru Sept 25 at Newfields. Another of her paintings, “The Guardian,” received an honorable mention in July’s Blackford County juried show. Sandy also  participated in Fort Wayne’s Artist Guild Kekionga Plein Air event in late July. She worked in watercolor this time around. “A Monet Moment,” a fluid acrylic piece will be at the Bona Thompson Memorial Center, 232 S. Downey Ave. in Indianapolis through Nov. 13.

Paintings By Stephen Edwards: Studio Windows, After a Spring Rain, and Looking for Patch

Stephen Edwards received Best Of Show for “Studio Windows” at the Indiana Artists’ Club Member Exhibit which is being displayed at the Richmond Art Museum in Richmond, Ind., now through Sept. 25. The juror was David Mueller. Stephen also received the First Place Award in Watercolor at the Hoosier Salon for “After a Spring Rain.”  A second painting, “Slow Summer Stream” was also accepted. The Salon is being shown at the Indiana State Museum now through Oct. 24. The juror was Paula Swaydan Grebel. “Looking For Patch” was accepted into the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s 42nd International Watercolor Exhibit. Awards have not been announced for this exhibit. The show will be only online starting Sept. 25 due to COVID-19 protocols. The juror was Lana Privitera.

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Jerry Harste writes: “I am pleased to report that ‘The Good Earth #2’ was juried into the 2021 Northstar Watermedia Society’s Annual Show. A sister painting, ‘The Good Earth #1,’ was rejected. Given that these paintings feature the house and barn on my family’s farm, I thought it only appropriate that I submit them for showing in a Minnesota-based watercolor society. More good news! A nephew has written to say that he wished to purchase both paintings.” 

Beyond BWS

The Richmond Art Museum’s 123rd Annual Exhibition by Indiana and Ohio Artists will be on display Nov. 4 through Jan. 8. The postmark deadline for entering this juried show is Oct. 1 with delivery of works Oct. 7-9, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. See the Prospectus at https://richmondartmuseum.org/annual-exhibition/ for complete information.

As part of the 100th anniversary celebration of the Brown County State Park, the Brown County Art Gallery Artists Association is working with state tourism folks and the DNR to hold a Paint Out in the Park Oct. 22-24. 

Artists can paint anytime and anywhere in the park during regular hours on those days. All artists must register with the Gallery by calling 812-988-4609. There is no fee. When entering the park, tell the gatekeeper you are with the Brown County State Park Paint Out and you will not be charged admission.

Paintings may be dropped off at the Gallery, 1 Artist Dr., Nashville, anytime during regular business hours during the Paint Out. The Art Education Studio at the Brown County Art Gallery will be open for those who want to finish up work or prefer to paint in studio.

On Sunday Oct. 24 the Brown County Art Gallery will open its doors at noon and paintings will go on sale. Each artist will fill out a consignment sheet. The Gallery will transact all sales with a 10 percent commission to the Art Association. The Gallery will be open at 10 a.m. for early take in. No sales can be made in the park per DNR restrictions.

Painting may be picked up before closing Oct. 24 or left in the Gallery to be picked up starting Nov. 1. Paintings left behind cannot be picked up before that date due to Gallery events.

If artists choose to paint before Oct. 22, they will have to pay their own entry. They still must register with the Gallery.

Calendar

Now – Sept. 29 Bloomington Portrait Group at Viridian Moon Art Gallery

Sept. 13 BWS Monthly Meeting in-person and on Zoom. 6 p.m.

Sept. 20 Deadline for submitting images of paintings being shown in the Member Show (See Prospectus https://bloomingtonwatercolor.org/home/activities/member-shows-workshops/show-rules/prospectus/.

Sept. 29 Deliver Member Show paintings to Viridian Moon Art Gallery, 1600 W. Bloomfield Rd. between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Sept. 30 BWS Road Trip to LUME at Newfields for the Van Gogh immersive experience

Oct. 1 – Nov. 13 BWS Member Show at Viridian Moon Art Gallery, 1600 W Bloomfield Rd.

Oct. 9 Membership Show Opening Reception

Oct. 9 Last Paint-out of 2021, Switchyard Park

Oct. 22-24 Brown County State Park Paint Out