My watercolor painting, Dragonfly, was accepted into the Lake Placid Center for the Arts Juried Show (17 Algonquin Drive, Lake Placid, NY). The opening is tomorrow night, September 15th, from 5-7 pm. The show will be on display until November 5th and normal gallery hours are Thursday-Saturday, 1-5 pm.
Here’s my latest watercolor painting, entitled Cherry Plum Blossom. It’s based on a photograph I took, this past spring, of our Cherry Plum tree. The buds start pink then turn into white blossoms. (The tree is now covered with plums!)
I only use transparent watercolors and no white paint, so all the white you see was carefully preserved with negative painting and using a little resist on the stamen.
The 41st Annual Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors opens tonight at the View, in Old Forge, NY. This amazing show highlights watercolors artists from around the country. My painting Market Joy was accepted into the show and will be on display August 5th – September 25th. The View galleries are open Monday – Saturday, 10 am – 4 pm, and Sunday 12 pm – 4 pm.
I am incredibly thrilled to announce that my painting, Market Joy, was awarded an honorable mention in the Women in Watercolor International Juried Competition! This year’s competition had 1615 entries from 56 countries. 220 paintings were accepted in the 2022 show. Women in Watercolor was created to help encourage, support, and promote women watercolor artists on an international level. For more information and to see some of the amazing work in this show, visit their website: www.womeninwatercolor.com
“A painting is never finished. It simply stops in interesting places.” – Paul Gardner
This is true about my latest watercolor painting, entitled Dragonfly. I decided to let the background remain purple, instead of adding additional layers as I originally intended. The painting is based on a photograph taken at Glen Lake, in the Adirondacks, last autumn. The dragonfly was a surprise that I did not even notice, until I enlarged the photo to look carefully when I began my original sketch.
The 10th Annual Green Mountain Watercolor Show opens this weekend in Vermont. My paintings Sacramento Street and Windows on the World were juried into the show, along with Moose River, as part of their Small Works Show. The show will be open June 19th – July 24th at the Red Barn Galleries, Route 100, Waitsfield, VT.
Art opening tomorrow night (Friday, May 27th) at the LARAC Gallery in Glens Falls, NY, from 5-7pm. The LARAC will be hosting its annual members’ show featuring 110 local artists of various mediums. My watercolor painting, Canton Bazaar, will be on display. The show runs May 27th-June 29th (including during the LARAC Arts Festival on June 18th-19th). Regular gallery hours are Monday-Saturday, 10am-3pm, Thursdays until 6 pm.
I’m very pleased to announce that Cole’s Woods and Sheltered Cove have been juried into the Expressions 2022 art show. The opening will be on Saturday, May 7, 5-7 pm, and the show runs through June 11th. The exhibition is located in the North Country Arts Gallery, at The Shirt Factory (71 Lawrence Street), in Glens Falls, NY. The gallery is open Thursday – Saturday, 12-5 pm.
Here is my latest watercolor painting entitled “Captured.” This painting is inspired by a photograph I took, capturing an image of my daughter taking a photo of a spider web. I enjoy the triple word play of “captured” for myself, my daughter and the spider. The bright sunlight of the morning highlighted select leaves, the web and my daughter, making them stand out of the surrounding dark forest.
I think many artists would agree that watercolor is one of the most challenging mediums to use. Trying to correct any mistakes in watercolor is extremely difficult, if not impossible. I took a lovely photo of Moose River over the past summer, that I wanted to paint. I did all the work of sketching and transferring the image onto watercolor paper and started to paint in the sky. It was a complete disaster. Evidently I’d forgotten how to paint clouds. Painting skies in watercolor requires you to paint very fast and boldly, which is the opposite of how I paint. I made myself practice clouds for a week, before I tried again.
Finally I returned to my original sketch and started over. Here is my final painting, entitled Moose River. The sky is still not what I originally envisioned, but I made myself finish the painting anyways. No matter how many years you paint, there is always room for improvement, and you can learn something new every time you paint.
Cindi Handy 