Sharon August 22nd, 2008
The Worcester County Arts Council is sponsoring a one-person show of my work in September and October. The theme of the show is Woodland Seasons and includes paintings of birds and wildflowers in the area throughout the four seasons.
An opening reception will be held Friday, September 12, 5-7 pm and the show will be open from September 1 thru October 30, 2008 at the Arts Council gallery at 6B Jefferson Street in Berlin, Maryland. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11am to 3pm. Information about the Worcester County Arts Council is on their web site www.worcestercountyartscouncil.org
Sharon August 14th, 2008
I am finding that combining both traditional transparent watercolor and the new fluid acrylics is working out well for me. I can still do the soft backgrounds I prefer and yet get a depth of detail I’ve been looking for in the foregrounds.
Here is the painting I recently completed of a goldfinch and wildflowers. The background and most of the painting has watercolor as its basis but details and intensity is accomplished with the fluid acrylics. I still use the masking techniques I’ve always used and even masked over the acrylic sections when necessary. It is no shorter in steps or time, but when the painting tells the artist what to do next, it is easier to accomplish when not limited by the materials.
Sharon July 17th, 2008
After a while away from the studio, I went back a few days ago and started a new painting. I decided to use a piece of 300 pound rough watercolor paper as it is not one of my favorites and I needed to get back in the swing of painting.
The idea for the painting (as it often is this time of year) was the wild assortment of roadside ‘weeds’ including Queen Anne’s Lace, black eyed Susans and chickory. I wanted to include a bird and a few butterflies so it is a busy painting!
I had barely stared sketching in the first flowers, first lightly with pencil, then with traditional watercolor, before I was frustrated by the roughness of the paper and the weakness of the watercolor paints. Granted, the paint had dried on my palette for some time and I didn’t put out any new color for these first steps, but I usually don’t need to. I just was not at all happy by the lack of color and the number of times I had to go back to the paints.
For weeks I had been painting small panel paintings with fluid acrylics and I found that I missed that immediate burst of color and the way I had been able to define darker darks. I set aside the watercolor paints and reached for those wonderful Golden brand fluid acrylics. A drop of color (on a plastic plate for a palette) and a wet brush and I was at once at home with the media. I have been working on the painting a while in my usual way, doing the subjects first, and when I get to that background I will consider going back for the watercolors, but I’m not afraid to mix these aqua media on the same painting. Both essentially act as watercolor and each have their own characteristics but they are truely related. I have decided that what is important to me is to enjoy the process, and do what is best for the painting. We will see what develops.
Sharon June 20th, 2008
Online, things are always changing. As many of you know, I have several web sites for various aspects of my online world and this Woodland Watercolors site has been the location for my art as well as information on my techniques, general information and (formerly) workshops. I have decided to split this a little but when I get it finished I hope the changes will not be really noticeable if there is a good flow from one site to another.
I am in the process of building a gallery site at WoodlandArtStudio.com where you will find most of my original paintings, both sold and currently available. Until it is completely set up, the art will still be here. Up to now I have only put up relatively few of the hundreds of paintings I have done over the years, but it has been pointed out to me that it is still a good idea to show works even if they are sold and hanging in collections. As it was always hard to keep up with the task of taking down art from the site after it was sold, this will surely be easier and it may be of interest for visitors to see a wider variety of the art, even as I add new works.
This site I will maintain for general commentary on studio subjects; new techniques, studio developments and probably more. It will link to the gallery site of course as well as my other sites WoodlandSeasons.Com (for nature commentary) and Woodland Studio.Net (licensing art for product design).
I keep SharonHimes.com as a ‘portal’ or gateway to all my sites and it also links to a site on the book I wrote several years ago ‘Cavalier’s Adventure, the story of Henry Norwood’. The ArtCafe Artists’ Network site I founded in 1995 has hundreds of my articles and of course I still am involved there.
If you think I could have probably gathered all my interests under one domain and site, you are probably right. After nearly 15 years of creating web sites and writing web pages, I still find it a fun and satisfying way to express my various interests and a collection of related sites helps me stay organized. Visit again and see how this grows!