New Signature Member National Watercolor Society

Stained Glass Waterlilies ©2011

I received word last week, while at the grocery store, that I am now a Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society. I was so excited!! I would have jumped around and cheered, but I think the other shoppers would have thought I was loony! I have aimed for this honor for many years now and it is still a little hard to believe! My painting also received the Holbein Award and will go on the traveling show for 1 year. If my memory serves, when my painting went on the traveling show in 2008, I think it stopped in about 5 different cities during the year. When I know the cities locations for this year, I will publish them.

If you don't know the process of getting into the National Watercolor Society show and receiving Signature membership, here it is:  The National Watercolor Society along with the American Watercolor Society and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America are some of the top US watercolor shows. As it says on their website, the National Watercolor Society began life in the 1920's as the California Watercolor Society. To enter this national juried show, you send 1 image. This one image is then juried along with about 1,000 other images by three nationally known watercolor artists. These three artists cannot talk during the jurying process. They look through all of the 1,000 images the first time without voting, then they begin the first round of voting. Each of the three artists says yes or no anonymously to each image and generally it takes quite a few rounds of this before they have selected the 100 images out of the 1,000 that will be included in the show. This year was different, though, in their long history, this was the first year that all 100 paintings received 3 votes in the first round of voting! So, it should be a very strong show!

Most watercolor societies have a tiered structure to their membership. In most, anyone can be an Associate member, at any level of their watercolor abilities or someone with just an interest in art or the watercolor medium. The next level is Signature Member. A signature member has to complete the societies rules for attaining Signature membership and these requirements vary from society to society. Once an artist has a painting selected for the National Watercolor Societies Annual Exhibition they can apply for Signature membership. To apply the artist must send 3 matted paintings, separate from the piece juried into the show. Then 3 jurors, separate from the 3 previous jurors and also nationally recognized watercolor artists, look at the 3 matted paintings that the artists sends. They are looking for a consistent high quality of watercolor and ability to repeat this high quality. All three jurors must agree in awarding the artist Signature Membership. If you see a watercolor where the artists signature includes the initials, NWS, you know the process they had to take and the honor it is to achieve this level.

Watercolor Classes

Quaking Aspen ©

My new watercolor class listings are available for September through October. I will be teaching a beginning/intermediate class and an intermediate/advanced class.  We will focus on Aspen trees in both classes. For more information click here.

National Watercolor Society 91st Exhibit

GREAT NEWS! I found out this week that my painting, Stained Glass Waterlilies, was juried into the National Watercolor Societies 91st Annual Exhibition. It was one of 100 paintings selected out of 1,000.
    The show will run from October 22 to December 3, 2011 at the NWS Gallery - 915 South Pacific Ave., San Pedro, CA.

Watercolor Workshop with John Salminen

     I just had the best three days taking a workshop with watercolor artist, John Salminen! You can see John and myself in the photo along with my workshop painting of a New York scene in Time Square.
     My painting isn't finished yet, but I took on a very challenging scene for a three day workshop! I think the next workshop I take, I will pick a less intense piece.
     I would highly recommend taking a workshop with John Salminen. John worked with everyone, no matter what level you are at in your watercolor ventures. We learned some great tools to enhance our paintings and there were a lot of demos by John and one-on-one time for help. John's wife, Kathy, was an added benefit to the workshop. She was there all three days to assist John and help and encourage the participants. She also worked with us on using a mouth atomizer, one of John's tools to adjust the values in his paintings. I have had an atomizer for many years, but couldn't make it work and after learning from Kathy the proper way to use one, I had no problems with it! I plan on experimenting and using this valuable tool in the future. If you would like to see more of John's artwork or workshop listings, see his website: http://www.johnsalminen.com/

Watercolor of Waterlilies Final

Stained Glass Waterlilies ©L Watry

Original Waterlily Photo ©L Watry

 Yeah! I have finished my waterlily painting in time to enter it in this years National Watercolor Society Annual juried exhibition! I finished up by painting in the lilies and lily pads. I also adjusted the water darkness in a few places where I felt it was too light. Below you can see the original photo and how I adjusted it for the final painting. When I get a chance, which may not be until August, I will finish up the editing of the video I took while painting the waterlilies and place the videos on YouTube again.

Watercolor of Waterlilies Stage 3

Stained Glass Waterlilies ©L Watry

I have finished the water on my waterlily painting. Though, I do still have a few of the cream/peach reflections to put in. I will also clean up all of the edges where I removed masking before I finish putting the color on the reflections. The next step is to start the purple waterlilies and lily pads. I am continuing to take video, but I won't upload these to YouTube until I am done with the painting. I am entering it in the National Watercolor Society Annual and it has to be done by July 9th.

I have also included a close-up around the waterlilies. You can see some of the variation of the colors in the water. Some areas of water I painted wet-into-wet and some are hard edged.

Watercolor of Waterlilies Stage 2

Image 1

 I began posting about this watercolor painting demo of waterlilies on April 29th with Stage 1 (see link). Since then I have posted several times with videos taken while painting. These videos can be seen on My Videos Tab. I will be adding more videos as I have them ready, so check back.


To walk you through the steps seen here I began with the upper background water. This water had a reflection of something creamy and a peachy, orange pattern on that (Image 1).

Image 2

In the second image, I have started working on the darker parts of the background water. I looked for the changes in the values and color in these areas. Parts of the painting are still blocked with masking, that I will remove later. I have also started painting some of the blue sky reflections. I am trying to paint this background water in one pass, so that it remains fresh.

Image 3

In the third image you can see how far I am on this full sheet painting (this was actually several weeks ago). I continue to work only on the   background water and reflections. I will save the waterlilies and lily pads for later. In between painting, I take the painting around to different parts of the house. While I am busy doing other things, I can look over at the painting and evaluate where I am at.

In the bottom two images (Image 4 & 5) you can see that I have started working on the lower blue reflections. I mixed a film case full of cobalt blue, permanent rose, and a touch of manganese. I stopped working on

Image 4

the darker water and went to the blue sections so that I could make sense of the puzzles pieces that make up the water. I continue to look for parts of the water that look wet-into-wet and for sections that are more hard edged and bold.

Please check back for the next stages and if you have any questions leave a comment and I will answer them on this blog.

Image 5