Featured Member – Sun Jiangang

Sun Jiangang, (孙建刚) male, was born in 1972 in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China. He graduated from Shanxi Normal University, with skills in painting, watercolor, and pen. He is now a member of the Chinese Artists Association, a member of the Hong Kong Federation of Literary and Art Circles Artists Association, a chairman of the Hong Kong International Artists Association pen painting committee and vice chairman of the oil painting art committee.  He is a Taiwan World Watercolor Alliance member, an IWS Canada Member, and a director of Chinese pen Painting Association.

Below is an example of his work in transparent watercolour.

 

“Home” by Sun Jiangang. Watercolour. 41×56 cm. 2017

 

Our apologies for the gap in post publishing due to health problems and travel.  Please look forward to regular posts in the future!

Featured Member – Jan Fraser

Our featured member this week is Jan Fraser, of Alberta.  Says Jan:

“Art has been part of my life since childhood, with lessons at the Edmonton Art Gallery and encouragement from my Grand-Uncle, Murray MacDonald who was a former member of the Edmonton Art Club and a well known watercolourist. When Murray retired from the University of Alberta, he began teaching me every Sunday afternoon and eventually we had a three generation show with Murray, my Aunt and myself. There have been many shows since. My first job in education was teaching and writing Art courses for the Alberta Correspondence School. From there I moved on to Edmonton Public Schools with a varied career in which Art was always involved. I recently retired as Assistant Principal of an elementary school with a Fine Arts Focus. I have always preferred the spontaneity and experimentation possible with watercolor but in the past year I have been playing with carving modeling paste for a textured foreground with acrylic and watercolour paint. This allows me to play with texture and rock formations in the foreground.”

“The weather, landforms and atmosphere of Alberta have always been my inspiration. One maxim that I have is that painting material is all around us. We do not have to travel far to see and feel. Another is to approach art with a sense of play and experimentation in order to continue learning. I enjoy my three grandchildren (one of whom is autistic), travel with my husband Jud, gardening and golf. I am an active member of the Edmonton Art Club.”

Below is an example of Jan’s work.  For more, please visit her website.

“Meditation”

Your Invitation to our Festivities

IWS Canada and CSPWC/SCPA Invite you to a 5 Day Celebration Event  –  September 28 to October 3, 2018

(Exact times and details may change due to weather conditions or events beyond our control).

This event is a celebration of not only watercolour but of how diverse cultures, by working together, can strengthen and enhance a community.

During these five days we will unite to celebrate our history, our differences and our common interests.

A community such as Richmond Hill, with its mosaic of residents from diverse cultures, its combination of urban and rural environment and its strong historical roots is an ideal venue for our Symphony in Watercolour Event.

Use the info-graphic below for an outline of the five day celebration, and visit this link for details.  Bring your sketchbook and some plein air painting supplies if you like – there will be several opportunities to create!

The painting in this graphic, Colour of Music, is by one of our jurors, Anne McCartney CSPWC, AWS, TWSA

Finalists announced for A Symphony in Watercolour!

Our jurors Peter Marsh CSPWC, OSA, SCA, TWS, Anne McCartney CSPWC, AWS, TWSA and Rainbow Ze (youth juror) have completed their task in choosing the paintings that will be exhibited during our ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’ exhibition this fall, September 28th to October 27th, in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.  A huge thank you to them – it must have been really hard to choose from all of the great entries we had – a total of 320 from 32 countries!

These paintings are listed on the page entitled ‘A Symphony in Watercolour‘, which can also be viewed at the bottom of our home page.  Congratulations to all finalists!!

Also listed are paintings by the invited artists such as those who won our ‘150 Ways to Celebrate’ online contest last year, and the jurors and the presidents of our cooperating societies.

In addition to finalist paintings, there were many the jurors felt merited special mention.  These will not be physically exhibited, but will also be posted on the website during the exhibition.  They are listed below the finalist paintings.

Thank you to everyone around the world who entered our exhibition!  Your enthusiasm and talent for watercolour, and your contributions to our understanding of your perspective through art, are why we exist.  We couldn’t do this without you.

Peace and love through art!

Rosemary & Co. Brushes!

Look what arrived yesterday in the mail – our first award which will be given to one of the finalists in our A Symphony of Watercolour exhibition this fall in Richmond Hill!

There are approximately $100 worth of brushes here for the selected recipient, and the booklets and catalogues are for us to give out to attendees.

Thank you very much, Rosemary & Co., for sponsoring us with this beautiful set of handmade artist brushes!

‘A Symphony in Watercolour‘, an international exhibition and festival, jointly presented by IWS Canada and the CSPWC/SCPA, takes place September 28th – October 27th, 2018.  There will be opening celebrations for 5 days at the beginning of the event and a special closing celebration at the end.  Please join us!

 

Featured Member – Tony Cook

Meet Tony Cook!

“I was born in England and worked as a newspaper reporter before serving in the Royal Artillery for my national service. I wanted to go to Korea with my unit – I mean, free travel and all – but wiser heads prevailed and I was given a War Office job testing new recruits. I emigrated to Canada in 1956 and entered the photographic business, intending to make a career out of my hobby. Surprisingly, I spent the following 40 years in the photographic and audiovisual industry in various senior marketing positions. Eventually tiring of the corporate environment, and foolishly forgoing the satisfaction of a regular paycheque, I started my own digital imaging and creative production house in Toronto, where I still live. I am married with three lovely daughters and three grandchildren.

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed working in various art forms, in addition to photography and computer graphics. In the late 1970s, I expanded a childhood love of scratching initials on school desks and assorted trees, and began wood carving. I joined the Ontario Wood Carvers Association (OWCA), studied with famed carving teachers Joe Dampf, Benoit Deschenes and Wayne Barton, and somehow developed my own style of interpretive carving. I probably wasn’t paying attention. I was President of the OWCA during the 1980s, and edited their newsletter and website for several years. I showed my carvings in OWCA competitions and at the Canadian National Exhibition, and was completely ignored by the jurors.

I studied drawing at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2004 and subsequently took up watercolour painting. Being a Brit, I figured this was the proper medium for me. I credit teacher Ruth Hayes with giving me assurance that I could handle this medium and Barry Coombs for introducing me to the finer points of brush handling, design and simplification. I have tried to pay attention. I have enjoyed workshops with Art Cunanan, Hi-Sook Barker, Doug Mays and Marc Gagnon, each of whom has been very patient.

More recently, I have begun to work with Acrylics, studying with Lila Lewis Irving and DiDi Gadjanski.

I am very fortunate to have discovered a friendly and supportive environment within the art clubs that have accepted me as a member.”

Below is an example of Tony’s work – “A Winter Walk”.  For more about Tony Cook, please visit his website.

A Symphony in Watercolour – entrants check your email!

Dear readers, jurying for our event this fall is finished and entrants  have been formally notified today by email.  So, if you entered the show, please check your email and also check your junk/bulk email in case a message went there accidentally.

A formal announcement of finalists, noteworthy entries, etc. will be posted on this website on May 15th!

Featured Member – Doris Daigle

Colours are Doris Daigle’s first love. In painting, she aims to depict often near-euphoric observations of the everyday – singular moments – little things that make the world a magical place. She wishes for time to stop so that we can all feel the peace that is possible in all things. She hopes to steer others towards witnessing this enchantment through her eyes. Watercolours are her medium of choice.

Below is an example of Doris’ work.  She welcomes you to visit her website for more.

‘Wind Dance’. 22×30″

Featured Member – Hilary Slater

Watercolour is one of Hilary Slater’s many activities, as she says here:

“I am a creative artist and I work in a number of fields. I paint in oils and watercolours, and I produce original pottery, photography, and Landscape Architecture designs. I am a licensed yoga and pilates teacher, and I have also written 23 Novels to date (2 of which are published) as of 2013. I run a variety of retreats at my Georgian Bay Lakeview Retreat Centre, covering everything from Yoga to Art to Writing to Weekend Escapes.”

Below is an example of Hilary’s work.  For more, please visit her website.

Featured Member – Alain Godbout

Alain Godbout is one of the founders of IWS Canada, and served as a Co-Representative from 2014 to early 2017.  He specializes in landscapes and scenes from everyday life.

Alain J. Godbout est un aquarelliste spécialisé dans le paysage et les scènes de la vie quotidienne.  A l’occasion il propose des dessins à l’encre de chine et des toiles d’encaustique.

Originaire du Bas-St-Laurent et éduqué à Montréal, il habite Gatineau depuis 1976. Après une carrière comme conseiller en management, il est maintenant à la retraite. Alain possède une formation générale en arts obtenue au moment de ses études collégiales, mais demeure un aquarelliste fondamentalement autodidacte. Il a eu l’occasion de parfaire ses connaissances et techniques au cours d’ateliers avec des aquarellistes reconnus dont David Kearns, Terry Madden, Jean Pederson, Roland Palmaerts, Jacques Hébert et Pierre Tougas. Ses tableaux ont été acquis par des collections privées au Québec, au Canada, aux USA , en GB et en Afrique.

Démarche

« En ce qui me concerne, l’aquarelle est le plus beau medium pour communiquer efficacement l’émotion et les sentiments. Il a l’avantage d’être flexible, rapide d’exécution, mais surtout capable de toutes les teintes, effets et textures imaginables . En tant qu’aquarelliste, mon style est représentatif et reflète une technique dérivée de la peinture à l’huile que j’ai pratiquée au cours des années 1960-70.  Je favorise la création fondée sur le dessin et le jeu des masses dans la composition. Mes aquarelles sont marquées par une souplesse du coup de pinceau qui prend des distances face à la minutie de l’illustration hyper-réaliste. J’ attache une importance cardinale à la composition et je cherche à faire une place centrale à l’émotion dans la représentation des personnes et des objets.  Mes tableaux doivent se caractériser par une recherche constante de la lumière et le recours à une palette de couleurs vives ».

Affiliations :

  • Membre fellow de la Société d’Aquarelle d’Ottawa
  • Membre International Watercolor Society (Canada)
  • Membre du Conseil des Arts d’Aylmer
  • Membre de la Ottawa Arts Association
  • Membre de  Art-East Ottawa

Below is an example of Alain’s work.  For more about Alain, please visit his website.