Deb Ward

Blue Pitcher and Pears on Lace, 16" x 20"
fluid acrylic

It was the luminosity of watercolor that first drew Deb Ward to the medium. She got a late start on a painting career when she left the 9 to 5 work world in 1996 and fulfilled a long-held dream of learning to paint in watercolor. In 2004, she began teaching watercolor classes and, over the following years, she broadened her painting horizons by teaching herself to paint with fluid acrylics and casein. She now works in all three media.

Tulip Shadows, 21" x 28"
watercolor

Deb observes, "I love color and strive for striking, sunlit images.... My work rarely involves an actual figure, but often implies the human element." She often paints in series -- working from her own photo references to explore similar subjects or ideas in a realistic manner. Although she is always on the lookout for subjects when she's out and about, Deb has an ongoing series of simple still lifes incorporating glass and ceramic objects that belonged to her mother, as well as quilts and tablecloths made by her grandmother. She paints in her home studio and also enjoys a weekly painting date with friends.

Pink Peony, 21" x 29"
fluid acrylics

Wild Roses, 21" x 28"
watercolor

Deb is active in a number of local art groups in southeastern Indiana and the Cincinnati area; she is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Cincinnati Art Club in addition to being the Chairperson for ViewPoint, a national exhibition sponsored by the club. She teaches classes for several organizations in her area and also gives workshops on technique in her home studio. She has shown her work in local, regional, and national exhibitions and has received numerous awards. In October 2008, she wrote an article about casein painting "Cay-What?" for CreateBetterPaintings.com -- Online Magazine for Artists, and in 2010, her work was published in The Best of America -- Watermedia, Volume II (Kennedy Publishing).

Muncie's Pride, 14" x 20"
watercolor

Go to Deb's blog to get the latest news from her studio.

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Susanne Clark

Prickly Heat, 14" x 14"

Being a painter has transformed the way Susanne Clark views and interprets her surroundings -- nothing looks the same as it did 5 or 10 years ago. In her experience, the artist’s eye is an adaptive one, always changing its way of seeing and portraying the world, and she is moved to paint when light, shadow and color come together in a dynamic way that captures her imagination. She finds working with transparent watercolor is like solving a series of puzzles -- how to get a certain texture, what pigments to mix for an unusual color, whether to add water -- a process she enjoys.

Pure Honey, 12" x 10"

P is for Pumpkin, 18" x 12"

Although she is self-taught, Susanne has taken workshops with Tom Francesconi, Karen Knutson, and Donna Jill Witty, expanding her skills in diverse ways through their workshops. She paints primarily from photos, but believes that good draftsmanship is of utmost importance, so she regularly practices sketching from life. Recent work with pastels has also been rewarding, but the sublime interaction of brush, paper, water, and pigment always draws her back to watercolor.

Don't Forget the Onions, 6" x 6"

Susanne began painting in the late 1990s and has been juried into national exhibitions with the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, the Northwest Watercolor Society, the Wyoming Watercolor Society, the Richeson 75, and the Maryland Federation of Art, as well as numerous exhibitions in the Chicago area. She is a signature member of the Illinois Watercolor Society, the Northwest Watercolor Society, and the Wyoming Watercolor Society. She is represented by the Old Courthouse Arts Center in Woodstock, IL.

Snooze, 11" x 15"

Go to Susanne's gallery page on the Illinois Watercolor Society website to see more of her work.

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Sarah Yeoman

Winter of the White Pines, 17" x 21"

"For me the poetry of color and the music of line are best expressed with watercolor because of its unpredictable nature and its transparent qualities."

Fueled by her love of both music and a wide range of visual arts including sculpture, Sarah Yeoman eventually found her strongest creative voice in watercolor. Nourished by the natural beauty of northern Delaware and of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, she is attuned to the mood and spirit of the land. Rather than laying on paper an exact copy of the world she observes, she allows her paintings to develop organically -- revealing the presence of the artist in the process -- and, with each painting, she invites the viewer to enter the narrative and finish the story.

Falling Light, 22" x 30"

Crow Caucus, 22" x 30"

Teaching is an integral part of who Sarah is as an artist. She teaches weekly classes in her studio as well as workshops thoughout the Northeast, guiding and coaching her students to discover their own paths and unique visual expression. Her paintings have been juried into museum and gallery shows in Delaware and Pennsylvania, and her work is on display at Hardcastle Gallery in Centreville, DE and at Abanakee Studios in Indian Lake, NY. Sarah is on the board of the Philadelphia Watercolor Society and has recently been chosen as one of fifteen Master Artists from the state of Delaware.

Homer's Blues, 22" x 30"

Ocean, 20" x 30"

Please link to Sarah's website to see more of her work.

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