American Watercolor Masters -- John Salminen

Washington Square, 33" x 37"
2010 Skyledge (Gold) Award, TWSA

John Salminen is the first artist to be featured in a new series I'll be posting periodically starting this week -- American Watercolor Masters.

[Editor's note: I have featured a number of very accomplished watercolorists over the past two years who would certainly qualify as American Masters. This new series is in no way intended to disregard or downplay their considerable accomplishments.]

John is a prolific painter, with signature memberships in numerous art societies, including the American Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, The Watercolor USA Honor Society, the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, Allied Artist and Watercolor West. In addition, he has been honored with Master Status in TWSA and inclusion in the American Watercolor Society’s Dolphin Fellowship, and he is an honorary member of the Jiangsu Watercolor Research Institute in China. He has won more than 190 awards in both national and international exhibitions and frequently serves as a juror for national shows.

Cable Car, 25" x 24.5"

The majority of John's work involves urban landscapes. Ranging from San Francisco to the Chicago Loop to Greenwich Village to rainy Paris to Shanghai, his subjects are consistently presented in dynamic compositions and his ability to set a mood with color, light and tone is unsurpassed.

City of Light, 24" x 35.5"

Paris Bookstalls, 30" x 36"

Champs Elysees, 25" x 25"

Shanghai Alley, 24" x 35.5"

John has been conducting workshops for many years, all around the country, and he enjoys working with artists at all levels of experience and expertise.

Please visit John's website to see a full gallery of his work and get details of his workshop schedule.

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Winter Scenes -- Anders Andersson & Aud Rye

Winter Communication
watercolor, 11" x 15" (28cm x 38cm)
Anders Andersson

After Snowfall
watercolor, 22" x 15" (56cm x 38cm)
Aud Rye

Two Scandinavian artists -- Anders Andersson of Sweden and Aud Rye of Norway -- find inspiration for some of their work in the wintery scenes that surround them for months every year. While Anders takes a minimalist approach, using a soft palette and very spare imagery, Aud's use of color and detail reveals a much more romantic view of the landscape.

As a young child, Anders borrowed his mother's watercolor supplies to begin painting after watching her make watercolor sketches. By the time he reached the university, he was doing airbrush commissions and also worked as an airbrush artist painting custom t-shirts at the beach. His interest in watercolor was rekindled when his wife gave him the gift of a course in watercolor. He eventually met David Taylor and Joseph Zbukvic, two well-known Australian watercolorists and teachers, and credits them with awakening his passion for watercolor.

Anders Andersson's portfolio:

Cool Communications, 11" x 15" (28cm x 38cm)

Bonan, 15" x 22" (38cm x 56cm)

Winter Sleep, 30" x 15" (76cm x 38cm)

Ice, 7" x 15" (19cm x 38cm)

Winter Water, 15" x 22" (38cm x 56cm)

Aud had been doing freelance drawing and illustration work for magazines and books for many years when she quit her jobs to care for her terminally ill mother. To keep herself occupied and focussed on something positive, she read books on watercolor and taught herself to paint, eventually studying with Kari Unn Paye and Zoltan Szabo, among others. She established a school in her home studio and soon was teaching classes and workshops throughout Scandinavia and Europe. When she gave up the weekday classes, she began taping her worshop preparations, with the result that she has published more than 30 DVDs demonstrating her painting techniques. Aud is also co-author with Solveig Rimstad of Blomster, a book of floral paintings with illustrations of their watercolor techniques.

Aud Rye's portfolio:

Frost, 11" x 15" (28cm x 38cm)

Winter in Kragero, 17" x 11" (42cm x 11cm)


Winterscene, 15" x 22" (38cm x 56cm)


The River, 22" x 15" (56cm x 38cm)


The Creek, 15" x 11" (38cm x 28cm)

Please visit Anders' website (and be sure to check the link to his other site) to see a more extensive collection of his work. A visit to Aud's website will reveal the wide range of her watercolor interests as well (click on Akvareller to see her paintings).

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