Kaaren Oreck

Arigato Makoto, 21" x 28"

When she discovered watercolor in 1989, Kaaren Oreck finally felt she had found the perfect medium for her work. In her words, "Watercolor is a medium that is just as beautiful three inches away as it is across the room." Travels and exhibitions in Japan have provided much of her current inspiration -- many wonderful complex patterns seem to combine with beautiful simplicity in Japanese life. And flowers, always an inspiration, seem more highly treasured in Wisconsin because of the long winters. Whether her subject matter comes from just around the corner or from halfway around the world, she feels that watercolor can portray the color of the world in its brightest light and darkest shadow with equal excitement.

Geisha #3, 28" x 16"

After she has taken photo images that are interesting and exciting to her, Kaaren manipulates them to eliminate the extraneous details and develop those that will convey what she has envisioned. She uses a very limited palette to create unity in her paintings, working in many transparent layers on both wet and dry paper.

Still-life Impressions of Japan, 18" x 27"

Kaaren lived in many parts of the country before moving to Madison, Wisconsin, where she currently resides. After getting a BS in nursing from Boston University, she began taking every available art class, whether college courses or private. A friend jokingly called Kaaren "the queen of workshops," but she feels very fortunate to have studied with so many wonderful teachers. Her paintings have been juried into numerous exhibitions in Wisconsin and across the country and have won many awards. She is a Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society, the Louisiana Watercolor Society, and the Wisconsin Watercolor Society, as well as a member of several other art societies, with professional status in Wisconsin Visual Artists. She also has served as a board member of the Transparent Watercolor Society of America (TWSA). In 2005, Kaaren was selected as the featured artist for WHA -- Wisconsin Public Television -- and her paintings are included in Pouring Transparent Watercolors by Jean Grastorf and The Artistic Touch 4 by Chris Unwin.

Colors of Nature, 18" x 29"

Serendipity, 20" x 27"

Please visit Kaaren's website to see more of her work.

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Verena Heroux

Midsummer's Morning, 21" x 29"

Growing up in the English countryside inspired in Verena Heroux a love of nature's beauty and the desire to portray it in watercolor. Surrounded by her father's beautiful gardens, she began painting flowers at a very early age. Although she painted all through her childhood, she set her interests aside to raise her family and only began to paint seriously in 1998, after her husband retired. She has taken no formal classes in either painting or composition, being primarily self-taught through books and self-directed study.

Flirtation, 17" x 27"

Verena prefers to work from photos so she can capture the play of sun and shadow which is critical in the design of her paintings, so she always takes her camera on her morning walks and frequently stops to photograph the flowers in her neighbors' gardens. Working on Arches 300 lb. cold-pressed paper, she uses an assortment of kolinsky brushes -- rounds from size 2 to 10 -- and a Richeson 2-inch flat sable for background washes. She uses Daniel Smith and Maimeri Blu watercolors and also Incredible White Mask liquid frisket.

Sunday Afternoon, 17" x 27"

Fairy Tales, 16" x 22"

Verena has held several solo shows and has been juried into numerous local and regional shows, winning many awards along the way. She became a Signature Member of the Watercolor Society of North Carolina in 2005 and is active in the Southern Watercolor Society. As a finalist in International Artist magazine's "Still-life and Florals Challenge #47," her work was published in the October/November 2008 issue of that magazine. She is currently working on an article demonstrating her painting techniques for International Artist. Verena is represented by the Mattie King Davis Gallery and Handscapes Gallery, both in Beaufort, NC.

Shadow Boxing, 16" x 22"

Please jump over to Verena's website to see more of her work.

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Paul Jackson

Neon Rain

Paul Jackson's passion for dramatic light and shadow is the inspiration that drives him to paint. Although he choses subjects for their aesthetic beauty, it is the quality of light and the way a subject reacts to it that makes that subject exciting for him. He works in transparent watercolor because he finds it ideally suited to capturing the veils of light and luminous atmosphere for which his paintings are known. Each painting is a carefully orchestrated symphony intended to awaken the eye and offer a warmth to ignite the soul.

Because there is little margin for mistakes in watercolor, his paintings are rigorously planned through a series of sketches and drawings before he puts any paint to paper. Using thin washes, he optically mixes the paint on the paper, generally progressing in a light-to-dark approach but often reversing that process for muted patterns and details. On occasion, he enhances the painting with colored pencil or other mediums to achieve special effects, but for the most part, he enjoys challenging the limitations of watercolor and takes great delight in achieving the impossible with only basic materials.

Detour

Crosstown Traffic

Paul began painting in college at Mississippi State University. He received an MFA from the University of Missouri in 1992 and since then, his artwork has received top honors in national and international competitions and has graced the covers of dozens of magazines and books. His work has been featured on the cover of The Artist's Magazine four times in recent years, and in American Artist, Watercolor Magic, Watercolor Artist, and Watercolor, as well as in numerous well-known newpapers and in the broadcast media. Paul is also the author of Painting Spectacular Light Effects in Watercolor (North Light Books) and a well-known instructor, giving workshops around the world.

Hide and Seek

Paul was honored with signature membership in the American Watercolor Society at the age of 30 and is also a signature member of the National Watercolor Society. He won the Grand Prize in the “Paint Your Way to Paris ” competition and has been featured as one of the Master Painters of the World in International Artist magazine. In 2008, he was the featured speaker at the International Watercolor Masters Invitational in Lushan, China during the Olympic Games and in 2009, he served as an invited juror for the AWS annual international exhibition.

Enchanted Forest

Please go to Paul's blog to get the latest news and link from there to his website to see more of his paintings.

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Sarah Bent

Gerbera Glory, 17" x 23"

Fortunate to live in sunny Hong Kong, Sarah Bent uses that light as her inspiration -- photographing her subjects as the sunlight plays across them. She begins each of her paintings by taking a series of photographs intended to capture the abstract images that underpin all of her watercolors. At the same time, she is looking forward to the creative process that will turn these photos into paintings. To achieve the depth of color that she wants, she applies multiple layers of transparent paint to her paper, allowing the colors to flow and mix on the paper. By juxtaposing intense darks against bright, light areas, she produces dramatic, vibrant paintings of tropical flowers and flower-filled crystal vases, as well as more humble fruits and vegetables.

Lilybud II, 17" x 23"

Ornamental Cabbages, 17" x 23"

Originally from England, Sarah has been living in Hong Kong for over 30 years. Although she always wanted to paint, she put her dreams on hold while working and raising three children. When they were grown, her thoughts turned to painting again and she set about teaching herself and experimenting with different media. After initially working in acrylic and pastel, she discovered watercolor and has never looked back. She began painting portraits of pets and people and continues to paint portraits by commission. In 2007, she joined the Hong Kong group, Artists Abroad, and began focussing on still-lifes -- featuring flowers or fruit with crystal, china and glass -- and botanical-themed paintings inspired by the wonderful tropical flora of Asia.

Agave, 17" x 23"

Sarah exhibits annually in Hong Kong with Artists Abroad and is a Full Member of the Australian Guild of Realist Artists. She became a juried member of the International Guild of Realism in 2009 and her work was shown in their annual juried exhibition in Palm Desert, CA in February, 2010. She has also been honored as a finalist in the Society for All Artists (UK) 2008 "Artist of the Year" competition and with an Honorable Mention in Watercolor Artist magazine's 2009 Watermedia Showcase (appearing in the February 2010 issue of the magazine).

Please Don't Make Me Cry II, 17" x 23"

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

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Joyce Faulknor

Murano in Autumn, 36" x 40"

Although Joyce Faulknor comes from a family of artists who encouraged her to paint, it was only after being asked to teach art by her son's first grade teacher that she realized her true calling as an instructor. She subsequently fell in love with watercolor while studying at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and, a few years later, combined her passions of watercolor and teaching by opening her own art school.

Facets Galore, 24" x 40"

From the beginning, she was fascinated with glass, intrigued by the abstract shapes that appear in reflections and the distortions created by glass objects. When she took a workshop early in her career with noted watercolorist Jan Kunz, Jan recognized Joyce's talent for painting glass and crystal and encouraged her to focus on still lifes featuring both. Joyce gradually developed her own technique for this complex subject and then broke it down into steps so she could teach her students. She has also developed a unique style of painting, stretching her watercolor paper on stretcher bars as an oil painter would stretch canvas. She paints dark to light, also a non-traditional approach to watercolor, and then varnishes her finished work so it can be displayed without glass.

During the years that she ran her school, she continued to paint and set new goals for herself as well, getting published in art magazines and books. She eventually turned her classes over to other instructors in order to write her own book and make an instructional video. For the past year, she and Guy Magallanes have been developing an instructional program for public television.

Stunning Crystal and Glass, 20" x 24"

Joyce founded the Emerald Lake Art Academy in 1991 and taught there for 10 years. During that time, she entered many competitions and expanded her visibility by entering the North Light Splash book competitions. After her painting was published in Splash 8, she landed a feature article in Watercolor magazine (an American Artist publication) and her work was featured on the cover. Following that success, North Light Books asked her to write an instructional book; from October 2004 to January 2006, her concentration was dedicated to writing and painting for the book. Stunning Crystal and Glass was released in October 2006 and was the featured book for the North Light Book Club. She was then invited to shoot a companion DVD in the United Kingdom for Artists Limited, Inc. During the next few years, she gave workshops across the country. She has been working with Guy Magallanes to develop "Art 2 Art" -- a series featuring two artists painting the same subjects, but with different techniques. They are currently finishing up production on 13 episodes to be aired on PBS in the coming months.

Beveled Vase with Red Onions, 18" x 20"

Reflections, 40" x 36"

Please jump to Joyce's website to see more of her work and link to her blog from there.

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Thomas Schaller

Alley - Venice, 12" x 9"

Thomas Schaller's love of watercolor began with an early dedication to the English landscape tradition and the French Beaux-Arts architectural discipline. Following more than 20 years as a very successful architectural designer and illustrator in New York City, he relocated to Venice, California and began to focus on fine art in 2006; his love of landscape, as well as our constructed environment, continue to inform his work in watercolor. He is particularly inspired by the idea of a "sense of place" -- the presence, memory, narrative, and especially the luminosity of the idea of buildings in both the rural and urban landscape, and he believes that the medium of transparent watercolor is unsurpassed in its ability to convey both the real and transient nature of the world around us.

Italian Street Scene, 12" x 9"

Tom has long been considered one of the foremost architectural illustrators in the world. In addition to winning many other awards, he is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Hugh Ferriss Memorial Prize for excellence in the graphic depiction of architecture. He has authored two books: the best-selling -- and AIA Award of Merit winner -- Architecture in Watercolor, and The Art of Architectural Drawing. He has also lectured widely and hosted watercolor workshops. His work has been exhibited around the world, including at The Art Institute of Chicago; The American Society of Illustrators in New York City; the Aedes-East Gallery in Berlin, Germany; and in a mid-career retrospective at The Graham Foundation in Chicago, which hosts exhibits and lectures on architectural subjects.

Japan 2, 12" x 9"

As a fine artist, Tom has been recognized in American Artist and American Art Collector magazines. He is represented in Los Angeles by the Link Gallery, the Universal Art Gallery, and the Carter-Sexton Gallery, which will host his first one-man show in 2011. In addition to his memberships in numerous professional societies related to his architectural work, Tom is a member of AWS, NWS and the California Art Club and has been juried into recent CAC exhibitions, including their 2009 Centennial Exhibition. His work was also juried into the 2010 AWS exhibition and he will be featured in an article in the April issue of American Artist magazine.

London, 16" x 8"

Charles Bridge - Prague, 13" x 18"

Please visit Tom's blog to get the latest news and find links to his website and other venues.

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