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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Katharine Cartwright

Nest Eggs on Wall Street, 19" x 28"

"I think in pictures and my paintings are my voice," says Katharine Cartwright. "As with speech, the central concept is the most important aspect of what I paint. Without meaning, my paintings would lack relevance and uniqueness." She paints in series and often has several different series going at the same time; a series may include only a dozen paintings, but frequently more, and may take anywhere from a year to a decade to complete. Starting by formulating a concept, she then selects materials, a color palette, and compositions to support her idea. In the series featured here, she has utilized broken egg shells in a manner that bridges realism and abstraction to express the fragility of life and our investments. Because the work is allegorical rather than representational, she disregards realistic color in favor of color strategies that contribute to an effective composition. Katharine has completed over 50 paintings in this series in the past four years and intends to continue it with the goal of incorporating new and meaningful elements with each new step.

All Cracked Up XXI, 28" x 19"

All Cracked Up XXII, 28" x 19"

Katharine's parents encouraged her to become an artist, providing her with a formal education in fine art at Linden Hall School for Girls, Kutztown University, The Maryland Institute College of Art, and The College of Charleston. Trained in techniques for oils and acrylics, she only began using watermedia ten years ago and fell in love with it. She is an inducted member of the National Association of Women Artists and a signature member of the North East Watercolor Society and the Missouri Watercolor Society. Her watercolors have been accepted into numerous national and international juried exhibitions and have won top awards, and her work is included in over one hundred private and corporate collections. In addition, her work will be featured in two books to be published this year -- Best of America Watermedia Artists Volume II and The Artistic Touch 4. Katharine maintains studios in New York and Maine and teaches painting workshops in all media throughout the U.S., with a special focus on concept development.

All Cracked Up XXIII, 28" x 19"

All Cracked Up XXIV, 28" x 19"

Please link over to Katharine's blog to see more of her work and get further information about her workshops. Be sure to link through to her website as well.

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Jane Freeman

Morning Meditation, 17" x 12"

Jane Freeman lives in northern Minnesota where winter can last approximately six months. She observes, “People can get depressed around here when winter begins, but I start to get excited because I know I will have nearly six months of uninterrupted painting! Isn’t that what every artist dreams of?” Because she loves to paint flowers, she grows and photographs most of her subjects during the relatively brief gardening season. She also loves to paint still life setups of things that have personal meaning to her, photographing them during the summer as well to get strong natural light. Painting the things she loves and holds dear gives her the passion and patience she needs to create her very detailed realistic paintings.

She paints in transparent watercolor 90% of the time, only resorting to other materials when a painting has had “bad luck.” Because she does not believe in letting go of a piece and never repeats anything, she has to make each painting work, but she also feels that some of her best work has come out of those struggles to save a piece.

Peony Passion, 20" x 28"

Last Peony Petals, 13" x 21"

Jane earned a BFA at the University of North Dakota but didn't become serious about her art until both children were grown and had left home. She focussed exclusively on watercolors and began competing nationally and internationally in 1999. The author of A Celebration of Light (North Light Books), her work has been included in a number of books, including Splash 7 and 9, and she has been featured in many art magazines over the past ten years. In her words, "I think getting six pages in the American Artist magazine and eight pages in International Artist Magazine made me take myself seriously. Up until then, I kept thinking this was just a fluke and it would pass. I did not believe in myself.

"My life as an artist has surpassed anything I dreamed was possible. This has encouraged me to go deeper and try harder. I hope I am contemplating a new difficult painting when I'm 85. Life is short but my days are long and full of blessings because of watercolor. That is why I love to teach at workshops because if I can turn on that excitement in anyone it is worth everything. To see artists grow and reach their potential is just an amazing feeling. I love my life. Now how great is that?”

Sauced Grapes, 19" x 28"

A Slice of Summer, 20" x 29"

Please visit Jane's blog for more information about her work and also follow her link to her website to see additional paintings.

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