Jeannie Vodden

Tiny Dragon Just Simmering, 22" x 15"

Jeannie Vodden's interest in the complex textures and patterns found in both natural and man-made objects is the starting point for most of her paintings. She adds natural light, an occasional figure, sometimes a dash of fantasy, and pulls it all together with a limited palette. Her preference for the complex play of form and light is balanced by her preference for a very simple palette -- starting with only three colors and seldom using more than six or eight -- and glazing many transparent layers to achieve great richness and depth of color. Although she doesn't paint full-fledged fantasy art, she enjoys adding touches of fantasy to her portraits to convey an interaction with the magic of life. In Jeannie's words, "My desire is to bring to my work the imagination and curiosity which is so often found in children and to combine that sense of wonder with an experienced artist's hand."

Remnants, 22" x 30"

Nestled, 11" x 15"

Jeannie lives in the Sierra foothills of northern California. She spends her time painting and teaching in her cottage studio, maintaining her garden, and browsing antique and thrift stores for subjects for her work. She returned to school in 1993 to study art at American River College in Sacramento. She studied with Sacramento artist Gary Pruner, whom she credits for not only for his marvelous teaching and passion for painting, but also for his generous support and encouragement as she became a full-time painter and teacher. Jeannie has been conducting watercolor workshops throughout California as well as other states for 15 years and also teaches regular classes at The School of Light and Color in Fair Oaks, CA and at University Art in Sacramento, CA. She has shown her work extensively in the California Gold Country and in the Central Valley -- including Stockton, Lodi, and Sacramento -- and has been accepted into two of the prestigious Crocker Kingsley shows at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. Jeannie has won numerous awards for her work, and the State of California has purchased two of her paintings.

Mystic Companions, 30" x 22"

Handling the Muse, 15" x 22"

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

Sue Johnston

Rocks Rock!, 30" x 22"

From cats facing off through a shop window to punks in Trafalgar Square to a basket of rocks, Sue Johnston's work conveys a delight in her subject and a fascination with light and color. Each painting grows out of her involvement with a subject -- often encountered during her travels -- cats in San Miguel, train trips through the West, travels to London. She loves to portray the humor of the human condition and the sense of self that people convey. Although she does produce paintings in bright primary colors, she frequently works with a palette ranging from deep oranges and blues to rich browns, softening them as the mood of the painting dictates. Her use of deep darks adds an air of mystery to her scenes.

Nelson's View, 26" x 22"

San Miguel Gatos, 30" x 22"

Sue began her career as a watercolorist after 25 years as an elementary teacher in the Oakland public schools. Following a lifelong dream to become proficient in the medium, she began by taking classes at Merritt College and has continued her development with workshops and classes from renowned artists in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the country. She joined the California Watercolor Association in 1998 and served on various committees; she was vice president in charge of the annual national exhibition in 2003 and then led the group as president from 2004-2008. Her work has been included in two shows at the Triton Museum in Santa Clara, California -- winning second place in the exhibition in 2007 -- and in national exhibits presented by the San Diego Watercolor Society, Arizona Aqueous, Watercolor West, the Northwest Watercolor Society, and the California Watercolor Association. Sue is a signature member of CWA. She is represented by Gallery Concord in Concord, California.

Railroad Crossing, 30" x 22"

Reno Rails, 30" x 22"

Please go to Sue's website to see more of her work.

Tracy Hall

Red Squirrel, 1.75" x 2.25" (4.45cm x 5.72cm)

Living in the remote Orkney Islands of Scotland for the past 20 years, Tracy Hall was very busy with commissioned art projects until 2007, when she had a revelation regarding her own art. As she puts it, "I saw potential paintings everywhere I went but always seemed to be filing them away to paint 'some day.' It was frustrating, until I realized that the only person who could make 'some day' arrive was me. So I made time." She gradually found a balance between her commission assignments and her personal work and feels both have benefited as a result.

Young Otters, 2" x 3" (5.08cm x 7.62cm)

Starting out with ACEOs because of limited time, she soon discovered the world of miniature painting -- where painstaking detail is not only embraced but encouraged -- and found it very liberating. Because of the incredibly small size (Tracy's miniature paintings are often 1.75" x 2.25" -- smaller than a standard business card in the U.S.) she works on smooth-surfaced Crescent rag board using a magnifying glass and fine-point brushes that range from size 3 down to 10/0. Although many people assume miniatures will be quick to paint because of their small size, Tracy has found that "if anything, the reverse is true -- I find the more I do the longer they are taking!" With her deep love of nature, birds and animals predominate in her work which is painted exclusively in watercolor using both transparent and opaque paints.

Red Admiral & Rook, 2.25" x 1.75"
(5.72cm x 4.45cm)

Within a year of starting to work in miniature, Tracy had won awards in all the miniature shows she entered in the UK and US, culminating with the prestigious once-in-a-lifetime Gold Memorial Bowl from the Royal Miniature Society in 2008, and she was awarded signature status in the Hilliard Society of Miniaturists (UK) in June 2009. Tracy recently completed a four-year collaboration on The Orkney Book of Birds, painting 50 full-color illustrations for the volume. She is a contributing artist to The Watercolor Flower Artist's Bible and The Watercolor Artist's Flower Handbook and was featured artist in Animal World magazine (US) in both 2005 and 2006. Tracy is included in a special feature on botanical artists in the June 2009 issue of Artists & Illustrators magazine (UK), which is also running a special feature on her miniature paintings in the forthcoming September issue, and she is currently writing an article on miniature art commissioned by Leisure Painter Magazine (UK) to appear in their October issue.

Inca Tern, 1.75" x 2.25" (4.45cm x 5.72cm)

Superb Starling, 2.25" x 3.25" (5.72cm x 8.26cm)

Please visit Tracy's blog to see more of her work. It's well worth your time to go from there to her website to see even more of her excellent work.

Belinda Del Pesco

Pink & White Roses, 14" x 14" -- watercolor

Belinda Del Pesco works in the classical tradition of landscape, figure, and still-life painting, dividing her time between watercolor painting and printmaking. A life-long fascination with the nuances of face and figure -- and the seasonal changes in natural light on everyday things -- have been a constant source of inspiration. Her affinity for the artistic traditions of the late 19th and early 20th century is further influenced by exposure to the vast art resources on the internet. In her own words, "As artists, we are living in an extraordinary time of split-second exposure in both directions; we can see and be influenced by millions of art images, methods and history about our heroes, and we can share what we produce under those influences. My experience as an artist is completely different than my mother's generation, and I'm very appreciative of that." Belinda prefers to paint on very smooth surfaces -- plate bristol, hot-pressed paper, and gessoed wood and uses both watercolor and colored pencils when adding to her oil-based prints. Her printmaking methods include dark-field monotype, woodcut/linocut, collograph, dry point engraving and etching.

Movie Night, 5" x 7" -- monotype ghost with watercolor

Got Any More Cookies, 6" x 9" -- linocut with watercolor

Originally from New England, Belinda was raised in a family of emigré artists and inventors, where creativity was encouraged and seasoned by influences from Italy, France, England, and Canada. After earning a degree at the University of Massachusetts, she headed west and went to work in public relations in the entertainment industry. After a decade-long hiatus from art, an invitation to paint plein air re-ignited her love for watercolors, and, in 2001, she left the corporate world to paint full time. Since then she's won numerous awards and commissions and her paintings are in collections worldwide. In 2005, she started blogging as a means to share her painting and printmaking methods. To date, she has catalogued over 400 posts, and blogging has added to her sense of community as a watercolorist. Access to other watercolorists used to be limited to books, magazines, and gallery hopping; now, through blogs, online friendships, artist forums, and google searches, her camaraderie with other watercolorists is deep, wide, and international.

Pomegranates from Arizona, 6" x 8" -- watercolor

Respite, 7" x 7" -- watercolor

Please visit Belinda's blog to see more of her work and to link to her website and her online sales venues.