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.

Michael Reardon

Piemonte, 21" x 10"

An avid traveler, Michael Reardon uses watercolor to record his observations, convey a sense of place, and communicate his impressions of natural, constructed, and imagined worlds. He has been painting in watercolor for over twenty years, inspired to learn the medium after viewing a show of John Singer Sargent's watercolors at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, and Sargent's work continues to inspire his work, particularly his plein air paintings. With his extensive background in architectural illustration, he composes evocative watercolors using a limited color palette and subtle washes. His most recent work is a series of imagined landscapes. Beginning with a small thumbnail study of shape and value, he enlarges the image, adding architectural detail to create convincing landscapes. His intent is to let the watercolor paint express itself in each piece -- working wet-into-wet -- and he enjoys watching the pigments mingle and granulate as he paints.

California Squall, 22" x 11"

California Pond, 22" x 11"

In 2005, Michael was the recipient of the prestigious Gabriel Prize from the Western European Architecture Foundation, which enabled him to spend three months painting in Paris. His watercolors have been exhibited both nationally and internationally; recent exhibits include the annual shows of the California Watercolor Association, the American Watercolor Society, and Watercolor West. He is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society and the California Watercolor Association, and his work was featured in the Fall 2007 issue of Watercolor magazine and in Splash 10 -- Passionate Brushstrokes from North Light Books (2008). This May he was a juried participant in Sonoma Plein Air 2009.

Pont-au-Change, 21" x 11"

Champs-Elysees Bassin, 14" x 9"

Please visit Michael's website to see more of his work.

Kathleen Alexander

Lawaii Plumeria II, 21" x 28"

With a focus on Pacific Rim subjects, Kathleen Alexander constantly challenges herself to take on new subjects and create artistically inspiring series of paintings. Beginning with local California coastal landscapes, she moved on to botanical orchids and then to tropical flowers -- particularly of Hawaii -- following travel to the islands. From there, she expanded her field to include various tropical plants with intriguing foliage and then pushed the boundaries further with waterlilies, koi, and Japanese persimmons. She chooses subjects that trigger an emotional response for her and aims for finished paintings that evoke peace and tranquility. Kathleen says, "For me, technical skills are important, but having a subject you are passionate about is equally important for creating art. I found that my technical skills improved as I explored painting similar subjects. Working consistently with the same color palette also improved my technical skills, as I learned how certain colors behaved with each other and on the paper." Primarily a studio painter, she uses her camera and computer as tools in creating her striking compositions, preferring subjects with strong contrasts and rich shadows.

Enlightenment, 13" x 31"

Summer Morning, 21" x 29"

Although she began painting in watercolor in 1982, Kathleen earned a degree in biochemistry and worked in that field before starting her family. In 1991, she felt the need for a focussed creative outlet and began taking evening classes in watercolor at a local community college. She was awarded a one-year scholarship to the Academy of Art College in San Francisco after entering a painting in the local County Fair; she studied life drawing and graphic design at AAC in 2000-2001 while continuing to paint in her own studio. She currently participates in regional art festivals during the summer and teaches ongoing classes as well as three-day workshops in watercolor. Her work has won awards in numerous juried watercolor competitions around the country -- the Northwest Watercolor Society, the Watercolor Art Society - Houston, the Lousiana Watercolor Society, and Watercolor West -- and she recently won Third Place in the juried Statewide Watercolor Exhibition at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, CA. Kathleen is a signature member of the Northwest Watercolor Society.

Haiku I, 20" x 30"

Lawaii Palm, 32" x 37"

Please visit Kathleen's website to see more of her work and get details of her show schedule and classes.

Nancy Calhoun

St. Jerome -- Taos, 13" x 13"

Nancy Calhoun's complex watercolors often start with a collage created from scraps of paper or photographs. Her ideas come from people or places that have inspired her -- the southwest, the Sierras, and a recent trip to France are depicted in her current work. From her collage, she creates a drawing that she transfers to watercolor paper. By using multiple applications of masking fluid and pouring numerous washes of transparent paint, she builds depth in her images while retaining the vibrant glow of the paper.

Real Indian Stuff, 13" x 13"

Nancy started her art life as an oil painter, studying with Chris Borggren in his San Carlos studio. Born in Denmark, Borggren studied with the Fauvist artist Maurice de Vlaminck in Paris, eventually moving to the U.S. where he taught art for his entire life. As the mother of three small children, Nancy cherished the hours that she spent studying with Borggren, remarking, "He was an incredible person, artist, and teacher with a fauvist's love of color which he passed to his students." After several moves back and forth between northern and southern California, Nancy and her family settled in the Bay Area and she began taking art classes at local community colleges. She took her first watercolor classes in the early 1990s, eventually discovering Mike Bailey's challenging class, Watercolor Beyond the Obvious. Although she still loves the smell of oil paint and still has Borggren's easel, which she purchased after his death, Nancy now works exclusively in watercolor.

Southwest, 20" x 20"

Nancy studied art and education at both UCLA and San Francisco State University, earning a bachelor's degree in Education. She has won Best in Show in the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society annual show in addition to other awards. She is a member of Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos and a longtime and very active member of Arts of Bear Valley, near her summer cabin and studio in the Sierras. Arts of Bear Valley sponsors a summer show in conjunction with the annual Bear Valley Music Festival, as well as another show in Calaveras Big Trees State Park.

Beynac I, 22" x 14"

Beynac II, 22" x 14"

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

Rosanne Seitz

Carrizo Colors II, 22" x 30"

Rosanne Seitz knew at age five that she was drawn to color and loved the process of putting it on paper to create form and space. During the 23 years she taught elementary school, she took art classes and painted in her spare time. And she says, "Watercolor chose me." She has been inspired by the early California scene painters, primarily the plein air watercolorists, and was fortunate to be able to study with Milford Zornes, among many other well-known artists. Plein air painting allows her to soak up the atmosphere, color and adventure of exploring new landscapes and provides the means to pay tribute to the land and her heritage, while studio painting allows her to enjoy working on a larger scale in a more controlled environment. Both bring her a sense of connectedness to the world.

Relating a plein air painting day, Rosanne writes, "...on a stormy Friday afternoon at the Chimineas Ranch, the sun found a break in the clouds and shone across the grassland. We stopped to paint, and as the sun went lower, the grass lit up like it was on fire and glowed against the dark blue purple of the storm clouds. WOW! We stopped painting every 5 minutes to exclaim as the scene changed and finally the clouds began picking up the sunset colors."

Sierra Monument, 30" x 20"

Although she is a member of a number of local and regional art associations, Rosanne is particularly proud of her membership in San Luis Obispo Outdoor Painters of the Environment. This group of 20 professional artists is committed to preserving the diversity of life in the natural communities throughout the county, drawing public attention to the environment through their paintings and through shows held in conjunction with local and national conservation groups.

Mouth of Avila Creek, 28" x 18"

Rosanne has consistently won awards for her work in regional and national art shows, and she has maintained a busy festival schedule, exhibiting in events from Los Angeles to the San Francisco area. She also participates in regional benefit shows, and she shares her love of painting by teaching workshops. She is co-owner of The Gallery at the Network in San Luis Obispo, which features her work and that of her co-owners, along with works from many other fine artists.

Coastal Colors II, 15" x 22"

Hollister Peak and Oaks, 18" x 28"

Please visit Rosanne's website to see more of her paintings and learn more about her activities.

Lisa Faulkner Wright

Vermillion Sunset, 18" x 24"

Speaking of her choice of subject matter, Lisa Faulkner Wright comments, "Having grown up near the shores of Lake Tahoe, I am inspired by the vast pine forests, high mountain lakes, granite peaks and sandstone canyons of our western states. But I am equally inspired by the smaller details of nature. From the stunning vistas to the roadside wildflowers, I have been instilled with a reverence for the land, with its powerful geologic forces and the striking beauty of its flora and fauna."

Lisa primarily paints landscapes in a contemporary realist style, applying the concepts of pictorial geometry to create illusionary worlds that invite her viewers to step into the scenes psychologically. Painting both on location and in her studio, she has chosen watercolor for its luminosity and for its wide range of properties from transparent to opaque. She capitalizes on the special effects of granulating pigments, often flowing several washes down the paper to build up sedimenta-
tion and reticulation patterns which she then incorporates into rock features in the painting. Watercolors are usually applied in a traditional manner with traditional sable/blend brushes, but she also trims synthetic fan brushes to desired shapes and then uses them to apply thick paint to capture the details of grasses, trees, and stratified rock. She finds the Primatek paints from Daniel Smith especially well-suited to depicting the features of the desert southwest and the Colorado Plateau.

Flood of Color, 17" x 12"

Although academically trained in printmaking and ceramic sculpture -- she holds an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison -- Lisa came to a turning point in her career when she studied with Jack Beal and Sondra Freckelton during summer programs at their home studio. She has taught university classes in printmaking, papermaking, and painting and also maintained a successful studio and gallery displaying ceramic sculpture, porcelain pottery, and watercolors for many years. She has also exhibited widely, winning awards in regional and national shows, and her work is included in the collection of the Elvehjem Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, among others. Her work has been featured in Watercolor magazine and is included in Daily Life in Still Life, published by American Artist magazine. She now teaches painting and drawing at her private studio.

Blossoms of the Cholla, 17" x 12"

Yellow Blossoms and Raindrops, 12" x 17"

Trail to the Sandstone Bluffs, 18" x 24"

Please visit Lisa's blog to see more of her work.