Kay Duffy

Pine Tree Patterns, 21" x 29"
gouache over acrylic

Kay Duffy finds the freedom, spontaneity and speed of watercolor well-suited to her temperament. Her watercolors are painted in a "wet and loose" or "juicy" style, using bright colors, strong shapes, and broad brushstrokes to depict impressions of individual flowers and trees as well as natural landscapes and buildings. She especially enjoys the freedom of painting on location -- en plein air -- both in the U.S. and in her travels to other countries.

As part of her ongoing interest in experimenting with different approaches, Kay has recently been exploring the use of gouache (an opaque watercolor using the same pigments and binders as traditional transparent watercolor, but with the addition of white pigment). Working on papers which she has coated with a layer of brightly colored acrylic paint, she allows bits of the undercoat to peek through, adding zest to the finished paintings.

Grand Canyon – Pumpkin, 14" x 18"
gouache over acrylic

Mt. Diablo, 21" x 29"
gouache over acrylic

Although Kay's educational background is in the sciences, she has been painting for over 40 years. Always endeavoring to learn and grow, she has taken workshops with such nationally known artists as Jane Hofstetter, Gerald Brommer, Barbara Nechis, Zoltan Szabo, Judy Betts, Marilyn Simandle, Frank Webb, Cheng Khee Chee, and many others. Her interest in plein air painting fits quite well with her love of outdoor recreation and she has been active in community affairs with a focus on parks and open space preservation. Kay is an active member of several local art associations and is a signature member of the Society of Western Artists. She teaches watercolor and collage at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, California.

Over the Coast – Bixby Bridge, 21" x 29"
gouache over acrylic

Snowy Trees, 29" x 21"
gouache over acrylic

Please visit Kay's website to see more of her work and get information on her galleries and classes.

Sally Bookman

White Azalea, 22" x 30"

Although Sally Bookman lives in the Monterey Bay Area in California, with its abundance of subjects for painting, she also loves to travel and finds inspiration from exploring new places. Most of her paintings depict her love of local scenes (whether in California, Mexico, the Caribbean, or Europe), harbors, old homes by the sea, and colorful gardens. Feeling that landscape paintings can too often become trite, she uses strong design and lively color to inject excitement into her work. Sally says, "I want viewers to look at my paintings and be intrigued, curious, and captivated. If I can make them pause for a moment and recall a special time or event in their lives that brings back happy memories or evokes a feeling of pleasure, then I am happy."

Iris Garden, 30" x 22"

Sally's route to being a successful watercolorist began in London, UK, where she studied art at St. Martin's School of Art and Design and hung her paintings on the iron railings along the Thames, hoping to sell to passing art lovers. At age 19, she moved to Australia and then, a few years later, to California. After earning a doctorate in social anthropology, she moved to Santa Cruz, California and began work as a real estate agent. A decade later, she decided to take up watercolor as a part-time recreation. Although she studied art at both Long Beach State College and Cabrillo College, she feels most indebted to the many instructors whose workshops she has attended across the country over the past 20 years. While she finds herself drawn to experimenting with collage and acrylic from time to time, she always returns to watercolor.

San Miguel, 22" x 30"

Caribbean Harbor, 24" x 18"

Capitola Cafe, 24" x 18"

Please hop over to Sally's website to see more of her work.

Fábio Cembranelli

River, 15" x 22"

Although he usually works from either his photos or field sketches, Fábio Cembranelli uses those only as a starting point. He composes his paintings in the studio, adding new shapes, colors, and meanings in a free and intuitive process. Explaining why he has chosen transparent watercolor as his favorite medium, he says, "What compels me to paint with this approach is the possibility of painting quickly. It suits my personality best -- the fluidity of the medium provides a unique sensation of unexpected color mixing, particularly when I define only the main masses and allow the unpredictable to happen on the rest of the paper. Timing is quite important in my method. I lean intuitively toward realism, but the right speed forces me to create diffused effects and shapes. I love painting flowers in watercolor and I'm always enchanted by the attempt to capture the contrast between loose and definitive edges, as well as light and shadow effects."

Gladiolos, 9" x 15"

Sunflowers, watercolor over gesso texture, 25" x 18"

Fábio graduated from the School of Architecture at São Paulo State University, but after working as an architect for two years, he decided to pursue a career as an artist. He had started painting while at the university, and he continued his studies during the late 1980s and early '90s with drawing and photography courses in Brazil and painting instruction with teachers in Europe and the U.S. He has participated in many national and international art competitions in Brazil and abroad -- winning various awards -- and his work has been featured in many art magazines and on television. His paintings are in private collections all over the world. Fábio now spends time each year teaching workshops and classes in his studio in São Paulo, as well as in local art galleries and other venues throughout Brazil and abroad, and he also serves as a judge in art competitions.

Campos, 12" x 17"

Dom Bosco, 12" x 17"

Please visit Fábio's blog to see more of his work and link from there to his website for additional information.

Andy Smith

Reflections in Red, 18" x 15"

Andy Smith's goal is to create paintings that capture subjects that other people overlook. Using transparent watercolors, he builds his realistic paintings with a series of washes, working with strong light and shadow to develop images that convey the mood and character of his subjects. In Andy's words, "I feel truly blessed with a gift, a talent to interpret what I see through watercolor paintings. My artistic journey has already surpassed my wildest dreams, and my journey continues as I paint daily. The creation of my daily blog has provided me with an opportunity to experiment with new subjects and to grow creatively. The added bonus has been a huge boost to my skill level above my expectations. I am not ready to call myself a master of watercolor because I realize the constant potential of growth. I believe it is all in the journey."

Chiaroscuro, 17" x 23"

Old Remedies, 13" x 16"

Andy is a self-taught artist. In lieu of formal training, he has developed his skills by studying the works of the masters, reading voraciously, and staying current in the world of art. He fine-tunes his talent with daily practice, discipline and dedication. As a professional painter since 1980, he has received many awards over the years, but he places more emphasis on his personal connection with clients. He enjoys sharing his love of watercolor and regularly gives presentations at local schools as well as demonstrating during the weekend art festivals he participates in throughout the year.

Waiting Room, 18" x 15"

Autumn View, 19" x 13"

Please visit Andy's blog to see his daily paintings and find out more about him and his work.

Amy Arntson

Under Tom's Pier, 46" x 66"

"A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.” — Henry David Thoreau

Growing up in the Great Lakes region, Amy Arntson has always found water to be a powerful symbol, and her paintings are about spirit as much as they are about water. In her words, "Water is intimately connected with the passage of time, with stability and change: both fragile and seemingly eternal. Most of my current paintings do not reference the surrounding land; instead they focus on light, texture, shape and movement of water. There is no place to stand; only a place to be. Without a horizon line, viewers are encouraged to meditate on the water, projecting themselves into the painting. While the artist begins the painting, each viewer completes it with memories and personal associations."

Clouds Reflected, 27" x 27"

As an artist, author, and art professor, her commitment to painting is enriched by a respect for art and design history, and for the region where she lives. Influences on her work range from wash drawings of the 17th century illuminists -- who addressed the relationship between landscape and the expression of feeling -- to an array of 20th century abstract artworks. Visual design elements of color, shape, and texture are an underpinning to all of her realistic paintings, as are a sense of place and time. The paintings are created from sketches and photographs of locations in the Great Lakes and many other areas; she works in watercolor because, having examined a wide variety of media and concepts, she finds line and wash and watercolor to be consistently the most beautiful and appealing to her eye.

Mystic Gemstone, 23" x 28"

Amy Arntson grew up in the lakeshore town of Frankfort, Michigan. After earning a BFA from Michigan State University, she went on to get her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she taught art and design for 22 years. Her many lectures and presentations have spanned the globe, and she has also authored college art and design textbooks. A full-time artist, she has exhibited paintings in the Florence Bienniale, as well as in China and England, along with presentations in Central and South America and the United Arab Emirates.

Fall Wind, 35" x 30"

Gulf Storm, 30" x 23"

Please visit Amy'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.