Am thrilled to learn that my watercolor, "At a Rhode Island Vineyard," was selected by juror Lorraine Watry for inclusion in the 2025 National Watermedia Show at the Rhode Island Watercolor Society. The show runs from May 31 through July 3 at the Society's gallery in Pawtucket, RI. The opening reception is on Saturday, June 7.
From time to time I like to use family photos as sources for paintings. I don't come from a large family, but I do have an enormous collection of old photos –– quite a few which date back to Civil War era. A number of members of my extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) lived into their 90s, so many were alive when I was a child. Since I knew many people in these photographs, it has always been enjoyable to use them as subjects to pain. The following small watercolor sketches gave me a chance to try different styles and color palettes.
One of the sketches, completed in 2024 –– "Mom, with Betty and Skip, Winter 1942" –– received an Honorable Mention in the Rhode Island Watercolor Society's Juried Online Show, Inside, Outside. The image source was a small, out-of-focus snapshot taken by my grandfather after a big snowstorm. It shows my mother and my uncle, with my grandmother in the background. They're standing in the driveway of their home in Brimfield, Massachusetts. The original photo was shot in black-and-white, so I used artistic license to "colorize" the painting.
Finally, an old photograph shows my Great Uncle Dick again, this time standing next to his older (taller!) cousin Arthur. Dick was about six years old in this picture, and Arthur was fourteen. The watercolor, "Dick Riedel, with Arthur Benson and his cat, 1915" has a soft, almost dream-like quality to convey the vintage nature of my source.
