This week’s DANIEL SMITH 11th Art Contest Spotlight Artists are: Rob Henry for “Winter Morning” and Ann Ryherd for “Foggy Morning on the Hoh River”.
Every week we are shining the Spotlight on two Artist Winners from our April 2013 Monthly Voting Gallery (see all the April Winners) to share what materials they used, their creative process, and most of all, their background or story as an artist!
“Winter Morning” by Rob Henry
Artist: Rob Henry for “Winter Morning”
Medium: Watercolor
Materials Used: “Daniel Smith LAPIS LAZULI GENUINE, French Ultramarine Blue and WN Paynes Gray. Arches watercolor paper, Hake brush.”
Creative Process:
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“I wanted the painting to feel cold and look like a snow without resorting to salt or spattering white.
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I glazed the entire sheet with the LAPIS LAZULI GENUINE and let it dry.
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I glazed the sky with several washes of Ultramarine blue and some purple and more of the LAPIS LAZULI GENUINE to give the granular effect I was looking for in the sky, and then as it was drying, painted the background trees with a mix of the French ultra and paynes grey, painting around the roofs of the barn and the buildings.
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I added the buildings, trees and the fence along the road with a dark mix – mostly of Paynes grey, there’s a little Alizarin in the barn itself. Then added a little snow to the trees with the white ink.”
About: “Robert Henry, Watercolor Artist: I am a lifelong resident of the Washington DC area. I grew up in Arlington, VA, I lived in the District of Columbia for many years and currently reside with my wife, Anne and our corgi, Ally in Bethesda, MD.
I have been painting watercolors for almost 20 years. My first artistic love was photography and all of my early training was in that medium. I have also worked for the National Geographic Society for over 30 years, working with many of the most talented photographers as their agent and editor.
On a trip to the eastern shore of Maryland in the mid 1980’s, I saw the work of a watercolor artist named Francis Gregg whose landscapes of the area stirred something inside me as no photograph ever would again. I bought several small works and studied them to try to see how she had done them.
The next year my mother gave me watercolor lessons at the Art League of Alexandria as a gift for Christmas. I had my first solo show “Watercolor Landscapes” at Goodwin House, Alexandria in December of 2005. Since then I have organized and participated in two additional watercolor shows by the “Old Town Artists” also at Goodwin House, Alexandria. As part of the solo show I was asked to teach wet in wet watercolors at the Goodwin House art center. I won an honorable mention for my painting “Ghost Stories” in the Mattawoman Creek art center annual juried show in 2010. I was selected as one of the first artists to show my work at Sibley Hospital in the new Gallery space sponsored by the Sibley Senior Association from January through March of 2011.
I have painted in Italy, Maine, The Adirondacks and Colorado but enjoy painting most the landscapes closer to home in the mountains of Virginia and the eastern shore of Maryland. I enjoy painting en plein air or working from photographs, but my favorite paintings happen when I use the real world for inspiration and then let the magic of watercolor create the landscape itself on the paper in front of me.”
“Foggy Morning on the Hoh River” by Ann Ryherd
Artist: Ann Ryherd for “Foggy Morning on the Hoh River”
Medium: Watercolor
Materials Used: “DS Italian Burnt Sienna, DS Deep Sap Green, DS Quinacridone Gold, DS Payne’s Gray, DS Ultramarine Blue, WN Rose Madder. Brushes were Jack Richeson bristles 1″ and 2″ and a #2 rigger.”
Creative Process: “On a visit to the Hoh River in January, I was taken by the hushed sounds and muted tones of the river vistas. The painting was done in my studio using a composite of photographs taken that morning. I wet the top of the paper and blended in the sky and distant tree tops. As the paper dried I added detail for the tree tops and the river in the foreground.”
About: “After retiring in 2010, I wanted to learn watercolor techniques. I took one beginning course at the local community college and have continued to learn with practice, reading, and painting with a group of friends.”
Congratulations to Rob and Ann!
Next Friday we will shine the Spotlight on 2 more Artists from our April Monthly Voting Gallery Winners. While submissions have ended for our DANIEL SMITH 11th Annual Art Contest , you can still vote for artwork to determine the winners for next months May winners by voting at the current Monthly Voting Gallery
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