September 2018 Demonstration![]() Our own MVAL member Jan Wright began painting watercolor almost 20 years ago. As she studied with various instructors, she found herself on a fascinating journey—traveling to hundreds of painting locations, viewing thousands of paintings and creating hundreds of her own. That journey has led her to embrace non-objective subject matter (although tree forms will always finish a close second). She believes we are hard wired for art. Every primitive society produced art, advanced societies value it and current art forms using new technology abound. Art is at the center of humanity. Visual art transforms the ordinary by combining imagination and creativity with visual experience and re-visioning reality. In addition to celebrating the familiar, the visual artist has an obligation to take viewers beyond the obvious by engaging them as participants in the re-visioning process. ![]() Brenda Swenson is the artist author of two books, Keeping a Watercolor Sketchbook (Award of Excellence Finalist) and Steps to Success in Watercolor. Her paintings and sketches have been featured in Splash 11, 12 & 14, Artistic Touch 4, Watercolor Artist, Watercolor Magazine, Watercolor Highlights, and numerous other publications. Brenda has been awarded signature membership in Watercolor West (WW), Northwest Watercolor Society (NWWS), San Diego Watercolor Society (SDWS, and she has won numerous awards for her paintings. An active participant in the arts community she has served on the board of directors for the National Watercolor Society and Water- color West. She is in demand to teach and demonstrate her painting and sketching techniques to groups nationwide and abroad. Website: http://www.swensonsart.net Blog: http://brendaswenson.blogspot.com |