Faculty and Resident Artist Exhibit at the Arts Barn

The following artists, educators and artists-in-residence, are showing their work at the Arts Barn in Gaithersburg from now until January 25, 2015. Their media range from acrylic, watercolor and oil paint to sculpture, glass work and photography. They were asked to discuss their work in terms of what they learned while producing it, and to address their students in their response, since most of them are art teachers at the Arts Barn and elsewhere in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Vian Borchert's artwork

Vian Borchert
I have two artworks in the faculty show, an acrylic painting titled "John Lennon: Love Triumphs" and another drawing in colored pencils titled “Maleficent.”

John Lennon has been my muse for many years, not only because he is a great musician and song writer, but also because of his beliefs of spreading love and peace - great ideologies any person can live by. When I look at this artwork, the first thing that comes to mind are the Beatles' song lyrics "All you need is love, love is all you need," which is true to the utmost. These words and Beatles and Lennon love songs don't only have a good ring to them, but they also carry a wonderful message as well. It is only through love that societies overcome problems and thrive and become better communities. The love that I am referring to is the love that has to start from within, love that starts from the heart and spreads within, allowing that person to bring it outward to the world. So, through a vision of love, just like John Lennon had, hope and positivity can spread.

 Lessons learned while creating the work: This piece is actually one of the few pieces where I have the portrait smiling. It really wasn't my intention to have a happy, smiling Lennon. Yet, it somehow came out that way. Maybe the spirit of John was trying to tell me something through the creation of this piece - that is why I titled it "John Lennon: Love Triumphs."

You have to be open to possibilities in art. I went into the process of creation wanting to paint a serious John Lennon painting, and ended up with a happy Lennon. So, be open to the idea that subject matters can change while creating a work of art. The point is to be open minded in your approach to the creative process.

Regarding “Maleficent,” which is a drawing done in colored pencils, I actually liked the character in the movie “Maleficent” played by Angelina Jolie. This drawing started off as somewhat of a sketch because I was approaching the drawing like children playing with Legos, figuring out what can be built from the Lego blocks in front of them. While I was working on this piece, I realized that Jolie, especially in this role, is very interesting to draw with her striking features.

What I learned from creating this piece, which deals with women's issues, is that a person can appear dark and wicked from the outside, yet, underneath that appearance can be a kind person with a loving heart. 

Students should try drawing subject matters that are not typical. This involves thinking outside of the box. So, rather than drawing the classical still life with fruits, pots and pans, make your artwork more interesting by choosing subject matters that are unusual. I find that students do better in drawing unusual subject matters, such as a child's toy rather than an apple, since they have to challenge themselves to look carefully at the unique still life. So, allow yourself to be brave in your approach to art and its creation to discover the creativity within you.

Jack Donnelly with his "Caldermobiles"

Jack Donnelly

The work in this show has been an enormous learning experience for me.

 I have been a metalsmith for many years now, but I recently discovered two things:

First, I had the opportunity to work with the amazing metal called aluminum for the very first time. Each and every single metal has its own unique properties, Alluminum (Al) is light-weight and very malleable, but it cannot be soldered or easily welded. This limitation got me exploring cold fusion methods like using aluminum pop rivets as connections. Rivets are an old-school method that I had largely not used since my 8th grade metalshop class. I love their solid industrial aesthetic.

Second, I was so fortunate as to experiment with 3D kinetic sculpture for the first time ever. I am in complete awe of the inventive work of Alexander (Sandy) Calder (1898-1976). His intuitive concoctions have taught me a new way of looking at the world. Found objects from all walks of life can inspire, if not become an actual component of the artistic creation, and the sculpture itself evolves past the static form to an ever-changing, perpetual motion machine, responding to the breezes, vibrations, and motions of life. I am thrilled to be working both of these aspects into many new projects in the New Year!

Photograph by Jaree Donnelly

Jaree Donnelly

The lesson when shooting moving water is photographing at the right time of day (early or late), getting the shutter speed just right, and using a tripod with a trigger release. By slowing it down, shooting in lower light, and using a tools to prevent the camera from shaking, you can get that beautiful, silky look!

Hung bowl by Tony Glander

Tony Glander 
I started “hanging” bowls a few years back. I was offered part of a gallery show, except there was no flat space for bowls. The solution to hang them gave them much more dimension. I just found a new hanging device that allows the bowl or plate to be taken off the wall and used.  

Watercolor by Sue Kay

 Sue Kay
While watercolors have been my medium of choice for some time now, I find I am often driven to seek new subject matter that challenges my hand and eye. This painting is the second one I have done to try and show the texture and movement of water. I have come to love the different patterns in the water, from the rushing currents with their bold lines and broad strokes to the swirling bubbles and the deeper, more quiet patterns of still water.

Painting the objects that get swept along in the current offers up even more challenges of color and texture, and helps to describe the water in its own way. The teacher in me likes to be constantly exploring and challenging my own skills in the same way I enjoy teaching and challenging my students.

Natalya B. Parris with her artwork (left) and holiday ornaments designed by her (right)

Natalya B. Parris
I have two paintings currently on display at the “Arts Barn Faculty Exhibit” (November 26, 2014 - January 25, 2015 in the Arts Barn Invitational Gallery): “Lotus" (acrylic on canvas, 12" x 12") and "From Me to You" (acrylic on canvas, 8"x10”). These paintings show that I wanted to capture movement ... like a light breeze ruffling the flowers. To create this effect, I strategically did not draw the flowers in the center of the canvas and avoided symmetry when I drew the petals and leaves. The challenge with “Lotus" was to decide where to paint the dots, where to double and triple them, and what section of the painting should have only one layer of dots or no dots at all in order to enhance the uniqueness of the flower. The other thing that both paintings have in common is that they represent “over-sized” flowers that are very colorful. Painting so many multicolored dots was challenging and fun at the same time.

Oil by Yolanda Prinsloo

Yolanda Prinsloo 
I chose to exhibit this still life painting because of the holiday season. The subject matter is sentimental, antique silver ladles and humorous porcelain creamers, objects given to me as gifts a long time ago. The painting is realistically rendered in oil on gold leaf. I enjoyed the simplicity of the work and what I experienced while working on it: a slowing down my often fast tempo, and taking time to enjoy the play of light and shadow on the objects as I took in their shapes and form.

Natalya B. Parris: 'Portrait in Lace'

Alexandra by Natalya B. Parris

There are several shows coming up this month and this winter for painter Natalya Parris. Known for her "dots" technique, which overlays dots of different sizes within a composition to form a familiar and sometimes abstract image, Parris will be showing work at four venues in the coming months: Blackrock Center for the Arts in Germantown in the annual Art League of Germantown winter show; the Maryland Federation of Art Circle Gallery in Annapolis in its National Juried Small Works Exhibition; the Foundry Gallery in Washington, D.C. as part of the "Come In from the Cold" exhibit; and the Strathmore Mansion in North Bethesda as part of the 81st Annual International Exhibition of Fine Art in Miniature show.

For the latter, she created her first miniature painting "Portrait in Lace," a 4x4 inch black and white piece incorporating her dots technique on a much smaller canvas. (She usually works at four to five times this size.)

Portrait in Lace by Natalya B. Parris

"In “traditional miniatures” not only the size of the artworks is small, but the image is also very small; and that is where the biggest challenge was. I do images in my art 'bigger than life,'" she stated in describing how she had to condense all of her thoughts and emotions into this one miniature.

"One canvas just could not hold all of my feelings and ideas," she added, attributing her tendency to work at a relatively large scale to her Russian roots and what she terms "love without measure."

Nonetheless, participation in this show is encouraging her to produce more miniatures and develop this line of work, "I am thrilled that my first miniature artwork was juried into the prestigious International Exhibition of Fine Art in Miniature."

Natalya B. Parris

"Winter Evening" by Natalya B. Parris

Natalya Parris has won the Best in Show award for her painting "Winter Evening" at the annual Woman's Club of Chevy Chase multimedia exhibit. (Parris is an artist and art educator, who will be teaching a Spring Break camp, "Art Around the World" for children at the Arts Barn in Gaithersburg from April 14-18.) Below is an interview with her on her views about art and art-making.

1. Where and how would you display your work in an ideal situation?

Since I am working on a series of artworks "Memories of Hillwood," where the artworks are inspired by the orchid flowers I saw in the Hillwood Greenhouse and museum’s priceless collection of art, in an ideal situation, I would love to display my art at the Hillwood’s Dacha. The Hillwood Museum & Gardens in Washington, D.C. has the largest collection of Russian fine arts outside Russia. If I were to dream further, I would like to exhibit in my favorite museums - the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Russia. I learned that life is full of surprises, more unpredictable and fascinating than any Hollywood thrillers. I hope my art journey will give me an opportunity to exhibit my art in places beyond my wildest dreams.

2. If expository writing is good at elucidating and proving a point and descriptive geometry gives us the tools by which to map objects in space in relation to one another, what kind of an apparatus does art afford us? What does art do best?

What art does the best is healing the soul. I know it from my own experience. I know it from my young students who are discovering the world, and mature senior students who come to class with the words, "I do not know how to paint and draw" and later discover that while they are creating they forget about troubles, pain and sadness. They are one with art and not only love doing it, but they are also good at it. As my four-year-old student said, "Art is the best thing in the world. I cannot live without art."

3. What can you expect from your audience/fans/viewing public? What would you like them to know about your work?

I hope my audience/fans/viewing public continue asking not only me, but also themselves, the question, "How does she do it" [create this art?] and try to find this answer. I hope my art evokes curiosity and interest in art and life; I hope it encourages people to be creative in all aspects of life. I hope that the audience/fans/viewing public know that I am very sincere and honest in every work I create; I do not hide my thoughts, emotions and feelings. I share them with people in the language of art, and my tools are brushes with paints, pencils and pens. Through my art, I tell the audience all my life adventures with the passion given me by nature. It is all there, just take a deep breath, keep an open mind, and you will see a story of my life in my paintings.

4. Marcel Duchamp said - "Enough with retinal art!" What is your reaction as an artist to this statement?

It is a catchy phrase – an invitation to dialogue, discussion about "retinal art." As there are many people and points of view, there are as many opinions about "what is retinal art, and why some are bored with it?"

5.Do you think that there is still room for art movements in today's pluralistic climate?

Life does not stand still; neither does art. There are new art techniques, interesting styles, new materials that artists use to create innovative work. For me, art is the form of life – the way we think, the way we talk, the way we write, the way we dress, the way we cook, the way we paint and draw, it is all art.

6. What is one question you wished we had asked you about your art? Please feel free to answer it .

The question is, "Where can we see your art now and in the coming months?"

My artworks are on display at:

"Women in the Arts 2014" the MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAS March 14 – April 5, 2014 exhibit; MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAS, 2500 NW 79th Avenue, Suite #104 - Doral, FL 33122

Art of Stewardship (TAOS) "Artist as Messenger" March 12 - April 19, 2014 exhibit at the Howard County Conservancy;10520 Old Frederick Road/PO Box 175  Woodstock, MD 21163; PH: 410-465-8877

10th Women International Exhibition, March 5 – March 29, 2014 at the Latino Art Museum; 281 S. Thomas St. Suite 105, Pomona, CA

"Call for the Halls" March 14 - May 15, 2014 exhibit at Capitol Arts Network; 12276 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852

Art League of Germantown (ALOG) February 7 - April 4, 2014, exhibit at Kentlands Mansion, 320 Kent Square Road, Gaithersburg MD

Woman’s Club of Chevy Chase 39th Annual Community Art Show and Sale (March 28 - 30, 2014) Address: 7931 Connecticut Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD 20815-5922

Art League of Germantown (ALOG) "Shades of Spring," April 2 – 6, 2014 exhibit at BlackRock Center for the Arts, 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown, MD 20874 301.528.2260;  Opening reception on Wednesday, April 2 from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm. Closing reception on Sunday, April 6 from 1 pm – 3 pm.

Natalya B. Parris: 'A Kiss of Sunshine'

"A Kiss of Sunshine" by Natalya B. Parris

Natalya B. Parris, Maryland artist and educator, recently accepted an award in the "Her People" category of the annual Keep Montgomery County Beautiful photography contest. Her photograph, "A Kiss of Sunshine," features a moment at early sunset during April in Milton M. Kaufmann Park, Montgomery Village: A patch of sunlight grazes her daughter, Victoria Parris's brow, as golden light pierces the branches of a blooming magnolia.

On an opportune nature outing turned modeling photo shoot, Parris snapped the photo just in the nick of time, as the fleeting golden hue paused on its cosmic arch:

"This park is my favorite place to walk and run. I took a walk there and saw magnificent blooming trees. I went home to take my camera, and my daughter Victoria wanted to go with me for a photo shoot. She asked me to teach her how to be a fashion model. I explained to her that being a model requires a lot of hard work before you see a beautiful photo.

"While we were working on taking her photos with Saucer Magnolia blooms, I noticed how beautifully the bark of the tree matched the color of her hair. The ray of sunset sun touched her face, and here it was, that magical moment, when the sunshine kissed her eye in the shape of a heart and changed the color of her green eye to golden. It was like a sun whisper, 'Good night sweet girl. I will shine for you tomorrow.'

"I am happy I captured that moment.  It will forever remind me about my special bond with my daughter."

Parris learned of the photo contest 10 years ago at her local library. She decided to enter the contest because she is very active in and a strong believer in contributing to the community, she said. She won awards in both instances.

An art instructor at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn, where she has expanded her teaching program to include a popular children's camp, "Art Around the World," she has also recently ventured into teaching "Wine with the Masters" and art appreciation classes to adults at the regional BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown and Sunrise in Montgomery Village, respectively.

In collaboration with the Maryland Department of Transportation, the annual Keep Montgomery County Beautiful contest recognizes noteworthy photographs taken in Montgomery County by county residents, as well as public and private landscaping and gardening projects.

Natalya B. Parris: Artist and Educator

Natalya B. Parris, From Russia with Love

Prolific and widely exhibiting painter and children's art instructor Natalya B. Parris has three juried shows in Maryland during August. They are at the BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Glenview Mansion in Rockville and the Capitol Arts Network in Rockville. Parris has created several new pieces, part of her "Memories of Hillwood" series, which will be on view at BlackRock (Breaking Traditions: An Exhibit of Innovative Art, July 31 – Aug. 24; Reception: Sat. August 3, 5:30 -7:30 pm, Main Gallery, BlackRock Center for the Arts, 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown) and Glenview (Symbols, Series, Selves, Aug.3 - Sept.4, 2013; Reception: Sun. Aug. 4, 1:30 p.m., Glenview Mansion at Rockville Civic Center Park, 603 Edmonston Drive, Rockville).

More about the artist

In one corner of the long gray formica table, one student is vigorously mixing tempera paint with an old watercolor paintbrush. A few feet away, another is meticulously gluing a piece of orange construction paper to a shoe box in preparation for the next layer of family photographs. Yet another is stamping out silhouettes of cats and apples with a shape cutter, deliberately and methodically setting them aside for later use.

A young boy listens as Natalya explains how Paul Klee paints abstract compositions of adjoining color by mindfully subdividing a blank page into geometric shapes.The students unanimously recognize Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel as their teacher diverts their attention to a celebrated representational artist.

These are Natalya B. Parris's Inspired By The Masters students, and they are no more than three to six years old. They don large button-down shirts as smocks, and roll up their sleeves when they set to work on their masterpieces. Natalya opens their eyes to the work of renowned artists, simlutaneously encouraging them to continue developing their oil pastel drawings, fresco paintings or memory boxes, as the case might be.

Parris, an artist and educator, lives and works in Gaithersburg. She has been teaching art classes for young artists at the Arts Barn since 2007.

When she is not teaching, tending to her family or meeting with other artists in the area, Parris devotes all of her energy to her paintings. There is more to her pieces than meets the eye, but she refuses to divulge her working process. But her lips are not sealed.

On the contrary — she encourages you to look closely and notice all the layers of paint that are visible to the naked eye, but only on very, very close inspection. She prods and quizzes until you begin to see for yourself how all the acrylic paint on the canvass creates a visual field of subtle color and depth variation.

Whether painting organic forms or strict geometric patterns, Parris uses meticulously overlayed and opaque swathes of color or perfect circles of acrylic to generate the perception of depth. In her recent painting, "The Bride," depicting a white waterlily against a deep, Prussian blue background, she even creates a relief-like underlay out of acrylic.

"It's not resin," Parris said. "Artists usually use resins to achieve this kind of effect. I use pure acrylic paint."

Born and raised in Moscow, she attended The Moscow State Construction University to become a civil engineer. With an understated sense of humor, she recalls her first day on a construction site. The construction manager was in utter disbelief at the sight of a "ballerina" on his rough and tumble turf. An avid storyteller who can string episodes from her past into a logical and colorful succession, Parris uses this motif to segueway into her career as an artist.

"When I moved to the US, I thought to myself: new place, new beginning! I always had a lot of creative energy, and my engineering background is not lost in my paintings."

In a group show titled "Under the Spell of Minerals and Gemstones" held at The National Institutes of Health in 2008, Parris displayed a series of acrylic paintings that blend swirls of pigments modelled after gemstone colors.

There is a chaotic precision to the interplay of shape and color on paper, and at first, the image appears to have been created digitally. On second glance, it becomes clear that layers of acrylic have dried on top of one another to create these carefully crafted explosions of seeping paint. The paintings in this series are evocative of a chemical process seen under an exacting magnifying lens.

Although technique is very important to Parris, the cultural relationships that her work references do not remain understated. In preparation for the NIH exhibition, Parris studied the significance of gemstones in forging social bonds in ancient and contemporary cultures. She learned that turquoise protects health and lapis lazuli conveys romantic love. Her artist's statement for this show, as do most of her anecdodes, focuses almost exclusively on these more tangible details about her work.

Over the past few years, Parris has shown her work throughout the United States and internationally. She has exhibited at the International Art Expo in Las Vegas, the Museum of the Americas in Doral, Florida, the International Artists exhibit in Malmö, Sweden, at Svenska Konstgalleriet, the International Artists In Florence exhibit at the FYR Gallery, Borgo Albizi 23 – Florence 50122, Italy, and Barcelona Award 2009 Mallorca, 284 - 08037 Barcelona, Spain. Most recently, she exhibited at the Latino Art Museum - poet, writer, and former editor of Arte y Cultura, Gustavo Alfonso Coletti, curated this show.

No matter where her art takes her, Parris always returns to her roots in Gaithersburg and brings something back to share with the community. Her award-winning painting "Daffodils for Mardi Gras," which was inspired by a trip to New Orleans unifies the cultural-symbolic motif of purple, green and gold beads with the natural endurance of the flower itself.

"Daffodils are very special flowers for me, because they brighten my garden, my life and my children's lives every spring. They are the only flowers that are not eaten by the herds of deer that visit my garden every day."

Parris's love of nature is evident in both her carefully studied and constructed floral motifs and her gemstone-inspired acrylic explosions. As a parent, educator and mature artist who has perfected a technique, she wants nothing more than to forge new community connections through her artwork and to open people's eyes to the creative potential of their surroundings.

- excerpted from an article that originally appeared on Gaithersburg Patch 

"New Vision" at the Ratner Museum

The Dennis and Phillip Ratner Museum in Bethesda, MD asked Natalya B. Parris to be the point person for its group exhibit "New Vision," on view through March 28, 2013. Artists Speak conducted a brief interview with Parris about the show. Parris is a prolific, award-winning painter showing her work at the Ratner, the Artists' Gallery in Frederick, MD and the Latino Art Museum in Pomona, CA during March. In April, she will be at Blackrock Center for the Arts in Germantown, MD, the Woman's Club of Chevy Chase in Chevy Chase, MD, Carroll County Arts Center in Westminster, MD, Mansion at Strathmore in North Bethesda and the Smith Center in Washington, D.C.

1. Why is the show titled "New Vision"?

We wanted the title of our exhibit to reflect the originality, uniqueness, creativity of our art, especially with respect to trying new media, experimenting with unusual materials or connecting our roots, folk art traditions with modern, contemporary art.  Our art, as different as it is, is a collective “New Vision.”
 
2. Who are all the participating artists? What media are represented?

Participants include Shanye Huang, Susan A. Lennon, Natalya B. Parris (coordinator), Charles Reiher, Ron Riley and Judy Wengrovitz. They work in acrylic paint and mixed media collage.
 
3. What are some highlights from this show?

This exhibit is a celebration of art with bright, vibrant colors and a bold, cool attitude of daring to take chances through experimentation and being brave enough to share the results with the world.



All show participants answered the following question:   
Can you talk in detail about one of your pieces currently on exhibit and how you created it? 

Shanye Huang 

Each of us as an artist strives to bring our unique culture and roots into the contemporary art world.
 
I have included six pieces in this show. They are part of my "Hometown Love Song" series.  In my hometown, Guangxi, people use symbols and metaphors in Zhuang ethnic love songs. March 3rd is especially significant. It marks the beginning of our "Love Song Festival," during which, people, particularly young people, go to the mountains and sing to each other. The love songs are very beautiful, meaningful, symbolic and poetic. The ritual can also be very humorous.

Using universal themes to connect East and West, I paint the story of the love songs in beautiful Chinese calligraphy with layers of vivid colors, lines, our ethnic symbols, metaphors and figures with mixed media on canvas.
 
Zhuang ethnic love songs call for an absolute, complete, deeper, blissful and heavenly joyful forever lasting commitment and connection.  Love and blessings have always been the motifs of my art. I feel strongly that despite how much suffering and struggle we have gone through, the essence of human pursuit is love and happiness.   

My piece "The Trees and Vines Intertwine #3" is featured here. Another piece in this series, "The Trees and Vines Intertwine #5,"  has won the Award of Excellence in an international juried art exhibition held at the National Museum of China in Beijing during Sept. 2012 and was collected by the Overseas Chinese History Museum in Beijing.

Susan A. Lennon

My favorite piece in the show is "Olive Tree & Stone Wall." It is the first of what I hope will be a series of work that was inspired by an equestrian vacation through Tuscany. This was a view that I passed on several of our rides, and also sought on my day off, when I went walking on foot through the countryside with my art supplies in my back pack. I sketched this often from memory but also took photos.

My process: I start with a piece of Mulberry Paper tissue and, using a lot of water and a matte acrylic medium, I adhere the paper to my work surface. Then, I use little pieces of torn paper to build up my image. In this piece, I used marble papers from Florence in addition to other papers in my collection. I collect papers based on color and texture and use them the way a painter uses paint. I also use pieces of old printed materials. In this work, I use pieces of the pages from a vintage, French copy of Emile Zola's Rome (from the Three Cities Trilogy).

Natalya B. Parris

For this particular exhibit, I selected my acrylics on canvas, which explore texture with paint, floral compositions/connections with nature, geometry, color and folk traditions. They are a spectrum of the series I have been working on – contemporary, modern interpretations of Russian Folk Art and "Running in Circles," which combines overlayed dot patterns with geometric constellations. “Clown in a Balloon Factory” is a happy, smiling and cheerful addition to the latter series. 

I do not have an explanation for this phenomenon, but for every other artwork, my hand draws circles. Many artists go through certain periods, passages in their art life.I decided not to fight the circles. If they want to be born let them be born - let them live on their own.
 

Charles Reiher

By pouring paint and letting it flow, within constraints, I am letting nature participate in the creation of my works rather than trying to recreate nature in my paintings. The use of Yupo synthetic paper to create abstract acrylic paintings and creasing the paper to create a grid structure are things that I have discovered for myself.

I create nonobjective paintings using acrylic, ink, and various collage elements.  I use watercolor paper and canvas as support for my paintings. My emphasis is on color and movement.

My collage, "No-one In Sight," is an acrylic painting on watercolor paper with collaged pre-painted, torn pieces of rice paper, pre-painted, cut strips of watercolor paper and fabric scraps. I added acrylic paint on top to tie the elements together and scribbled a thick layer of liquid acrylic paint to lend dimensionality to the piece and tie the diverse elements into a single coherent painting.  The result resembles an unpopulated landscape, hence the title.

Ron Riley

I have been an artist in the DC area for a number of years. I am a painter (acrylics is my medium) and a printer of  monoprints.

My favorite pieces in the show is "Cascading" Waves." I like to experiment with texture. Surfaces that are flat lack dimension and interest. In this piece, I was able to create the "lined" texture using the serated edge of a putty knife. I also strive to create a sense of depth in my work by building up layers of different textures.

Judy Wengrovitz

I have been painting for over 70 years and have been teaching watercolor for 50. I have won many awards for my art. Although I paint in all mediums, my specialty is watercolor. Many of my paintings are of New York City and are painted realistically. Since I noticed that the other artists in the show do abstract work, I decided to include two city scenes painted on watercolor paper with a textured gesso underpainting, which lent the watercolor a different look. I also included some smaller abstracts painted with mixed media.