How to go
What: Ohio Watercolor Society 37th annual Travel Show
Where/Through April: Amos Memorial Public Library in Sidney
May: Piqua Public Library
June: Pump House Center for the Arts, Chillicothe
July: High Street Gallery, Dayton Society of Painters & Sculptors, Dayton
More info: 330-673-3884 or www.ohiowatercolorsociety.com
What does love look like? Trish McKinney of New Carlisle noticed a couple in Paris in 2012, and her resulting watercolor, “Breath of My Breath,” won the Jim Brower Family Award in Watercolor Ohio 2014. Several Dayton-area artists were also juried into the show of 59 works.
Thirty-three of those paintings are featured in the Ohio Watercolor Society’s 37th annual Travel Show, now on view at the Amos Memorial Public Library in Sidney. The exhibit then moves to Piqua, Chillicothe and Dayton.
“While walking along the Siene River, I was enthralled by the look of love between an older couple. I watched them from a distance as they snuggled, whispered, laughed, hands touching faces, and sharing a moment of deep affection,” said McKinney. “They never kissed, yet anyone could see there was love between the two of them. This painting … is a testimony to love, what it means, and how it is shown.”
The background cursive is a 16th-century poem by Pierre de Ronsard. The text in Sharon Stolzenberger’s 2013 water-media work, “Waiting,” was stenciled. Interestingly, the two birds weren’t painted; the Kettering artist created them from the darker, original background by defining the contours.
“My process includes layering, and the use of stencils and stamps. With transparent and opaque glazing, it’s possible to build up a richly textured background to add depth,” said Stolzenberger. “The push-pull defines the positive areas, as well as pulling out some of the negative spaces.”
The selected works were juried by Mike Bailey of Santa Cruz, California, and showcases OWS members’ works in water-soluble mediums: watercolor, acrylic, casein, gouache, and egg tempera.
“Each and every award winning work heralded its presence with arresting power,” stated Bailey. “These select few paintings really show, in a powerful way, the extremes of possibility in painting skill and creativity.”
Other award winners were Yuki Hall of Beavercreek, who won the Cheap Joes Art Stuff Award for “Main Street — Dayton II;” and Meghan Hager of Tipp City who won the Doug Pasek Memorial Award for “Romal & Reata.” Angela Chang, a former Dayton-area resident who now lives in California, won the Homer Hacker Award for “Rooftop Serenade.”
“I painted it from a photo I took while driving down the main street one winter day.
Main Street with the bridge and the statue is my favorite part of Dayton,” said Hall.
“As always, I wanted to depict the atmosphere of it rather than painting the actual scene itself.”
Two other Dayton-area artists are part of the traveling show: Misuk Goltz of Xenia for “Old Quarter of Hanoi” and James Lefebvre of Eaton for “A Sense of Autumn.” Lorri Davis of Mason for “A Cold Day” and George Zaharas of Dayton for “After the Storm” were juried into the original exhibit.
“Mike picked a vital, vibrant and diverse travel show,” said OWS president Barbara Rollins.
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