5 Members in SCWS Digital Show

Five Anderson Artists Guild members are included in the South Carolina Watermedia Society’s 2023 Spring Digital Show. They are among 70 American artists whose works were selected. The juror was Chris Leeper.

Here are reflections from our members on their works in the exhibit:

Alan Smith

The first painting, Page Road, is of a collection of barns at the turn in a road from a photo I have from up in New Hampshire. I was intrigued by the shape of all the barns clustered together. The second painting, Days Past, is a full sheet painting that was a re-do of an earlier vignette I did of a particular barn and silo (the vignette was accepted into the National Watercolor Society's member show for this year).

“With both paintings I am constantly looking at value patterns. With Page Road I was trying to have a large white value with a small dark in an overall mid-value pattern--which I think I achieved barely. I continue to try to adhere to a particular value pattern while painting and most of the time can achieve some recognizable pattern. I think I was able to do that here although I think I would have made the barns bigger if I were to do it again. I also continue to struggle with trees and am really trying to put some time into drawing and painting trees better than I do now.

"Days Past allowed me the opportunity to paint a particular barn again in a full sheet manner. With this painting I attempted to have a large white value again with a small dark value in an overall mid-value pattern. This one was easier since I have already painted a similar barn. Trying to have the contrast is easy--but I find that having balance for the mid-values to be particularly challenging. I also feel that I continue to struggle with shadows and the direction of the light in a painting, so that is by far one of the biggest challenges that I continue to have when painting in watercolor.”

Al Morris

“The first painting, entitled Rusty, is an old favorite that graced several art shows last year and is heading for retirement. The painting is the right front quarter of an old rusty 1948 Ford pickup that is parked in front of The Smokin’ Pig in Easley. The interesting thing is that the hood ornament is off of a 1946 Rambler. I love painting rust, and this truck has an abundance of it. I start with a wash of the original color of the truck and slowly layer washes of rust over it. One of the more difficult aspects of this painting was the shadows being on the front of the truck. I had to blend the rust from light to dark.

“My second painting, Mahgreb Sunset, is a compilation of several photographs I took while riding toward Marrakesh, Morocco. We were heading right into the sun, and it made for a stunning set of pictures. With this painting I took some of the more dramatic elements from the different pictures and superimposed them on the brilliant setting sun.”

Teresa Anderson

“Morning Sunrise was painted after my morning walk in 2021. The sky was more intense in color due to the western fires. My challenge was to keep the color lighter and to lighten the pine so it was not just a black shape in the painting! Lastly was to recall the impact it made and translate it in watercolor.

“Overlooking Motta Sant’Anastasia was a painting from my initial plein air sketch during a trip to visit family. I find plein air so much more reactive and fresh, so my challenge was to translate my small sketch into a larger painting while retaining some of the freshness.”

Rebecca Carruth

“My inspiration for the first piece was a song by John Hyatt. I started it a couple of years ago but put it aside until I could figure out what to do with a paintbrush hair that had dried in the paint before I saw it. I knew if I tried to remove it, the painting would be ruined. I decided to paint something that would hide it and you would have to know and be looking for it to see it. It is an intentional acrylic pouring used for background. “With Lunar Garden II, I painted the first one several years ago and it sold very quickly, so that was my motivation to paint another one, but I changed it up a little. The background is an acrylic pouring like most of my paintings in the last four years. My inspiration is just a love of orchids."

Wesa Neely

“This image was captured with a camera during one of my trips to Kiawah in February. At this time of year the weather is very interesting. It can be beautiful and cold or warm and rainy. There are few people on the beach. It is a time when beach walks can be very solitary. I saw the lone bird and wanted to capture the stillness of the bird as well as the waves which are never still. The colors were monochromatic giving the day such a strong feeling of contemplation and reflection. I used watercolor and a bit of gouache on cold press paper.”

The entire show can be viewed at https://scwatermedia.com/sds/.