Seven Members Win Purchase Awards in Anderson Arts Center Juried Show

During the Anderson Arts Center 2021 Juried Show, which opened on April 16 and runs through May 20, seven Anderson Artists Guild members won $500 Purchase Awards. Here are the artists’ reflections on their award-winning pieces:

On the Edge (pastel) by Brenda McLean

“I have been primarily a painter of landscapes and never tire of depicting the terrain and water and skies of the Upstate. My paintings have been evolving into more impressionistic pieces, lately becoming more abstracted. This piece represents both the fact that I have found myself ‘on the edge’ of new experimentation in abstracting my landscapes, and also the way in which the subject appeared to me upon completion, as if structures are on the edge of a precipice or a body of water. I love the immediacy of the pastels, the richness of the chroma—no need to mix color, no drying time between layers. Those characteristics, together with the ease in making alterations, allow for total concentration on the composition itself. As long as I keep layers thin, I can quickly change direction in color, shape, contrast, and line. Therefore, I arrive more easily at the fully evolved final decisions for the concept. I often use a wash of pastel for an underpainting, completing the scene with dry pastels. I find pastels are also perfect to create studies for my occasional larger oil paintings. I enjoyed painting this scene. It just may inspire a series!”

Pendleton Crossing (watercolor) by Al Morris

“The inspiration is the Pickens Railroad crossing on East Main Street in Pendleton. Looking north on the tracks, you can see the East Queen Street overpass. Just to the right is part of one of the old Pendleton Oil Mill buildings. I liked the play between the bright sunlight and the dark shadows. It took several tries to get the shadows just the way I wanted them.”

Floralishes (acrylic) by Armi Tuorila “I was doing an abstract painting, just playing with colors. It started looking more and more like flowers. I love watching hummingbirds and had just seen the first one this spring, so I decided to add one on the painting. I asked my six-year-old grandson, Levi, to help me with the title; he said maybe Floralishes or something like that. . .”

Winter’s Veil (photograph) by Barbara Brown Whitney “This is a high key, black and white photograph of two rows of Icelandic horses in near white-out conditions. I was so moved by the stamina of these horses. I asked myself if I wanted to stop the snow motion or let the snow motion blur in the scene. I decided to show the conditions by letting the snow blur just a little bit. I knew I would need to overexpose to render the snow white and not gray. I chose 1/250th second shutter speed so the snow would blur but not blur too much. I chose an F 11 aperture for a fair amount of depth of field. These horses represented a sense of peace even in the midst of the storm because I think they displayed steadfastness, calmness, stamina, and bravery. I felt these horses were standing in the presence of their own peace.”

Expression (acrylic) by Rosemary Moore “Color is one of my favorite aspects of painting. I look for new ways to look at color, form, and composition.”

A Cottage Room (oil) by Deane King

“One of my favorite subjects is interior spaces. This cozy cottage and the smallness of the room inspired the painting. The chair in white pulls the eye into the painting and it invites the viewer into the space. The small lookout window suggests a water view. The technique was brush and palette knife using layers of oil paint to present a finished painting.”

Andy’s Lemon Tree (watercolor) by Diann Simms

“I found a photo of a friend’s lemon tree. I admired the perspective and after receiving permission from my friend to use the photo as inspiration and reference, I began the painting. I like to do a very light pencil sketch and then draw the elements of the painting with ink. After I erase all visible pencil marks, I begin to add the color. I was taught to begin with a light wash of color and to build the contrast and shapes layer by layer with the color. I finish with more ink and a prayer. As with any watercolor painting, the main challenge is to preserve those lights and whites!”