WOMAN'S ART CLUB OPENING RECEPTION

The Artist with her Painting - "Red Paisley Scarf" winner of the Cherry Bender Memorial Award

Last Sunday was the opening of the Woman’s Art Club 120th Annual Juried Exhibition. Wow, 120 years. And if you look at the Cincinnati Art Club’s longevity, you will see they are 121 years old. Hmmmm . . . . guess you can figure out that at that time the gals decided that if they couldn’t be in “the” art club, then they would just create their own!

The group currently has its home in “The Barn”! Sounds goofy, right? Well, the official name is the Woman's Art Club Cultural Center, and it’s actually beautiful. It’s an old dairy barn that has been beautifully renovated, located in the community of Mariemont, Ohio (pronounded Mary Mont for you non-Cincinnatians – which is pronounced Sin Sin Nat Ee, not Sin Sin Nat Ah! – unless you hail from Cincinnati, in which case that is an acceptable pronunciation!) As you can tell, the city can be confusing to furriners.

But I digress . . .

Sunday was a beautiful day for an art show, or anything else you wanted to do. My husband drove me out as he had promised he would if I won an award. The juror this year was Chris Leeper who does all media, especially a lot of watercolor, so I figured I had a fighting chance! I think he juried in a good show, not predominately any one medium or genre – and there were 21 watercolors in the mix! I did win the Cherry Bender Memorial Award, so I was very pleased. Each time I’ve entered the show my work has gotten in, but this was my first award.

As usual, the opening was well attended. It’s always fun to see people I don’t often see and catch up on what they are up to.



Some of the crowd, following the awards ceremony.

On our way home we stopped at Graeter’s (yes, again, for you non-Cincinnatians, that’s the correct spelling!) for ice cream. I was a good girl and ordered one dip of something Mike would also like and he ate half – however, I was not allowed to get “any of that coffee junk” which meant I missed out on the best mocha chip I’ve every had, anywhere! Then we also made a short diversion when we got to Columbia-Tusculum area since he was interested in looking at a few of the old Victorian houses up on the hill. Wow, and I thought Mt. Adams’ streets were steep!

My painting, behind the musicians - who were quite good!

Anyhoo . . . then it was home where I could “slip into something comfortable” for the rest of the day!

CHRIS LEEPER WORKSHOP

20 member of Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society at the Chris Leeper workshop October 26,27, 28, 2012.

When I came on as President of Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society, I was adamant that we begin having workshops for our members. Rhonda Carpenter, our program chairperson, just jumped in and began searching for a workshop presenter (I don’t even remember asking her to do this!).

Chris Leeper, current president of Ohio Watercolor Society and well known artist, was our first workshop instructor for the Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society.

When we were able to fill the workshop in one meeting, with a waiting list, it told me that we had really hit the nail on the head – our members really want this wonderful educational opportunity. (Due to popular demand – Chris will return on April 5, 6 and 7, 2013 for a spring workshop).

Chris painting a demo with several of his paintings on the wall behind him.

We had a wonderful weekend of painting, laughter and food! Not only was this a learning opportunity – it was also an opportunity for us to get to know some of our members better. We usually only have time to chat for a little while prior to our meetings. The workshop provided opportunity for us to mill around, see what the others were doing, and gave us time to spend chatting and getting to know one another better.

Chris explaining his process.

Hopefully this experience will help us come together as artists and enjoy our open painting sessions after our programs in the future months.

I couldn't resist a couple photos of his palette - works of art in themselves! 
Just look at thise beautiful clean colors!

To see more photos of the workshop go to the GCWS blog or to Rhonda’s blog. Chris is a “painting machine”! He’s also a great teacher – educational and entertaining at the same time – and a heck of a nice guy. I’d recommend him as a workshop instructor, and we look forward to having him back in the spring.