Painting Should Be Fun

Homeward Bound (c) Contact the Artist for Inquiries

Painting should be fun. 

Painting should be fun.

Painting should be fun.

I make my living as a professional artist and I'm juggling many hats in the air.  Sometimes, I have so many classes to teach and so many exhibits to prepare for, that I hardly know how I'll make all my deadlines.  While I do work well under pressure, there are times when I must stop....step outside for a while....and remember to breathe.  It's hard to produce good artwork if you're experiencing stress. 

Running a small business, no matter what it is you sell.....art classes...art work...prints.....cards....is stressful.
Keeping up with taxes and business records and paperwork  and pr is stressful.
Ordering frames and mat board, and cutting mats (the large and expensive ones nearly always have to be cut twice, because I'm rushing and making mistakes) and packaging a first rate product is stressful.
Delivering and shipping work can be stressful.
Thinking about what to paint should NOT be stressful.

So, when I start feeling that incredible tension creeping up my back, I try to go for a walk along my peaceful country road, or I go to a yoga class, or I just step outside to breathe and slow down.

I have a Civil War themed show coming up at Oatlands Plantation, outside of Leesburg, VA in May, 2013.  My painting, "Homeward Bound" is slated to be in the show...among others.

I have also been elected to the Washington Society of Landscape Painters www.wslp.org.
It's a great honor to be one of the 40 members of this esteemed organization that includes only elected artists in the MD-VA-PA-DC area.  I am so honored!  Thanks, WSLP members, for believing in me.  Our first of many Centennial Exhibits this year opens this Friday, April 5, 6:30 pm at the Arts Club in Washington, in Washington, DC.

But - remember!  Painting really should be fun...............

Just Wanna' Paint!

I just want to paint.

In this "busy" culture of ours, it's so difficult to find time to work.  Painting requires time to think creatively and that is not a thing that is encouraged in American society.

This has been a week with many deadlines, and three classes to teach, so it's been doubly difficult to find time to concentrate, with a calm and focused spirit.  I have a lot of ideas floating and I need to be consciously making time to allow new, creative ideas to begin fermenting.

My Perspective:  The David

This week I was elected to the Washington Society of Landscape Painters (www.wslp.org), for which I am so grateful and honored.  This is a dedicated group of 40 artists that meet regularly to paint outdoors and that's a great venue for being quietly centered and thinking.

I also received an award in the national exhibit sponsored by the Western Colorado Watercolor Society, and I earned my signature membership status with them, having been accepted in the last three annual national shows.  I could put the following signatures after my name:  SW, PW, VWS,  BWS,  PVW, and WCWS, along with my newly earned WSLP letters.  And, there are many organizations in which I need only ONE MORE acceptance to be signatured with them as well.  Woo hoo!

I hope that next week I can breathe and enjoy the journey....for painting is a gift and a joy and needs to be approached with a sense of awe and serenity....

Am I An Abstract Impressionist At Heart?

Funny, tonight I discovered posts that people were making on this blog site.  I guess I didn't quite know how to get to the section where I could read the posts.  I thank everyone (including Peggy, who has commented quite a bit) for their opinions and I apologize for not replying.  I had no idea how to find the comment area and was befuddled, wondering if anyone was reading this!  Now you know how primitive my computer skills are and that I'm not a natural at figuring these things out.

The last few days have been great ones in discovering some new things about myself and my work.

I've had the week off from teaching (exhausted, folks, really exhausted) and I've been able to feed the introvert in me by painting like a mad woman.  I'm seeking more and more to discover the abstract within the realistic.  I'm abstracting shapes more and more, along with those beautiful colors. 

"Buzz on Fifth Avenue," 2012 Rockies West National Exhibition

I also figured out today that I've made Signature Membership in the Rockies West Watercolor Society. I'm accumulating a nice number of national signature memberships across the country and I'm really proud of all the hard work I've done to gain this notoriety.  Generally, most watercolor societies that present national and international exhibits require an artist to be accepted in three exhibits within a 10 year time frame.  This is really, really hard to do.  There are often 600 - 800 entries for each exhibit, and - generally - only around 80 or 90 paintings will be selected by the judge.  So, I'm really proud of my consistent and hard work in being recognized.  I have earned the following Signature Memberships:  the Southern Watercolor Society (1/2 the country), the Virginia Watercolor Society, the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, the Baltimore Watercolor Soiciety,  the Potomac Valley Watercolor Society ( a local organization), and now the Rockies West.  I am SO thrilled!

REHOBOTH BEACH, DELAWARE: workshop in May at the Rehoboth Art League

I’ll be teaching a one day workshop in watercolor painting in Rehoboth, Delaware, coming up in May…here’s the information below...

And, I’ll be posting updates on the painting seen here as it progresses…I'm painting my favorite subjects here, glass, reflections and light.

Watercolor Bootcamp
Beginner & Intermediate
Saturday, May 4, 2013
10 am until 4 pm

Rehoboth Art League
12 Dodds Lane
Rehoboth DE 19971

Contact: Kim Klabe
educator@rehobothartleague.org
302-227-8408
FAX: 302-227-4121

Italian Street Scene (c) Catherine Hillis

Learn new watercolor techniques with professional watercolor artist Catherine Hillis, an instructor who will guide you along in your painting with a nurturing spirit.  Take Watercolor Bootcamp No 2 at Artist's Network University online.  The four week session begins on Tuesday, February 26, 2013.

http://www.artistsnetworkuniversity.com/courses/watercoor-bootcamp-level-2

Italian Street Scenes

Yup.  I'll be teaching a workshop at Lake Garda, Italy during late September of 2013.  I love to go to Italy so that I can take great pictures and paint them during the rest of the year.  Here's "An Italian Street Scene."

For information about the plein aire painting and sketching workshop in Italy, please see my website at www.catherinehillis.com or www.ilchiostro.com. 

Texturing Techniques in Watercolor Painting: Add Some "Oomph" to Your Work

I want to thank Diane Raitt for taking pictures of my weekly class in Leesburg.  During last Thursday's class, I  reviewed some of the many texturing techniques a painter can utilize in watercolor painting.  While I enjoy introducing traditional watercolor painting to students, I realize that there are times when a painter needs to employ something different to their work, and sometimes additional texturing can add depth.

There are more texturing techniques than I'm able to list here tonite....and perhaps YOU can think of some of your own.  We watercolorists are an adventurous bunch and we are always trying to push the edge by finding some new way to express ourselves in our medium.  Here are some of the techniques we spoke about in classes this week:  lifting on dry and wet paper, sponging, splattering with toothbrush, wire screen and/or paintbrush, positive and negative stenciling, salt, alcohol, saran wrap, scratching with a variety of implements, watercolor pencils, caran d'arche, sand, sandpaper, masking fluid, mylar stamping, and fan brushes.

I'm including a picture here of one of my texturing charts, along with a photo of students watching the demonstration....