Some Cool Green Memory

Artists find inspiration from many different sources. Visuals of course fire our imagination, as does scent, memory, music, a place, or a snippet of conversation. A contrast of textures can get us thinking about technique, as can a new brush or a handmade paper.

Sometimes inspiration is sneaky, and catches us by surprise. I recently rediscovered a favorite poem, and realized how perfectly it captures the way I feel about painting, especially landscapes:

I shall keep some cool green memory in my heart
To draw upon should days be bleak and cold.
I shall hold it like a cherished thing apart
To turn to now or when I shall be old.
Perhaps a sweeping meadow, brightly green,
Where grasses bend and the winds of heaven blow
Straight from the hand of God, as cool and clean
As anything the heart of man can know.

Or it may be this green remembered tree
That I shall turn to if the nights be long,
High on a hill, its cool boughs lifting free,
And from its tip, a wild bird’s joyous song.
A weary city dweller to survive
Must keep some cool green memory alive.

Grace Noll Crowell – Keep Some Green Memory Alive

Even in the portraits I paint, whether they be people, animals or objects, I realized that I look for that breathing room that nature offers us. A sense of stillness, a moment of calm, a feeling of rest-that’s what you’ll find in most of my paintings. In a juried show filled with vibrant color and intense energy, they often get overlooked, waiting for the second pass to catch a viewer’s eye. That’s OK-it’s easier to live with a whisper of a breeze than a gale-force wind…

NWWS Signature Membership

There are milestones in every artistic journey, and a big one for me was achieving Signature status in the Northwest Watercolor Society (NWWS). I feel very blessed to have reached this goal in such a short time – the first show I entered was in 2010.

What is Signature Membership, and why was that status in this organization so important to me? Signature status allows me to add “NWWS” after my name on my website, business cards, paintings and marketing materials. It’s a signal to buyers, gallery owners and other artists that my work has been recognized by some of the top artists in the country. As I begin to teach and offer demos, it lets interested attendees know that I have been painting at a high level for a number of years.

To receive Signature Membership, an NWWS member must be accepted into two International Open Exhibitions, or two Waterworks (members only) and one Open. The NWWS has very high standards for jurors, and most have multiple Signature memberships of their own in regional and national organizations.

The NWWS has been recognized by The Artists Magazine as one of the ten most prominent regional watercolor societies in North America. While most members reside in Washington, Oregon and California, the organization has recently begun to accept membership from international artists. Shows typically receive hundreds of entries, so to be one of the 60-75 paintings accepted is quite an accomplishment.

The title, show, year and the juror for qualifying shows are:

Illumination* | Waterworks 2011 | John Salminen, NWS, AWS.DF
Flight | 75th International Open 2015 | Judy Morris, AWS, NWS, NWWS
A Taste Of Spring | Waterworks 2016 | Fealing Lin, NWS, WW, SDWS
*Illumination received the President’s Merit Award