Each month, the winners are asked to share a few words about their experiences associated with their paintings. Below, we present what they shared.

First Place – Mallard by FONTAINE JACOBS

I'm always inspired to paint animals. As I started this painting, I wondered whether I would be able to pull it off. Painting feathers is not easily done on Yupo. The water was a piece of cake.  I just painted wet on wet like I would for a sky. With the feathers, I found that dabbing with the side a flat brush, feathers emerged with time. I love solving problems, and this was quite a challenge. Sometimes I don’t go with the theme assigned by WAS-H. Now I realize if I try to adhere to it, I learn new and wonderful things. Keep challenging me, WAS-H!  

Second Place – Groundskeeper by Susan Giannantonio

I’ve been painting and teaching what I call “botanicals” for a few years now, using actual plants and an overnight process to produce monoprint plant images onto paper.  Developing them into an interesting composition, however, is an added challenge. I’d long been tempted to add a garden creature to one of those botanical paintings, and thought a bunny would be a fun, and perhaps unexpected, addition.

Third Place – Social Distancing Rebels by Alison Hendry

During the pandemic we were always talking about “social distancing”, so when I looked through my many photo references of flamingos at the San Francisco Zoo and our own zoo’s glorious new South American Pantanal exhibit, I saw how flamingos just don’t observe that and the idea came to me.  So, I looked through many reference photos until I found individuals that I liked that would make an interesting group. I drew each one separately, adjusting for size and perspective, and transferred these from paper to tracing paper so I would have them all on one page. I then transferred them with graphite to my watercolor paper and said “Ready…Set…GO!” The dark background was painted in three layers. The first wash was quinacridone gold from Winsor Newton, then two flat washes of a mix of Mayan Dark Blue (DS), French Ultramarine Blue (WN), Quinacridone Pink (WN) and Quinacridone Gold (WN) and a very deep breath! 

 Honorable Mention – Turbulence by Jackie Liddell

This painting came totally out of my head.  I enjoy being in a boat and fishing almost as much as I love painting!  I am inspired by the sea and all the sea life living in it.  I first drew this composition in my sketch book using the subject of the fish I most enjoy catching.  I abstracted them and added a lot of movement and line to represent the rough waters they swim in. I have been experimenting with using black line and stamping with my watercolor.  It was fun and almost painted itself.  I am honored the juror liked it.

Honorable Mention – What The?  by Mike Doan

Our cat likes to sit on the edge of a pew and look out into the backyard – through a French door window.  I have taken several pictures of her, and the light and shadow play really impressed me. When I read something about Notan, I knew I needed to try it.  Several layers of masking fluid and Jayne’s Gray washes later, I had a painting that really pleased me.