Meet Artist Connie Carson-Romano, Spring Obsession accepted artist

T-011  Windblown Daffodisl  acrylic  14x11  $90

Connie Carson-Romano

    Art is an expression of the way the artist views the world in which he lives.  It is the sharing of a life experience by the artist whether in paint, the written word, or in music.

    I cannot remember a time in my life when I was not writing, drawing, or painting. Acrylic paint is my favored medium. I love the way it works and forms on the canvas. Having been raised in New Mexico I found myself immersed in the amazing palate of nature and the challenge of trying to recreate those colors on canvas from an early age. Now as a resident of Northern California for 25 years, I continue to live in awe at the world we live in.

T-010  The Heart of It  acrylic  24x18  $145

    In addition to my paintings, I have found an expressive voice in the written word. In the 1990[s I was published for 6 years in a local newspaper as the creator of the cartoon strip "Cody Coyote". Cody is a fun combination of my drawings and verbal expression of the humorous side of life.  Cody has returned to the stage with his own web page and can be visited at codycoyotesworld.com.

    My first book, The other Side of the Gurney, published in February of 2015, A collection of stories from my years in public service and the lessons I learned from those I served, it reached the #1 spot in category on the Amazon bestseller list in June of last year.

    I find it is amazing and exciting that so many different interpretations of the world around us are available through the eyes of artists. It is my pleasure that I am able to add my own personal expression to this collection.

Meet Artist Steven Correll, Spring Obsession accepted Artist

Artist's Biography

T-003 Daffodil  acrylic  21.5x21.5  $500

Steven F. Correll

Steven Correll's paintings and drawings are in collections in Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Paris. Having retired from his career in museum collections management and registration for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (de Young & Legion of Honor), he now devotes his time to making art.

Steven received his BA in Liberal Arts/Fine Arts from The College of William and Mary in Virginia in 1981.  He obtained his BFA in Painting and Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1987, and a graduate certificate in Museum Collections Management and Registration from the John F. Kennedy University in 2008.  Steven lives and paints in San Francisco.

Meet Artist Ruth Morrow, Theme Division Accepted Artist

T-015  Gold in the Garden  mm 30x24  $500

Ruth Morrow

For the past thirty plus years, Ruth Morrow has interpreted the beauties of the Mother Lode in watercolor, collage, oil, acrylic and 3-dimensional pieces.

The artist was the first to win the Ironstone Obsession poster contest twice and her pieces have been selected for the KVIE art auction for the past eleven years.  She has also garnered prizes at Sacramento Fine Arts Gallery and Calaveras Fair.

Her vibrant watercolor "Striking Gold on the Mokelume" appeared in the recent Moke River traveling show.

Ruth is a member of the Arts of Bear Valley, Golden Palette, Sacramento Fine Arts Gallery, Watercolor Artists of Sacramento and Northern California Artists and Mother Lode Art Association.

Examples of her work may be seen in Murphys at Art on Main, and Murphy's Grill, Town Hall arts/Galerie Copper, and Calaveras Arts Council Store, San Andreas, and her studio in Arnold.

Her "Mountain Motion II" piece, a dramatic watercolor of up-country beauty, will grace the Bear Valley Music Festival's 2015 poster.

Meet Artist Deborah Marlene, Theme Division Accepted Artist

T-016  Stained Glass Daffs  wc 21x27  $450

Deborah Marlene
Watercolor Artist & Teacher
Mountain Ranch
& Mokelumne Hill, Ca.

I was born in Modesto, CA and migrated to Calaveras County 20 years ago. An artistic interest has always been part of my life. I can still recall the first day that they brought out the poster paints in Kindergarten.

I started with Acrylics in 1967, in a Saturday Honors Class. In High School, I studied oil painting and even landed a commissioned piece as a Senior.

Child rearing took a bit of time out of this lifelong passion, but did seem to pass rather quickly. I did manage one lass in oils, at Yuba Collage in the early 1990's.

In 1996, when my oldest Son left the nest, m urge to create an Art Room became a reality. Since I did have a younger Son in the home, I decided to try watercolors, because of the toxic fumes that oil paints involve.

It was the, that I began studying Watercolors with Lura Francis of Murphys. Besides 3 years with Lura, I attended quite a few Workshops with many talented local artists, in the late'90's and early 2000's.

I owned my own Gallery called Deborah Marlene's in Mokelumne Hill from August 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015. You may see more of my work on my website: deborahmarlenes.com.

I am a member of the Arts of Bear Valley, and actively participate in our show at the Bear Valley Music Festival and Big Trees State Park show. I began my professional career by showing at the Calaveras County Fair and try to make that a regular venue, too.

Now, after 20 years, Watercolors are my preferred medium. I am finding that with this experience, teaching some of my methods is a great way to imporve my own Artistic Path. I now am an Associate of Acme Art Moke Hill. In this "Creative Playground" of Anne Cook and Will Mosgrove, I have been offering an introduction to Watercolors class and will soon be offering an introduction to Feng Shui.

Feng Shui is one of my other passions. I received my Certification from the Western School of Feng Shui in Solano Beach, CA in 2007. This has propelled my Artistic Path in another direction. I often use my knowledge of the five elements of wood, water, fire, metal and earth when doing paintings. I once added a waterfall to a painting because of the practice and it sold quickly.

I love calling Calaveras County, HOME; and hope to use my talents to help people heal during the recovery from the Butte Fire.

Spreading the joy of Artistic Expression in my soul felt contribution to this life.

T-017   Along the way ...   wc  27x21  $3785

Meet Artist Connie Bowen, Ironstone Spring Obsession Theme Division accepted Artist

T-025 Daffo-Dilly  wc 17x21  $300

                                   

Connie Bowen

I have always loved art and photography and have experimented 

with both over the years. I have been taking watercolor classes

from Popi Tyler for a few years. She is an excellent and patient

teacher.  She continues to teach me how to see. I love the

process of creating with watercolor. I feel everything else

slip away except being in the moment of that creation,

which keeps me coming back to this beautiful medium.

I live in Forestville, CA with my two dogs and a cat, 

who sometimes become my muses.

Meet Artist Janice Freischlag, Spring Art Theme Division accepted artist

Janice Freischlag:  A Biography

Janice began her fascination with art in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1989.  She began with German folk art painting, Bauernmalerei.  After five years in Germany, she returned to the U.S. and began to broaden her painting skills.  On returning, Janice and her husband moved to Lake Tahoe where she was fortunate enough to befriend Lola Owen, her mentor and owner of Lakeside Gallery.  At Lake Tahoe, where she became more accomplished, she began painting in oils.  To her surprise she started to get commissions for pet portraits and more.  She is accomplished in a wide range of subjects as well as most painting mediums, i.e. acrylic, water, gouache and oil.

Janice and her husband now reside in Ione, California, at Lake Camanche, with a parrot and four cats.  She has a very productive berry and vegetable garden, apple trees planted from seed, is an orchid enthusiast, gourmet cook and paints whenever possible.  

Meet Artist Carol Leonti, Spring Obsession Theme Division Artist

Bio - Carol Leonti

2515 Fulton Place

Santa Rosa, Ca. 95401

c.leonti@me.com

T-024  My Mother's Garden wc 30x24  $600

I have been painting for pleasure for over 15 years, continuously learning in workshops with well known transparent watercolor painters: Tony Couch, Dale Laitenen, Ken Hosmer, and more.  My most important teachers were Carl Miller, AWS, with whom I painted for many years, and my current mentor, Popi Tyler, who encourages me and coaches me on all aspects of my work.  I love transparent watercolor because of it’s challenges and its broad ability to express feeling for the subject.

Open Division entry O-141 Seaport wc 15x20  $600

My work has been shown at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, the Watercolor Society of Sonoma County annual exhibit, at Ironstone Winery, and at the Russian Hill Winery. I currently participate in an exhibit at Empire College in Santa Rosa.

Open Division entry  O-142  Wild Garden  wc  13x15  $500

My technical skills and ability to paint expressively have steadily grown over the years.  I plan to never stop painting.

Meet Artist Andrea Morris, Spring Obsession Theme Division artist

Andrea Morris 

was born in Karlsrhue Germany and spent much of her younger years in Montana and Arizona.  She was exposed to art from an early age as her Mother was an artist and taught painting classes in their home.

She developed a love of wildlife and people and spent much of her time drawing and using pen and ink to capture her subject. It was not until the 1970’s that she started to explore working with color in watercolor.  Working in a local watercolor gallery in Tucson, Arizona she learned about building up her paintings through layers of transparent color.

She experimented in working in oils and acrylics and immediately fell in love with the mediums and has worked almost exclusively in these two.  A new passion for mixed media has begun to be represented in her recent works.

Her main focus of subject still remains wildlife and people and she has been working towards representing her subjects in a colorful and expressive style.

Being self taught she has learned most about her art by painting, experimenting and studying other works of art.  She has made a living of painting murals in many homes in the northern California area and has worked with the Wall Dogs painting large murals in city downtown businesses.  She also has an extensive collection of commissioned work that is in many homes around the world.

She presently resides in Lodi California and teaches classes in her small studio. She continues to paint and show her work in the surrounding areas art venues.