News

Summer/Fall 2006

It's been a busy year (or 2) since the last newsletter so it must be time to give an update.

A few months ago a fellow artist told me about ‘blogs'. Well, I guess I knew about blogs, but mostly in association with diary-keeping of a peculiarly public sort, and didn't realize that a blog could be anything the writer wanted it to be including images...after having been introduced to the blog of a phenomenal artist in a neighboring state I saw that it could be an easy way to update art images on line. As a result I have kept an art blog for the past 14 months and on it you will see virtually every new artwork completed and photographed the day it is done (usually). Of course I have my main web site (this one!) but the blog allows me to immediately post new art and other news from the studio. Check it often! http://inkwellstudio.blogspot.com/

Inkwell Studio is the name I gave the dog art division of the studio. I have been steadily increasing the number of dog art prints available for sale at dog shows or home. I take my work to 3 or 4 dog shows a year: the Australian Shepherd National specialties in ASCA and USASA , the Poodle Club National Specialty, and sometimes an all-breed show. None of the latter are scheduled for the foreseeable future. I continue to be represented in the UK by Mondina Fine Art, dog art only.

This year I was asked to create a logo/official artwork for the United States Australian Shepherd Association (the AKC Parent club) specialty at Purina Farms in Missouri. The result was ‘Catch the Spirit', depicting 4 Australian Shepherds in the breeds' 4 colors, jumping an arch that looks suspiciously like a little St. Louis Gateway Arch. The artwork was received enthusiastically and the image was reproduced on t-shirts, grooming aprons and other souvenir items to fund-raise for the club. I donated a print run of 100 prints which were framed and used as trophies for all first placements at the Specialty. I also donated the original to be included in the auction as a further fundraiser and it was won in auction local fanciers and friends, so it came back to Maryland!..I will be doing the official artwork for the 2007 show as well. Details will follow on the disposition of the original and prints, if any. Next year's theme will be ‘Celebrate' in observation of the parent club's 15 year anniversary as an AKC-recognized breed. (The breed has been around for several decades prior to AKC recognition, under the aegis of the Australian Shepherd Club of America, a separate and extremely active registry).

I participated in a very successful spring 5 person show at the McBride Gallery in Annapolis, with a theme of the water; and have agreed to do a two-person show in Spring of 2007 at the Troika Gallery in Easton, MD, with my good friend Terry Miller. This will be an all black and white show: Terry's graphite work and my Scratchboards.

In addition to Scratchboards I might be able to have a couple of etchings included in the show. I was loaned a nice press from an artist friend who is no longer etching, and so have been intermittently working on copperplate etching. So far my results are wildly uneven and I suspect this is due to my inexperience in inking the plates for printing. This can be rectified with patience and practice: will see if I have either in sufficient reserve to make it work.!

My Scratchboards work ‘...In a Row' is on tour with the 2005 Birds in Art National tour. This year's Birds in Art piece is another Scratchboard, ‘Whoopers', depicting Whooping Cranes in shallow water. This piece is graciously being loaned back to the museum and me by the owners for the exhibition but will not go on tour as it needs to return to its Maryland wall.

I had an enjoyable 2 days at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May (on a spectacular weekend, weather-wise). The sheep! The wool! The crowds! The wool!

I will be back at the Waterfowl Festival after a 2 year break, in the Elks Gallery where I have always exhibited.

On non-art news, my young female Australian Shepherd Ribbon finished her ASCA championship this spring; we will continue to show in AKC shows until that championship is achieved as well, hopefully this year. This past October she was Reserve Winners Bitch at the National Specialty (which pretty much means first runner up female to the one female that won ‘points', and a huge accomplishment over a couple 100 other female dogs that week).. Meanwhile I have started training in agility with her so I will continue to have something outside of squirrel chasing for her to do when the conformation ring is done. And puppies next year, most likely. Ziggy (Poodle) is getting a bit of review in training with hopes of getting back into the obedience ring in a couple of months to finish his CDX title in obedience. Because I have so much free time on my hands. Also house projects loom.

Hope to see you at some of the art events I have listed on the schedule.

Winter ‘04

Holiday time seems a good time to update news from the studio. Paula had great success exhibiting in the benefit show/sale for the Baltimore Choral Arts Society again this past November and hopes to keep this show on her calendar of annual events. The galleries have all been very active as Autumn settled in; new work will come to all of them as the season progresses.

The Mystic International Maritime Art exhibition and sale at the seaport gallery (September) included 2 works of Paula's: both were oil paintings, both featured a favorite subject (egrets), and both sold on opening night. Paula plans to keep this gallery on her year-round schedule for new work for her New England collectors.

Paula and good friend Terry Miller have hung their major joint exhibition, ‘Flights of Fancy; The Avian Art of Paula Waterman and Terry Miller' at the Black Rock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Maryland. The show features much new, previously unseen work by both artists, though some select pieces were borrowed from collectors for the exhibition as well. If you did not receive your invitation to attend the artists' reception on December 19, please come by anyway; it is open to all. The reception hours are 1pm to 4pm on December 19. The exhibition is open from December 8 through January 6, 2005, daily except Sunday.

Much of Paula's subject matter continues to come from the surrounding area of north central Maryland. Livestock, landscape and wildlife subjects are the focus. She has had some excellent opportunities to visit small farms for reference material on sheep, fowl, and horses. In fact a major addition to her schedule this year is the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival the first full weekend in May, 2005, at the Howard Co. Fairgrounds. She will share display space with Terry Miller and the two will showcase their art depicting the region in which they both live. Plans are to produce a number of limited edition prints from these images. Look for the artists in one of the covered barn areas!

Paula attended several dog shows this year with her fine art limited edition prints and those of her friend Lyn St. Clair. Her schedule for displaying art at the dog shows is ever evolving but will most certainly include a return trip to the Australian Shepherd National Specialty show in Gonzales, Louisiana in April, and a first visit to the Australian Shepherd Club of America National Specialty, in Conyers, Georgia in October. In between might include a week in Salisbury, MD at the Poodle Club of America National Specialty (June), and the all-breed Harrisburg shows in March. At the end of January Paula will display her work at the Pet Expo at the MD State Fairgrounds in Timonium, MD. All of Paula's current line of prints can be seen elsewhere on this web site. Paula continues to do commissioned portraits of dogs as well.

Feel free to contact the artist to answer any questions about the year's schedule of events, gallery work, or for any inquiries at all. Meanwhile, best wishes for a happy and safe holiday season, and snow only on the days when you can stay home and play in it!

January 2004

Well, Happy New Year to everybody! Thought a studio news update would be in order at long last, as winter continues here in Maryland.

Paula joined the roster of artists this past year for the fundraiser for the Baltimore Choral Arts Society held in November, and it was a very successful showing. She hopes to be back there next year. Thanks go out to a very generous collector friend who has been involved in this fund raiser for years, who helped her to join the project. Unfortunately the opening reception was during her time in Easton at the Waterfowl Festival, so she was unable to be there herself.

The galleries all had wonderful Autumn shows and she was able get work to all of them.

Paula had 2 works included in the Mystic International at the Mystic Seaport Museum Gallery, and currently has a painting hanging in their small works show. She will be sending work for their Modern Marine Masters show in the spring, and is currently working on a painting for that exhibition.

Terry Miller and she had their first Art Open House show last month (December 2003) and despite the snow of the night before a few stalwart collectors did venture out to join them for tea, cookies, and artwork discussion. They consider the experiment a success and will plan another. Because they are doing a major joint show of their avian art in December of this year (see below) they are thinking of a summer open house show instead, at least for 2004. If you have any thoughts on this they would be most interested in hearing them. They would once again concentrate on small new works that fit the wall space and budget, but always would include some major works as well.

As for the aforementioned Avian art show, Terry and Paula have been invited to put on a major exhibition at the Black Rock Center for the Arts in Germantown, MD, to open the first week of December 2004. The center is a newly opened art space which is bright, airy, and perfect for the display of fine art. Titled "Flights of Fancy: The Avian Art of Terry Miller and Paula Waterman", this show will showcase possibly as many as 100 works of theirs. The majority of work will be new and for sale but they will also include some of their favorite past works borrowed from collectors for this exhibition. Invitations to the reception will go out a few weeks in advance, and they hope to see you there.

Paula decided to forego the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition in Charleston, SC, for 2004 to concentrate on some other avenues this year. One of the new avenues she is taking is a business partnership with fellow artist Lyn St. Clair to market some of their printed art. Specifically they are selling dog art! Lyn has an inventory of several hundred beautiful images of purebred dogs done in pen and ink which she used to market at dog shows. Paula has a few images and is undertaking several more to put into print, both oil paintings and Scratchboards. She is going to be selling these limited edition prints at AKC dog shows this year; She will probably do 8-12 shows in a year, and will try to keep the list of shows up to date on this site. The sheer number of Lyn's images make it impractical to try to show them on this web site so you will have to come see them in person; if you have never seen a dog show, here is a perfect excuse! Shows on the schedule include the Australian Shepherd National Specialty in St. Louis in April (at Purina Farms) and the Poodle Club of America National Specialty, right here in Upper Marlboro, MD in June. Several all-breed shows will be attended as well. The first in February in Baltimore. This will be an interesting additional outlet for some of Paula's more specialized work. It is not decided yet which shows Lyn will actually attend with Paula, though she is expected to be at Purina Farms in April for the Aussies. See the calendar section of the site for places and dates, which will evolve throughout the year.

Paula has been invited to participate in a group show through the Carroll County Arts Council being titled ‘The Great Outdoors', alongside 7 or 8 other artists including Terry Miller (imagine THAT!) And Bruce Woodward. This opens April 15 at the Carroll County Center for the Arts and will probably include a fairly broad cross-section of her subject matter and media. She expects to have 10-12 artworks for the show, much of it new.

She also plans to do the Art in the Park outdoor show again (the one that was rained out last June!) That is put on by the Carroll County Arts Council early in June, dates to follow (and rain or shine again. One can assume!)

On other fronts, Paula will be submitting work for Birds in Art in Wisconsin again this year, and of course supplying galleries with new work. She is concentrating a lot more on local subjects, rural scenes, domestic animals and naturally lots of birds. She plans to be at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, MD in November; and will continue to take on commissioned works as time permits.

June 2003

Summer is here, with news from the studio. This year Paula’s emphasis has and will continue to be depicting her local surroundings. Since moving to north-central Maryland in 2001, Paula has found herself increasingly interested in the rolling farmland of the region, with its indigenous wildlife and farm life. While she has certainly not forsaken her African subject matter, the endlessly varied landscapes of the state absolutely demand a large part of her attention. This has resulted in a bit more painting, a bit less Scratchboard. She is mostly working in the studio but some plein air work is also being done.

This year Paula has been concentrating on doing more small paintings, little ‘jewels’ that are easily fit into the collection and the budget. A number of these can be seen in the gallery of this site.

Paula has had 2 large artworks juried into the Mystic International, at the Maritime Gallery of the Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. These will be on exhibition and sale there from October 4 through November 30.

A new opportunity for exhibiting her work has come in the form of an invitation to participate in the art exhibition and sale to benefit the Baltimore Choral Arts Society; the show will be on exhibit from November 13-20 in Baltimore, details to follow. The opening reception is Friday, November 13.

As a member of the Carroll County Arts Council Paula is participating in most member events. This included the rainiest outdoor show in history, June 7 at the City Hall Park of Westminster, MD. Maybe some sun next year? She will be back there next year to see! Meanwhile she will have a piece included in the annual Members’ exhibition in August and September at the Arts Council on Main St. in Westminster.

Paula will be at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, MD again this year, find her in the Elks Gallery on the Blue line bus, November 13-16, 2003.

Paula continues to work on commissioned pieces for collectors with specific requests. If you are interested in a commissioned portrait, please contact the artist for details on the process.

January 2002

The new year of 2002 brings plans and major projects, including a continued evolution in Paula’s Scratchboard and oil painting techniques. She will significantly increase her time spent painting en plein air, or outdoors on location, and this will result in a significant increase in the amount of landscape painting she does.

As she does every year, Paula will be working toward her annual appearances at the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition in Charleston, SC and at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, MD. In addition she will submit work for the juries of the annual exhibitions of Birds in Art (Wisconsin) and the Society of Animal Artists (Denver this year).

The major project for Paula will be preparing for her one-artist show at the McBride Gallery, Annapolis, MD, to open Sunday, September 29, 2002. She will plan to include 15-25 pieces of Scratchboard and a like number of oil paintings in this, her 3rd one-artist show at this gallery. If you wish to have a mailed invitation to this opening, please use the e-mail contact to request inclusion on the mailing list. Some of the works being prepared for the show will be displayed on this site, but the majority will appear only after the show opens in the gallery in September.

Another major project centers around the dog population of the house. This year Paula will work toward earning specific AKC Obedience titles for 2 dogs, and on gaining points toward a conformation championship on a third dog.