Saturday, December 1, 2012

OWS SHOW IN COLUMBUS, OH


Deb drove up, with Sharon and I riding shotgun and backseat passenger/GPS reader all the way.  We all talked so much, the drive seemed to go by quickly.  The hardest part was in Columbus, finding somewhere to park and taking the right roads around - we got lucky and parked right across from the Riffe Gallery building (which is pretty darned impressive).



This is Karen Pettit's painting of a zebra on yupo on the postcard - beautiful!  Karen and I were in a watercolor class (Sandy Maudlin's) year's before and Karen's work has been getting local and regional attention in all the major shows lately!


As you enter the gallery, here is what you see on the first entrance wall:





Pretty cool to use the photo on the postcard in the entryway like this.  If I remember correctly, Karen used photos from a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo of the zebras there - and this was painted in 2009.






Of course, we had to get Deb beside her painting, although I apologize for the shot of Deb - she's fuzzy because my camera focused on the painting and not on her!

Deb's painting was in a great spot to showcase her beautiful roses and all that delicate lacy background.  Of course, the gallery was so great that no painting had bad placement.





This painting drew me in from across the room when I turned, seeing it on an adjacent wall.  And when I read the artist statement, I was even more impressed and touched by it.


I could have sat and looked at this next painting for a long time.  The depth of the window, the shadow play on the wall, the texture of the walls - all showed me the work of a master watercolorist.

I have to say, there are some very talented watercolorists in the OH/KY/IN area.  There were even paintings from artists in MI, PA, CA, and NH, and all had interesting artist statements about the painting or their process to get to the painting.  Some of the artists were names I recognized:  Fred Graff, Judy Anderson, Fran Mangino, Christopher Leeper, Trish McKinney, Bruce Neville.  But many of the names I did not know and there was a large sampling of paintings in watercolor, gouache, acrylic, watercolor crayon, watercolor on yupo and on gessoed paper, etc. 

It was an easy drive up and back with a nice lunch in between and I was back home by 3:30 - before the Friday night rush hour traffic!

I'll finish up with Deb's painting, fluid acrylic on paper, called Oriental Roses:


Congratulations, Deb!

The show is permanent here at the Riffe Gallery in Columbus but will only be there until they choose 30 of the paintings (out of the 65 in the permanent show) for the traveling exhibition and it will travel all over Ohio.  Sometimes, the places it is shown are great and sometimes not so great (too dark, not enough room to stand back and see the paintings, etc.).  So, if you can, see it before it leaves Columbus.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

That looks like an incredible show! Wow! I really admire that one of the daughter too... and what the artist wrote. It's so precious and poignant. Glad you had fun! If you get a chance to get over to The Barn during December, our chapter Colored Pencil show is on exhibit there! (Dec. 7-28)

Unknown said...

Once again another good blog post. Thanks

RH Carpenter said...

Glad you enjoyed it, Katherine. I will definitely go over to visit the show at The Barn (that gallery space is great!).

Kevin, glad you liked it. I am enjoying your night scenes, too!

Autumn Leaves said...

What an awesome day, Rhonda. I too am touched by the painting of the daughter. I hope that she is in total recovery.

Studio at the Farm said...

Hi Rhonda. All the paintings you photographed are amazing!!! It must be a wonderful show! Thank you so much for posting these truly inspiring paintings.

debwardart said...

I knew you would "blog" about the trip! This is a wonderful post, referencing the artists by name - you always do such a great job of making your art journeys available through your blog. (But you didn't make me look like Raquel in my photo - ha ha!)

Watercolors by Susan Roper said...

Rhonda, thanks for letting us ride "shotgun" with you all on your road trip. What fun that must have been for you three. I so enjoyed viewing these wonderful paintings, especially the Starting Over painting of the cancer survivor and I loved that Zebra!

renate said...

Wow, that zebra on my beloved Yupo! How much I have to learn. So many things possible on Yupo:) The painting of Deb is also beautiful. She is right to look another way because of you pointing the camera not on her:)! Thanks for sharing this beautiful day Rhonda:)

RH Carpenter said...

Sherry, Kathryn, wish you could visit while it's in this great gallery!

Sorry, Deb, my camera doesn't have that setting - I never look like Salma Heyak in mine, either!!

Susan, Renate, you are welcome - I know it's too far for you to see it in person!