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Montana Watercolor Society

2017 ---MTWS Members Watermedia Sale--- 2017

Western Art Week


March 16, 2017: 6pm - 9pm

March 17 & 18, 2017: 10am - 8pm


LaQuinta Inn - River Road - Great Falls, MT



More Info: Ron Paulick at 406-453-4076


The Montana Watercolor Society’s Western Art Week event is called “MTWS Members Watermedia Art Sale”.
All art from 12 Montana artists use the beauty of water based paints—one of the more difficult painting mediums.
This sale has no fluff, just beautiful art by Montana watercolor artists.

In addition, the La Quinta’s small meeting room has been redesigned for your viewing leisure.
I
t is a place to relax. A place to visit with the artists. The coffee is always on.

Fulfilling the MTWS education mission, the artists will be offering to the public
free watercolor painting demonstrations Friday & Saturday


Friday March 17:
10:00 AM...............Sallie Bowen
"Stormy Skies: Wet 'n Wild"  

2:00 PM...............Kiana Fecteau

"A Water-Loving Fowl in Watercolor: the Great Blue Heron"

7:00 PM.....Vickie Lynn Johnson

"Creative Watermedia Collage - The Ultimate Recycling Plan"

Saturday March 18:
10:00 AM..............Jack Dykstra
"Wild Bird IV"


2:00 PM................Kim Shirley 
"Capturing Light in Watercolor"

7:00 PM...
Gallery Talk + Q&A + Meet The Artists

The artists:
Sallie Bowen—Butte; Roberta Burruss—Corvallis; Jack Dykstra and Kim Shirley— Whitefish;
Margaret Eller—Sun River; Kiana Fecteau—Stevensville; Jessica Glenn—Dillon;
Vickie Lynn Johnson and Margo Voermans—Missoula; Loren Kovich— Helena;

Ron Paulick and Carol Spurgeon—Great Falls; and Paul Tunkis—(Unable to attend.) 
Download a Flyer

Artist Bios:
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  Ron Paulick  Coordinator of the MTWS Members Watermedia Sale

  • Having no formal training in art it thus has multiple degrees of challenges for the nonprofessional.  I accept and love those challenges because each endeavor when completed successfully instills a great deal of satisfaction and desire to move on.                                   
            Late 1970’s-Late 1990’s = Black and White Photography
            Late 1990 = Transparent Watercolor
            Mid 2000 – Today = Pen & Ink, Transparent & Gouache Watercolor
           
2016 – Today = Pen & Ink, Transparent & Gouache Watercolor, Oil


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Iris of 2 Colors
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Missouri River
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Little Things So Important

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Kiana Fecteau 

Painting became my passion in 1997. My art education comes from personal observation, books and magazines, workshops, and mostly from lots of painting. Watercolor and acrylic are my preferred media. My palette is usually very limited: one of each primary with brown and white. The highest quality materials are used.

My artwork is a reflection of what I see in my everyday life: magpies sitting on the backyard fence, ospreys nesting near my son’s soccer fields, owlets hanging out at the nearby wildlife refuge, flowers blooming in my flowerbeds, fish caught by my husband, lighthouses photographed during vacation trips…
It is very gratifying when, through my paintings, others see the details in our surroundings that might otherwise be overlooked, and especially when someone has an emotional response to a portrait that I have created specifically for them.

In my paintings I hope to capture the wonder and beauty of the natural world around us.

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Raven
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California Poppies 1
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Ixora

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Sallie Bowen

"I have been painting for most of my life and particularly in watercolor, since the early 1970’s. It lends itself to immediacy of changing light and mood. I an drawn to places that evoke a sense of peace and quietness. If I have communicated that feeling of serenity in my work, I consider that work a success."
  • Bowen’s first watercolor instructor was Ben Steele, Professor Emeritus at MSU-Billings, now retired. He was a survivor of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. 
  • In 1985, she was accepted to study Chinese landscape painting workshop in the People’s Republic of China and spent two months studying Chinese painting, calligraphy and Tai Chi at the Zhejiang Art Academy in Hangzhou with Chinese art professors.
  • By invitation, she painted an Easter egg for the White House Easter Egg Roll in 1986; this wooden egg is now at the Smithsonian Institute.
  • Her watercolor and ink painting, “Prince William Sound”, is the cover of the book “Season of Dead Water” published by Breitenbush in 1990.
She  teaches privately in her studio, combines travel with painting (all over Montana, New Mexico, California, France, Italy, Wales, Greece, Turkey, China, Japan, Israel and Jordan), is a signature member of Montana Watercolor Society, and exhibits nationally in many juried shows  in Montana and the U.S.

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Chief Joseph, GNP
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Beaucoup de Choucroute
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Mountain and Sage

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Carol Spurgeon

"I love the experimental and  spontaneous nature of watercolor that keeps the artist reacting to the give and take on a fresh piece of watercolor paper.  Edges, light, shapes, colors dance about with freedom to the music from my mind, arm, eyes, hand and heart to communicate the joy of that created. Grab a pencil, grab a brush, take a class, get started!"

A 40 year transplant from Missouri, Carol Spurgeon fell in love with the watercolor media in her thirties and became well known in Great Falls area for her variety of subjects and approaches.  She is a signature member and award winner in Montana’s national show   Numerous acceptances and awards in juried shows demonstrate her determination and motivation and love for artistic communication.  She is a corporate member of Gallery 16.


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From Out of the Hills
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An Evening ’Skip” in Glacier
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Knee High

Loren Kovich

Loren is an award-winning artist from Helena. He is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, the Transparent Watercolor Society of America and The Montana Watercolor Society. His work has been published in eight books on painting watercolor and acrylics and his work is represented in private and corporate collections nationally and internationally.
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First Light Gathering
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Kingfisher
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Katie's Iris

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Margaret Zieg Eller 
I am proud to be a lifelong Montanan with deep family roots in agriculture. Throughout my career in professional forestry and teaching, I maintained ties to land and livestock even as I set aside time for art. Now retired, I devote all my energy to Prairie Island, which is not only the ranch I share with my husband, Jim. It is also my studio and muse. Nestled within a homestead-era shelter belt on the broad shoulder of Square Butte, Prairie Island provides varied opportunities to celebrate life in Montana, from fulfilling hours in the lambing and calving barns to stunning moments of land and sky grandeur. I embrace the challenges and joys of working with land and livestock. The seasonal rhythms of rural life sustain me. When the outdoor chores are done, my studio nurtures inspiration and creative energy.


For nearly forty years, watercolors have brought joy to me. My art explores and celebrates the power of place—the Chinook-blasted grasslands and storm-swept Front Range, the hard-shadowed buttes and towering skyscapes—that mark the seasonal rhythms of central Montana. My paintings also honor the beauty of the commonplace—chainsaws and work boots, machinery and shop tools.

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Leather & Steel Backporch Still Life
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Prairie Island Winter Glow
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Prarie Island Winter Tree

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Roberta J. Burruss 

"Translating the elegance of the land into expressive watercolor paintings." 

A landscape painter living in Corvallis Montana, Roberta is inspired to paint by her
deep appreciation for the natural beauty and grace of the land in 
Western Montana.  

                                 Subtle-views in Subtle-hues. 

          A Signature Member of the Montana Watercolor Society.

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3 Cows
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Mill Creek Canyon
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Lee Metcalf River View

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Kim Shirley 

Kim Shirley is an award winning watercolor artist from Western Montana.  She is a member of the TWSA and a signature Member of MTWS.  She prefers to work with transparent watercolor in order to capture the light and mood of the subject she paints.  Her work is a manifestation of the fondness and admiration of her western surroundings.


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MainStreet
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Reign Free
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Rocks Under Water

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MVoermans

Voermans is a Signature Member of the Montana Watercolor Society where she is currently president.  A Montana native, Voermans began painting in 1992 and works in watermedia as well as watercolor.  She has had a number of paintings juried into MTWS Watermedia, a national show.

She was born and raised on a Whitefish, Montana ranch.  The rural life runs deep in her blood but she inherited a sense of adventure and an urge to travel from her father who immigrated to the US from Holland at a young age.  Her experience in the Far East is often reflected in the art she creates.

I pride myself on always having painted in many different styles and techniques. I am fortunate to be painting at a time in art history, post-postmodern, when an artist is no longer expected to paint in one style and use only one technique


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Garden Tomatos
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Go With the Flow
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And the tears fell

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Jack Dykstra

To me, 90% of painting is a great deal of looking and seeing.  I love to draw, so most work starts with my trusty sketchbook, an idea, and sometimes a plein air study.  Building an original composition, determining color points, and making the brushes fly comprise the real joy of painting.  Each new start is an exciting and expressive adventure.  Underlying it all is this favorite quote, “art IS no rules!”

Started formal art education at age 17; AA & BA degrees (commercial art, San Jose
State U).  Graduate studies, U of Montana, business admin. (MBA program).  Commercial
artist, illustrator, advertising agency exec., financial services marketing.  Art volunteer: C.M. Russell Auction, community art center board.  Hosted and attended painting workshops; invited guest artist.  Work shown in galleries, museums, juried shows, auctions and owned in private collections.  Subject matter favorites:  Landscape, architectural, railroad/industrial, floral and organic expressive abstract.  Painting goal:  Create engaging images that leave room for the viewer to participate emotionally and visually.


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Fuchsia Fusion
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Avalanche Creek Gorge in Glacier Nat. Park
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Flathead Lake Terroir

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Jessica Glenn 
Having grown up in rural areas of the East Coast and now settled in the mountains of Montana, I have developed an appreciation for antiquated structures and their enduring craftsmanship. Everywhere are the relics of functional, yet aesthetic designs from our bygones, leaving records of how we’ve carved out a culture from the surrounding landscape. I try to illustrate this historical testament to the human need for art and beauty in our everyday lives.

I am also inspired by Western cultural objects, and native flora and fauna. The world educates us through sensory experiences, so surface textures are ever-important in my art. Watercolor’s clean simplicity allows me the control I desire for crisply rendered, textural details found in my subjects, whether it be a ghost town saloon, wrinkled leather cowboy boots, or the patterned foliage of a Rocky Mountain wildflower.
My goal in my work is to capture not only the unique physical attributes of my subject matter, but also what story it has to tell. Just as illustrations in a book are experienced intimately, I want encounters with my paintings to inspire a closer look, a moment of private study and appreciation for thoughtfully crafted areas of character and definition.


Jessica grew up drawing and painting in rural northwestern Pennsylvania and earned her B.F.A. from Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids, MI. Watercolor has been her medium of choice, ever since she was exposed to it by a few talented professors. Soon after college a visit to Missoula inspired her to pack up all the belongings she could fit in her little car and head for the big skies of the West. Happily settled in Dillon, MT, she loves backpacking, fly-fishing and exploring backroads with her husband and dog, and her cat keeps her company in her home studio.

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The Sip 'n Dip
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Big Horn County Suncatcher
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Charlene, Shoshone-Bannock Woman

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Vickie Lynn Johnson

I have been an admirer of watercolor for as long as I can remember but I have evolved into the exciting world of all types of Watermedia.  Cutting, ripping, gluing, and embellishing have always been a way of life and now it is the focus of my artwork.  Even while creating collages, I continue to paint my papers with various water-media and water-based texture mediums while adding found materials and objects.  Creating collaged greeting cards out of unfinished paintings is like creating tiny pieces of art…that you can mail or frame if you chose!
I have been fortunate to paint and study with some of the best artists around through my involvement with the Montana Watercolor Society and hope I can carry on and share the love of art to anyone who will listen!

I consider myself a contemporary artist with a love of the beauty and transparency of the medium no matter where it is used!


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Words of the Prophets are Written on the Subway Walla
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Evening Hunt
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Forest for the Trees

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MTWS Mission Statement


To encourage the advancement, study, appreciation, and creation of works
in watercolor and other watermedia
in Montana and elsewhere.    
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