FALL SHOW 2024 Prospectus
The Call for Work Fall 2024 will be posted on our website on July 6, 2024. We will notify you and provide a link here, on Facebook, and will send an email link to all NFWS Members.
Tag Archives: Transparent Watercolor
As of March 1st there are only two (2) openings left in Richard Stephens Spring 2024 Workshop!
Here’s a link to the page describing the Workshop and the Registration Form. Don’t hesitate!!!
Richard Stephens Spring 2024 Workshop
Spring 2024 Workshop with Richard Stephens
Our NFWS SPRING 2024 WATERCOLOR WORKSHOP was
Lighten up, Loosen Up with Richard Stephens!
May 14 – 17, 2024 at the Castiglia Art Center at the Historic Roycroft Campus, 21 South Grove Street, East Aurora, NY.
Richard was as promised – an awesome, inspiring, person and artist. This workshop was terrific! Here are a few photos. As we collect more from the participants, we will post them here.
SAVE THE DATE! NFWS Spring 2024 Workshop with Richard Stephens will be May 13 – 17, 2024.
The Workshop “Lighten Up, Loosen Up” will be held May 13 – 17, 2023 at the Castiglia Center on the Historic Roycroft Campus. Registration Forms will be available here on our website on Monday, February 19th, and will be emailed to all NFWS Members on that date. 
February 15, 2024 Members Meeting and Demonstration by Michael Holter, all on Zoom!
Following a brief Members Meeting we will have the pleasure of a demonstration by the popular watercolor artist and teacher Michael Holter, from Plano, Texas!
This will be a Zoom event, held at 4 pm on Thursday, February 15th. A Zoom link will be sent by email to all NFWS Members on the Monday before the Thursday afternoon Meeting.
MICHAEL HOLTER
https://www.michaelholter.com/
Michael Holter is known for his dynamic watercolor portraits, landscapes, and workshops. After a successful career inart education, advertisingdesign and creative leadership, Michael began focusing more seriously on his painting in 2011. Michael is a signature member of numerous national watercolor societies. His work is widely published and he has received numerous national and international awards. He has released four DVDs from Creative Catalyst Productions: 7 Steps to Landscape Painting in Watercolor, 7 Steps to Portraits in Watercolor, Watercolor Landscapes from Photos and Paint the Town. Although Michael has been painting most of his life, his work experience spans a wide range of creativity, from high school art teacher, advertising creative director and businessman. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Art Education and an MA in Visual Communication.
Michael says, “My work is impressionistic. I like to represent people or places and allow the painting to evolve from the recognizable. The challenge is to balance the care needed to make the representation interesting… and perhaps believable, with the freedom, looseness and painterly quality that makes a painting so expressive.”
Rick Surowicz’s January 18th ZoomDemonstration for NFWS is on our Youtube Channel!
Here is a link to Ric’s terrifically inspiring and informative January 18th Zoom Demonstration for NFWS now on our Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society YouTube Channel.
Ric Surowicz’s January 18, 2024 NFWS Demonstration
September 2023 Demonstration by Kathy Armstrong!
Announcing our September 2023 Season Opening in person demonstration by Rochester, NY artist, and NFWS Signature Member, Kathy Armstrong!
Her demonstration will follow a short NFWS Members Meeting where we will all be caught up to date on the events of the summer, and hear about the year to come.
Kathy Armstrong says that of all the media she paints in, watercolor is her favorite because its transparent nature makes it possible to achieve a luminosity that isn’t possible with other mediums. In addition to her studio painting
Kathy enjoys plein air painting in oil, and some of her largest paintings have been done in acrylic. Kathy teaches watercolor classes both in-person and virtually throughout the year.
After a long career as a graphic designer in Wisconsin and Colorado, Kathy returned to her native upstate New York in 2013, moving to Rochester in late 2017. She is a Signature member of the Philadelphia Water Color Society, Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society and the Rochester Art Club and paints outdoors with the Greater Rochester Plein Air Painters. Her work has been juried into international, national and regional shows. Armstrong has been juried into the Memorial Art Gallery’s Rochester/Finger Lakes Exhibition three consecutive times, winning the Alice E. Koret Award in 2019. She is one of the founding members of Pittsford Fine Art gallery at 4 Main Street in Pittsford, NY.
“When light touches the world it immediately brings it to life. It shapes and illuminates everything in its path. Trying to capture that light is the driving force behind my love of painting,” says Kathy.
To see her work or for class information please visit her website at kathyarmstrongfineart.com.
The awards for our 2023 Open Watercolor Exhibition were announced last evening, May 25, at the Award Celebration at the Carnegie!
You can see them all and read Mary Whyte’s comments on our page Spring 2023 Award Winners . It was a lovely evening, reconnecting with many NFWS Members and friends. Congratulations one and all!
The Exhibition’s last day is today, May 26, 2023! Hope you can make it to the Carnegie Art Center, 240 Goundry Street, N. Tonawanda, NY, today, open from 12 – 4 today, Friday.
Check out Andy Evansen’s March 16th NFWS Zoom Demonstration, just posted on our YouTube Channel!
Members Meeting and Demonstration by Andy Evansen! Oh Boy!!
Following a brief Members Meeting we will have the pleasure of a demonstration by immensely popular Minnesota watercolor artist Andy Evansen.
This will be a Zoom event, held at 4 pm on Thursday, March 16th. A Zoom link will be sent by email to all NFWS Members on the Monday before the Thursday evening Meeting. 
Andy Evansen’s interest in art started in childhood, and he can’t recall a time when he wasn’t drawing. Once he began painting, he found himself attempting to capture the landscape with an economy of brushstroke evident in the work of the British watercolor artists he admired. In addition, he was impressed with the way those artists seemed to capture everyday scenes in such a way that revealed a hidden beauty, subjects that many would simply pass by.
“When I decided to begin painting 30 years ago, there was never any question in my mind what medium I would choose. Watercolor has always fascinated me; the effects of pigment and water mixing on the paper are so unique and challenging and the results so beautiful. It is also the perfect medium for capturing those fleeting moments and light effects when working on location.”
He has been featured in many publications and is a sought-after workshop instructor who paints and teaches internationally. He became a signature member of the prestigious Plein Air Painters of America (PAPA) in 2012 and served as their President from 2015-2017. In 2022 he was selected as the only international member of England’s Pure Watercolour Society.
His paintings have won numerous awards, including the Bronze and High Winds Medals from the American Watercolor Society in New York.
“While learning, I painted strictly from photographs and am glad I took that route. Watercolor is challenging, as it relies on timely washes that can be affected by the weather and a large amount of confidence due to its unforgiving nature. I now paint ‘en plein air’ as well, which has reinforced my efforts toward choosing strong, simple subjects and working quickly to capture the essence of the scene.”
His love of painting on location also led to him being included in the 2017 Qingdao International Masters Watercolor Plein Air Event.
You can view his work at www.EvansenArtStudio.com. 