Sheila Parsons Watercolors

Our main web site sparsons.com has been updated with a new Featured Painting of the Month and a new Fine-Tuning painting. Please check it out and let us know what you think. We always value your feedback.

Happy Holidays to all of you.
May your new year be filled with adventure, creature comforts, friends and joy (and lots of art time)!
Our very best to you
Sheila, Richard,
Sassy, Paxson,
Kacey.Tiger Lily
…Our menagerie.

Sheila Parsons is the recipient of the second Lifetime in the Arts Award presented by the Public Libraries of Faulkner and Van Buren Counties (Arkansas). Sheila has conducted watercolor painting classes at the Conway library for many years, but she has been an artist her entire life. Sheila has donated generously to Friends of the Library each time she has conducted a class at the library.

Her work will be on display at the Conway library from October 10 through October 31. Thursday October 27 from 6-7 PM, Sheila will be honored with a reception and award presentation.  The library is located at 1900 Tyler Street, Conway, Arkansas 72032.

One of Sheila’s watercolors has been accepted into the 2011 White River Juried Exhibition. The painting is titled “Lake Lilies”. It is one of 33 paintings that were selected out of 88 entries. The exhibition will be at the Batesville Area Arts Council Gallery on Main, 246 E. Main Street, Batesville, Arkansas. The exhibition will run from October 3 to October 28, 2011.

Lake Lilies

I spent an interesting 2½ days in May painting along the rain-swollen White River in the little town of Cotter, AR.  Cotter claims to be the trout capitol of the world and if the number of folks I saw thigh deep in the river wearing rubber waders says anything about it, it must be true.

The White River Artists’ Association sponsored this event.  Their third year to host the contest, the event was extremely well organized.  Prepackets included the registration forms ($40 fee) rules and a list of “special to artist rate lodgings” in the area.  When we arrived we were given maps to interesting painting locales in a thirty-mile area around Cotter.  There was more to delight the artist there than I could believe.  During the 3 day event we were feted with receptions, a wine and cheese tasting, a great barbeque hosted by the local fire department and in general everything possible was done to make the artists who had been invited feel special and like “stars”.

This year 38 professional artists accepted their invitation to paint outdoors and to compete for quite respectable prizes.  The artists came mostly from Arkansas, but a few from surrounding states as well.  The judge was a professional plein aire painter from Texas.  He did a demo (his medium – watercolor) and after the judging was available to confer with any artist about his or her work.  Over $2,000 was awarded that day and even those of us who weren’t “in the money” left gratified with the experience and had a number of small paintings to add to our inventory.

The format was an 18” x 24” framed piece and each artist had to paint on canvas or paper that had been stamped by the organizers on the back prior to painting.  This avoided the possibility of “cheating” by bringing in artwork done earlier and perhaps not on location. We turned in up to three of the finished (?) pieces at noon on Saturday and hurriedly framed them for the judging which began at 1:30.  Meanwhile the artists visited with each other in a gorgeous locale complete with snacks, wine and cheese and live music. Some of us couldn’t pass up an opportunity to paint the view from Hopkinswood and worked during the reception.  I was happy to be able to paint on a half sheet rather than a quarter sheet size. The White River Artists’ Association had invited lots of guests, some of whom added to their art collections.  All in all a great few days and just what I needed to get me moving to take advantage of this springtime weather.

I did 6 small paintings (see below for 2 sample images) in those 2½ days.  Visit sparsons.com to see all 6 paintings. It’s amazing what you can do when you know other artists will be looking at your production.  The rivalry was friendly, but intense with everyone genuinely applauding the winners for their really top-notch work.  The top five awards went to four oil paintings and one watercolor and there were also pastels, drawings and acrylics competing. I was pleased with my paintings and even sold one that is not shown here.  So of course I can tell you that one was great!  Ha!

If you are interested in receiving information about this event for next May, contact whiteriverartists@gmail.com or 870-424-0151.

"Bird Houses"

"Cotter Bridge"

Sheila’s painting “My Stuff and Summer Bouquet” has been accepted as one of 38 paintings in the 41st Mid-Southern Watercolorists Annual Juried Exhibition. This is a juried exhibition with 166 paintings submitted. The exhibition will be at the Historic Arkansas Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas, from May 13, 2011 through August 7, 2011.

We are trying to  go digital with all notices, etc.  Please if you are interested in knowing what we are up to send us your email address.

The new year brings a revised look and a new feature to the Sheila Parsons’ Art-Ventures web site. We have added a “Featured Painting of the Month”. This painting is prominently displayed on the home page and it will be for sale at a 10% discount.

Sheila made a DVD of a watercolor demo that she presented during a workshop in Salmon, Idaho. It is not quite ready for sale but we have made a sample clip available for viewing on the Sheila Parsons’ Art-Ventures web site and on YouTube: Sheila Parsons Talks About Subject Matter