Bob Maurer

Canton, OH

Victorian House on Broad

WATERCOLOR

$600

“It is difficult to depict the emotion of a static structure, in general, much less under the short time frame Plein Air requires. The artist has created an emotion from this composition that creates a versatility for the viewer. The use of muted hues both in the fore and background, reinforce a potential for a myriad of dreams and stories as vast as the years these buildings have been standing. This is a great example of how choice use of tone and hue can go a long way toward a story unable to be depicted in a short time frame.”

– Jessica Lofthus

Sally Heston

Broadview Heights, OH

Yum Yum Shop

WATERCOLOR

NFS

“Choosing and depicting a scene to pain for Plein Air can be very challenging. Much of the time, the potential for a complete design isn’t possible because of the time frame allotment. In this watercolor, the artist has chosen a balanced snapshot in time, capable of framing itself with it’s robust hues and the visual weight the counterpart vegetation allows.  The use of saturated strokes in the flowers on either side of the composition creates an inner framing that elaborates on the architecture of the sweet shop that ignites the excitement of summer. Plein Air is a very challenging medium and the visual capture choices in this piece create a memory that will be easily recalled through time.”

– Jessica Lofthus

Kathy Sabbath Oravecz

Thompson, OH

Rivercolors

WATERCOLOR MEDIA

Watercolor

$900

“This visual perspective has many challenges that the artist made calculated choices to solve for. The visual weight of the left centered building is counterbalanced by having left the waterway in the foreground uncropped. The broader watercolor strokes slow the water in the foreground down, slowing the rhythm of the water and creating diagonal balance with the heavy building on the waterway. Using small amounts of ultramarine blue for depth and texture on the building, balances the cobalt in the water, and carrying the building’s sienna reflection into the waterway shows calculated choices in how to create visual balance in a short amount of time.”

– Jessica Lofthus

Mary Ann ‘Mo’ Mosyjowski

Akron, OH

Cuyahoga River

PASTEL

$200

“This is a beautiful example of the movement and energy that can be created in nature with Plein Air painting. The depth and slowness of the water in the background is well balanced with the faster moving water of the middle ground. Building up the higher tones to create the kinetics in the water isn’t an easy accomplishment in Plein Air. The choice of cropping creates an activation within the picture plane that encourages the viewer to keep going back for more. There are smart uses of cerulean blues, dropping small hints of the time of day this magical scene was captured. It’s not overly done, and allows the viewer room for their own interpretation as well!”

– Jessica Loftus