Mary Bubla
We are pleased to announce that Mary Bubla, a member of the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild, has been juried into the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies (WFWS) 45th annual exhibition to be held in Boise, Idaho, at the Idaho State Museum. The painting entitled Color in the Desert is one of 100 paintings selected for this year’s “Watercolors Rock the Gem State” WFWS exhibition. World-renowned artist, author, and juror Stephen Quiller chose this painting from among 945 entries from the ten watercolor societies that make up WFWS. The exhibit will run from June 5 through July 26. Information is available on the Idaho Watercolor Society website, idahowatercolorsociety.org/wfws-2.
Here is how Mary describes her piece, Color in the Desert.
“My title says it all, Color in the Desert. Nature has always been my inspiration, especially with flowers. I was surprised to observe that all cacti in Arizona bloom. This painting was created through the technique of pouring. Once my drawing was completed, I wet the paper and poured three primary colors, which created new colors. When the painting dried, I applied frisket to the areas that I wanted to maintain. The next step was to darken the value of each color and pour again. This process was repeated seven times, resulting in luminous exciting transparent layers of colors. This technique could not be achieved with a brush. Once all of the frisket was removed, darker details were added with a brush. Vivid color in the desert will live on with the technique of pouring.”
The WFWS exhibition is hosted by a different member society every year; this year’s exhibition is hosted by the Idaho Watercolor Society and the Idaho State Museum. The Western Federation of Watercolor Societies, founded in 1974, is a consortium of ten regional associations of watercolorists from Idaho, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Texas. Its mission is to showcase works on paper created with a variety of water-based media, to encourage and recognize artistic excellence through competitions, and to encourage the visibility of watercolor as an artistic medium through these annual exhibitions. Members of the regional member societies are members of WFWS, at present numbering over 5,000 artists.