I was delighted to find out that my watercolor, Cobblestones in the Rain, has been selected for Variations 2025, Marblehead Arts Association's annual national juried exhibition April 19-June 14. I got into this show three years ago and it was such a great experience. It was one of the first live exhibits at the tail end of the pandemic; we all wore masks, but it was wonderful to view the exhibit in person after so many months of not being able to.

The entire show is displayed throughout almost every room of the King Hooper Mansion, home of MAA in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Opening reception is on Sunday, April 20, 2-5pm; we're definitely heading to Boston for this event - hotel is booked and we're good to go.

It is totally gratifying to get this particular painting into a big show - I was trying something new and different from my usual work with this piece with perspective, color, texture and subject matter. Much gratitude to the Juror of Fine Art, Leon Doucette, curator at the Cape Ann Museum, for seeing something extra enough in Cobblestones to include in Variations 2025

One of my goals this year is to paint a few larger watercolors and by larger I mean 16"x20" on up to 20"x30". This is going to require a few additional prep and supplies (like bigger brushes, large watercolor boards and much more patience than I actually possess). But if you don't challenge yourself as an artist, you don't really grow or learn much. 

My goal of painting larger watercolors dovetails perfectly with the "process show" concept that I'll be exploring in a big two-artist exhibit coming up this summer. My work will be paired with the work of exemplary painter, Katie Langford, exhibiting in Ti Arts Downtown Gallery in Ticonderoga, NY June 25-July 19, 2025. We each will include a large selection of Lake George/Adirondack themed landscapes in the show. In addition, we will present a peek into the process of how we created some of our works on exhibit, demonstrating our unique methods and techniques, breaking down the steps from start to finish, including sketches, color and value studies, photo references, etc...

I've completed the first large work, Mossy Cascade, a 20"x16" watercolor on board...took me a couple months from start to finish. And I have to say, without all the steps in between, the sketches, black and white value and composition study, color study, my drawing and transfer method...it would have been very difficult to create the larger format painting successfully. And because of all the prep, I fully understood how the larger painting would work and painting it, while challenging, was such a great experience. 

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 10, 3-5pm - Free and open to the public
Valley Artisans Market, 25 East Main Street, Cambridge, NY

I've been intrigued and inspired by night scenes lately, so I am including several new nocturnes in my solo show in the Small Gallery at Valley Artisans Market in Cambridge, NY. I'll have close to 25 paintings in the exhibit; over half of them will explore the nocturne genre, from dusk to dawn and the darkness in between. And I'm throwing in one eclipse painting too: Totality, a little 6"x6" gouache on board illustrating that otherworldly moment that I was so grateful to have experienced in April 2024 up in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. 

Opening Reception: Friday, June 27, 5-7pm
Ti Arts Downtown Gallery, 119 Montcalm Street, Ticonderoga, NY

I'm very excited to be paired with exemplary painter, Katie Langford, exhibiting in Ti Arts' spacious gallery in Ticonderoga, NY this summer. We each will include a large selection of Lake George/Adirondack themed landscapes in the show. In addition, we will present a "process show" of 2 to 3 paintings each, demonstrating our unique methods and techniques in creating work, breaking down the steps from start to finish, including sketches, color and value studies, photo references, etc...

​I've always wanted to do a "process show" and I've been contemplating painting much larger watercolors on watercolor board; combining both of these goals into one exhibit will be a crazy challenge, but incredibly important for artistic growth.

You can follow my process in creating these new works through my Instagram @dswanhawk or on my Bluesky account, @dianeswansonart.bsky.social.