I'm happy to announce that Meander is heading up to the Bryan Gallery in Jeffersonville VT, selected for Land & Light & Water & Air, August 27 to October 26. Opening Reception takes place Thursday, September 12, 4-7pm. Land & Light & Water & Air is Bryan Gallery's annual signature exhibition featuring traditional and contemporary landscapes of Vermont, New England and the Northeast by artists from all over the country.

Meander, a watercolor measuring 11"x15" and framed to 16"x20 behind HD plexi, will be available in the show for $730. The gallery makes online purchasing easy by putting up a slideshow of all the works in their exhibits on their website. Art collectors can visit ​https://www.bryangallery.org/ to view all the works in the show and arrange purchase details.

Last summer, I painted "Moonrise", an 8"x10" watercolor that subsequently sold out of a juried exhibit I had entered it into. I'm glad that it sold but would have been equally happy to have kept that one around for awhile. It was one of those rare paintings where I felt everything clicked - the composition, colors, values, shapes and overall impact. It's a good one.

For the second process painting to be included in "The Process is the Practice" show at Ti Arts Downtown Gallery, I decided to recreate the smaller, successful work into a much larger piece, to take what I'd learned with the smaller one and try to transfer those pivotal points of painting epiphany into a 20"x28" scaled up version.

I painted three studies on watercolor board to prep for the larger piece: one small 5"x7" composition and color study and two 8"x10" studies of different elements in the painting, also on watercolor board. I added line work in fine line pen to one of the 8"x10", trying out the technique I occasionally use in my paintings.

Then I moved on to the 20"x28" large painting. The results were not what I expected.  I ended up making several adjustments along the way.

The two big things I changed in the large painting:

I felt the color shapes were too blocky and uniform, the fun watercolor marks I usually get were indistinct, so I decided to add line work in concentrated transparent watercolor applied with quill pens to add texture and some definition.

As a large painting, the original composition just didn't work and I didn't love how the tree on the far left side weighed down the piece, so I cropped it (gasp!). That's right, I chopped off 4 inches from the left side and 2" inches from the bottom, turning it into an 18"x24" painting.

Things I learned:

Substrate really matters. It's impossible to achieve the same effects in watercolor if you're painting on two different surfaces. Even if both are hot press surfaces, if they're two different brands and one is a large watercolor board and the first work was painted on what I usually paint on (140lb hotpress Fabriano watercolor paper in traditional white), results vary greatly.

Changing the size can change the impact of the composition. A larger space to look at changes the way your eyes move around the painting, as opposed to a small compact piece that reduces the energy required to take in the whole scene.

Mark making or brush strokes vary greatly between small and large paintings. The smaller painting had an immediacy to its brush strokes, more quickly done and blended on the paper. And I painted it without overthinking or overworking; it was completed within 4-5 hours. Even though I used large brushes, attempting to recreate the impressionistic style and sublime quality of the small painting with the larger work did not translate into the same spontaneous mark making. 

The large work, although reminiscent of the smaller one, is an entirely different painting in terms of mood, energy and texture, Working through the process of getting it to completion was a journey that took me way out of my comfort zone; end results were not what I expected or initially aimed for. I need to look at it as an entirely separate painting and not compare it with the first one.

Moss Covered Rocks, a watercolor completed earlier this year, juried into the 2025 Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition at the Red Barn Galleries, Lareau Farm & Forest in Waitsfield, Vermont. This long-running exhibit promoting excellence in watercolor from all over the country is charmingly presented every year in a huge old barn structure, attracting many visitors and art collectors. I am honored to have my work selected for this beautiful show again; this will be my third time participating. 

The exhibit opens on June 15 with a reception 5-7pm and runs to July 20. Looking forward to getting up there to see the great variety of watercolor works in this show and the Vermont Watercolor Society's Spring/Summer member show running concurrently in the same gallery space. Ogunquit Spray, my newest seascape, was selected for the VWS exhibit.

Both of these shows were juried by two separate jurors; I guess each of them appreciated how I paint rocks! In any case, I'm very pleased that these two paintings are going up to Waitsfield to hang in these extraordinary displays of watercolor works.

***Update: This show was a delightful success, with 6 pieces sold and wonderful people to work with at the venue***
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.  
More info about the gallery and my exhibit can be found here: 
https://www.valleyartisansmarket.com/events/event/diane-swanson/
All the paintings in the exhibit can be viewed in slideshow below, including details on price, medium and size. If you're interested in purchasing one in the show, you can call Valley Artisans Market at (518) 677-2765 during gallery hours Wed-Sun. 10am-5pm. If you're not local and need the painting shipped after the show ends, contact me through my contact page and we can make arrangements to do do.