The WSA is happy to welcome new exhibiting member Samantha Eio. She is a water media painter who paints in both watercolor and acrylic. Samantha has created a life and business with her love of art and nature. To see more of her artwork, visit her WSA artist page.
Welcome to the WSA Samantha!
The WSA is happy to welcome back exhibiting member Brenda Lee Rangel. After a few years away from the WSA, Brenda is has rejoined. She enjoys painting in watercolor and acrylic, creating atmospheric scenes and etherial images of nature. Visit her WSA artist page to see more of her work.
Welcome back Brenda!
WSA exhibiting member Mark Richards has been selected by the Truro Center for the Arts for an artists residency at Castle Hill, Edgewater Farm from February 28 – March 12, 2022. You can follow his progress on Instagram @ markrichards7892. Congratulations Mark, we look forward to seeing your work inspired by this setting!
February Artist of the Month
Meet Yvonne Posa
Artist Yvonne Posa grew up in New England and attained her BA in Art History at Brown University. Interested in art and architecture, she took a few of the necessary studio art courses during college, but did not begin her own studio art journey for many years. She received her MBA in marketing from the Wharton School and then worked as Commercial Real Estate Loan Officer. She and her husband spent some time working in the Midwest and then returned to New England while raising their three children.
When Posa’s youngest child started kindergarten she signed up for a Beginner Watercolor class at Weston Recreation and “fell in love.” Her first teacher’s instructional style was very directed and structured “which was helpful at the time, but through other teachers, I began to learn loosen up and to look for the happy accident.” Posa has sought to develop her own style and has studied with a variety of instructors, both locally in New England and in workshops elsewhere.
One memorable moment is from a workshop with British artist Jean Haines. She recalls, “Jean would not allow us to use a pencil…I remember using my brush to paint a picture of a chicken and when I started painting the chicken’s beak, Jean said, “Stop there. Don’t paint the other side of the beak. We can imagine the rest of the beak.” She tries to incorporate this “less is more” principle to her own approach. Posa also received inspiration from “California Vibe” portrait artist David Lobenberg who encouraged her to use unexpected colors to achieve excitement.
For the past decade, Posa has studied with Andrew Kusmin (AWS, NWS) of Plymouth, MA. Kusmin currently teaches classes on zoom. Kusmin encourages his students to discover their own style or “brush stroke”, and he provides invaluable instruction, especially in improving composition. Posa finds the group critiques in his classes to be the best way to grow. Posa has tried Encaustic Painting and Chinese Brush Painting but her first love has remained watercolor. Her subject matter comes from her photographs taken during travels with her husband, at their home in Maine and of their beloved grandchildren. She admires the work of American artist Mary Whyte and Spanish artist Joaquin Sorolla. “When I do portraiture I really try to capture personalities more than anything else…My philosophy is to suggest only as much as is needed and leave the details up to the imagination. I like to convey an emotion that I feel toward the subject.” She also admires less conventional artists such as the late Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ai Wei Wei.
In addition to being a WSA member, Posa is New England Watercolor Society Associate Member, Rhode Island Watercolor Society Signature Member and a member of Arts Wayland. She has participated in many juried shows and has won multiple awards, including Honorable Mention for “Late Afternoon in Stanford” at the 2021 North American Open Juried Exhibition and 1st Prize for “Tree Peony” at Plymouth Center for the Arts Annual Juried Arts Show and Festival 2021 and many more.
Website: yvonneposa.com
Instagram: @ yvonneposa
The WSA is happy to welcome Mena Levit as a new exhibiting member. Mena discovered her voice as a pastel painter a few years ago and paints portraits, still lifes, and the world around her. During that time she has learned how to convey a sense of place and emotion through her paintings. To see more of Mena’s work, visit her WSA artist page. Welcome to the WSA Mena!
January Artist of the Month
Meet Dottie Laughlin
WSA artist member Dottie Laughlin, views her art as part of a never-ending adventure over the last twenty-one years. From learning how to frame a canvas to selling her first painting, there was always a new experience to learn and appreciate.
Born and raised outside Chicago, Laughlin enjoyed taking art classes in college, however her career in business operations took precedence at the time. She met her husband while working at Baxter Laboratories and they proceeded to live in both the Netherlands and Australia for over eight years before returning to the U.S. Laughlin ponders, “It wasn’t until I was struggling with three young sons and a Minnesota winter that I found my way back to oil painting.” She credits much of her appreciation of art to her training as a children’s docent at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
After moving to Boston in 2000, she continued her studies at the Danforth Museum and took classes with various Boston artists, including several years with William Bartlett an artist member of the Guild of Boston Artists. New England’s natural beauty and inspiring artists have encouraged her to paint both plein air and in the studio. Her first plein air adventure found her ten miles out to sea on Monhegan Island, and later the Hudson River Valley, New Hampshire and the warmth of the Caribbean. At home she is inspired by the flowers in her garden (her other passion), the fruit of the season and the simple items of everyday life.
The highlights of her artistic adventures are artist’s workshops, open studios and membership in the WSA. Her teaching job in the Needham Public Schools gave her the summers free to totally immerse herself in the painting process for several days at a time, including attending artist workshops. “To learn and paint with professional artists, the likes of Peter Fiori, John MacDonald, Kathy Anderson, Joe McGurl and Mark Boedges, all had an immense impact” on her artistic ability. Participating in open studios in the area suburbs gave her the experience and opportunity to show her work. As a longtime member of the WSA, she has served as a board member, treasurer and president. Her contributions to this group are immeasurable and she values “being part of an organization that supports artists and the community” as well as the lasting friendships she has made.
Laughlin has found the emergence of online painting classes during the pandemic to be incredibly helpful. She is impressed with the technical level of classes and has participated in classes by Debra Paris and Adriano Farinella. She is eager to get back to painting with others in person. “It is the experience of watching a painting unfold that is so amazing and interesting” to this artist who is very grateful for this part of her life.
Over 50 exhibiting members are participating in the Annual Library Show (December 1-30), which showcases the diverse talent of the WSA membership. The award winners were announced on December 5 at the WSA annual members meeting. Nationally recognized artist and teacher, Jeanne Rosier Smith judged the show. To see the awards winners artwork and read the judge’s comments, visit the WSA Award Winning Art page. Congratulations to all the award winners!
Maria Babb is the winner of the People’s Choice award for the WSA 2021 Fall Hybrid Show. Maria’s painting entitled, “Just for Kicks” also won first place in the judge’s awards. The show is on display at the Webster Bank in Needham and online until January 3,2022. Maria Babb’s painting can be seen at the Webster Bank. Congratulations Maria!
For Bobbie Suratt, art has always been a big part of her life. She majored in art at Ohio Wesleyan University and at that time focused on ceramics. She bought a kiln and a wheel and sold her works in local shows. When she and her husband had their children, Suratt realized that working in clay was not practical so she began quilting. She quilted for 30 years while raising her children in Weston, Connecticut. She also painted on and off during this time.
In the next phase of Suratt’s life, she lived abroad with her family. In the 1990’s, they lived in London where she studied portrait painting. Tokyo was next and after Tokyo, they moved to Manhattan for a year. “We lived right around the corner from the Art Students League of New York. I had decided a couple years before that I wanted to focus solely on painting. The classes at the Art Students League met, for the most part, every day. They were in portrait and figure, and some plein air landscape in Central Park in the summer. It was heaven!”
“Then we received a phone call letting us know that we would soon be grandparents of twins.” They took the opportunity to move to the Boston area to be near their son and his growing family. Settling in Wellesley, Suratt created a lovely art studio on the third floor of their home. Living here, she was able to care for and enjoy both her parents (in Weston) and her grandchildren (in Wayland). The joy of family is evident in her paintings, many of which are of her loved ones. Shown here are exquisite paintings of her grandchildren.
Suratt keeps busy continuously learning. When she first moved to the Boston area, she studied at the MFA and then in Cambridge with Brett Gamache. She later found inspiration in many wonderful teachers, including Eli Cedrone and Jeanne Rosier Smith. She has done workshops with Eli Cedrone in Bermuda and Fiesole, Italy just outside of Florence and with Jeanne Rosier Smith working with pastels on the Amalfi Coast and in Little Compton, Rhode Island. She has also studied with John MacDonald on Cape Cod and Kathy Anderson in CT.
Recently Suratt has taken advantage of “classes all over the world,” one of the many silver linings of the pandemic. One interesting one was a self-portrait class with Zoey Frank of Colorado, and a floral class with Paul Foxton in the U.K. She is currently studying portrait and figure with Dominique Medici, who is teaching from Seattle.
Suratt is a valued member of the WSA where she has served on the Board and as past President for five years. She is also a member of the Needham Art Association and the Dedham Art Association. The profits from the sale of her paintings go to the support her favorite charities. One close to her heart is PEO International which focuses on providing educational opportunities for female students worldwide.
Suratt ends our interview with, “I love the act of painting but I’m also always striving to do better. I keep looking forward to my next painting and I think, ‘Maybe this one will be my masterpiece.”
Nancy Rumpf’s painting “Accumulations” was selected and featured in the best of 2021 winter issue of Watercolor Artist magazine. The painting is acrylic and watercolor drip on paper (11×14). Congratulations Nan for this well deserved recognition.
