((L) Fair Warning/Poetic Advice by Rebecca Sentgeorge (R) Reaching Towards the Sun by Rebecca Sentgeorge)
Spring is a happy time. Flowers are beginning to pop up and new possibilities unfold. This is especially true for artist, Rebecca Sentgeorge.
She has a few things popping up this month. First, she was juried into the 47th Western Federation of Watercolor Societies Exhibition for the first time. The juror was internationally known artist, Iain Stewart, who made his jury selections from artist’s paintings from ten different state’s watercolor societies. The exhibition will be held this spring in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Rebecca’s selected painting, Tokyo Flea Market Dishes, is an acrylic painting based on her years living in Tokyo and enjoying going on excursions to flea markets with her camera looking for interesting subjects for her paintings. The painting is a bit unusual because although it is painted with acrylics, it is done in the style of a watercolor. All of the white areas in the painting are the places where no paint was applied and the surface of the paper is left to show through.
Rebecca was also juried into the Watercolor Society of Oregon’s Spring Experimental Water Media Exhibition that will be held at the Hillsboro Brookwood Library’s second floor art gallery from April 1 through the end of May. The juror for this exhibition is a nationally recognized artist, Michael Holter. Rebecca’s painting is titled Fair Warning/Poetic Advice, and includes the words to a poem by Langston Hughes, a black Harlem Renaissance poet. The poem urges people to follow their dreams and a warning that if they let their dreams die, their life will feel barren. Rebecca interpreted this poem with a depiction of a dead bird signifying the death of the dream.
As a member of the High Desert Art League, Rebecca will also have two paintings on display in their group show titled Nature’s Tapestry at the Linus Pauling Gallery this month at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Central Oregon.
Rebecca will also be teaching a session at the Watercolor Society of Oregon’s Spring Convention in Hillsboro this month on the uses of masa paper in watercolor to create texture. Her painting, Reaching Towards the Sun, is an example of the texture that can be created using masa paper. As vice president of the Watercolor Society of Oregon, this will be a busy season for her.