Kathy’s journey with art began early and has woven through every stage of her life. She earned a degree in Art Education from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and has shared her love of creativity by teaching art to people of all ages, including, most recently, individuals living with dementia.

Her inspiration can be traced back to her family and her childhood in rural Wisconsin. Growing up on a small farm as one of seven children, she often found peace in long solo walks through the woods. She collected sticks, stones, and other natural treasures, delighting in their textures, shapes, and earth tones. Her mother’s creative spirit also shaped her—turning gardens, tabletops, and even everyday objects into artful arrangements. That influence made Kathy’s own artistic path feel inevitable.

A childhood memory still stands out: one Christmas, her father connected cherry candy balls with wire to decorate the tree. Inspired, Kathy painted them for a school project. Though her teacher mistakenly thought the painting depicted earmuffs, it was the only piece chosen for display on the bulletin board. That small moment of encouragement sparked her lifelong love of painting.

Today, Kathy finds inspiration in her daily walks through the desert. She is captivated by the way mesquite and palo verde trees reach against the vast sky, and by the play of light and shadow carving out the desert mountains in luminous color. Her paintings reflect this deep love of nature, capturing its balance of chaos and simplicity.

Over the years, Kathy has worked in oils, acrylics, and now primarily watercolor. Her style is interpretive and representational, and she has recently entered a new phase of exploration—using a limited palette of bold, expressive colors, simplifying complex forms, and building depth through layers of color and texture.

Influenced early by the expressionist period in the U.S., Kathy continues to draw inspiration from that movement. One artist especially meaningful to her is Mark Tobey, founder of the Northwest School, whose “white writing” style, seen in his painting Threading Light, resonates deeply with her. His blend of imagination, cultural influence, and spirituality reflects the kind of artistic honesty she values.

For Kathy, becoming a Signature Artist is both thrilling and deeply meaningful. It represents recognition of her lifelong dedication to art and a celebration of the creative journey that began with nature walks on a Wisconsin farm and continues today in the wide-open beauty of the desert.

Ed grew up in Northern New Jersey, where his love of art first took root in high school. Encouraged by his art teacher, Barbara Geminani, a protégé of Ben Shahn, he began painting as a teenager. Even while pursuing a degree in History and Philosophy in Maryland, Ed never put down his brushes. During summer breaks, he worked nights as a watchman in New Jersey, and kept himself awake by painting through the long hours.

After college, Ed moved to Washington, D.C., where he and his wife lived for more than fifty years before relocating to Nevada in 2022. Professionally, he worked as a Contract Furniture Representative, where his artistic eye found expression in space planning and office design. At the same time, he continued to paint prolifically, both in plein air and in the studio, exploring subjects ranging from landscapes and street scenes to still life and portraits.

In 2000, Ed achieved a significant milestone by becoming a Signature Member of the Baltimore Watercolor Society. Largely self-taught, he credits much of his artistic growth to American Artist Magazine and the influence of painters he admires, including Charles Burchfield, Margaret Kranking, Michael Chapman, George Ault, and Maynard Dixon.

Today, Ed is proud to be a Signature Member of the Nevada Watercolor Society, an honor that feels like the culmination of his lifelong journey with watercolor.

Ruth grew up in the Midwest but spent most of her life on the East and West Coasts, working first at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and later at NASA Ames Research Center in Northern California. After retiring, she settled in Nevada, a place she now happily calls home.

Art has always been part of Ruth’s life. She has long been fascinated by the beauty of color, texture, and the way a painting can capture the world around us. Retirement gave her the gift of time, the chance to fully embrace her true passion for watercolor.

Over the years, she has learned and grown through workshops, art books, magazines, and by drawing inspiration from other artists. While she still admires the work of Manet, Monet, and Van Gogh, she has also found new favorites in Robert Wade, Frank Webb, and Mary Whyte.

Ruth describes watercolor as an ongoing adventure: “The interaction between water and pigment is mesmerizing, it’s a journey that continues to unfold for me.”

Fall 2025 Show Entry:

Thank you so much Tina!

Your demo on transparent florals was beautiful.

Watch the recap video here:

YouTube Link:

 https://youtu.be/M-UIru62N-k?si=uT5Il24826Bw0igi

         

Vina Curtis was the Head and Heart of our Society Events for many years and we salute her and thank her so much for all the hard work she put in over those years, arranging and managing the Call for Art, Judging, Exhibit Management, Venues, etc. She is our Honorary member who has been a pillar in our Society.

She has a few words to say to all our members, a bit about the history of NVWS and how important it has been for all our local watercolor artists over the years.

Our Heritage as Members of the Nevada Watercolor Society

by Vina Curtis

"Once upon a time there were only 10 members of the Nevada Watercolor Society. Well, they weren’t exactly members, but they were 10 friends who enjoyed painting with watercolors, but there was no watercolor society in Nevada back then. However, Myra Da Costa had a vision for assisting future watercolorists.

Myra approached her friends, Suzanne Allen, Alice Atkinson, Carol Blake, Lucile Bruner, Laura Belle Kelch, Shirley Oaks, Dorothy Paulsen, Cliff Segerblom, and Betty Twers with her plan and they all agreed to help.  A lawyer was hired, and the hard work began. Then the Nevada Watercolor Society became established on August 4, 1969.

You may wonder why we should be thankful to Myra and her friends. Well, an organization where we can meet with other artists, workshops with internationally acclaimed artists, art shows juried by well-known artists, demos by other artists. All these activities fulfill the purpose of our society which is to encourage, promote and advance watercolor painting through the education of the artist and general public.

The outcome is that we have a legacy we can be proud of that has been handed down over the decades by caring artists who have been willing to volunteer for the various committee Chairs.

You, too, are invited to join the special ranks of artists who together make sure that you have opportunities to grow as an artist. There is a show and Exhibits Chairman we who makes sure we have places to show our work with 3 shows a year, a workshop chairman who makes sure that we have internationally known artists to teach, and a program chairman to plan activities and guest speakers for our monthly meetings.

There are many other opportunities you can consider: Secretary, Photographer, Publicity, scholarships, Equipment manager, nomination committee and more. As you can see, it takes many committees working together on the Board to make any organization a success.

You can find the descriptions of each committee in the Standing Rules on the website.

We look forward to seeing future volunteers who will join the board to help keep this NVWS Legacy running at its best." 

                                                                                    ----     Vina Curtis       

            

We had a marvelous Awards Ceremony. If you missed it - don't miss the next one. Go see the beautiful art hanging in the Library Gallery! Our artists put on one heck of a show and you shouldn't miss it!

A great big THANK YOU to our Judge, Barbara Yoerg for her kind expertise. We appreciate you!

Here is a recap video.

Click this link to watch on YouTube or share the link by copying the link and texting it to someone:

https://youtu.be/S-QVzo_TSmE

The winning paintings are on our website home page and on our pubic gallery page. Here:  Show us some love! Watch and comment.

https://www.playbook.com/s/nvwsart/nvws-members-art-gallery

Here is a copy of the brochure if you didn't get one.

NVWS 2025 Fall Show Winners Brochure.pdf

Here are the links to the replays of Lian Quan watercolor demonstration for Nevada Watercolor Society on the 24th May 2025. If you want to paint along using his incredible techniques use these videos. There are more on our YouTube Channel for your painting practice.

Lian Quan Zhen is an award-winning artist and art teacher both nationally and abroad. Lian has had many one-man shows in the U.S., Hong Kong and China. In addition to conducting national and international workshops, he has taught summer painting classes for the University of California at Berkeley. He gave a wonderful demonstration of his style of watercolor painting to our members in May 2025. We thank him for his kindness is sharing his techniques, and we have shared them here for review.

He has authored four books for North Light and has self-produced 12 step-by-step DVDs. Visit his website at lianspainting.com. Contact Sharon Menary, our President if you want to be featured as an Artist Spotlight for this NVWS Artist Spotlight video series. This is a NVWS Member presentation. Click here to see his website:  Lian's Paintings Website

Lian's Grapes Part 1

https://youtu.be/9OzfOmqannQ

Lian's Grapes Part 2

https://youtu.be/A_nKp_2wwuU

Lian's Bighorn Part 1

https://youtu.be/HHjrftf576w

Lian's Bighorn Part 2

https://youtu.be/h-JfwJNaz1Y

      

Margie Castle, a long time watercolor artist in Las Vegas, shares her story as she created art from an early age and during her younger years came across people who taught her how to care for and respect art creations. She explains how we should handle art, our own and the art of others, brought white gloves so we could all make a difference, and she shows some of her beautiful art.

We thank her for the great presentation she made at our Nevada Watercolor Society's March 2025 General Member Meeting. Thank you Margie, for sharing your art and ideas so willingly. You did a lovely presentation. Click this link to watch a recap:

https://youtu.be/n1zIgPiztpQ

    

   

Ed Holland was one of our Artist Spotlight Guest Artists. He tells his art journey story and shows some of his wonderful art at our March 2025 Member Meeting. Ed is an active watercolor artist in Las Vegas, shares his story about how he creates art on plein air expeditions into the beauty of nature. He tells about some of his techniques and his color charts. Ed brought some of his beautiful watercolor paintings to show. Ed likes greens.

We thank him for the great presentation he made at our Nevada Watercolor Society's March 2025 General Member Meeting. Thank you Ed, for sharing your art and ideas so willingly. You did a really good presentation.  Clink this link to watch a recap -

https://youtu.be/gOhe3kytly4?si=aGBfozPwWFbFVslF

     

   

As our Special Artist Spotlight at our January 2025 Members Meeting, Paulette Baker, our award winning member watercolor artist gave a lovely presentation about her watercolor journey and some of her personal techniques and favorite arty habits. She loves to paint so much she takes her paints everywhere with her. Watch as she shares her tips and tricks.

https://youtu.be/TUsMsT9JL3U

Paulette's Tips and Tools List for you to download:

Paulette's TIPS 'N TOOLS-January2025.pdf