Watercolor Wonders
SAXONBURG — The first major show of the summer at the Saxonburg Area Artists Cooperative will be “The Watercolors of Dougal Brown,” running June 15 to July 13 at the gallery at 215 W. Main St. rear.
A reception will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. June 15. The artist will attend, and solo guitarist Dale Cinski will perform. A chocolate tasting and other refreshments are planned. Admission is free.
Brown has worked in the watercolor medium for nearly 50 years, though he has dabbled in many others.
“When my daughter came along, the oils I was using didn't dry fast enough,” Brown said. “So I switched to acrylics because they dry faster, but they still didn't dry fast enough; she really got into everything.
“I've done some drawing and other things, but I went back to watercolors, my first love in paints, because watercolors can dry with a hair dryer in five seconds.”
Though his daughter is grown now, he still uses a hair dryer if he's in a hurry.
“I tell my students to do the same. If you put a passage of color down and want to put another down and you don't want to wait, use a hair dryer,” said Brown of Pittsburgh.
He teaches at the North Hills Art Center in Pittsburgh and the Sweetwater Center for the Arts in Sewickley, among other area establishments.
He attended the Pittsburgh Art Institute and had a 40-year career as a package designer.“That was before computers, so I had to present designs, and I got to do that in watercolors. I got to do something I love for work.”He is a signature member and past president of the Pennsylvania En Plein Air Society and has served as a jurist for many exhibits throughout Western Pennsylvania.He enjoys doing watercolor demonstrations and workshops for watercolorists of all skill levels.He has exhibited in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Florida and has been published in “Watercolor Magic Magazine” in 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2000.The Saxonburg Area Artists Cooperative gallery is open noon to 8 p.m. Fridays and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is free. For more information, call 412-260-5779.The fourth annual high school senior invitational exhibit concludes Saturday.Other summer exhibits include a “Retrospective of Richard Maxwell: Paints and Poetry,” July 26 through Aug. 24, and “Artists in Action,” sculpture, watercolor and glassblowing, during the Saxonburg Festival of the Arts, Sept. 7 and 8.
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