Press Release

CWS Jan 2026 article for Citrus Chronicle

Artist Lionel Sanchez Welcomes the New Year with Citrus Watercolor Society

Happy New Year! CWS is kicking off the New Year with the unique watercolor and ink style of Lionel Sanchez in his two-day workshop on January 10^th and 11^th at the Art Center of Citrus County. His workshop, entitled “Representational Paintings of Urban and Rural Subjects” will result in your painting showing color, shadows and depth that will add much to your personal repertoire.

A demonstration by Lionel will be included at our monthly business meeting on Friday, Jan 9^th in the Education Building at the Art Center, 2644 N. Annapolis, Hernando FL. Join us at 12:30 for “Meet and Greet” with light refreshments followed by a short business meeting and the demo. Painting of the Month is also on the agenda. Bring in your latest painting to display with awards determined by “Viewer’s Choice” vote.

Registration for Lionel’s workshop is available at our website https://citruswatercolorsociety.org or by contacting Vicki Pritchard at vickipritchard@gmail.com. CWS members’ fee is $125, non-members $155. Checks are payable to CWS and a supply list will be sent to you upon receipt of your registration.

Vicki Pritchard also coordinates our weekly Plein Air Outings. In January we will be painting at Lake McKethen near Brooksville – contact Vicki at her email above for more information.

There is an opportunity for CWS members to join in with the Art Center of Citrus County’s Nature’s Coast Exhibit on January 14^th. This is a juried show with awards and exhibited paintings will hang in the Art Center for a month. Think of all the exposure for your work! For additional information, please see https://artcenterofcitruscounty.org/nature-coast-exhibit-prospectus .

Looking ahead CWS has artists Lynn Ferris (February) and Polly Boston (March) scheduled as well as our annual Paint Around that includes five local artists in a fast moving challenge to complete a joint painting in less than an hour. Come join us for fun and learning with one of the friendliest art groups in Central Florida!

Until next time, wishing you all the best in 2026. Dori Sullivan

Press Release

11/30/2025 Dori Sullivan

Happy Holidays from all your friends at Citrus Watercolor Society. In December we’re celebrating the Season with a pot luck luncheon at the Art Center of Citrus County on Friday, Dec. 12 with a demo by one of our favorites – Kim Shields. It will be a fun filled event, door prizes, drawings for baskets of art related “goodies” and time to share memories of the past years’ workshops and more.

On the following day (Sat 12/13) Kim will do a one-day workshop, “The Use of Contrast to Improve Your Landscape Painting”. Currently, the workshop is filled, but you may contact Ginger Bryers at gingerbryers@gmail.com to be put on a waiting list if you are interested. The fee is $95 for CWS members and $125 for non-members.

Congratulations to the winners of our November Painting of the Month competition. Yolanda Baretto won first place with her stunning painting of Christmas Tree Ornaments that included multiple watercolor techniques. Jeanniene Cole and Curt Bond tied for second place. Jeanniene submitted a watercolor portrait of a dog and Curt showed a watercolor painting of a FL Ibis. All paintings were judged by Viewer’s Choice for the awards.

Looking ahead to an “Art-full” 2026 we start in January with a two day workshop with Lionel Sanchez entitled “Representational Paintings of Urban and Rural Subjects”. Lionel is an award winning artist/teacher in central Florida and is a fun workshop leader whose talents lead to exciting, watercolor paintings for all his students. Details are available on the CWS website: www:citruswatercolorsociety.org.

Annual dues for membership at CWS are only $45 a year and the benefits are immeasurable. There are generous discounts for workshops, weekly plein air outings, free demos and opportunities to meet both beginner and long time artists to share ideas and techniques. We meet on the second Friday of the month at the Art Center of Citrus County at 2644 N. Annapolis Ave. in Hernando. All are welcome.

Press Release

Dori Sullivan
10/20/2025

CWS presents Elaine McLaughlin, community volunteer and artist, introducing the “how-to” Batik workshop on Saturday, November 15 from 9 am to 4:00pm in the Educational Building of the Art Center of Citrus County. The fee for CWS members is $65 and non-members $100. All levels of watercolor artists are welcome.

Elaine, a native of Nova Scotia Canada, and her husband Michael Burrock relocated to Citrus Hills about 4 years ago. She has been active in both business and volunteerism in the local area and is currently on the board of PACE Center for Girls. Her artistic talents provide inspiration and fun while she spends time with family, travel and gardening.

She studied using watercolor and batik on rice paper under artist Kathie George. The process uses hot wax as a resist while adding layer after layer of color to the sketch. During our Friday Nov. 14 Business Meeting (1:00pm at the Art Center) Elaine will demonstrate this technique using Tjaps – intricate copper stamping tools native to Indonesia, traditionally used in the creation of Batik fabrics. Her work results in unique art pieces as well as handmade greeting cards.

You may register for this workshop on our website www:citruswatercolorsociety.org or contact Signian McGeary at Signian@icloud.com. Sign up today – you don’t want to miss this workshop! A supply list will be available upon registration.

Looking ahead, CWS will celebrate the Holidays with a Pot-Luck luncheon at the Art Center located at 2644 N. Annapolis Ave., Hernando FL. on Friday Dec. 12 at 12:30. Members are asked to bring a dish to share and $5 to cover service. Please RSVP to Dori Sullivan (sullivandori128@gmail.com).

At the Holiday Luncheon Kim Shields will be our guest artist providing a demonstration prior to his one day workshop on Saturday Dec 13. Kim is always a welcomed artist who is also a signature member of Florida Watercolor Society and has many awards to his name. His one day workshop is “The Use of Contrast to Improve Your Landscape Painting”. More information and registration forms are on our website.

We want to wish our readers a very Happy Thanksgiving! We have so much to be grateful for including your ongoing support of CWS and our events.

Press Release

Dori Sullivan
09/2025

Citrus Watercolor Society presents a colorful workshop with Linda Wokoun – Award winning Florida Artist.

We’re so excited to welcome back Linda Wokoun on Friday October 9^th for a demonstration followed by a two-day workshop entitled “Finding and Losing Detail” Sat. and Sunday at the Art Center of Citrus County, 2644 N. Annapolis Ave., Hernando FL. Member’s fee is $225, non-CWS members, $255. The demo is at 12:30 PM following a brief business meeting. Guests are welcome, members are free, a $5 donation is asked of guests. Hurry and sign up – the weeks are flying by!

Artist’s Statement “I’m Linda Wokoun, a watercolor artist and instructor originally from Chicago and transplanted to Southwest Florida ten years ago! I dreamed about life as an artist since childhood but have only recently had the luxury of painting full time.

I enjoy leveraging the natural characteristics of water to bring energy and movement to my paintings. I like to incorporate both abstract and representational elements in my work and feel that water media is particularly well suited to my approach. My process is wet into wet, blending colors and creating textures directly on the painting surface.

I am a signature member of the Florida Suncoast Watercolor Society and currently serve as its president. I’m also a member and exhibitor with the Florida Watercolor Society and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America. I have become a regular art workshop instructor throughout the Florida area as well as conducting my own online workshops.”

In this workshop we will focus on a variety of wet-into-wet and negative painting techniques. If you are interested in loosening up your painting style, this class is for you. Subjects include a stylized tomato plant and a cityscape in Glasgow. All watercolor skill levels are welcome!

Looking ahead, in November a demo by Elaine McLaughlin, followed by a one day workshop “Batik: Using Indonesian Tjaps to create design with Watercolor and Wax”. Keep up with our workshops at www:citruswatercolorsociety.org.

Just a few weeks ago, CWS had their annual “Show and Tell” that included the CWS Founder’s Day awards. Over 20 paintings by our member artists were displayed and viewer’s choice determined the winners. They are; third place Yolanda Barreto for her flying shore birds, second place Lionel Sanchez for his watercolor painting of an old mansion and first place went to Judi Miller for her watercolor representation of a bamboo forest. Congratulations all! There were really terrific paintings in the show and we look forward to even more next year.

Citrus Watercolor Society welcomes watercolor painters from Citrus, Marion and Hernando Counties. We meet monthly, on the second Friday of the month at 12:30 PM for “meet and mingle”, a brief business meeting followed by our invited artist who presents a demo of what they’ll be showing in the following workshop. Annual membership dues are $45 and include the Friday demo. The fees for workshops vary but CWS members always get a generous discount. If you’d like to volunteer to assist with our workshops, the discount is 50% off the workshop you host. Talk to any CWS board member for duty details. We hope to see you Friday, October 9th at the Art Center of Citrus County at 12:30 PM.

Press Release

September 2025

CWS presents our annual free “Show and Tell” program with the Founder’s Day Awards in September.

Come and join us in the Art Center Education Building, 2644 N. Annapolis in Hernando for this exciting display of watercolor paintings by the artist/members of Citrus Watercolor Society on Friday, September 19^th beginning with “meet & greet” and light refreshments at 12:30 PM. There will be a short business meeting at 1:00 with previews of upcoming workshops and special events. Don’t miss it!!

Citrus Watercolor Society meetings, demonstrations and workshops are usually held the second weekend of the month, except this year. Please note the change of date for September, 2025.

We’ve spent the past year enjoying workshops and opportunities to make our watercolor paintings better than ever. Techniques learned from our guest artists who provided demonstrations and “how to” during their workshops are incorporated in our paintings. Our own plein air days provide on site painting activities in Crystal River, Inverness and now Dunnellon. We want to share our visions with you, our viewers. Weekly challenges and inspirations during our “casual painting” days portray our skills painting birds, fruit, flowers and more. We’ve had a wonderful year and want to share the results of our labors with you. They’re all “labors of love”!

Yes! It’s time for current members and friends to bring their matted or framed artwork to the Art Center at noon, display them, enjoy viewing each other’s work and most importantly, vote for your favorite. There will be monetary awards for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place Founder’s Award by viewer’s choice votes. Talk about “inspirations” … this is it! We look forward to seeing you there.

Looking ahead to October, Linda Wokoun will be coming for a weekend workshop entitled “Finding and Losing Details”. Linda’s wet on wet florals and cityscapes are amazing and she’s an important Florida artist who always shows us exciting techniques during her workshops that may become part of our personal style. Linda’s demo is on Friday Oct. 10^th at 1:00 but come early to enjoy meeting our members and the artist. The two day workshop is Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 11^th and 12^th. CWS member’s fee is $225 and non-members is $255. Details and registration forms are available on our website www.citruswatercolorsociety.org.

We’re looking forward to seeing you on September 19^th at the Art Center of Citrus County – a facility for the fine arts, designed by artists. See you soon!

Announcement from Nature Coast Art League

February Happenings

Press Release by Dori Sullivan
January 2025
Citrus County Chronicle

Citrus Watercolor Society presents …”The Beauty of the Mark” with Teresa Kirk

On Friday, February 14^th, CWS welcomes Teresa Kirk as our guest artist for our monthly meeting that is held in the Art Education building of the Art Center of Citrus County (ACCC). There will be light refreshments and “mingling” with members and artists beginning at 12:30 pm. The Business meeting begins at 1:00 pm followed by a demonstration of the watercolor techniques that will be taught during her workshop. The workshop will be held Sat. Feb. 15^th and Sun. Feb. 16^th from 9:00 to 4:00 pm at the same facility.

ACCC is located at 2644 N. Annapolis Ave., Hernando FL. CWS members’ fee for the workshop is $195, for non-members $225 – checks are payable to CWS and due upon registration. You may sign up for the workshop online at https://citruswatercolorsociety.org or contact Signian McGeary at Signian@icloud.com.

In this two-day workshop, you will learn techniques that help you to make your own unique marks as a surprise element in your watercolor work. You will build upon the mark-making process through negative painting techniques, color mixing, and design elements. You will play with these ideas, along with the many personal discoveries, insights and possibilities that emerge as you work with transparent and opaque watercolor paints, gouache, and several mark-making tools. This workshop nourishes and engages your intuitive creativity so that your voice will be heard. Teresa’s goal in this workshop is to help you develop and cultivate the fullness of your talent as a watercolor artist. Demos, group discussion and constructive critiques, along with painting time, are all part of this exceptional workshop.

During our “meet and greet” hour, you may vote for the CWS Painting of the Month as well as view the artwork by ACCC artists that will be on display thru February 26, 2025. Guests are welcome. We appreciate a donation of $5.00 for the CWS demo.

In addition to this exciting weekend of art there’s more! We are hosting “Art in the Wildlife Park Show and Sale” at the Homosassa Springs State Park Visitor Center February 22 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm on Sunday February 23^rd. The Visitor Center is located at 4150 S. Suncoast Blvd., Homosassa. It’s free to come in to see the art show, regular park entrance fees are required if you tour the park. A percentage of our artist’s sales is donated to the park.

Last, but never least, we have two winners from our January “Painting of the Month” viewer’s choice contest. Congratulations to Theo Van Eldik, first place for his watercolor painting of fishermen at dusk and to Curt Bond in second place for his paintings of Florida birdlife. Beautiful work by both!!

Until next time, I look forward to seeing you in February and hope you are well and able to keep warm during this unusual Florida weather. You can always paint what you see through your windows if it’s too cold to wander in our great outdoors. Warm wishes – Dori

Starting a colorful year

Press Release by Dori Sullivan
December 2024
Citrus County Chronicle

Happy New Year! Fill 2025 with Color!! As Citrus Watercolor Society closes out 2024, we want to thank you for your support during a year of challenges. In spite of wild weather and of a multitude of changes, we hosted some amazing workshops and had great times together. We’re looking forward to starting the New Year with Sue Archer and her two day workshop entitled “Commanding Color” (a color theory workshop). Her demo will be held on Friday January 10th at the Art Center Education Building (2644 N. Annapolis Ave., Hernando). Light refreshments begin at 12:30 pm with the monthly CWS Business Meeting beginning at 1:00pm. The demo by Sue Archer will follow the business meeting. Guests are always welcome to attend; a $5 donation is appreciated.

The following weekend Sue’s workshop will be from 9:00 AM to 4:00 on both Sat. and Sun. January 11th & 12th also in the Education Building behind the Art Center of Citrus County theater facility. The cost for CWS members is $195 and for non-members $225. Checks payable CWS. Sue is a studio and plein air artist, national workshop instructor and national juror and judge for watercolor exhibitions. She showed her work in Art Festivals in Florida from 1985-2014 and still shows her work in national watercolor exhibitions. Since Sue began exhibiting her work in 1985, she has won over 200 state and national awards, has received a Florida State Individual Artist Fellowship grant for painting, and has a DVD “Commanding Color”.

“My goal as an instructor is to present you with as much design and color theory information as time allows and encourage you to take advantage of the inherent wet into wet qualities of watercolor. I believe in the power of planning and understanding the basics. The objective is not to change you, but to add to your core of knowledge. Then it is up to you to take this knowledge and apply it to the style and subject matter that suits you.” (Sue Archer)

We hope you will join us for this exciting weekend of design and color theory along with your friends and members of CWS. For more information about this event as well as CWS, please view our website: http://citruswatercolorsociety.org. Annual dues $35. To join, checks should be made payable to CWS and mailed to PO Box 2464, Inverness FL 34451-2464.

Our 2025 Calendar includes exciting artists such as Teresa Kirk, the return of Ann Abgott as well as Lynn Ferris. We hope to host our Annual “Art in the Wildlife Park (a benefit for the Homosassa Wildlife Park) in the Spring and have many fun activities such as our monthly Plein Air outings hosted by Vicki Pritchard. Come and meet us! We’d love to have you become part of our art group – beginners are welcome as are long time artists.

Until next time, stay healthy and be happy … we wish you peace and brilliant art in 2025.

Dori Sullivan. December, 2024

If it’s September, it’s Founders Award time

Press Release by Dori Sullivan
September 2024
Citrus County Chronicle

Hello September!! It’s time for our annual “Show and Tell” with Viewer’s Choice Awards including our prestigious Founder’s Award. Citrus Watercolor Society members bring their latest and favorite paintings to share with the viewer’s how they achieve such amazing results. Is it a new technique? Or a “happy mistake” that really worked? We can’t wait to hear your story.

Our meeting will be held at the Art Center of Citrus County Education Building located at 2644 N. Annapolis Ave in Hernando on Friday, September 13th. Light refreshments, “Meet and Greet” and a short business meeting will be held at 11:45 with the competition following. All are welcome to come and enjoy the time together.

We will have CWS member’s paintings on display and our viewer’s will vote for their favorite. The Founder’s Award will be presented to the overall winner. Other small cash awards include 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd, again by popular vote. Past recipients of the Founder’s Award include (but not limited to) Darla Goldberg, Peg LeFevbre, Chuck Chesnul and Mel Rustom. Will this year’s award be presented to you?? Come and see.

The Florida Watercolor Society annual convention is being held this September in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. Three CWS artists had entries that were accepted for the convention exhibits. They are Pauline Boston and Kim Shields who are part of the top 100 entries and Heather Doherty who was accepted in the “Online Competition”. Well done!

Signian McGeary, our first Vice President and Program Coordinator, has lined up some very exciting workshop thru 2024 and well in to 2025. New brochures were printed and available at our next meeting. Our members receive a significant discount on the cost of the workshops. Details are available on our website https://citruswatercolorsociety.org . All artist skill levels are welcome.

Volunteer opportunities are always available to our members. You might like to sign-up to be an “assistant” to our guest demonstrator where you will have the chance to be a helper for the artist during his/her workshop. You can help with our refreshments and clean-up after our “Meet and Greet” social hour. Are you a fan of plein air outings? Arranging these day trips might be just the thing for you. Helping to introduce new people to our membership is a fun way to get to know people who, like you, share the love of art. Talk to any CWS board member about your particular area of interest. We’d love to have you be a part of our team.

Thank you all for your continued support of Citrus Watercolor Society. We look forward to seeing you at our September “Show and Tell” program as well as at some of our future workshops and show. In the meantime, add color to your life thru art. Stay well – Dori Sullivan

Spring Luncheon and New Officers

Press Release by Dori Sullivan
May 2024
Citrus County Chronicle

Citrus Watercolor Society Plans Spring Luncheon and Installation of Officers

This month the members of Citrus Watercolor Society are celebrating the start of our calendar year. Our dues are being paid and the schedule of activities and workshops is lined up thru the end of 2024 and into 2025. Most importantly is the installation of our Board of Directors on Friday May 10^th at our annual Spring Luncheon. We (especially me) are thrilled with the fact that our 2023-24 Board members have all signed on for another year! The board has been a super supportive team and we’re so excited about the coming months. Apparently so is our membership – we were all voted in unanimously!

Our 2024-25 CWS Board includes Angela McMurray; Facilities, Gingi Martin; Corresponding Secretary, Deborah Newman; Recording Secretary, Aileen Croly; Treasurer, Jan Kuukari; Second Vice President and Membership, Signian Mcgeary; First Vice President and Programs; and Dori Sullivan; President. The luncheon gala will be held at the Citrus Hills Golf and Country Club. There may still be spaces left and if you can join us, contact Jan Kuukari at janmckune@gmail.com.

We’ve invited artist Jackii Molsick to present a demonstration for our luncheon guests. Jackii will show us how to use watercolors on masa papers creating unique results. As a well-known Florida artist and instructor, Jackii served as President of the Florida Watercolor Society in 2023 and we’re delighted she found the time to show us the “how to” of painting on a different base.

Summer is now showing its sunny face and many of our members and friends are taking vacations or traveling to their homes “up North”. We want to wish you safe travels but have a thought we’d like to send with you. Along the routes from Florida across our country there are some exciting art museums and galleries. I’ve been fortunate to have visited many and urge you to take a break and visit those special places in the big cities or the galleries in the smaller towns along your way. I can’t think of a better “break” than to get off the busy main highways and visit a gallery or museum. Take a bit of time to immerse the artist in you into the beautiful art created by the Masters or local artists like you and me.

When visiting St. Louis a couple of years ago I was stunned by the magnificent exhibit of Monet paintings at their wonderful art museum. You come out of the time spent contemplating the paintings both refreshed and inspired. Off the beaten path is always an adventure and thru your eyes, who knows what wonders you’ll see to paint when you reach your destination. Don’t forget your sketch book!

Citrus Watercolor Society welcomes new water medium painters as well as long time artists. Guests are always welcome to view the demonstrations (we ask a $5 donation). We meet once a month on the second Friday in the Fellowship Hall of the First Christian Church, 2018 Colonade Street in Inverness. Our workshops are held at Whispering Pines Park, in Inverness. Annual dues are $35 that entitles you to free demos and significant discounts on our workshops and all our other activities. We have a website that keeps our members informed. Check it out: www.citruswatercolorsociety.org . Come and see what we’re all about.