Uncategorized – Citrus Watercolor Society

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.

Founders Day Awards

CWS had their annual “Show and Tell” that included the CWS Founder’s Day awards on September 19th. 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.

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!

Press Release

August 2025

August 2025 Citrus Chronicle article

Citrus Watercolor Society presents “Love Your Watercolor”, painting with Darla Goldberg. By popular request, the “Eyes Have it” is also included in this 2 day workshop.

Citrus Watercolor Society is hosting a 2 day workshop August 9^th and 10^th at the Art Center of Citrus County, in the Educational Building, 2644 N. Annapolis Ave., in Hernando. Registration is still open on our website at www.citruswatercolorsociety.org . Member’s fee is $125 and non-members are $155 with checks payable to CWS. Want a sneak preview? Please join us Friday, August 8 at 12:30 PM in the Art Center for the monthly CWS business meeting and demo by Darla. Guests are always welcome. A $5 donation is requested from non-members. Light refreshments are served. Come and see!

Darla is a recognized Florida artist who creates amazing animal and bird paintings known for their realistic looking eyes. Her history in the medical profession as an oculist transfers to the most fascinating eyes in her artwork. She is an entertaining instructor who has a wide background of workshops, demonstrations and shows of her own extraordinary paintings. Darla set her goal to become an artist who shares her talent thru teaching. She is a member of the Florida Watercolor Society as well as Citrus Watercolor Society. Join us for two days of creativity, camaraderie, and watercolor wonder!

CWS is actively involved with the Florida Watercolor Society and with that in mind we have changed our September monthly meeting (that includes “Show and Tell” and our Founder’s Award) from Sept. 12 to Friday, September 19^th. CWS members Pauline Boston, Lionel Sanchez and Kim Shields are conducting demonstrations at the 2025 Annual Florida Watercolor Society convention in Orlando Florida. The convention Sept. 10 thru 12 is at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel, downtown Orlando. The 100 selected juried paintings will be on display thru January at the Orlando Art Museum.

At the Sept. 19^th meeting, CWS artists are invited to bring their recent watercolor painting. Members and guests vote for their favorite painting and besides a “Painting of the Month” award, there will also be cash awards for the first, second and third place winners of the Founder’s Awards.

Looking ahead, our monthly meeting schedule will resume in October on the second Friday of the month with a General Business Meeting and demo by October’s guest artist, Linda Wokoun. Linda’s two day workshop following the demo is entitled “Finding and Losing Detail”. Details are on our website at www.citruswatercolorsociety.org. Until next time – to quote Andrew Wyeth “I dream a lot. I do more painting when I’m not painting. It’s in the subconscious.”

Curt Bond Workshop

Our own Curt Bond lead another successful and well-attended workshop. He provided everything the attendees needed to create a beautiful piece of art. The pictures say it all. Don’t they look happy?

Ending the year with a bang

We have started the wind down of another successful year. Our new location at the Art Center of Citrus County is working out well. We had over 40 attendees at the November meeting and a record number of entries into our Painting of the Month competition. Congratulations to our winners. First place: SusanJane Donohoe. Second place: Lionel Sanchez. Thanks to all who entered.

When an unforeseen emergency prevented our scheduled artist from attending Joyce Cusick jumped in to handle the demo at the meeting. Joyce is a life time member of CWS and has had an extensive art and design career. She demonstrated some of the watercolor techniques she uses, especially in her Plein Air work. We are lucky to have her and everyone left a little smarter.

We will end the year in December with our Holiday Luncheon. Tom Jones will once again entertain us with a great, informative Demo. There’s always lots of fun and prizes too. There is still time to sign up. Check out the calendar for details.

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

Sold Out Kim Shields Workshop a Success

Award winning artist Kim Shields delivered on his promise of a fun-filled workshop, “Wet & Wild/Fast & Loose” It was the first venture at our new location in the Art Center. All agreed it was a worthwhile event and the new facility is perfect for us.

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.

July 2023 News

CWS Takes a Short Summer Break!
News Release by Dori Sullivan
Summer is here! And along with many of you, the membership of Citrus Watercolor Society is taking a break. There will not be a meeting on the second Friday in July, however, look for us in August. We’ll be hosting a demonstration on how to “Get Ready to Show” (matting and framing) with Curt Bond and Kim Shields. This will be valuable to all of our artists who enter competitions or hang their art at various venues. It’s always stunning what a good mat and frame will do for your work

Generally, CWS meets the second Friday of the month in the Family Life Center of First Christian Church of Inverness for most of the year. We do have two social luncheons, one in May and the other at the December holidays and July is our “vacation”. After our regular meetings, we present a demonstration by well-known artists who may follow the demo with a one or two day workshop. Keep reading this column to learn more about our upcoming programs.
I started exploring fine arts around 2008 with basic drawing. CWS artists Ellen Hines and Kim Shields were my first “drawing instructors”. Ellen’s saying “the more you see, the more you draw” or better yet, “the more you draw, the more you see” certainly is a truism as you become an artist. I thoroughly enjoyed drawing and then moved on to watercolor painting. Whoa … what a difference. With drawing everything was “black and white” (pun intended) then layering watercolor, watching it ebb and flow on a wet surface and making startling colors and shapes … well, it was an eye opener. Not the control of drawing, but amazing results that made me fall in love with watercolor.

As part of my “what I’m doing this summer” is a project to go back and look at my old drawings – with a bit of a critical eye. What I see is that most drawings were a “#5” if you used a value scale with the lightest being white and “#10” as the darkest hue. That was not good; artwork without distinct values can be boring. I had lost something that I want to regain in order to add the needed “punch” to my watercolor paintings. As an exercise, I’m recruiting the help of fellow artists to play at taking a second look and maybe re-thinking a drawing and/or a painting. Maybe there will be a breakthrough for me that will help improve my artwork. At least I’ll have fun trying plus enjoying the company of friends and artists. If you’re new to painting or an old hand who’s been painting for years, sharing your work with others has many benefits. A suggestion or two here, or a different approach there, can brighten your work so it suddenly comes alive.

Talk about interacting with other artists, I hope you enjoyed our June “Paint Around” where seven Citrus Watercolor artists started with their individual drawing, painted for 10 minutes then passed the work on to the next artist who added his or her special techniques. The end results were truly beautiful! Lucky winners got to take home a unique painting. If you missed it this year – keep following CWS and be sure to put this event on your calendar next year.

We look forward to seeing all of our members again at the August meeting. Guests are always welcome at our meetings. If you’re not already a CWS member, consider joining us in August when we have a regular meeting and demonstration planned. Annual dues are $35 and the benefits of membership are many. Check us out on our website www.citruswatercolorsociety.org. You won’t be disappointed.

Until next time, stay cool and enjoy your art. Dori Sullivan