I just received notice that this painting, "Calm - Great Egret" (watercolor on Ivorine), was awarded ‘Second in Show’, the ‘Manny Sullivan Award for Excellence’, at the 74th Miniature Painters Sculptors & Gravers Exhibit of Washington, DC (the oldest miniature art society in America - http://www.mpsgs.org/). I am honored to have received this award for the second year in a row.
My watercolors "Polar Ambiance" and "Timberwolf" were chosen for first place in ‘Watermedia’ and first place in ‘Birds and Animals’ respectively. I am very honored to have my work chosen for these awards this year. Many thanks to the judge, Carol Lee Thompson, and those of the administration of the MPSGS.
The exhibit of 699 miniature works of art will run Nov. 19 - Dec. 29, 2007 at the Strathmore Mansion (in North Bethesda, MD). This year’s exhibition represents artists from 38 US states and 12 foreign countries.
My sister, Bonnie, was able to put a miniature painting in the exhibit this year also - her work was awarded as well.
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October 18th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
How exciting! So well deserved…..Gail and I sent you are most warmfelt congrats. Pete
October 18th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
So excited for you…..couldn’t even spell “send our”!!!!!!!
October 18th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Congrats, Rebecca- Well deserved awards, Those are some great paintings! I can’t wait to see them in person.
-Andrew
October 21st, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Congratulations on your MPSGS awards. I am not surprised, your work is beautiful. I love how you achieve the luminosity in your work!
October 21st, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Pete & Gail, Andrew, Barbara - thank you!
I appreciate it.
October 21st, 2007 at 10:12 pm
How can I learn to paint like you?
I really really would like to learn how to watercolor!!
thanks….mother with no children at home..Karen
Your pictures are fantastic!!
Where did you learn the fundementals of watercolor??
October 21st, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Congratulations on all of your recent AWARDS!!
You deserve it!!
How long have you been painting and drawing?
could you recommend what kind of brushes I should buy? What should they be made of if I want to try watercoloring? could you recommend about 10 brushes and their sizes? thank You…I would like to try and learn watercolor.
Many thanks K-
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:23 am
Hi Karen,
Thank you! Glad you like what you see.
I’ve been painting/drawing since I was about 12 (which was a while ago…)
For your other question…. All of the paintings here on the blog are watercolors (with the exception of a couple of loose oil studies from a few years back in the ‘plein aire’ category). I worked in a lot of different mediums earlier, slowly concentrating on transparent watercolors…then acrylics. Later on I studied with Carl Brenders at the Beartooth School of Art n Montana learning Flemish methods (that I use now) from him. I switched after that to working exclusively in that style of watercolor…..However…. I may be throwing a wrench in that statement shortly.
Pick up the books "Miniature Painting: A Complete Guide to Techniques, Mediums, and Surfaces" by Joan Cornish Willies (Paperback) & "The Techniques of Painting Miniatures" (Paperback) by Sue Burton - these can sometimes be found in libraries or on places like ebay or amazon.com. They are instructional books for painting miniatures. Another book features my teacher from Belgium, Carl Brenders, who taught me the basics of what I do - "More Wildlife Painting - Techniques of Modern Masters" by Susan Rayfield (published by Watson Guptill ISBN: 0-8230-5747-x ). It has more of an overview of his painting process.
Many brushes will work - get short handle watercolor brushes. Pure sables make harder lines or marks (Winsor Newton has some nice ones in Series 7) - synthetics are generally softer (most anything works… I’ve used a lot of the Richeson professional brushes). Size is up to you - mostly you just need a good point on the brush, but you will need bigger brushes if you paint larger (I usually use rounds and have all of the sizes - just use what the painting I’m working on needs. 1, 2 & 4 works pretty well for most of the smaller things). Also, go to miniartsupply.biz - they have some nice small brushes that get into those tiny spots. Paint on a smooth paper/board/surface - you will be able to paint the details in easier (without having to fight the texture of the surface).
Hope that helps you out a little bit.
I’ve got to get back to my easel. I have a show coming up this weekend that I’m getting ready for…but trying not to let these things (like blog comments) get away from me too much.
October 28th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
You are a very good artist. I wish I could paint as well as you. Keep up the great work, it looks good.
October 28th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Browsing for paintings of birds and found your family’s site - LOVELY WORK!!
Enjoyed your blog and will try to make one of your shows.
For those of us who enjoy the style of miniature painting, your site is a treat. Best wishes to you for continued success in your career.
Momjcl
October 30th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
Interesting stuff. You have some great work.
I found an article of people doing simlar stuff at: http://www.southwestart.com/document/814
November 16th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Congratulations on your MPSGS awards. This is awesome and I am so thrilled for you. Sue
November 19th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Hi Rebecca,
Congratulations on your awards yesterday. I was lucky enough to be there yesterday and to see your work in person (my dad was also receiving some awards for his drawings). Your work is amazing and your awards are so well deserved. You have so much talent and skill at such a young age - it is so lovely to see you take home the 2nd place for best in show in this international miniature show. Well done! My dad and I were talking about how much we liked your work yesterday - we were both very excited for you.
Cheers,
Bette
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:44 pm
[...] is quite an honor to have been given such high awards at both the MASF and MPSGS this year. Many thanks to both societies. As our elite miniature art exhibitions in the [...]
November 28th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
[...] from the Miniature Painters Sculptors & Gravers Society of Washington, DC opening events that my family and I attended. Enjoy! .miniature art miniature art society miniature exhibition miniature painting [...]
November 29th, 2007 at 3:40 am
he its me amy
i just woundered if you had any tips on painting i have to send one in with my art schoolarship. i sketch animals and would like to make a career out of it. im curently in year 9 so scholar ships are hard to come by and i was luck to get a chance to enter this one.
my sketches look like yours but my painting sucks i really cant paint and i end up mess in the whole thing up. do you have any info on want sort of brushes canvis and paints i should use and styles i should try.
i saw your paintinq on You Tube and think your fantastic, your a really insperation i wish that i could be as good as you when your older
see ya,
amy
November 30th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Hi Amy,
Thank you
Well, there really aren’t any shortcuts to being a good painter. It takes a lot of practice, patience, and hard work. It is a plus to really be able to draw well - it’s great that you have the foundation down so well. Having good drawing skills will really help you in your painting….it’s really essential.
You are probably going to have to choose what style you like to paint in - painting in a way that you like and subjects that you like will help you make better work. I paint “in miniature”, a style of very detailed painting. Painting like this takes a lot of patience and painting in all of the detail can take a while, but it is what I enjoy.
If you look in some of the older comments on this post, you will see some of the brushes, books, and other things that I recommended for another artist that wanted some advice. That should help you out in that area.
Best wishes in your quest for a scholarship,
Rebecca
November 30th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Hi Bette,
Thank you! It was very nice to meet your father. He did very well at the show, too.
I appreciate your comments. I’m glad the two of you liked my work so much. Yes, I am very honored that the MPSGS has been so supportive of my work.
So nice of you to drop by my blog and leave a message.
Best wishes,
Rebecca
November 30th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Donald Mckenzie Jr, Momjcl, PainterP, Sue - Thank you! I appreciate your kind comments. …very happy that you enjoy my work.
Thanks for stopping by!
Best,
Rebecca
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:10 pm
[...] Ambiance", Watercolor on Board, one of my paintings in the 2007 MPSGS Exhibition For those stopping by who might be interested in the happenings on other art blogs on the [...]
June 4th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I have to say, i’m really impressed with your artwork..amzing detail you have in every picture, mostly people just paint what we see everyday-Humans. This is definately something different, i wish we could paint wildlife in our classes sometimes..
June 14th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Hi Ilina,
Thanks so much!
The detail that I put in my work is a challenge that makes the paintings more interesting to paint. Even if you can’t paint wildlife (or other things you would rather) in your class, you can always work on those subjects in your free time.
In painting anything you will learn composition, color harmony, and build your skills. It won’t be wasted time. 
I used to work very loose - splashy florals on large sheets of watercolor paper (and experimented with many different media and subjects). It was awesome to play with the color and flow of the compositions of the pieces..and taught me a lot that I still use today, but for me, the challenge of accuracy in my work wasn’t there. (I could leave out a petal, etc. and no one noticed… :s …so I began to paint in greater detail and more realistic as you see here in my blog (and what I later found out was classic traditional miniature painting).
Best wishes,
Rebecca