Welcome to the Art Guild's Archives!

Dorothy Johnston has contributed greatly to the Waco art scene.  After retiring from a career in commercial art, she devoted her efforts to watercolors with great success.  She has been an active member of the Central Texas Watercolor Society and the Art Center Waco, as well as the Art Guild.  She had exhibited her paintings and demonstrated her craft for these organizations and others as well.  Many of her paintings adorn the walls of Waco business and homes.  Unfortunately for us, Dorothy will be moving to Colorado this summer to be with relatives there.  This will be our last chance to see her in action, so don't miss it.  She always has lots of good ideas to show and tell us that we can benefit from no matter what media we use.

     We will meet, as usual, at the Waco Charter School, 615 North 25th Street, with refreshments and conversation at 1:30, the meeting at 2, and the demo shortly thereafter.  Bring friends.  No charge for first time visitors, or they may choose to join for the rest of the year for $16 regular, $24 for gallery level.  Also, please bring something you have done to show the group.  We will select one as our art work of the month.

 

Dorothy Johnston will be moving to Colorado this summer, and we wanted to have one more chance to learn from her while we could.  She demonstrated her watercolor techniques using a flock of sheep as her subjects. The paper she used was 140 lb cold press watercolor paper in a horizontal rectangular shape, approximately 20" x 8". She had already painted the background quinachrodome gold using a wet brush on wet paper, as you can see in the photo at the right, which is reversed right to left by the overhead mirror.

 

The light was coming from above the sheep, and she left their backs white. She painted the shadowed area on dry paper with reds, blues, greens, and varied shades of purple, which she mixed on the paper using alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue. What resulted was a vibrant, interesting painting, much more so than the faded photograph she was using as a reference, as you can see in the photo on the right.  The photo below was taken after the demonstration and is not reversed.

Thanks Dorothy.  We wish you well in your new home.  We also thank Rose Jacobson, Bettye Schwartz, Gloria Meadows, Frank Letzler, Bobbee Watts, and Judy Franklin for the refreshments, and Rose Jacobson, Bill Franklin, Gloria Meadows, Nancy Cagle, Violet Piper, Christine Niekamp, Charleen Isbell, John Twardowski, Bobbee Watts, and Judy Franklin for bringing their art for the monthly show and tell and contest.  Because of ties (two firsts, three seconds & two thirds), most of the artists got ribbons.  Several commented on their works.  Photos are below.

                        Nancy Cagle                              Bill Franklin           Judy Franklin       Charleen Isbell     Rose Jacobson

   Gloria Meadows Christine Niekamp     Violet Piper      John Twardowski    Bobbee Watts

Another art display we enjoyed was the silhouettes (below) of the school's children painted on the wall in the central hallway.