watercolorwhirled

LONG Time, but I'm back!

2012-01-18T13:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry, dear readers, for taking so long to blog. I am a bad blog-girl. I am reformed, though, and I am excited to formally announce that Watercolor Whirled, the new educational watercolor show, is getting ready to air on WCATV.org and on the Watertown Channel beginning February 2! I am officially inviting you to my Premiere Event of Thursday, February 2, 7 - 9 pm at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street in Watertown. I will air the first 30-minute episode, "Still Lifes that are Still Alive", followed by a Q & A and a live painting demonstration for those who just can't get enough of me painting stuff! I'll have some of my artwork on display, and have refreshments, and hold a raffle for one lucky participant to walk away with an original watercolor painting! Above is Blue Bowl with Pears, the subject of my first episode. Future episodes will highlight perspective featuring a Venetian canal scene, color mixing with a pair of colorful macaws, using mask material to create exciting crashing surf in a scene from Bass Rocks in Gloucester and cool gifts you can make with watercolor paper and your imagination. I hope you can come out for my "red carpet event", I would love to see you there!

Coming Soon - Watercolorwhirled, the Experience!

2010-02-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

Exactly one week ago I was in the course of filming my first episode of my soon to be cable television show, Watercolorwhirled! I think I am at that point in my life when I just think, why the hell not? Why not me on TV telling you how to watercolor paint? I love to teach, have a lot to share, enjoy painting and talking about it, all the tools, techniques and such that get me jazzed up. I started with a still life - how to set one up and photograph it, how to get it on your paper, and finished with how to paint it. Above is the painting, Still Life with Pears and Books. If you want to know how to do that, I am the girl to show you how!

I am working on setting up a companion web-site that will have episode guides for download. I hope to have links to places where you can download stuff that will make me some money, too - like buy my art here, note cards, coffee cup, tee-shirt. Maybe sign up for my classes. I think big, too, like how about me on Create TV? How about buying Dawn Evans Scaltreto Watercolorwhirled supplies at your local art store, why not take a Mediterranean "how to paint" cruise with me?

Watercolorwhirled, the Ride will be a flume that features flowing waterfalls in bright primary colors, which blend into dazzling secondarys as they hit the pool, an exciting salt effects laser light show and culminate in a steep, stomach churning drop and spash that gets everyone soaked and covered with shimmering color. You exit the ride through the token gift shop where you can purchase all sorts of baubles. DES Signature brush quivers and aprons, cute little bottles of kosher salt, framed, hand signed and numbered limited edition giclée prints, a playset for little boys and girls of my studio complete with a colorful cow. Of course, Watercolorwhirled, the Tee Shirt will be available in every size and color so you have something dry to change into. I know you're laughing now! Poor Bob Ross has been dead since 1995, yet his shows are still in syndication, his books and art supplies sold at every art store all over the world, making millions. You may have thought he was smoking some of those happy little trees, and maybe his style of painting is not my cup of tea, but he has inspired people to paint, made them believe that they could paint, too. That's all I want to do, and if I can make a little money at it, prosperity will be a welcome thing. I'll hang out for a while at that fun little theme park in my head, riding Watercolorwhirled, the Ride again and again.

I have another wild dream, one I have had for many years. My brother, Guy, is awesome. Like all my siblings, he is older than me, and actually he named me. I was supposed to be "Don" but poor Guy didn't end up with the little brother he hoped for. Anyhow, he was a Wellesley firefighter and just retired a few years ago. I have wanted to create a "Mouse Firehouse" as a 3-D installation for the Children's Hospital Boston, and when I told him he got very jazzed about it and started saying, "Oh, it should have a firefighter cooking! And washing the trucks - it could have a hose that squirts!" I get such a kick out of him when he gets excited about one of my projects like that. He was a great artist, even won a Silver Key in the Globe Scholastic Art Contest when he was a kid. I am going to do a proposal of the Mouse Firehouse for installation at the Peabody CHB facility. And I am going to ask Guy to help me with it. It turns out that Peabody has a long and distinguished firefighting history, and even has a firefighting museum and a book published about it. So this is the time! I taught a ceramics class the other day for one of the Arsenal Center teachers who was out. I made this little fella in an oversized firefighter coat and boots. I am going to glaze and fire him as a sample to submit with my proposal. Wish me luck!

Art Stars and Snow Flakes

2010-02-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

Today is another snow day for much of the east coast - no exception in the Boston area, but at this time only a few hesitant flakes are falling. I am spending my day at the studio catching up on correspondence and preparing for my project next week - TA DAH! I am filming my first Watercolorwhirled! segment for WCAC, our local cable channel! Yup, Tuesday I'll be rocking, and start what I hope will be a prosperous and exciting journey into the television art education field. I have high hopes for this - as previously mentioned, my 8 minute video is on YouTube in Jerry's Artarama Art Stars Contest. Each viewing is a vote for me, so check it out here:

Dawn Scaltreto's Art Stars Video on YouTube

As of this morning, I have 282 views!!! Not as many as some, but they are honestly come by. Please watch it often, or at least put it on in the background while you do other stuff online.

I am excited about my new cable show. My first episode is "Still Lifes that are Still Alive". I will use my humorous approach to teaching fundamental lessons in watercolor, hopefully encouraging my viewers to experiment and enjoy creating watercolor paintings. I am working on a companion website that I am building on Google. Above is one of my still life paintings, Apple Arrangement - a still life that is hopefully fun, exciting and "still alive".

And in other news - I have a new band! We are called "Perfect Crime", and of course, my husband David is the bassist and one of the lead vocalists, and it also includes Mike Onessimo on lead guitar, Jimmy Honohan on rhythm and lead vocals, and Brian Honohan on drums. You can visit our website at www.perfectcrimeband.com We are even booked for two events in April - we are performing two "unplugged" sets at the Arsenal Center for the Arts on Thursday, April 23, and at the Belmont Gallery of Art on Friday, April 25 as part of the Watertown Belmont Open Studios gallery opening exhibits. This band has some amazing potential. Jimmy, Mike and Brian have been playing together for years, and of course, David and I have been playing with each other for a long time (musically - I know what you were thinking! We've been doing that, too), so we are trying to get in synch with each other. Right now we are just really enjoying the music we are playing and I am really looking forward to sharing it with others when we are polished up.

David and I received a gift from our son, Jake - tickets to see Yes last night at the House of Blues Boston. It was great and a really generous gift so appreciated by us. David is a fan of Chris Squire and we really enjoyed watching and listening to him play his beautiful Rickenbacker bass. HOB Boston had great acoustics, and it was nice to see a show there, very intimate, but, damn, no chairs! We are classic rock people! Average age 50 probably! Give us a chair, HOB, and we will go to more shows there. David and I enjoyed looking at the art - clearly some sort of outsider art David was having a hard time wrapping his brain around. Edgy and weird.

Something that is not edgy and weird is one of David's guitars, his beautiful vintage 70's Rickenbacker 4001. His first one was stolen, but he bought this one used in about '82 and refinished it. Over the years the epoxy in the inlays yellowed and he had other ideas about staining and refinishing it, so he did it again just last year. Neck problems inherent in the design has sent this treasured heirloom to visit the luthier for a while. But here at right is a view of his treasured Major Disturbance Limited Edition Rickenbacker 4001.

And lastly, a follow up on my last post/rant. There was a clerical error, and Fred Dingler's award was mistakenly sent to me. I received a lovely letter from the Editor, Kelly Kane, and she even said, "I went back to our 2007 publication to remind myself of your work, and it’s really quite wonderful." How nice! I would not have minded a prize, though - but as the Red Sox say, "There's always next year!"

What the F+W is going on here?

2010-01-29T13:12:00.000-08:00

Coming home in the night and gathering up the mail at the door, I noticed a big envelope with the return address of F+W Publications, the publishers of two of my favorite magazines I subscribe to, Artist Magazine and Watercolor Artist Magazine. They publish many other magazines, and are the parent company of North Light Books for artists. I also have recently entered several of their contests. I was kind of excited - did I win something? When I got inside, I realized that the mail was addressed to "Fred Dingler", but at my address. I am certain Fred doesn't live at my house.

Inside was a lovely letter from the editor of Watercolor Artist Magazine, Kelly Kane, reading in part:

"Dear Fred,

One of my most enjoyable tasks as editor of Watercolor Artist is passing along good news to artists. As you have already been informed, your entry, Sun Dreamer, has been awarded Honorable Mention in the Watermedia Showcase sponsored by Watercolor Artist. Enclosed is your Certificate of Achievement to honor your accomplishment."

There was a certificate. With Fred Dingler's name on it. But Sun Dreamer is my painting. Was I supposed to be featured in February's Watercolor Artist? Because it is not my painting in there, but Fred Dingler's painting Apalachicola. When I received the magazine, I was a little PO'd anyhow. Tthe article mentions that over 600 entries were received. At $15 per entry (the fee), that netted F+W Publications a tidy $9000+. Couldn't they have selected more than the 8 artists they did - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 4 Honorable Mentions?

I received an award from them in 2007 when the magazine was called Watercolor Magic. There were 22 winners. I was thrilled and it is still one of my proudest accomplishments. So I sent Kelly Kane a letter asking her to explain, maybe she'll respond. I hope she does. Maybe I get an award, maybe I don't, but Fred Dingler should get his certificate, anyhow.

David and I have a word we invented: "Scaltreatment". We use it whenever we feel that we have gotten the shaft, the old poopy end of the stick. David followed me around after I shared this with him exclaiming, "You received the ULTIMATE Scaltreatment!" Yup, I have again received the Scaltreatment, and in the name of Scaltretos everywhere, I think that just stinks.

Above is my painting, Sun Dreamer. Poor little Miss Kes got the Scaltreatment, too.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T12:13:00.000-08:00

New Year is such an awesome time - tabla rasa, start anew, and we are post winter solstice with longer days so there is the promise that spring will come again someday. My thoughts are turning to putting into action some new ideas, or actually old ideas whose time has come for me. I think it is very cool when you open a new chapter and feel totally ready for it, and actually this chapter opens as so many of mine do, with a deadline. About a year and a half ago, I got really organized with deadlines for artist competitions that I wanted to do, ones that I felt would further my career. It is a real great way to sharpen up. You are competing, so you have to put your best work out there, and there is a reward in that you can be in the exhibition, or published in the magazine, or whatever, so having a carrot is a great motivator. And, as mentioned, there's a deadline, so you have to get the heiny in gear, baby, or you miss the bus.

Quite by accident, in November I discovered a competition - the Jerry's Artarama "My Art Journey" Art Stars competition. The deadline was December 31. They wanted interested participants to put together a maximum 8 minute long video, demonstrate a technique, talk about your "art journey" - career, things that inspire you - and show some of your work. The winner gets $1,000 of art supplies from Jerry's plus a contract to make a "World of Art" video at Burning Oak Studios in North Carolina with all expenses paid. I have been talking about doing a local cable show for years, "Oh, I should do that..." I thought I'd be good at explaining techniques and my students certainly think so. Thank you, Jerry's Artarama, for giving me a deadline and a competition!

I planned much of it out in my head, obsessing about it for a while. Waking up at 3 am, I'd think about what to demonstrate, how to film it, what could I do that is special and make me stand out from the crowd? Watercolor was my medium of choice. I talked poor David's ear off, mentioned it at each of my classes and got those wonderful cheerleaders buzzing about it. In a flash of brilliance, I figured out what I could show that was cool and exciting, how to get the look of galvanized metal using salt and lifting techniques. My good friend and student, Skye Gladstone, who is also a professional actress and just about the most multi talented person I know, came to my studio and filmed it. During the snowstorm the weekend before Christmas, David and I went over the footage and he did a masterful job of editing footage from the two cameras, plus adding in the still images of my work, titles and even a soundtrack with a bit of my classic rock band, Ringin' in the Ears, doing the harp solo part of The Standell's Dirty Water. It is so awesome! It came out 1,000 times better than I could have imagined, and I know it will do well in the competition.

During this time, I happened to be taking a free class at the Watertown Community Access Center at the high school, and got to meet Nick Palm who taught the Photoshop class and who is the production coordinator over there. I told him I was filming this video for the competition, and my crazy idea to have my own art show. Right away he was jazzed about it, and I talked a little about filming at my studio and he said that could be done. I am going to make a packet with the video to submit to Tamarah Green, the Executive Director at the station. Hopefully she'll be jazzed, too, and David did such an awesome job editing the video, I am hoping he'll be doing some of that with me on this project. So, Happy New Year 2010, I may have my own show! Take THAT, Bob Ross! Hey, Donna Dewberry, watch out! Ok, it is on local cable, but their programming is shared regionally through Peg Media, and WGBH has their new Create TV channel and they are so close! Don't you think they will love Watercolorwhirled with Dawn Evans Scaltreto?

I'll post a link here to the video as soon as Jerry's puts it up, and the winner will be determined by hits so get everyone you know hitting You Tube daily to watch it. Above is the painting, Still Life with Watering Can, featured in the video.

Among the Top Ten Days

2009-12-22T13:15:00.000-08:00

When I think about the best ever days in my life, I of course think about the day I married David, the day our son, Jake, was born, the day he graduated, days that aren't any particular day but doing things like being on the boat with my Dad or working on a project with my Mom, and playing music. A few rare best days don't really revolve around family. Sort of a best and worst day ever was September 11, 2005 - the day the Arsenal Center for the Arts opened - a project I had worked on at that time for 8 years finally culminating in a gala opening - it was also the day David was hospitalized for a heart attack and had two stints put in the ticker. I swear it wasn't because I was making him wear a tuxedo to the opening!

When I posted the last entry in this blog, I had no idea that I would have a special opportunity to chalk up another "Best Day", another cherished memory to look back upon with fondness and gratitude that I have been always so truly blessed. The little boy I talked about in that post and his amazing family came into town to visit their caregivers at Boston Children's Hospital, and see the artwork that they so generously donated. On Saturday, I got to meet Michael and his delightful big sister, Katie, and his awesome parents, Denise and Chris. His story was featured on several local news stations:

http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO131995/

http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/florida-family-thankful-for-sons-life-saving-surgery

I am so grateful for the role I played in this amazing story, and truly blessed to have met this family. Above, Michael and I talk about the doggie cut-outs below the chair rail, part of the installation I created that was donated by his family to Children's Hospital.

Here is the finish for the Endocrinology art. I love my little ring-tailed lemur the best, but don't tell the tiger.

New Art for Children's Hospital Boston

2009-12-01T10:57:00.000-08:00

My favorite client hands down is the Boston Children's Hospital. I get to work with really cool people like Betty Bothereau of L'Attitude Gallery, Newbury Street, Boston, who is an art consultant for CHB and other facilities, and Jessica Finch, who manages the "Gifts of Art" program, and the "Art for Kool Kidz" artists - like me - who create art for the facility.

I am working on a new piece for the Endocrinology Department, a growth chart that will appeal to the many different children of all ages that are treated there. I just got the approval for this piece today, and I am so excited to start work on it. I have pictured the rough here right, In the Rainforest (pen and ink, but the finished art will be acrylic and Caran d'Ache on Panel). Though the piece I am creating will be 30" x 30", it will be hi-res scanned and then printed on a type of vinyl wall covering and measure about 6' square when installed. It will be adhered to the wall and covered with gridded plexiglass. Patients getting measured will stand against the tree, and their doctors can mark with a China pencil or dry erase marker their height and measurements of their arms outstretched. It will be a really cool tool in their treatment and recovery.

Creating art for children and their families is so important to me. I have had a chance to participate and create art for many different departments and it makes me feel good that I am producing art that has a real importance to families who are in need of comfort and a reassuring, colorful place to see that their children through a time of need.

Recently, a family with a desperately ill child in another state were told that there was not much that could be done for their child. This toddler had a rare heart defect that local specialists knew of no treatment or cure for. The parents refused to take no for an answer and give up hope. They turned to the internet to see if there was by some small chance any doctor who had a new treatment or procedure, and sure enough they found a doctor at CHB that was performing such a procedure. The family stayed in Boston at the Ronald McDonald House for the duration of the child's treatment and recovery, and became very familiar with the beautiful art at Children's. As the child's strength improved, he was able to venture farther with his mom and dad, and grew to love many colorful artworks throughout the hospital. Finally, he was given the green light to go home, and his parents took him to the airport.

The child, who just a few months previous has been listless and ill, was now acting like any healthy toddler would - climbing over everything in sight at the airport, including my Art Rocks! rocking chair installed at the Kidport, the Once Upon a Time in Massachusetts chair created with help from my Watertown Middle School Mural Club kids. Filled with awe at how healthy and alive their child was, the parents wondered how they could thank the staff and physicians at Children's. The mother noticed my name on the chair, and remembered seeing my art at the hospital. When she got home, she contacted me through my website. Her e-mail actually went to my son, Jake, who is my webmaster, first. Jake was really moved by this mother's request - could they commission me to create an artwork to thank the hospital? Even as I write this, my heart is again stirred by this particular commission. Her son loves dogs and butterflies, so through Betty and Jessica, I created several artworks for the Cardiology Department. One of those panels, Doggies Love Music I, acrylic on MDF panel, 30" x 30", is pictured right.

My art may never hang in a museum, I may never be a household name in the art world, but I know without question that my art makes a difference daily to people who all need a little miracle in their life. It has great meaning to me.

Taking Newbury Street by Storm

2009-11-17T09:59:00.000-08:00

Come and see my work at the New England Watercolor Society Small Works Exhibit from November 20 through December 20, 2009, Emmanuel Church Gallery, 15 Newbury Street, Boston, open Friday 11 am - 4 pm, Saturdays and Sundays 1 - 5 pm. I will be gallery sitting on Sunday, November 29, so that will be a great day to stop by. The work above, Pears II is one of the watercolors I have for sale, along with Toy Trucks and Apples XII. All are framed 12" x 16", watercolor on 300 lb. Fabriano. They had room for a few larger pieces, so I also brought along A Moment in the Sun which is 16 1/2" x 22 1/2" unframed, but is approximately 25" x 32" in the gorgeous frame it is in.

And you can also see some of my work in the L'Attitude Gallery, 218 Newbury Street, where several of my small watercolors are on sale, along with several of my giclée prints of work for children.

The Arsenal Center for the Arts Annual Members' Exhibit Opening Reception is this Thursday nights from 5:30 - 7:30 pm, which is also an opening for the shop artists (I have stuff in the shop, too!), and I think most of we studio artists will be there in studio to welcome visitors. So, come and buy some art!

Arsenal Center for the Arts Member's Exhibit

2009-11-04T08:50:00.001-08:00

They are hanging the Arsenal Center for the Arts Member's Show today. It will be on display through January 2, 2010. I have a watercolor painting in it, The Treasure Finders, watercolor on 300 lb CP Fabriano paper, 16.5" x 22.5", pictured here. Some time this summer, David took me on a drive and we ended up at Salem Willows, an awesome peninsula up on the North Shore. He happily stayed in the van with the AC on watching the X-Files (The Truth Is Out There) while I explored the neighborhood and seaside. I found a tiny beach where a number of people were enjoying the beautiful, sunny day, and saw these children exploring amidst the sea-weed covered stones. The painting was made up of a pastiche of several pictures I took that day. There are a number of other inspiring images I captured which will become future paintings from my photo safari at Salem Willows.

I have a BLOG! Yay!

2009-11-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

Woah, yes, I am in the blogosphere. Welcome to my blog! Let me catch you up on new stuff, old stuff, other stuff. I am a watercolorist, teacher and artist from Watertown, Massachusetts. My big news of right now is that I have just qualified to be a member of the New England Watercolor Society by having my 4th painting accepted into one of their shows, one of which had to be a National exhbition. So, hooray, Dawn, it took 5 years but it is so infinitely worth it. What does it all mean, you ask? I'm excited because it puts me in the company of Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, Frank W. Benson, Andrew Wyeth and Maurice Prendergast, all signature members of the society. Find out more at http://www.newenglandwatercolorsociety.org/ where you can also get a look at the recent show which has my painting, The Venetians, pictured right, on display through January 24, 2010, at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury.

I also have a painting in the North East Watercolor Society International Exhibition, which is on display through November 7 at the Kent Art Association in Kent, Connecticut. For more information on this organization, please visit their website at http://www.northeastws.com/ The painting on display is Sun Dreamer featuring my lovely cat, Miss Kes. My husband, David and I had a lovely weekend down there, and especially enjoyed visiting the stunning Kent Falls State Park. We also believe we saw the covered bridge spanning the Housatonic River that the hapless Maitlands crashed through in the movie Beetlejuice.

I also invite artists who create art, work or reside in Watertown or Belmont to join me for the First Annual Watertown & Belmont Open Studios, which will take place on April 24 and 25, 2010. It's going to be wonderful, and to make sure you get all the latest information, please shoot me an e-mail at openstudios@arsenalarts.org I am helping to organize the event, so watch this space for more information!