President’s Message – June 2025

Springing into Summer

June 9th is our last demo meeting this Spring season. Summer is upon us. The “Midsummer President’s Message” will alert you to Summer and Fall events. In the meantime, the CMW website is the place to go to find full information. The June calendar is attached below this President’s Message for your reference.

Central Minnesota Watercolorists June Meeting

Monday, June 9th at the Paramount – Lower Level, Studio C
5:30 Social time Spring Fling to exchange handmade greeting cards
6:00 Informal introductions
6:15 Announcements
Live Demo by Patty Schmid – 6:30-8:30

Spring Fling—Special Spring Card Exchange –

CMW Board invites everyone to bring an original printed or painted card for a Spring Card Exchange during our June 9th meeting. The Board felt that our Holiday card exchange is such a meaningful way for members to connect and share with each other, why not do it again?

Here is a card my friend Sandi painted and gave me. Isn’t it beautiful? It makes me feel like spring and summer, and it is special because my friend painted it.

June will be our last demo meeting at the Paramount until October, so before we all fly into our summer activities, let’s treat ourselves to the special gift that the card exchange brings to all who wish to participate.

June DEMO

Following the card exchange, Patty Schmid’s demo will focus on showing how to simplify painting faces from photographs, using shadow shapes to sculpt the face in watercolor.

Patty Schmid
In painting her portraits, she sees that it is very important to get a good likeness of the subject. Getting the shadow shapes right makes people look real. She especially loves to paint the eyes and get that sparkle.

Other demo artists to enjoy this year are:

Oct. – Bethany Giinther
Nov. – Kathy Peterson – Kathy is a fellow student at Wednesday classes with Dan Mondloch at Art in Motion in Holdingford. Last year, the Wilmar Area Arts Council invited Kathy to present her a solo exhibition.

New information on our CMW website

There are several recent enhancements to the website, so you will be able to check there for information about:

Upcoming Summer and Fall events:

The Munsinger Show and Sale (July 17)
Our Annual Meeting at Atonement Lutheran Church (Sept., 8)
A 3 day workshop with Catherine Hearding (Sept., 25-27)

Current Shows:

St. Joseph CentraCare Clinic (Marilyn Clemens)
Whitney Senior Center (CMW group)

Recent Past Events (NEW Feature!):

A very important new area in the website is “Recent Past Events,” seen at the bottom of the home page, where you can review photos, summaries and video snippets of our most recent demos and other events. Examples are currently our Spring Retreat, demos by Heidi Nelson and Sarah Guy-Levar and the Saturday workshop with Daniel Kuchenbecker. I have been eagerly anticipating this new functionality, so that members who are not able to attend various events, for various reasons, now can still enjoy CMW activities. It’s a new benefit of CMW Membership!

Contact Us:

Also, the “Contact Us” link on the website is our official “portal” for contacting CMW with questions or comments. Inquiries go to our Social Media Coordinator, who will answer the question or refer it to another Board member.

Like Us on Facebook:

Last, there is now a link in the website to CMW’s Facebook. This is where member news, announcements, and pix are shared. See, for instance news from Diana K about her dual show at Art in Motion with digital artist Tad A, “Shared Ground, Open Sky.” And Kerry K will show 35 paintings at the Paramount in July and August, with a reception August 18th.

The message is: Go to the website!

SHOW Opportunities

Our Show Coordinator, Becca, has arranged several opportunities to exhibit your work in 2025. You can sign-up to show at:

Good Shepherd Nursing Home – Sept. – Dec.
Paramount Center for the Arts – Nov.

The shows and images will be on our website, so your work can be seen, enjoyed and perhaps purchased by more people than just those who visit the venues in person.

Final Thoughts:

Speaking for the Board, we hope that this busy summer will bring everyone travels and inspiration for painting. Capture those moments by painting en plein air.

Everything will go fast. So think ahead about signing up for our fall workshop with Catherine Hearding and our fall retreat at Riverside Inn. And don’t forget that this November will be our (every other year) opportunity to show paintings at the Paramount.

Quick! Fling some paint. Call it a card. Bring it (or a printed card) to our June 9th meeting. Share the joy. I hope to see you there.

Susan

JUNE 2025 Calendar of Events CMW