“Ghost Pumpkin”, a 10 x 20 original watercolor created by Camano Arts Association member, Melanie Serroels, has been chosen for this years Harvest Jubilee Festival poster.  Congratulations Melanie!

The Harvest Jubilee Festival takes place on September 24, 2011 in Stanwood at the Country Store.  Look for the CAA members booth where art demonstrations will be taking place throughout the day between the hours of 10 am to 5 pm. 

  To inquire further to purchase this original artwork contact Melanie at her website www.melanieoriginals.com

  Participants to the festival can find information at the website, harvestjubilee.org

Born in Pacific County, I have always lived in western Washington, a most watery and watercolor-ey environment.  I have always loved art.  I took painting, design and drawing classes in high school and college.  In the 1980s I did watercolor studies with various Northwest artists and showed in galleries, invitational and juried shows in western Washington.  I taught drawing and watercolor for community colleges’ continuing education programs and in my home studio.

After a long time away from it (as a paralegal), I returned to painting a few years ago.  I love the spontaneity and transparency of watercolor, how it drips and blends, the picture even still painting itself after the brush and hand are removed.  I love how a stroke or two can represent the essence of an object, inviting the viewer’s participation too!

Bobbie Mueller
3306 South Camano Drive
Camano Island, WA 98282
360 387-0825

Dianna is also a popular local art show juror and gives workshops and demonstrations locally and internationally.  To Dianna, teaching is a joy as well as an art, conveying not only theoretical art concepts but also delving into the deeper issues of creativity and the ongoing artistic journey.  Dianna’s classes are both informative and inspirational.

For the last ten years, Dianna has been working on several series of acrylic paintings based on strong abstract elements with sensitive use of color and form on heavily textured surfaces. 

From luminous dripping washes to impasto palette knife and painterly brush strokes, Dianna’s paintings tap into her Russian Impressionist training to evoke the passage of light and deep emotion.

You may contact Dianna through her website www.diannashyne.com  or her email gotzshyne@hotmail.com

Download a complete brochure with map. And remember, this year we are introducing a new Passport Program where participants are encouraged to decode a “secret phrase” to enter a contest to win art and art classes from Camano Island artists.

Maybe it’s an age thing for John Ringen — he’s 82 — or maybe it’s just force of habit.

But Ringen believes he hasn’t used a new sheet of paper in years.

Which can be a good or bad thing for the person buying his art during the Camano Island artists studio tour. The buyer can either think she is getting two paintings for the price of one, or one good painting and one not so good.

“I paint on both sides of the paper because if I do something really crappy, I can turn it over and paint on the back,” Ringen said.

When visitors on the tour arrive at Ringen’s house, they need to be prepared for his sardonic charm, his dry wit and his self-effacing modesty.

“As my dear brother tells me, if anybody ever deserved to be modest, it’s you,” Ringen said.

Though modest, Ringen is one of the 60 award-winning artists who will be demonstrating his craft for this 13th annual Camano Island Studio Tour, which has made Camano a destination spot every Mother’s Day weekend.

The Camano Arts Association puts together this juried tour, in part, to represent all varieties of art, from watercolor to woodworking, and today it has become one of the largest events on the island, tour director Rhonda Hundertmark said.

The arts association came up with a passport event for the first time this year, in which participants will be encouraged to decipher a secret message with hints found throughout the island. Those who identify the message will have the opportunity to enter a drawing to win art and art classes.

“In many ways we have made Camano Island an artists’ haven,” Hundertmark said.

Ringen has been on the island just a couple of years but he might be one of the artists who has been painting the longest, since starting at age 7 and eventually earning his master’s of fine arts degree from the University of Washington.

A decadeslong career as an art teacher allowed him to retire young enough to become an illustrator, which he did until retiring for real in 1991.

But none of his awards or lifetime artistic achievements — absolutely none of it — has gone to his head.

When asked why people should visit his studio while on the tour, Ringen replied: “It’s on the map.”

Then he added: “I think most people can relate to bad watercolors and they may not be bad watercolors in the eyes of somebody else.”

Thinking about it a minute, Ringen went on to say that “when you do as many paintings as I do, there’s a handful that might not be too bad.”

Obviously, Ringen hasn’t taken his art too seriously but has done a lot of it, painting every day so he has hundreds of pieces collected in paper bags.

Ringen said he will have 50 pieces framed, along with hundreds unframed and in folders for the public to check out.

“I paint directly and quickly,” Ringen said. “That is the watercolor medium and my excuse for not being nice and tidy in paintings.”

Ringen said he usually paints every day but on those days when he doesn’t feel like it, he flips through one of his many art books and has a martini.

But most days, Ringen is compelled.

“Painting is something I have to do,” Ringen said. “I have not done a masterpiece yet and I always think, this could be the day.”

The Camano Island Studio Tour runs for two weekends. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today through Sunday and May 14 and 15.

A complete brochure and map of the tour are available on the Camano Arts Association website along with videos and photo galleries. Go to www.camanoarts.org.

Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.

© 2011 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA

CLICK LINK BELOW TO WATCH SHOW

Camano Studio Tour on New Day NW

One small community in the northwest known for its scenery is also a mecca for artists. The Camano Island Studio Tour is the largest event of the year up there. It features more than 60 artists who open their studios and galleries for a behind the scenes look. You can go see woodworkers, painters, jewelry makers, welders, sculptors and more, working away in their studios. Today, two of those artists give us a special sneak peek. Debbi Rhodes is a sculpture artist who welds surprising outdoor pieces and some fun indoor statues and we also welcome Dale Lemaster, a pottery artist who’s been working with clay for more than a dozen years.
The Camano Island Studio Tour will begin on Mother’s Day weekend, May 6-8th, and end on the following weekend May 14-15.
For more information regarding the Camano Island Studio Tour please click here to visit the organization’s website

John Scott Delzell (formerly John Delzell Muhler) strives to capture light and form in all its subtleties and strengths while enjoying a unique relationship with his canvases. Balancing brilliance with contrast, defining edges and contours with the ever-elusive background, John creates a diverse body of work with styles ranging from photo-realism to heavy impasto impressionism, surreal abstract forms, and combinations in between. His images of brazen snags, twisted driftwood and temperamental skies are juxtaposed with soft portraits, serene seascapes and abstractly woven speckled forested trails.

John’s portrait project “Life Encounters on Canvas” explores the diversity and intimate thoughts of students who have immigrated to the U.S. from countries around the world. The 28 portraits and their accompanying life stories have been displayed at community centers, libraries, public schools, colleges and universities. The portraits and their condensed stories can be viewed on his website.

John Scott Delzell lives on Camano Island, Washington, with his wife, Jenna. Together they share a love for art and nature, taking every opportunity to be out hiking, biking and backpacking in the beautiful Northwest which inspires their creativity. John and Jenna teach art classes for children and adults year round and their summer art camps have been a highlight for children of all ages, creating mixed media projects. They also collaborated on a large scale puzzle piece mural for Utsalady Elementary School entryway and the Rotary Adventure Playground on Camano Island.

Formerly known as John Delzell Muhler, John returned to his birth name several years ago as he began a new life with Jenna. He honored his stepfather’s name while he was alive and now honor’s his birth father’s name. Delzell is an old Scottish name with roots back to the time of the first king of Scotland. It’s pronounced “Dee EL” and means “I Dare”.

John Scott Delzell
2177 Highland Drive
Camano Island, WA 98282
360-387-2251
www.johndelzellart.com
www.artquestforkids.com
www.camanoartcamp.com

The Camano Island Studio Tour is the premier event on Camano Island.
Presented by the Camano Arts Association, this year marks the 13th
annual Tour and features more than 60 local juried artists.

Check out this video showcasing some of the prep work that goes on
behind the scenes as this unique arts community gets ready for the
influx of visitors expected over the next two weekends.

Linda shows at the SR Brennen Gallery in Palm Desert and Karla Matzke Gallery on Camano. Her work is in over 500 homes in the United States and Canada. She teaches at Daniel Smith.

Linda Demetre
360 387 8248

Jeanine Borree

Jeanine’s artwork “Sunny Garden”" is the winner of this years poster art.  There are to be two giclee prints of the artwork.  

Mark Ellinger

Handblown glass art

located at Studio #1 in Stanwood

Kathy Dannerbeck 

Jewelry Artist

located at Studio #13 on Camano Island

Susan Cohen-Thompson 

Oil and Watercolor Artist

Hand-built ceramics

Located at studio #21 on Camano Island

Ray Fossum

Kiln Formed Fused Glass Artist

located at Studio #20 on Camano Island

Anita Zymolka Amrhein

Watercolor Artist

located at Studio #14 on Camano Island

John Scott Delzell

Acrylic Artist

located at studio #34 

Roger Cocke

Texture, color & form ceramic art

located at studio #16

Lee Beitz

Kiln-formed glass art

located at studio #25

  These and many other talented artists are donating their art to the “Passport” program this year.  Search for your clues during the tour and enter to win original art, art classes, jewelry, custom created artwork, gift certificates, art prints and card sets.  Join the hunt during the tour.