We're delighted to announce the winners of our contest on the subject of water. We  had so many beautiful submissions. We had explorations of oceans, rivers, pools, puddles, and rain. We found thoughtful examinations of  water as a metaphor for spirituality and  art, and as fundamental to all life.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER: JOIE VILLENEUVE

Joie Villeneuve
Night of Love
Multi Media
100X100

From the "Mystery of Water" series.

Mixed media on deep set wood panel with textured edges, ready to hang.

"Multiple layers of paint scraped and sanded back with rich textures, collage and image transfers.
Inspired by the ocean, being in the water, being one with water, the spiritual aspects of water.
Reference to buoys as beacons, guides, markers as one traverses the inner realms of ones being."

Laurie MacMillan
Cascade
Acrylic on Canvas
30X30

MacMillan's painting gushes with inspiration, beauty, and life.

Lynda McClanahan
Girl With Landscape
Oil Enamel
20X16

In McClanahan's vibrant painting water becomes a mythical life-giving thread connecting the flowers, the animals, and thte imagination of a girl on a balcony.

Katherine Minott
Breathe
Photograph 

A snapshot of bright, living stained glass.

Juan Flores
La Jolla Cove Swimmer
Acrylic
20X2

"When I started painting I wished to paint the view as seen by a surfer floating on the line-up and waiting for the next wave. When painting an image from the ocean vantage point I try to capture the feeling from line-up, taking in the peace and beauty of the moment, and make it permanent. I feel that the surfer's view, looking back toward the shore, on the edge between land and ocean, is an unique perspective. In my paintings I aim to recreate the feeling of distance from the shore (from everyday life?) and the dance of sky and shore reflections on the water which is always changing with the infinity ocean moods."

Julie Fritz
River Series 3
Oil/Cold Wax on Cradled Birch Board
12X11 

"Water is what my work is all about. I come to every panel as if the river, or lake or ocean  in front of me were “alive.”

I include water in almost all of my paintings.  When I lived in Virginia I painted the Atlantic seascapes. In the Finger Lakes I capture the dugout glacial ponds. In the Smokies I used a palette knife to let the cold creeks fall over moss-covered boulders. And in Texas I love to scrape in thirsty rivers cruising over the limestone.  

The cold wax method of painting builds up many transparent layers of color that reveal the magical undercurrent of the water. "

“The river like the sky in the palm of the hand.”
W. S. Merwin

Peg Grady
Urban Rain
Ink on Plaster on Wood Panel
18 X 12

You can almost smell the rain in this perfect picture of a rainy night in the city.

Anne Lambert
SOS
Assemblage of Found Objects
19X13X24 

Assemblage/sculpture of found objects  
[aquarium,coal oil can, gloves, plastic debris, rusted metal ] and water to express concern over the destructive results of water pollution.

Julie Riker
Log Jam
Oil
9X12

“It is the process of painting that I love the most - the feeling of the oil sliding off the brush - the pushing and pulling of color contrasts - watching the canvas evolve and change from a two dimensional surface to something that resembles three dimensions.  I love exploring the way light changes as it wraps around an object. Whether painting in a studio or outside in nature, I am always drawn to specific aspects of a subject - shapes, colors, contrasts - and I find that what I ultimately paint is often shaped more by my attraction to these aspects, and my desire to capture the particular quality of them, than by the literal details of the scene before me.”

Irene Ryan Maloney
Submerge
Oil on Canvas
64X68 

My main body of work for 10 yearscentered on a series called "Night Pools" in which I depicted figures in water with the only illumination coming from beneath the water. 

Shari Gaines
Neptune's Hopscotch
Oil
30X40 

"I find the clear Gulf waters beautiful and fun to study."

SEE THE COLLECTION OF ALL ENTRIES HERE