Located at Boise’s very own Capitol building, the artists of The Idaho Watercolor Society displayed their art in the 38th Annual Capitol Rotunda Art Show.
From modern and abstract to realism and portraits, the Idaho Watercolor Society’s most recent exhibit showcased just about any theme, subject and style under the sun.
Local artist and Boise State alumni Gary Mccall presented his piece titled “Women’s March.” As an artist, he predominantly works with watercolor, acrylic, oil painting and stained glass.
Mccall was inspired to make this painting when he attended the women’s march that took place around the Idaho Capitol building, stunned at the view of everyone coming together for the same cause.
“I think just going down there and seeing all of the people, predominantly women, but men, babies, dogs, everything. And I thought how wonderful this is,” Mccall said. “The First Amendment just briefly says that we have the right to peaceful assembly. So you go down there and you see all of those people that are assembling peacefully, to just let the legislators know ‘look, we are out here and we’re telling you what we like and what we don’t and why.’”
Scattered with precise details among the crowd and illustrating a beautiful full moon and starry night sky, the piece casts a bright light on an important event for the Boise community.
“When you see something like that it’s easy to keep your faith in our system … part of that painting was that we all need to keep our faith even when it looks dark,” Mccall said.
Painting by Poo Wright-Pulliam
Local artist Sharon Herther presented her watercolor piece titled “Little Salmon River,” a landscape of a waterway in New Meadows Valley, Idaho.
As an artist, Herther predominantly works with acrylic and watercolor, painting mostly landscapes and nature oriented pieces. She shared that she is greatly inspired by the beauty of Idaho, and when it comes to this specific waterway in New Meadows Valley, she just can’t drive through without admiring the view and taking photos.
Herther shared that she pays close attention to the color hues of the scene she is painting in an effort to carefully depict transitions between seasons.
“Greens are hard for people to manage. And I love painting in greens, but I know a lot of artists that just really steer away from green,” Herther said. “Nature is the only thing that really provides the perfect shade of that.”
Local artist Poo Wright-Pulliam presented his piece titled “Let’s Share This Limber Pine,” that is made up of four separate canvases to create a complete picture. Pulliam has worked with many artistic mediums, his favorite being scratch-board, but has been predominantly working with watercolor for many years now.
Wright-Pulliam actually created this piece during an artist residency he did at Craters of The Moon National Monument and Preserve in central Idaho.
Instead of focusing on nature scenes during his residency there, he decided to instead focus on the species of animals, including all of the different birds, insects and other small creatures that call that environment their home.
“Let’s Share This Limber Pine” illustrates different creatures on the pine tree, hanging out, eating or just on their way in or out of the frame.
Wright-Pulliam wanted to illustrate as many creatures as possible, while also paying attention to distinct details in the scene.
“A lot of the reason that I entered that piece is because I really liked the movement of the tree and the limber pines twist with the wind,” Wright-Pulliam said. “And a lot of the reason that I did that residency that way is because I like to teach people what all we can see if we pay attention. Because just looking at the tree you see just a tree, but if you’re really watching you can see all the many different species in it as well.”
The Idaho Watercolor Society is a local non-profit organization that promotes and supports the use of watercolor and water media.
Anyone can join, and the organization offers educational programs, exhibitions, workshops and more. Check out all of their upcoming shows and exhibitions on their website.
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A very happy shout out to the arbiter. Thank you. A wonderful article. Gary McCall