Paul Shain Art Update July 2025 (#10)

Work on exhibit

July's exhibit at the Watercolor Art Society-Houston (WAS-H) was the annual student/teacher show. I had three paintings in the exhibit (see below). These are from classes I’ve taken this year in watercolor and acrylics.

August’s WAS-H exhibit is the annual experimental show. My three submissions are:

Why are these “experimental”? Marble Trails incorporates marbled paper, book pages, and tissue with marks made by rolling marbles coated in paint collage elements. All of these are new to me. A Mathematical Uncertainty also incorporates book pages as collage elements. The zinnias in watercolor are my first attempt at painting on YUPO® (polypropylene sheets which—unlike paper—do not absorb water from the paint).

There will be a new batch of paintings in WAS-H’s Sales Gallery (link) in August. These are all unframed pieces (mostly in mats). Check them out on the web or in person when you visit the monthly exhibit.

I also delivered the ten works below to WAS-H for the Sales Gallery. Each piece has a story, but I won’t burden you with those now. (If you want to know the story of any or all of these, let me know.

Art news

I had my first open studio event at Art Square Studios on Almeda. We will have another Sunday, October 27. There are approximately 20 artists representing a diverse range of styles and media. The address is 5301 Almeda Rd, Houston, TX 77004. There is parking on the street and in the lot behind the building. Share this with all your art-loving friends.

I visited the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston this month and saw the following exhibits, all are recommended:

· Tamara de Lempicka, one of the first Art Deco painters with cubist influences,

· Judaica (the only permanent exhibit we saw), highlights included a 14th C illuminated Machzor (High Holy Days prayerbook) and a Torah

· Anicka Yi (through 7 September) was one of two immersive exhibits, which included animatronic jellyfish, machinery with an algorithm that creates art/movies in her style to carry on her practice after she dies

· Floating world: A. A. Murakami (through 21 September) included aluminum “rocks” in a Zen garden, bubbles filled with smoke that float and burst, smoke rings that are released from a wall and float across the room, electrical discharges in plasma tubes

Recent classes

I have recently taken the following classes to learn new techniques and improve my skills:

· Abstracting the Figure, Sue Bishop (WAS-H)

· Introduction to Watercolor, Katherine Rodgers (WAS-H)

· Paper Marbling, Heather den Uijl (Art Supply on Almeda)

· Blooms Unleashed, Susan Giannantonio & Pam Soileau (WAS-H)