An Eye for Art: Regional watercolorist has show at Birdie’s Cafe throughout January

Every day I discover more and more beautiful things. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it." ―Claude Monet

This is Rose Wienhoff’s favorite inspiring quote that keeps her focused on her painting.

Rose Wienhoff is a regional watercolorist. Wienhoff began to do art in Herbert Hoover Junior Highschool in Potomac.

“That is where I did my first watercolor.,” she said. “I learned you are not supposed to use white. I made the mistake of painting the white. In watercolor, you should leave the white areas of the paper showing.” Her first painting was of sheep being herded on the mesas in the southwest.

Wienhoff likes watercolor because it has a component of magic about it.

“It does not always turn out the way you think it will. It is like making venetian glass beads. You do not know what they will look like until they have annealed. The color of the glass rod is changed by the flame. As the glass cools it becomes different.” Wienhoff explained. “You have a tube of paint and mix it with water. It is not until it dries that you get the magic. There is a lot of wonder to it. There is also a lot of vibrancy to the colors. It seems to stay alive.”

In the mid-1990s, Wienhoff started taking watercolor classes through the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburg (cmoa.org). The focus of the classes was predominately learning techniques for still life watercolors. “It allowed me to work hard on the skills of watercolor. What I liked most about the classes was learning from my fellow classmates. The critiques at the end of class broadened my view of all the different approaches you could take using different watercolor techniques.”

According to Wienhoff, many of the techniques learned involved pallet choices and techniques you use to handle folds in a cloth or the sheen on a vase.

When she moved back to the Maryland area, she took classes at the Delaplaine Art Center (delaplaine.org) which she continues to do.

Wienhoff paints a wide variety of subjects including landscapes, animals and lighthouses. She paints many of the lighthouses from photographs she took while she and her husband were on his boat called “Dutchess.”

Wienhoff has had artwork exhibited at The Artists Gallery, 505 North Market Gallery, the Delaplaine Art Center in Fredrick and the GFWC Woman’s Club Show at the Non-Profit Center in Westminster.

She is also active in the Barnstormers with the Frederick County Landmark Foundation Pleine Air Event ( https://www.fredericklandmarks.org/barnstormers). Visitors can take a self-guided tour of a selection of barns in Frederick County and watch plein-air painters. Plein air means to paint outside.

Wienhoff participates in regional fine art fairs including Octoberfest at Shifferstadt Architectural Museum in Frederick; St. Peters Church in Lewes, Delaware; Brandywine Festival of the Arts https://www.brandywinearts.com/ ) in Wilmington, Delaware.; Art in the Park at Paxton Hill Nursery in New Hope, Pennsylvania; First Friday in New Castle, Delaware; and York Festival of the Arts in York, Pennsylvania.

Wienhoff is having a show through January at Birdies Café at 233 E. Main Street in Westminster. You can purchase originals, prints and a great cup of coffee and lunch while you are there. Wienhoff also takes commissions.

You can see her artwork at rose-wienhoff.fineartamerica.com, follow her on Facebook@RoseWaterArtStudio and Instagram @ rosewaterstudioarts.

Lyndi McNulty is the owner of Gizmo’s Art in Westminster. Her column appears on the first and third Thursday of each month.