Poppies on Silverbell Road
transparent watercolor on paper
framed size: 24¼" x 20¼"
© Ellen Fountain 2009

This painting by Ellen Fountain was selected for Splash 11, published by Northlight Books, due out in late June 2010.

Splash 11: New Directions

The popular book series Splash showcases some of the finest watercolor paintings being created today. A new book in the series is published every other year by North Light Books (an imprint of F+W Media). The theme of this year's book, Splash 11, is "New Directions" and features 111 paintings by top watercolor artists from around the world, all of whom work primarily with transparent watercolor.

Artists submitted work to a jury at Northlight Books, who then fed a winnowed down group of paintings to the book's editor, Rachel Rubin Wolf, who made the final selections. Wolf has edited many books for North Light, including those in the Splash: The Best of Watercolor series. Wolf studied painting and drawing at the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts) and the Kansas City Art Institute, and she received her B.F.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia.

Each painting in the book includes narrative from the artist describing how their painting represents some sort of new direction. This may refer to a change in style, going outside to paint for the first time, attempting to do large studio paintings after years of working small, changing subject matter, changing your life situation, trying out a new color palette, experimenting with a new surface, using different brushes, applying paint in a new way—whatever “new directions” meant to the artist.

The Splash series has become a mainstay in the collections of artists and collectors around the world, and is even used for classroom instruction by many art teachers.

Click this link to follow production on the new book.

Artists included in Splash 11: