PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Hello Fellow Artists!
I hope everyone is doing well and enjoyed the holiday season. I feel like the new year is already flying by with new adventures and challenges waiting around the corner. The next few months should be exciting for FAA as we are partnering with the junior class of the Modern College of Design in Kettering on a joint venture to design a new logo, flyers, and update our website to attract more attention for our organization and the Sweet Corn Festival. I met with the professor and class on a Zoom meeting at the beginning of January and invited them to our February meeting, where I am anxious to meet them in person. They will present their final project in April, which I hope will be beneficial to us all!
Our meeting will be on Tuesday, February 3, at 7:00 pm with Marcia Hartsock as our guest demo artist. It will be nice to see everyone again, especially since our Christmas party had to be canceled due to inclement weather. I know there is news to share with everyone about various shows, sales, and awards.
This month I would like to thank Shirlee Bauer for doing such a fine job as workshop chairperson. Shirlee graciously accepted this position and has landed outstanding artists for us twice a year, making arrangements for their housing, food, transportation to and from the airport, if necessary, and also to the gallery each day. She also has to make sure we have the right number of attendees (not too many and not too few), work out a budget, collect the fees, and set up the gallery. KUDOS, Shirlee, for doing such a splendid job for FAA… we appreciate you!!!
As always, keep creating!
Linda Brandenburg. President
FEBRUARY’S GUEST ARTIST – MARCIA HARTSOCK
Marcia Hartsock, our guest artist for this month, will present a watercolor demo, “Painting the shadows first!” Marcia will focus on shadow shapes in watercolor and demonstrate how to paint them first as an underpainting, rather than the traditional light to dark process.
After training as a fine artist with a BFA and an MA in illustration, Marcia Hartsock spent over 35 years as a medical illustrator, a perfect career for an artist who is just as fascinated with science as she is with creative image-making. Now retired from medical illustration, Marcia explores the world of personal art through traditional drawing and watercolor media. She enjoys sharing her love of watercolor painting, and teaches small group classes in her studio at Brazee Street Studios in Cincinnati OH.
She is a member of the Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society, the Ohio Watercolor Society, the Kentucky Watercolor Society, and an Emeritus Member of the Association of Medical Illustrators. Her work has been juried into the KWS Aqueous 2024 and Aqueous 2025 exhibitions, and she is also part of the traveling exhibit of Ohio Watercolor 2025. Marcia enjoys sketching in plein air, and has filled multiple sketchbooks with quick sketches and small paintings. These may be inspiration for later studio paintings, but more often serve as a tool for frequent practice in observation and drawing. Her studio paintings are more deliberate, involving multiple sketches and value studies, usually starting from her own photo references but then evolving into a more personal expression of the subject matter.
As an illustrator, she used directional light, form and cast shadows, and compositional techniques to tell a story with her illustrations. She applies these same skills to her varied subject matter, to engage the viewer in an emotional response to her watercolor paintings.
http://www.hartsockillustration.com
https://www.instagram.com/cincymarcia
THIS MONTH IN THE FAA GALLERY
Connie S. Gifford will have a solo art show, “My Colorful World,” at the Fairborn Art Gallery located inside the Fairborn Art Association, 221 N. Central Avenue, Fairborn, Ohio, during February 2026. An artist reception will take place February 8, 2026, from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public. The gallery will also be open Sunday, February 8, 15, and 22 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
Gifford is a signature member of the Ohio Watercolor Society (OWS), a former president of the Western Ohio Watercolor Society (WOWS), and has received numerous art awards. She said, “Bright colors have always motivated me. In 2011, I discovered the magic of watercolor. I’m inspired by nature, shapes, objects and bright colors that transfer my focus on the bright, transparent freshness of watercolor to lure a viewer into my painting. I want people to feel the animated life that is visually created on the paper after the transparent colors blend together creating a glow that is only found in watercolor.”
MEMBER NEWS
Throughout February, Connie S. Gifford and husband, James Gifford, will hold a combined watercolor (Connie) and photography (Jim) show in the hallways of the Charles L. Lathrem Senior Center (next to the Kettering Recreation Center) at 2900 Glengarry Drive in Kettering.
The following FAA members’ artwork was juried into the Rosewood Arts Center 36th Annual Works on Paper exhibition currently held at the Kettering Health Art Gallery in the Rosewood Arts Center, 2655 Olson Drive in Kettering, Ohio, with a Closing Reception on February 28, 2026, from 1:00 pm–3:00 pm: Nancy Dankof, Billie Dickson, Connie S. Gifford, Yuki Hall, Tessa Kalman, Tom Kinarney, Bonnie Kuntz, Donna Pierce-Clark, and Tamiko Stump
Linda Brandenburg was the first artist to be spotlighted in the newly added Art Corner section in the City of New Carlisle’s quarterly newsletter. Linda will also be teaching art classes at the Earl Heck Center in Englewood, Ohio, for eight weeks beginning on April 1, 2026.
Tessa Kalman has three paintings on display in February at the London Arts Center in London, Ohio, in their annual “Teachers Show” (an exhibit of works from folks who will give a class, demo or workshop at the LAC in 2026).
CALL FOR ENTRIES – 2026 GREENE COUNTY SENIOR ARTISAN SHOW
The Greene County Council on Aging and the Fairborn Art Association, as co-sponsors, invite Greene County artists and artisans to enter the 2026 Senior Artisan Show with original artwork created after the artist’s 60th birthday. This is not a juried show and there is no entry fee.
Categories include Oil or Acrylic paintings (framed, not under glass), Mixed Media (framed, under glass; watercolor, acrylic, pastel, charcoal, pencil, pen & ink), Photography (framed), and Three-dimensional sculpture, woodcarvings, hand-thrown pottery and ceramics, freestanding. Deadline for entries (artwork and completed forms) is Friday, February 27, 2026.
Show dates: Grand Opening Sunday, March 8, from 1:00 pm–3:30 pm, Sunday, March 15, from 1:00 pm–3:30 pm and Wednesday, March 18, from 11:00 am–2:00 pm at the Fairborn Art Association, 221 North Central Avenue, Fairborn. For more information, including entry packet, contact GCCOA at 937-376-5486 or [email protected] .
MAY 2026 WORKSHOP WITH STEVE ROGERS
Steve Rogers will be the guest instructor for a watercolor workshop to be held May 4–6, 2026, 9:30 am–4:30 pm at the Fairborn Art Gallery. Steve Rogers is a nationally-known watercolor instructor, conducting workshops in the United States and in Europe. He is known for his breathtaking landscapes and marine paintings and now his intuitive abstract acrylics. More details will be forthcoming.
ART ON THE COMMONS APPLICATIONS OPEN
Applications are now open for Art on the Commons, a fine arts and crafts festival to be held on Sunday, August 9, 2026, at Kettering’s Lincoln Park Civic Commons. Now in its 38th year, this event is hosted by Rosewood Arts Center and features jury selected artwork from artists across the country. The deadline for artist submissions is March 31, 2026. For more information, visit: https://www.playkettering.org/art-on-the-commons/
VILLAGE ARTISANS GALLERY EXHIBIT
Village Artisans are currently presenting a “Whimsy” exhibit in their lobby gallery during regular gallery hours at 100 Corry Street, Yellow Springs, Ohio, through March 8, 2026. This exhibit features playful, quirky or charmingly odd art. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR NEXT NEWSLETTER
The deadline for submitting articles to be included in the March 2026 newsletter is Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Please call or email the article to the Corresponding Secretary, April Coppess, by the deadline.