Showing posts with label PWAS Members. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PWAS Members. Show all posts

Monday, August 4, 2025

Post 562: What PWAS Members Are Up to This Summer Part 2

What PWAS Members Are Up to This Summer Part 2

Here's another blog post from the Prince William Art Society members, where I ask a question and await to see who answers. The question posted was, "What have you been up to this summer so far?" I wondered and asked the members to send me what they've been up to, any new artwork, taking any classes, going somewhere for a vacation, or just plain taking a break. Let's have a look what the artist's days have been filled with.

See Part 1 of What PWAS Members Are Up to This Summer as well. 

PWAS Member Jennifer Batty

As July comes to an end I wonder myself where this summer has gone. I have not done much art these past few months, but rather spent time with family at the pool or beach. I have taken pictures and gathered a lot of memories to get me to next summer. I have tried my hand at perspective painting with architecture. A real challenge for me, however I feel I made progress from my last attempt. I also finished a painting that I started in the spring of a flower that my neighbor had grown. I am also including a watercolor picture I painted at a class I took at the beginning of summer.  That was just so much fun!! 

 

PWAS Member JJ Roberts

I've been working on a couple of paintings when I get time for I have been a  little busy. I have been giving classes on engraving to individual students, doing restoration work on firearms, and engraving on knives and firearms. Here are a few  silver point drawings and engraving on a Buck knife of birds of prey.


We all love seeing the art that our PWAS members are up to and get a glimpse into their lives and processes. Thank you to all that input into these 2 posts! Follow us to watch what's coming next!


Author: Donna Liguria is the Blogmaster for the PWAS Artistry Spin Blog and Donna's Cave Paintings Blog, and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, Virginia. And she takes on the PWAS social media duties as well (help me!) Donna specializes in acrylic painting of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art. 

Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm (typically, but check the website in case of any changes).

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment (below)! ...Remember, comments are monitored so they will not show up immediately.

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Sunday, July 27, 2025

Post 590: Prince William Art Society Monthly Meeting July 28 7:30pm

Prince William Art Society Monthly Meeting July 28 7:30pm

The Prince William Art Society (PWAS) has a monthly meeting held on the 4th Monday of the month and the public is welcome to attend to see what Prince William County's oldest art group has going on. Meetings can vary, but typically we have a guest speaker, possibly doing a demo, offering art tips on multiple art topics, and/or discussing their own art processes for their artwork.

Tall Oaks Community Building on the corner of Cotton Mill Drive and Hedges Run (just past where Giant is off Old Bridge Road) 

Senior Librarian Delwyn Elizabeth

On July 28th the Prince William Art Society will meet at the Tall Oaks Community Center (12298 Cotton Mill Dr., Woodbridge VA, 22192) at 7:30 PM for a general membership meeting. Meetings are free and open to the public who are invited to attend, and will begin with a program by a guest speaker. This month, Senior Librarian at the Montclair library, Delwyn Elizabeth, will share current information on the expanded exhibit space, plans for using this space to showcase local artists, and how to get your work exhibited. Come for this opportunity to hear updated information and ask questions.

Montclair Library 5049 Waterway Dr, Montclair, VA 22025

Come Join Us!

My fellow artists in Prince William County, come join us at our meeting, we have a lot of very interesting artist members and folks that just plain love art. You could be a part of us and our group!


Author: Emily Hawes

Author: Donna Liguria is the Blogmaster for the PWAS Artistry Spin Blog and Donna's Cave Paintings Blog, and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, Virginia. And she takes on the PWAS social media duties as well (help me!) Donna specializes in acrylic painting of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art. 

Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm (typically, but check the website in case of any changes).

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment (below)! ...Remember, comments are monitored so they will not show up immediately.

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Friday, July 25, 2025

Post 589: What PWAS Members Are Up to This Summer Part 1

What PWAS Members Are Up to This Summer Part 1

Here's another blog post from the Prince William Art Society members, where I ask a question and await to see who answers. The question posted was, "What have you been up to this summer so far?" I wondered and asked the members to send me what they've been up to, any new artwork, taking any classes, going somewhere for a vacation, or just plain taking a break. Let's have a look what the artist's days have been filled with.

PWAS Member Bettie Sperty

What I have been up to this summer is a good question. 

I have recently been wondering where the months of June and July went! Mainly because I don’t feel like I’ve really done anything! What I have done is spend a little time in my vegetable garden, took a couple of visits to N.C. to see family, helped work on the granddaughter’s treehouse in our back yard, had her come visit us for a couple of weekends, dog sat a few times for two different dogs, attended a few meetings. 

As for creativity, I did make some pottery pieces to use as paint brush vases/holders, I painted a friend’s cement dog to look like her real dog and now painting her giant cement crab, worked on knitting projects and just this past weekend got to spend 3 days at our friend’s place on the water in Southern Maryland.

Not very exciting but not too shabby either. - Bettie




PWAS Member Robert Mira

As far as what I’m doing for the next 30 days, I've started to learn and practice drawing. It’s an art which I thought I could never do but practicing every day has provided some positive results as far as I’m concerned. 

I’ve learned how to have better control when creating lines, how to see things in a basic form, get better at figure proportions, etc…

My goal is to later on bring those skills into my paintings. Here are some samples:







PWAS Member Donna Liguria

I had to pause myself and think back on where has the summer gone....already! The Best of the Region at the ARTfactory seems like ages ago, yet its only the end of July. Like Bettie, I grow a vegetable garden although much smaller. And I love all the great home-grown tomatoes and fresh basil. BLTs, roasted tomatoes, pesto...good eats.

Through those many rainy days we had, I've inventoried and reordered my giclee art prints, and got those packaged. I've been updating my Etsy shop and sold a few things there, and shipped those orders out. I've attended a workshop with Valerie Larson and I've described that on my blog here Donna's Cave Paintings. I did get started on the Tech Series talked about in the workshop post, here is what I have so far:

Tech Series 1 Instagram for Artists

Tech Series 2 Are You Reeling on Instagram?

Tech Series 3 How to Be Pinteresting

Tech Series 4 The Blogging Story

I've completed a commission for the DC Four Seasons Series I did, and this one is called, "A Capital Summer". And it was picked up by the client just before the Fourth of July. 

 I've also packaged the DC Four Seasons Series as a print package available on Etsy. I have "Cherry Blossoms, An Annual DC Event" (Spring), "A Capital Summer", "Lincoln Memorial in the Fall", and "White House Having a White Christmas" (Winter).

 And I'm waking up each morning to multiple colors of Morning Glory flowers which find their way onto canvas and watercolor paper. I have a blog post on that here. Other than that, I've been applying to a few of the area Art Calls, so awaiting the verdict on those.

 

Let's see if we can go to a Part 2 on What PWAS Members Are Up to This Summer. PWAS Members? Send me your stuff by July 31! When I get 3-5 replies, we'll do a part 2. Visitors...post a comment below!


Author: Donna Liguria is the Blogmaster for the PWAS Artistry Spin Blog and Donna's Cave Paintings Blog, and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, Virginia. And she takes on the PWAS social media duties as well (help me!) Donna specializes in acrylic painting of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art. 

Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm (typically, but check the website in case of any changes).

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment (below)! ...Remember, comments are monitored so they will not show up immediately.

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Thursday, June 26, 2025

Post 584: A PWAS Meeting to Meet Your Friends

A PWAS Meeting to Meet Your Friends

Monday, June 23, 2025. The Prince William Art Society (PWAS) is an art group in Prince William County, VA that is comprised of many artists with plenty of diversity in art styles, subject matter, art experiences, and art goals. We meet monthly to review what we do, what we have planned, and going into the future. Our meetings often have a guest speaker showing their art and how they do what they do. 

PWAS Meeting Moments

The PWAS Members meet on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Road, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm. A typical meetings with a program begins with:

  1. Guest Speaker Program
  2. Refreshments with a few minutes of conversation with fellow members.
  3. PWAS Board - updates on finances, art shows, to-dos, concerns and Q&A.

This meeting was a new experience for the membership. Designed by PWAS Member Tom Payne and his wife Becky, the members began with grabbing their refreshments and a seat at a table around the room. We were given envelopes with a word printed on it. We were instructed to find the person with the opposite of our word - making that person our "partner". Like Positive found Negative, Yellow found Purple, etc.

PWAS Interviews in progress 

We opened our envelopes and inside was a paper with a list of great interview questions and a pencil and we spent some time LISTENING to our partner as we asked and took notes about their answers. After a period of time, we then switched and were interviewed by our partner who did the same. 

Eric Ndofor, Sandra McClelland Lewin, and Scott Elliot 



Sheri Herrick and Evelyn Chatters 
Bettie Sperty and Staci Blanchard 
Kathy Ross and Rebekah Keener
Staci Blanchard and Bettie Sperty 
Mark Murphy and Richard Tyler 
Kathy Ross and Rebekah Keener 
Katharine Owens and Anna Gatling 
Robert Dew, David Dillon, Sheri Herrick 
Members mingling 
Bettie Sperty, Evelyn Chatters, and Becky Payne 
Sheri Herrick and Evelyn Chatters 

As I get this blog post ready, I can't help but hear (again...see the notes below too) the lyrics "Getting to know you, getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me..." (From the movie The King and I - Deborah Kerr, uncredited voice double Marni Nixon - although you could swear that was Julie Andrews voice.)

Finally, each team of partners stood in front of the room and told the group about our partner, what they had learned about them - where they were from - some of us are from very far away! Others are from the same city and share those memories although our time frames put us there at different times. We learned how long they have been doing art with their earliest memories and some have been members of PWAS a LONG TIME!

Robert Dew and Maureen Guillot 
Ana Quispe and Penny Shaw 
Donna Liguria, Maria Briganti, Katharine Owens 
Katharine Owens and Anna Gatling 

 
Bettie Sperty and Staci Blanchard and Mark Murphy looking on

Richard Tyler and Mark Murphy  
Sheri Herrick and Evelyn Chatters 
Eric Ndofor, Sandra McClelland Lewin and not pictured was Scott Elliott - he's to the right of Sandra in the picture below on the edge of the photo
Patty Gulledge, David Dillon, Robert Dew and Maureen Guillot 
Penny Shaw and Ana Quispe 
Maria Briganti and Donna Liguria 

Not only were there so many great laughs, but there were so many very interesting life experiences and backgrounds from everyone. We learned we have so many different life journeys yet we all share a love of art that some began early in life, never having put a pencil down and while some of us began somewhat later in life. 

Our jobs and skills sets were quite varied - from IT job skills and experience, to military, to submarines and Navy, to a butler. To restaurant work with food and beverage, a mean cheesecake maker, to music, to accounting, to a few of the Washington DC acronyms and graphic design. Teachers and some art teachers, to raising families and children, and globe trottting - we all cover a lot of ground. Some of us are retired and some of us are still in the midst of our careers while still putting in our art time. 

We learned about our goals, our future with art and something the art group didn't know about that person. 

People always work better in a team especially when they communicate. Everything is always about that, right? Now where does all this take us next?

As the Prince William Art Society moves into its fifty-fourth year as a community non-profit art group, and with our elections for a new Board coming at the end of this year, knowing more about each other helps us grow as a group. We have goals, desires, wish lists and challenges to make the visual arts in Prince William County bigger and better for all of us whether artist or art lover. The arts culture is something fantastic and extremely valuable for all residents of the county. 

A Few Notes from Our Team

"I really enjoyed getting to know everyone better. Who knew Staci was so dangerous!! I especially want to thank Tom and Becky for putting this together and running the program. I heard numerous comments on how the members enjoyed the meeting and I believe we should do this kind of thing more often." - Sandra McClelland Lewin, PWAS Interim President

 

"I thought the meeting activity was a fantastic success. And what a great night to have several new people show up. Our meetings have slowly but continuously grown more interactive, which is great, but this one really got people talking to each other. It wasn’t just the Board speaking from the front of the room and a few people making comments. We enjoyed a lot of laughs and learned “secrets” about each other. Our members are wonderfully diverse. And now we know that many of them can cook!" - Bettie Sperty, PWAS Secretary

 

"I had fun as well. I really liked learning a little bit about everyone. It was fun hearing the diversity of the group." - Staci Blanchard, PWAS PWC Arts Council Representative

 

"I think the "Getting To Know You” activity provided a unique opportunity for PWAS members (and visitors) to interact and engage in meaningful conversations for the purpose of building stronger relationships and learning more about each other. While Bing Crosby sang “Getting To Know You” in the background, the group broke into pairs.  Each pair asked and answered a few interview questions, and reported out the answers with the whole group. The heartwarming stories, anecdotes, and artistic revelations that were shared about every person in the group were enjoyed by all! PWAS is an inclusive and extremely diverse group of very talented artists. For proof, we needed to look no further than the members meeting on Monday evening.

 

The activity was a tremendous success and those in attendance indicated that they would like to learn even more about their PWAS colleagues." - Tom Payne, PWAS Member-at-Large

 

"Great meeting. Got to meet and get to know Katharine Owens. I believe we both enjoyed our time of laughter together." - Anna Gatling, PWAS Member 

"I was thinking recently that I missed those days of volunteering where you would be at one of our galleries or a show with a fellow PWAS member and between visitors you could just talk. Those days were grand getting to know the other person - great sessions and sharing thoughts on PWAS, art in PWC, art tips, and good golly, so much more. This meeting brought the group closer and let everyone learn something new about each attendee as well as so many things so many of us have in common. A great meeting." - Donna Liguria, Social Media and Artistry Spin Blogmaster

"I enjoyed Monday's PWAS meeting! I learned a lot about our members' backgrounds, families, careers, and unique talents.  There were  many commonalities among us. Kudos  to Tom and  Becky for organizing the activity!" - Evelyn Chatters, PWAS Member 

Were you at the meeting? What did you think? Drop a comment below please.


Author: Donna Liguria
Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.

Photography/Video Credits: Tom Payne - Thank you Tom and Becky!!!

Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment (below)! ...Remember, comments are monitored so they will not show up immediately.

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