Sunnyshore Studio Artistic Director, Jason Dorsey, taught Painting Mountains in Watercolor at the University Women’s Club in Seattle. One of his goals was to encourage the participants to dare to showcase a painting they did in the class in the upcoming Camano Island Studio Tour. You can read more about the class here:
Jason is super excited showcase the following artists of the University Women’s Club this May!
Meet the University Women’s Club Artists
Susan Turnball
Susan write, “As a beginner, I’m enjoying the play of colors and shapes as I revel in the beauty around me and the poetic potential of pigment to capture essence.”
You may recognize the Fir Island Lutheran Church against the fall colors and looming Mount Baker. Susan’s painting is titled “Mt. Baker Fall Reverie” and is selling for a very affordable price!
Kim McDonald
Kim writes, “My formal study of art began at Pitzer College and Scripps College in Claremont California. I also studied how to teach drawing before I became an elementary school teacher, volunteering in my son’s elementary classes as an art docent. Over my career I have focused on writing, quilt making, sewing, jewelry making, artistic scrapbooking, knitting, volunteering, photography, acrylic painting and finally watercolor. I love working with other artists and experimenting with new ways to communicate my visions. I often see colors even when I close my eyes and I love experimenting. Now days, I volunteer at a local gallery and continue taking watercolor lessons throughout the year.
Kim’s painting of a park in the Seattle area has mountains far in the distance, indistinguishable, shrouded in clouds or mist, but there. The experience of the ever present mountains, even when you can’t see them, is a reality for all who live in the northwest. Her painting draws you in to a place.
Deborah Giles
Deborah Giles has been practicing watercolor for about 25 years mainly through classes at the Women’s University Club and in other classes about the Seattle area. Learning to embrace the balance between learned control and the often unpredictable things that happen as the pigments flow is a very attractive aspect of the practice of watercolor. It is good for the soul. The mingling of watercolor pigments on paper is also a source of joy and satisfaction, as it seems to reflect the beauty she sees in the natural world.
Her painting titled “Autumn in the North Cascades” captures the mood, the color and the feel, of that beautiful place.
You can view more of Deborah’s work here: http://deborahlgiles.com
Jean Kunz
Jean writes, “Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, the mountains and water are part of who I am. Painting in watercolor is a continuation of that essence.”
Jean painted this watercolor of the Icicle Creek Road from a photograph I had taken on one of my hikes there. If you’ve ever hiked the Enchantments, you. know the beauties and glories there are on the ridges to the left!
Peggy Myers
Peggy writes, “I have been interested in creating art most of my life. I enjoy painting all subjects and like to use color to create contrast and evoke a feeling. I loved the classes taught by Jason Dorsey at the Women’s University Club in Seattle, where we concentrated on mountain landscapes. I look forward to more classes with him. Painting with watercolor brings me joy and a feeling of accomplishment.”
Peggy’s use of soft pinks on the sunlit mountain and warm greens and browns sparkling on the trees in this painting draws you “in.”
Mary Anne Abel
Mary Anne Abel has developed her watercolor style through years of study and encouragement from the excellent teachers at the Women’s University Club, Seattle. She paints local landscapes, flowers, and familiar Northwest scenes, striving for simplicity, light, and natural beauty.
Mary Ann’s loose, soft brushwork captures this looming mountain and flash of wildflowers beautifully, don’t you think?
Pat Hitchens
Pat writes, “I have a passion for the elegant serenity of nature. Whoever looks deeply into my art can feel my spirit. I have been told that I have an Asian soul, and elements of that style inform my surroundings as well as my work.
I paint with watercolors and silk dyes; both methods begin as a blank white sheet. Often images develop as the materials, colors and shapes speak to me. The blending of silk, ink and paint creates luscious results, which are difficult to reproduce with other methods.
I sometimes leave negative space. This is not leftover space, but rather intended space. It allows you, the onlooker, to project your imagination into the painting.
While I have been interested in art most of my life, it was my avocation as I devoted time to motherhood and education administration. I can now spend hours creating the images I love.
Over the years, I have participated in numerous art venues, including wildlife art, traditional watercolor, silk painting, Chinese art and calligraphy. I have had the opportunity to study under many noteworthy artists, among them: Robert Bateman, Morton Solberg, Tony Angell, Adele Earnshaw, Lee Kromschroeder, Lucy Liu, Ann Sun, Cheng-Khee Chee, Lian Zhen, Karen Sistek, Susan Moyer and Kay Barnes.
My original paintings are regularly displayed at the Women Painters of Washington Gallery in Columbia Center or by private visit to my home studio.”
Painting mountains was out of Pat’s comfort zone, but she dove in and her soft, fresh, luminous style showcased the glories of the mountains nicely.
Nanci Andvik
Nanci writes, “A life-long interest in a wise variety of artistic expression lead me to major in Art Education at the University of Washington. As a Montessori teacher art & art history is a part of the curriculum which I taught for 35 years yet doing little art for myself. I began watercolor in 2025 at the Women’s University Club in Seattle. There, Jason Dorsey’s skillful teaching and enthusiasm encouraged me to finish my first pieces shown here. Jason built my confidence and skills so that now i enjoy painting landscapes on my own volition!”
Nanci was a great student. Enthusiastic to learn, and willing to follow the steps I showed to bring a watercolor together. Didn’t these two northwest scenes – one with a ferry boat and another of a mountain lake – come out nicely?
Susie Rogers
Susie Rogers has taken water color painting classes at Woman’s University Club in Seattle for the past 12 years. She finds inspiration in all forms of art and loves experimenting in different ways to tell stories.
Susie painted this scene of Mount Ranier from a photograph that I took from the Natchez Loop Trail, a point in the trail when you come around the bend and the mountain looms in all its massiveness and glories before you. She captured it quite well don’t you think?
I am so proud of these women for daring to show their work at Sunnyshore Studio in the upcoming Camano Island Studio Tour! Stop by and see their work and cheer them on.
