Lisa's Art Notes

 While I am churning through a very long list of things to get ready for the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, I've been informed of my booth number for the event. I'm not sure about where the exact numbers are but I am happy that I will be on North University. By booth number is NU910 . This means it will be a natural walk from the State Street Area Art Fair into North University street, so I believe the traffic will be fairly decent. What I'm working on in the mean time to get prepared are as many smaller works as I can knock out in the time I have and then matting those that need it. I already have my tent, walls to hang work, print/art bins, director chairs. I also have a plan for packing and what paintings I will actually take with me.  There are a number of small things that have to get done that all add up, so I'm grateful to have the time. This is suddenly getting very real for me! Anyway, to all of my Michigan peeps, come see me in July!  

2025 Juried Show Schedule of Events  I wanted to share the shows and competitions I've been invited to so far this year.  It seems like I become so busy, that I forget to share the successes and what's going on with my art journey. Here it is so far: March 4 - 29 : Watercolor Art Society-Houston 48th Annual International Watermedia Exhibition @ WAS-H Gallery in Houston, TX. Margaret Bock Award (applied in January. Event passed) May 7 - 28 : Society of Watercolor Artists 2025 International Juried Exhibition @ House of Neville Gallery & Gatherings, Fort Worth, TX (applied in March) June 8 - July 23 : Michigan Water Color Society 78th Annual Exhibition @ Janice Charach Gallery in West Bloomfield Township, MI (applied in February) July 17th - 19 : Ann Arbor Street Art Fair @ N. University and Thayer area of Ann Arbor, MI. Booth number TBD (applied between November and mid-February) July 2025 Publication: Splash 26: The Best of Watercolor , Artists Magazine and Golden Peak...

I'm trying something new! In the top navigation you'll see a new link for Virtual  Exhibits. I will keep adding new exhibits of my work to view. The platform is provided by Saganverse. I'll also be creating video walk-throughs of each to add to my YouTube channel. I'm very excited about this, I had always wanted to do a virtual gallery practically since we could use the internet. To test is out, click on the play icon of the virtual exhibit to visit the interactive space with a tour or explore on your own. Just remember, I'll add more of these periodically to the Virtual Exhibits page. All Artwork Copyright 2025 Lisa R. Tennant Virtual Reality Builder by Saganverse, Courtesy of Cultureverse and Michigan Water Color Society

Well, it's an honor and it's thrilling to be one of the featured artists in the Winter 2025 issue of Watercolor Artist . The issue center's around architectural subjects and since they found my mid-century commercial architecture paintings of neon and lighted signage to hold their interest, I have a whole eight pages dedicated to my art, techniques and story of my art journey. Their writer Rebecca Dvorak did a bang up job in writing the article, I could not have asked for better.  I feel like I have done my dad proud. He was learning watercolor painting and had Watercolor Artist on his shelves for a long time. All I can say now is how grateful and blessed I have been. As artists, we frequently have doubts, but this kind of pat on the back not only inspires me, but I hope it will inspire others in their love of watercolor media. I hope you'll take the time to read through this issue, it really says what I could not iterate myself about my own art. Thanks Golden Peak Med...

There is always heavy competition when it comes to The Best of Watercolor: Splash Art Competition. This year's publication held the top three plus another 124 finalists with great variety and an outstanding publication layout design. I was excited to be a finalist for the first time this year.  The Best of Watercolor: Splash 25 came out in mid-July and my painting John's Grill was chosen to be included. I was pleased because it really was one of my prize winning paintings and put me in the direction of my focus on urban landscape toward mid-century neon signage.  This painting had a long journey. It started out as an idea from reference images I took while visiting San Francisco in 2005. I think I started it in 2007, moved to Florida the same year and it sat for another seven years. I finally picked up painting again and finished it in 2015 and showed it in six exhibits from 2017 through 2023 and finally sold last year to a lucky collector. Best of Watercolor: Splash Art C...

This year's Watercolor Art Society-Houston 47th International Watermedia Exhibition opened in style on March 3rd at the WAS-H Building near downtown Houston. The show boasts 88 masterworks from four countries and 21 states hung Salon style. The opening was well attended and a number of awards given. This year's show was judged by  Vladislav Yeliseyev. My painting "Welcome Anybody" was accepted and it is my fourth year with this show. I am honored to have my work among such great painters. The juror's comment was "This is a high-quality show. It rivals the American Watercolor Society Show." "Welcome Anybody" was completed in late 2023 and is a composition I've wanted to do for quite some time. I visited San Francisco in 2005 on vacation with my spouse and shot many pictures in and around town. This store signage appealed to me because it had such a presence. I waited until the time seemed right because of it's unusual composition. I ha...

It's official, I'm going to Dallas! I'll be exhibiting in The Other Art Fair Dallas at the Dallas Market Hall May 9-12, 2024. This is exciting for me since this is the first event of this type and format that I will participate in. Saatchi Art is the main presenter and they hand-pick the artists through applications. I will have more details as the time comes closer. I'm testing out the smallest booth size, but I think it is plenty to start with. The back wall is eight linear feet and side wings are four linear feet each. I am planning a variety of sizes, so as of late I have painted a few 12" x 12" works and have a few more small scale planned.  Checking out the Spring Dallas fair, I could see that everyone sold art and that it did not matter whether an artist had large or small booths. In-fact, my impression was that the largest booth size might not be necessary since the exhibitors were not galleries but rather individual artists, plus the walls were fair...