Rancho Bernardo resident Carol Mansfield won the “Best of Theme” award during the San Diego Watercolor Society’s May members exhibition.
Mansfield’s piece is titled “Join the Crowd.” It is a 14-inch by 21-inch acrylic painting. There were 207 entries in the exhibition, according to SDWS communications director Carla Scheidlinger.
“It’s wonderful, I was very pleased,” Mansfield said about her award.
While she has won several awards in previous SDWS shows, this is her first “Best of Theme” honor, Mansfield said.
The exhibition’s theme is “Nature’s Echo.” It is available for viewing through May 30 at the SDWS gallery at 2825 Dewey Road in Liberty Station.
“The theme is ‘Nature’s Echo’ and that’s what I see in this painting,” said judge Wanda Honeycutt. “There’s something to look at in every single space. I love all the different abstract shapes, and yet you get a real sense of nature.
“There are a lot of greens and shapes that are being echoed,” Honeycutt said. “You see the circular shapes echoing through the painting, being done in different ways: different sizes, different colors, different values. It has strong value contrasts.
“The big, bold, dark shape in the top left corner would really be too much if it wasn’t for the fact that there’s so much going on, with such strong shapes and value contrast in the rest of the painting,” Honeycutt said. “Yet, we have some delicate areas as well. The top right corner has this delicate, pink shade that is very appealing. Nice job.”
Mansfield said she was “really pleased” that Honeycutt understood how she was trying to express the idea of reflections being echoes.
“I saw it as reflections in large groups of people,” Mansfield said of her inspiration.