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Art Lovers The month of May was filled with OHCC's 40th Anniversary festivities and the Art Lovers Club was delighted to participate in the celebrations. On May 3, Kathleen Scoggin again enthralled her audience with her abstract watermedia demonstration. Kathleen has won multiple watercolor awards in San Diego and the Coachella Valley, and began painting abstracts about ten years ago. Her work is inspired by nature and her goals are to balance a spontaneous approach while using good composition and design. She says that letting the watercolors do their thing is the fun part while creating a good composition is the challenging and sometimes frustrating part of the process. First, Ms. Scoggin uses the color wheel to determine what colors she will use and prefers to use complementary colors as she says they are more dramatic. In the painting above (top right) she used magenta and orange with a little opaque mint green. She uses both transparent and opaque watercolors and has separate water bowls for each. Kathleen defines the areas that she wants to remain white with a light pencil mark, then filling in that area with a white candle. Then she sprays the back and the front of the paper with copious amounts of water. The artist began by painting large swaths of magenta watercolor with a 2½ inch wide flat brush then smaller areas of orange, purple and lilac. She dribbled the green paint and let it run down the paper then splattered the paint by flicking her paintbrush on her paper. Kathleen used a credit card to create some hard edges and frequently tilts her paper to get an effect she wants. While she was painting, Ms. Scoggin gave us several bits of advice about creating an abstract painting. Use small, medium and large spaces to create balance. Find an area that you want for your main interest. Employ lines of various thickness to direct the eye to your area of interest. Paint some soft edges as well as hard edges. Don't overwork an area or it will become muddy. Your painting doesn't necessarily need to have a "message." It is just about art. If you'd like to join our active club ($12 per year) or know more about the Art Lovers Club please visit our website, https://ohccartlovers. wixsite.com/art-lovers. You can also contact our president, Susan Pick at (760) 305-8907 or erniepick@netzero.net. Written by Rita Montjoy | OHCC LIVING | JULY 2024 | 29 Recently, there were many delightful special events to celebrate Ocean Hills' 40th anniversary. Thanks to Chris Bessey and so many others in the community for coordinating all of the activities. Of course, we know that OHCC stands for Ocean Hills Country Club. But those initials could also be: Our Happy Creative Community, or One Heckofa Charming Campus, or Octogenarians Have Comfy Couches! Reviewing a bit of the history of the Art Studio, we want to acknowledge the suggestion by resident, Joanne Paulin, who enabled the installation of the slat board in the Studio, thereby ending the need to patch endless nail holes in the walls! Have you seen the current display? You have a few more days to see the art before it is changed out on July 6. Thanks to our creative artists for lending us their works, perhaps leaving a blank space on their own walls: Andy Fulton, Bruce Taylor, Carol Davis, Gary Warmuth, Jeff Powell, Joyce Chaney, Karin Leszinski, and Lily Christensen. We are delighted, as always, to call your attention to our very talented photographers who, in composing their photos, display their creative eye for design. Come see their awesome display in the Art Studio. Be sure to let our "artsie" residents know that you appreciate their willingness to share their time and talent. If you would like to have your art on display in the Art Studio, giving you an opportunity to share your creative skill with our community, please contact the writers of this article, Judy Harris and Lainy Vinikow. Art Studio