What do you get when you mix colored pigments with water and apply them to a canvas? You just might get a masterpiece.
Saturday, seven members of the Iowa Watercolor Society were hosted by the Clarke Area Arts Council at Lakeside Hotel Casino for a live painting event. The artists set up stations to work on paintings, chatting with each other and guests about their work and methods.
“It’s a great opportunity to see really quality pieces and [process],” Clarke Area Arts Council President Kate Emanuel said.
Meet the artists
Many of the artists shared they use watercolor painting as a way to relax and find peace.
“You get into it and the world goes away,” Jan Globuschutz, artist and former President of the Iowa Watercolor Society, said.
Globuschutz started her artistry journey working in oils before moving over to watercolor. Today, she paints a lot of flowers, working her way through them one petal at a time.
Others look to nature for inspiration, too, painting what they see in the world around them.
“I love to be outdoors,” artist Mike Freel said.
Freel leans more towards landscapes, sometimes using source pictures and making them his own, other times painting something he’d seen at a later time when inspiration strikes. Lisa Young also enjoys nature scenes, her favorite to paint being birds - she’s painted a book of Iowa birds - and animals.
“It’s whatever inspires me,” Young said.
Susan Baer of Chariton works mostly in landscapes, but also paints doodles, some people and other realistic works. Some of her paintings may start out as a photograph for reference that she adds more elements to, while others are more than one photo melded together. Baer makes a black and white “composite” painting first to get definition before using it as a reference for the same painting with color. She often works on two paintings at once, working on one while the other dries.
Conversely, Martha Rhoades works mostly in portraits and kids, though she dabbles in a “bit of everything.” Rhoades said she has always liked to draw people, and to date has drawn all five of her grandchildren. She works in pastels as well, but enjoys the challenge of watercolor. One of her favorite paintings is one of her brother holding a black drum fish he had reeled in.
Two relative newcomers to the world of watercolor are Tanya Lichtenwalter and Laura Ostrem.
Hailing from Madison County, Lichtenwalter operated Happy Acres Dog Training north of Winterset. In 2025, Lichtenwalter went on a painting adventure in Mexico where she completed a grand total of two paintings, but has painted every day since. Hailing earlier sentiments about the peace that comes with painting, Lichtenwalter’s dogs join her on painting adventures in the former boarding building for her daily dose of relaxation.
“It’s a good [thing], when things in the world aren’t so great right now,” Lichtenwalter said.
Dogs not far from her heart or feet, Lichtenwalter transformed one painting of gnomes into three of her dogs - Princess Rebel Potomas, Garth and Ray Charles.
Making the trip over from Motezuma, Ostrem said she started painting during COVID by watching online videos and has continued for the creative outlet.
“I just do it for fun,” Ostrem said.
A former lawyer, Ostrem said she is still honing her skills in watercolor as she doesn’t spend all of her time or day painting. Unlike some of the other artists in attendance, she doesn’t shy away from portraits, enjoying being able to capture people’s expressions. She paints a little bit of everything, whatever speaks to her, from animals to plants to the abstract.
Painting for nearly seven decades is Tom Hempel of Davenport. A construction engineer in the U.S. Army, Hempel spent one year in Vietnam helping to build an airplane hangar. Back in the states he slowly eased his way back into painting and discovered by chance the watercolor works of the late John Pike in a library book about watercolor, an inspired find.
“He paints just like I do,” Hempel said, calling Pike the best watercolor artist in the world.
One thing that some might find unusual about Hempel’s work is that he doesn’t use black, finding that it dries chalky. Instead, he uses purples, blues and reds to make his paintings pop. He didn’t always paint like this, but said with age came the wisdom. He also tends to paint the skies of any painting last, because by the time you finish a painting, you know what you want the sky to be.
Traveling show
The 2025-26 IWS Traveling Show is currently on display at Lakeside Hotel Casino in the events center entrance, and will be there through March.
“We’re so happy to have this statewide display of artists in watercolor,” Emanuel said. “We look forward to when we can get on their list… it’s a rare opportunity to have this quality of work.”
The show features 30 selected artwork by different artists, including five who were at Saturday’s event - both Ostrem and Hempel received honorable mentions for a piece of work while Baer, Rhoades and Globuschutz had work selected for the show.
After March, the show will be at the Corning Center for the Fine Arts in April and May, then in Creston at the Creston Arts Depot Gallery for June and July.