Shelly Chess, an artist and resident of North Park, San Diego, California, has won the First Place award in the February 2025 San Diego Watercolor Society (SDWS) Member’s gallery exhibition “Vibrations”. Her work was selected for this honor out of 259 submissions.
Chess’s painting titled “Secret Cove” was selected by prominent local artist Richard Hawk for the honor. Hawk commented, “I responded immediately to the shape collection in this piece. Arrangement of shapes is powerful with satisfying space division. The unapologetically knifed patches for me echo the painter, Richard Diebenkorn. Love the treatment of painterly sky and water contrasting with very direct application of paint on the rocks. Wonderful balance between abstraction and representation. The piece has depth and a certain bigness. Beautiful.”
Shelly Chess has been teaching art since 2009. She attended Minneapolis College of Art and Design and studied painting, drawing and printmaking. She then transferred to Arizona State University and received a BA in Fine Arts. After raising two children, and working as an art teacher, she decided to pursue her goals as an artist. She paints in a variety of mediums, and currently paints abstract landscapes and seascapes. Her inspiration comes from all things in nature. She builds many layers of paint to achieve texture and color. Color shapers and palette knives are her ‘go-to’ for creating an abstract piece. She teaches and exhibits at Art on 30th, in North Park, San Diego as well as at the Artist Lab in Carmel Valley. Find her work on Instagram at #Shellysartfulminds.
The SDWS Gallery Exhibit will run through Saturday March 1, 2025. Paintings can be viewed and purchased at the gallery and on the SDWS website at https://www.sdws.org/galleryart.php?cat=7067
ABOUT SAN DIEGO WATERCOLOR SOCIETY
The San Diego Watercolor Society, a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1965, is dedicated to expanding the appreciation of and involvement in watermedia painting through education, exhibition and promotion. More information can be found at http://www.sdws.org.
“Secret Cove”
by Shelly Chess
Acrylic, 30 x 40”
Image courtesy of San Diego Watercolor Society
CONTACT INFORMATION –Carla Scheidlinger, [email protected]