Ambassador of the Week: Carmella Tuliszewski

June 19, 2018

Meet Carmella Tuliszewski, this week’s top American Watercolor Weekly Ambassador!

“Summer Harvest”, (watercolor, 18 x 24 in.)was my first glass painting. It earned the Award of Merit in the 2015 Pennsylvania Watercolor Society International Exhibition.

Upon completion of my BFA from Moore Colleg of Art & Design in Philadelphia,
I became a commercial artist — first for Hallmark Cards, Inc. in Kansas City, Missouri and then as a very busy freelancer with card companies, design firms and publishers throughout the U.S. After more than 15 years of freelancing, while my husband and I raised our two children, I returned to Moore to do graduate work which led to my PA State Certification in Visual Art grades K thru 12.

As a teacher I was required to take continuing education classes to keep my state certification. And one night, about six years ago, I walked into a watercolor class at my local community college. My expectation was that it would just be an easy class to earn my credits and off I would go. It became so much more than that. After the class I went back to my classroom but on my days off I read everything I could about watercolor.

I did the setup for “Ripples” (watercolor, 21 x 24 in.), then climbed up on a ladder to photograph it. I noticed that the clear glass appeared to bend and swirl around the spheres. I could not wait to paint it! This painting was selected for the American Watercolor Society Exhibition in 2016 and is featured in Splash 18.

I watched Youtube videos, read all the art magazines and just played with the materials. So I have not been working in watercolor for very long and have a lot to learn. It’s quite a thrill for me to attend the watercolor society exhibitions my work is in and to meet some of the artists I’ve admired when I first began this journey.

A defining characteristic of my work is saturated color enhanced by dramatic lighting.

I set up my stills in the early morning sun. I have found that to be the best time to catch the long, saturated shadows I was looking for in “Glimmerglass”, (watercolor, 15 x 28 in.), which was selected for the Signature American Water Media Exhibition for 2018.

I have had my work appear in Splash 18 and as a finalist in The Art of Watercolor Magazine competition as well as being awarded Signature Status in The National Watercolor Society, The Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, The Philadelphia Watercolor Society, The Northwest Watercolor Society, and The Baltimore Watercolor Society.

Recently I retired from teaching and now have the happy task of painting full time. I consider myself fortunate to do this work.

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