Kent painter creates ‘Best Watercolor of the Year'

“Empty Nest” is the painting that won “Best Watercolor of the Year.”
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“Empty Nest” is the painting that won “Best Watercolor of the Year.”
'This is my time,” said Deborah Chabrian, still basking in the glow of winning “Best Watercolor of the Year” at the PleinAir Convention in Cherokee, S.C.
Her painting “Empty Nest,” depicting an empty birdcage in front of her South Kent studio window, with a view of Schaghticoke Mountain behind it, was chosen as the ultimate winner in the watercolor category after a complex year-long competition.
The process saw 11,000 paintings submitted by 3,000 international artists in 20 different categories. Each month between April 2023 to March 2024, first, second and third winners were announced in each category, winnowing the number of contestants down to 276 semifinalists.
Chabrian was a semi-finalist in four of the categories. Her “View from Cabin #2,” a painting of the porch of the cabin the family rents in Maine each year, won “Best Plein Air Watercolor” in April 2023. “Gussie,” a painting of a plush black-and-white cat, won the “Best Animal & Bird” category in May 2023, and “Sunset at Kuerner’s Farm’’ won Third Place Overall in March 2024.
Thirty finalists for Yearly Winners in the different categories were selected in April 2024, and were announced at the Plein Air Convention & Expo in Cherokee, NC, in May. Her “Empty Nest, first selected as “Best Still Life” August 2023, was chosen as “Best Watercolor of the Year.”
“I’m honored to be among the top winners,” she posted this week. “I think it has finally sunk in and I am so grateful for the honor. What an incredible art experience; it will stay with me for a long time.”
Chabrian and her husband, artist Ed Martinez, moved to Kent 37 years ago from Long Island seeking a quiet place in which to work. They found a 200-year-old farmhouse and settled down to paint and raise their family. “We just bought into the whole lifestyle in Kent,” she said.
Working cheek-by-jowl, they nevertheless followed different artistic paths, with Chabrian working in watercolors while exploring her fascination with architecture and vistas, and her husband pursuing portraiture in oils.
Chabrian said she never envisioned a life other than as an artist. “I knew by the time I was in kindergarten that I wanted to be an artist,” she said. “In grade school, high school, even at Parsons [School of Design in New York] we were cautioned it would be hard to make a living as an artist, but I always stuck with it.”
Deborah Chabrian Kathryn Boughton
As younger artists, both Chabrian and Martinez did commercial work, but she confesses she never “feels the same way” when creating something on demand. Her work appears on more than 500 book covers.
“I have done a lot of work I didn’t want to do,” she said, “but we haven’t done commercial work in a while now.” Both will work on commission, however.
She said she is now “pushing a little more with competitions,” something she did not do much when her family was younger. “It takes time and money,” she explained. Nevertheless, over the years she has been awarded honors from The American Watercolor Society, The National Watercolor Society, The Portrait Institute, The National Academy of Design and The Society of Illustrators.
Both Martinez and Chabrian previously entered a competition that would send 10 winners to the Forbes Trinchera Ranch in Colorado. Amazingly, out of all the contestants, they were both among the 10. chosen for the honor. “It was the first time I was immersed in plein air painting,” she said. She says plein air painting can be “tricky” because the light is constantly changing. “You sort of have pick and choose the experience. It teaches you to see and respond in ways you don’t get from photographs.”
She says she likes to return to a painting site on multiple days while her husband is “annoyingly fast” while working in the open air.
In Kent, Martinez and Chabrian interact with other local artists, occasionally working in plein air, feeding off each other as they observe other techniques. “There has been an explosion of workshops in recent years and competitions help, too, because you see other people’s work,” she said.
The Plein Air conference was a six-day session where every day was filled with painting demonstrations and lectures followed by a “Paint Out” at various sites—the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Cherokee Indian Village, a farm, a nocturne at the crossroads in Cherokee and at the Biltmore Estate. “It was a very stimulating and exhausting experience,” she reported.
After all these years and all her successes, Chabrian says she finally feels she has “gotten to the point where I have a certain amount of control over my chosen medium.”
It would seem the judges agree.
Waterlily (8”x12”) made by Marilyn Hock
It takes a lot of courage to share your art for the first time and Marilyn Hock is taking that leap with her debut exhibition at Sharon Town Hall on Sept. 12. A realist painter with a deep love for wildlife, florals, and landscapes, Hock has spent the past few years immersed in watercolor, teaching herself, failing forward, and returning again and again to the page. This 18-piece collection is a testament to courage, practice and a genuine love for the craft.
“I always start with the eyes,” said Hock of her animal portraits. “That’s where the soul lives.” This attentiveness runs through her work, each piece rendered with care, clarity, and a respect for the subtle variations of color and light in the natural world.
After painting in oils earlier in life, Hock returned to art when she retired from working as a paralegal with a goal: to learn watercolor. It wasn’t easy.
“Oils and watercolor are opposites,” she explained. “With oils, you build your darks first. In watercolor, if you do that, you’re in trouble.” She studied online, finding instructors whose approach clicked, and adapted to the delicacy of the medium.
“When I’m working, everything else falls away,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what’s going on in life. While I’m painting, time disappears.”
Her studio, formerly a home office, is now her sanctuary and the pieces in this exhibition are the result of three years of that devoted studio work. While this is her first full public show, Hock previously tested the waters at a small fundraiser at Noble Horizons, where one of her pieces sold. That experience — and the consistent encouragement from her family, especially her husband — pushed her to pursue a full exhibition. With gentle encouragement from her husband and family, Hock reached out to the Town Hall’s curator, Zelina Blagden. “My husband kept saying, ‘You’re as good as all those other people out there, why not show your work?’” And so, here it is.
All paintings in the show are for sale, though Hock admits a few are priced high — not because of their size or complexity — but because she’s not quite ready to let them go. “There are a couple I’ve priced high because I’m not sure I want to part with them. But we’ll see,” she laughed. “It would be nice to support the habit a little bit.”
As for aspiring artists or anyone hesitating to begin something creative, Hock’s advice is simple: “Go for it. If it fails, toss it in the basket and start over.”
The exhibit will be on view at Sharon Town Hall through Oct. 31 with an opening reception on Sept. 12 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.
Carissa Unite, general manager of Oblong Books in Millerton.
Carissa Unite of Millerton, began working at Oblong Books 16 years ago as a high schooler. She recently celebrated her eight-year anniversary as the general manager.
Unite’s journey at Oblong began even before she applied for her first position.An avid reader from a young age, she was a frequent customer at the store. During those years, Unite bonded with a former employee who encouraged her to apply for a position after connecting over their shared love of reading.
As a teenager, Unite enjoyed reading Ellen Hopkins, John Green and Ann Brashares. With the busyness of adulthood, she now favors the convenience of audio books. In the past year, however, she has made it a point to read more physical books.
With a preference for contemporary fiction, she raved about “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The story, set in the 1980s, follows two women who become astronauts at a time when women were not widely accepted in the field. A beautiful love story emerges between the two characters. Unite described the writing as sensational and commended Reid’s ability to tackle complex themes without them being muddied.
Unite has developed a deep appreciated for classic literature. Her two favorites are “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin and “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde. She was amazed by the philosophical nature of both words and the way their dialogue challenged her perspective.
In an effort to read beyond her preferred genre, she recommends the following:
“Some Desperate Glory,” by Emily Tesh, “Midnight Rooms,” by Donyae Coles and “Clear” by Carys Davies.
For Unite, the beauty of reading lies in its power to develop perspective, empathy, and compassion. Through books, readers learn that everyone is fighting different battles and no two stories are the same. She encourages people to choose kindness because you never know what someone else is facing.
Above all, reading brings Unite peace. If offers transcendence to another world, a pause from outside noise, and for Unite, it is where she feels most at home.
For anyone hesitant to being reading, Unite suggests: just do it! Read 10 pages a day and find the book that speaks to you. Any Oblong staff member would be happy to offer recommendations.
Oblong is located at 26 Main St., in Millerton and 6422 Montgomery St. in Rhinebeck.
Photographer Sarah Blodgett displayed her prints on canvas at the Souterrain Gallery of The Wish House during the Open Studio Tour in Cornwall.
The weather was perfect on Saturday, Aug. 30, for the 19th annual Artists’ Studio Tour in Cornwall, held each Labor Day weekend.
Organizer David Colbert said, “It has become quite a tradition.”
Colbert’s studio was one of 10 on this year’s tour.His large geometric works line a sculpture walk near the studio, which those on the tour were welcome to enjoy.
Another stop was at Tim Prentice’s barn and studio. Prentice is famous for his kinetic sculptures, which were on display in the barn and surrounding fields.Now in his 90s, Prentice held court in his nearby studio.With his eyesight failing due to macular degeneration, he has turned to drawing.
Prentice recently completed “a series of trees before the leaves come out and obscure the structure.I do them from memory.” Drawings on display in his barn were being snapped up by tourgoers, with profits going to help fight macular degeneration.
At the Souterrain Gallery of the Wish House, first-time tour participant and basket maker Tina Puckett sat outside demonstrating her art. Inside the gallery, her unique baskets were on display. “I think the studio tour is great for the public and for us,” she said.
Also, at Souterrain, another first-timer, photographer Sarah Blodgett, showed her work. Photographs printed on canvas were vibrant with colors.She said she works on these in the winter when she can’t be outside doing wildlife photography which, is “near and dear to my heart.”There were samples of that as well.
Other artists on the tour included shoemaker Lauren Brinker, photographer Stephan Sagmiller, potter Sanah Peterson, painters Magaly Ohika, Emily Waters, and Debby Jones, photographer Nick Jacobs, and poet/artist Sally Van Doren.
The tour is a unique opportunity to chat with artists, view and purchase their work, and see their studios.
For more information go to: https://cornwallct.org/event/cornwall-open-studio-2025/