CAZENOVIA — This year, the artwork of New Woodstock fine artist Daniel K. Tennant will be featured on the official poster of the Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors (ANEAW), an annual competitive exhibition held at VIEW Center for Arts and Culture in Old Forge, NY.
Scheduled for Aug. 6 to Sept. 25, the 41st ANEAW is open to all artists working in water-based media, including transparent and opaque watercolors, acrylics, casein, egg tempera, gouache, and ink.
Tennant painted his featured work, “Autumn in the Adirondacks,” in 2021 based on a photograph taken by his eldest son, Christopher Tennant, who is an accomplished landscape photographer (christennantphotography.com).
A physicist by training, Christopher’s interest in photography began when his parents bought him a Pentax K1000 35 mm film camera for his tenth birthday.
“I taught photography for 25 years at the high school level, so I taught him the basics,” recalled Tennant. “He eventually became quite serious about digital photography after college and has had articles published and has won a number of prestigious awards.”
Christopher’s work has appeared in “Popular Photography,” “Shutterbug,” and “Photo Technique,” as well as “Adirondack Life” and several other regional New York State magazines. In Adirondack Life magazine’s 2011 photo contest, Christopher was awarded the grand prize overall and second place in the black & white category.
Tennant completed his 25-inch x 35-inch gouache (opaque watercolor) painting of Christopher’s photo over the course of 130 hours.
“I thought it would make for a strong image for the watercolor show’s poster,” said Tennant. “I sent them a jpeg and the selection committee up there voted to use it. . . The completed painting had to be cropped slightly at the bottom to make the image fit the more rectangular proportion of the poster.”
Throughout the years, the annual ANEAW posters have become collectors’ items for supporters of the show.
This year, VIEW will print 400 of the new posters, 200 of which will be signed by the artist. According to Tennant, the posters will be available by mail order and in the VIEW gift shop.
Tennant’s original painting will be exhibited this summer at VIEW, where it will be for sale. Half of the proceeds will be donated to VIEW.
Although Tennant has not entered any of his artwork to the ANEAW since 2019, he hopes his financial contribution will help support the show’s continuation.
“The show at Old Forge gives younger artists an opportunity to have their work exposed to the public,” Tennant said. “They do such a fine job of promoting the work up there, and the show catalog is helpful in that it lists all the artists who are accepted, their addresses, websites, and e-mail addresses. Whenever an artist wins a prize, it is a psychological boost — at least it was for me. I wanted to help financially, so they can continue this show because it has meant so much for so many who needed it in their early careers as painters.”
Tennant competed in the juried show seven times (1989, 1990 2002, 2010, 2014, 2017, and 2019).
In 2019, his painting “A Hard Working Man,” was awarded ANEAW’s $2,500 Beechmont First & Gold Medallion prize.
That same year, his painting “Elk Lake Sunrise” was featured on the 2019 ANEAW poster.
Tennant is a graduate of Cazenovia High School, where he studied under nationally recognized watercolorist Merrill A. Bailey (1909-1981).
After high school, Tennant continued his art education at Syracuse University, where he graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of fine arts in painting and a master of science in art education.
He went on to become a high school art teacher, instructing students at the Bainbridge-Guilford High School in Chenango County for 32 years.
The artist has worked exclusively in gouache since 1979 and has been recognized as one of the most technically proficient artists working in the medium.
Tennant typically works from his own photographs. After establishing an image on museum board, he begins adding paint — starting with the background and working towards the foreground. He also works from dark to light.
His 2010 book, “Realistic Painting” (Walter Foster Publishing) has sold 35,000 copies, and his article “All About Gouache” was published in the Aug. 2020 issue of “Watercolor Artist.”
Tennant’s artwork has appeared on book covers and in magazines, books, calendars, and limited-edition prints.
His work has also been exhibited in museums and galleries across the country and is in permanent museum collections, as well as private and corporate collections in the United States and abroad.
To learn more about Tennant and view his work, visit danielktennant.com.
For more information on VIEW, visit viewarts.org.
