A wonderful weekend of art

Ruth Lefko and I went on a road trip this past weekend. First we stopped at Natural Bridge and went to the wonderful light and music show under the arch in the darkness. It was magical! A night in the Natural Bridge Hotel was excellent and then on to Lexington for a quick stop at the Nelson Gallery featuring 90 pieces of plein air work done in and around Lexington. Excellent show and adorable town. Our main goal was Winchester for our next stop for the 2017 38th Virginia Watercolor Society annual juried exhibition. It was held at the beautiful Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. This show is really worth the trip. This is the fourth VWS show I have seen and it is stunning! We attended all the events except the workshop and I can say it was beautifully conducted. Best of all, an assortment of BRAA members took awards! Vera Dickerson and Ruth Lefko won Awards of Excellence and Sally Mook won an Award of Merit. Tracey Budd from the Studio School won an Award of Distinction and Z. L. Feng won an excellent Third Place with a portrait he began as a demo for us in last year's workshop. All in all, our weekend was well spent. Congratulations to all including member Jane Shafer who achieved her signature status from being accepted into three shows with VWS. A total of 26 awards were given.....Gerri Young.