Kent painter creates ‘Best Watercolor of the Year'

“Empty Nest” is the painting that won “Best Watercolor of the Year.”
Provided
“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.
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Guests of the carnival at Bunny McGuire Park had a wide variety of rides to choose from, including a classic merry-go-round.
NORTH CANAAN — Four days of festivities concluded Saturday, July 19, with the grand finale of Canaan Summer Nights.
The carnival first arrived at Bunny McGuire Park on Wednesday, kicking off North Canaan Event Committee’s new vision for summer activities in town.
What was previously known as Railroad Days was separated this year into two parts: Canaan Summer Nights in July; and Old Railroad Days Aug. 7 to 10.
Katelin Lopes and Tessa Dekker beneath the fireworks on Saturday, July 19.Photo by Simon Markow
In addition to the carnival last week, the Douglas Library hosted a Roaring 20s cocktail party (see story on Page A9) and the St. Martin of Tours Parish Church of St. Joseph hosted a barbecue chicken dinner on the lawn.
A mix of antique and modern fire engines from Canaan, Lakeville, Norfolk, Sharon, Winsted, Falls Village, Cornwall, Salisbury, and other regional departments paraded down Main Street in the Saturday evening sun. The town welcomed them with waves and applause. Shortly behind the rescue engines were local sports champions, tractors, racecars, trucks and “Ted’s Comedy Wagon” with an endless supply of jokes.
After the sun went down, the crowd only got bigger. At around 9:30 p.m. the fireworks show began and everyone that was lined up for a ride or cotton candy turned to watch. The lucky few at the top of the Ferris wheel got the best view. The fireworks were a token of gratitude for the support of local businesses, vendors, the fire department and to parents carrying prize stuffed animals larger than the children that won them.
Supported by a $250,000 LEAP grant in late June, the 5,200-acre acquisition of a permanent conservation easement by the Kent-based Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy protects the land surrounding the Colebrook Reservoir, the state’s largest remaining untapped drinking water reservoir.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) announced July 15 that the state is awarding $14.3 million in Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition (OSWA) grants to protect 2,270 acres across 22 towns.
The grants, administered to land conservation groups by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), include five properties in the Northwest Connecticut towns of Cornwall, Kent, Salisbury and Sharon, encompassing more than 400 acres with awards totaling more than $3 million.
Trio of grants for NCLC
The Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy (NCLC) has received three significant grant awards to support the acquisition and permanent protection of three properties essential for public recreation and ecological resilience, totaling 5,425 acres. A $1.3 million grant through OSWA leads a trio of recent awards supporting land conservation in Connecticut. The other two grants, totaling $348,500, were awarded by the Connecticut Land Conservation Council’s Land Easement and Acquisition Program (LEAP).
According to NCLC, together, these grants underscore the strong and widespread commitment of public agencies, private organizations, and local communities to conserving natural and working agricultural lands.
Properties being protected include Surdan Mountain Preserve in Sharon, the Colebrook Reservoir Conservation Easement and the Strauss Morrisey Preserve Expansion in Sherman.
The properties provide critical habitat for rare, threatened and endangered species by safeguarding clean water sources, supporting natural wildlife corridors and offering new public access to nature.
With the $1.3M award from OSWA, the protection of the 108-acre Surdan Mountain parcel, which adjoins the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail corridor, will be accessible to all when the preserve opens to the public.
The property includes a dramatic scenic view stretching 20 miles to the summit of Bear Hill, the highest peak in Connecticut; to the peak of Mount Frissell in Massachusetts, and Mount Race in New York State.
The Colebrook Reservoir Conservation Easement was supported by a $250,000 LEAP grant award. The 5,200-acre acquisition of a permanent conservation easement on this parcel protects Connecticut’s largest remaining untapped drinking water reservoir, which directly feeds the designated National Wild and Scenic Farmington River.
“We are incredibly grateful to all our partners for helping to make these acquisitions possible, especially during a time of funding uncertainty,” said NCLC Executive Director Catherine Rawson. “These acquisitions are a big win for our environment and communities.”
A pair of grants
in Cornwall
The Cornwall Conservation Trust earned two OSWA grants, one in the amount of $122,200 for its 41.78-acre Cobble Forest project, and a second, $195,000 grant for its 90-acre Furnace Brook Forest project.
The Cobble Forest property boasts a scenic ridgeline containing Heffers Brook, a high-quality cold-water stream that flows into Mill Brook, a tributary of the Housatonic River. The property rises 330 feet from Heffers Brook along its frontage, up to the rocky slopes of The Cobble. The purchase will create a 332-acre forest lock including Cornwall Conservation Trust’s Day Preserve, Walker Preserve and the Housatonic State Forest.
Furnace Brook is a forested ridgeline parcel on the slopes of Dean Hill, across the road from Wyantenock State Forest. It links to the conservation trust’s Furnace Brook Preserve, a 2018 OSWA grant. The Housatonic Heritage Area’s Hou-Bike trail and Housatonic Covered Bridge trail pass along the property frontage.
Shelley Harms, executive director of Cornwall Conservation Trust, noted that the state’s open space grant program makes it possible for local land trusts to purchase important conservation lands and for landowners to achieve their conservation goals.
“We are so lucky. We live in this beautiful area, and we have a state that invests in protecting our precious forests and streams and wildlife,” said Harms. “With the help of these two state grants, Cornwall Conservation Trust is buying two properties upstream from the Housatonic River within a loop formed by the Mohawk Trail and the Appalachian Trail, part of a gorgeous scenic area and connected to other preserved land.
“People can admire those forested ridges from many points in Cornwall,” she noted, “and when the hiking trails are created, people can immerse themselves in nature and hike up to overlooks where they can enjoy the whole panorama.”
Protecting Kent’s
agricultural history
The Kent Land Trust received a $422,500 OSWA grant for its 62.2-acre Halsted Lovig Property project on Camp Flat Road.
The property in southern Kent bordering New Milford is iconic to Kent’s agricultural past. For several decades it was a humus farm but has been vacant for the past quarter-century. The Kent Land Trust plans to create a recreational resource and protect its critical ecological functions.
The property is exceptional for recreation, nestled between two popular trail systems enabling trail connectivity along a roadway convenient to Kent’s Center on the main route of the Western New England Greenway ad Hou-Bike Walk Trails.
The property also contains diverse wetlands and spring-fed open pools, with data suggesting these habitats support at least seven avian species in great need of protection.
Grant targets Salisbury’s Miles Mountain
The Salisbury Association, Inc., received a $886,600 OSWA grant for its 163.59-acre Miles Mountain project. “Ours was one of the larger ones,” said John Landon, committee chair for the Salisbury Association Land Trust. “We felt pretty secure,” he said of the grant submission,” but it’s official now.”
The property on Weatogue Road is easterly of Tom’s Hill, a previous Salisbury Association OSWA-acquired property. It is subject to a 57-acre conservation easement held by Trustees of Reservations, so the DEEP OSWA conservation easement will encumber 163.59 acres, which surrounds the already preserved parcel on three sides.
An LLC comprising community members had formed to protect Miles Mountain from development until the land trust could raise enough funds to purchase the land from the LLC.
Landon said OSWA will fund up to 65% of the purchase price, and he is optimistic that a Federal Highlands Grant will cover most of the balance, “very similar to the Tom’s Hill scenario,” which was also protected from development by a conservation-minded group of community members which formed an LLC to protect that land.
“From large tracts of land to small pocket parks, this group of projects benefits a variety of communities across the state,” said DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes, who noted that since the state’s open space program began in 1998, more than $190 million in state funding has been awarded to municipalities, nonprofit land conservation groups and water companies to assist in the protection of more than 48,000 acres of publicly accessible land.