Rosie Huart

In a rather small secluded room at the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center in Troy, Ohio, on a warm Sunday afternoon in July and where over 100 attendees watched nationally recognized artist Cheng-Khee Chee from Duluth, Minnesota, give birth to his favorite subject matter, koi fish, with his watercolor magic.  The very first brush strokes in watercolor were the letters O W S which signified  his dedication to the Ohio Watercolor Society for their kindness and hospitality.  Mr. Chee was the juror for the OWS 32nd annual juried Ohio Watercolor Society exhibition and is conducting a week-long workshop at the Center.

The images posted are sequential and can easily be seen in developmental stages.  Starting from a blank sheet of watercolor paper he applied paint in a variety of colors from edge to edge.  At a critical point on the wet to dry paper he removed paint with his hand-held squirrel hair brush.  With flicks of his hand he made magic before the audience and the koi fish started appearing.  Mr. Chee entertained the audience as he made the fishes eyes blue, since according to Chee, most of the audience's eyes were blue.