By Lynn Trantow

For The Courier-Herald

Famed Watercolorist Eric Wiegardt will return to Enumclaw to conduct a five-day workshop in April.

Wiegardt is a native of Washington state, growing up near Oysterville on the Long Beach Peninsula.

After earning a degree in civil engineering from the University of Washington, he graduated from the American Academy of Art in Chicago. He returned to his home town in 1985 to open Wiegardt Studio Gallery in the Victorian home built by his great-grandfather. Because of his connections to the Pacific Ocean, his paintings often reflect maritime scenes and the colors of Washington skies and waters.

Among other honors, he has received the American Watercolor Society’s Mary S. Litt Medal, the National Watercolor Society’s President’s Award, the coveted John F and Anna Lee Stacey Scholarship Award and the Philip Eisenberg Award.

Wiegardt’s book “Watercolors Free and Easy” has sold more than 20,000 copies internationally.

Wiegardt will be teaching his full-day workshop, “Watercolor-Free-and Easy,” at the Green River Community College Enumclaw Campus April 12-16. The class is open to anyone interested in learning more about expressing their art through the use of loose, color-rich brush strokes, concentrating on subject composition, design and color value.

Contact Lynn Trantow at 360-825-5571 or 253-232-6861 or the Arts Alive! Enumclaw studio at 360-802-6787 for information.