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Local Artist’s Watercolor Selected as Winner of Coachella Valley
Wildflower Festival Art Contest for Official Festival Poster
 Local artist Diane McClary has been recognized as this year’s winner in the annual Coachella Valley Wildflower Festival Art Contest sponsored by Friends of the Desert Mountains, and will have her original watercolor painting “Palo Verde in Bloom” digitally reproduced as the official poster for the 2012 festival.
Commemorative posters will be available for purchase during the Coachella Valley Wildflower Festival on Saturday, March 3, 2012 at the Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains National Monument on Hwy. 74 in Palm Desert. McClary will be at the festival to autograph purchased posters and to display and sell her other works of art.
McClary’s paintings are known for her unique use of color. She can often be seen outdoors around the desert painting “plein air” scenes on location. From the smaller sketches, she later creates larger paintings in the studio. Her training was from studying with the internationally known Russian Impressionist artist, Sergei Bongart. She has exhibited in Washington, Colorado and California, and her paintings are in the collections of many desert residents.
McClary is no stranger to having her artwork win accolades. Recently her desert paintings were commissioned for the Joshua Tree National Park, fall and spring catalogues, as well as the Desert Activity Guide for fall 2011.
McClary participates in most all of the desert art festivals and has taught workshops in France, Africa, Washington, California, and Florida. She is currently conducting monthly one-day workshop at the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Visitor Center. Her next workshop will be on March 15, 2012 from 9-4 and will provide instruction on plein air painting of Wildflowers. For more information, contact the Visitor Center at 760-862-9984.
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