This piece grew out of a simple but luminous moment—sunlight resting on late-season sunflowers in my father’s garden, sunflowers turning toward the late light, goldfinches moving gently among them with their cheery calls. There’s a softness to that kind of light, a sense of time slowing, that I wanted to hold onto. The pairing of sunflowers and goldfinches felt especially meaningful to me—their shared palette, their seasonal rhythm, and the quiet energy they bring to a scene that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Painted in both opaque and transparent watercolor on museum board, this work allowed me to explore subtle layers of light and texture. I’ve always been drawn to that balance—letting transparency suggest atmosphere while using opacity to anchor form and detail. In many ways, the process mirrored the subject itself: fleeting light made tangible through careful observation.

I’m deeply grateful to the Salmagundi Club for the honor of inclusion in this exhibition. It’s a privilege to have my work shown in such a historic and respected space, alongside so many accomplished artists. Opportunities like this feel both grounding and inspiring—reminders of the shared dedication that connects artists across time and place.

Thank you, as always, to those who continue to support and follow my work. Your encouragement means more than I can fully express.

This piece holds a quiet, personal significance for me. Between Seasons grew out of that subtle, shifting moment in nature when one season gives way to another—when colors soften, edges blur, and everything feels suspended in transition. It’s a space I’m continually drawn to, both visually and emotionally, and one I return to often in my work.

To have this painting recognized among so many exceptional works by talented watercolorists across the country is truly humbling. I’m especially thankful to the jurors and organizers of the Georgia Watercolor Society for their dedication to celebrating watercolor as a vibrant and expressive medium. Exhibitions like this create a meaningful sense of community and shared purpose among artists.

I also want to extend my sincere thanks to those who support my work—collectors, fellow artists, friends, and everyone who follows along with what I’m creating. Your encouragement makes a difference in ways that are hard to fully express.

Moments like this remind me why I paint: to observe closely, to honor the natural world, and to translate fleeting experiences into something lasting. I’m grateful to continue this journey and to share it with all of you.

In “Stillness in Amber Light – Great Blue Heron,” Rebecca captures a moment of complete calm: a heron poised in warm, low light, held between motion and rest. The soft amber glow, reflected in water and feather, invites the viewer to slow down and breathe with the scene, noticing the subtle textures and gentle shifts of color that define her realism. It’s a piece that feels both intimate and expansive, echoing the hush of early or late light along the water’s edge.

Like the rest of the exhibition, this work can be enjoyed from anywhere. 2026 Visions: AAPL at the Carriage Barn will be viewable online from April 19 to May 8, 2026 on the American Artists Professional League website at AAPLinc.org, where “Stillness in Amber Light – Great Blue Heron” will appear alongside “Enchanted Dawn – Yellowthroat Warbler” and other works by professional artists.

For followers of Rebecca’s art, this is a lovely opportunity to see how these two paintings—each centered on a quiet, reflective moment in nature—speak to one another within a broader exhibition dedicated to excellence in fine art.

Stillness has a way of revealing what movement often hides. When an animal rests or a scene settles into soft light, subtleties emerge — the shift of color with temperature, the pattern of shadow across snow, the gentle tension within a moment held at the edge of change. These are the instances where I feel closest to the subjects I paint. They remind me that wildlife is never truly static; even in repose, life hums quietly beneath the surface.

Painting these moments in watercolor is both challenge and meditation. The medium’s transparency mirrors the fragility of light; it requires mindfulness and patience. Each layer must be considered, each edge softened or defined just enough to let the emotion breathe. Sometimes the most powerful part of a painting isn’t what’s rendered in detail, but what’s left in suggestion — the light that hints rather than declares.

In those rare intervals of stillness, the heart of the scene reveals itself. I often find that what I’m painting is less a subject and more a feeling: serenity, grace, or the suspended quiet before movement resumes. Light carries those emotions effortlessly. It speaks in gradients rather than words, illuminating the quiet dignity of the living world.

What continues to inspire me is how timeless these quiet moments feel. They hold the same depth whether experienced in a forest clearing, beside a lake at dawn, or through the small window of a painting. Light and stillness remind us that even in a busy world, beauty still thrives in pause — that the heart of art, like nature, is found not in how much it shows, but in how deeply it allows us to see.

In the studio, I’ve come to welcome this flow. A familiar trail might reveal dew-kissed fur in a new light, or a changing angle of sun might call for a warmer palette on the canvas. It’s not about chasing the next big thing, but savoring how small discoveries — a fresh brush technique, a rediscovered sketch — keep the joy alive. Painting wildlife has taught me that growth unfolds gently, like moss reclaiming a stone, enriching what’s already there without demanding we start over.

This same companionship touches life beyond the easel. We all have moments when routine feels like home, yet nature nudges us toward quiet curiosity — trying a new path on a walk, blending colors we once overlooked, or simply pausing to really see the world around us. It’s a lifelong invitation to stay open, to let renewal feel like a warm breath rather than a storm. In honoring these cycles, we find enduring excitement, not in reinvention for its own sake, but in the simple wonder of continuing to become.

Rebecca Latham’s painting The Edge of Light – Great Egret has been juried into the 20th Annual International IGOR Juried Exhibition at the Principle Gallery in historic Charleston, South Carolina. The exhibition runs June 5 through June 30, 2026, and the selection of this moody, atmospheric piece is a wonderful recognition of Rebecca’s work.

In The Edge of Light – Great Egret, Rebecca captures a quiet moment of rest and watchfulness. The egret is perched and roosting in a tree, held in lower light where cool blue shadows deepen the scene, while strong light catches the delicate wisps of feathers. The contrast between shadow and illumination gives the painting a sense of stillness and mystery, inviting viewers to pause and look more closely.

This work reflects Rebecca’s love of wildlife not only as subject, but as presence — something felt as much as seen. The quiet posture of the egret, set against the dimming light, creates a painting that is both intimate and powerful.

For those in Charleston, or anyone following the exhibition, The Edge of Light – Great Egret will be part of a distinguished show celebrating fine realist and representational art at one of the city’s most historic galleries.

When I begin a painting, I look for that interplay. The grace of a swan gliding across water is only as striking because of the ripples and reflections that surround it. A fox’s fiery coat glows against the muted tones of winter. These contrasts — of texture, temperature, and emotion — give life to the work. They remind me that contrast doesn’t break harmony; it defines it. Every quiet moment in nature exists because something nearby hums with movement or change.

Working in watercolor has taught me to embrace this very idea. Transparent layers depend on contrast — not only between values, but between control and freedom. A crisp edge may rest beside a soft wash; precision flows into suggestion. That partnership between discipline and spontaneity mirrors nature’s own balance. You can’t force harmony into a painting any more than you can into a landscape; you discover it by letting each element find its rightful place.

Emotionally, this balance extends beyond technique. The wild can feel serene or fierce, distant or intimate — sometimes all within a single scene. As an artist, my task is to hold those truths together without simplifying them. When I paint, I try to let the softness of light meet the roughness of bark, or capture the quiet grace of a moment that still carries the memory of motion. Those subtle contrasts are what turn a painting from representation into experience.

Harmony and contrast are not opposing forces but companions. The wild teaches us that opposition is essential — that tension creates texture, and that natural diversity brings stability. I carry that lesson into every brushstroke, grateful for how nature continues to reveal that balance between wonder and restraint. It’s in that union — between calm and wildness, between knowing and discovery — that my paintings, and perhaps all art, find their soul.

When I’m painting, that thought lingers with me. Light defines everything — the curve of a leaf, the shadow under a wing, the way a landscape breathes. It creates form and life in ways that can’t be fully predicted. Sometimes I’ll begin sketching what catches my eye, and by the time my brush finds the canvas, the whole mood has changed. But rather than chase the light that was, I’ve learned to follow the one that is. Every shift brings its own quiet wonder.

There’s comfort in realizing how natural that change is — in nature, in art, in ourselves. We move through times of bright clarity and times that feel muted or uncertain, but each has its purpose. The forest doesn’t fear the fading afternoon; it simply waits for morning to find it again. The prairie accepts every cloud and returning sun as part of its rhythm.

Light teaches us to let go a little — to trust motion rather than resist it. The same quality that makes it fleeting is what gives it beauty. Nothing stays illuminated forever, but everything touched by it is altered in some small, lasting way.

When I pause to notice that, I find the lesson extends beyond my work. Maybe the real art is in being willing to see what’s here now — to notice how the world glows differently with each new angle of sun and season of life.

Because the light always changes. And that, somehow, is what makes it worth noticing.