Spring Festivals & The Arts

 We thank John Hutchinson, Organist and Director of Music, Worship & Arts at the Cumming First United Methodist Church, for supplying the beautiful painting that graces our cover this month. This is a sample of what you will find at the Festival of Arts being held April 18-25 at the church, located at 770 Canton Highway. The Festival of Arts was established in 2008 with the goal of presenting professional and student visual artists in gallery displays. The professional visual artists are juried, and cash awards are given. See more about this event on page 16.

The work on the cover is by Connie Lynn Reilly of Buford, GA. She is an Atlanta native, a true southern belle. Connie has studied with various artists over the years: Irving Lawhon, Morgan Weistling, George Carlson, Nelson Shanks, Richard Whitney, and Tony Couch, to name a few.

The master artists of old who have influenced her work include the French master Bouguereau, Ingres, Carl Bloch, and John Singer Sargent. She has been painting portraits professionally for 38 years, and has won national and international awards; her paintings are in numerous private, public, and museum collections. Connie is a Master Instructor of classical drawing and painting portraits and figurative art, and now teaches an adult classical drawing course at the Johns Creek Art Center. She is founder, president emeritus, and Member of Excellence of the Southeastern Pastel Society, and a member of Oil Painters of America and the Portrait Society of America. Currently she is working on illustrations for a children’s book.

Thank you, Connie, for sharing your beautiful painting with our readers.

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