Making connections with watercolors: Aprel Dionne’s painting Poised. Dionne will have an art show at the Gilpin County Library from April 6 to May 25.[/caption]

Aprel Dionne is a self-taught watercolor artist who grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado. From an early age she showed an attentiveness to the natural world, observing wildlife on frequent trips to the mountains with her family.

Expressing this interest, she would seek solitude, connecting with herself, letting time “fade” and draw the various plants and animals she would see on these trips and later look up in library books. With a rekindling of this practice, she now shows her paintings in galleries across her home state.

Dionne shared, “Once a painting leaves my studio, it is no longer mine to ascribe meaning to, rather, it is given over to the viewer where they are able to participate not only visually, but mentally and emotionally, making connections and instilling their own thoughts into it. Art is personal and can be a reflection of ourselves if we allow it.”

Dionne will be exhibiting her paintings in a show titled Still Life in Watercolor at the Gilpin County Library from April 6 through May 25. For more information go to www.GilpinLibrary.org or call 303-258-5777.