HOWARD— Friday was a big day for Sue A. Simon. After six weeks of having her right arm in a sling after shoulder joint replacement surgery, she had the sling removed. Although the sling kept her from doing much painting the last few weeks, she did start doing test runs so she’d be ready to hit the ground painting. The weaning away from the sling went well, as far as her art activities are concerned. It’s not the painting that will have to wait.

“It’s affected my golf game more than anything else,” Simon said, cradling her arm while lamenting that it will be six months before she’s given clearance to return to the sport.

Thanks to a run-in with arthritis, Simon isn’t preparing any last-minute works for her show at the North Main Gallery in Mount Vernon, but she has a number of works from the last couple of years to make for an ample exhibition. Simon is the featured artist at the gallery for the month of September, and will kick off the show with an opening artist’s reception during First Friday festivities on Sept. 5 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Simon, who has painted since grade school, has developed a dry-brush watercolor painting technique which allows her to adapt the grace of the watercolor medium to meticulous renditions of rustic Americana. Painting such typically Midwestern subjects as ducks, boats, barns and grape vines, Simon captures them in quiet moments where a spirit of stillness seems to hover over the images.

She isn’t sentimental about what she paints, though.

“A lot of times people ask me, ‘Don’t you have a favorite that you wouldn’t want to sell?’” Simon said, “But the pure joy for me is when someone says, ‘Oh, I love it, I want it.’” She has also done work on commission for customers.

Unlike many artists, Simon doesn’t mind being watched as she goes through the various stages of finishing a work, typically one of four or five she’ll have going simultaneously. Having spent 13 years doing art shows on the East Coast in the past, she’s grown used to people watching her work. She doesn’t express a preference for any part of the process, noting that composition and color coordination are just as important as the finishing techniques.

Originally from Michigan, Simon was encouraged by her high school art teacher to apply to the Columbus College of Art and Design. Not only did she get accepted, she was awarded a scholarship. She and her husband, Rick, started out in Columbus, then moved to Iran, Virginia, Germany, and Dublin (Ohio) over the years, following work. After visiting Apple Valley as a weekender for four years, the Simons bought a house and moved to Knox County full time just four years ago.

All that time, Simon has been painting, mostly in her dry-brush watercolor technique. In this process, she paints on canvas board instead of watercolor paper, and starts by covering the surface with a thin coat of gesso. Painting with a dry brush transfers tiny flecks of pure color to the canvas, creating images with vivid clarity and depth. With the gesso coating, Simon finds that she can also go back and remove excess paint with her dry brush, lightening areas to adjust to the developing look of the painting.

As well developed as her technique is, Simon is planning on trying some experiments as she gets back into the swing of painting.

“I’m at the point in my life where I’d like to try some new things,” she said, noting she’d like to loosen up her very tight technique to see what expressive effect it would have on her canvases.

Even if the paintings begin to change their style, their frames will remain distinctive, as Simon frames her own works. After her first art show 40 years ago, a judge advised her to start framing her own works, or get a friend to do it, so that she could have more input on the process and quality. She ended up getting a job working for a very meticulous mentor who taught her the trade. Ever since, Simon has framed her own works as well as the works of friends.

Her works will be on display at the North Main Gallery, 7 N. Main St. in Mount Vernon, which is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Simon’s exhibition will run through late September.