Dowagiac artist Alli Farkas’ work will be featured in an exhibit in St. Joseph from Sept. 23 through Jan. 16.

The Inn at Harbor Shores will host a reception for Farkas and her exhibit, “Sky Pads — Water Lily Interpretations,” from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13.

“My paintings are the result of thin layers glazed over one another; the underlying composition must be strong and the paint must be applied with a purposeful technique,” Farkas wrote in her artist statement. “Whether a portrait, landscape or renderings of rural buildings, I construct the image through layers, attempting always to create a sense of depth through transparency, color and light.”

Farkas said “Sky Pads” began as a simple act of photographic recording without any particular purpose in mind.

Farkas was inspired to create the project by Mill Pond, which borders her property in Dowagiac.

“Because the Mill Pond is so shallow, it is populated (some would say overrun) by a variety of water plants, including water lilies,” Farkas said. “Over the years I have photographed the water lilies several times, thinking perhaps I could revive the subject matter of a series of paintings I did some 25 years ago. There was the magic — the lily pads looked like they were suspended in clouds instead of floating on water.”

Farkas said after looking at her photo collection, she decided she did not want to interpret the subject realistically.

“I began with extremely delicate renderings of pads, sky and water, which continued through the first four paintings,” the artist said. “Sensing a need to search further, I let both the colors and the shapes take on a more defined character.”

At the time she wrote her artist statement, Farkas said she had created 10 paintings for the series.

“There will undoubtedly be more,” she said. “Monet painted approximately 250 versions.”

The event is free and open to the public, and guests will be served wine and snacks.

Farkas, of Dowagiac, founded Artist Co-op 7, a group of independent artists who joined together to facilitate solo and group exhibits in restaurants and public buildings in the greater Los Angeles area.

In 1993, she became a member of LAart, an artists’ alliance with five galleries in the Los Angeles area, and in 1994 she joined the Topanga canyon Gallery artists’ cooperative.

In 2015, she co-founded a new artists’ organization, Cass Area Artists.

Farkas’ work has been accepted in national and international juried competitions and received awards, most recently first place in the watercolor division of River Art, sponsored by Sunbury Press and West Shore Gallery in 2011. In 1994 and 1995, she received favorable mention in the Los Angeles Times.

She is currently a member of the Institute of Equine Artists.

Two books, “Woodlands and Waterways,” published in 1994 and “River Art,” published in 2011, feature Farkas’ paintings.