Back Online at last with Beatrice, Nebraska workshop

Nasty bronchitis nearly did me in. I've been wanting to upload this selection of collages from my Beatrice, Nebraska workshop. They were so productive, and not many had done collages before. I put one of each on this page. They did a fantastic job. I'm leaving on Monday for Granbury, Texas, my last workshop of the year.

Confident Color Workshop in New Jersey

Here are some of the worksheets from the Pine Shores Art Association workshop last month. Each person selected a simple subject and painted it using three colors, or triads. You can see how expressive color can be from these sketches, even in these point-and-shoot photos.

http://www.nitaleland.com/about/PSAA_wsp-2009/psaa_wsp-2009.html

Hithergreen Exploring Watercolor Exhibit

The show continues until October 26, so please stop by if you're in the neighborhood of Hithergreen Center (not far from Whipp and Far Hills). Here's a link to some photos I took last week--not the best, but they'll give you an idea of the variety of work. I'm really proud of these artists.

http://www.nitaleland.com/about/Hithergreen_exhibit-2009/hithergreen_exhibit-2009.html

My classes at Art! Pasadena Learning and Product Expo

Learning and Product Expo: Art! Pasadena
I'm excited about going back to Pasadena for the show. Browse the site for information on many other classes and instructors. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn and discover new products from leading manufacturers.

Going around in circles

I'm home from the Pine Shores Art Association workshop in New Jersey and elated over the results of the workshop. I have pictures, so I hope to find time this week to post them and the exhibition my class has at Hithergreen. I sprained my hand packing for the return trip, so it's taking me longer to catch up. While in New Jersey, my hostess took me to see the New Jersey Watercolor Society show--spectacular.

Playing catch-up

Can't believe I didn't write about my Hithergreen class art show. It's fantastic. They just keep getting better and better. The show will be up until the end of October, so I'll try to get some photos after I return from my New Jersey workshop.

Also going on, David Daniels, "Mr. Watercolor," has a show now through October 4th at WideRiver Gallery on the East coast. This guy is a fantastic painter and an amazing colorist. 804-224-9984.

Coming soon, the fall members' show at the 48 High Street Gallery of The Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors, October 4-18. Reception October 4, 1-5 p.m. 937-228-2318 for information.

I'll be on the Jersey Shore all next week. Can't wait to see my friends there from previous workshops.

The Little Artist's house

Here are Jenna's house drawings. I took quick pix after the birthday party yesterday and there was all kinds of reflected light coming from somewhere. They're on white paper. There's so much detail, but it doesn't show up in the small image. What tickled me was the rainbow lines around the house and all the creatures, wild and domestic: a dog, monkey on a tree, turtle, small tiger, skunk, elephant, giraffe, a bird on the fence. She included a bicycle, a car in a garage, and a wagon with a baby in it. Mommy is calling to the baby from the window in the roof at the back. Flowers next to the fence and along the driveway, which she says is gravel, like theirs, therefore gray. The sun is exactly on the reverse side of where the sun is in the front. I was out of the room for most of it, but I gave her a start with the schematic for the house, hill, and driveway on a separate sheet of paper. She made the rest of it up. Is that creative, or what?

Dove & O'Keeffe not to be missed

This blog at ColourLovers on the Circles of Influence show in Williamstown, MA, at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute shows some of the great paintings from the show. My son gave me the the catalog to add to my collection. The show continues through September 7. The museum itself is worth a trip, but what a delight it would be to see this show.

The Little Artist still at it

I haven't written about the Little Artist for a while. She's still prolific, and has added writing stories to her portfolio. I will be happy when she has vowels in her written words. She's a good reader, but writes entirely phonetically, so "catsup" comes out "ctsp." I'm sure she'll pick it up soon--she starts first grade in a week or so. In the meantime, she was drawing the other day and I asked if she had ever drawn a house. She said she didn't know how--people are her favorite subject. I drew a square with a triangle on top, sitting on a hill with an s-shaped driveway. She was off and running. She drew her house in crayon with multiple-colored lines, a rainbow house. It included rainbow doors and windows, chimney, smoke, and a car in the garage. A tree with a monkey in it, a little boy with a pet skunk, a turtle, a baby tiger, and, of course, the sun. Then, she turned the paper over and drew the back of the house. This picture included an elephant, a giraffe in the backyard, and a host of other animals. There was a mom in the upstairs window calling out to the baby in the wagon to be careful. She put in the sun on the reverse side in the same spot, meaning it was on the left in front and on the right in back. Her inclusion of details fascinates me. She usually has a story to relate about each thing she puts into the pictures. I wish I had photographed her drawings before she took them home.

Misuk Goltz exhibit

One of my newer students, who has studied previously with several other teachers, is exhibiting her work from now until the end of August at One Dayton Center, 1 South Main Street, Dayton, Ohio. Misuk paints beautiful watercolors and pastels. A reception to meet the artist is scheduled for this Sunday, August 16, from 2-4 p.m. I hope I can make it. I hear she has some impressive work that I haven't seen yet.

Colors of nature--waves

Colour Lovers blog intrigues me nearly every day, but today's link on waves blows me away. I suppose one could Photoshop colors like these, but I think most of them are authentic and spectacular.

Figurative quilt workshop

Here's a great opportunity to work with one of the most creative quilters in the arts: Cathy Jeffers. Her Contemporary Quilting workshop will be held at The Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio. The tuition is reasonable and special rates are available at the Ohio University Inn. See the fantastic Quilt National show while you're there. Deadline for registration is fast approaching, so sign up soon. Check the link for details.

Why Design?

We continued with design fundamentals in the Hithergreen class today. I teach the elements and principles of design set forth by Maitland Graves in The Art of Color and Design more than 50 years ago and taught by Edgar A. Whitney, with a couple of my own modifications. We're discussing two elements or principles each week. For homework, the students will bring in pictures--ads, photos, or artwork--that show the elements or principles at work. The students are taking this seriously. At critique they were more aware of today's topics: line and shape. These sketches illustrate the two elements of design. Next week we'll cover value and color. The New Creative Artist includes an chapter on design, including formats and more(pp. 78-101). (See column at right for a link to the book.)

Sunday in the Park with Art

Art on the Commons in Kettering is always a pleasure. The best part of the art fair is visiting with exhibiting artist friends and seeing their new work, hearing their adventures. One is ready to launch a children's book, another is excited about studying with a wonderful new teacher. Two are setting up an artist's tour of the Greek Isles for next year. Seemed like very few 2-dimensional arts this year--roughly, 24--and most listed as mixed media. Where did all the gorgeous watercolors go? The jewelry (30 booths) was spectacular and expensive. Lots of great pottery (17 booths), a few (6) fiber artists, but nothing blew me away. Some wonderful photography (8) in creative formats; also, glass (5), wood (5), metals (6), leather (2), and other (4). Very heavy on the fine crafts. In the past I have discovered a number of artists whose work I used in my books, but, except for those I already know, I didn't see anything to file away in my resources for books. Too bad. The show made me miss our Riverbend Art Center's Art in the Park, which has disappeared since the demise of the center. That show was once Ohio's biggest and oldest two-day outdoor art fair. Still, Art on the Commons was a beautiful show. There was a good crowd when it opened, and I could see that sales were being made, especially in the jewelry booths. I wonder about the painters.

Hugs in the afternoon

We had a surprise visit this afternoon from our little guy, on his way home from a haircut. It was a short one, but just long enough to stave off serious withdrawal. I'm so grateful our grands are near enough for such precious visits, even short ones.

Learned a lot

The workshop last night was well worth the time. Susan Pickering Rothamel is an engaging, knowledgeable teacher who packs a lot of information in her presentation. She moved quickly from one technique to another, tying everything together with applications to an acrylic collage/painting that she began by gluing a torn fancy paper napkin to canvas-cloth. By the end of the four-hour program, the napkin had disappeared and a colorful, textured, sparkly painting was in its place. What a great way for an artist to overcome the fear of the white surface--just slap that napkin on there and paint it away. The class was great fun, but even more, Sue knows her stuff. As president of USArtQuest, Inc., she has a complete line of acrylic products and mica pigments, including sparkling mica-pigmented watercolors. I didn't even know some of these things existed, but I'm thinking of how I can use them in my work and with my granddaughter's projects. Go to her Web site for video clips of her techniques and details of her books and products. Here are links to her books for additional information:

• The Art of Paper Collage..


• The Encyclopedia of Greeting Card Tools & Techniques.


• The Encyclopedia of Scrapbooking Tools and Techniques.

I'll try to review these books soon.

Old friends

I made a date for a quick lunch with a friend of more than thirty years. Five hours later, after much catching up, I got home. What fun. She and I shared treasured memories of the many intersections of our lives, exchanged stories about grandchildren (her greats are the same age as my grands), talked about art and the book we wrote together. It was a wonderful afternoon. I look forward to many more.

"A friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you anyway."--author unknown

Way cool

My son sent me these images from Denver International Airport just a few minutes ago. He took them on his iPhone. I'm psyched. I don't suppose the Mosaic shop will mind getting free publicity from this. Now I'm wondering where this book will turn up next. Where's Waldo? I'm over the moon.

Writing proposals and articles for art magazines

Now and then someone emails me for information on this topic. Here's a link to Jennifer King's blog on "How to Get Published in a Magazine". Jennifer has been an editor for several top art magazines. This blog entry is a keeper for anyone interested in writing magazine articles of any kind.

Viewfinder design

This beginning design exercise is what we did in my class today. Students learn to discern shapes, lines, and patterns in abstract images. They develop a sense of the type of design they like, so they can search for it in their source material.
Start with a 35mm slide mount, a stencil knife, and a magazine advertisement. Use almost any type of magazine. I prefer women's fashion magazines, because I like curving, organic shapes found in the folds of fabric. Some people like the hard edges of car or technical magazines. Move the slide mount over the page until you see an abstract design you like. (You're not looking for pictures!) Then, copy the design inside a small rectangle traced in your sketchbook. If you like, cut out the original and paste it next to your sketch. After you have collected a lot of these, you can see your design preferences: geometric, organic, pattern, etc. Use the designs as structure or background for a painting, quilt, scrapbook page, or other artwork.

Color Workshop Pix

Last week I received a CD in the mail with 70 photos from the workshop in Cazenovia, NY. It was hard to cut the number down to a dozen or so, but here they are, mostly of the critique on color scheme sketches. I didn't realize these were being taken at the time. This was such an industrious class--28 students worked hard all week. We weren't looking for finished paintings, but for understanding of the concepts I was teaching: contrasts, triads, and color schemes. They "got it." This photo is fun, showing my work space in the overhead mirror.

Calendar Surfing

I decided to take my own advice and relax a bit this weekend. For some unknown reason that Webinar, along with a workshop, baby-sitting, and various appointments really wore me out. The baby-sitting was the best part, but still stressful, especially with deadlines looming just ahead. This month looks similar, but the Confident Color workshop in two weeks is just a few miles away, which makes it a lot easier. I'm looking forward to it. The class is small, so I can give a lot of personal attention to the students.

Had an email from my hostess in New Jersey for the Pine Shores Art Association color workshop in September. This will be my sixth workshop there. I stay on Long Beach Island, which is a Jersey-shore vacation paradise. In September, everything is serene and beautiful. PSAA artists are always fun to be with. On Monday night I give a talk at their monthly meeting, so I get to hear what they're up to. I'm astonished at the range of activities they offer, from shows and exhibition opportunities to bus trips to Philadelphia and New York museums for blockbuster art shows. It would be so great if all local art associations were so supportive of their artists--or should that be the other way around?

Airport Books

Today I had an email from a teacher who found The New Creative Artist in an airport bookstore. That is so amazing to me. I saw the original Creative Artist once in an airport, maybe 15 years ago, but I rarely see art-instruction books there, let alone oversize books like the new one. This made my day, which hasn't been all that exciting, with laundry as the main event.

Art Babble

Charley Parker of linesandcolors blog discovered this great site that offers "Play Art Loud," a collection of museum and art-related videos. The selection looks really interesting and I can't wait to get some time to watch some of them. Go on over to Charley's blog to read his commentary, then check out the site from there.

Design class--formats

Monday's first class in a new design series was about formats for your artwork, meaning the size, shape and proportion of your support. We talked a bit about the golden mean, but I don't stress this, because people get so torqued about the math component. Manufacturers make few supports in the GM. We also talked about using the rule of thirds or rabatment to locate the focal point in a rectangle. These are shown on pp. 98-99 of The New Creative Artist. Everyone seemed more aware during critique of the points we covered in the lesson. I hope to see a few more light bulbs go off during the series.

Quotation

"Something special happens when people laugh together over something genuinely funny, and not hurtful to anyone. It's like a magic rain that showers down feelings of comfort, safety and belonging to a group" Quote by Mary Jane Belfie.

Thanks to Carol Kelly from my Hithergreen watercolor class for bringing me this delightful quote.

Webinar World

Well, one Webinar doesn't make me an expert, but I know more now than I did two days ago. I had several comments on Facebook. So here are my responses to those.

First, what does a Webinar involve: It's a live, online seminar where people sit at their own computers and watch a PowerPoint presentation as the presenter (me, yesterday) narrates the slides and expands on the subject. Participants can type in their questions for the presenter to respond to during or after the presentation. I'm sure there are other formats, but this is what we did yesterday.

The first one was stressful for me, since I hadn't had the experience before and couldn't visualize how it would work without a hitch somewhere. It seemed very odd to know I was speaking to a number of people, but couldn't see their reactions to what I was saying. There were two people in the room with me, one handling the technical side of it, so I didn't have to worry about anything but my talk. In a couple of places I advanced my slides too far and had to go back, but I don't think it was too bad. Just a few seconds, actually. On the whole, I think it went smoothly.

Yes, I hope to do more of these, now that I know how it's done. I think an individual could even do it, but there are a lot of things to think about, such as what company to use for the interface, how to market the Webinars, etc. The preparation of the program alone was very time-consuming. I wouldn't want to do it unless I could do it as professionally as it was done yesterday.

For the consumer, in the ArtistsNetworkTV Webinars, the participants receive a download of the presentation that includes the PowerPoint and the narration, plus the questions. I also prepared a handout of tips on creativity that they received. The full program will be available at artistsnetwork.com, if you missed one you're interested in.

Their next one looks very interesting and will give more information on using the media for marketing and promotion.

I survived

Well, that was fun--and different from anything I've done before. These Webinars have their own protocol for signing in, rehearsing, taking questions,and giving technical support. The whole thing on their end was nearly invisible to me. We had some trouble getting set up on Jennifer's laptop, so we used mine, and I felt comfortable with that. I thought it might feel really strange not to have an audience, but there were two people in the room and I hardly noticed them, I was so wrapped up in my talk. Their next program, in August, is on establishing an online presence for promoting your art, aka marketing. You'll be hearing about it from WetCanvas. I might like to attend that one, myself.

Big day tomorrow

I'll drive to Cincinnati to do my live Web creativity presentation from F+W Media home office. I'm ready--and I'm excited. This is a first for me. I've done lots of workshops and lectures on creativity, but it will seem odd not to have an audience to look at and still know that real people are listening in. I can't imagine what will happen during the Q&A period after my talk. I'll have to be on my toes. When I was rehearsing yesterday, I forgot to advance my slide a couple of times. I hope there will be someone watching over me on-site so that doesn't happen, but I had better take my guardian angel with me anyway. It was fun putting together the PowerPoint program, finding images to go with my main points and trying for the right tone of inspiration and motivation. I can hardly wait!

Mary Todd Beam's Creative Edge

Another wonderful book for mixed-media artists from Mary Todd Beam, The Creative Edge: exercises to celebrate your creative self, has been published by North Light books (2009). Filled with beautiful illustrations of finished art, the book is also packed with hands-on demonstrations and information on tools and materials. The lay-flat spiral binding makes it easy to use while following the techniques instruction. In addition all this, Beam offers inspiration to the artist, something lacking in many art instruction books. Her table of contents includes: Claiming Your Creative Edge; The Tactile Edge; The Emotional Edge; The Symbolic Edge; The Dynamic Edge; Nature's Edge; The Soul's Edge; The Edge Around Us; and The Human Edge. Whew! What great stuff! If you want to try mixed-media painting, The Creative Edge is a good place to start. Mary's earlier book, Celebrate Your Creative Self: More than 25 exercises to unleash the artist within (North Light, 2001) is also a good handbook on mixed-media painting.

Trying to think ahead

Planning my Confident Color workshop in Dayton August 19-21. I haven't given one here for a long time, so I'm looking forward to it. The sponsor is Western Ohio Watercolor Society. There are still openings, so c'mon down. It's a bargain. Contact Yuki Hall.

Santa Fe Workshop canceled

I haven't had official word from the workshop director, but since she has sent out a refund notice to students who signed up, it appears the workshop has been canceled. I'm disappointed. I've taught several workshops there and it's such a fun place to teach and visit. So much art you can't take it all in.

Workshop and Webinar

Just about ready to leave for Rising Sun, Indiana, for the Creativity workshop. Wish I could say I'm all caught up, but I'm not. I've been working on my live Creativity Webinar from ArtistsNetwork Online Seminars, Tuesday, July 28, at 1:00 p.m. titled "Develop Your Natural Creativity and Grow As an Artist." In addition to the PowerPoint presentation, there will be a live Q&A session following the program. I'll be driving to Cincinnati to do it live from F+W. Two more projects have dropped in my lap, so there may not be any down time this summer.

Spreading the word on triads

My class has been doing so well with my series of lessons on color harmony triads. They're finally learning that they can use a limited palette of 3-4 colors and don't need a dozen or more. They've been doing swatches and small sketches up until this week. The challenge for the next two weeks is to do one high-intensity triad and one low-intensity triad painting from the eight they have been working with, which are found in Confident Color. One student has been having so much fun that she has taken the lesson over to Wet Canvas to her watercolor group.