Visual Expressions Gallery ~ Saladino Art Critique ~ Art Journal Pages

"Lylas" #3 (Love You Like a Sister) 9" x 12"
These are the 3 paintings I will take to the Visual Expressions Gallery for their student art Show May 15 - May 25.
"The Birds of the Air"
30" x 40"

"Glacial Terrain"
24" x 24"



Art Journal Pages
Click on Image to Enlarge
Art Journal Page 94
I don't know why but I have been extremely interested in all the swine flu news.


Art Journal Page 95
Big personal news I've joined Weight Watchers again. I need social contact to lose. Last time I did great on a diet when my CBC sisters threw in $50 each in the pot and the one that lost the most walked away with $500 and that's all I needed to win. I've enjoyed lots of Snickers and Mexican food since then and now it's time again to get on a program and I'm the one making monthly payments. WW's eTools are the easiest way yet to keep track of food points, add recipes and track activities.
More about the flu and I missed the big Cottonwood Art Festival. And I've found a great new TV program for May "Cook Yourself Thin" on Lifetime. There are recipes at MyLifetime.Com.
Art Journal Page 96
Since Bea Arthur died I've been watching the Golden Girls again and I'm loving those programs. I TiVo the afternoon programs and enjoy them when other choices look a little sparse in the evening. Cindy, Betty, Karen, Barbara and I went to pick up paintings at the PCPC show and our special show at La Cima and we were thrilled to find we'd sold "From His Bounty" (pears) at the PCPC show. You can see how we transport our large paintings. Cindy made us sacks with handles from moving blankets and we stack them upright on a dolly. These are large paintings (approximately 35" x 35") and we can take down a show fast.
Art Journal Page 97
So many errands and all on one banana and this is a no-no for a healthy diet. I weighed in and had lost 4.8 pounds my first week. With those kind of results I'll try for week 2 and this week we add some exercise. I found these "old" empty candy wrappers in a pocket.

A slide show from our last Saladino Art Critique. Later Tony is having a one day abstract class in June. There was a new person in class and sorry I called her "newbie" because I didn't write down her name.

Myrna Wacknov Workshop ~ Thursday ~Cedar Hill TX

In the previous post, I discussed the watercolor workshop in Cedar Hill with Myrna Wacknov. Today we drew our children's portraits, Myrna gave an excellent demo on using the Tyvek snythetic paper and made it look sooo easy as she painted an Indian and we were getting antsy... and most of us had a feeling of "let me get at it --I know I can do it " before and during the demo, and we were given some of her liquid Hydrus watercolor paints. The seven of us were very confident after the demo but I hit a stone wall. Some had great paintings but I'm not even showing mine. I painted, wiped, added gouache, wiped, sprayed with water, hit with a watercolor pencil, wiped and scrubbed it several times and there it sits face down on the table so it won't scare the night cleaning person. I think Tyvek paper is pretty stong because I sure gave it lots of abuse today.
I didn't get photos of many pieces today. Everyone was just so busy painting and wrestling Tyvek. I will post some photos of Myrna's work on Tyvek, a few of the buildings, and one of Debra's on watercolor paper.

Myrna Wacknov Workshop ~ Cedar Hill TX

Watercolor on gesso surface watercolor paper (crooked photo, straight lines) Nancy's 2nd painting
Profile View of Nancy in the HAT * See note below

I decided to take a workshop with Myrna Wacknov after seeing her article, "Face Forward" in the October 2007 issue of Watercolor Magic. I didn't know when or where but I began a writing campaign and this is the week! There are 7 Texas students (some from Lubbock and Houston) taking a 5 day workshop at a new facility in Cedar Hill and Visual Expressions has a gallery and classrooms about 25 miles from Arlington. There is plenty of one on one instruction from 9:30 to 4:30 and more time for art talk when we walk about 50 steps to a restaurant to enjoy a leisurely lunch. On Myrna's blog she issues challenges to her readers about experimenting and learning more about drawing and painting. These past few days have found us doing the same by working on textured grounds of matte medium and gessoed surfaces and watching Myrna paint while discussing some of her concepts. Our workshop challenge has been to paint portraits: a frontal view, a side view, and one of a child with a strong emphasis on drawing. I've never wanted to paint a profile before, always thought they were a little tacky unless the person had a pretty cute nose but her requirement was extreme profile, no hint of the other eye, and a smooth face so I chose to paint my old, smooth face looking sideways with a good view of the snozzle. I painted watercolor on a gesso coated watercolor paper and from this experience I probably will be caught staring at people's profiles for awhile to see the relationships of noses, chins, lips and eyes.
Myrna brought some Tygerrag paper all the way from California for us to use for our child's painting that we may begin on Thursday. She's shown us her method of enlarging and getting the drawing on the paper and demonstrated Dr. Martin's Hydrus liquid watercolors, shared books, articles, and photos. It has been a great Myrna challenge and we are all enjoying this unique opportunity. Betty Taylor, a Canvas by Canvas member, is taking the class also.

Myrna giving a demo:


Myrna's Demo Painting:



Nancy's first portrait (self) using 50/50 Matte Medium and Water coated paper - this is enough to keep the grandkids at bay.... It's a little scary even to me but the advantage of using these textured papers is that the color lifts so easily and you can work and rework or recover with more gesso and try painting your neighbor. There is just something about looking at portraits that is so interesting to me. I will post a slide slow later of some of the work done in the class by the other students.
*I brought my "cowgirl hat" to class yesterday for Betty to take some side views for me to paint and I've had a request to bring it back to class on Thursday for more photos with others wearing the hat so we may have a new series of Myrna students wearing the "Cowgirl Hat".

Acrylic Abstract

"Glacial Terrain"
24" x 24" Acrylic on Canvas, 1 3/8" depth gallery wrap, black edges

This is the third of four abstract paintings I've completed for the Upstairs Gallery Show and delivered them Wednesday. You are invited to their annual show and sale of art by the students of The Upstairs Gallery, and the show will be up until May 27, 2008. Several friends mentioned the look of ice and translucency the painting had so that is how the title derived. One comment at the opening reception when viewing one of the abstracts, "Oh, you've changed your style?"....Nope just added another as I'm still wanting to try a lot of painting styles I find. Another said "Whatever your style, I can pick your paintings out" and I don't see how yet but I found the statement interesting.
Other abstracts can be found on my web site which is always under construction.
Listening to conversations (think cell phone in the grocery store), lyrics and friends' suggestions all can contribute to your arsenal of song titles. I jotted one down last week from the grocery store when I heard a woman telling a man, "I'm not paying $5.00 for something like that." I wanted to turn around and see what she thought was overpriced but instead just took out my journal and pen and make a quick note. Since I'm now a GPS owner, I'm waiting for my painting titled "Recalculating". There will be one.
Happy Mother's Day to all and enjoy this special time set aside to honor mothers, living and dead. It's a time to acknowledge your mothers contribution in your life and I suggested to my children, they spend the day with their spouses, girl friends, boy friends or significant other and not be put on a guilt trip to visit, but maybe just call - certainly not going out to eat as the National Restaurant Association says this is the most popular day of the year to eat out. That means to me - stay home. Don't come over today but call me as we have several family graduation events for the last of May when we can enjoy each other's company. I know you love me. It's o.k. We'll celebrate then. Google the history of Mother's Day and it's an eye opener. It began as "Mothering Sunday", then a Mother's Day for Peace and now it's a highly commercialized holiday with flowers, cards and gifts. Maybe by next year I can have my kitchen back in the cooking mode and I can invite my children to dinner.
At present, I have numerous (think maybe hundreds) of watercolor paint tubes out on the table preparing my palette for the Myrna Wacknov workshop tomorrow at the Visual Expressions Gallery and School. Myrna has addressed the problem of too many palettes with this post and it's for me:
"I have too many palettes and most of them have been loaded with paint! In an effort to use up some of the paint and not be wasteful, I started painting sheets of watercolor with random wet into wet washes. I would take these watercolor starts to model sessions and then I would draw the model on the paper with a Japanese brush pen that takes ink cartridges and finish the painting with pastels. It was amazing how these random colors worked so well every time! I love the look of the watercolor peeking through the pastel and part of the ink drawing showing here and there. It's a fun process. Give it a try."
As I am thinking watercolor after making the abstract jump, I've discovered a wonderful watercolor video of about 15 minutes from Jim Chapman that you can watch. If you'd like to paint along go find your watercolor paints in colors: cadmium yellow, raw sienna, raw umber, burnt umber, cadmium red light, red-purple, purple, ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, cobalt blue, peacock blue, viridian, yellow, black, and your Aquabee sketch pad and brush (now your kitchen table is looking like mine). He sounds Texan but he's a Georgia boy (and he can paint and talk at the same time) and he has a fresh, loose sketch approach to a still life set up of a cowboy hat, bottles and a quilt. He leaves specks of white which I like and some art instructors say nay, nay and you do it your way. Also read his art columns about taking workshops and how to expose yourself to better media coverage.
The email from last evening brought excellent information and a lot of it about online marketing can be found in the recent post from the Art Group DFW blog. The ArtGroupsDFW News Blog is devoted to news of art events in the North Texas Area and is updated frequently and you can subscribe.
Enjoy your day and thanks to all the Mom's who have directed our paths.

Abstract Acrylic ~ Pasodoble ~ Upstairs Gallery

"Pasodoble"
24" x 24" Acrylic on Canvas, 1 3/8" depth gallery wrap, black edges

This is the second of four abstract paintings I've completed for the Upstairs Gallery Show and delivered them Wednesday. You are invited to their annual opening reception show and sale of art by the students of The Upstairs Gallery, May 10 from 5-8 pm. The show will be up until May 27, 2008. My friend and Canvas by Canvas member, Connie, emailed after seeing this painting and suggested the title as she was watching "Dancing with the Stars" and this painting reminded her of the word, Pasodoble. I don't watch the show but like the word.
I got an email from Creative Catalyst this morning and went to their site to see if the Nicholas Simmons art dvd was available yet. No, but some good news they are placing some of their art instruction dvd's in retail stores.
On their site you will find a wide selection of carefully edited and content rich art instructional video DVD workshops conducted by the nation's finest artist-instructors.
While on the site, I saw a Judy Morris checklist for success that I thought artists would like to review.
Today I will begin packing art suppliesfor the Myrna Wacknov workshop at the Visual Expressions Gallery in Cedar Hill. I'm so glad I can commute and not be trying out all the suitcases in my garage. She got 2008 off to a great start and a great honor - read about it here and see her creative portrait.
I became a fan after reading the October 2007, Watercolor Magic article, "Face Forward" and she included a lesson on Photoshop about Capturing Expression Through Photoshop. You can read about these steps here. I started writing her fan letters and contacted a local gallery that might sponsor a workshop. Myrna started a blog and ran a contest for one of her drawings for getting blog subscribers. I have 2 drawings that I cherish and she has progressed with more subscriptions and she shares freely with her drawing and painting knowledge. I've never gone to art school (but have taken my share of workshops) so I appreciate any technical help with photo manipulation in drawing preparation. Now I see today she's posted something from Sue Archer about drawing being the heart of art. Oh, Myrna, what am I going to do with you. I see you have upgraded to Photoshop Elements 6 and I only have 5 and that probably means PE now includes some cool new tool I can't live without, but I've got the brushes you suggested. One salient point from her blogs I have to repeat from the Feb. 19 post.
"The other thing I noticed in myself was how quickly I want to give up and tell myself this isn't for me because I'm not any good at it. We don't give ourselves very much time to succeed, do we?"
The artists I know are all pretty guilty of that one..just throw in the towel if their work doesn't look like a piece of art that an experienced artist produces that may have produced 500 pieces before - mea culpa - just some ground work in case I produce more turkeys next week. (Don't ever change colors on these posts if you use a black background because you have no idea what the original color was..If you change to white then you can't see it in your edit post.) Makes me want to throw in the towel!!