We are immortalized:
Click on this link to read about our meetings at the Bernal Heights Public Library and our upcoming show at Cafe Seventy8:
Bernal Watercolor Geeks Unite!
Tuesday at Creightons - Oct 28
Hi, Creightoners!
Shirley and I have just returned from FLAX after our
gathering with some really cool syringe and tip sets that we found there and as
soon as I finish this I am going to squirt paint all over, all afternoon!
Our meeting was quick today.
There were seven of us and only five of us had work. The experiment was #10-Use only wet washes.
Janie, who we hadn’t seen in awhile, shared her Moroccan
blue boat that she had painted as a gift for a friend. It as lovely, and what a great gift!! She also shared a scene from Bruges, Belgium
and we were captured by her trees which she did with sponging with a sea
sponge. She had one of unfinished trees
that was promising.
Pam had two pieces.
One was a sunset in her little sketchbook. Soft and dreamy. The other was of pampas grass and she really
captured the sense of wind blowing the grass.
She was challenged by working fast and enjoyed it. She pulled out a surprise “wet on wet” beautiful silk scarf she made!
Carmel did a scene of forest and lake in blues, greens and
purples and there was one little spot where she used a bit of color from her
palette that was a lovely soft neutral.
This brought up a quick discussion of those little spots, puddles, colors
on our palettes. They are often a combination
of the colors we are using for a painting and therefore make the perfect
neutral/shadow colors. Between us we
called it “palette mud”, “mother puddle”, or even the dirty water as “mother
water”.
Shirley didn’t bring a piece because it is in process…a 3D
version of a Muni bus. We get to see it
next week!
Peg worked very wet and “drew” with water. A forest scene with the path of a dragonfly
in the air. She used Winsor Blue, green
shade for sky which she thinks is the perfect sky color for a clear day. She was reminded in the process to BE
PATIENT! She also reflected on the
example piece and how it was carefully developed and not too rushed.
Joanie did a big persimmon with the fruits that Carmel
brought last week and she “made up” the #2415 experiment with Agrostemma seed
pods in purples with a yellow-green background and washing off color with her
water bottle and made a big mess all over her painting table.
Pam went to the Legion of Honor to see the Houghton Hall
exhibit and thought it was worthwhile.
There were 3 portraits by John Singer Sargent, plus landscapes and charcoal
sketches. There was art in many forms
there and if you go on Saturday or Sunday and are there at 4 pm you can listen
to a free pipe organ concert.
The field trip to the Academy of Sciences is scheduled for
Tuesday, November, 18 from 10-12. More
information elsewhere in the blog.
There is also an exhibit of botanicals at the Arboretum
Library.
Next experiment is # 15-Express a mood.
Until next week,
Academy of Sciences Field trip
field trip -
We have set up a visit to the California Academy of Sciences Library for Tuesday, Nov 18, from 10 am to noon.
The Librarian there is also an artist and has been researching the
collection for things to show us. If you have any illustrators or
authors you like and want to see if their work is in the Academy
collection, you can send the info to me or go on the Academy website and
check the library catalog at http://calacademy.worldcat.
These requests will need to get to me in advance so we have time to research and pull the books.
Also, we will get to see one of the few Audubon elephant folios. It is open to one page only (as it takes four people to turn a page), but it is still unique. On display in the reading room is a predecessor to Audubon. One can easily see how the style changed over time to what we know as Audubon's compositional format.
There is room for a maximum of 18 guests to the Library. I will need a list of names prior to our visit and each guest will need to show picture ID upon entry, so please let me know if you are interested in attending.
Also, we will get to see one of the few Audubon elephant folios. It is open to one page only (as it takes four people to turn a page), but it is still unique. On display in the reading room is a predecessor to Audubon. One can easily see how the style changed over time to what we know as Audubon's compositional format.
After our time upstairs in the library, those who
are interested can accompany me to the Museum floor to see if the
original watercolor illustrations from the 1905 Galapagos Expedition.
These works by Toshio Asaedo’s, are of fish discovered on the 1905
scientific research trip long before color photography was invented.
Possible add-on to the excursion: the Library at the
Strybing Arboretum currently has on view original botanical art from
Mary Harden’s advanced and/or Master students. It is just around the
corner and free to visit. The exhibit will be up until the end of
November.
There is room for a maximum of 18 guests to the Library. I will need a list of names prior to our visit and each guest will need to show picture ID upon entry, so please let me know if you are interested in attending.
If you would like to attend, please contact me at: emrldhills@aol.com
See you there, Pam
Tuesday at Creightons - Oct 21
It was a small group to begin with today.
- Carmel brought her beautiful book of Gary Bukovnik floral watercolors and several of us drooled over it. Thanks for sharing, Carmel.
Just a few of us did the assignment this week.
- Carmel did a landscape of flowers that layered back with beautiful purples, pinks and a pale aqua, all quite abstract.
- Shirley kind of did a double duty thing by using her time at the Painting Experience and created a big swirl of intense colors, mostly pinks, purples and blues, (did you and Carmel confer????) There was a burst of rays in the same colors behind the swirl. Apparently you shouldn’t remove paint from a piece at the Painting Experience as part of the process but Shirley admitted using her sleeve to secretly remove some paint! She was using tempera, which is also a water based medium. She will do almost anything to create her vision!
- Carole D. is home from Italy where she had a wonderful time. She did a landscape with lots of greens. She wanted advice about the front area, which was a bit dense, and got lots of good ideas.
- Peg came a little later and brought a figure in which she lifted with a paper towel and decided she liked the pattern that the towel accidently left on the paper. She also did a study in blues where she scrunched a dried hydrangea she was going to toss onto a wet blue wash, let it dry and then enhanced the result to good effect. She learned more about staining colors in the process. She shared some of her work from her Morris Graves retreat. She played with mixed media and realized that she likes paper as much as she likes painting. One of her pieces had some lacy rice paper included.
- Pam talked about a painting she had done of a horsetail that she didn’t have with her. She layered a staining yellow and green apatite genuine from Daniel Smith. It was framed at home and was a bit large to bring. She had a little piece of a woman on a lake in Zambia and wanted ideas on how to handle a bright red shirt on the woman. Again, many good ideas.
- Joanie was preparing for her mid-term critique and over did it so she didn’t bring a piece for the experiment but asked advice in making her feather painting look soft and fluffy. As always, her tablemates offered lots of good ideas!
- Carmel brought a big bag of persimmons and several of us took some home with the intention of painting them. Thanks!
- Jeanette popped in to say hi near the end.
- There was a discussion of color related to transparents, sediments and stains. Here is Joanie’s list found in old notes which is mostly from Kay Russell. It is for reference and just a start. Do your own experimenting. Every list is a little different and many paints fit between categories. You can also go online to product websites for information or check the Wilcox color book although it isn’t totally up to date.
- TRANSPARENTS: Aureolin, Lemon Yellow, Rose Dore, Rose Madder Genuine, Cobalt Blue, Viridian, Burnt Sienna and Van Dyke Brown
- SEDIMENTS: Any hue of Cadmium Yellow, Naples Yellow, Cadmium Orange, Buff Titanium, Yellow Ocher, and hue of Cadmium Red, Indian Red, Venetian Red, Potters Pink, Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Manganese Blue, Terre Vert, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, Sepia, Payne’s Grey, Ivory Black, Daniel Smith ‘Lunar’ colors, Daniel Smith Primatek/Genuine colors, Daniel Smith Iridescents and Pearlescents
- STAINS: Alizarin Crimson (All Alizarins), Scarlet Lake (all Lakes) Winsor Red, Opera, Rose Tyrien, Permanent Rose (all Permanents), New Gamboge, Thalo/Winsor Blue, Thalo/Winsor Green, Antwerp Blue, Sap Green, Hooker’s Green, Dioxazine Purple, All Quinacradones.
Hope this helps….
Next week’s experiment: #10 Use only Wet Washes.
Until next Tuesday, Joanie
Gary Bukovnik at Thomas Reynolds Gallery
exhibit -
Not Just a Rose
October 18 - November 22, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 18, from 5 to 7 pm
Link to more information: http://www.thomasreynolds.com/gb_b.html
Not Just a Rose
Watercolors by Gary Bukovnik
October 18 - November 22, 2014Opening Reception: Saturday, October 18, from 5 to 7 pm
Link to more information: http://www.thomasreynolds.com/gb_b.html
Cafe Seventy8 Show
Carmel Adams | Gail Block | Juliet Digiovanni | Jane Dubuque | Shirley Edwards
Joanie Helgeson | Jo Hunter | Avelina Leanos | Peg Robinson | Jesse Schlenker
Heather Solway | John Webster | Laurie Wigham
Reception: Friday, November 07, 5 - 7 pm
Cafe Seventy8, 28 29th Street, San Francisco
Show available: Sunday, November 02 through Saturday, November 29
Contact: 415-205-7015 / zygote1955@yahoo.com
A Bit of Art History - Fauvism
Paris 1905-1907
The term "Wild Beasts" was coined after an art critic viewed an exhibit at the Paris Salon d’Automne in 1905 of the works of Matisse, Vlaminck, Derain, Maguin, Marquet and Puy. They all studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1895 under Moreau. As a teacher Moreau believed that all students of painting had a duty to discover their own artistic personality rather than to follow blindly rules and precepts laid down by tradition. In 1906 these artist were joined by Le Havre, Friesz, Dufy and Braque.
By the end of 1906 the novelty and excitement of Fauvism was over and many Fauvists moved on to explore other styles. It was apparent that Fauvism was not a school of painting (as Cubism was to be), but a restless search for style. It was more a spurt of energy than in the steady rhythm of sustained progress. Because it did not present a program or enforce any rules, the Fauve movement seemed minor next to Cubism, which took over the avant-garde limelight as early as 1908.
This may help to explain it’s brief life:
Fauvism owed a considerable debt to Monet, whose non-naturalist color schemes had caused such a scandal in the mid 1870’s. From dot’s to bold colored strokes, with simple compositions. Fauve paintings were fashionable and desirable works on the market during the Fauvism period. It would be safe to say that the Fauves’ heyday began in 1905 and remained on the public radar for two more years.
Matisse’s passionate conviction that new art could and should find a public singled him out as the driving force and leader of Fauvism. By 1908 the name Fauve was starting to be used as a label synonymous with “avant-garde”. Broadly speaking, Fauvism followed where Matisse and Derain led. Matisse was the leading Fauve because he was the most celebrated painter, therefore making him the most sought by critics and journalists for comment and the one who received the most attention. He was the only one of the group who never ceased to acknowledge Fauvism, even Derain, who also played a leading role in Fauvism, looked back at this period and dismissed it as “youthful brashness’.
Fauvism to Matisse came out of what he called the ‘courage to return to the purity of the means, establishing that its point of departure had been it’s beautiful blues, reds, yellows, stuff to stir the sensual depths of man’.
Raw pure color was not secondary to the composition, it defined the composition. To maximize the effect of a red sky, an artist might choose lime green buildings, yellow water, orange sand and royal blue boats. None of the Fauves ever went with realistically colored scenery. Simple forms were a necessity, preferring landscapes as they lend themselves well to large areas of color. A sky could be orange, a tree crimson red, a face any combination of clashing color.
In the opening years of the twentieth century, Post-Impressionist painters such as van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat, and Cezanne were considered the leaders of avant garde art and Matisse changed direction, no longer focusing on color but aiming to create simple forms and figures.
Books: The Fauves by – Ferrier ,and Fauvism by – Sarah Whitfield and the Internet
Thank you, Carmel
Link to: Timeline Snippets
I think it's interesting to link artistic styles to world events. I have singled out some of the items that might have had an impact on the artists and, also, what was happening closer to home. I have included links to pages with more information, so you can check out other areas that draw your imagination.
Tuesday at Creightons - Oct 14
It was a smaller group today and some of us are getting busier so fewer did the experiment.
#35 - Subtly Suggest Shapes
- Avelina was our overachiever again with three pieces. She had a swirly, unsubtle (actually is was pretty subtle for her) rooster greeting the day with cool colors invigorated by some red and it was full of movement. Fun!!! Then was a lovely and more subtle “tulip” shape of similar palette that could be turned any way and it still worked. Finally, a warm and even subtler palette created a lovely rose.
- Shirley didn’t get time to do this one but she shared the project she is working on from her 23 Monterey project. It’s the Doggie Diner head near the end of the line on Sloat. She is working with the CMYK palette and hopes to do a really big one as well! She is entertaining the possibility of a series of “insider attractions” in San Francisco. Go Shirley!!
- Peg finally made it from the East Bay, through the snarled morning traffic, for the first time and she jumped right in! Her first piece was a monochromatic and ethereal ballerina in blue. Then she shared a really tall piece she called “Fallen” that relates to our life experiences. We start all clean as we go we get a bit bloody and pick up some dirt but somehow it all comes together to create something beautiful. It was mixed media with crayon shavings that she melted under a hot lamp and some UV acrylic varnish that Golden makes. It comes in paint on or spray. It may be a way to protect watercolors that aren’t covered in glass. She also said to check out the crayons if you use them. Some work better than others. WELCOME PEG!
- Mary was taking a break today. She is getting ready for a 3 week trip to visit a dear friend in Bali! We wish her a safe trip and wonderful time!!!
- Joanie did eucalyptus pods and shared a painting for her class of a feather caught on a piece of grass that she likes a lot.
Carmel didn’t do a piece but she did a “report” on the Fauvists. They worked for a very short time. They were buddies in school. They wanted to work with bold colors “outside the box”. Check the blog for the full report. Good job, Carmel Shirley did some research on what else was happening at the same time and it seems the world was experiencing quite a bit of unrest. Tell us more!!!
There was some discussion on how to handle really large pieces of paper, particularly from rolls, and is was suggested that you can use Itack which is a wallboard that you can get a Home Depot. Get the bathroom kind. The regular can’t get wet. You wet your paper then hang and tack it all around the edges. When it is dry, wet is again with a sprayer and when dry it will lay flat. Then you can just work on the board up against the wall.
For next time, #61 Stain and Layer, pgs 152 + 154.
Until then, PAINT!!!!
Joanie and Shirley
Tuesday at Creightons - Sep 30 + Oct 07
You may have noticed that I totally spaced notes for last week. I must have been distracted by the heat! So, this week I will share both last and this week.
Sep 30
- We started with a discussion of yellows and their differing properties. Shirley reviewed the qualities of tube vs. pan paints. Tube paints lose their rich qualities when left to dry and then rewetted because the moisture, gum Arabic and glycerin evaporate. Pan paints are made differently and are made to be rewetted. This was followed by a quick discussion of the vagaries of Prussian Blue.
- Folex and 409 are good for removing watercolor stains.
Then we got to #23, Concentrate on a Shape:
- Marjorie is really diving into the learning possibilities of this project and was thinking that trying to copy the examples might be a good way to learn. She did not, however, copy the example but created an outrageously colored succulent with bright outlines. The leaves were the repeated shapes. We talked about how you know when a piece is done and most agreed that you just KNOW.
- Mary tried a linoleum block. It took her several days to carve the block and then she discovered that it didn’t print very well with watercolor. She tried peach black, Prussian Blue and Chinese white. With the Chinese white she printed first and then did a yellow and Prussian Blue wash.
- Shirley brought her grill painting redo from the little Conservatory on Monterey Blvd. It is part of her CCSF project of the 23 Monterey Bus Line. She used inks and paint on a long piece of paper with blues, red browns and black and discovered that a baby toothbrush makes a nice fine spatter.
- Joanie used brightly colored stripes and rectangles and tried her new Sennelier inks which moved all over the place because the inks have lacquer in them.
- Avelina repeated dancer shapes which she moved around and reversed. She had to be careful putting in the background and it added another direction. She left a white “halo” around the dancers, which were different colors.
- Carmel did grilled corn, which looked like you could pick it up and eat it! She saved her whites and also did some scraping.
Oct 07
Discussion began with a debate about how we feel about paintings. Some said “love affair” and others “marriage”.
#19 Invent a Color Scheme:
- Mary started sharing with a painting she did at Grey Eagle with Kay Russell. She was using a photo of the scene outside their cabin and there was an interesting effect on the photo of radiating lines, which she included.
- Joanie did a purple pear with an orange background. Even though warm colors come forward and cool colors recede the pear managed to look like it was forward because of color intensity and some highlights.
- Shirley chose colors that she never uses for this experiment. The result was an orange dragonish creature in the center surrounded with green, and a pale blue background with some purple dot shapes. Some of the color combinations were unique and wonderful but she said she had no great affection for the piece. Her colors were Cadmium Orange, Thalo Green, Winsor Violet and French Ultramarine Blue.
- Marjorie did an animal skull in greens with a red shadow. She just closed her eyes and picked six colors and said she learned tons! Her colors were Alizarin Crimson, Thalo Green, Hooker’s Green, Payne’s Grey, French Ultramarine and Winsor Yellow.
- Carmel did two pieces, a beautiful sand dollar with deep blue sand and layers and layers of masked dots in lots of colors. Her second was a landscape with outrageous pink and red trees done in a Fauvism style.
- Avelina did three! A landscape in oranges and blues with atmospheric perspective, a portrait of a child divided into quarters with a different color palette in each quarter and her “Avatar” green woman in native dress from a photo in National Geographic. It was an interesting combination of realism and alarming color. All had her usual, beautiful attention to detail!
- Shirley brought another piece from her 23 Monterey project. It was the fountain in St. Francis Woods at Santa Ana Street. She was listening to the Soundtrack from Sleeping Beauty as she was working on the third one (the earlier ones were walked on by her cat and smeared near the end with a sleeve!) and it came out quite magical.
I won’t elaborate about the extensive discussion about mature women and hair that ended our morning. You just had to be there so come next time!!!
Until next week,
Joanie and Shirley
Call for Entry - Cafe Seventy8
Hello fellow artists,
I'm happy to announce that the 4th Annual Cafe Seventy8 Group Show for the Watercolor Community of San Francisco is happening this November.
Location: Cafe Seventy8, 78 29th St, San Francisco, CA 94110 (near Mission St)
Dates: Saturday, Nov 1 until Saturday, Nov 29.
Deadline for entering the show is Wednesday, Oct 8.
If you wish to participate, please let me know. I will send out all the nitty gritty details to all who are participating.
Thanks,Jesse,
415-205-7015
zygote1955@yahoo.com
I'm happy to announce that the 4th Annual Cafe Seventy8 Group Show for the Watercolor Community of San Francisco is happening this November.
Location: Cafe Seventy8, 78 29th St, San Francisco, CA 94110 (near Mission St)
Dates: Saturday, Nov 1 until Saturday, Nov 29.
Deadline for entering the show is Wednesday, Oct 8.
If you wish to participate, please let me know. I will send out all the nitty gritty details to all who are participating.
Thanks,Jesse,
415-205-7015
zygote1955@yahoo.com
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