Tuesday at Creightons - Dec 16

Hi, TACers!

Our sharing and discussion was fairly quick this time with just a few of us attending.


30 - Hard Edges
- Joanie started with her piece.  She didn’t enjoy this experiment and was stuck in it all being flat and hard. Her subject was looking out of her workroom window through the rain at the tree and houses across the street.  Because it was so grey she decided to use intense color-opera, yellow, blue and then outlined in pen.
- Carmel worked on an older rose  piece she had set aside.  It was big, bold and beautiful with rich pinks reds and purples.  She left white lines between her wet in wet shapes and there was intriguing detail in the stamens.  It was a bit Georgia O’Keefe-ish.
- Janie did koi and painted dry.  She managed to get very wet looking water with a dry brush and it sparkled with white paper showing through.
- Carol did two versions of a tangerine, one more toward botanical and one less so.  Shirley reminded us that mixing magenta and yellow can make a good orange.
- Marjorie did a second aerial view and combined it with the hard edges which she was much happier with.  She painted Thornton Beach, her favorite beach in San Francisco.  It was of the water, beach and trails in and around the dunes.  She used wax and frisket to preserve her whites.
- Shirley shared 3 pieces, two based on sand dollars and one with an ethereal figure with a red opera length glove.  Her first sand dollar was more somber in greyish hues and the second was hot and wild with oranges, reds and pinks.  She was more focused about where she wanted her hard and soft edges.  She also painted the first layer on a dark, rainy day with only window light and when she saw it the next morning it was so bright she decided to tone it down…but the colors were still pretty darn hot!

We WILL meet next week and the experiment is:
1 - Compose from the Top

Until then,
Joanie and Shirley

2015 Schedule for Friends in Art

This schedule is for the members of the Friends in Art group that meets at the Arboretum.

January 16*, 30
February 13, 27
March 13, 27
April 10, 24
May 8, 22
June 5, 19* July 17, 31
August 14, 28
September 11, 25
October 9, 23
November 6, 20*
December 4, 18

* on these dates we will meet in the recreation room instead of the garden room.

It will also be posted on the "Schedules" page.
Thank you, Billy

How to Identify Artists by their Paintings

 Check out this link

 How to Identify Artists by their Paintings

Thank you, Carole

Flax Coupon

Have you all seen this?

Link to Flax Coupon

Thank you, Pam

Tuesday at Creightons - Dec 09

Hi, TCers,

As we were settling in Marjorie arrived and was “grousing”, which led to a discussion of the word. Interesting… (see end of post)

47 Paint from Aerial Perspective
There were some interesting perspectives this week!
- Pam used a photo she took this summer in the Sacramento Delta with rectangles and sinuous lines in greens, golds and browns. She was drawn to the patterns of the fields and river. She thinks she needs more darks.
- Mary is working on a full sheet and we saw the first layer. She is working from a photo of Sand Pond in the Sierra Buttes. She is finding that working from the top and side at the same time ischallenging. She had some beautiful color combinations. She is working very realistically and at the same time the piece looks very abstract.
- Carole didn’t bring a piece but she was busy “absorbing” and being decorative!
- Shirley decided to just have fun and painted the starship Enterprise hovering over the earth, which she composed on the computer.
- Joanie did a cup of coffee, big and cropped. Her bubbles looked pretty real.
- Janie did a charming and cheerful map of her neighborhood.
- Carmel’s was an intensely colored everglades in greens, blues and purple with a pop of rust-yummy!
- Marjorie wasn’t very happy with hers (remember the grousing?) She wanted to see what would happen if she used two yellows-lemon yellow and naples yellow-and said it was Toxic Waste in the Arctic. We agreed with her title but disagreed with her that it wasn’t okay. It was actually very interesting.

Jeanette popped in near the end and shared her Design Class work, mostly in black and white. Some really interesting work.

We had talked about maybe having a show at Creighton’s but they can’t move the artwork that is already there so it is a “No Go”.

Next week: 30 - Use Mostly Hard-Edged Shapes - pgs 89 + 91

Holiday Schedule: We will meet next Tuesday, the 16th. We will decide on the 16th if we will meet on the 23rd.
See you Tuesday! 
Joanie and Shirley

grouse (v.) “complain,” 1885 (implied in grouser), British Army slang, of uncertain origin but perhaps from Norman French dialectal groucer, from Old French groucier “to murmur, grumble,” of imitative origin (compare Greek gru “a grunt,” gruzein “to grumble”). Related: Groused; grousing. As a noun from 1918, from the verb.(Online Etymology Dictionary)

Tuesday at Creightons - Dec 02

Hi, TACers,

Quick update for Nov 25 and Dec 02 gatherings…


Nov 25
21, Grey Fields with Bright Accents and #59, Use Just One Brush.
- Avelina used a 1 inch flat to create a garden and did a piece to add to her memories of her grandmother.
- Heather did a still life with greys and yellows and appreciated Kay’s color charts.  She was playing with combinations and became reacquainted with her #30 round.
- Janie did leaves and used a “mother puddle” to create her greys.  She included wax, a spray water bottle and Kleenex, all to good effect.  With her one brush she did golden trees.
- Shirley did a sheet full of shapes with one brush and lots of neutrals and she discovered that she loves “on the way to grey”.
- Peg painted statuary in a garden in fall with greys and yellow.  Her one brush was a seated figure with yellows and russets.
- Carmel did her grey and one brush in one piece with trees and she had a bit more to do.
- Joanie did shadows across her paper and an abstract and did both with one brush.
- Mary finger painted with her 3 year old granddaughter.  They used only 4 colors and she enjoyed what happened with the limited palette, not to mention the fun! Hope she brings them next time.
- Marjorie used a #20 brush to paint birches, completed her staining and layering and another piece in her fortune cookie series.
- Shirley shared her sand dollar that she is doing for her CCSF class.  It had layers of paint, embossing and the lovely silk and steel thread that Carmel gave her.  Should be an A!!!

If you have any materials that you and/or friends wish to sell or give away you can put a notice on the blog.

Shirley has a friend that is making watercolor paper.  He is working of the formula and more information will follow.  It is also a possible field trip in the future.

Dec 02
 12 Choose a Single Value
- Sue brought the new Turner book, “Turner By The Sea” by Christine Riding and Richard Johns instead of a piece.  There was lots in the book that fit the experiment.
- Marjorie brought her “Expressionism” book.  She also brought 2 pieces, one light and one dark.  Both used similar colors but with dramatically different values.   She learned a lot!
- Janie did a skyline twice, one in light values and one in medium values and she also learned a lot.
- Shirley did a field of plant-ish things in dark values.  She used her favorite gold colored pencil to good effect.
- Avelina’s ice cream vendor and cart was a riot of color in medium values.
- Peg didn’t enjoy this one much and felt her piece was unsatisfactory but she did learn that she will pay more attention to value.

There was discussion of how value effects the viewer and it can be a useful, subliminal tool.  Also, it may be effected by what colors are next to each other.

Tip:  To help with areas where you will have edges of paint overlapping you can use a clear colored pencil to save the edge.  They are a little waxy and create a little dam.
Two movies recommended… Twenty Feet from Stardom and The Sapphires.
We will be meeting through the holidays.

Next week is #47 Paint from Aerial Perspective.

Celebrate the Rain!!!
Joanie and Shirley