Apr 25

Winsor Newton Watercolor Seminar

Sat, May 9, 1pm – 3pm

Flax: 1699 Market St, San Francisco
One of our most popular workshops, the Winsor & Newton Watercolor Seminar is back with artist Anna Simpson!
For artists already working in watercolor or the newcomer, this lively and entertaining discussion looks at the history, techniques, and materials that spell success when working in this most legendary of mediums.  Discover which pigments granulate, why some colors stain, and the ideal landscape color palette.  Learn the keys to color permanence and lightfastness.  Winsor & Newton artist Anna Simpson will be here to answer these familiar watercolor questions and more, such as; which mediums help capture texture and expressive gesture?  Why do we have Rough, Cold Pressed and Hot Pressed papers? What colors best capture natural light?  What is gouache and can it be used with transparent watercolors? What are the three benchmarks for fine water media brushes? How do I care for my brushes and finished watercolors? 

These topics and any other questions you might bring will be addressed, with all attendees receiving free watercolor samples at the conclusion.  Also, all Winsor & Newton watercolors will be offered that day only at an extra 20% off the low FLAX price!

Please sign up early for this free event.  You can call the store at 415.552.2355 or sign up on the 'workshops' page of the FLAX website!

Painting at Filoli
Gail B. is planning a painting trip to Filoli, an estate down the peninsula, just west of highway 280, about 7 or 8 miles south of highway 92. It’s a huge estate donated to the state of California back in the 70s. There are 17 acres of flower gardens, 10 acres of orchards, and a 35,000 square foot house (no painting inside the house!). Filoli hosts “artist access days” once a month from March to October. The remaining dates this year are May 21, June 25, (no July date), August 13, September 17, and October 22.

The painting time is from 3;30 to 6:30, although payment of the fee enables you to spend the whole day there if you like. (It’s absolutely gorgeous, and Gail thinks you’d enjoy wandering the gardens and touring the mansion ahead of time. There’s a very nice cafe, situated under some spreading oak trees, with the occasional peacock strolling by.)

For a member, the Artist Access fee is $20, for a non member $30. The first date that she can make is August 13. If you’d like to make it a group endeavor, let me know.

Email Gail if you would like to participate with the date that interests you at: Gail B.
To find out more about Filoli, go to: Filoli.org
For Artist's Guidelines, go to Program Details and Materials List
To Register, go to: Artist Access Days  or call 650-364-8300 x508
You can register online or by phone, and I suspect that the sooner we do it, the better. The limit seems to be around 20 or 25, although I got different figures the two times I visited the office.

It does get really hot in the summer, so you might prefer the September or October date. She may splurge and do all three.There’s a lot of shade, in any case, and it will be mid- to late-afternoon. If you decide to go and would like her to keep track of who’s going when, in case people would like to carpool, just let her know. She doesn’t think you’ll have any problems registering on your own.

(Back in ’78 when Warren Beatty decided he’d like to use Filoli for his movie, “Heaven Can Wait”, he paid to have the mansion renovated, as I gather it wasn’t in the best shape at that time. He used the ballroom as his gym!)

Tuesday at Creightons - Apr 28

  Hi, TACers!
4 - Emphasize Diagonals
Our diagonals were pretty cool.
Shirley started us off with a Japanese butterfly kite in a bright palette.  She wanted “lifesaver” candy colors for the kite and then she muted the same colors with neutral tint for the background. She also used Sumi ink and gesso.
Sue did a piece on mystical metallic that included a figure in front of mountains and she added sun, moon and stars that she loves.
Joanie moved in close on a starfish and was working on shading.  She also had a bunch of carrots that were floating in space…
Marjorie is back from down under where she swam with dolphins!!  Her seagull study was all grey that she mixed with red and green and the sea behind was kind of wild.
Janie shared her “gellie” prints that she tried, with lace. She didn’t feel successful but she sure made lemonade with the one she transformed into a Moroccan rug!  She also shared her journal from her trip to Morocco last summer and we all fell in love with her illustrations of her camels!
We also talked about sketching quickly with simple supplies and how when’ we can do that our brain gets out of the way and we get some really wonderful stuff.

Next week: 50 - Lift Out White Lines with Tissue
That’s it for this week, Joanie
P.S.  can anyone use nineish empty prescription bottles with no labels????

Apr 23

All About Masking 

The Complete Guide to Masking Fluid
45 minutes of masking information, tips and tests (thank you, Pam). Does not include how to use the brown mailing tape, have to find that one again.


A New Page
Resources: Check it for some information. A work in progress, more to come.

Tuesday at Creightons - Apr 21

Hi, TACers!
A small group of 3 and ½ today (Carol D. came late), and only half did the work.

20 - Paint with Pure Color
JANIE used yellows and blues to create a seascape with an intriguing yellow horizon line.  She was pretty happy with the result and is planning to work more on waves in the future.  She said she learned that by using only tube colors she had to practice restraint. She really wanted to mix.
JOANIE did nasturtiums in warm oranges and reds with big round green leaves. She used ink to outline. Then used lighter color to show depth but could have used less defining lines on leaves more distant.
Shirley saw on a video that that plastic brown packing tape makes a good masking tool. Not the paper kind.
Then there was time to talk…first about what our “I can’t paint that” phobias were. Carol shies away from architecture, Shirley is struggling with cars and for Janie and Joanie it’s roses. It seemed to be things we found “hard”.
Then it was on to “ARTIST”.  What does it mean and are we artists? Carol quoted Joseph Campbell, ” An artist is not a special kind or person but every person is a special kind of artist.” Don’t you love it!
Shirley talked about how selling is part of the definition for a professional artist. Selling/not selling can become a validation/invalidation of the worth of the piece and it can reflect upon her sense of self-worth. Being an artist includes selling and that says your work is “good”. Also questions the difference between "artist", "artisan", "artistic", "craft", "crafty", etc.
Joanie prefers terms like “painter” or “watercolorist”.  They don’t seem to have a value judgement. It is just a description. She also links “artist” to the most excellent work and fame.
It was really interesting. What do you think about it?
Btw - Janie had some stylin' going on, foot-wise.

AND - PEG sent in this:

 Hi all, I layered pure color to get the skin tones and colors on the wrap. The turban and the darks were mixed. Miss you, Peg

Next week: 4 - Emphasize Diagonals
Joanie

Apr 11

Tuesday at Creightons - Apr 14

Tuesday at Creighton

Hi, TACers
We had a much smaller group today.  A bunch of us are travelling.

While we waited for people to arrive and get their morning treats we discussed the presentation at FLAX on Saturday.  There was a good presentation of Sennelier watercolors.  The interesting thing about them is they have honey in them and that all the pigments are ground to the same specifications.  Arches paper had rabbit skin glue as a binder and Fabriano Artistico has a plant based binder.  Have you even noticed the smell of Arches when you are working with it quite wet??  I really dislike that smell!

45 - Suggest Vast Distances
HEATHER started off with her piece from last week.  She had totally reworked it with just paints on her palette and she worked quickly.  The gesso added an interesting quality to her subtle colors.
This prompted a short discussion about the quality of our artwork.  Is it less valuable, good, etc., if you do it fast or it is easy???
AVELINA did the Monument Valley buttes with a beautiful sky and clouds.  She used Burnt Sienna for most of it and they changed it for shadows.  She used Fluid brand paper and found it very unsatisfactory and it tore when she removed the tape.  She was glad it was her last piece.
JANIE took us to the Saget (sp?) Washington tulip fields with rows of color and a delicate cloudy sky.  She created some interesting textures.
JOANIE also did clouds, one of Twin Peaks and another with dried fields and a tiny silo.
LEE was struggling with depth and asked for suggestions, which, as you know, we are always happy to give! The piece worked well as an abstract but details could be added to make it a little more representational.
SHIRLEY swirled us into the Outer Limits with paint and salt!  Swirls or color, salt starbursts, stardust with silver tempera and a tiny alien!  She is the salt queen!  (That is kind of like being “The Bomb.)
If you haven’t been in awhile, drop in over the next couple of weeks to keep us company.  With so many away we will be lonely…..

Next week: 20 - Paint with Pure Color
Until then, Joanie

Kay Russell and Mary Blake Open Studio

Color Challenge

Online Color Challenge
How well do you see color? FACT: 1 out of 255 women and 1 out of 12 men have some form of color vision deficiency. Take the online color challenge, based on the Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue Test. Click here to try it out!
Thank you, Pam

Tuesday at Creighton - Apr 07

Hi, TACers!

Slacker last week, sorry!

This week in Goldsmith’s: 22 - Make restful areas count
PAM started us off with an unfinished piece of a road, rock and trees.  She needs to add more darks as there wasn’t much difference in values.
JANIE salvaged an old painting, adding a forest and a meadow with a restful spot.  She used sponging, a filbert brush and pen.
SUE did a quiet beachy scene and did a great job or replicating wet sand.  Good sense of distance.  She saved white paper and used white crayon for the whitecaps.  She is off to New York for museum adventures for a week!
AVELINA used figures in warm colors on cool backgrounds.
HEATHER blasted out a piece in five minutes!  She gessoed an old painting and painted a subtle piece.  A suggestion was to try watercolor medium instead as it won’t resist the paint as gesso does.
JOANIE used her Easter breakfast at Nick’s in Pacifica as inspiration for a wild seascape. Her rock was ambiguous.
CAROL D. had trees in snow and it really looked COLD!
SHIRLEY asked for advice for next steps on her blue and white Japanese piece.  There were a lot of ideas.
Other conversation was about defining oneself as an artist and how everyone is changing and learning and how valuable is the exchange of ideas between us.  There was also talk about brushes, filberts (nuts and brushes, games and stolen purses!  You are missing all the fun!!!!

Next week: 45 - Suggest Vast Distances
Until next week, Joanie

Tuesday at Creighton - Apr 31

Hello from "Not Joanie",

I expected a smallish group because of all the travel plans (I do not see why Pam cannot plan her excursions around our meeting and exactly what can Australia offer that Diamond Heights does not?) but we just keep showing up and doing the work! I am thinking about bring my own chair, just so patrons have somewhere to sit on Tuesday mornings.

44 - Abstract from a Commonplace Object
This is a no brainer, for me, but many in the group where moaning and groaning (some were even whining). But, they gave it a go and produced some really interesting effects.

And, one of my favorite moments happened. I completely understand the feeling that my work in "not good enough" for whatever reason, so when someone bravely holds up a piece that they are very unsure of, it always makes me happy.

So, I leave you with this blessing:
Be brave with your brush, pertinent with your palette, and keep your teacup away from your paint water.

Next Week: 22 - Make Restful Areas Count