Jun 27

A New Page
Look above and you will see an new tab for the "Index" page. I have listed the last few months of contents so that you can find videos and other beloved posts. Don't know how much further back in history I will go, but will try to, at least, keep it up to date.

Peg's Show

The Artist's Statement
Paintings From an Artist-In-Residency
With the exhibit “In a Good Light” Peg Robinson shares her experience of an extraordinary environment in the redwood forests of Northern California, the estate and legacy of Morris Graves (1910-­‐2001). Graves, a member of a group of artists who were described as the Northwest School of Visionary Art, was well known for his early works committed to the transcendent vision of the inner-­‐eye, and in later years his flower paintings created at his California studio.
In 2014 Peg was awarded a two-­‐week artist-­‐in-­‐residency by the Morris Graves Foundation to create art in and around the home and studio of the late painter. The paintings shown here today are the work from that residency.
Influenced and inspired by Graves’ artifacts, approach and the surrounding landscape, Peg expresses her direct engagement with the animal and plant life around a 2000-­‐year old rift lake.
The subject matter in Peg’s paintings comes directly from objects found in Graves’ studio or home, or from life observed in the surrounding environment. His shells from nearby Pacific beaches, a collection of bottles and cups used in his still-­‐life flower paintings, flowers from his garden, the wildlife in around the lake, the trees of the land, and the detritus of the forest floor serve as markers of the time spent at this remarkable locale. Additional influence and inspiration came from Graves’ use of rice paper and of course the October light of Northern California.
Using watercolors as her primary medium, Peg worked “en plein aire” as well as in the studio -­‐ sometimes using a direct painting approach but also letting paintings develop over time from observation and contemplation. Rice paper became part of certain paintings and, at other times, part of the process of applying paint through stippling, stenciling and mono-­‐ printing techniques.
Morris Graves once wrote of painting “…that unutterable beauty no thing or space is free from”. Beauty is in abundance at his estate and deeply influenced Peg’s choice of subject matter and approach. She hopes that translates for you into an enjoyable glimpse into a beautifully wild and wonderful world.

Video
This is not about watercolor, it is about how different artists look at the same thing and come up with very a different painting. 

4 Artists Paint 1 Tree

Jun 20

Herakut Mural
I thought this was an interesting article. It's about the mural that we, the denizens of Flax's back parking lot, often see. I thought you might enjoy the back story: Herakut Mural

Tuesday at Creightons - Jun 16
Hi, TACers,
After we all had our drinks and treats…
38 - Compose with a Letter
SHIRLEY started us off with a bright and loose “S”.  he used her Iridori paints and her “S” had hints of dragon-ness. As it went around the table several of us found other animal forms.
MARJORIE used only one color, “Moonglow”, on yupo to make her “M” and it separated into lovely reds, blues and purples. She used a palette knife and her fingers and it had a stormy look.
AVELINA got excited and did several. My notes are a little mixed up so I hope I get this right. First she did “C” several times on the black paper from an Arches block (good recycling) to make a face. Second, “S” was all over in greens and oranges with wax and stripes. Third was “O”ooooooooooooohs, all overlapping that reminded some of us of music. Bright colors, crayon, pen and wax.
JOANIE did “O” as well but her theme was olives and additional rounded shapes, surrounded by a large calligraphic “O”.
SUE’s “S” was HOT pink with others in under layers of blue and yellow. She used watercolor crayons.
CAROLE D. asked if any of us had thought of using different alphabets which stirred a good bit of discussion about how beautiful some other alphabets are.
Lee, Pam and Joanie shared pieces from previous experiments and Pam shared about the workshop she did with Birgit O’Connor in Point Reyes.
Next week: 57 - Work with Marking Pens
If you haven’t been in a while, come!
Soon, Joanie

Alice in San Anselmo

Jun 13

Tuesday at Creightons - Jun 09
Hi, TACers,
17 - Use High Key Only
After satisfying hunger and thirst,
JOANIE started with a image of Lily of the Nile buds. Pale purples and greens were barely there.  She thought she should crop some and the group agreed.
MARJORIE did a lot of playing again.First was a blue-eyed white kitten on a watercolor postcard and we all went “awwww!”. She gently neutralized her pastel and tried white gel pen for fine whiskers and hairs which wasn’t as successful as she hoped so she finished with gouache.Her second was on a small canvas Joanie gave her. She gessoed it and then painted Joanie’s name and then gave it to her. (And it is already on my wall! Thank you!) Her third was ephemeral color on Yupo and because she was hurrying to dry it she got some interesting effects.
PAM brought a lovely framed piece of an Italian stone window that was bang on for the experiment and she said it was a breakthrough piece for her and she learned to work looser.  Her second was a tall church nave from the Czech Republic. It was all glowing goldy tans with a lace-like ceiling.  She used white gouache for highlights on the beams and columns for emphasis. There was a very tiny person to give scale.
SUE played with plastic wrap and a beautiful green blue for an oceanscape. We had fun telling her what we saw in it. She wants to add some iridescence.
SHIRLEY finished her first Muni map and now she is using the same map, this time with a small girl waiting for the bus with the grid done in blue. It was in high key but she thinks she will emphasize the girl more as she was a little lost.
AVELINA did her clay animals in pastels. Somehow she managed to make pastels colorful but she couldn’t wait to go home and make them brighter! She used her pickle fork to score the background for a cool texture. She did her Figure in Landscape on Yupo of Mother Earth giving birth to Nature. She used her fingers to paint. She was back to her richly colored palette.
JANIE didn’t do this one but she did bring back her completed waterfall for the narrow paper experiment to share and it is lovely, finished with a delicate pine branch. She plans to float it in a frame.
Next week: 38 - Compose with a Letter
Joanie

Journeling, Indoor/Outdoor and More
These 4 videos are by the same woman, Gay Kraeger, and are full of ideas and techniques. It covers drawing, painting, typography, palette choices, composition. She is fun and informative.
Watercolor Sketching & Journaling - Part 1
Watercolor Sketching & Journaling - Part 2
Watercolor Sketching & Journaling - Part 3
Watercolor Sketching & Journaling - Part 4

Jun 06

Jesse in the Bernal Blog Again
Go to the post at:
Spooky Moon Seen Behind Spooky Clouds Above Spooky Scene on Virginia
and click on her photo. It's even better enlarged. The he/she thing is getting corrected.

Ink Guide

Pam found a great resource for information about ink. Check it out.

Flax Ink Buying Guide

An Interesting Poem
Cutting Loose
Sometimes from sorrow, for no reason,
you sing. for no reason, you accept
the way of being lost, cutting loose
from all else and electing a world
where you go where you want to.

Arbitrary, a sound comes, a reminder
that a steady center is holding
all else. If you listen, that sound
will tell you where it is and you
can slide your way past trouble.

Certain twisted monsters
always bar the path - but that's when
you get going best, glad to be lost,
learning how real it is
here on earth, again and again.
William Stafford

Tuesday at Creightons - May 02
 Hi, TACers!
Small group this time. Pam is back from her travels and kit was great to see her!

39 - Combine the Figure with Landforms
JANIE thought her piece was too bad to bring but she said she used two quick draw figures. Of, course we all wanted to see it!  She finished her waterfall and will bring it next time.
PAM did a woman reclining on grass in a green velvet dress and it looked like green undulating hills.
HEATHER hid her woman in a tree trunk that made her dress, mysterious!
SHIRLEY has started a new series. She created a rich background in reds and mahogany Osmiroid ink. She scored the paper around her three figures and got a really interesting effect.  Then she is sewed the Muni electric lines map over it with gold thread. Intriguing as always!
MARJORIE had three pieces. Her first was a foreshortened figure as a mountain. She was using a printers paper so her brushstrokes were prominent, to interesting effect. She was working with atmospheric perspective but she wasn’t totally happy with it. Her second was a zoom in of the first with just the head and shoulders. It had a better sense of perspective and she  was playing with the brushstrokes. The third was a figure on a beach towel and we were going for the figure as sand and the towel as water but it didn’t seem finished so she will work on it more.
JOANIE didn’t do her homework AGAIN!!! 
  
We talked about how some of us sit to paint, some stand and some do both. Also we are still looking at good books that might be a guide when we complete Goldsmith.
Jeanne Dobie, author of “Making Color Sing”, has a new DVD out with 7 lessons.

Next week: 17 - Use High Key Only
That’s it! Joanie

P.S. I would like to suggest that we have an art supply exchange in two weeks, after we share.  Thoughts?

Reception at Center for Spiritual Life
Avelina took some photos of the show in West Portal. She and her husband, Bill, were among the worker bees that helped hang the pieces. Mary, Janie and Heather are seen with some their work and the group shot just shows us enjoying each others company.

May 30

Congratulations!
Mary Ciofalo and Juan Vargas were accepted by the FiftyFifty Show at the Sanchez Art Gallery. Now the fun begins.

Installation at Center for Spiritual Living

Thank you Mary, Avelina, Juliet, invisible Bill and Shirley. Challenging and well done.

Quotes from Viewers:

Hi Shirley & Mary,

The folks at the Center loved your art!
Thank you both so much for all your hard work yesterday and for all your organization! I got called that everyone loved your paintings!
I am grateful. Thanks again, Juliet

Dear Juliet,
I was at the Center last evening and was overwhelmed by the fantastic art display. You have really set the bar quite high! Thank you so much for your hard work and to all the artists who contributed  their works. I think this exhibit can hang around for awhile unless we can sell it out completely! I know most people who were there last night felt similarly . 

Kudos to you. 

Namaste, Marsha

Tuesday at Creightons - May 19

Hi, TACers,
As we waited for artists to arrive we were talking about what we are afraid to try/what was challenging for us and it was pretty interesting.  Each of us is challenged by something different…cars, flowers, architecture, figure, etc.  Some of us are planning to use the summer to actually face our little demons!
09 - Paint on a Narrow Sheet
HEATHER took two pieces she had been working on and added more.  One was her misty piece and she added blooming trees that had an Asian feel, like graceful ladies in kimonos (my image).  She added more foreground detail in her piece on a gessoed background.
MARJORIE managed to produce NINE pieces.  She used a poppy piece she had done a while ago as her source.  She cropped the edge of that one, then she created a new one that included ink and was freer and another that she used looser blobs of color with cray-pas.  She was going for Bolder and Freer!  She also did two versions of a waterfall, two copies of Cezanne and two of Obata trees.
LEE produced a lovely and subtle Rothko and a little Helen Franken Faller.  She loves abstract.
SHIRLEY shared her third Japanese kite that was full of color and pattern.  She says she has one more and that she is ready to be done and needs a break from the intensity of the Iridori paints.
AVELINA did a reinterpretation of a portrait of her step-daughter that they lost two years ago. It was an ethereal pencil drawing over a background wash.  Lovely tribute!
SUE and JOANIE didn’t do their homework…there is nest week!
Check out the Rothko video!
Next week: 39 - Combine the Figure with Landforms
Soon, Joanie

Presentation on Turner 

Hi Gang,
Here is the information on the Kerrin Meis presentation on Turner. It will be held at the Corte Madera Store on 51 Tamal Vista Blvd. The date is June 26, 2015 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The cost is $40. You can register on line at: BookPassage.com.
You can also register at the store ahead of time or on the day of the event. I would not suggest registering on the day of the event because the space they usually use is not large and I’m sure it will be well attended.
Depending on the number who want to attend, I could go earlier and save seats if your  tickets have been purchased ahead of time. Please let me know if you plan to go and have purchased a ticket.
Regards, Camille Morishige

Tuesday at Creightons - May 26
Hi, TACers,
We continue to be a smaller group with some of us travelling.
09 - Paint on a Narrow Sheet
There were large to tiny narrow pieces of paper and, as usual, a wide variety of subject matter.
JANIE started us off with a double duty piece (paint from another painting and using a narrow sheet) of a waterfall from one of her oil paintings.  It had a delicate Asian feel and was incomplete.  We offered suggestions.
AVELINA used strips of poster board and created three fun and playful pieces. She had brightly colored tall giraffes, a water-ish blue piece that she used torn masking tape and a delightful “shoes of my life” piece that also showed the skirt lengths of her life and we all related. So fun!!!
She said the poster board was very hard to work on and it pilled and tore easily.
SUE had a big Turner impression piece. She did a yellow under wash that made the water just glow!
SHIRLEY did a long colorful figure on a dark background of a beautiful Osmoroid mahogany ink.  She said it was old.
MARJORIE did a colorful and fun long necked bird that curled it’s long neck back into the picture frame.  Her second was a straw blowing abstract with felt pen and the third was an arching tree that she did with a palette knife and some blowing and the smallest branches were the side of the palette knife.  The background was what she called a sloppy graded wash.
JOANIE had two small pieces. Her narrow piece was the smallest and showed a cross piece of a salvia.  Her other piece was her copy from a painting and she had a blue background and created the dandelion with alcohol drops.
HEATHER’s background was a soft “palette cleaning” color over which she used wax to nice effect.  The she divided the paper and created two different sides that she made “speak to each other”.
We also talked a little about ways to blow paint.  Remember when we learned about this?  I know I often forget about some of those interesting techniques.  I was delighted at what happened when I used alcohol this time.
Ideas: regular drinking straw, cocktail straw, canned air, a Mouth Atomizer, and, of course, just your breath.
Next week: 39 - Combine the Figure with Landforms
Have fun painting this week!
Joanie and Shirley 

May 23

Raise a Brush
Invite from Carmel

The image is a bit bleary, so for more info, go to: Raise a Brush

Vocabulary
Pam learned a new word from one of the paint manufacturers.

floc·cu·late  (flŏk′yə-lāt′) v. floc·cu·lat·ed, floc·cu·lat·ing, floc·cu·lates
v.tr.
1. To cause (individual particles) to aggregate into clotlike masses or precipitate into small lumps.
2. To cause (clouds) to form fluffy masses.
v.intr.
1. To form lumpy or fluffy masses.
     When your paint dries on your paper and forms a pattern of small blobs (not in a bad way), it's flocculating. 

May 16

Heather and Sue at Goat Hill Pizza

If your are interested in showing your work at Goat Hill Pizza, the man to contact is:
Mike Monley  -  mcmonley@gmail.com

Video Demonstration
Tuscany Window - Joanne Boon Thomas

Tuesday at Creightons - May  12
Hi, TACers,
12 - Create a New Species
There are now several new species on the planet!  All shapes, sizes and purposes.
HEATHER started with a brightly colored, squiggly background she had created, washed it with Sennellier Transparent Brown, put her hands and fingers on it and finally added detail for delicate, subtle beings.
AVELINA had two pieces, tree people inspired by Lord of the Rings, all twisty and kind of flirty! Then she created tulip butterfly dogs.  You could tell the males from the females by wing color, pink and blue.  There were two parents, an older pup and then three fledgling pups.  Fun and cute!
JOANIE had one that she didn’t like with some wormy-sluggy things with gold spikes and some green blobby things with gold yolks which she then outlined with watercolor crayons in red and blue.  It was too crude and harsh.  Her second was a small female creature with tendrils in blues and purples with gold and silver details. (Note from Shirley: It was adorable!)
MARJORIE did a big one with all sorts of shaped creatures with complex details that created a whole universe with reddish dots that carried the eye around the space.  She said it could be what is in a drop of water or a whole universe.
She crumpled the second paper and filled it with yellows, reds and greens and the darkened fold lines were filaments that could self-illuminate, couple, form groups or be alone as they wanted.
SHIRLEY shared two of her butterfly kite paintings. One we had seen before but she had added a leaf pattern as background to suggest jungle.  The colors were clear and bright with subtle gold details.  The second was more pastel, opaque and whimsical with big eyes.  The palette seemed different because the colors were more opaque but it was the same colors.  Interesting!
CAROL and SUE came but didn’t do their homework.  They did give great supportive comments so their grades didn’t go down….
Everyone who did this one said they had fun!
Next week: 11 - Paint from a Painting

Soon, Joanie

Watercolor Community Show - West Portal