Austin Pastel Society Meeting Photos

Yesterday, June 26, was our last Austin Pastel Society until September.  It was also the last meeting that Johanne Morin will attend on a regular basis.  She is moving away to New York.  We are happy that she will be close to her family and that we can still be in contact with her, but ......  It was a sad happy time. 

Johanne has been a very important artist in our group.  She was the person we turned to most often for exhibit coordinator and "hanging" person.  She says  after volunteering to help, she discovered she liked to do the exhibits.  She was very good at it.  She worked behind the scenes, too, with the website and keeping the wheels turning on our group efforts with shows, demos and more.  She will be truly missed in the group and as a friend.

 Johanne receiving her bluebonnet wine glass.

Johanne and Sue Bailey.

The demonstration artist for the day was Mike Windberg from the Windberg Art Center in Georgetown.  Mike is a wonderful artist and his talk was full of information.  It would be great to take a class with him and learn more about oil painting.  Oil painting works like pastels, building from dark to light.  Mike says we pastel artists "cheat" as we don't have to mix colors.  The equipment he uses is mostly items that his father, Dalhart Windberg, Mike and the Center have invented and made.  The easel is wonderful, it rolls around, adjusts with an attachment for everything you need.  His paint box keeps the paint wet for ages.  They have a great medium to assist the oil paint in drying,  and other  painting tools.  Mike had a board that you stick your canvas to, then you can take the canvas off and roll it up.  For traveling, it would be great, take one board and many pieces of canvas without taking wrapped canvas or canvas panels.  You will not be disappointed if you take a class with Mike or stop by the Center to buy supplies.

Mike suggests doing thumbnails in various color combinations when you are planning value and composition.  He prefers Old Holland paint because it contains so much pigment.  He likes Winsor-Newton and Gamlin, too.  He explained that paint manufacturers are cutting costs by adding more oil and less pigment.  So good paint costs more!

He did a quick sketch on the toned canvas with chalk - white pastel.  His under painting on the canvas was tinted acrylic and marble dust to have a nice surface to paint on.   He keeps a pink mixture on his palette to mix into landscape colors and his white is titanium white with a bit of cadmium yellow medium in it.  He suggested adding yellow to make most bright colors as white reduces the value.  Doesn't work too well in pure blue.  :)

He was working very quickly as much of his demonstration time was explaining equipment and technique.  He only had about 20 minutes of actual painting time.

He developed the painting from the horizon line upward for the sky first and then worked down to the foreground.  He painted everything behind the main tree first.  He put in the dark of the tree before adding the highlights and color.  His horizon shadows were a shade darker than the darkest part of the sky.    He "threw" on the foreground with his knife to be able to finish by our deadline.  We still kept him there overtime!

Sunday Night after First Friday

It was a BIG party.  There were many people there.  Some came for Gene's famous brisket and some came to see the art and old friends.  It was great to see people we hadn't seen in a while -- some of them, a long while.  Thanks to all of you that came by to meet Johanne Morin and Regina Burchett and share some food and wine.  Jan Weaver couldn't be there, prior commitments.  We missed her, but her lino cuts were a hit, too.

As usual, I didn't get any photos when all the people were there.  Same old story.  :(

This was the look outside the gallery in the afternoon.  Thank you, Regina, for the sign.

Gene, acting as bartender.  The coffee pot from Columbia holds hot water, coffee and the hot spiced cider.  It is a great piece for conversations, too.

Johanne Morin talking with Gene after most folks had left.  Her three small oil paintings to the right.

Mark and Lea Cundy, Blue Donkey Studio across the street.

Lester Sensat, previous featured artist.  Johanne's beautiful painting that you can see is a pastel.

From across the street earlier in the afternoon.  My gallery is in front of the white car.

Art House Sketchbook Opening

Do you remember my Art House Sketchbook project? The sketchbooks are going on display in a library format. I received this flyer today. Cool.
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We wanted to remind you that The Sketchbook Project is exhibiting at 303 Grand in Brooklyn on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We hope everyone can make it out and see the show!

Also, check out a feature that is running in Time Out NY this week about the exhibition and project! It also features interviews with four NYC based artists who participated.

The Sketchbook Project
Friday, February 18th 8:00-11:00pm (with a Q&A session from 7:00-8:00pm)
Saturday, February 19th 8:00-11:00pm
Sunday, February 20th 12:00-2:00pm

303 Grand
303 Grand St
Brooklyn, NY 11211

Art House Project Schedule

This is the current schedule for the Art House Sketchbook Project exhibits:

January 29th-30th, 2010
Art House Gallery
309 Peters St
Atlanta, GA 30313

February 19 - 21, 2010
303Grand
303 Grand St.
Brooklyn, NY 11211

February 26, 2010
Brooklyn Art Library (Grand Opening Party!)
201 Richards Street #16
Brooklyn, NY 11231

April 8 - 11, 2010
Art and Shelter Gallery at The Salvation Army Alegria
2737 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90039

April 16 - 18, 2010
Soulard Art Market
2028 S. 12th St
Saint Louis, MO 63104

May 7 - 9, 2010
Home Gallery
1407 E. 54th Place
Chicago, IL 60615

(*Art House says: We hope they won't, but the dates are always subject to change)

TGIF (Thank goodness its finished!) Sketches Slide Show

I finished the Art House Sketchbook and Gene mailed it off for me.

It was an interesting project to work on. I have never been able to keep a diary or journal. This blog is as close as I have ever come to a daily record. I post over 300 posts in 2009 which was great for me. This sketch project was a commitment that I wasn't sure I could do either, but I finished. Whew! They moved the original deadline from December to January. The extension only spurred on my procrastination. I just slowed down my sketches and still had to rush at the end.

Here is a slide show of the cover and sketches for the project. I still have to upload the photos to the Project site. I wish it was as easy as Picassa so I could load them all at once instead of one at a time. Ah well.It is fun to see them all in one spot.

You can click on the slideshow and go to my Picassa page where you can see them all together or one at a time in larger format.

Sketches and Ice Crystal Painting

Well, you know it is not me that is ice crystal painting. For my artist blogger tonight you need to check out Jeanette Jobson. She is way up north in Newfoundland and painting with ice crystals. That is right and it looks very beautiful. Jeanette paints with fish and other interesting items and techniques. Her blog is quite interesting. Come back to see my sketches for tonight.

I sketched a few trying to finish the sketchbook for the Art House Project. I'm getting close to having at least one sketch on one side of the pages. A few are back to back, but the paper is thin and I should have only done one side. At least they are all different and close to being finished. Yay! I will double up with Scavenger Hunt 159, so I can keep going there as well.

I sketched with the Prismacolor 03 fine line marker, similar to the Micron pens I usually use. I sketched quickly and freehand.

Number 4, decoration. These little Santa candleholders are paper mache painted and look like ceramic. They are old. Thinking of my cousin, Kris. She and I were shopping in Walden, Colorado, several years ago and she bought them for me. They are about 8 inches tall and the suits are very red. There is some fake holly there, too.

Number 5, fruit. These little "Cuties", mandarin oranges, were left from Christmas. They are sure good to eat. Santa puts them in our stockings. They make me think of Larry, he always has liked mandarins. He ate many of them in Bolivia.

Number 6, sweet. Some biscochitos and candy canes. Thinking of Jennie as she loves the cookies and candy canes. We usually make biscochitos on the 24th. of December. We made them a day early this year. It takes us about 3 hours to make a batch. You roll them as thin as you can and we make them about the size of a silver dollar. They have anise in them and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Yummy.

Number 7, four legs. I was thinking of Ai, far away in Thailand when I was looking for the leggy items on the list. The items were to have two, three, four and more than four legs. Two and four are the easiest to find. The legs on these folding tables do not end up on the corners and I picked a bad angle for the legs. I was looking at the top to get that at an angle and well, the legs were out of whack. It almost looked like three legs.

Number 8, more than four legs. I saw that my desk chair has 5 legs. The angles are a little off. It is comfortable and I was thinking of the folks at the thrift store, Bits and Pieces, where I got the chair. Actually we got them from the office I think, but all the profit goes to the Family Crisis Center, so it doesn't matter, right?

Number 9, from the living room. The fireplace and I was thinking of the family being cozy and warm around the fireplace. Gene's brother, Roger, gave us the gas logs.

Number 10, two legs. Thinking of Gene, who was in the kitchen watching the news so I sketched his two legs.

Number 11, from the kitchen. I was thinking of my Mom. She was a good cook, but much preferred to be out checking on the cattle. She loved the cows and named them all. The names of the calves that were born to the milk cows usually had names of the month, like April or May. The others that roamed the ranch had names like Crook if one horn was bent or some other descriptive name.

Well, that does it for tonight.

A Few More Doubles

I had a chance last night to sketch while I watched a little TV with my feet up. Good to sit down during these busy days!

We had been up early to take Snuggles to the vet. Just before Jennie came home, of course, he took a flying leap down the stairs. He usually waits for help. Bad dog sitters, we!! He seemed OK at first but then began to whimper a little. He has had back surgery so we were worried. It looks like just a sprain in his hip. Hopefully it will be better soon. He isn't in pain today, but is on pain pills.

We were up earlier today, too, to go to the grocery store. Time to get the meat for the tamales, chile balls, posole, enchiladas, etc. I'm getting hungry already. The tamale meat is cooking.

OK, back to the sketches. I doubled up again using them for Scavenger Hunt 158 and the Art House Project.

For the Hunt, number 7, relaxing. Gene reads to relax. And for thinking of you, it is Gene, too.

Number 8, silver. The pitcher is actually pewter, but it looks shiny like silver. Number 9, gift. An Ekkeko from Bolivia. He is plaster of Paris and holds everything you can put on him to bring to you in the next year. Money, suitcase for travel, pots and pans, food, toys, cleaning things, cars, etc. He is about a foot tall. It is the custom to buy him on January 23 at the Alacitas Fiesta in La Paz. They sell everything in miniature. Very interesting.

So for my artist today, I will point to Susana Castillo. She is Bolivian, and I had seen her work in La Paz. I didn't meet her until about four years ago in Austin. She is great and a wonderful artist. Not related. :(

Sketch of Happy Feet

Still working on the double sketches. Scavenger Hunt 158 asked for "feet". Because I was dog sitting for the grand dogs, I decided to take them out back and sketch their happy feet. Ah-hah, as I think about it there are the feet of the trees as well. I used a Micron 05 pen in my Art House Sketchbook. This will be a "thinking about you, Jennie" sketch.

Number 6, feet. The dogs move around so quickly it is not possible for me to get a good likeness. The one on the right is smaller in real life and has longer legs. Oh my, not a very good likeness.

Hunting Bottles and Reveling

I found a couple of unusual bottles for Scavenger Hunt 157. They were given to us by David's mother-in-law. They are Jim Beam bottles. Very cool.

Number 8 and 9 or 9 and 10. I lost count as I wasn't numbering them so I can double up and use them for the Art House Sketchbook Project. The numbers do not matter as I never finish a Hunt anyway. The 57 Chevy is for "car" on the Hunt and the genie bottle is for "bottle" on the Hunt. I used a Prismacolor pen 03 and colored pencils. The paper is just too thin for the Prismacolor brush pens and angled ones.

The back of the car is too short. I even presketched with a pencil which is something I never do. I guess I changed some of the sketch as I went and made the convertible top carrier too long or something. Ah me. Looks like the front axle is broken, too. So sad.

Still, sketching is sketching and I almost enjoy it lately. My art energy has been low. Tomorrow night we are going to Revel it up and that may help! We are going to Austin for the Revel Christmas Concert. Joel Becktell has purchased some paintings so we need to go have a listen and party some. The concerts sound like fun. Maybe we will see you there!

Art House Balcony Sketch

I have been remiss in working on my sketchbook for Art House. Looks like I will be rushing to finish at the last minute. That would only be normal.

You can read more about it in this post of the first one. I have a grand total of seven done. I think I have to do about forty. Whew.

This is a sketch off the balcony. It is rainy and gloomy but the color gets rich. Does this scene look familiar? I did a painting off the balcony, too.

Hunting and Art House Sketch

I sketched in the Art House sketchbook with a regular old Pilot ball point pen. This will double for a sketch for Scavenger Hunt 141 as well.

Number 10, books. And thinking of you. Books remind me of Joanna and Gene especially as they both like to read. Joanna says the perfect vacation is on a hammock reading a book. Could be..... Gene likes books on tape, too, so included one of those. I enjoy reading and listening, but with all my internet reading I don't read as many books as I used to.

We went out for a while this afternoon and ended up for a late lunch in Eagle Nest. Not nearly as busy as the day of the art show. Pretty good lunch at the Boardwalk Steakhouse. Looks like the real old west, eh?

I came back to add my artist blogger for today. A new one that Regina pointed me to one day. (Regina has art around Austin this month, you might be able to see some in person, have a look.) I thought this post interesting by Armand Carbrera. He has an informative blog for artists and collectors.

Sketching for Two

I sketched in Albuquerque on Tuesday Morning for Scavenger Hunt 141. This evening I sketched here in Angel Fire for the Hunt and also for the Art House Project.


For the Hunt, Number 5 ground cover, gravel and some plants at the grocery store while Gene shopped. Number 6, cassettes, the cassettes in the TV cabinet here. Both were with Micron 05 pens, different color ink, in the 7 x 10 inch sketchbook, half page.





I saw this photo of Larry and decided to sketch from the photo. It is with a Micron 05 pen in the Art House sketchbook. I like the sketch, but I think his head is a little small. Not bad for a freehand sketch. Good practice for figures.

For the Art House Sketchbook Project, the third one for the theme, Thinking of You.

Art House Sketching Project and Sketches Hunt 140

The Art House Sketchbook Project is something that Jeanne Grant worked on last year and is doing again this year. I decided to jump in. They are in Atlanta and are trying to build a library of thousands of sketchbooks to send around the country for viewing. You can join in for $18. They send you the sketchbook with a theme and you just have to send it back by December 1, 2009.

You can see my page here, with a theme "Thinking of You" which was assigned by Art House. There is a link to Jeanne's work from my page. I am doing double duty by sketching for the Scavenger Hunts when I can. Otherwise, I would probably not finish it .... if I do.

This is my third sketch for this project and doubles for Scavenger Hunt 140. For "Thinking of You" it is the Communication Station where I think of all of you and communicate with you, my computer set up on a table in front of the fireplace that we aren't using here in the summer.

For the Hunt this is Number 9, hearth and Number 10, table. Done with the Pilot ball point pen in the Art House sketchbook. Probably about 15 - 20 minutes work.

Sketchbook Project Art House Gallery

I signed up for the Sketchbook Project. It sounds interesting. You buy a sketchbook from them, fill it in and donate it to the project. They assign you a theme. Thousands of sketchbooks will tour the US where many people will see the different sketchbooks. I think the deadline is the first of December. At any rate, I started. I'm not sure if you can view the projects without signing in. As I get used to the site where I publish my sketches, I will give you more information.

The theme for my sketchbook is "Thinking of You" . I am trying to do sketches that can also be used for the Scavenger Hunts to save time. You know I am lazy.

My first is "Art Gadgets". I posted it on the last Hunt as my favorite art gadgets. As for Thinking of You, I was thinking of Sue as she is the one that encouraged me to sketch all the time. She has given me several sketchbooks and is always sketching herself. I am sketching with pen and ink and may add color with colored pencils like I did with these two.

My second is a box of cereal, "Mom's Oatmeal". Thinking of Mom Frances who eats oatmeal and raisins every day. She used to cook the best breakfasts of fried potatoes, bacon, fried eggs, chili and fresh flour tortillas. She is 92 now and in assisted living so doesn't cook. They fix her cereal which she eats with no milk or sugar. Hmmm.

I hope to get the project finished ahead of time. We shall see.