A C Art Association Jan-May 2009 Schedule

January: Shannon - Officer in Charge
1/5 Juliane Rae Mueller - Color your new year
1/19 Pat King - Critique
1/25 - Pick up date for Mount Mary Exhibit pieces

February: Walter - OiC
2/2 Audrey Dulmes - Pastel
2/16 Allen Caucutt - Critique

March: Sharon - Oic
3/2 Thomas Pscheid - Charcoal Landscape
3/16 Ken Bronikowski - Critique
3/30 Board Meeting & Dues are due

April: Rev. Hudziak - Oic
4/3 Exhibit at the Ruess Building - until May 8
4/6 Michael Foster - Oil Portrait
4/20 Sandra Wagner - Critique

May: Joe - Oic
5/4 social

Framing a smaller pastel using a double matt, no foam core and no spacers

I've been talking to everyone trying to get a handle on how to frame a pastel and finally I found someone who talked me through the process.

Basically there are 6 parts to framing and matting a painting; the painting, mounting, matting, framing, backing and hangers.

1. You need a painting and the frame that you are going to put it in.
   
2. If the painting is on paper you need to mount it onto matt board. My friend uses t-hinges made with Lineco self adhesive linen hinging tape found at Artist and Display, http://www.artistanddisplay.com/ . Measure the inside dimensions of the frame and leave some space for expansion.
   
3. Then you put a double mat on top which you hinge to the mounting mat using the Lineco self adhesive linen hinging tape. If it's a portrait or vertical format you hinge the left side. If it's a landscape or horizontal format you hinge on top. If your picture is a standard size you can buy pre-cut double mat boards from a place like Michaels http://www.michaels.com , Tartan Design Framing Service (Couldn't find their website - 3265 Gateway Rd Ste 100 Brookfield WI 53045, 262-790-8890) and artist aand display. Or you can cut your own mats.
4. Then you put your mounted and matted picture into the frame. Note: Even if you have a nonstandard picture size you can cut your matt to make it fit into a standard frame size.
5. Then you put on the backing to keep bugs, such as silverfish and book lice, out of the painting. She put 3M double sided tape on the frame edge then puts on the kraft paper which you can get in a roll. The kraft paper is trimmed then the edges sanded to make a nice neat edge.
6. Then you put on the hangers and wire which should be the kind used for hanging in a standard gallery. DO NOT USE sawtooth hangers.

A completed and an in process Conte Crayon drawing

In process Conte Crayon Drawing

Here's an in process drawing that I'm still working on. Been researching matting and mounting.

Snow Cartoon

Here is a snow cartoon I created in Adobe Illustrator from my imagination after we had a several big snow falls. A bit chaotic but fun.

Milwaukee Sketch Club is looking for new members

The Milwaukee Sketch Club meets Tuesday nights from 7:30pm - 9:30pm at St. Peter's Espicopal Church Hall, 7929 West Lincoln Ave, West Allis, WI. You enter on the south side of the church by the wheel chair ramp on 80th St. The sketching sessions are in the basement, the demos and critiques are held upstairs.

This is an non-college age crowd but they are very welcoming, supporting and generous. If you ask for help, they will give it to you.

Live models, both draped and undraped, are at the winter sketching sessions. There is a yearly fee to pay for the models but that's an added incentive to come on a regular basis. In summer we meet casually (anyone's welcome) for free plein aire sessions.

Our last session for 2008 is on 12/16 before we break for the Holidays. Our 2009 session dates are below:

2009
1/6 - Sketch
1/13 - Demo
1/20, 27 - Sketch
2/3 - Sketch
2/10 - Critique
2/17, 24 - Sketch
3/3 - Sketch
3/10 - Demo
3/17, 24, 31 - Sketch
4/7 - Sketch
4/14 - Critique
4/21,28 - Sketch
5/5 - Sketch
5/12 - Demo

5/26 - Dinner

Here's a monotone conte sketch I did at St. John's Painting group which meets Thursday nights from 7:30-9:30pm.

A/C Art Association presents 60th Annual Fall Exhibit at Mount Mary College in Milwaukee WI

A/C Art Association (Started over 50 years ago by a small group of Allis-Chalmers employees who wanted to learn more about sketching and painting.)

60th Annual Fall Exhibit

Dec 14,2008 - Jan 24, 2009

at Mount Mary College 2900 North Menomonee River Parkway
Milwaukee, WI http://www.mtmary.edu/marian.htm

Opening reception: Sunday Dec 14 from 2-4 pm

Jean Crane and Friends Exhibit in Pewaukee, WI

Joyce Eesley, longtime Milwaukee Sketch Club member, has paintings in this exhibit.

Jean Crane and Friends
"Watercolor Expressions IV"
Nov 14 - Dec 31, 2008

Jill Spanbauer's Lake Country Gallery 262-691-3800
Corner of Capitol Dr. & Hwy. 164
W240 N3485 Pewaukee Road
Pewaukee WI

Ken Reichert Demo at AC Art Association 12/1/08

Ken Reichert paints acrylics of turn of the century historical (1875-1940) Waukesha WI. He has paintings hanging in the Moreland Family Medical Center, Waukesha State Bank and Waukesha City Hall, to name a few places.

There wasn't much about him on the internet although he is featured about 7 minutes in on a youtube video on 2008 Art Gallery Eagle Historical Society museum in Eagle Wisconsin, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LItHB-a9ZuI . He told us that he was born in Eau Claire WI and when he was 5 years old his family moved to Waukesha. He married when he turned 21 and was a math teacher for 46 years until he retired this year. He has taken various classes thoughout the years at Carroll University from Willis Guthrie, http://www3.cc.edu/programs/art/WisGuthrie.asp , http://www.cc.edu/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?id=46 and at UWM.

He showed us several historical paintings he did of historical Waukesha, the downtown, view from the hill the hospital is now located on, various springs that were popular at the turn of the century, to name a few. He is currently branching out into sports and showed us a painting of #7 Yankee (Mickey Mantel) at Yankee Stadium.

He basically works from a historical photo and uses standard size canvases. He gave us handouts showing the mathematical formula he uses to enlarge the picture to fit the canvas. The handouts also discussed perspective and his techniques for painting block or brick walls, windows, trees and people. His paintings tend to have the light source from the left. He scrubs white over distant objects to make them appear less distinct and further away. He touches his paint brush directly to the paint tube and does not thin or blend the acrylic paint. He paints in layers allowing the colors to dry in between each coat. He generally paints dark to light. He demonstrated how he paints a tree, window and people

Finished 2 more baby portraits

I accomplished my goal of 3 finished pastel portraits by the end of November. My goal for December is to concentrate on value using Conte Crayon and Ken Bronikowski's technique. (See November 15 post.)

Finished baby portrait & mke sketch club sketch

Last Saturday took a mat cutting class and on Sunday learned how to mount artwork. A bit pressed for time right now so will post my notes later. Meanwhile finished a baby portrait and also here is conte crayon sketch I just did tonight at the Milwaukee Sketch Club.

Charcoal Sketch from Milwaukee Sketch Club Tuesday night sketch night

Experimented with Ken Bronikowski's technique but used charcoal not conte crayon.

Joye Moon, Wisconsin Watercolor Artist, Demo at Artist and Display 11/16/08

Joye Moon, http://www.joyemoon.com/ , did an excellent Watercolor demo yesterday. There were also copies of her book, "Exploring Textures in Watercolor" by Northlight books, http://www.fwbookstore.com/category/s , was available to buy and have her sign. Her exhibit based on her book at Gail Steinhilber Gallery at UW Oshkosh just closed November 9, 2008. There is also an article about her in the december issue of watercolor magazine. You can see her yearly newsletter, exhibits and workshops online at her website.

She uses Maimeri paint from Milan, Italy. It's highly pigmented and they refine the gum arabic a second time before they use it. http://www.allbusiness.com/services/museums-art-galleries-botanical-zoological/4355113-1.html , http://italianartstore.bizland.com/store/maimeri_artisti_oils.html , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoO7pv1Cc7U , http://www.lindacoulter.com/About%20Paint.htm .

Joye uses Richeson Premium Watercolor Paper, 140" cold press. http://www.richesonart.com/products/pages/prmwcpaper.html

First she gets her supplies ready for phase one:

• She tears her wax paper into shapes. Wax paper has a line that runs parallel to the selvage edges.
• She pulls her plastic wrap to make "happy" stretch marks
• She opens up and pulls apart to make more organic shapes of Kerlix's 100% cotton Kendal surgical gauze
• She lines up her salts; Epsom, table and popcorn; largest to smallest
• Her isopropyl in a bottle with eyedropper

Then she wets both sides of her paper with very well with a large brush

Then she lays down her wax paper, plastic wrap and surgical gausze in relationship to a flow of movement.

Then she adds color:

• big brushes to small
• thin colors to thicker
• light colors to darker

Then she applies the salt

Then the alcohol drops

If paint not moving under plastic she may lift and spry more water underneath.

Then she lets it dry over night.

In phase 2 she paints the negative space, starting with thinner color to establish the shapes. Hard edges can be softened with a wet brush. She uses a thirsty brush to pull color. Again lets it dry overnight.

In successive phases she continues to work the negative spaces using thicker colors. She always uses tip of brush to keep nice edge by rotating the paper. To subdue an area she may spritz with water. To paint rocks, she makes some randomly placed and sized rectangles in a shape then connects them. The triangles can be the mortar or shadow between the rocks.

She showed how you can paint a shape with fresh water, than used sandpaper to make crumbs to fall onto the water and color it.

She generally works on several paintings at once. Her technique looks very fun, free flowing and creative.

Gamblin Oil workshop by Andrea Harris at Artist & Display Saturday 11/15/08

This was an excellent workshop & I really enjoyed it.

Andrea Harris, http://www.andreaharris.com/. Gamblin artist representative taught the workshop and did an excellent job.

We learned about and used

• the Neo Megilp medium which suspends and supports the oil paint in a soft gel providing luminosity, an atmospheric effect like William Turner, http://www.j-m-w-turner.co.uk/ , is good for indirect painting and
  
• Cold Wax medium which allows you to create impasto or direct painting techniques and can be used as a final varnish. Andrea spread a very thin layer of cold wax on her substrate, added paint directly from the tubes and blended right on her substrate. A rigid substrate is needed to prevent cracking if you use more than 30% coldwax medium. Galkyd gel improves flexibility of coldwax.
  
• Neo Megilp is shiny while Cold Wax is a less glossy, matte finish. Both mediums extend your paint. Modern oil paints are a lot thicker than in the days of the "Masters".
• Discussed Gamvar which is a removable with Gamsol varnish.
• Gamblin mediums are balanced while cold wax is lean. Linseed oil, safflower and standard oil are fatty. Need to paint fat over lean? or thin to pastelike. Gamblin mediums dry by evaporation not oxication. She starts sketching by using artist color like raw umber and a lot of medium. Oil over acrylic sketch may result in poor adhesion of oil.
  
• Gamblin has a special black called chromatic black which made by mixing quinacridone red (cool red) with pthalo emerald (warm green), 2 colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, allowing you to have more lively, shear, not muddy black. You can use it to darken colors without muddying them. mix it with TiZn white to get a beautiful gray which can be used to tone down colors.
  
• Someone in class mentioned the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend http://www.wisconsinart.org/

We painted still lifes of fruit using 3 color pallettes, Old Masters, Modern and Impressionists colors, http://www.gamblincolors.com/oil.painting.techniques/palettes.html over Ampersand gessobord panels, http://www.ampersandart.com/ . They're really easy to work on and archival too. I really enjoyed painting in oil with how easy they blend and allow you to get exactly the color you want. My husband liked the paintings and has them now while they are drying.

Old master paintings were all about value & used a limited mineral based palette. Impressionist (see painting with orange background) paintings were about color and had more mineral based colors created during the industrial revolution. Modern (see painting with black background) and the spectral palette is about intensity.

Conte portrait drawing on bond paper by Ken Bronikowski at milwaukee Sketch Club on Tuesday 11/11/08

Ken is an excellent artist and teacher. I found some information about him at the following:
http://www.finelinedesignsgallery.com/artists/KenBronikowski.html
http://www.riveredgegalleries.com/REGBronikowski.html
https://www.peninsulaartschool.com/Painting___Drawing.html

Ken started out with smooth bond paper toned with sanguine? conte crayon. Then he looked for shapes and drew them in. He used an kneaded erasor to pick out the highlights. This paper and technique is very forgiving. You can keep adding and subtracting pigment.

He also talked about the colors he uses with his Winsor Newton water miscible oils
(Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour see http://www.winsornewton.com/main.aspx?PageID=35 )

• 4 colors for portraits: Ivory black + yellow ochre = greens; white, yellow ochre & red to make purples. (He refered to Anders Zorn 4 color pallette, http://andysartblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/zorn-palette.html , http://www.alsing.com/zorn_eng/18601889.html and http://www.artgraphica.net/free-art-lessons/anders-zorn-oil-painter/anders-zorn-oil-painter-2.htm )
  
• 5 colors for landscapes: Cadmium yellow light, cadmium red light, alizarin crimson, pthalo green (yellow shade), ultramarine blue and titanium white

He paints with I believe Dan Gerhartz from Wisconsin. (There's another artist out west named Dan Gerhart http://www.dangerhart.com/ but I don't think that's the right one. It's interesting how midwest art can be less edgy than art elsewhere)
http://www.shafferfineart.com/The_Art_of_Daniel_Gerhartz.htm
http://www.meyergalleries.com/santafe/bio/62.asp
http://www.thecollectionshop.com/xq/ASP/ArtistName2.Dan_Gerhartz/Dan_Gerhartz/qx/Artist_Profile.htm
http://www.framingfox.com/danfger.html

His brother, Steve Gerhartz, has a website. http://www.stevegerhartz.com/about.html

I started a new pastel portrait Thursday.

San Angelo, Texas

Some pictures of San Angelo murals and quick plein air sketches. Visited relatives in San Angelo, Texas last weekend. Had a great time with my relatives. Angelo folks were very friendly.

• Went to the Kendal Art Gallery (home of the San Angelo Art Club) http://www.sanangeloartclub.org/ ,
  
• Did a quick plein air in the park at the foot of the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, http://www.samfa.org/ . Also a neat tile mosaic bug car is near there.
  
• We viewed the historic murals,http://www.historicmuralsofsanangelo.org/ and also some cool alley murals that my cousin found in Alley 2 and other alleys.
• There's also a neat mural of 3 longhorns in the shopping center http://www.sunsetmall.com just outside of Barbed Wire & Roses.
• Did another quick plein air in a disc golf park, Brentwood park which had a stone lined revetment running through the park to direct water. For more info on the park see http://www.sanangelotexas.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={16FFA976-9FFB-484D-944D-E25CB22A0863} and http://www.discgolfscene.com/courses/Brentwood_Park .

Guest Speaker Pamela Anderson, Underwood Gallery Owner & Artist at Wisconsin Pastel Artists (WPA) Nov 6, 2008 Mtg

Pamela Anderson, both an artist and the owner of Underwood Gallery who has a sales background gave a talk on how to approach a gallery and market your work.

Here are links to her websites:
http://www.paintmysky.com
http://www.underwoodgallery.com (Exhibition by Fred Bell 12/9/09 - 1/9/09)

There is also mention of her gallery's 7th anniversary at http://www.villageofwauwatosa.com/

It is important to be professional, organized, polite, not waste the gallery owner's time and have good follow up.

Mentioned that you can never get enough exposure.
Some ways to market yourself:

• Face book (and other viral/social networks)
  
• drop off cards with different art groups
• blog postings

Proper framing of artwork is important.

Carol, a wpa member also gave a short framing presentation. Mentioned that there is a fitting tool used that squeezes in nails to put frames together, $35? through Dick Blick but may also be found at Rockler's woodworking and hardware on hwy 100 & watertown plank road (845 N Mayfair Rd. Wauwatosa, WI 53226. http://www.rockler.com/retail/index.cfm?store=7 ) Looks like it might be Framers Pliers for $43.99 that she is talking about under handtools/picture framing tab)

Painting progress this week

A 15 minute conte sketch of a man from Tuesday night sketch club.





Worked on smoother version of baby portrait. Now need to refine and make less flat.

Fixed eye on less smooth version. Think I should stop here.

Blogger is not a WYSIWYG editor with pictures.

Another in process baby portrait

My husband says it's done but I think the right eye is too flat. It's done enough for a sketch but needs more work for a painting. Or if I'm going to leave it less finished at least finish the right eye. I like the purple carrying into the portrait. I could push one of my other versions further and leave this one right here except for the right eye. Tonight Milwaukee Sketch Club drawing meeting.

Finished baby portrait

I think this portrait is basically done. I started out doing value study in pink, then finished by adding in more colors.

Terry Stanley portrait pastel workshop through wpa

Attended an excellent workshop given by Terry Howell Stanley, http://terrystanley.com , through the wpa (Wisconsin Pastel Artists) http://www.wispa.us

Brief discussion of materials and having enough respect for yourself and your work to use professional grade materials that will last.

A lot of different kinds of pastels:

• Terry Ludwig - terryludwig.com
• Unison by Richeson, richesonart.com : besides their soft unison pastels they now supply colorfast version of a hard (like nupastels), medium (a little harder than rembrandt) and hand rolled (very soft but a little less than unison) pastels.
• pastlesgirault.com - a little harder, have a set of 72 gray which is great for animals
  
• Holbein - a little harder
• Rembrandt - some fugitive colors
• Winsor Newton - some fugitive colors
• dakotapastels.com - a good supply of general pastels and materials
• schminke pastels - www.schmincke.de
• She hasn't tried pan pastels because she likes using a sanded surface and sticks.
• Blaire low odor fixative - only uses when has to ship something. Applies a light coat after knocking the excess pastel off by tapping substrate back.
• Can make your own gray pastels by saving dust, moistening it with water, rolling and letting it dry slowly on a paper plate
• In addition to water can use rubbing alcohol, turpentine etc to resolubize pastels in an underpainting
• packing peanuts can be used to blend. Also tortillons, stomps.
• Can remove pastel with old bristle brush or stencil pouncing brush.
• Recommends a set of at least 72 because pastels are not a blending thing.
• generic baby wipes, barrier cream- gloves in a bottle
• sanded substrate - whisper pastel on lightly stroking in different directions
  

General application of pastels: usually bottom is hard, middle layers medium and top layers soft.

Short discussion on anatomy + handouts.

Color temperature, edges & value: In general soft edges and cool colors recede, hard edges and warm colors come forward. In the sky faraway clouds are warm while close clouds are cooler.

The lightest part of the darkside is equal to the darkest part of the light side. Use a value card to help you. Generally paintings only range about 5 values except for very small highlight and darklight areas.

Working from life is better than from a photo because our eyes see 2000 colors while the camera only sees 400. Study the model 5' before starting to work.

When Terry does a portrait she talks to the person for about an hour to learn about their expectations, personalities and how they move. She does take pictures. Does color study. Tries to get an initial 1 hour setting at the beginning and the end of the painting.

Discussed how eye highlights are not in same place. Light enters eye on one side and where it comes out the cornea is lighter. Color banding like old masters, Sargent and Flemish artists; Forhead yellow, face red (nose even redder), neck blue. Violet around eyes, olive green tones around the mouth. Helps skin glow and appear more 3D. Bottom of cornea and eyelid shape are different and distintive on people. Lightest value in eye - lightest value in face - No white.

Artists mentioned; (look at paintings you like to study how they were done.)

• http:/davidkassan.com , can download artist anatomy. has articles in drawing magazine.
• www.judithcarducci.com
• http://www.everettraymondkinstler.com/ (one of the originals in the www.portraitsociety.org ?)
• http://www.danielgreeneartist.com

In the morning we learned how to get our proportions correct using triangulation and a dowel painted with medium gray stripe. Basically you pick one point that you always measure from. Then you draw a second point. Then holding the dowel at the correct angle from the 1st point to a 3rd point you make a mark. You do the same from the 2nd point to the 3rd point. Where your two lines intersect that is your third point.

In the afternoon we did a underpainting, damped it down with a brush to redissolve the pastel then painted some more over the top. Here's my unfinished picture.

Finished takehome midterm & Milwaukee Sketch Club origins

We had to copy an approved picture for our midterm in digital illustration. Here's my result.

Went to Thursday night painting group at St. John's Evangelical Catholic Church. Worked on the baby portrait. Addition of yellow does improve the color. The pink was to bright. Found out it was started by a now deceased member named Charles Versh. He advertised in the bulletin and taught oil painting. Bob & Joyce have been coming since 1974.

The (Mens') Milwaukee Sketch club was started in 1922 by a group of professional men. The formation of this club was aided by a chapter from Chicago that had started earlier. Now we have more women than men so now it's just called the Milwaukee Sketch Club.

AC (Allis Chalmers) Art Association meetings

At the Milwaukee sketch club tonight learned about the AC Art Association. It meets on the 1st & 3rd (week?) Mondays of each month. They meet downstairs in the City of West Allis City Hall. On the 1st (week?) is a demo and on the 3rd (week?) is a critique. Good motivation to work on and finish paintings.

Milwaukee Sketch Club critique

Our critique was Denis Sargent, a professor at UWM Kennilworth art building in their graduate program, http://www.markmillstein.com/diweb/sargentbio.html . He showed us 2 of his textile art pieces. He takes pictures of figures out of magazines then cuts them out of plastic yogurt containers, then attaches them to contact paper, puts a black fabric over the top. Then he rubs them with encaustic, making the figures darker at the bottom of his fabric painting and lighter at the top. For one painting he had a tree the other a ladder. He cut those out of linen which he put under the black fabric and rubbed.

UWM Peck school of the arts had an open house last saturday too. http://nathanielstern.com/blog/2008/10/14/peck-school-of-the-arts-uwm-open-house-this-saturday-kenilworth-sqare-east-milwaukee-wisconsin/

I took my baby & young girl picture to the critique. I had used black on the eyes for the baby and now they're too dark so need to lighten them. He also suggested I put in the shoulder and bring in some yellow. The pink is too bright. For the young girl portrait I need to work on the neck & shoulder. Some people don't bring their stuff to the critique because it's not "good enough" but I try to bring something because you more ideas how to go.

In process pastel portraits, baby & young girl

Still working on the baby portrait & started a young girl last night. Tonight is live model night with Milwaukee Sketch Club.

Some in process pastel portraits

Some more experiments with one tone of pastel on bristol. The old woman was sketched live and the baby from a photo. Letting them sit a bit before I finish them.

Revised, final version of Gray Pastel Portrait

I really like this 100# bristol paper because you can scrub & rework areas. So far I haven't overloaded the pastel. This is a much improved final picture of yesterday's portrait.

Gray Pastel Portrait

Trying a new technique with portraits. Using 100# Strathmore windpower vellum bristol, a smooth paper, I covered it with gray pastel then rubbed it in for a medium tone. Then I sketched in the darks with the gray and pulled out the lights with a kneaded erasor. then since that was not enough contrast for me I hit some areas with black pastel and put in a couple of hightlights with white pastel. I used a homemade tortillon and paper towel to blend and add pigment dust to areas also. I may work on this portrait some more later as this paper allows me to do a lot of scrubbing and application of pastel.

Pastel Portrait Sketch at Milwaukee Sketch Club

Here's a sketch I did last Tuesday.

Milwaukee Sketch Club Fall 2008 Schedule

Milwaukee Sketch Club
St. Peter's Episcopal Church
7929 w. Lincoln Av. West Allis, Wi
Meets Tues nights 7:30-9:30pm

Sept 9: Demo
Sept 16, 23, 30, Oct 7: Sketch
Oct 14: Critique
Oct 21, 28, Nov 4: Sketch
Nov 11: Demo
Nov 18, 25, Dec 2: Sketch
Dec 9: Critique
Dec 15: Sketch
BREAK FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Golden's Open Acrylics Workshop by Sandra Bacon at Artist n Display on 9/21/08

I attended this workshop on open acrylics and it was a lot of fun. Learned a lot too. Got a lot of information and Golden has more on their website. http://www.goldenpaints.com/ . I signed up for their Just Paints newsletter. Their artist, Sandie Bacon, who led their workshop was very nice and knowledgeable. http://www.goldenpaints.com/artist/wap/artist.php?uid=47

Here's a picture of an apple that I did. Had fun working the paint. Met some great people. Did you know that stampers like to use acrylics? http://www.ssreflections.com/suzanne_jun05.html Signed up for this newsletter.

I have a shopping list of things I want to buy. I figure I will use molding paste on either paper or museum board to make a bunch of 9x12 (or smaller) studies. (Ordered a matt cutter that is on sale to make it easier to cut things at home. I have a regular paper cutter but it's not big enough for artwork so I've been using a stanley drywall knife.) So far my list: Golden modern open acrylic set, molding paste, open thinner, paint brush, palette knife, color shaper. It's really fun how you can push the paint around on the substrate with tools, paper towel, paper, plastic. Plus I really like the molding paste how you can make texture. Open acrylics are more transparent than regular acrylic. Got 3 paint samples, blue, red & white, that we worked with in the workship along with Open Acrylic Medium (Gloss).

Got to go. Nice out today. Got the window open & can look across the street at the neighbors tall orange flowers. Did hard physical labor this weekend so am a bit sore.

Ripple Afgan Baby Blanket about 36" x 48"

Spent all my free time this week crocheting this blanket to give to my brother and his wife for their baby yet to be born. Used crochet hook size "h" and did half double crochet instead of single crochet.

Alic Struck watercolorist's demo at Milwaukee Sketch Club

Last night Alice Struck, an award winning watercolorist, art therapist, etc. gave a demo in water colors. She uses 300# arches cold press because she likes how paint puddles on it among other things. She wets both sides and places her large sheet on a piece of plexiglass. She works flat. She started with quite an extensive line sketch. Worked from light to dark. Started with large 2"? 4"? brushes. Used a white candle and some masking fluid to preserve some light areas. Others she painted around. In places used salt. Some foliage was sponged. Used a flexible palette knife for tree trunks & branches, even for mixing paint. She says sometimes she uses a rigger. She also tilted her paper to make runs. Used paper towels for blotting. Cleaned her palette frequently. Looked like a lot of fun. Makes me want to do some watercolors.

A drawing from Up North over Labor Day weekend

Here's a quick picture I drew during a drawing session with my nieces up north. The weather was perfect. Sunny, dry and 80 F during the day then cooled off to 50 F at night.

Harley Davidson 105th Anniversary Celebration in Milwaukee

Motorcycles are coming into town from everywhere for this anniversary celebration. See http://www.harley-davidson.com/wcm/Content/Pages/Events/105th_Coverage/schedule.jsp?locale=en_US
You can hear the rumble of Harleys and see them everywhere. Welcome signs are on the bridges over the expressway, outside restaurants, shops and bars.

Milwaukee Sketch Club at Brown Deer's Farmer Market

The days are just flying by and fall is here with all the yummy farmers' produce. Brown Deer has a real nice farmers market in Lowe's parking lot on 63rd st. and Brown Deer Road that's open on Wednesday mornings. The vendors and customers are very friendly. Here's a work in progress that is sitting on my easel ready to be finished.

Milwaukee Sketch Club at Greenfield Park

Didn't put in the flock of geese eating under the trees. They were very friendly and let me walk right up to them and take their picture. Young ducks came near us looking for a handout.

Another possibility for about.com July/August abstracted urban painting project

Last month I was sitting outside The Steaming Cup having a cup of coffee with a friend, in downtown Waukesha http://steamingcupwaukesha.com , when we saw these men fixing up the building next door. So I took some pictures. I am very fascinated with men at work.

Downtown Waukesha has some really interesting and excellent buildings to paint. I think maybe we should do a plein air there. There's a gallery right across the street from the Steaming Cup.

Regarding this picture, I wonder if I should make the upper right darker so there's more focus in the center of the picture. My pictures so far are better viewed at a distance rather than close up. I really like oil pastels, the way they feel, even if you do have to save the whites.

A quick oil pastel sketch

A quick oil pastel sketch of my niece while we were up north. Weather very nice, 80 during the day & 40 at night. Not too many bugs, just some flies & gnats. Hardly any mosquitoes, so didn't have to where long sleeve shirts and pants.

Exhibition is ended Saturday at one way cafe & gallery in wauwautosa

Stopped by to see if any paintings sold but don't see any sold signs. So I assume mine didn't sell so will need to get them picked up this Saturday. Also got a mocha coffee over ice and curried broccoli salad to go. Very good. What's really neat about the coffee you can choose to have 1 or 2 shots and have a choice between cow milk or soy milk. Got to go.

Milwaukee Sketch Club Plein Air at VA

I like working with oil pastel even though it is messy. It's really important to lay down your light colors & save those spaces because you can't recover them later.

Went swimming in a pool the other day

Visited a 4 bedroom 4 bath house with a pool on the Gulf. Kids loved it. It was nice to sit and relax while they played in the pool. If all our family came down I would rent both of these 4 bedroom houses that are right next to each other from http://www.accentkeys.com .

Saw a batfish while snorkeling off Fat Deer Key, a Private Island in Florida

We got to snorkel off Fat Deer Key, a private island that's available with a houseboat rental through http://www.rentmyhouseboats.com/ . It was so cool we saw 2 different types of batfishes. They look like they have feet and they crawl along the bottom. Also did a quick sketch after we returned of leaves + shadows. The light is so incredible here how it shines translucently through the leaves.

The Njorth Yacht at Little Russell (Dolphin Jump Key) and Great Snorkeling

Met Ruth & Mac who were staying on their Yacht at this great island before heading to Belize. Their yacht called the Njorth has been in service since 1955 and is famous in the Lake Erie area. They told me that there was going to be an article about them in an upcoming Lake Erie Yacht Club newsletter. Found this site for an Erie Yacht club, http://www.erieyachtclub.org/ . We visited with them and snorkeled around the island.
If you scroll down to the bottom of this web page you'll see some pictures of this great island http://www.rentmyisland.com/2brWaterfrontHome.htm .
There were so many different types of coral, fish, urchins and other sealife. Mac freaked when he saw me giving the olympus waterproof camera to the kids swimming in the water. I love that camera. We spent a lot of time in the water and the kids got some great pictures. I took some pictures of the Njorth yacht and Little Russell Key - Dolphin Jump Key as we were driving away.

A quick charcoal sketch at Florida Keys Island

I'm on holiday right now on a Florida Keys Island with my sister and nieces. (Check out www.rentmyisland.com then click on Private Island Home in the the left menu bar if you'd like to check out where we're staying.) The water is so nice and there's a special quality to the light that you don't have up in Wisconsin. This island home is so cool. The kids have been in the water practically all day and me too but I thought I quick post this charcoal sketch. Trying to learn the medium and also capture the pattern the light and shade made on the tree trunks. I've taken some pictures with my cameras and I've lent my water proof olympus stylus 1030SW to the kids. They take really excellent pictures, closeups of the sealife and each other. I love that camera. Well, back to the water fun

about.com July/August 2008 painting project possibility

The purpose of this project is to convey the essence of an urban scene without the detail, an abstraction but not a pure abstract. The new deadline for this is now August 22.

I did an expressway tunnel bridge. The pattern of light and the ceiling was what caught my eye. I love bridges but I don't know if it's urban enough to meet the requirements so maybe I'll do another painting.

http://painting.about.com/od/paintingforbeginners/u/painting_path2.htm