Artist & Display Face Class #4 - Faces using Acrylics with Pam

Worked from a photo copy slid into a plastic sleeve that a 4x4 grid was drawn. First lightly drew basic shape of face, eyes, nose, etc. with pencil, then erased grid on Fredrix quality artist canvas panel (acrylic primed for use with all mediums.) Used burnt sienna acrylic mixed with water and a round watercolor brush to do an underpainting. At this point we left it to dry. However after it was dry, fleshtones could be put over it.

Milwaukee Sketch Club - Winter Schedule 2008-2009

Tuesday nights 7:30-9:30pm

2008
9/9 - Demo (Opening of new season)
9/16, 23, 30 - Sketch
10/7 - Sketch
10/14 Critique
10/21, 28 - Sketch
11/4 - Sketch
11/11 - Demo
11/18, 25 - Sketch
12/2 - Sketch
12/9 - Critique
12/16 - Sketch

Break for Holidays

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

Milwaukee Sketch Club - Summer Schedule 2008

Plein Air Wednesdays & Saturdays: Gathering around 9:00am.

June

• 5/31 & 6/1(S): Clement Zablocki Medical Center- Reenactments and encampments from major military eras. See history.
• 6/4 (W): Elmbrook Historical society, Stage Coach Inn- 1075 Pilgrim Parkway, 3/4 mi N of Bluemd Rd, W side of rd.
• 6/7 (S): Milwaukee Sailing club- McKinley marina. End of Lagoon Dr. East of Lincoln memorial Drive
• 6/11(W)-Whitnall Park/Boerner Gardens- S92 St, S to Whitnall Park Dr. W on drive thru park. Admission charge. no parking fee.
• 6/14(S)-Downtown Greendale S on 60th from Gange. Road turns right and becomes Northway. Turn south on Broad St.
• 6/18(W)-Greenfield Park Lagoon- Enter at 116th and Rogers St from Hwy 100. Rogers St. is 1 block south of Becher St.
• 6/19 - 28 Cedarburg Plein Air Painting Event. Must register 810am each day at Cedarburg Cultural Center thru out the week
• 6/25(W)- Snug Harbor Marina- Entrance is just north of Becher St. on 4th St.
• 6/29(S) Quick Paint Event - Must be a registered painter to participate. Call 262-377-8828 or log onto www.cedarburgartistsguild.com also Cedarburg Strawberry Festival

July

• 7/2 (W) Grant Park. East on Rawson Av. to Hwy 32. Left turn across bridge. Then turn right on Oak Creek Pkwy Dr. Meet near club house
• 7/5(S) Kletch Park Falls. North of Silver spring Dr. East of Green Bay Av. Meet along river just south of park entrance.
  
• 7/9 (W) Car Ferry Dr. to Great Lakes Tugs and Port of Milwaukee - North along KK river near Lafarge cement silos
• 7/12 (S) North Point Light House- 2647 N. Wahl Av. From Lincoln memorial dr. West up hill at LaFayette dr. Turn right to Terrace. terrace north to north Av. right onto Wahl Av. North to lighthouse. east in park.
  
• 7/16 (W) Discovery World - Near Pieces of Eight Restaurant. Also close to Calatrava wing of Art Museum, anchorage for Dennis Sullivan. At foot of Michigan Av.
• 7/19? (S) Todd Wehr Nature Center- South on Nature Center Dr. from College ave. between 92 and hwy 100
  
• 7/23 (W) Schlitz Audubon Center 1111 E. Brown Deer Rd
• 7/26 (S) Cathedral Park- On jackson st. between kilbourn av and wells st. open air market 7:00 until noon.
  
• 7/30 (W) Muskego Historical Society/Old settlement center- W184 S8092 Racine Av. 1 mile south of janesville rd. muskego, free admission with donation

August

• 8/2 (S) Barnacle Bud's Restaurant/Marina- North of Becher on KK Av. Right on stewart to hilbert st. helbert north across railroad tracks to marina
  
• 8/6 (W) North Avenue Water tower- East end of north av at St. Mary hospital. park area to east along lake
• 8/9 (S) Gillen tugboat Service- Exit south end of 794 near lincoln av. go north on carferry dr. to gillen docks
  
• 8/13 (W) Marina, on north side of KK River- North of becher st. on south first street
• 8/16 (S) South South Yacht club- off hwy 32 norrth of oklahoma av. east on nock st. to parking area. peopl often paint near pier south of club.
  
• 8/20 (W) Bay View Park Beach- Across Lake Drive from DeSales Seminary property. Approximately 3400 south
• 8/23 (S) Joan of Arc Chapel- on Marquette U campus. south of wisconsin av at 14th st.
• 8/27 (W) Trimborn Farm park- 8881 w. grange av, greendale. free admission. tour fee $4.00
• 8/30 (S) Wisconsin Club Grounds- at 10th st. and wisconsin Ave

Milwaukee Sketch Club - Critique by Roger Gifford

Roger Gifford was a teacher for 39 years at MPS. As a teacher he also taught at MATC, Bayview's Milwaukee High School of the Arts and Milwaukee Art Museum's Art Satellite program which drew students who wanted to learn Art from the entire Milwaukee Area. While teaching he painted and took classes in the summers. He has taken classes at Mount Mary, UWM and ? He worked with all the media but mainly works in watercolor now.

He started out as a very tough critique but then moderated his tone as he progressed. He says the quality of the work that our group produces is much better than the last time he critiqued us and that it compares favorably to other groups he has critiqued.

To show depth in a painting you need to have bands diminishing in width as you progress away. You can differentiate these bands by changing the value (light/dark), the saturation (brightness) or color. He also talked about making edges with shapes versus outlining. Told some people to push the color. Need to model forms in the face by changing either value or texture.

Artist & Display Face Class #3 - Faces using Pastel with Pam

For our first exercise we chose 4 hard pastels, a white/cream, medium skin tone, dark & black. Then we divides a sheet of paper into 3rds to practice first drawing an eye, then the nose, then the lips to which we added a red/pink to .

Our second exercise we drew an imaginary face following the proportion guidelines and looking at a tiny 2x3 mirror. I felt like I was really struggling but it turned out OK. Need to practice drawing eyes, noses & mouths until I can draw them from my mind.

Bay View Arts Guild & Colette Odya Smith

Last night I attended the Bay View Arts Guild at Bayview Public Library, 2466 S. Kinnickinnic Ave, in the LLewellyn meeting room to listen to a talk by Pastel Artist Colette Odya Smith.

Check out their website at www.BayViewArts.org . One of their members recently took a trip to New York, created 30 postcard paintings, which he then put up with string as free art with his info for random people or tourists to take home and enjoy. Sounded like a lot of fun.

Colette Odyn Smith, coletteodya.smith.net , is a very reflective painter. She did attend art school in the 70s but then became a teacher. When she hit 40, she decided she wanted to pursue and art career and then 14 years later or so, here she is.

She originally chose pastels rather than oils because they're faster, better environmentally and you can pick them up and put them down.

She's teaching a class this summer at the Peninsula Art school, peninsulaartschool.com . Basically it covers how to take photos for painting, what to do with the photos after you've taken them and how to paint from them. She used photography as a tool, to help her remember and eliminate distractions such as weather when you're pleine air painting. She's found that she doesn't paint fast enough to do pleine air painting so most of her paintings are done in her studio.

Her paintings sizes are 20x20, 20x30, 24x36, 30x30 and 30x40. She will do a series from what interests her, wallowing in it until she is fulfilled. She founds that she paints better what she knows. She uses 4 ply museum board, not a sized board with a watercolor underpainting that opens up the tooth enough for her to apply pastel. She chose that substrate because that is what her teacher at MIAD used. In one piece with waves she cut & glued? layers of paper in the shap of the waves before covering it with pastel. Takes her about 1 week to do a piece. 2 weeks for a bigger piece. Sessions can be 4-6 hours.

To take photos and make slides of her artwork she pins them to a foam core mounted on a big fiberboard covered with black jersey t-shirt material.

Now a days the art world requires digital capabilities, email, a website or web presence that shows your work. Galleries generally request a CD with appropriate digital images. She puts a copyright on her web images.

Advice on pricing is to look around at artwork where the work is as good as yours. Pricing should also be based on your resume, where you're exhibited and the honors you have received. Clint Watson of FineArtViews.com has an interesting post from 2/25/2008 called "Does Expensive Art Just Look Better?" http://www.fineartview.com/archives/nlarchive.asp?nl=614

Terry Howell Stanley, guest speaker at SEWPS 5/7/08

Terry was a great speaker and imparted a lot of information. In addition to being an artist she also is the director at Richeson School of art & Gallery. Check out her website at http://www.terrystanley.com

Here's my notes from her talk.

• She recommends using professional grade quality materials even if you're a beginner to avoid having to learn a different technique and unlearn the stuff you had to do to make the cheap stuff work when you make the jump from cheaper to higher quality materials. Plus higher quality pastels like unison have better pigment, better pigment load, excellent lightfastness and better consistency.
  
• She uses the premium sanded pastel surface like Wallis and Unison which is available on paper, hardboard and gator foam because you can put on multiple layers of pastel. Also if you don't like your painting you can wash it off (though some pigments may stain) and make a new painting. Other people use fabriana, tientes and watercolor paper.
  
• She uses mainly unison pastels along with terry ludwig pastels, http:www.terryludwig.com . She mentioned others such as giro? & holbein (harder pastels) sennelier, schmike?(very crumbly). She noted that you can say the pastel dust, mix it with water and roll out your own gray pastels. Let them dry on a paper plate for a couple of weeks.
  
• Surface must be covered by 80% or greater pastel to be considered a painting, otherwise it's a sketch.
• Some useful supplies are chamey cloth to erase pastels from automotive section of stores, generic baby wipes, exacto knife, sandpaper, stomps, tortillons (rolled by hand in China!) and gloves in a bottle http://www.glovesinabottle.com .
• She works from large shapes to small shapes. She's created 8 piece pastel portrait sets for our american population (caucasion, mediteranean, latino, asian, indian and african-american to name a few) which consist of warm & cool colors in a light, medium and dark with violet and green. It found it helps students when she teaches portraiture. She recommends going outside and painting nature. Spoke of how there is something in all of us that makes us create. Mentioned you can make an underpainting by melting your pastels with water, alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. All pastels are water soluble.
• She showed us an example competition/art show submission CD by Judith Reidy. The CD was printed, with a case, with thumbnails and artist info. Very professional.
  
• Very important to properly frame your art. Take pictures before you frame. Best glass to use is museum glass followed by conservation glass. Don't use picture glass (too much reflection) or non glare glass (can only see straight on.) She uses plexiglass on small pieces (36x24 or smaller) when shipping art work. Discharge static electricity by unwrapping plexi and letting it sit at least 3-4 days before framing you piece. Use spacers to keep plexi when it flexes or glass from touching your painting. She mentioned http://www.pictureframes.com . She wears white gloves when framing and uses windows with a soft cloth to clean. She never turns the pastel painting upside down. Sometime you don't need to matt. Always follow shows requirements for framing artwork, such as wired hanger, eyehooks, etc.
  
• When shipping artwork use Airfloat rated strongbox with inside puncture guard. http://www.airfloatsys.com Careful to check shipping costs and requirements for shows before entering. Some require expensive designated shippers and unpackers. Use blue painters tape to crisscross tape your glass so if it breaks it doesn't wreck your painting.
• Terry handcarries her pastels in a foam padded pastel case with their MSDS when flying. Once she put them in her checked bags and they turned to powder. She recommends shipping tubes ahead. For more info about TSA regulations you can call the TSA at 1-866-289-9673 according to Michael Shane Neal's March 31, 2008 entry in his blog, The spectator at http://michaelshaneneal.blogspot.com .
• Recommends hotwire.com for lodging
  

That's it for my notes.

SEWPS Meeting Highlights

We're now a member with IAPS, International Association of Pastel Societies, which is bringing in additional opportunities such as the IAPS 2009 Calender Competition, the IAPS Catalog Cover Competition and the opportunity to attend their May 2009 Convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

We're changing our name to WPA, Wisconsin Pastel Artists, to more inclusive and include the whole state, plus it's easier to say. I really like this group. There's a lot of energy. We range from total beginners like me to established artists.

Talked to some people about how to get my artwork framed and one uses a person who moved to a frame shop in the greendale village center, but she doesn't remember the name of the shop.

Dates for upcoming events:

• Vanishing Farm Exhibit: Entry Deadline 6/2/08, Deliver pieces 7/6, pickup pieces 8/16, Opening Reception 7/11, 6-8pm at the One Way Cafe in Wauwautosa, 1425 N. Underwood Ave.
• Jack Richeson Tour 6/30/08, tour in morning, pleine air in the afternoon
• WPA (Wisconsin Pastel Artists) meeting - 7/2/08
  
• Open Door Gallery - United Methodist Church, Whitefish Bay, August 18- October 15, 2008
• Schauer Art Center - Hartford WI April 4-May 17, 2009
• Plymouth Arts Center - Gallery 110 North - 8/14-10/4, 2009

Announcements by members to check out

Plein Air Painting Competion - sponsored by The League of Milwaukee Artists, Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors and the Downer Avenue merchants Association in the historic Downer Avenue neighborhood. 30% of all sales goes to Artists Working in Education. For more info call Marie myler 414-649-8168

• 5/23-6/1/08 Plein Air
• 5/31/08 Silent Auction & Reception, Quick Paint Event
• 6/1/08 Juried Exhibition Open Art Sale & Reception

The Bayview Arts Guild - www.BayViewArts.org

• 5/12/08 guest speaker Colette Odya Smith

Running out of time will do a separate post about Terry.

Artist & Display Face Class #2 - Faces in Clay

Pam talked a little bit of art to answer someone's question. Black & white tends to be thoughtful while color is more about feelings, emotion. You can work intuitively or think what your motivation is for a piece, color and application. Backgrounds are important. One of her college drawing teachers made the students do a whole semester of straight lines while looking at the positive and negative shapes. Don't know if I mentioned this in a previous blog or not, but one of her college assignments was to do 20 self portraits.

The lesson today was making faces in an air dried clay called Marblex. (She loosely wrapped our pieces in saran wrap to slow down the dry time so everything would dry more even.)

First we got a rectangle of clay. Rolled it to about 1/2" thickness. Then lightly drew with a round toothpick and egg shape which we then cut out with a plastic tool. Best to score where you want to cut & make repeated passes till you're through? We rolled up the clay pieces in a ball to keep them from drying out so fast.

Then we used our hands to carefully work the piece so it was cupped like a bowl on the back yet keeping the face shape. Then we lightly drew vertical and horizontal guidelines down the center with a toothpick.

Using the end of the roller we made light depressions for the eyesockets and also measured with it the center between the eyes. Then fingers were used to deepen the eyesockets.

Then we measured the space from the center of the face to the edge of the eye and made a rectangular piece of clay to glue on for the nose. The technique for attaching to pieces of clay together so they dry together, not separately and to prevent popping off; is to score and wet both sides with water, push them together then smooth them together with fingers and/or tools. This is called Score & Glue.

Then we made 2 eyeshaped cups of clay to attach for the eyelids. After they were attached a slit was cut and they were formed into eyelids. Then the next part was difficult, you take a flat piece of clay, attach it on the back for the eyes and draw the iris and pupil with a toothpick.

Then we pushed out the cheeks, made lips, pushed out the chin. I was too enthusiastic and made my piece too thin in places so we'll see if it survives the drying.

Last step before drying was to attach a rectangular piece in back to hang it on a wall and draw hair.