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

Milwaukee Sketch Club Plein Air at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center

5 of us showed up this morning at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, http://www.schlitzauduboncenter.com/ . Free parking but $4 if you walk the trails. Pretty cool place. I was fascinated by the way the shadow fell across the window and grass so I did an oil pastel piece. I'm trying to concentrate on seeing values so I experimented by drawing in the values with a white, gray and black oil pastel, then going over with the general colors and scraping with a plastic card. It's difficult to lighten an area in oil pastels once it's dark, so may have to save the lights. Here's my painting, may work on it some more.

I really like our group, we're loosely organized, spend our time together painting and give each other feedback and tips. It's interesting to see all the different paintings made at the same place. Utrecht is having a sale on paints, etc. http://www.utrechtart.com/ and a good place to buy sunnyside odorless thinner for oils is Greenfield News & Hobby shop, http://greenfieldhobby.home.att.net/

Milwaukee Sketch Club at Angelica's garden

A lot of interesting stuff to draw. I chose this copper bowl. Experimented with oil pastels and basically a single color (green) because I wanted to concentrate on values. I love water and reflections. I think the front block turned out pretty good.

Opening night at One Way Cafe was fun. A lot of people showed up. We got to vote on the paintings (not are own ones). Marie and Rhoda tied for Best of Show. Very cool. Excellent paintings.

Milwaukee Sketch Club Plein Air at Car Ferry and KK bridge

Drove down to the lake express car ferry on Car Ferry Drive and Lincoln Memorial Drive. Can park in the Car Ferry lot for 3 hours for free. Very open, windy and sunny. The building looks brand new. Could see sailboats there. http://www.lake-express.com/

Only saw one other person from the sketch club and she was painting acrylics. So we decided to go to a drawbridge on KK ave near St. Mary's Cement Inc, Milwaukee terminal at 2000 S. KK. There was real cool ship there and boats but I was fascinated by the patterns that the shadows made on the concrete railroad bridge abutment and the reflections in the water. So that's what I painted. Several trains went by while we were there, a few pedestrians but no one said hi.

A quick plein air while up north

The grass grows high around the stumps.

Artistic Hangups did a nice job framing my pictures for the Exhibit

My pictures look very nice. They were matted and framed by Artists Hang ups by Wendy at 7170 South 76th Street in Franklin, Wisconsin (414) 529-8588. I picked them up on Thursday and dropped them off Sunday for the Vanishing Farm exhibit at the One Way Cafe and Gallery in Wauwatosa. Lot harder to take pictures after the art is framed.

Wisconsin Pastel Artist Meeting on July 2, 2008

The meeting minutes have been posted on http://www.wispa.us/ and it was a good meeting.

Highlights of the meeting for me were:

• We are a member of IAPS (International Association of Pastel Societies) http://www.pastelinternational.com/ which has competitions and an upcoming convention in Albuqurquee NM in May 2009.
• Terry Stanley http://terrystanley.com/ will be teaching a one day class in September
• 29 WPA artists with 51 paintings are exhibiting in the Vanishing Farm exhibit at the One Way gallery and cafe at 1425 underwood avenue in Wauwatosa July 7-August 15. Opening reception Friday, July 11, 2008. I think that is real cool.
  

An overview of upcoming WPA exhibitions:

• United Methodist Church, Whitefish Bay "Open Door Gallery" August 18-October 15, 2008.
• Schauer Art Center, Hartford WI, http://www.schauercenter.org/ Spring 2009, April 4-May 18, 2009
• Plymouth Arts Center, http://www.plymoutharts.org/ , Gallery 110 North, January 18-March 15, 2009

Miscellaneous

• Someone mentioned the Wisconsin Regional Art Program which was created to encourage wisconsin artists. http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/LSA/art/wrap/ , http://www.wraawrap.com/ ,
  
• Ray a member of WPA is currently exhibiting at the New Berlin Library http://www.wcfls.lib.wi.us/newberlin/ July 1-31, 2008
• Presentation by http://www.aerodef.biz/ for business card CDs and DVDs. They put together the presentation for our submission to the Plymouth Arts Center.
• Mastering Composition by Ian Roberts video presentation not seen due to technical difficulties.
  

Milwaukee Sketch Club Plein Air at Grant Park

We scoped out the clubhouse, the beach and the waterfalls. Then we split up. I painted the beach. Had to stop at around 11am because a storm blew in. I was really fascinated by the way the concrete wall curved and led your eye to the power plant mostly hidden by the haze.

Richeson Tour & Plein Air June 30, 2008

This is going to be really abbreviated because I'm really tired. Richeson tour was excellent and Terry was an excellent hostess/ambassador/tour guide. Linda Richeson was sweet and lovely. Had a great time painting.

Learned some things from various people:

• Can use exacto knife with white pastel to get those sparkles in the water. Just press the white bits into the paper.
• 6B charcoal pencil and white charcoal pencil can be used to add darks and lights. The white doesn't look so white.
• There's a black vinyl? thing that's shaped like a big round brush with handle that can be used on pastels for blending and wiping off excess color
• Drawing the background then adding the white bridge over it, keeps the white from being too white because white is usually never white.
  
• Good idea to do a value drawing before starting to paint outside to fix the values and colors into your head. Outside there is changing light conditions. Need to look for the values and the warm/coolness of colors.
• Liptis? is a renewable hard wood that grows from it's stump in 7 years and is being used for easels.
• Richeson is the single remaining easel manufacturer in US? Their easels are made of Red Oak.
• Need to treat your easels yearly with easel oil or mineral oil? to keep the wood from drying out.
• Terry recommended Steven Quiller's book "Color Choices."