The county fairs across the country are a great venue to show works of art. I'm in the process of selecting watercolor paintings which I'll enter next week in the Clark County Fair.
Currently it's been too hot to paint, fans are blowing constantly and paints are drying quickly. Temperatures are predicted to break records this week. We're talking 103 - 107 degrees. For Washington state, that's hot!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
I'm back to painting!
Arne Westerman's book Paint Watercolors Filled With Life and Energy contains a chapter called "Ten Ways to Get Unstuck." I found this at the right time as I hadn't painted in a couple of months. And this chapter's item number eight: "Attend a workshop" really hit home with me.
In March I was able to participate in a three-day workshop by Mr. Westerman held in Springfield, Oregon at Emerald Art Center. Notice I didn't say paint - but participate. This is because for three days we mainly worked on thumbnails and color sketches, their need and importance. It was an amazing workshop!
Next, a national artist was doing a three-day workshop in April in Portland. I thought it might be a good chance to kick-start my painting routine. Wrong! As never before at a workshop, I left feeling I'd waisted my money. This artist was all about making themself look good and putting down the amateur artist, arts organizations, etc. For example: a student received assistance on color and composition (several times) yet when it was critiqued, the visiting national artist took a sponge and washed away the lower half of the student's painting telling the audience how wrong this painting had been set up. Enough on this egotistical artist!
By now I really needed to get to painting. Like comfort food, I have comfort instructors. A couple of these are Vickie Nelson and Bev Jozwiak, NWS, who co-teach workshops in the Northwest. They did their annual week-long Portland workshop at the end of May. And I can happily report that I did restart my painting. Many of the paintings from this week have been critiqued and after retouching they'll be added to this site - soon!
In March I was able to participate in a three-day workshop by Mr. Westerman held in Springfield, Oregon at Emerald Art Center. Notice I didn't say paint - but participate. This is because for three days we mainly worked on thumbnails and color sketches, their need and importance. It was an amazing workshop!
Next, a national artist was doing a three-day workshop in April in Portland. I thought it might be a good chance to kick-start my painting routine. Wrong! As never before at a workshop, I left feeling I'd waisted my money. This artist was all about making themself look good and putting down the amateur artist, arts organizations, etc. For example: a student received assistance on color and composition (several times) yet when it was critiqued, the visiting national artist took a sponge and washed away the lower half of the student's painting telling the audience how wrong this painting had been set up. Enough on this egotistical artist!
By now I really needed to get to painting. Like comfort food, I have comfort instructors. A couple of these are Vickie Nelson and Bev Jozwiak, NWS, who co-teach workshops in the Northwest. They did their annual week-long Portland workshop at the end of May. And I can happily report that I did restart my painting. Many of the paintings from this week have been critiqued and after retouching they'll be added to this site - soon!
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