Blog
7/28/2011 9:50:14 PM
I received an email from my friend Karen Blackwood saying that she had been invited by Plein Air Magazine to paint in the Adirondacks. The email was sent by the publisher Eric Rhodes who is a devote fan of plein air painting. Here is the invititation.
"I spend each summer painting the mountains and lakes of the Adirondack mountains. This 100 square mile preserved park is spectacular. Six Million Acres. The Adirondack Park, covers more ground than Yellowstone and Yosemite parks combined. Every few years I create an invitation only event for painter friends to gather in a casual setting to paint, to learn from one another, and to reinforce our friendships and make new ones. No official paint-out, no show, no competitions, no demos, no workshops. Just painting, conversation, laughter and time with friends.
Karen asked if I would like to join her. After pondering the question for .o5 seconds I said YES!
And so the adventure began.
7/27/2011 9:07:42 PM
The highlight of the conference was the awards banquet on Saturday night. I was one of 22 recipients of the Master Circle medallion but was not able to attend the ceremony. My daughter graduated from High School the next day and the last flight home was hours before the banquet. Sharon Will, who also recieved the award, picked my medal up for me.
Painting friends are special. My painting buddies Sharon Will and Barb Riech knew I was disappointed about missing the ceremony so they took my medal out on the town. Those of you with children you may be familiar with "Flat Stanley" the paper doll that school kids mail off to distant relatives along with a disposable camera. The relative takes Stanley around and photographs him in exotic places then mail the whole thing back home where the child shares the adventures with the class. Sharon and Barb "Flat Stanleyed" my medal. It looks like it had a very good time!
Wining and Dining
Sharon trying on the Master Circle earrings
Red hot dancing with Mr. Chili Peppers
Reloading at the ATM
A romantic interlude
Asleep at last!
7/24/2011 9:49:05 PM
Seminars at the conference were like mini-workshops. In the span of two days I saw Margret Dryer demonstrate a photo shoot with a model, and listened to Anne Hevener, the editor of the Pastel Journal, talk about how an artist can get published. I thoroughly enjoyed the figure demonstration by Doug Dawson. He is a great teacher. Not every artist can articulate their process and break it down so it is easily understood. As much as I enjoy watching a good artist paint, I really enjoy hearing a good teacher teach.
The seminar I enjoyed the most was the talk and demonstration by Fred Somers. It was an honest and heartfelt talk about his journey from the world of angry abstraction to finding his true voice in the beauty around him. It was one of the most moving speeches on the creative process that I have ever heard and I return to it often in my memory.
7/21/2011 10:16:46 AM
There was a trade show at the IAPS conference with every conceivable pastel item that a painter could desire. There were pastel carriers and easels of many sizes. There were papers, and books, and things I did not even know existed but now I need. There were pastels in stick form and pan form. My favorite display was Terry Ludwig’s Pastels. His sticks were laid out like on several tables and were a site to behold. The full color and value spectrum was there. I picked up a deep burgundy with tiny veins of gold running through it and a red that is THE reddest red I have ever seen. Terry Ludwig is a generous donor to pastel competitions. I have been fortunate to receive his pastels as prizes and it was nice to meet the man in person.
My best bargain was 18x24 Wallis papers that came in beautiful tones of browns and grays. Some of them were mottled in appearance while some are streaky. They are papers that something went wrong with the dye so Jane Wallis herself was selling them for a bargain price of 2.75 a sheet. I bought about 20 sheets with the thought of using them for portraits. Later in the month I found they were close in color value to the rocks in the Adirondacks and a perfect backdrop for painting waterfalls.
7/17/2011 10:32:42 PM
The second part of the road trip consisted of Gallery hopping in Taos and Santa Fe. After leaving the Fechin House we drove a few miles down the road to a gallery I have been following online called Total Arts Gallery. This gallery was a smorgasbord of my favorite artists including Burton Silverman, Kim English, Kevin Beilfuss, Carylon Anderson, and many more. There were gems of paintings everywhere and the volume of good work was inspiring. What was especially nice about viewing the works in the gallery was the ability to get close to the paintings. My friends and I are always getting scolded in museums for standing too close. The director, Emily Wilde, was friendly and gave us a tour of the gallery pulling out paintings cheerfully and showing us her favorites. If you would like to see their inventory online you can visit their website at www.totalartsgallery.com
The Three Amigos, Left to right- Sharon Will, Myself, and Barb Reich. We are all happy becuase we viewed really good paintings!
The next stop was Santa Fe. We did our research before leaving for New Mexico and had a list of galleries we wanted to visit. This was important because our time was limited and the gallery listings extensive. Santa Fe is known for it’s quantity of galleries, many of them along Canyon road. In Detroit our art galleries are few and far between so to drive along and see clusters of galleries within walking distance of each other was surreal. Here are the websites of two favorites.
Sage Creek gallery http://www.sagecreekgallery.com/
Myer Gallery http://www.meyergalleries.com/html/home.asp
7/17/2011 10:24:21 PM
To really appreciate a drawing by Nicholi Fechin you should see it in real life and the best place to do that is at the Taos Art Museum and Fechin House. On the second day of the conference in New Mexico I went on a road trip with my fellow painting buddies, Sharon Will and Barb Reich. It was a two and a half hour drive one way and worth the effort. Fechin was a successful Russian artist who studied under in St Petersburg under Ilya Repin. Fleeing the turmoil of the Russian revolution he immigrated with his family to the U.S. in the 1920’s. He first settled in New York City where he became a portrait painter of renown but New York did not agree with his health and in 1922 he moved his family to Taos. Taos was a growing art community and many artists made their home there.
Fechin was great painter, but his figure and portrait drawings are outstanding. He had the uncanny ablity to blend accuracy and distortion to create an image that is sensitive yet animated. All strokes in a Fechin drawing have a purpose. Line is laid in heavy and then faded to exaggerate the natural rhythm of the figure. He could blend this line with masses of dark value laid in thick or uneven to give texture and depth to his surface. He is my favorite artist when it comes to drawing.
We visited his home and studio where we viewed his drawings under the large bank of north facing windows. His studio and home are a work of art themselves. Fechin was a talented architect and wood carver and his carvings grace every inch of wood in the home.
Here is the website of the museum If you would like to learn more about Nicolai Fechin.
http://www.taosartmuseum.org/fechin.php
7/7/2011 7:06:11 PM
I’m not sure if there is something in the water but my small town of Romeo, Michigan has produced many outstanding pastel artists. Bill Hosner, Sharon Will and the late Jerry Power are all well known artists from this area. For many years we were part of a group that painted together either outdoors or sharing the cost of a model. Jerry encouraged me to enter national competitions and the International Association of Pastel Societies was one of the venues where I have exhibited and won prizes. IAPS is the umbrella group which all members of any pastel society belong to. Awards at pastel shows are usually cash or art supplies but IAPS has something extra, points that go towards the master circle medallion. Last year my friend Sharon Will and I each accrued enough points to qualify for master circle status. The medallions are presented every two years at the IAPS convention and this June was the 9th Biennial convention in Albuquerque. There were pastel seminars with demonstrations and critiques. There was a trade show, with a rainbow of pigments laid out like a candy counter. There were get togethers, formal and informal. It was a chance to meet artists whose work I have admired and to see some really, really good art. There was so much that I am going to write about the trip in several blog posts starting with a road trip to the Nicholi Fechin museum.
7/5/2011 9:34:08 PM
June was quite a month! It began with a pastel conference in New Mexico and ended with a plein air paint out in the Adirondacks of New York. Both events were an artists dream. In Albuquerque I got to view some incredible art and meet artists whose work I have admired. At the paint out I submerged myself in plein air painting in the rugged Adirondacks. There were 86 other artists attending many of them top tier plein air painters. This was not a competition and we were there to paint for the sheer joy of painting. The sense of camaraderie among the artists was exhilarating. I have been home for a week now and am just beginning to come back to reality. These were life altering experiences and I am still trying to wrap my brain around all that I saw and learned. There is too much information for one blog so I plan on writing about both events over the month of July. I will start with IAPS conference and then the plein air event. July is shaping up to be a quieter month so it should be a good time to recollect the earlier adventures.
(Yes, my last name is spelled wrong, that is the fun of having a weird name)
This is the Master Circle medallion next to my name tag from the Plien Air paint out. I photographed them together at the dorm of Paul Smiths College where the paint out took place. I took my medallion to the paint out for a reason but that story will be told in a later blog.
