Friday Finds: When you can't paint ...

This past week has not been conducive to painting. Family circumstances dictate a lot of time in places where one cannot just open up a palette and go at it.

However, watercolor hasn't been off my mind. I've just had to limit my watercolor activity to reading. Here are a few gems I've picked up:

1. Signature Canvas has a new watercolor surface called Aqua-Fuze. It's a 140-pound Arches cold-pressed paper bonded to foam core and acid-free Gatorboard.The product gets a good review in the February 2011 issue of Watercolor Artist magazine. I've looked for it in Louisville and Bloomington and haven't found it yet online, but I'll let you know as soon as I do because this looks interesting.
2. Clearing the wrapping paper and ribbons from the studio was on my to-do list, but my cleanup now has new purpose since reading "A Place for Everything" in the January/February issue of The Artist's Magazine. Michael Chesley Johnson writes about organizing one's studio according to workflow. He suggests setting up work space with areas dedicated to raw materials, production line, inventory, shipping and waste disposal. It makes a lot of sense. The article offers good advice and recommendations for new and used organizational pieces.
3. Putting my Preston Arts Center gift card to good use, I bought Watercolor Painting Outside the Lines: A Positive Approach to Negative Painting by Linda Kemp. The book was published in 2003 but it was new to me. It is an excellent instructional resource for negative painting. I often start with a negative painting approach but too often I slip into painting the positive shapes. I intend to work through several of the exercises before incorporating some of the activities into upcoming classes.

Friday's Finds: Food, Friends and Family

Too much Food to prepare for Friends and Family. No time to blog on Christmas Eve.

Besides you all have your own Food, Friends and Family to enjoy right now.

See you next Friday.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Friday's Finds: And the winner is ...

... Pantone 18-2120 Honeysuckle!
Earlier this week, Pantone LLC named Pantone 18-2120 Honeysuckle the color of  the year for 2011.
The color authority Pantone describes Honeysuckle as a "vibrant, energetic hue" and as a "dynamic reddish pink."

I'm a bit confused because where I come from anything called honeysuckle evokes the Yellow Family. So here is the color swatch.

Now my challenge to you is to identify the name of the watercolor paint that best approximates Pantone 18-2120. Click on Comments below and register your opinion.

In the Favorite Quote category
My nominee for Best Quote about Watercolor would be: "Watercolor is a swim in the metaphysics of life... a mirror of one's own character. Let it be unpredictable and colorful." I stumbled across this anonymous quote on the Painter's Keys Web site: http://painterskeys.com. The quote captures the allure of the medium for me.

And finally, here's my entry in the Best Bumper Sticker contest:

Success! Moving Ahead



"P'ri Hagafen" wins 3rd place in KWS Show

 Success
Last week ended on a high note! The Kentucky Watercolor Society presented a third place to  "P'ri Hagafen," which is part of the organization's New Member Show. I'll have fun spending the $30 gift card to Preston Art Center. Thank you, Preston Art Center and KWS.

Actually, the prize was just the icing on the cake. The painting sold within an hour of being posted on this blog. So now I can say I have sold online.  I am also very pleased that the painting "spoke" to my friend, Lynne.

About the title: "P'ri Hagafen" is the transliteration of  the Hebrew words for "fruit of the vine." It is part of the blessing said every Shabbat over the wine.

  

Close-up



 
Moving ahead

I have been rushing holiday preparations to allow some studio time because I've been eager to try "optical mixing." I read about this technique in a book called Watercolor: Creative Techniques, which I recently purchased at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The book was written by Josep Asuncion and Gemma Guasch and translated from Spanish by Eric A. Bye.




A little distance improves helps image to appear.

Reference photo is on left.


Yesterday I finished preparing the grid and put down enough paint to make me believe a good picture might result. This will definitely be one to be viewed from a distance.



Friday's Finds: A little bit of everything



 Like many Bloomington Watercolor Society members, I now have a collection of Artist Trading Cards too beautiful to store in a drawer. The first step was putting the cards into 9-pocket pages, but all that did was organize them. I wanted a binder worthy of the miniature artworks I had acquired at the Holiday Party! I found what I was looking for at Target: a 1-inch binder made by greenroom "with paper containing 100% recycled fiber and printed with nontoxic soy-based ink." The price was right, too. $5.99. I haven't had a binder this pretty since 6th grade.

Looking for gifts or something for your own walls? Head on over to the IU School of Fine Arts Building this afternoon or early evening for the Holiday Art Auction. IU faculty and students have donated photographs, prints, ceramics, textiles and other media for the auction, which is in the IU SoFA Gallery. From noon to 4 p.m., you can purchase any item at the "Buy It Now" price. The Silent Auction starts at 6:30 p.m. and will end about an hour later. Refreshments will be served during the Silent Auction.

Looking way past the holidays, I found an affordable workshop that sounds intriguing. Judy Mudd will be presenting "Painting Children's Portraits from Photos" Feb. 9-10 at the Kentucky Watercolor Society Gallery in Louisville. The workshop runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and costs $85. It's inexpensive enough that you could book a hotel room and have yourself a midwinter getaway. The workshop will cover contour drawing and improving accuracy with a Prospek tool, mixing colors on paper to achieve flesh tones, and instructions on painting eyes, lips, noses, ears and hair. For more nformation, call Sue Hinkebein at 502-458-5043 or send a check payable to KWS to Sue Hinkebein, 2015 Gardiner Lane, Louisville, KY 40205.

If you're in Louisville tonight, stop by the New Member Show at the KWS Gallery at the Mellwood Arts and Entertainment Center, Suite 121, 1860 Mellwood Ave. The Opening Reception is 5 to 7 p.m. with the awards presentation at 6 p.m. I'll be there, hoping for better driving weather than last weekend when I delivered the paintings!

Vodka? You've gotta be kidding



P'ri Hagafen
21 X 14
Framed
$250



Sunflower Bouquet
14 X 20
Framed
$250

When I awoke Saturday to 4 inches of snow and a weather report that promised snow, sleet and freezing rain, the last thing I wanted to do was drive to Louisville. But that is exactly what I did because I had the paintings above to deliver to the Kentucky Watercolor Society.

My reward was an opportunity to chat with Rita Stout, the chair of the show, about some unusual techniques for watercolor painting: blowing paint onto the paper through an atomizer, sanding watercolor pencils on to a wet surface, using vodka to transfer an inkjet-printed photo to watercolor paper.

Vodka? What? Rewind that conversation. Surely I heard wrong.

Rita was already browsing the KWS lending library for Karlyn Holman's Watercolor -- The Spirit of Spontaneity, which describes the technique. I felt destined to try this technique since I recognized the book as one I had just bought at Border's closing sale in Bloomington.

Here's how it works:

Step 1

Step 1: Print the image you want to include in your painting on an inkjet printer. I used photographs of some of my original watercolors. Because I was working on Artist Trading Cards, I printed them out as wallet-sized images but you can use any size you want.


Step 2

Step 2: Turn the printed image face down on your watercolor paper. Use a stiff brush to apply the vodka to the back of the printed image. The sheet will become transparent as the vodka is applied, making it easy for you to decide how much of the image you want to transfer.

Step 3

Step 3: Lift the paper and you'll see a reversed image of the original. If the image has numbers or letters, you will need to "reverse" the image with your photoediting software program before printing.

Now you can use watercolors, caran d'ache, watercolor pencils or acrylics to embellish the image.

I liked the results so much that I poured a splash of vodka into a cup for my 13-year-old -- something I never thought I'd hear me saying -- and had her try the transfer while I took the photos seen here.

Enjoy!

Friday's Finds: What I've learned this week!

The "at-your-fingertips" part.  See below.

  Today's list of what I learned this week covers far and near and at your fingertips -- literally!

Far -- but still within driving distance: The Art Institute of Chicago will exhibit its entire collection of John Marin's works Jan. 23 to April 17. "John Marin's Watercolors: A Medium for Modernism" includes 120 paintings covering his early traditional work through his later more abstract works. Mark your calendar now for a winter trip to Chicago, but for now check out the AIC Web site at http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/exhibition/Marin.

Near: Tonight is the last Gallery Walk of 2010. Head to downtown Bloomington between 5 and 8 p.m. Hop on and off the Gallery Walk shuttlebus or -- better yet -- stroll around admiring the holiday lights as you make your way to 10 galleries that are ready to welcome you.  Buy local for the holidays!

At your fingertips: While working on Artist Trading Cards with friends earlier this week, Jeanne Dutton demonstrated this really handy gadget for cutting. You hold it like a pencil and the blade cuts wherever you point your finger. I sure wish I had known about this tool when I was handcutting Hebrew letters for dreidels. View a product video at http://store.scrapbook.com/f-12-6305.html.