Shift work at the gallery

Last week I did my first shift at the Kentucky Watercolor Society Gallery at Louisville's Mellwood Arts and Entertainment Center. I successfully opened the door, adjusted the lights, reset the thermostat, talked to the few people who wandered in, reset the thermostat, adjusted the lights and locked the door!

It was a pretty uneventful first day, but exhibiting in a cooperative gallery has been pretty exciting overall. The deal is a $20 monthly rental for the half-space; plus, I work two five-hour shifts a month. KWS takes a 10 percent commission on paintings sold but nothing from the card sales.

A few weeks ago I traveled to Louisville with paintings and notecards in tow for my first Gallery Committee meeting. After chatting with some old friends and introducing myself to some new folks, I eagerly climbed the stepladder to hang my three paintings. After all, what could be more important than getting those paintings hung, right?

WRONG!
I now know that the No. 1 task at those meetings is to schedule my work shifts. While I was hanging those paintings, the calendar was filling up. By the time I got to the calendar, I had precious little to choose from, especially if you remove Wednesdays and Fridays, the days that I teach for IU and Ivy Tech. I'm hoping to get back-to-back days during the summer months, but for now I drive to Louisville, do my shift, visit my in-laws or niece and head back to Bloomington.

The "do my shift" part is a lot more fun than it sounds.  Last week's "shift work" included some painting and art book reading in between customers. I compiled a whole list of future blog topics, so stay tuned.

Friday's Finds: Three spring greens

It's spitting snow -- a hard pill to swallow after a week of temps the 70s! To fend off winter's return, I spent a while this afternoon looking for a nice mixed green evocative of that gentle greenish cast the woods take on this time of year and the crazy wild yellow of forsythia. The photography doesn't do the colors justice, so I'll add some commentary.

The best combos were:

• Winsor Blue (Red) + Winsor Yellow
• Winsor Yellow + Cerulean Blue
• New Gamboge + Cerulean Blue

All three were light, fresh and especially interesting when mixed on the paper instead of the palette.

New Gamboge also worked well with Winsor Blue (Red), but appeared weak when compared to the rich granulation that the Cerulean provided. (I never thought I'd label Winsor Blue "weak.")

I had no success with any combos including Quinacridone Gold, Yellow Ochre or Raw Sienna. They all seemed too warm. Cobalt Blue with New Gamboge (the next to last sample in the picture) starts to skew warm but might work depending on the subject matter.

Please click on Post a Comment below and share your favorite mixed greens for spring.

Friday Finds: Gone fishin'

Got a bad case of Spring Fever.

Friday Finds will return March 18.

Friday Finds: A personal touch



Design your own stationery with a few

practice strokes.


Make your mark
While preparing a class session on brushwork, I was searching for ways students could apply their newfound skill. That's what inspired this stationery idea. All you need to do is apply a pale wash of any color to watercolor paper and let it dry completely. If you choose, you can splatter or sprinkle salt or use some other device to create texture, but you need to remember that you will be writing on the surface so keep the background simple. Choose a corner for your simple design and paint it with as few strokes as possible. Once that is dry, put it on a color copier and print it out. If your printer doesn't print all the way to the edges, trim off the white margins.

The one pictured here is an imaginary bunch of berries and leaves, but I have plans for shells, irises and maybe even a palm tree.

Family Arts WeekEnd
The IU Art Museum has family events Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. History and science will be featured in 30-minute gallery sessions and hands-on work stations on Saturday. Sunday's topics will  be math and literature. Families will take home the hand-on projects plus resource materials to extend the museum experience to the home. The events are part of Bloomington's ArtsWeek 2011 celebration. 

Friday Finds:

Venue features one of Bloomington's bests
Seascapes, cityscapes, still life and florals -- all are featured in a Retrospective of Jacki Frey's work now showing at the Venue, 114 S. Grant St., Bloomington. The opening reception is 6 p.m. tonight, so stop by, chat with Jacki and look at how her painting style has evolved. The show includes both old and new pieces. Jacki is one of the best watercolorists in the area, and the Venue provides a hospitable setting that is ideal for visiting with the artist as well as viewing the art.


Wanted: Tax help
If you have questions about taxes and your art business -- and a hankering for Mexican food, go to El Norteno on North Walnut Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. The newly formed Visual Art Guild United Enterprise has arranged for a CPA to present information and answer questions about taxes.

Just for fun
I stumbled across this Youtube video and loved it. I like the ink and watercolor technique but, even more, I like the idea of that being the view from her yard! Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSDovlsbQNI&feature=more_related

Friday Finds: Good values and paint pals



Label a black-and-white print with 5 values that

 correspond to the five-value chart you've painted.

 Good values

Keep reading! This has nothing to do with retail discounts or Sunday School.

The value I'm referring to is the relative lightness or darkness of colors within a painting.

It was the topic of the week for the watercolor classes I'm teaching so it's been much on my mind. I tell students, "Value does all the work, but color gets all the credit." (That isn't an original thought BTW but I don't know who said it. If you know, please click the Comment button below and give due credit.)


One way to focus on value is to paint with one color. I had occasionally done this as a study before a painting but success was limited, at best. Then I tried painting a five-value chart off to the side of the sheet I was using for the study.

A successful value study

That little value chart made all the difference. My darks got darker -- which of course made the lights look lighter. Without the chart, I never would have gone as dark.

Try it the next time you're doing a value study. If you have a lot of time and are working with a still life, take a photo and print it out in black-and-white. On the printout label the five values before you start painting. That will really keep you on track.

Pack mentality
Recently Courtney Jordan wrote in her Artist Daily blog about the benefits of painting with others. She pretty much debunked the myth of the solitary artist in a garret studio and instead described artists as a pretty social lot.

Her column made me think about all the times I have painted with others. Most of those opportunities came through Bloomington Watercolor Society either directly from their paintouts and programs or indirectly from friendships formed with other BWS members.

If you're looking for a painting pack to join, come to the next BWS meeting Monday, Feb. 14, at 6 p.m. We meet at the First Christian Church at the corner of Kirkwood and Washington. The business portion of the meeting is kept short so that we have time to paint together. Visitors are welcome, and if you can't find your paints, come anyway. Someone will share. That's just how social we are.



Friday's Find: A Sunday Special!

Admittedly, I'm a little off my game today. This post comes to you late, and my excuses are (1) a new kitten that has a thousand methods of distraction and (2) the first of my Friday morning painting classes at the Burton Kimble Farm in Orleans. Both the cat and the class have provided too much to think about and do up to this point. But it's all good...


"Jackson Pollock, One: 31, 1950" with Kids by profzucker


Today's tip: This week's "art event" has to be Sunday's focus on Jackson Pollock at the IU Art Museum and new IU Cinema. Start with the 2:15 to 2:45 p.m. Gallery Talk, "Pollock in Focus" at the IU Art Museum's Gallery of the Art of the Western World. Jenny McComas will speak about Pollock's Number 11, 1949, which is part of the the IUAM's collection. Then stroll over to the IU Cinema (formerly the University Theatre -- it's in the back of the IU Auditorium) and see if you can score a ticket to "Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock." The film tells the story of Teri Horton, who paid $5 for a painting from a thrift store, tried unsuccessfully to give it away, and then discovers it may be a Jackson Pollock worth $50 million. The 74-minute film covers her 15-year search for the provenance of the painting. The film is free but a ticket is required. Even if all the tickets have been distributed, hang out and you'll probably get in. All three of the movies I've seen there in the last few weeks have had open seats.

And, of course, here's a "tip" of the hat to tonight's Gallery Walk: It's 2011's first gallery walk, so head downtown between 5 and 8 and check out the offerings. More importantly, buy local!