July Contents - Other months are at the bottom of this page.
Welcome Marie Wilkes!
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" - Leonardo da Vinci
“Value does the work and color takes the credit.” - Marie Wilkes
"A value study will save more time than it takes."
In painting, as in life, you can get away with a great deal as long as you have your values right. (Harley Brown)
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” - Picasso
Think pattern first, then drawing, then color. The character of your painting is resolved in the pattern scheme. (Edgar A. Whitney)
Plan like a turtle; paint like a rabbit. (Edgar A. Whitney)
We find beauty not in the thing itself, but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates. Junichiro Tanizaki
If, when facing the paper, you say to yourself, 'I'm an artist,' you haven't a clue as to what to do! If, however, you say, 'I am an entertainer, a shape maker and an expressive symbol collector,' you know the task ahead and how to proceed. (Edgar A. Whitney)
"You can't be at the pole and the equator at the same time. You must choose your own lie, as I hope to do, and it will probably be color." Vincent Van Gogh
"Seeing abstract value patterns, not just the literal subject, is one of the first and most difficult things for a growing artist to learn." Jane R. Hofstetter
"With this painting, I learned that when I simplify and spend more time editing, the message comes across more clearly." Francis Marte, first time award winner: Honorable Mention, Watercolor Artist magazine Showcase competition
"With watercolor, the cure is usually more harmful than the ailment." "Make your color choices consciously, not by default. Color is mood. Such a powerful tool should not be wasted." Elizabeth Kincaid, "Paint Watercolors that Dance with Light"
"The Artist draws not what he sees, but what he has to make others see." Edgar Degas
"We must not imitate the externals of nature with so much fidelity that the picture fails to evoke that wonderful teasing recurrence of emotion that marks the contemplation of a work of art." John E. Carlson, in Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting, 1929
"I don't think there is any great painting that doesn't have good abstract qualities."
Alice Neel
“The great colorists didn’t try to achieve distinguished color by trial and error, and neither should you. Delacroix spent long hours at museums studying the colors of the masters. Van Gogh, a powerful and impulsive painter, respected orderly relationships of colors. Kandinsky used color as emotion – but he knew his color theory well. The more you experience color, the sooner your intuition acquires a solid foundation to spring from. Overcome lazy habits of seeing that lock you into your first impression. In time, you’ll become aware of the subtleties of color in everything you see. But don’t simply report what you see. Use color to express the forces that energize your subject.” Nita Leland
“Only those who love color are admitted to its beauty and imminent presence. It affords utility to all, but unveils its deeper mysteries only to its devotees.” Johannes Itten
“However painting my evolve, color will remain its prime material” Johannes Itten
“A painter is also master of his choice in a dominant color, which produces upon every object in his composition the same effect as if they were illuminated by a light of the same color, or, what amounts to the same thing, seen through a colored glass.” M. E. Chevreul
“When the impulses which stir us to profound emotion are integrated with the medium of expression, every interview of the soul may become art. This is contingent upon the mastery of the medium.” Hans Hoffman
“When arranging still life objects, observe the ONE RULE OF COMPOSITION. Look at what shapes are created and the larger configuration the objects form when grouped together. Place the objects in asymmetrical groups” The Simple Secret to Better Painting. Greg Albert.
Dining Camp Watercolor Class Exhibit
All of you who have painted with this workshop have produced some amazing work over this exceptional year! As Linda has wisely suggested, the community would love to see an ACTUAL class exhibit this summer in the Dining CAmp. Everyone who has participated even for a single class has produced an exhibit-worthy piece - whether you call it a "painting" or a "study" or an "exercise" - that the community will enjoy. And we'd include our pieces in the Arts Center virtual exhibit page.
I am picturing a summer-long dedicated space, so that as you arrive for however long you are at the Preserve, we can add your pieces to the wall. Whatever form of display works for you will be perfect: If you have a frame, or if you'd like to frame a piece, lovely! However, there is a mat cutter in the arts center and mat board in inventory... so before you leave home, you can send me your dimensions, I'll cut a mat..and voila! Exhibit-ready upon arrival!
As you all may know, I have the privilege of scheduling the Dining Camp exhibits - which will return "to the walls" as Dining CAmp operations resume. So we are in the enviable position of having complete curatorial control...!
For anyone who is hesitant...remember our inspirational messages, starting with "Creativity takes courage". You have all demonstrated you have that! And as Russ Jones advised me many years ago, "If you wait until you think you are 'ready' to exhibit, you never will."
With great enthusiasm,
Giny
PS - It's been too many years since the Thursday morning Drawing with Daisy class had a display; just know that when they did, everybody loved seeing it.
Giny's Zoom Class 1st Dining Camp Exhibit
Some of us finally get to see each other and have our first exhibit!
Giny
Allison
Laura
Marilyn
Berrell
Laura
Berrell
Derek Savage - Water Lillies and Still Life
Mark Stout - Lone Tree Farm
July 15 - Linda Zug
Hard edges vs soft edges, more drapery.
Thursday morning watercolor resumes July 1st - LIVE and zoom
Thursday morning watercolor resumes July 1, live in the Arts Center with your trio of alternating facilitators: Linda Zug, Debbie Wurzel, and me. Linda kicks off the inaugural session. Hadley will set up for zoom participation as well! If you are not on the Preserve, feel free to log in using the same zoom meeting we've been using each week (link above).
July 8 - Giny Crawford
We were all about color theory... Blue and orange complements. Muted neutrals for background or drapery.
Thursday morning watercolor resumes July 1st - LIVE and zoom
Thursday morning watercolor resumes July 1, live in the Arts Center with your trio of alternating facilitators: Linda Zug, Debbie Wurzel, and me. Linda kicks off the inaugural session. Hadley will set up for zoom participation as well! If you are not on the Preserve, feel free to log in using the same zoom meeting we've been using each week (link above).
Classwork Corner - June 8
Carries Peaches - Compliments
Berrell
July 1 - Linda Zug
Thursday morning watercolor resumes July 1st - LIVE and zoom
Thursday morning watercolor resumes July 1, live in the Arts Center with your trio of alternating facilitators: Linda Zug, Debbie Wurzel, and me. Linda kicks off the inaugural session. Hadley will set up for zoom participation as well! If you are not on the Preserve, feel free to log in using the same zoom meeting we've been using each week (link above).
January 7 - Let's Paint Snow (Birches)
January 14 - Brrr.... More Snow (Office and Lake)
January 21 - Exploration of Legs
January 29 - Exploration of Legs ... Continued (Video Michael Reardon High Speed Demo Amazing)
February 5 - Exploration of Legs Continues ... to Landscapes
February 11- Value Studies of Landscapes
February 18 - Colorful Still Life Composition - You Design
February 25 - Colorful Still Life Composition - Patterns Continues
March 4 - Continuing Color Exploration Cool & Warm (Cory Wright - Simplifying a Complex Scene in Watercolor)
March 11 - Painting the Same Scene in Different Value Patterns (2 Videos Gary Tucker)
March 18 - Free Time Playground ... Paint What You Want (2 PDF's Sarah Yoeman Crows, Greg Albert -Pleasing the Eye) Notanizer App - Mark McDermott https://markmcdermottart.com/
March 25 - More Free Time (Artist Alice Neel, People Come First Virtual Opening Virtual Art Opening Alice Neel Sign-Up )
April 1 - Free time and/or masking tape Birches painting
April 8 - Within/Without Positive and Negative Painting
April 15 - Continue with Positive and Negative Painting ( 2 Videos) Teapot Apple Painting Tutorial
Transparent Watercolor Narrated Tutorial: Blossoms in the Valley
April 22 - Colorful Spring - Tulips, unifying glazing, Field's Rules for Painters
April 29 - Colorful Spring Continued, Skip Lawrence - PDF Luminosity
May 6 - Composition
May 13 - Composition Simplified
May 20 - Perspective - Elipses, Cubes, etc.
May 27 - More Adventures in Perspective - Watercolor Tutorial
Rick Surowicz - warm cool palette layout