Message from BWS president
BWS will meet online
April 13 via ZOOM
Our April meeting is still on! In this technological age that we’re living in, we can meet by video! To join us at 6 p.m. April 13 by ZOOM Meeting, please download ZOOM as shown on the URL address that will be sent to you via email Monday afternoon. That email will provide complete instructions for joining the meeting.
PLEASE NOTE: We are limited to 40 minutes, so this will be our business meeting portion.
Please stay well by following the recommended protocols so familiar to all of us by now, and we will hope to meet in person again soon. Keep painting!
Patty Uffman, BWS President
While we are at home…
By Carol Rhodes
The board discussed canceling the April meeting, but as we chatted over email, I began to feel that we urgently need to give our BWS members the best experience possible during these lonely and trying times. Rather than being forlorn about having to forgo our meetings and paintouts, it seemed a good opportunity to think of creative ways to keep in touch. In my mind, whatever modes we would choose should allow people to show their artwork and chat back and forth, much like we do in our meetings. With that suggestion, a few of us swapped ideas about it. We decided that email would be too messy. We rejected Facebook because of its intensely public nature, the extra burden of monitoring it, and the way our Facebook site is set up to be used more as a public-facing space than an internal communication device.
Having narrowed our options, Charlotte Griffin and I chose a forum tool for the bloomingtonwatercolor.org website. We worked on it for about three days. Initially, we tested a forum that would allow self-registration, making it easier for our members. However, within minutes of activating our test forum, several fake “bots” with random names had already registered for it. Consequently, we closed it to open registration and instead created a list of all our members with unique usernames and passwords.
Our forum is now active and is called “While we are at home… .” The welcome page is at http://bloomingtonwatercolor.org/forums/. I recommend that everyone view and participate in the discussions. Our members have posted some interesting things there!
We already have a demonstration on painting shadows ready to launch in place of our April face-to-face meeting. It is hidden for now, so keep an eye out for it. Patty Uffman has personally followed along with the tutorial and will post her results. We hope to see more of our members’ work!
Current forum topics are:
- Watercolor Inspiration and Instruction: Curated by Nancy Metz, a watercolor magazine consisting of articles from various watercolor publications.
- Making Color Sing: Mouse Power and Luminous Grays: Created by Barbara Coffman, an engaging exploration into mixing grays based on Jeanne Dobie’s book. Plenty of pictures.
- Our Shelter-in-place Artwork: Members’ snapshots of their recent painting and card-making projects.
- The Views from Our Windows: Intriguing pictures, including a charming snapshot of the expansive windows in Sara Steffey McQueen’s studio.
- Pickup and Delivery Tips for Essential and Nonessential Things: Tips for surviving daily life in these challenging times.
- Our Five Favorite Things about Sheltering in Place: Jammies? Late mornings? More time to paint? Share your favorites!
- Paint Mixtures for Skin Colors: Members suggestions for skin color formulas.
- Virtual Meeting Refreshments!: Share your favorite recipes.
- Virtual Art Museums: Enjoy the world’s art museums from the comfort of your home.
- And more! Check it out.
All members can reply to any topic or create a new one.
A message was sent to everyone March 21 with their personal login information, and another will be sent before the April meeting. Watch for it. If you want to log in now, please email info@bloomingtonwatercolor.org and you will receive your login info within a day.
In memoriam
Deloris Schneider
Longtime BWS member Deloris Schneider died March 12 at the Hospice House in Bloomington. She had taken ill very suddenly the week before. She passed away peacefully shortly after her watercolor friend, Mary Feeny, was there to visit her.
Deloris had served as BWS workshop chair and as hospitality chair.
April paint-out canceled
The April 11 wildflower walk and paint-out with Gillian Harris has
been canceled. The paint-out will be rescheduled in the spring of
2021. The June Garden Walk event has been canceled as well. A decision regarding the May 16 paint-out and a possible June paint-out is pending and will be announced around the end of April.
Share your art with
Hoosier Music Corporation
Necessity IS the mother of invention, and local artists are demonstrating how to stay connected in these isolating times.
Amy Dunn, who has attended some paint-outs and portrait sessions in the past, extends an invitation to BWS members to join with the Hoosier Music Corporation to make some art for fun.
“The rules are very simple, Amy says. “ Make a piece of art that surrounds the theme of the month and submit it via email, and I will share it along with the music that Hoosier songwriters share for the month.” This month’s theme is dreams. Any kind of art is welcome. Send a digital file to aminkone@gmail.com.
This project has been going on for six months and is a “really nice way to come together as Hoosiers for music, and now for art, too,” Amy says.
Member News
Bess Lee sent this painting she did in a workshop last month. She wrote: “The interesting thing about this painting is a little baffling to me. When I am not caring much about the outcome of a painting, I tend to be looser, more experimental and often have better results than usual. This was one of those times …it was basically a demonstration for a class. When I am very consciously trying, a formality kicks in with my brushstrokes that feels inhibiting. I guess with practice this eventually recedes a bit. Just a learner’s share…
Joanne Shank‘s exhibit “Taking Flight,” at By Hand gallery was scheduled for the month of April, but has been postponed to August with opening reception Aug. 7.
Calendar
April 13 BWS monthly meeting via ZOOM, 6 p.m.
May 8 Deadline for receipt of digital entries to 2020 Juried Exhibit of the Watercolor Society of Indiana. Prospectus is at https://www.watercolorsocietyofindiana.org/juried-exhibit/.
Editor’s Note:
As co-editors of Brushstrokes, Jerry Harste and I strive to keep our personal opinions out of this newsletter, but I feel compelled to stray a bit from that tenet. After all, we are in uncharted territory these days. BWS is rising to the occasion, and our leadership deserves praise. Rather than cancel everything, the board with Carol Rhodes and Charlotte Griffin has worked to create ways that BWS members can continue to support each other. In very short order, they figured out how to deliver the April meeting content online: the business meeting via Zoom and the program on painting shadows via a video on the While We Are at Home… forum. And more is to come. These creative individuals are looking at other ways we can stay connected through BWS. THANK YOU.
