Meeting: April 12 via Zoom
Program: “Exhibit Your Work: A Conversation Among BWS Artists” hosted by Barbara Coffman
Perhaps it’s never crossed your mind to exhibit any of your work. Or perhaps you are an experienced artist with many exhibitions under your artistic belt. For our April BWS program we need both of you, and everyone in between.
Our program will focus on “Exhibiting Your Work”, whether you are a novice or an expert. This will be an interactive program, addressing your questions and calling on your expertise. Three BWS artists – Nancy Metz, Jerry Harste, and Carol Rhodes – will begin the discussion on each topic, but we know we have many talented and experienced artists in our group who could take it from there, providing their own perspectives and information, and we hope you will attend and share what you know.
Members have posed questions and suggested topics that are being used to focus this program. Questions range from “How do I now when my work is ready to show and how do I get started?” to “How do I build an artistic resume to work towards Signature status?” to questions about pricing, commissions, delivering work to galleries, and many more.
Please come to this session to get your questions answered and to offer your expertise to your fellow artists.
If you have questions, contact program organizer Barbara Coffman.
Inside BWS
A Special Thanks
A special thanks to Charlotte Griffin for her program on how to create a pop-up greeting card during our March meeting. Jerry Harste sent the greeting card he made to his neighbor who was having an operation the next day. At the bottom of the “opening curtain” figure he wrote “So You Are Having An Operation.” On the pull flaps he wrote, “Watch Those Bastards!!” and “They Have Knieves!!” His neighbor wrote to say it was the best greeting card she had ever received. She was impressed with its construction. Now, if she could only see some of the stunning pop-ups Charlotte has made!!
Get ready for May program
Our May program on drawing will be presented by Claude Cookman. He sends this message:
Because some of you may not have all these materials on hand, I am sending the list a month early to give you time to gather them.
Materials. a) Vine charcoal, soft. b) Charcoal pencils, B and 3B or soft and very soft. c) Kneadable eraser. d) Cheap paper such as newsprint, preferably a large-size pad. e) Tissues, cotton balls, and/or Q-tips for blending. Optional, but if you have a stump or tortillon, feel welcome to use it. f) A bamboo barbecue skewer. g) Easel or table easel. If you are physically able, I would like you to stand while drawing for reasons which I will explain in next month’s Brushstrokes. Because some of you haven’t worked with charcoal or may be rusty, I encourage you to do this exercise before our May 10 session.
Homework. Realistic drawing depends on representing light and shadow with values. You can practice by drawing a sphere. Position an orange, tennis ball or other spherical object slightly below eye level. Light it with strong directional light. First, draw a six-step value scale at the side of your paper. The top value is paper white. The bottom value is the darkest you can make with your vine charcoal.
Then draw a convincing sphere using all six values. Repeat this with different lighting angles. Also, draw cylinders, cones, and boxes. With a command of these four forms, you can draw anything. For a real challenge, crumple a piece of paper, unfold it slightly, light it with strong directional light, and draw the values.
If you have questions or concerns, please feel welcome to contact me directly at: ccookman@indiana.edu
Another Program Note!!
Joanne Weddle, Program Chair, needs to hear from you relative to program topics for this coming July and August’s meetings. In addition to topics, if you are willing to do a program or suggest someone to do one, all the better!!
Outside BWS
Call for Landscapes
Art Illiana Gallery, 23 North 6th Street, Terra Haute, has a call for landscape paintings. The deadline is June 4 and the show is open to North American artists. For more information contact artillinagallery@gmail.com.
Watercolor Society of Indiana
May 3rd is the deadline for entries into the 2021 WSI Juried Watercolor Show to be held at the Indianapolis Museum of Art from August 6th to September 25th. Paul Jackson is the shows selection and award juror.
Stephen Edwards will conduct a three-hour Spring Retreat Workshop for WSI over Zoom on May 1. This workshop takes the place of WSI’s Annual Waycross Retreat.
“Value and Light” May 1, 2021 VIRTUAL – 10:00am to 12:30pm.
Follow-up Critique May 22 from 10:00am -12:30pm
Registration Deadline April 26, 2021.
Supply List emailed to students after ticket purchase.
$100 for WSI Members, $150 for Non-members.
22nd Annual First Brush of Spring
The Hoosier Salon ART SALE at the 22nd First Brush of Spring Paint Out is scheduled for Saturday, April 17th at the Ribeye Center and Annex located at the corner of Main and Tavern Streets, under the clock tower. Artists may sell original artwork brought with them or painted during the Paint Out. Contact person: Linda Volz at hoosiersalon.org. Pre-registration is required.
Upland Plein Air Member Show
The Upland Plein Air Member Show will be held from April 30th to May 22nd at the Viridian Moon Gallery. This is a wonderful opportunity to support fellow artists, many of whom are also members of BWS.
Member News
Phyllis Taylor. Our local Oregon Food Bank sponsored a fundraiser where artists could pick up and decorate a flat white bakery box. Once decorated and assembled into a box, artists took their boxes to Nebeker Gallery at Clatsop Community College for a show and auction. Bidders received a bag of cinnamon buns to go inside. There were 50 boxes entered.
I had fun using markers, gouache, watercolor (and a final coat of clear acrylic spray paint). The slick white surface was an interesting new surface to play with. I did a Spring scene with daffodils in an afternoon. The winning bid on my box was $100. I had fun and the food bank benefited.
Jacqui Frey. Here is a painting I completed entitled, “The House on 6th Street,” for the Hoosier Saloon Art Show in New Harmony to be shown Mid April to the 2nd week in June. Katya Alexeeva and Betty Wagnor also have paintings in the show.
Jacqui sent a second note saying, “Artists may want to check out the Tucson Art Academy website. This school offers year long courses via the internet. Andy Evansen is the featured watercolor instructor. There are many demos and critiques by Andy. My paintings are much stronger after taking one of his courses. All of his demos can be downloaded. He also provides many photos to work from.”
Stephen Edwards. “I have been very busy with several projects. Here are a few tidbits:
*YouTube video showing my progression of a painting entitled ‘Auction Day.’ Three weeks are condensed to four minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_gSojr5CK4
*’Lazy Summer Stream’ has been accepted into the Illinois Watercolor Society’s 37th National Exhibition to be held at The Next Picture Show Gallery and Fine Arts Center, 113 West First St., Dixon, IL. Juror of Selection and Awards, Elaine Daily-Birnbaum, AWS, NWS.
*My painting titled ‘Towards the Light’ was one of 45 paintings selected for the 89th Annual Indiana Artist Club Exhibition. Juror was Kim VanDerHock, AWS, NWS.
*See WSI entry above for information on the 3-hour workshop I will be doing for the Watercolor Society of Indiana. See you there. Let’s paint together for a few!”
MarySue Schwab. “I recently sold a portrait painting of a young Hopi girl that I photographed on the reservation. Here are some of the various watercolor techniques I used:
The face is wet on wet so to achieve the smooth look of a child’s face.
The hair and some of the patterns on the shirt were made by using mask and painting over areas with dark colors. After removing the masks I added the details.
The shirt and background were achieved by using wax on textured paper to resist the color. Afterwards, I painted wet on wet with overtones of dry brush.
Many of the techniques I learned in classes with professional artists at the Art Student’s League of New York. I do give lessons on using different techniques if anyone is interested.
I am also excited to announce that I have work that will be hanging in the Women’s Art Club of Cincinnati’s 128th Art Show. Out of 258 entries, 60 pieces were selected. The show runs from April 11th through April 25th.
Lynn Gilliat. I’m thinking of putting my stitchery or some of them into Fiber Arts Now “Emerging Artists” competition in May 2021. This is what’s taken over some of my painting time during the Pandemic. It’s my first time to show them and I am quite excited about receiving their magazine too! Who knew I was interested in this art form!
Susan Savastuk. I’m currently participating in the Hancock County Arts Members-Only Show titled, “Thank Goodness for Flowers.” That show is on display at the Twenty North Greenfield Art Gallery in Greenfield and will run through April.
I have also submitted pieces to the Upland Plein Air 2021 Member Exhibition to be held at the Viridian Moon Art Gallery from April 30-May-22, 2021.
Finally, I submitted this painting to the IU Archives Covid-19 Documentation Project.
Carolyn Rogers Richard. While water color is and always will be my first love, I have been enjoying painting with water soluble oils and cold wax. Attached are two of my recent works. These are done in Duo Aqua and Windsor Newton brands water soluble oils with Dorland’s Wax Medium or Gamblin Wax Medium. I used mainly palette knives and silicone wedges to apply the paint mixture to pre-gessoed cradled wood panels. The water soluble oils do not have the strong odor traditional oil paints have and I find them much friendlier to use. Adding the wax to the paint creates a wonderful creamy mixture that is very adaptable to different methods of applying the paint to the substrate. I highly recommend experimenting with oil and cold wax!
Carol Rhodes. Attached are three paintings I created from the Gary Tucker paint-alongs on March 15, 22, and 26. After doing drafts, these paintings were done in a just little over an hour. I’m not calling mine great or even good. Some people created exquisite paintings in such a short time.
Charlotte Griffin. A bunch of members participated in the on-line paint-along on March 26 which involved painting a vase and a rose. Mine kind of went awry with too much intense color. So I worked on it for awhile and changed the vase to cranberry glass. Might try the painting again some time.
Nancy Metz. “Social Distancing” by Nancy Davis Metz was awarded the Preston Arts Center Award in the Kentucky Watercolor Society’s AquaVenture 2021.
Joanna Samorow-Merzer. Thanks to the hard work of our fellow artist and BWS Treasurer, Carol Rhodes, in March our members were presented with the opportunity to access workshop tutorials by the Boston based artist, Gary Tucker. Below is my watercolor painting with extra touches created after one of the workshops.
Kitty Garlock. Carol Rhodes took the extraordinary effort to get 5 training videos from Gary Tucker and offer them to everyone in BWS free of charge. These lessons have been so much fun and even got a paint brush into the hands of some people (like me) who haven’t been inspired to paint for a while. When we are done we share our attempts with the others and points of interest are commented on. Our first class covered “Rocks and Water” while the second, much more intense, walked us through “Twilight in the City” for close to 4 hours! Today we did “Roses are Red”. Might also be called “Frustration is Fun” because no matter how our pictured turned out we were all happy as could be as we said goodbye and told people what a pleasure it was to paint together! The best part is there is still more to come!
April’s Calendar
April 1 to May 3 — WSI call for entries to their 2021 Juried Show.
April 1 to June 4 — Art Illiana Gallery call for entries for its show entitled “Landscapes.”
April 11 to April 25 — Woman’s Art Show, Cincinnati.
April 12 — BWS Business Meeting and Program at 6 p.m. via Zoom.
Mid April to 2nd week in June — Hoosier Salon Art Sale, New Harmony.
April 17 — Hoosier Salon Art Sale, New Harmony.
April 30 to May 22 — Upland Plein Air Member Exhibition at the Viridian Moon Art Gallery, Bloomington.
