May 14 meeting
Portrait Play to follow monthly business meeting
Bring your miscellaneous watercolor supplies, pencils, and sketchbook and be ready to explore playful portraits. Don’t worry. Other mark-making supplies and paper will be around to use as well. Cassidy Young will present the basics of facial proportions and lighting techniques through creative, collaborative, and very playful activities. “We are going to let go of the frustrating perfection that often hangs on making portraits,” Cassidy said. “With any luck, while we’re having fun, you might pick up a trick or two to improve your portrait work.”
Cassidy’s presentation will follow a brief but important business meeting where the 2018-19 slate of officers will be announced and voted on and members can sign up for Garden Walk paint-out sites. Members who attended the Dale Popovich workshop in April will also bring their paintings. The meeting starts at 6 p.m., Monday, May 14, at the First Christian Church at the corner of Washington Street and Kirkwood Avenue.
May 19
Saturday plein air opportunity
Enjoy a day of plein air painting at Brown County State Park Saturday, May 19. Painters will meet at the Abe Martin Lodge at 9:30 a.m. and then choose where they want to work. The group has 12:30 p.m. lunch reservations at the Little Gem Restaurant in Abe Martin Lodge. Individuals can resume painting after lunch if they so choose.
BWS Spring Workshop:
Dale Popovich teaches landscape painting
Dale Popovich, an exhibitor at the Brown County Art Gallery, taught students how to paint a fluid landscape like the one to the left. For more pictures and a description of the workshop see the BWS website page about the workshop. http://bloomingtonwatercolor.org/member-shows-workshops/dale-popovich-workshop/.
Candi Bailey, Carol Rhodes and Robin Edmundson were among the attendees who arrived early to set up.
Dale did two demos and then broke the painting process into manageable pieces for attendees to work.
Dale’s informal style put everyone at ease.
Hidden Treasures of Indiana
Frey and Stamper tie for People’s Choice Award
Jacki Frey, “Autumn Light”
Kristin Stamper, “Indiana Idyll”
People who attended the April 14 reception for the Hidden Treasures show of plein air paintings voted for People’s Choice Award, and it was a tie! Jacki Frey’s “Autumn Light” and Kristen Stamper’s “Indiana Idyll” received the honor.
You have until May 9 to see the Upland Painters’ exhibit of plein air paintings. Seventeen artists are exhibiting 43 works at the Wylie House Museum’s Bradley Education Center, 317 E. Second St., Bloomington. The hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
If you are interested in learning more, visit www.bloomingtonwatercolor.org or contact Kristen Stamper at upland@bloomingtonwatercolor.org.
BWS, LCAA set up Bedford Paint-out
Kitty Garlock, Mary Jo Cannedy, Jacki Frey, Kathy Barton, Kristen Stamper, Lynne Gilliatt and Jane Matranga at the Wiley Art Center in Bedford April 28. BWS and Lawrence County Art Association arranged a joint paint-out in Bedford.
Annual Table Sale to support BWS Scholarship
Finally, it’s spring! And that means we are all in the mood to spring clean our studios. Right? Don’t toss those supplies.
Clean, usable supplies for all mediums will be accepted for September’s Annual Table Sale; art books are always welcome. You may drop off items at Jeanne’s house, or keep them until the second Monday in September, which is the date of the sale. Bring them early enough to be tagged with prices, or price them yourself. If you have questions, contact Jeanne at info@bloomingtonwatercolor.org.
The BWS Scholarship receives 100 percent of the proceeds.
Upland Painters’ May schedule
May 8: Lake House, hosted by Henry Lech
May 15 Marion’s Cottage, hosted by Babette Ballinger
May 22: TBA, hosted by Candi Bailey
May 29: Cedar Creek, hosted by Jacki Frey
Urban sketchers at Inkwell
Contact upland@bloomingtonwatercolor.org for details.
Claude Cookman at McCormick’s Creek
Sande Nitti at McCormick’s Creek
Member news
Robin Edmundson, “Linton Barn”
Robin Edmundson is having an Open Studio Saturday, May 5, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Come see her new work. BWS members are invited to “stroll around the gardens, walk along the creeks or up the paths through the woods,” Robin said. “It’s guaranteed to refresh your spirit and inspire your own creative work.”
Jacki Frey painted this oil for the Field to Finish competition with the Indiana Plein Air Association. It currently hangs at the Hoosier Salon Gallery in New Harmony.
Jerry Harste has a show at the Waldron Art Gallery titled “Visual Literacy: My Journey” running April 27 – May 19. A reception is scheduled for Friday, May 4, 5 – 8 p.m. He hopes to see you there.
Beyond BWS
The deadline for digital entries for the 2018 Watercolor Society of Indiana‘s Juried Exhibit is May 11. Go to www.watercolorsocietyofindiana.org/juried-exhibit/ for more information.Pieces juried into the exhibit will hang at the Indianapolis Museum of Art Aug. 3 – Sept. 29.
The Kentucky Watercolor Society‘s annual juried show, Aqueous USA, will hang at Actors’ Theatre of Louisville Sept. 6 – Nov. 4. Mail entries and payments must be postmarked by July 1. Images may be submitted via email or USPS. The prospectus is at www.kentuckywatercolorsociety.org/files/Aqueous_2018_Prospectus.pdf.
Hoosier Art Salon has published its prospectus for the 94th Annual Hoosier Salon, which will hang at the Indiana State Museum Aug. 3 – Oct. 14. Applications are being accepted now through June 15. The prospectus and application is available through Juried Art Services http://www.juriedartservices.com/index.php?content=event_info&event_id=1434.
Indiana State Fair competition entries are open, For watercolor information, turn to page 15 in the Open Entry Book that can be found at https://www.indianastatefair.com/state-fair/competitionscontests/indiana-arts-building/.
Indiana Wildlife Artists is looking for two judges, one a fine arts judge and the other a naturalist judge for its annual exhibit in Indianapolis. Judging will take place Aug. 25starting at 10 a.m. and lasting for several hours. For more information, contact Diana Hunter at hunter_diana@sbcglobal.net or 317-331-9676 as soon as possible. Please include your home address and personal phone number along with a paragraph about your experience or credentials.
Lawrence County Art Association offers a class on color usage June 6, 13, and 20 taught by Deb Weld. The class will run from 10 a,m, to noon. Deb invites students to use any medium they prefer but it is BYOM — Bring Your Own Medium. The total charge for the class is $30, payable at the first class. To add your name to the class list, call Phyllis Westfall at 812-279-4734 or 812-583-7130.
IMO
Social media users recognize IMO as an abbreviation for “In My Opinion,” and each month we close by giving you the chance to share your opinion on a specific question. This month the question is:
If you had unlimited funds to purchase any watercolor painting in the world, what painting would it be and why would you choose it?
Tricia Wente
I viewed John Singer Sargent’s watercolors in a special show many years ago in Toledo, Ohio, and fell in love with his freshness in the way he approached his plein air painting. My first choice is “Bedouins,” a very interesting double portrait with great linear use of paint … [leaving] the white of the paper to create the incredible shapes of sunshine. Another of his works, “Mountain Fire,” is painted with gorgeous color in a very spontaneous manner.
Kitty Garlock
I have no desire to own big name pieces that would require high security to keep safe nor such famous ones that even unlimited funds could not purchase. I tend to value works by people I know and love. One such piece took my breath away when I saw Kristen Stamper’s “Indiana Idyll” at the Hidden Treasures plein air art show — that, if I had unlimited funds, would be the picture I would buy!
Lynne Gilliatt
I would buy “Peonies” by Charles Rennie Mackintosh … because it’s soft yet hard edged, like I like to paint and has oraqnges, pinks, whites and bold black lines too! He combines the petals of the peonies against the designed wavy lines of the background. He inspires me.
Claude Cookman
I have the perfect spot on our living room wall for Andrew Wyeth’s 1962 watercolor, “Frostbitten,” a graduate seminar in texture and value. Four weathered apples, in varying shades of red, rest on a sunlit window sill against a rough plaster wall and a rotting window frame, while outside dessicated autumn grasses press against the panes. Wyeth violates a hallowed rule of composition by putting the edge of the frame almost on the vertical center, but the intersection of five vertical and five modestly diagonal force lines, plus the octaves-wide range of values from the sky-white exterior to the rich brown-black wall along the right edge, lift his composition above such limiting strictures. (www.flickr.com/photos/miafeigelson/14218520754)
Editor’s note: I encourage you to search the Internet for images of these beloved paintings. Go to Google, type in the name of the painting, the artist’s last name, and the word “image,” and several images should pop up. — NDM
June question for IMO:
Where are you currently finding new ideas and inspiration? Identify a book, website, video, or other resource that you rely on to keep your creativity clicking. In three sentences or less, tell how you use it or why you like it.
Send your 1- to 3-sentence response to Nancy Davis-Metz by May 21, and look for your opinion to be published in the May issue. Please use IMO as your email’s subject line.
The Meadowood Retirement Community’s gallery will showcase “About Me: Carla Hedges Gallery Show” during the month of April. The show includes watercolors, mixed media, photos on canvas, yupo, and handmade quilts. The reception is April 6 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Carla suggests coming by Meadowood early so you can get downtown for the First Friday Art Walk and see Bess and Joe Lee’s Show, “SAVE THE ANIMALS/SAVE YOURSELF,” at the Blueline Gallery. It’s “the best of all worlds,” said Carla.
The Week of Chocolate fundraiser generated more than $60,000 for LIFEDesign programs.
The theme of “Professor Animalia’s Menagerie of Struggling Species: SAVE THE ANIMALS/SAVE YOUSELF!” is to raise environmental awareness through the sideshow banner genre. This concept reflects a culmination of Joe and Bess Lee‘s past experiences, both professionally and personally: Joe’s work with actual circuses and as an illustrator and Bess’s career as a public school art teacher and painter. The show will be a culmination of their experiences as individual artists and concerned citizens. It opens at the Blueline Gallery, 212 W. Fourth St., April 6, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. A percentage of all sales go to Earth Charter, a not-for-profit environmental agency in Indianapolis.
Robin Edmundson
