BACK IN SCHOOL!

David Lobenberg honored me by asking if I would come up to his Sacramento City College watercolor class and do a demo for the students. What fun to meet someone in person you became friends with through the internet! Naturally, the weather was fairly threatening with a big storm coming in and I had a two hour drive to get there. Add in rush hour traffic in the Bay Area. I was anticipating a harrowing journey. Just goes to show how we waste so much time worrying about what might be....it usually doesn't. The drive was easy all the way, counter commute, and I was ahead of the rain. By the time I left, everything was sunny.

David is a very joyful person and his wonderful sense of humor and fun pervades the classroom so I knew I was in for a great time. I did demonstration using Tyvek with two different inks....the Carter brand I found ad Staples which has a cool bias and a Winser Newton non-waterproof ink that had a warm bias...Permanent India Ink plus bleach. I added some carbon black at the end. While the painting was drying, the class put on a feast, pot luck style.

So, thank you David and your wonderful class for such a warm welcome. I am looking forward to receiving lots of e-mails with photos of the paintings inspired from my demo.

I am getting lots of people loving this Tyvek paper. Maybe everyone who is interested should start requesting it from Cheap Joe's. If there seems to be enough interest, maybe they will carry it again.

WORKSHOP UPDATES!

I finally updated my website with the additional workshops I have scheduled for 2010. I even had a little lesson in html code writing! Nice to have an in-house expert. The January workshop with Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society is filled and now has a growing waiting list. We are discussing having a second session if there are enough people who want to take it. So, if you are interested, be sure and let them know.

Now I need to update the website again because I just agreed to be the teaching artist for a trip to Belgium in August of 2011! This is going to be such a fabulous trip! It will be a small group of 7 plus the teacher and the tour guide. The company is called French Escapades and you can learn more about the company and the trip by clicking on today's blog title. The photo is of Bruges, Belgium. Heaven!

GREAT BOOK FIND!

I was reading Peggy Stermer-Cox's blog the other day and she featured a fabulous blogsite called "Making a Mark" by Katherine Tyrrell, an English artist. Intrigued, I wandered over there and fell in a Rabbit Hole! Hours later, I was still wandering around her site going from link to link to link! She is full of valuable information and does tons of research. This was a real treasure trove from a very generous artist.

I came across a recommendation from her for a book on composition (shown above) If you click on the blog title it will take you directly to the Amazon page where you can order the book. I, of course, couldn't wait that long so I headed out to my local book store, bought the book and read it in an evening. I wanted to present the information the next day to the Critique group I am leading, since we will be focusing on composition for the coming month.

The brilliance of this book is its' simplicity. The author has distilled lots of information into easily understood, clearly illustrated concise, digestible chunks! I never realized how difficult it was to distill art information into a few paragraphs until I started working on my book. I think I must have passed this book up before because it looked too simple, but that is the true beauty of it.

Composition is critical to any successful painting and that means there has to be some planning and thought put into the design before the paint goes on. Especially in watercolor. It is always so tempting to jump right into putting paint on the paper or canvas. But, without a well structured composition as the foundation, there isn't enough paint in the world to disguise a poorly conceived painting. That old saw "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail" holds true.

I had a chance to visit the 2008 National Watercolor Society traveling exhibition at the Adobe Art Center in Castro Valley after the critique class. Now there is a fabulous collection of well composed and executed paintings. It's almost criminal what catalogues do to beautiful art work, so when ever possible, make the time to see excellent work in person. It motivates us to strive for higher excellence in our own work.

"THE BIG REVEAL" WCBTO

We have a secret weapon here in the SF Bay Area and his name is Mike Bailey. (to check out his blog, look to the right of my post and scroll down) Mike developed this fantastic 10 week class sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society (SCVWS) called Watercolor Beyond The Obvious. I have taken the class 3 times. This is hardly a record. Many have taken it time and time again. It is offered once a year and sometimes twice a year. My schedule has become too busy to have 10 weeks free, otherwise I would take it every time it is offered. The strategy is to take an image and create a series of 20 paintings (2 full sheets a week) changing it each time by manipulating the elements of design. You can view my series on my website www.myrnawacknov.com. The 10th week meeting is when everyone brings their 20 paintings to class and, one person at a time, spreads their paintings out in sequential order on tables that have been set up in a huge "U". Everyone walks around the tables and looks at the development of the series. Mike talks about the artist and the artist has an opportunity to talk about their perspective on the whole experience. This 10th class is what I fondly refer to as "THE BIG REVEAL". Guests are welcome and there is a wonderful pot luck luncheon for all. It is one of the most special days of the year.

This is Stephanie. You can see part of her series which was based on the marvelous shoes she is wearing. Stephanie is new to the group and she just did the most fantastic job. The reason I have this photo of Stephanie is because while everyone is busy walking around and taking photographs of the art work, I am busy looking at the art work and taking photos of everyone who is walking around. You can see why I fixated on Stephanie. The striped hose, boot like canvas shoes, model lythe body and she is a painting waiting to happen! Not only is everyone on to me, now, many are busy photographing the crowd, as well. Stephanie was definitely the star...look for lots of long striped legs in lace up canvas shoes appearing soon!

All the students did phenomenal work but there is one woman who has stayed with her same theme through 5 separate sessions of Watercolor Beyond The Obvious and completed her 100th painting of "Liberty". This is a series with serious content and Laurie Barna has put her heart and soul into it. Check out her website at watercolorsmyway.com and view this exciting and moving expression of love for America.

FINAL TWO STEPS

Here are the last two stages to complete this painting. I added white acrylic to the bleached painting, then started glazing and painting on top. It is a good idea to photograph the steps of your paintings for future reference. If you find you don't need them, it is easy to erase them. If you decide after the fact, that you wanted to document the steps, you can't go back!

Very little of the original bleached effect is left. Most likely it impacted the look of the finished painting, but it is pretty subtle. I'm going to keep on with this idea until I hit on the balance I am looking for. Can't quite say what it is, but I will know it when it shows up. The thrill of the hunt!

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, TRY, TRY AGAIN!

This was a piece of watercolor paper that I had put a band of textured gesso on as a demo. I decided to cover it with the ink. The ink is very blue in appearance on the gesso section. The ink will lift off of the gesso with water but the bleach changes the color to orange which gives both a warm/cool contrast and a blue/orange compliment contrast at the same time. I put two full strength coats of ink on the paper. Today I started playing around with the bleach. I was able to get the layering of values I wanted on the paper but it is too orange. It wouldn't lighten enough. I think I will go back to just one layer. I like how it looks on the gesso area. That area is totally liftable, so I sprayed it with acrylic fixative. Tomorrow I will go back in with some acrylic and see what happens. I put up some detail photos so you can see things more clearly. I was using a stick, a dip pen and all kinds of brushes. I went to Michaels and bought a bag of cheap brushes to use with the bleach. I was also experimenting with all of these ideas on YUPO. It moved around too much on the slippery surface, so I think I will move on. I guess Tyvek is next!

CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR!

I don't know where this expression originated but it seems to be appropriate for how I feel about the final results. The color didn't photograph very well and the odd dark shape in the lower right hand corner is the arm of my chair that I used to prop up the painting to photograph it. Still, I think I am on to something with this technique but I am not happy with this image. Her nose is too long, so it ruined the face for me. I think I removed too much of the ink. You can't see the effect of the bleach enough. This will probably see collage or gesso in the future. I think I will do the next one by totally covering the page with full strength ink and draw with a chalk pencil then bleach out leaving more of the ink behind. This painting is a full sheet. I think I will work on quarter sheets until I have the right combination.

Our branch library is closed for renovation, so I returned my books to the main library in downtown San Mateo. When I walked in there were arrows on the floor leading to a Friends of the Library 1/2 price sale. Well, I practically swooned! All the art books were marked $1 up to $3 and then they were sold at half of this ridiculously low price. I decided to be nice and leave a few books for other people. I paid a whopping $5.25 for my bag load of books which included a hard bound 1961 original edition of Faber Birren's "Creative Color". Signed copies of this book are going for $129 but, alas, no signature could be found. Since I already have this book, I will have to find a creative way to pass it on. Any ideas?