ANOTHER LOSS TO THE ART COMMUNITY: IN MEMORIAM KAREN MASON

I received the sad news yesterday that Karen Mason had passed away. Karen was in charge of the Gallery Concord when I first joined. It was her suggestion that I teach a workshop at the gallery that started me on this wonderful path. I didn't take her up on it right away but when some others were looking for a portrait class, I decided to see if I could transfer what I knew to someone else. It all started with Karen.

I never had the privilege of taking any classes from her. Those that did praised her teaching ability. She was an awesome artist but doing and teaching aren't always the same. She had a special fondness for painting old cars and people.

I will miss her friendly smile and positive encouragement. I have taken the liberty of including the message I received from the President of California Watercolor Association, Samantha McNally. I also went to Karen's website for her photo and painting image.

"CWA has lost a dedicated member. Karen Mason passed away on February 8, 2008.

Karen was a Signature Member and Outstanding Member of CWA and because of her passion for art she gave of herself in all activities of CWA, even through her illness. She has held almost every position within CWA including President from 1996 - 1997, Newsletter Director, Outreach Director, Hospitality Chair, and Advisory Committee and was part of the original Building Committee. Over the years, she has also chaired many CWA shows.

In partnership with Jerry Little, Karen brought national recognition to the East Bay Watercolor Society, now known as the California Watercolor Association. She and Jerry Little also set up the first CWA show in the California State Capitol.

Her dedication to the arts was further exemplified in her giving of her time and talents to open Gallery Concord. Karen was instrumental in the creation of Gallery Concord (which is located at 1765 Galindo, Concord, CA), including meeting with Visual Arts Benefactors of Concord to secure funding.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the California Watercolor Association.

Karen Mason Memorial Fund
California Watercolor Association
P.O. Box 4631
Walnut Creek, CA 94596"

SOME CREATIVE WAYS TO CREATE VALUE PATTERNS

Tracy had requested that I talk a little about how to create value patterns. There are basically two different value patterns. The first is the natural way the light is falling on the subject creating a three dimensional image through value. This light on the subject is often what draws an artist to the subject in the first place. What they really want to depict is the light. Many times the light is partially blocked by some object which throws a light pattern on the object that is different than the natural contours of the object. Think dappled light through leaves in a garden or light through venetian blinds creating a stripe pattern on an object, etc. This is superimposing one form over another that are unrelated. You can take this idea and create your own two different images and lay one over the other.
First, create a line drawing of your image. In my case it is the three figures. Next create an abstract design with three values...white, black and grey. John Salminen has a great video where he shows how to create such an abstract design. Jane Hoffstetter in her book "The 7 Keys to Great Paintings" had a wonderful chapter on creating these abstract designs. I believe Gerald Brommer in some of his books also works with this idea. I often photograph things that have wonderful abstract shapes and intersting value patterns for just this purpose. The photograph that I posted is from the incredible Disney Performing Arts Center in LA by the genius architect Frank Gehry. He also designed the Guggenheim in Bilboa, Spain. There is a fabulous video that you can get from the video store showing his design process. It is extraordinary!!!!!! Anyway, I wasn't sure when I would get to Bilbao, but I get to the L.A. area several times a year, so I made a trip into the city to see this marvel of achitecture and took a gazillion digital photos. This is one of them. Next, I removed the color to see the values. Then, working in Photoshop Elements, I posterized it into 4 values. I then superimposed my drawing over the abstract and created a value pattern that is totally arbitrary in that it has nothing to do with the contours of the figures. I did all this in the computer with the layers feature. I have not mastered this feature so my son was literally standing over me telling me what to do next. Frankly, I think it would be easier and more effective to print out the posterized version of the photo and take my drawing which is on tracing paper and lay it over and move it around to get different ideas. There is no end of variations you can create by using an arbitrary value pattern. The benefit of value is that it is at the top of the hierarchy of contrasts as a tool for the artist to create a focal point and to lead the viewer through the painting. As you create these abstract value patterns, that is what you need to be thinking about....how can I direct the eye all around the painting with value. Creating value patterns is a fun way to fill those wasted minutes sitting in doctor's offices or bus stops or airports or commercials on tv. Keep that sketch book with you at all times. You never know when the opportunity will present itself.

SANTA CLARA ART ASSOCIATION DEMO

It's been a long day and I am really tired but I wanted to post this demo painting before I fall into bed. I enjoy doing demonstrations for art groups. It is a nice way to meet new people and practice working under pressure. I'm not sure why I need to learn to work under pressure but it is a challenge. It's good to challenge ourselves once in awhile. The most difficult thing to do is talk while you paint. This group had a few people that asked some very deep questions where you had to really think about it. One person asked me if I could only paint one more painting, what subject would it be and what media would I pick. I'm still ruminating on that one!

I thought I had allowed enough extra time to get there before the meeting started. I never, ever get used to the rush hour traffic here. It was a parking lot as soon as I got on the freeway. Even the carpool lane was stop and go. It took me an hour and a half but I did make it before they were ready to turn the program over to me. I got home in half an hour. During the drive I was listening to a book on tape 'Reading Lolita in Tehran". It puts things in perspective. I can live with overcrowded freeways.

I'm sure you recognize this lady. I think I took a few years off of her in this one. Actual painting time was probably about 45 minutes. I'm always working so fast during these demos that I'm not really satisfied with the results. It feels like a painted sketch to me. There was a woman who told me she took lots of photos during the demo. I asked her to send me some if they came out. If I get them, I can make a little slide show out of it.

Tomorrow I set up for a two day open studio event with some other artists. Photos to follow.

THE PLANNING STAGES FOR FEBRUARY PAINTING CHALLENGE

This is a very frustrating week for me. I am down to the wire for working on my taxes so I spent all afternoon at the computer entering data. Tomorrow I have to ready my paintings and information sheets for Thursday's set up for a weekend exhibit. I will get to paint tomorrow night because I am doing a demo for the Santa Clara Art Association. Friday and Saturday is the exhibit and then on Sunday we leave for Kansas City for four days for a family celebration. Sometimes other things besides painting have to take center stage.
In the meantime, I have done some value studies and discovered some additional compositions from the original composition. I am starting to see that with these three figures there are unlimited combinations just for composition. Each composition can have many value arrangements. When you add in color and all the various techniques, there is a potential for years of work. One of the value studies wasn't going well, so I just let it go and started on another one. I was able to put 4 on a sheet of typing paper and printed out a number of copies. It makes it easy to work up these studies. I will take some of these sheets with me so I can create some color studies while I am traveling. Once I get the time to paint, it should go quickly with all these decisions made in advance.

FEBRUARY PAINTING CHALLENGE #1 STAGE 1

I drew three figures from the Pose Maniac site to use for this month. It is amazing how you can turn the figures 360 degrees. I decided I wanted all back views in compatible poses. Sitting in front of the computer, I felt constrained to draw smaller than if I was able to stand and use my whole arm. I did 4 or 5 in my sketch book and then traced these three. The great thing about tracing paper is you can flip the image. This gave me more flexibility in combining the figures into a composition. I wanted to work on a larger piece of paper so I took the 3 figures to the copy shop and had them enlarged. This month is very busy and I wanted to save some time. I retraced the images tonight so I am ready to go. Since I was going to work with shapes, I just used the shapes of the muscles and ligaments. I think this makes for a very interesting division of the body plus as I paint these shapes, it will reinforce my visual memory of the structure of the muscles and help with figure drawing in the future. I can see these figures working into some very abstract forms in the future. Now I have to create a value plan and a color concept and I will be ready to paint. By running off copies of the design I can try different ideas without having to redraw. Normally I like redrawing but this is a complex image and time is a factor.

SOCIETY OF WESTERN ARTISTS WORKSHOP DEMO

I had a great two day workshop sponsored by Society of Western Artists. My watercolor portrait workshop is usually 5 days, so we didn't get as much covered as I would like but everyone had a good start on their painting. I didn't photograph anyone's work because it wasn't finished but I was able to complete my demo painting. Everyone explored the fun of Tyvek paper. Paint acts so differently on this paper that it takes some practice to get the results you want. The workshop was in the office of a landscape architect with amazing space and ambiance. There is an empty office next door to hers that may be a possible place for me to set up my own workshop on the Peninsula. I will explore this possibility. Lack of a convenient location for Peninsula and South Bay students has held me back so far. I'm not scheduled to do a workshop for the south bay until 2010!

I decided to post my reference photo this time and the first stage then the finished piece. I like this face. I think I will do it again on Wednesday when I do a demo for the Santa Clara Art Association monthly meeting. I will create a different composition. I have another shot of this woman in a slightly different pose and expression. Perhaps I will work with that image.

I really get carried away with hat brims! Exaggeration is a wonderful tool for the artist. I plan to work with this more expressive idea a lot more.

My drawing is ready for my first February Challenge painting. I am excited about the image and anxious to get started. Now all I have to figure out is how I am going to work in doing my taxes this week and still paint every day. This should be my most difficult problem in life!

REVEALED: JANUARY KALEIDOSCOPE FINISHED & FEBRUARY PAINTING CHALLENGE!

FINALLY! I feel ready to move on now. I had to finish this painting. I decided to make it look like a quilt square. The tape I used did a great job of keeping the lines clean. There was no leakage underneath. It was important to do the 8th head with as much detail and care as the first. This is a very different image than I have done before. I am interested in hearing how others respond to the multiple image in one painting.

I have been thinking about the February challenge for a while. It got more and more complicated as I thought of more and more interesting elements. Finally, I decided I needed to save some of these ideas for another challenge. So, here is what I decided I wanted to work on this month. I want to put the rest of the 3 requirements that were the January challenge aside for at least a month. We will get back to them but I was sick of this woman and want to do something else for now. I would like to create some paintings using the Pose Maniac website. I am a figurative painter, so this is the subject that gets me excited. It is difficult to paint good paintings when you aren't engaged in the subject. So, if figures aren't your thing, choose a subject that inspires you.

The next thing I want to work on is painting wet into wet. I know how to do it but I want to really focus on this technique. Lately I have been so taken with artists that are masters of wet into wet. I plan to really study their work. Shirley Trevena comes to mind, Don Andrews is a master, Charles Reid has a different way of flowing colors together. The latest issue of Amercian Artist features a father/daughter David and Jae Drummond who do exquisite wet into wet. The latest issue of the Artist Magazine has an article by Brigit O'Connor's florals done wet into wet. I'm sure I will discover many more when I search through my books and magazines. If this isn't a technique that you want to explore, pick your own.

The last thing I am going to focus on this month is shapes. I am not a shape painter so this is an area for greater investigation. Now for the twist! I am going to combine the "shape" element with one additional design element. Each painting will combine "shape" with a different additional element. I am going to start with Shape and Line. I am going to stick to the same image for the month. Your creative muscles get stretched farther this way. I'm excited to get started on this challenge.

To recap: Pick a subject that gets your heart racing, then pick a technique to explore for the month, lastly choose one design element for the month and add a different design element with each painting.

I will be teaching Saturday and Sunday so it will be Monday before I can put brush to paper. I will post my demo and hopefully my students work, with their permission.