Meeting Notes November 20, 2014

At today's meeting Diane, Lisa, Tim, Jeanne, Jim, Barbara, Thomas, Jeanie, Eunice, Marty, Brenda, Paula, Erin, Kristina, and me Celeste.

Today's suggested table topic: Still lLife, love it? hate it? tell us what you know about still life.

Celeste: I took a workshop with Ovanes Berbarian. I was suffering through a still life painting and he came up to tell me my drawing was off. I didn't quite believe him, but then he showed me on my painting how far off my ellipses were. It is important to not get complacent and to continue to practice drawing. I brought in a book by Charles Reid. I'm showing a painting from the Ovanes workshop. 

Eunice: I love still life. It is now still life season (because of the weather).  I brought in two still life.

Marty: I like still life. I just finished a workshop with Za. It was a portrait workshop. One thing I know is you must have your ego in check when you do a portrait workshop! Clove oil extends your paints. I brought in a self-portrait that I did prior to Za's workshop. 

Jeanie: I brought in the Carol Marine book. I got it at the library. I am going to buy my own copy. I think that it is very valuable. 

Thomas: Still life trains you for other painting activities. It is like a "lab." You can experiment on things. It is a safe place and can be a jumping off place for experimentation. You can ask yourself "do I need this edge, do I need to lose an edge?" Chardon was a great painter who elevated still life to a genre. Cézanne tried out a lot of ideas in his studio. I brought in a still life of objects that belonged to my father. 

Barbara: I love still life. I brought in three still life that I did. One was done in daylight, one was done at night and the last one was done where "the bird won out". I think I love Still life because you can see people's objects in their paintings. It's a little bit of voyeurism. I also brought in a painting that I did and Craig Srebnik's landscape class. 

Brenda: Still life doesn't really excite me ....except for the light. I did some paintings at studio 30 last year and tried to heighten the light. I brought in a painting from that time. 

Erin: I agree with much of what has been said already. I find setting up a still life very daunting. I brought in paintings that I've done for the 500 show that's coming up. I have more to do and I have to do them soon so that they will be dry in time. 

Kristina: I know I am not good at setting up still life. Sometimes I have even been sort of angry while doing them. I like to be outside more than inside. I brought in a still life and also a painting I did from a reference.

Paula: My background is interior design. I just came back from a trip in Europe for three months. I am not really familiar too much with still life. I did bring a painting that I did from Europe that is sort of a still life. I have enjoyed all of the emails from the Alla Prima Portland group while I was away. I look forward to seeing the emails I'm glad to be back here today. (Welcome, Paula)!

Jim: What I like about setting up still life is that when you arrange it ...it is all there the next day. You can control the environment. I used to do a lot of still life and I sold them and I don't like to do still life now. I prefer figures.  I brought in a painting I did 10 years ago. Everything I paint is practice. I used alkyd in my recent portrait painting. I will start working on the new Nikki paintings. The most important thing about any type of painting is that you remember to draw and draw and draw. 

Jeannie: I think I have a little bit of a bad attitude about still life. I also like to be outside more than inside. I am trying to have a much more open mind about it. I know that I don't like doing it, but then when I begin I do like doing it! I have been painting outside in a on a very large canvas. I am showing you that painting that is in-progress. I will take it back again and paint outside again in the same spot. It is a challenge to get comfortable to paint this big. It is 24 x 30. 

Tim: I recognize that there is value in still life, however, I don't do a lot of still life. I brought in two paintings.  One is a plein air at Louis and Clark State State Park. The other is a memory painting. 

Lisa: I also have a conflicted relationship was still life.  I like to paint things from my garden. I brought in three paintings from my garden. 

Diane: When I was in school I thought that still life was very boring. Recently at Kat's studio I started doing still life.  She has a lot of still life that are very complex. It would overwhelm me just to look at them!  I painted cloves of garlic just to get a start. I want to define still life in a different way. 

Announcements:

On Black Friday studio 30 will be open. Do you want to be on the studio 30 mailing list? Please write to Kat at kat@katsowa.com.

The 500 show is coming up a lot of people are painting for it.  It is in December in Pioneer Place at the People's Art Gallery.

The Audubon show is beginning this weekend Nov 22 and 23 at Montgomery Park.
http://audubonportland.org/about/events/waf

There is a video of Anton Pavlenko and Mike Orwick painting together.
http://youtu.be/jKHgULiQ9Eg

The Lawrence Gallery at the coast seems to be gone (?)

There is an opening at Mel's frame shop tonight 5 to 8.
http://www.melsframeshop.com

Brenda's show is still up at the Art Elements gallery until the 22nd.
http://www.artelementsgallery.com/boylan.html
She has just completed seven week class at OSA and it will resume again at OSA.
http://brendaboylan.blogspot.com/2014/11/7-week-pastel-series-at-osa.html

Thomas is teaching at the Scottsdale school and also has a workshop available in Mexico. He'll be providing updates.
http://www.thomaskitts.com/2014/11/teaching-at-scottsdale-artists-school.html
http://www.thomaskitts.com/2014/07/a-tjk-international-workshop.html

There will be no meeting on Thanksgiving (next Thursday) so the next meeting will be Thursday, December 4.  Suggested topic: GRAY (and other neutrals)!

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