Diane Marks, Dave, Eunice, Marty, Loretta, Emily and Celeste
were at today’s meeting.
Our topic today was “your signature”. We talked about our
own signatures (the names we use and why) together with the challenge of
writing in paint. We “practiced”
signing with oil paint with a rigger brush and walnut alkyd on a (dry) oil painted
surface. The scratch method with a sgraffito tool was also demonstrated and
discussed.
It was recommended to take a stack of your old paintings and
sign them over and over until you get the “feel” of putting down your signature
comfortably and fluidly. If you don’t like how a signature looks, of course, it
is easy to remove with a cloth and a minor amount of mineral spirits, so you
can re-do it. Make sure your signature looks subtle and nice...it is an
important element!
Eunice brought in her newest painting, a 24x24 landscape of
Bend, Oregon. We loved it!
Loretta showed us a winter scene. It was predominately high
key, but she added a lot of dark contrast to the top of the painting.
Beautiful! (We especially appreciated the signature).
Marty has been attending sessions at Studio 30. He has about
10 hours in a large still life. He is striving to make the drawing accurate.
He’ll continue working on that painting on Friday.
Emily has moved to Hillsboro. She wanted to let us know that
one of her favorite instructors, Aimee Erickson, is offering color theory
classes soon. http://paint-trail.blogspot.com/
Emily is working with water-soluble oil paint now, because of health issues. (A discussion followed about how water soluble oil paint “acts”---some people like it a lot, some people don’t like it at all.)
Emily is working with water-soluble oil paint now, because of health issues. (A discussion followed about how water soluble oil paint “acts”---some people like it a lot, some people don’t like it at all.)
Diane Marks brought in two mixed media pieces that had to do
with Anthropology and where she lives. They are both wonderful (but
unfortunately, I couldn’t photograph them because of glare from the glass.
Hopefully, Diane will forward some photos so I can share them on the blog).
Diane has 10 pieces in the Guardino Gallery. http://www.guardinogallery.com/
I (Celeste) showed some paintings with signatures that I
thought looked right and also I brought in a recent floral painting too.
There was an additional discussion about transparent red
oxide and it’s history. Some manufacturers are now offering it in a
water-soluble oil paint.
The “topic” feature of the meeting has met with approval.
The next topic will be: edges in painting.
See you next time.
Upcoming receptions here: http://allaprimaportland.blogspot.com/2012/11/save-these-datesdecember-receptions.html
Return to front page: HERE
Dec 13th, 2013:
At Today’s Meeting: Vicki, Eunice, Loretta, Marty, Peggy, Diane Marks, Kay, Gretha, Diane Holland, Celeste, Claudia and Jack
The suggested topic today was Edges in Painting and Drawing. (We discussed specific things about edges in many of the paintings that were brought in today).
Loretta read a wonderful poem by Jacques Prevert: “To Make a Portrait of a Bird” (Everyone loved it, and thought that it would be fun (perhaps in the future) to paint something based on the poem). She showed us two floral paintings.
Vicki is back from having foot surgery. She is doing well and happy she can get around now. She shared how Sarkis scrapes his paintings in an upward type motion. We talked about the Johnson Creek Show that she was in during the summer...and how she highly recommends that plein air painters get involved when they do it next year. She brought in 2 paintings, one of her son, and another of pomegranates.
Peggy Moje’ brought in a still life of wine and grapes (and also showed us some others in the same series on her phone).
Kay Elmore has been taking Mark Andres’ class at PCC. She showed us a painting on her phone. Andreas has the students paint the same person in different locations on the same canvas...in a “sketchbook “ way.
Gretha has also been in Andres’ class. She brought in two landscapes in pastel.
Marty talked about the large still life he is working on at Studio 30 and at his home studio. He also shared an app that he likes called Value Viewer:
Diane Marks brought in 3 portraits and a landscape. The portraits were of Mexican women and the landscape used mostly “diffused” edges. (She used a photo for reference and then blurred it in Photoshop to help her see the scene more loosely).
Eunice talked about a sensu brush for painting with an ipad. (She doesn’t have an ipad, but thinks that the idea of it is cool). She showed us a still life that was painted in the manner of Rembrandt.
Diane Holland brought in a pastel of a winter scene in Alaska. We loved the warm light in the scene, juxtaposed with the cold snow.
Claudia showed us a painting she has done in Craig Srebnik’s Wednesday morning figure classes. The classes are ongoing and he offers lots of other classes and workshops.
Jack brought in two paintings that are Henri Hensche exercises
Great to see everyone---see you next time.
Next Meeting Thursday Dec 20, Suggested topic: The colors on your palette (and laying them out).
(To return to the front page, go HERE).
Emily, Loretta, Marty, Eunice, Char, Dave, Diane and Celeste attended today.
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Dec 20, 2012:
We braved the elements this morning to meet at O’Connor’s. (It was raining buckets!)
The suggested topic today was Composition.
Diane is a former graphic designer, so reducing objects to their essence comes easily to her. Her paintings were also fine examples of successful composition. She shared two books with us (Minimal Style by Taschen and a book of paintings by Russell Chatham).
Emily let me know that she lives in Hillsdale, not Hillsboro as previously reported. (Sorry, Emily I often unwittingly get something a little wrong)! Thanks for the correction. Emily brought in a figure painting from Aimee Erickson’s class. We were all impressed by the interesting composition and color harmony.
Loretta brought in an “from-imagination” painting that employed good composition and lovely colors. She almost always uses a limited palette. This time she used only Viridian, Violet, Indian Yellow and White. A Word that describes Loretta's work: Dreamlike.
Marty showed his painting that he painted from life (over several sessions) both at his home studio and at Studio 30. We all gave him very high marks for composition as well as excellent values and color harmony. He is glad that he spent so much time on one painting as it "paid off".
Eunice told us about her favorite books on the subject of composition. She likes:
The yin/yang of Painting by Zhang, Intuitive Composition by Albert Handell and The Tao of Painting. She also read us a delightful essay from the OPA website by Jane Barton (The 5 Stages of Painting). Eunice brought in a painting “Just South of Seal Rock”. It is a large painting based on a smaller painting. She recommends membership in both the OPA and the California Art Club.
Dave McBride brought in two paintings. One, (Hawthorne Bridge) was painted from a photograph, but taken to the spot and repainted there! Cool! The other painting was an ocean scene that he and Char made into their Christmas card. He also showed us a painting on his iphone that he painted recently at the Rhododendron Gardens.
You can see Dave’s work at the US Bank (16th and Wielder) this month.
I (Celeste) brought in two paintings, one an example of successful composition and another a plein air of people that seemed to missed the mark (compositionally). We talked about why. I shared two books on composition: Mastering Composition by Roberts and The Simple Secret to Better painting by Albert.
I’m in a group show at the West Linn Library and the Reception will be in January. I’m not sure of the date yet. It will be a Sunday. Stay tuned.
Merry Christmas!
Celeste
Next meeting: Next Thursday...proposed topic: Your Painting Palette
To Return to the front page, go HERE
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Dec 27, 2012:
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Dec 27, 2012:
At today’s meeting: Diane, Lisa, Loretta, Carol Hansen, Thomas, Dave, Char and Celeste.
The (suggested) topic today was “Your Painting Palette”. Coincidentally, Thomas Kitts is writing an article for Plein Air Magazine about a “traveling light” plein air palette. The palette that he is using for the article was scheduled to be photographed today, so he thought we might like to see it. (We did!) We especially liked learning that he adds a pre-mixed orange, a violet, a green and a chromatic black. It was an excellent lesson/discussion (thanks, Thomas!) We’ll be watching for the article. To learn about his upcoming workshops (one in Portland, one in Umpqua and one in Monterey) check Thomas' blog---He has a maximum limit of 12 (and the Alla Prima Portland stamp of approval).
Diane brought in two paintings that showed her penchant for earthy colors. She also likes to use black, but to mix it herself. She thinks of herself as a “messy” mixer. Is that a bad thing? (Judging from her paintings......no!)
Lisa has experience in watercolor. She shared an axiom: In watercolor the last thing you put on is black, and in oil painting the last thing you put on is white. This sparked a discussion about the overuse of white in representational oil painting, and how one should consider adding it only in the final stages of the painting. Too much white makes things chalky. To lighten a color without using white think about the usefulness of other paints that are light in value.
Lisa brought in two oil paintings of Hag Lake. They were the same.... yet different. We liked specific things about both.
Loretta brought in a high key painting that opened the dialog to temperature, planning and orchestrating a painting. She used a limited palette of Aliz Crimson, Ultramarine blue and white. Her painting employed quite a lot of white...but this was intentional, as she was going for a pale/high key and stylized result. (Proof that there are exceptions to every rule). Loretta sets out her paints in an “L” shape on a glass-type palette.
Carol Hansen told us about taking a workshop with Jove Wang. He sets up his palette divided by warm and cool and grays figure prominently in his work. She brought in a portrait of a young girl. We talked about throwing things out of focus (even in portraits) as an effective way of painting the way the eye sees. Carol is a high school teacher and she is able to join us because she is on a winter break. She does mix up secondary colors to put on her palette and she has recently re-introduced Viridian.
Dave McBride brought in 3 paintings. One was painted over an old painting. Dave likes Centurion linen pads for a surface. He uses a “U” shape arrangement of paints on his palette and makes and reserves grays.
I (Celeste) brought in 2 paintings. I sometimes revert to the Kenn Backhaus limited palette: Lemon Yellow, Raw Sienna, Aliz Crimson, Permanent Rose, Ultramarine Blue, Black and Titanium White.
The next meeting is Thursday, January 3, 2013. Suggested topic: “Painters who Influence You.
See you next time. To return to the front page click HERE.
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