Todays topic: "It seemed like a good idea at the time" describe something that you thought was a good idea, but for whatever reason it somehow "misfired".
Celeste: I was invited to participate in an outdoor art festival. It required that I get a 10x10 tent and I was happy to do it! I had no experience in outdoor festivals. I am a friendly person, but I couldn't figure it out.. Should I be inside the tent, should I be outside of the tent? Some people seemed to want to just look at the art without interaction. Should I look them in the eye? Should I not? It was interminable! It was uncomfortable! I finally pretended to sketch in my sketchbook but instead of sketching I wrote: "By all that is Holy, I will never do this again"! P.S. Tent is for sale! (Laughter)! I am showing some black and white value studies and an 8x8 painting.
Wendy: Well, 2 1/2 years ago I thought it was a good idea at the time to take up painting! I'll paint landscapes, I thought...I'll travel the world, I thought! But, it has turned out to be the hardest thing I've ever done! (Laughter)! I'm working on it!
Loretta: I thought I'd try acrylic. I couldn't mix it..! I couldn't get the colors I wanted. It was nothing like oil...I had to go back to oil!
Geri: My husband and I took a trip to France, and naturally Paris! Well, I thought...I'll paint there, of course! I "saw" myself painting there in quaint romantic places...but did I? No! It was quite enough of a challenge to get ourselves there! I am showing a recent painting I call "Susie's Bongos". (Laughter)!
Ken: Well, first of all, some of you know that I had a cancer problem, but it's been removed and I'm better than ever! (Applause)! I am more grateful on a daily basis than ever before. I am always experimenting. That is how I paint, everything is an experiment! I've been trying wax...Now I'll go back to where I was before! I am showing a recent painting.
Tim: You've may have heard me talk about it before, for me it was a workshop. The temperature soared to over 100 degrees and one of the locations was downtown Portland (which had zero appeal to me). I had to stand on concrete and paint an urban scene. I have kept that painting (which was a very bad painting) just to remind myself how bad it all was! (Laughter)! I wanted to show you my new acquisition. It is a Leder easel. It is super lightweight. I am showing a recent painting. I plan to paint this again from this painting as a reference.
Brenda: I set up a tent in the wind! Under normal circumstances it wouldn't have been so bad, but it was a nightmare. Four years ago I took a trip to Havana. I painted on canvas sheets and then mounted the sheets when I got home. This is one of my Havana paintings. Oh, advice from me...in Havana..don't drink the water! (Laughter)!
Jim: I took a workshop that was supposed to be plein air. It was for two solid weeks. It rained buckets for most of the time and during 1/2 of the entire time we were supposed to be using charcoal outside! Can you imagine, charcoal in the pouring rain?? (Laughter)! We wound up spending most of the entire "plein air" workshop painting still life at Thomas Kitts studio! (It turned out to be a great workshop, anyway, but certainly not what was expected). I love charcoal..that is what I've been doing lately. Also, the biggest mistake I've made was purchasing a "Guerilla Paint Box" (when I first started painting). It is very deep like a bowl and there is no mixing room. It's awful! (Tim interjects: Is it for sale? Jim replies: I'll pay you five dollars for it!) Laughter!
Sarah: I am not used to oil and I am learning how quickly it gets on things and then gets on everything else. I got paint on my husband! I got white paint on the remote, then it got on the chair, then it got on him. I got paint on my swim suit (apparently this happened in the laundry?) I am jet lagged from my recent trip to Paris. While in Paris I ran completely out of money! Thank goodness for Parents! (Laughter)! I was an anxious mess the whole time in France. Once home I watched The Impressionists. Monet spent a lot of time on the water on a boat. I very nearly had my husband talked into moving into a "floating home". I could paint from the floating home! He finally said...no, we are not moving to a floating home. The Impressionists are bad influences. (Laughter)!
Becky: I will pass around a cartoon that my father-in-law left for me. I'll leave it to you to decide if it is funny or not! (Laughter)! I had an opportunity to show in a gallery. I did not have enough finished paintings but I agreed to the show ("anyway") so then had to set about painting paintings for the show. It was nerve wracking on the one hand, but on the other hand the pressure was good! I got it all done and wound up glad I did it.
Leslie: About a month and 1/2 ago I was on the brink of quitting painting! Then, out of the blue, I got an invitation to show at Mittleman Jewish Center. It came from Heaven! Of course it has energized me to have all the work up and to get a lot of encouragement as a result. I have 23 paintings up and it will be up until Feb 28. I will give an Artist Talk on Sunday. As for the question today, I used to lug all my work to a yearly festival. I finally realized that the only people doing well at that festival were the jewelry people..so I quit that! (Laughter)! I am showing a recent portrait.
Harley: I was a teacher. I thought when I finally get time...I'll paint. It will be "fun". I had no idea that it would completely take over my entire life! (Laughter)! I had to learn about all manner of special pastel things spacers!..glass! fixatives! not to mention I had to join this new secret society of people ! (Laughter)! I am grateful! I have felt welcome from the start. I painted this from one of Tim Young's photos. Thanks Tim!
Steven: I was accepted into a Art Festival in Joseph. My partner and I went together, making a trip of it. We hiked and camped and just had a great time. When I filled out forms for the Festival I must've ticked some sort of box accepting an invitation to participate in the "Quick Draw". But, as you know, I am not a traditional artist. I am not the type of artist who would ever do a "Quick Draw"...I had no idea at all what that meant or what it entailed! (Laughter)! I was signed up for it, so I felt I had to go through with it. Not knowing what to do, I had a Martini and walked into the area where the "Quick Draw" was held. I got there just before the timer went off (to begin). We were to have 90 minutes. All of the other artists had their plein air gear set up. I didn't have any plein air gear! (Laughter)! Then I thought, I've got camping gear so I put my camping crates together to "paint" on! (Laughter)! My instincts kicked in...I had this idea, I will represent "Sea Level" so I glued rocks to a canvas! (Laughter! Laughter)!! This was a big deal event! On the upside, someone purchased my "Quick Draw"..it sold for 30 dollars! (Laughter)! Yeah, it "seemed like a good idea at the time"! (Pointing at baby Amaya..."also seemed like a good idea at the time"!) (Laughter)! I am showing one of my 3D paintings.
Yong: When I first visited here from Los Angeles I just fell in love with Portland. Our baby was just 6 months old. We thought..oh, this is so much better than Los Angeles, so we bought a house. We didn't know exactly what we were doing! Then another baby! Ten years later I feel so blessed. Things go wrong here and there, but mostly things go right! I am showing a new painting I call "Controlled Chaos".
Greg: I look at everything as a learning experience. (It's not art related, but too good not to share): When I was a teenager I was alone with my sister and her cheerleader friends in our house. Our parents weren't home. We had a new microwave that I was unfamiliar with. We had frozen donuts so I put some donuts in the microwave and set it for "3" --(thinking minutes) then I promptly forgot about it and it was actually set for 3 hours (Laughter)! Our house had a super sophisticated alarm system that alerted emergency services if something went wrong. We smelled a puzzling burning type smell and suddenly (no exaggeration) there were squad cars, an ambulance and several full size fire engines in front of our house! The firemen swarmed and they were all wearing masks and tanks! (Laughter)! Once the firemen found the donuts they left and right when my parents came home I spied a tank that a firemen forgot. I stood in front of it like this! (Laughter)!
Za: I had an idea that I wanted to do some minimalist / remote type camping (with some potential plein air painting). A batch of my friends got wind of it and wanted to throw in and go with me. It was sure to be fun, but it turned into a crazy situation almost immediately. When we got to where we chose to camp, all of a sudden, without warning, we were confronted by some horrible KKK types...(and we were in a remote place)! Luckily, we had cell service and we called the Police! The Police arrived and arrested the KKK people and we carried on trying to camp, but the KKK situation seriously put a damper on things! One of the people who started out with us decided to go home without telling us and we were worried about where he went. The bad guys were supposed to go on trial for this, but it has been postponed so often, we aren't sure it will ever be prosecuted. We started out so happy, but my advice...remote camping, don't do it! (Laughter)!
Elo: I thought it was a good idea to pledge to paint plein air every day....for a year! I know Yong does these long term challenges (that he assigns to himself)....and that inspires me! But, it is not even the end of February and I am already saying why did I say I would do this?? (Laughter)! It is taxing! I don't like posting work online if I am not happy with it, and of course, I have had to do that in order to maintain my commitment. I also did not realize that 6x8 is not a great size for frames. 6x8 frames are rare and expensive! I've tried making these frames and it takes a ton of time to do. I'm still trying to figure it out. These are recent plein air paintings from my ongoing daily plein air painting challenge!
Kathy: I went plein air painting for the first time with the Westside Artist Guild. This was an event held in February in the woods. I had never been plein air painting at all. I took a huge wooden easel out into the forest because I didn't know about pochade boxes! (Laughter)! It was so cold too! I have to say, I'm glad I did it, but I look back and think that I should have done a little research first. I have been working with gouache lately. Here are some recent gouache studies and black and white value studies.
Serena: I recommend Leslie Elder's show at Mittleman. It is beautiful! I am a former teacher. I assigned a project to my students and thought well, we'll use up all this India ink! The school had gallons of it. I had them thin it down! What a good idea! I was teaching them about transparency. When all these project dried, they "flaked" off. Ink flakes everywhere! I thought it was a good idea at the time! Laughter! I am showing a painting I did in Mark Andreas' painting class.
Joanne: I always have tons of plans. Everything sounds good to me when it is several months off. Yes, that is an event I want to be in. Yes, that is a class I want to do...but then when the date gets closer I can't take it! (Laughter)! All of a sudden I am full of remorse that I signed up for whatever this thing is, I freak out and I cancel it! I get filled with anxiety. What is wrong with me!? (Laughter)! I even got a scholarship for a class and I ultimately turned it back. This is a recent painting.
Annie: I have always been the type who jumps off a cliff and hopes to learn how to fly on the way down! (Laughter)! I took an illustration job for a book. I (mistakenly) painted everything on mat board instead of illustration board. It was a huge mistake. The printer sent it back to me and told me I was the one who would have to separate the illustration from the backing (so it could go onto the printing drum). I couldn't manage it. My husband went straight out and got a belt sander and between the two of us, like surgeons, we "sanded" the backing away ! I am showing a drawing and a recent watercolor/gouache.
Jess: (New, Welcome)! I saw someone do a knife painting once and I thought how hard can that be? (Laughter)! My painting came out looking like mustard and a hot dog! (Laughter)! I am showing a painting I did at Oak Island on Sauvie.
Dotty: I was advised to not use solvent, to use walnut oil instead. So I got some walnut oil, but I could never make it work for me. I eventually gave it away. I don't know, maybe I should try it again. A lot of people think it is great. I have been working on a series of pastels in the forest. When I did the underpainting for this I made it an intentional "mess". (The colors beneath were helpful).
Vicki: Anyone who paints with me knows that I take too much stuff. So I decided to be very economical..I only took the most basic things and I even took the bus to the location! I had a lot less things with me than I ever had. I elected to use a paper palette. I had everything all set up and I was ready to paint when the paper palette flew up and hit me like this (Vicki motions SPLAT straight into her chest)! (Laughter)! I am showing this recent urban scene.
Pam: I am married to a great man..but he has never cared anything at all about my art career. He has no interest and he just doesn't "get it"! Recently, for a surprise, I painted him and our dog. I hung this painting over where my husband and our dog sit all the time. but he didn't notice it at all! I'm used to this type of thing, but this is a big painting! I then took a photo of him and our dog sitting in front of the painting and showed it to him! Then he looked around and finally saw it! (Laughter)!
Chris: I was plein air painting and I brought the wrong paints to mix a decent purple. I complained and my plein air friend offered me her purple paint. It spread so weird...then I discovered that she had given me acrylic and I was painting in oil! Also, there was that time I couldn't get my burnt sienna open and I opened it with my mouth! (Laughter)!!! Bad mistake. Why didn't I use pliers!?
Jeanie: I always tell everyone that I "flunked" my plein air workshop! I painted this from one of Tim Young's photos.
Eunice: It was so hot where I lived in Palm Springs our workshop teacher had us meet at 4:30 am to paint the sunrise! Then the next day we had to meet at 5:30 for the sunset. I took a workshop with Albert Handel and we all met at a restaurant for our final dinner. We were in our painting clothes so we all got changed and freshened up in the restaurant restroom. Some ladies there were puzzled and I explained "We've been painting palm trees" and a woman replied.."I didn't know they needed to be painted"! (Laughter)! I didn't tell her otherwise ! (Laughter)!
Judith: When I was young I was studying archeology. My professor made advances so I dropped out! I took a greyhound bus and it broke down 3 times in the desert. We got towed into Utah. There was a hunky guy with a backpack and I said "I'm going with you"! (Laughter)! I followed him to Maine and discovered an artist community there. Eventually I moved to San Francisco and decided to become a famous artist. Well, as you know, I am not famous, you all know that...but I'm looking into graphic novels now! (Laughter)!
Announcements:
Thank you all who donated to the gift for Michele Bufton's family. Very appreciated!
Here is the awesome article in Focus Hillsboro bout Harley Talkington. Congratulations, Harley!
https://www.focushillsboro.com/meet-harley-talkington/
LeslieElder at Mittleman Jewish Community Center until Feb 28
Email Za Vue about her weekly classes studioza@me.com
Za Vue Fundamentals of Portrait class at PNCA Feb 23- March 1 (sign up asap if you are interested)
https://cereg.pnca.edu/p/adult/s/1963
Classes, workshops, mentorship with Brenda Boylan: https://www.brendaboylan.com/workshops
Pacific NW Plein Air (at Maryhill Museum) submit via online juried shows (Deadline March 15)
https://www.onlinejuriedshows.com/Default.aspx?OJSID=43182&fbclid=IwAR3xZeT75GZNU3IR-dAVT31zlNGfBunEQZPKPSGwSTuIl0vV7GPUDr92Jrk
https://pacificnwpa.com/
Oregon Society of Artists Joanne Kollman, figure classes Friday am and pm
+ Saturday Energize your painting classes
https://public.osartists.org/public/adultclasses
Oregon Society of Artists Susan Kuznitsky classes Saturdays and Thursdays
https://public.osartists.org/public/adultclasses
Susan Kuznitsky 11-1 Sunday March 22 Demo at Artist and Craftsman 2906 N Lombard
Thomas Kitts Techniques of Sargent DVD
https://streamlineartvideo.com/products/thomas-jefferson-kitts-sargent-techniques-of-a-master?_pos=1&_sid=28248fa33&_ss=r
Michael Lindstrom, Solo Show, Feb and March Art on the Boulevard http://www.artontheboulevard.org/
Pittock Mansion Mt. Hood Exhibit begins Feb 1 and runs through July http://pittockmansion.org/events/
The Hiatus Drawing Club https://www.facebook.com/groups/333152383542909/
Our Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/222304114527014/ (put news about you and or announcements of your own directly on our page)
Plein air event website: https://www.paintouts.com
Next art discussion meeting: Thursday Feb 27, 9am*, Table topic: "Crazy ideas*"!--What is the "craziest" art-related idea you've ever have had ? *out of the ordinary, way out, unusual, bizarr-o (and if you have never had a "crazy" idea, tell us what you think might constitute one!)
(*Try your best to be early or on time and thank you for supporting the food cart).
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