Meeting notes July 14, 2016

At today’s meeting Loretta, Judith, Tim, Diane, Lisa, Jerry, Tracie, Marty D, John, Tom, Jeanie, Tedd, Eunice, Teresa, Joanne T, Sue, Joanne K, Stephanie, Annie, Nancy, and me, Celeste.

Today’s suggested table topic: blue and purple --tell us anything that you want about the subject of blue and purple. (We’ve had this topic before, but it was requested again and timely because of the recent Lavender Festival).

Celeste: I read a van Gogh quote that was something like “Without orange and yellow and red --there can be no blue”. What I take that to mean is that “everything is relationship”.  Painting something that has the local color of blue or purple in sunlight is a challenge. I am showing three paintings.

Loretta: I like blue and I like purple! Purple can be good for shadow color. I am showing a painting that “features” purple.

Judith: There is an author named Christopher Moore who wrote a good book called Sacre Bleu. It is about the lives of the impressionists. I recommend it! I have brought some works in progress. This painting is after Botticelli. I will glaze this. This other painting is meant to be “fuzzy”! It is my objective to throw things out of focus here.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005UD1GQY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Tim: I have read recently that there is a new blue coming out! I have brought in a painting of a barn. I liked it so well I painted it again!
http://qz.com/727211/chemists-accidentally-created-this-beautiful-new-color-in-a-lab-experiment/

 Diane: I love purple-- I especially love Dioxazine purple. I have recently discovered that I prefer painting on a smooth surface instead of canvas. I have decided that I like gessoed panel.

Lisa: I will pass on this topic.

Jerry: My go to blue on my pallette is Ultramarine blue. Ultramarine blue originated from Afghanistan. Ultramarine blue has absolutely nothing to do with the ocean or marine life. It started from Lapis lazuli. There is a blue called Oteala blue that means “ beyond the seas”. I brought in a book about color and also a painting I did recently for the lavender festival.  I painted at a place called Red Ridge Farm.

Sue: Recently I found it hard to replicate a certain blue. I tried it recently when I painted a floral I wanted to have a slate blue background and I tried everything to reach that color and I never achieved it. I am showing you a painting on my iPad.

Teresa: I don’t have any background in color theory.  I do use a fair amount of blue in portrait work. This is a painting of me 44 years ago with my baby!  

Marty D:  I love ultramarine blue and purple too. I brought in a painting that I did after Cézanne. He often painted with purple to unify the painting.

Joanne T: Mike Porter posted on Facebook that he was going to be in a specific place for outdoor painting. I met him there and I really enjoyed myself even though I found it confusing! (Laughter)! I did enter something into the lavender festival at the last minute. I entered it and then later I learned that it sold (applause)! I noticed when I was watching other people that many people use palette knife for structures in paintings like for a roof. I practiced that. I like cerulean blue for the sky. I am showing three paintings.

Tracie: I have a friend who is visiting me who is from France. Her name is Odette. She came into my studio and looked around and said (with her French accent)…”Ohhhhhh yoooouuuuu doooooo like bllllueeeee” (Laughter)!  She is right. I do! I like blue and find it useful especially for darks. I am showing a painting that I did recently.

John: Blue is my favorite color. I wear it. When I look at blue I think of light blue medium blue and dark blue (laughter)! I have been taking a lot of photos over the last couple of years. My photos will become my photo references perhaps for painting.

Tom:  Hilarie Couture encouraged me to paint in the Brush Prairie event. I told myself “gather yourself, you can do this”--(and I did)! Apropos to this topic I did use more blue purple in a recent plein air painting. I added some purple and blue “beneath” my trees. I believe it did create more depth. I am showing a recent plein air painting.

Jeanie: I have a lot of blues-- I have every blue you can think of! But I only have two purples. I have Dioxide and manganese. I am showing you a recent painitng. It is not quite complete. I have a little more to do here.

Tedd: I find blues and purples so interesting! I did this recent painting of a figure (that features strong cool colors.)

Nancy: I always have blues on my pallette. I use Ultramarine blue most. Thalo blue is so staining. You can get into trouble –thalo can get everywhere! (laughter)! When you add thalo blue to yellow you will get a such a beautiful vibrant green. You must use it sparingly. I was in the lavender festival and I tried everything to get the lavender to read correctly. I like Alizarin Crimson with white. There was another painting that I did that Hood River that turned out great and somehow or another people must’ve touched it or something because now I need to repair it. I heard that there was a great looking guy in a field in Hood River--everyone was talking about him. I never did see him close up though. (Laughter! Laughter)! My tripod and all my gear fell over during the event.  (Nancy won a ribbon at the Lavender Festival—Applause)!

Annie: I went to festival to look at the paintings. When I was in college someone said to me “The Shoe was too big for the foot, so I didn’t paint  too often. (editors note, I think this was because the person’s parent was an artist). Painting is like writing a short story…you have to know how to get things across. Sargent said don’t try to paint a pretty picture.. render a truthful fact.. I painted this painting in my back yard.

Stephanie: Thalo is one of my favorite blues…but it sure doesn’t work for everything. I painted for the lavender festival. I have a friend who wants to buy one of my recent paintings (applause)! It is true, painting blue and purple in a sunny way is a challenge. I am showing two recent paintings.

Joanne K: I did this chart with violet and blue. Kings blue is a great guest color. I was at the coast teaching a workshop and I painted Haystack rock. The bright blue sky  was directly overhead. It got so windy. The best thing is to try to go early and maybe avoid that wind!. I did several Haystack paintings using one painting as a reference.

Announcements:

The lavender festival was a great success. Congratulations to everyone who participated.

Beginning next Sunday: meet Joanne Radmilovich Kollman at 9 AM at the Cracker Barrel store on Sauvie island. You can come and paint or sketch with whatever materials you want. You will need to buy a pass, but aside from that there is zero fee.
https://www.mapquest.com/us/oregon/business-portland/cracker-barrel-12408578

Beginning July 29 Joanne Radmilovich will be teaching at OSA on Fridays at 9:30. This will be a drop in session.
(See more information in images below)

Jeanie Bates has work at the NW. Community Center.
http://necommunitycenter.org/featured-artist/

Tedd recommends a YouTube video about Andrew Wyeth (I think this is the one):

https://youtu.be/jNuGbKIoUds

Welcome back to Eunice who was out for a while It is great that she is back!

Also Welcome back to Teresa who has been back east for awhile. Good to have you back Teresa.

Art on the Boulevard: Mitch Baird: http://www.artontheboulevard.org

OSA: http://oregonsocietyofartists.com/index.html

After the meeting today we went to sketching and then we went to the Aimee Erickson field trip --you can find pictures here. Thanks to everyone who came and especially to Aimee Erickson who gave a great presentation (a question and answer session about her show at the University Club)
There will be one more opportunity to visit with Aimee at the University Club,  August 11 (More information to come).

Next meeting Thursday, July 21 suggested table topic: Gesture….do you think about gesture? (Gesture can be found in all subjects, not just figure) What does gesture mean to you? Can you provide any examples of gesture?

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