Getting ready for 30 in 30

 

 

Two quick paintings getting ready too start the New Year with the 30 in 30 Challenge!

 

Evening Out

8 x 10 Oil on Gessoed Board

Dance on Air

8 x 10 Oil on Gessoed Board

I Have Been Busy, But I'm on FiYA Now!

(Sorry due to family health issues I have been kept very busy),
but

I am honored to have been

 asked to join this amazing group of FiYA artist!

We will be showing our artwork at the FiYA Studio, at the gallery opening November 1, 2013 in Findlay Ohio.
It is a worthy project and anyone can support it on Kickstarter. So help get this project underway there is a time limit Oct. 9, to get it supported otherwise it may not happen! Click on the link below, take a look at the video, sign in to help support the project, the support payments are made through the trusted Amazon website and in return you will be rewarded with the gift of art for your generosity.

This project will only be funded if at least $2,000.00 is pledged by Wednesday Oct 9, 12:AM EDT.

Funding period
Sept 24, 2013 - Oct 9, 2013 (14 days)

Supporting the arts in this way is a wonderful thing, and getting the rewards in return are awesome.

This project has an even bigger longer lasting effect; by helping local and regional artist to help revitalize a in a devastated community, to perpetuate a community art though workshops, and classes in the community and make art dreams come true!

Here is the Kickstarter link to the project
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2001219873/fiya-studios-a-pop-up-art-gallery-project

I supported the project before I was asked to be one of the regional artist. I'm supporting art and this amazing project!!!

FiYA Studios: A Pop Up Art Gallery Project ~

FiYA Studio is a POP up art gallery, which will transform an empty building into a fantastic two month long cooperative art exhibit.

We Happily Stumble Right into a Clayton Beck Demo

Last month, three artist friends Laurie Mueller, Kristen Dukat, and Patrica Lyons Ansert, I were in Carmel, IN for a workshop for artist Qiang Huang's (Chong Whong).

While exploring the cute little artsy town of Carmel's shops and galleries. We came upon a gallery hosting a Clayton Beck III demo that evening! What a treat the demo turned out to be.

The model for the evenings demo was not just there to pose.  He was an extraordinarily talented musician.  Clayton and his muse, (I'm sorry I didn't get his name) had a lively discussion about music between songs.

The beauty of watching someone of Clayton's caliber paint is watching the compositional decisions, paint choices; and all the thought process that he goes through as the portrait progresses.

 There was a great re-pore between musician/sitter and artist which led to song requests and some great musical remembrances by both parties.

Clayton's finish portrait was well received and the the sitter truly seem to approve. This close up shows it was a lively beautifully done likeness.

In a candid moment, when the painting and photos were done, Clayton was finally then able to really check out the guitar. Thanks to Jerry Point, our host, for allowing us to join the group for what was a great evening!

Sgraffito Drawing Techniques in Fused Glass Workshop



8 x 10 Sgraffito fused glass by Gloria E. Moses

 

Artist  Kelly Crosser Alge of  Modern Ancient Glass gave a workshop to introduce us to Sgraffito Drawing Techniques in Fused Glass.

 

 

 

 

Personal Note:Taking a workshop and learning something new gets your blood flowing and your neurons firing!  But when you take a workshop with friends and fellow artists Kristen Dukat and Laurie Mueller all bets are off, anything and everything with 24/7 of nonstop LOL!!

After a introduction to and demo of materials. Kelly then handed out a multitude of  mark making and drawing tools for us to try while explaining the more technical side of fusing glass. We started with these small 2 x 3 inch pieces just to get a feel for learning how to draw with the powdered glass. So this was my quick little design, and it will soon become a nightlight (when I put it all together).

We then worked on our large 8 x10 inch masterpiece, while the first demo pieces were being fired in the smaller kiln.  These larger pieces took quite a bit of time and effort no one wanted to stop working on them for the night. We continued perfecting our drawing techniques the next day until we each were satisfied with how we thought it might look when it was fired. Here is how it looked pre-fired.

Workshop peeps Shirley Cole, Laurie Mueller, Gail Stanforth, pre-fired pieces looked so good, the fired amazing finished pieces can be seen on Kelly's website. Modern Ancient Glass

 

 

 

 

Then Kelly introduced us to color, lots of color, in free form expression making Cityscape's!!!
She let us play with all her beautiful glass pieces and scraps that she made for use in her large Cityscape. We used bits of copper and also silver, stringer, Frit,..... I was like being a kid trying to fit all the pretties on one small glass sheet!

This is one of my finished Cityscape's and I love it!  Thanks Kelly for all the work she did when we left, she added the extra glass pieces to fuse them, she fired, packed, and mailed us the finished masterpieces! Thank you Kelly for what you taught us and for allowing us to play and use the pretties! Can't wait to go back for the advance class!!!!
You can find Kelly at: http://www.modernancientglass.com/

Trying to Pull It Off

 

6 x 6 Oil Paint on Gesso Board

 

     This is the final piece from the Qiang Huang workshop in Camel IN a little over two weeks ago.  I left my camera in Ohio last weekend at a Sgraffito glass drawing workshop (those pictures will follow) so this is the best picture I have at the moment.  It is enough to get the idea that I was trying to put the lessons learned together in this last piece.  Focus with sharp edges, suggestions with soft edges, thoughtful consideration of each brush-stoke. Qiang still had to remind me to vary the color slightly - well yeah!  All in all I'm happy with the result and now to incorporate the lessons. That is always the thing!

Sunflower in Blue

14 x 11 Oil on Gesso Board

 

This is my effort from day two of the Qiang Huang workshop, and yes, I could not leave it alone.   I went back into it, and I made somethings better....   So the biggest take away for me out of all the amazing material covered was to be more intellectual about the brushstroke.  Set the loaded brush on the canvas, make the stroke, pick up the brush, and because you put so much thought into its placement before hand, you should not need to touch stroke again. LOL  Over simplified, but now I need to start doing it.

First Still Life from Qiang Huang's (Chong Whong) Workshop

 

 

     This was my first still-life from Qiang Huang's (Chong Whong) workshop last weekend.  This painting was not what I had hoped to do, but then, it was a workshop.  I guess if I had done a great job in a workshop I would have been suprised.
    
     I do have to say Qiang was an amazing teacher who has set a new standard for how a workshop should be taught, with the added benefit of having a great sense of humor!  Qiang used a video camera aimed the the piece he was painting and projected his every brushstroke on to a large screen. No more crowding around just trying to see through the artist head!   He brought a handout to take notes on which supplemented his powerpoint presentation, which allows you to aborb what he is trying to teach.  On content he didn't disappoint, for example, I especially was impressed when he talked about all artist needing a strong technically foundation.  He said he has noticed that it doesn't always seem to be a prority, when it should be!  But more the workshop that on my next post.

Cuties and Tea

Oil Paint on Gesso Board 11 x 14

 

This is an effort to get ready for the Qiang Huang workshop coming up this week in Carmel, IN!  It sounds like such a cute town with a great art district just north of Indianoplis . Can't wait, we, my artist friends Kristan Duket and Laurie Muller signed up for this workshop months ago and it is finally happening.  Another of our artist friends Trisha Lyons is coming the first night to visit, so look out Carmel. LOL  We always enjoy spending time together and have been looking forward to learning from Qiang Huang!

What? Cow

 

6 x 6 Oil Paint on Gesso Board.

I should explain, this is my take on a group composition challenge that was to include cows, lavander, and grapes. This innocent "What?" expression resulted in being busted for eating grapes! (Yes cows eat grapes, I read it on the internet! LOL)

Dancing Only in the Shadows

11 x 14 Oil Paint on Cradled Gesso Board.

 

Had fun using a Julie Olivers squeegy tool after watching her video on fracturing. This isn't fracturing but is it loosly based on that idea.