Lake Pleasant Shoreline

As promised, I am sharing the finished painting, "Lake Pleasant Shoreline" You will note that I changed the name from "Lake Pleasant Cliffs". I am pleased with the finished piece. I worked quite awhile to get the reflections to look right. The reflections have movement from side to side...but there are also reflections that move from top to bottom. I would love to get to a point where I could complete a painting while still on site. This finished product reflects about three additional hours of actual work and several hours of thinking and reflecting on each step.

Let me know what you think of the piece.....I would love to read your comments!

Productive Day

Today I was able to spend a good part of the day in my studio. As a result I found that I accomplished a lot!

First of all I finished another work in my shoes series. This painting is a take off on the "Party Flats" piece. The shoes which are the subject of both pieces are actually black with a black patent toe and heel. In "Party Flats" I chose to use vibrant colors for the shoes as opposed to the native color of black. This time I went back to the shoes' true colors and added a gold necklace. Here you see the result...."Black Patent Flats".

The second accomplishment was the underpainting for a piece I am going to call "Sunflowers". My good friends Barb and Charlie brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers upon my return home from my surgery. In the bouquet were three beautiful sunflowers. I decided they had to be painted. So I pulled them out along with some vibrant purple flowers and began taking pictures out in the sun on the patio. Today I selected the composition I wanted to paint, created the drawing and painted the watercolor underpainting. I really like the results.....hope I don't mess it up when I start with the pastels!!!

Finally.....I had some time to work some on the painting I started Wednesday plein air painting in the Castle Hot Springs area. I ended up brushing off some of the work I had done on site and began reworking some of the areas. It is a rough half done piece here.....but I think it has potential!

Yes....a good day in the studio while the clouds roil around outside and light rain continues to show up every now and then.

On The Road Again!!

Yesterday was a great day!!! It wasn't particularly sunny...but it was a fabulous day because I was back with my friends plein air painting. I have been out of the loop for a few weeks due to health issues which resulted in surgery. I was doing some painting....but hadn't been able to be out plein air painting. Well....today was my first day back and it was so great!! We had a rare cloudy day in Arizona so the contrasts were minimal.......but I really didn't even care!!! Here is a picture of the group getting setup on an overlook of Lake Pleasant in the Castle Hot Springs area in the north valley. Phil is standing next to his jeep and painting setup. My jeep is behind his. Bud is in the chair on the right getting setup. You can just see my setup in the lower left. I got a good start on a painting that I hope to finish today and will shortly share with you.

Did I mention that I love being outside painting????

Notan

As noted in a previous post, I participated in a plein air workshop with Richard McKinley in Tucson in March of this year. During the workshop Richard brought up a term that was new to me....notan. During his instruction Richard encouraged participants to create thumbnail sketches using notan prior to painting a piece. The sketches were 3 value sketches. To me it seemed that notan sketches were the same thing as value sketches....but I was assured by Richard that they were not really the same thing. He also recommended that we read a book by Arthur
Wesley Dow titled "Composition: Line, Notan and Color" from Dover Publications. I just finished reading the book.....and I think I have a better understanding of notan. Notan is a Japanese term for dark and light. My understanding after reading the book is that notan is the broad concept of light and dark, while values are a further refinement. This makes sense to me....but I want to further discuss notan and how artists use notan to help me confirm or disprove this understanding. I will be seeing Richard at the International Association of Pastel Societies Convention (IAPS) in Albuquerque next week and plan to bounce my understanding off of him. I am also attending sessions with CA pastel artist Kim Fancher Lordier. Kim refers to notan in regards to her work. I hope to learn more in her sessions.

If anyone has a different understanding or a clarification of notan I would love to hear from you!! I will let you know what I learn at IAPS!

Arizona Pastel Art Association

I have been involved with the Arizona Pastel Art Association (APAA) for about 6 years. However, until the summer of 2007 my involvement was minimal due to my job as the national director for professional development for an educational software company which involved extensive national travel. As I moved towards retirement in the summer of 2007 my travel commitments greatly decreased and I was able to become more involved. This involvement consisted being able to attend meetings and events at first, but quickly moved to my volunteering to take on the role of newsletter editor. This position involves a strong time commitment....but also puts one in a position of getting to know members and the workings of the organization. I very much enjoyed serving in the role of newsletter editor for the last couple of years. However, with this year's elections, the sitting president expressed a wish to step down after serving for two years. I was asked to consider the presidency which I was happy to agree to....and subsequently was elected by the membership. APAA is very much a growing organization and I am deeply honored and excited to serve in a leadership role. I would like to invite you to visit the APAA website at www.azpaa.com. You also may find yourself wishing to become a part of such a vibrant organization!!

A Big Decision

Yesterday marked another step forward for me as an artist. I decided to participate in the Sonoran Art League's Hidden in the Hills (HITH) open studio tour in November. I have been a member of the Sonoran Art League for a number of years, but have not felt ready to participate in HITH. HITH is the biggest event that the Sonoran Art League puts on each year. It takes place the last two weekends in November. Member artists open their studios to the public during the two weekends. The studios are all within a 40 square mile radius around Carefree, Cave Creek and North Scottsdale. Each studio artist hosts up to four additional artists in tents, garages, patios, etc. The event is highly publicized and draws hundreds of people each year. It is a much anticipated event in the area. The full color directory that is published each year becomes a resource for buyers even after the event.

My decision was finalized yesterday at the Match Up Breakfast sponsored by the league. This is an opportunity for studios looking for additional guest artists and guest artists looking for a host studio to find each other. Studios are typically looking for a range of art genre as one would not want the artists at one site to all be producing the same kind of art and be competing against each other. I went to the breakfast thinking that if I found a good match it was meant to be the year for me to jump in. If I did not find a match it would also be a sign! Well....I found a great match! I will be at the studio of Lori Greenberg. Lori is a glass bead artist. I will be sharing the back patio with a fine art photographer, Sal DeRocco. We will also have a fourth artist, a good friend of mine, June Lerman, who does watercolors. June will be located on the front patio.

I am excited and already thinking about what my inventory should focus on and the setup of my part of the back patio. I have a lot of work to do....but can't wait!!! Check out the Sonoran Art League website http://www.sonoranartsleague.org/. There is information about last year's HITH as well as the upcoming 2009 HITH I will be participating in.