The Leatherby Libraries at Chapman University is pleased to invite us to their Annual Book Sale Preview Night on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 from 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Attendees to the Preview Night will have first choice of the numerous books for sale in the upcoming days.  This year, for the first time, we are also pleased to offer ten watercolor framed original botanical/garden paintings. Light refreshments will be served.

RSVP to Laurie Gates at (714) 532-7742 or gates@chapman.edu.

Suzanne Kuuskmae is the artist of the month at the Artist Studio Store located at the top of Crenshaw Rd. at the Palos Verdes Art Center. Go check it out! Also, there is a small group of budding botanical artists taking a class from Jennifer Seigal as part of the course offerings up at the Center. I (SK) was honored to be asked to speak to the group this past week about the five-step method of doing botanical drawing/painting. You may see some of these students at future BAGSC meetings.

In addition, I wanted all to know that the newly formed Pastel Society of Southern CA will be holding their first pastel showing from April 3 -17 with reception April 9 from 6 -9:00 p.m. at the Creative Arts Center in Manhattan Beach.  Hope some of you can make it to the reception and show.

Coffee will be ready at 9:30 a.m. and the meeting begins promptly at 10:00 a.m. Lunch will be potluck style, so please let Deb know what you are bringing. Members are encouraged to form car pools!

The meeting agenda includes updates on upcoming classes and exhibitions, and our keynote speaker will be Dick Rauh, new President of the ASBA, who will talk about upcoming exhibitions, what juries look for in show submissions, and lots of other hot (botanical art) topics. And, of course, we’re always interested to see what everyone is working on, so please bring your latest to show.

RSVP by email or phone to Deb. Directions will be sent out via email blast. We hope to see you on March 20!

BAGSC General Quarterly Meeting

March 20, 2010
10:00 a.m.
Deb Shaw’s Home

AGENDA

I.     Welcome members and guests

II.    President’s Report

III.   Secretary’s Report

IV.    Treasurer’s Report

V.     Membership Report

VI.    Old Business

• Margaret Best’s “It’s Not Easy Making Green” Class

• Arboretum Library Show

• Aerie Art Garden

• Dick Rauh’s Plant Morphology Class

• Arboretum Marketplace Booth 2010

VII.    New Business

• Water Miser Workshop, City of Newport Beach

• Rancho Los Alamitos, Long Beach

• Margaret Best’s “Seeing Red”

• Deborah Raven “Classic Illustration Styles of Beatrix Potter”

• Sasha Viazmensky Mushroom Class

Program: Dick Rauh, ASBA President

Next Meeting:  Saturday, June 5, Location TBD

Eligibility requirements include:

1. Be a BAGSC member in good standing.
2. Submit your entry fee of $35.00 per person for up to four (4) hanging framed entries (prints or originals) by the entry form date. Loose prints, cards, bookmarks, etc. are included in this low entry fee.
3. Original work should have been created within the past two (2) years.  Prints of the original art may be exhibited in the show and may be for sale.
4. Volunteer for shifts at the sales table, for show set-up or break down, or for other show-related activities. For those unable to volunteer, an additional fee of $50.00 or five percent of sales, will be charged whichever is greater.
5. Sign and submit a waiver of liability with your application (included in the entry package).
6. Read and comply with framing and other requirements from the entry package.

Some important dates to remember:

• Deadline for receipt of show entry forms and checks to Norma: March 15, 2010
• Art drop-off at the Arboretum: Thursday, April 29, 2010 between 9:30 am and noon
• Show closing: Sunday, May 2, 2010 at 5:00 pm
• Art pick-up: Sunday, May 2, 2010 between 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm.

All BAGSC members are encouraged to submit to this non-juried show, even if you haven’t shown before. The LA Garden Show is a wonderful way to show your work and get feedback. The show occurs right before Mother’s Day, so sales of cards, bookmarks and prints are always brisk. The Submissions Guidelines and Show Information will be emailed to all members. If you don’t receive yours, or if you have any additional questions, please contact this year’s exhibit chair, Norma.

See you there!

New date: March 6, 2010
Same times: arrive before noon or gates will close
Same place: Aerie Art Garden (please see the prior blog posting)

Coachella Valley Watercolor Show Announcement

An added bonus is that next weekend, March 6 & 7  is the big Coachella Valley Watercolor Society show in Palm Desert. Kathy Dunham will be exhibiting in the show. The hours are 10 am – 5 pm at the Palm Desert Community Center, and admission is free. BAGSC members can have a two-for-one day in the desert at the Gardens, and also stop off to view the watercolors at the Coachella Valley show.

We’ll be sending out an email blast in addition to the blog posting about the change in dates for this weekend. Please help by double checking with folks that you know might have been planning to go this Saturday. Please also RSVP if you can with Leslie if you are planning to go next weekend.

Thanks, and sorry about Mother Nature. The flowers, however, should be stunning by next weekend with this added dose of water.

BAGSC Members have the opportunity to show their work and demonstrate botanical art during the second annual, two-hour City of Newport Beach WaterMiser Workshop on March 11, 2010 at the Newport Beach Central Library, Newport Beach, CA.

The Keynote Speaker will be Ron Vanderhoff, Master Gardener of Rogers’s Gardens in Newport Beach. This free event will focus on conserving precious landscape water and demonstrating how to grow a beautiful, thriving garden with limited water resources. Participants will be able to: learn about Newport Beach conservation efforts; ask questions of Ron Vanderhoff, Master Gardener, Rogers’s Gardens and Wendy Proud, Master Gardener, Mountain States Wholesale Nursery; and find out how to transform  gardens with California Friendly® and native plants. Light refreshments will be served by Baja Fresh.

Framed originals or prints will be displayed in the presentation area during the workshop. We will also have a table in the courtyard in the vendor fair area to display additional originals and prints, and demonstrate botanical art. We are able to sell prints, cards, bookmarks, etc. at our table. Paintings and illustrations of California Friendly®, native plants, or any other drought-tolerant (i.e., Australian or South African natives) are preferred, but other plants are acceptable as well. There is no entry fee.

We will be joined by Tania Marien, who is bringing ArtPlantae. The vendor fair (so far) includes:

• ArtPlantae
• Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California
• Baja Fresh (catering)
• Bushman Water Tanks
• Hunter Industries
• Kellogg Garden Products
• Lab-Clean (waterless car wash)
• Mountain States Wholesale Nursery
• Rogers Gardens
• True North Landscape

To participate, please let Deb Shaw know and arrange to have your materials to her by March 8, 2010. Space may be limited. Artwork and any unsold cards, etc. will be returned at the next BAGSC meeting, on March 20th. If you would like to  demonstrate, let her know that too! Set-up is on March 11 and will begin no later than 5:30 pm.

Prizes will be raffled off at the end of the workshop. If you have any materials you are willing to donate to the raffle, please let us know.

Although this is not a formal exhibit, and artwork viewing may not be optimal, this is a wonderful opportunity to provide educational outreach.

The workshop is free to all participants. If you have friends or family who would like to attend, please RSVP at 949.644.3214, or via email.

When: March 11, 2010

Where: Newport Beach Central Library
1000 Avocado Avenue, Newport Beach, California 92660

Time: 6 pm – 8 pm

For those of you who weren't able to attend the last BAGSC meeting, here's a sample from the same printer of the postcard front for Gloria Whea-Fun Teng's Long Beach show. © 2009, Gloria Whea-Fun Teng

BAGSC members have the opportunity to have their artwork printed on promotional artwork postcards at trade prices in conjunction with our show at the LA Arboretum Library. (Please see the call for entries further down on our BAGSC Blog.) The postcards are on heavy white stock, full color on the front, with a full, glossy, varnish on the color side. The back will be printed one color with the information about the LA Arboretum Library show. You may also order your postcards with a blank back, and only your artwork on the front.

Here’s how it works

1. Send your high-resolution (at least 300 dpi) color-corrected scans of your artwork to Deb on or before 2 March, 2010.

2. Include your name as you want it to appear on the postcard front, along with: the name of the painting (please check spelling carefully, what you send is what is printed); the media (if you want to list that); and, the date of the painting for the copyright line. For example, the information that might appear on the front of the card would be:
Deborah Shaw
Arisaema ringens
Watercolor, © 2009, Deborah Shaw

3. Deb will email you a PDF proof of the front and back of your card on or before 8 March. All approvals are due by noon on 9 March, and the postcards will go to the printer.

4. Postcards will be handed out at the BAGSC meeting at Deb’s house on Saturday, 20 March.

Printing specifications and pricing

Final printed size: 4″ x 6″. Your image can be printed in a horizontal or vertical format. The information about the LA Arboretum Library show will be printed in a horizontal format.

Color(s) and varnish: Full color on the front; the color can bleed off four sides of the card if desired. Printing of black-and-white artwork (graphite or pen-and-ink) will still be done on a full color press, and may have the appearance of a slight color tint. The artwork side of the postcard will have a full coating of a high gloss (UV) varnish.

Paper: 14 pt, white card stock, to meet Post Office regulations for mailing.

Optional copy on the back: All of the backs will be printed with the same information about our LA Arboretum Library show and the reception invitation. You can also elect to have no printing on the back (i.e., the back will be blank), but the cost will be the same.

Costs: The cost below includes printing and shipping to Deb’s house. Deb will set up the artwork for the printer at no charge. Orange County sales tax of 8.75% will be added to the amounts below. Checks should be made out to BAGSC, and received by Deb Shaw by 9 March.
100 quantity: $30.00
250 quantity: $35.00
500 quantity: $40.00
1,000 quantity: $45.00
2,500 quantity: $92.00
5,000 quantity: $128.00

Important Dates to Remember:

2 March, 2010: Scans and copy must be in Deb’s hands
8 March, 2010: Deb will email PDF proofs on (or before) this date
9 March, 2010: Approvals must be received by noon (or before) this date, or the postcards will go to print as is and the artist will be obligated to pay the cost
9 March, 2010: Payment must be received
20 March, 2010: Beautiful cards will be handed out at the BAGSC meeting

We’ve had a lot of interest in these postcards. If successful, we’ll repeat this offer several times each year in conjunction with events or exhibits. If you have any questions, please let Deb know.

Dick Rauh, PhD Plant Sciences, and current President of the American Society of Botanical Artists will be teaching a Plant Morphology Class.

Dates and Times: March 16 & 17, 2010,  9:30 – 4:00

Place: Held at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in the Brody Teaching Lab at the Botanical Center.

Hone your observational skills and learn from a master.

Spend two days observing and learning to identify 12 plant families. Dissect flowers and learn the important characteristics needed to identify plant families. These skills are required to produce good botanical drawings & paintings. A 10x hand lens and a small dissecting kit will be needed for this class. If you do not have these items, Leslie will purchase them from ArtPlante for about $15 for the set. Let Leslie know if you would like to order the hand lens and dissecting kit, and she will order them and make them available before the start of the first class.

Cost of class for BAGSC members is $120. (Non-members $145.) Send check payable to BAGSC to Leslie Walker to hold your space in the class.

Pool of water at Aerie Art Garden.

On Saturday, February 27, 2010, BAGSC members (and their guests) have been invited to spend the day at a private garden in Palm Desert. The “Aerie Art Garden” is 2.5 acres of cultivated native desert flora on a 20-acre piece of land. On this property can be seen many desert dwellers with legs and wings. We will have free run of the 2.5 acres for the day to wander, sketch, paint or what-have-you. There are shaded areas where we can have our usual potluck lunch, paint, and hang out. The garden also includes art galleries, sculptures and palms.

One of the many flowers blooming at Aerie Art Garden.

Bring your cameras, sketching and painting gear along with binoculars, stools or chairs and umbrellas to sit in the garden and draw if that is what interests you. Bring food for a pot-luck lunch and prepare to enjoy the day. The gate will close by noon, so it’s best to arrive early (between 10:00 am and noon). Carpooling is encouraged, of course!

Go to the website to learn more about the place.  The map on the site will lead your way to join us. See you there!

The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon University has an International Exhibition every three years, the opening reception coinciding with the ASBA conference.

They seek fine artists and illustrators who are not  represented in their collection. The exhibition for Fall 2010 is the 13th since the Institute was established in 1964.

Sadly, the curator of art, Mr James White has stepped down from his position due to health reasons. His assistant,  Ms. Lugene Bruno has taken over his position. I know her only via telephone, but she seems to be a wonderful person.

They requested I send six slides from my works painted within the last two years (they accept up to dozen slides or transparencies), a letter and a resume.

Camellia Japonica, watercolor, © 2009, Akiko Enokido

A week later, I received an e-mail from Ms. Bruno informing me that that they had accepted my Camellia Japonica painting.

I painted this piece last spring. I had painted camellias before, but this time I tried to focus on creating the texture of the shiny leaves in watercolor. I showed my work to Jenny Phillips when I took her class at the Huntington Library. She gave me some advice which was very helpful. Thank you, Jenny.

I’m not perfectly happy yet with this piece but I’m glad my effort was acknowledged.

The opening will be held on September  23 at Hunt Institute Gallery, 5th floor, Hunt Libarary, 4909 Frew Street, Carnegie Mellon University. The artwork will be on display until December 21st. I hope you can come and see the exhibition. The ASBA Annual Conference will be held September 23-25.