You are currently browsing the daily archive for September 12, 2016.
by Clara Josephs, Beth Stone and Deb Shaw
BAGSC held an information-stuffed quarterly meeting on Sunday, September 11. Workshops were announced, the new BAGSC website was revealed (more about the website in a future article coming soon) and BAGSC member Kathy Morgan demonstrated carbon dust techniques on clayboard.
Kathy was first introduced to carbon dust in a class with Olga Eysymontt and was immediately hooked. Kathy has mastered this unique method of painting known for rich, dark values and flawless transitions.
A few of Kathy’s favorite materials: a pad of Dura-lar, Wolff’s carbon pencils in four grades of hardness and a stencil cutting kit. Photo by Beth Stone, © 2016.
Instead of using an X-acto blade to cut a stencil, Kathy prefers to use a heated stencil cutter on a sheet of Dura-lar, over a piece of tempered glass. She first places her tissue drawing under the glass, then uses a pen to carefully trace the outline(s) on the Duralar. Moving slowly, she then carefully cuts along all the outlines with the heated stencil cutter. She saves both the positive and negative parts of the stencil to use in different stages of her drawing.
Kathy usually adds some temporary registration marks to her drawing surface and her stencil, to make it easier to align the stencil again at a later stage.
Kathy Morgan prefers to use soft cosmetic brushes of various sizes for her carbon dust work. Photo by Beth Stone, © 2016.
She uses four different hardnesses of Wolff’s carbon pencils to get different tonal values, starting with the lightest tone and getting darker as the drawing progresses. She prefers to use cosmetic brushes, always working from the outside edges in. (If you work from the inside towards the outside, you run the risk of creating a hard, dark edge where the stencil begins.)
Kathy uses a metal emery file to create the carbon dust, adding each hardness of dust to its own empty plastic medicine vial. (Yet another use for those empty medicine containers!)
Kathy Morgan answers questions from BAGSC members Carmen Lindsay and Cristina Baltayian. Photo by Beth Stone, © 2016.
Details are added with a very sharp carbon pencil in the tonal value she needs. She sprays finished works with a workable fixative.
BAGSC members who could stay after the potluck lunch experimented with the technique with the assortment of fruits and vegetables that Kathy brought as subject matter. Thank you Kathy for a fun and informative presentation.
Kathy Morgan demonstrating drawing a pear. Photo by Clara Josephs, © 2016.
BAGSC members Carmen Lindsay and Bonnie Born Ash experiment with carbon dust. Photo by Clara Josephs, © 2016.
by Deb Shaw
Open Parrot Tulip, oil on paper, © 2016, Ingrid Finnan.
In San Francisco? Arader Galleries is currently exhibiting Outside In: Contemporary Natural History Artworks, from September 9 – October 12, 2016. Original artworks are on display by seven ASBA artists, including Francesca Anderson, Jean Emmons, Monika de Vries Gohlke, Ingrid Finnan, Asuka Hishiki, Catherine Watters and Carol Woodin.
An article by ArtPlantae has information about each artist, with links to their websites.
In addition to the exhibition, Outside In, Arader Galleries will also feature the Highgrove Florilegium at the same time. Both volumes of the Florilegium will be on display, capturing HRH The Prince of Wales’ celebrated garden at Highgrove in 124 paintings by contemporary botanical artists from around the world.
by TAG Gallery and Sally Jacobs, posted by Deb Shaw
Savoy Cabbage, graphite, by Sally Jacobs, © 2016.
BAGSC member Sally Jacobs has an upcoming exhibition of watercolor paintings and graphite drawings entitled “Larger Than Life.” The exhibition at the TAG Gallery in the Bergamot Station Art Center runs from September 27 – October 22, 2016
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 1, 2016 from 5 – 8 pm
Artist Panel: Saturday, October 8, 2016, 3 pm
The following is from the press release, sent out by TAG:
Sally was inspired by the rich arrays of produce and flora found in Los Angeles’ farmers markets. Jacobs zooms in, portraying flowers, vegetables, and fruit with dramatic precision. Jacobs transforms a vegetable we choose for nourishment or a flower for decoration by aiming higher, rendering it’s unique structure eye-catching and explicit, causing the viewer to catch their breath in wonder.
Jacobs uses watercolor or pencil in a unique, graduated way, masterfully capturing the minutest details of her subjects’ anatomy while staying true to the whole. She delves deep into a plant’s structure to reveal striking patterns and colors that seize one’s attention and imagination.
Bok choy, watercolor, by Sally Jacobs, © 2016.
Jacobs is a contemporary botanical artist who has exhibited in numerous juried shows in New York and San Francisco, and at museums in New York, Minneapolis and Phoenix. She was an award winner at the Brand 37 Works on Paper exhibit and is one of the artists included in “Todays Botanical Artists,” a publication of well-regarded nature artists.
About TAG Gallery
Established in 1993 as a not-for-profit corporation, TAG Gallery is a member-owned community of forty artists. Through the physical gallery in Santa Monica’s landmark Bergamot Station as well as lectures from exhibiting and visiting artists, TAG Gallery has become a valuable resource for launching the careers of both emerging and mid-career artists based in the greater Los Angeles area. For more information about TAG Gallery, please visit http://www.taggallery.net. Questions about the exhibition? Please contact Rakeem Cunningham, (310) 829-9556, gallery@taggallery.net
TAG is located at 2525 Michigan Ave., D3, in the Bergamot Station Art Center, Santa Monica, CA 90404, 310. 829.9556.
by Leslie Walker with Deb Shaw
Chocolate shake from St Francis Fountain, San Francisco California. By Ann Larie Valentine, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AChocolate_shake_from _St_Francis_Fountain.jpg
Leslie Walker alerted me today that every September 12th is National Chocolate Milkshake Day! Apparently, the holiday dates from 1885, although a quick internet search did not reveal anything about the origins.
Chocolate Milkshakes were created as an alcoholic drink served in bars. In addition to the chocolate, the recipe called for whisky, eggs and cream. By 1900, the whisky had been replaced, and the drink could move out of the bar and into the general population.
If you need a break from painting, Wikipedia has a list of all the designated “food days” from around the world, listed by country (of course!). There are some that are pretty crazy. If you are avoiding dairy but love chocolate, you could have a coconut milk chocolate shake, or, you could wait until tomorrow, September 13, which is International Chocolate Day.
Happy painting!
BAGSC News 