Sterling Edwards Watercolor Workshop

 
It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a watercolor workshop, but when I saw that Sterling Edwards was teaching a couple in Colorado, I inquired as to any openings. “Only a waitlist,“ I was told.  But sometime later was surprised to get an email inquiring as to whether I was still interested — and yes I was!  Not knowing quite what to expect, I gathered the items on his supply list and some reference photos, and early Monday morning, battled rush hour traffic to arrive at the Arvada Center for the 9am start.

About 20 of us set up our supplies and gathered to watch Sterling’s first demo.  No wonder he fills his workshops so quickly — he entertained us with silly jokes, funny stories, his past history (as a policeman!) and of course his step by step painting techniques.  It’s obvious he enjoys what he does, is happy to share his secrets and see his students succeed. 

The first morning was spent watching a beautiful tree emerge from the snow-white paper, using his block-in and negative painting techniques.  After lunch, we all set to trying our hands at this methods, some with more success than others.  The last hour he demonstrated another small painting, giving us lots of options for future works.  He was available for help, and made the rounds checking on our progress.  This was the ideal workshop schedule, with an excellent and motivational instructor.

Workshops can be quite costly, but this one was well worth the money.  Sterling Edwards does produce his own line of art products too — brushes, DVD’s and books and such, and they were available for purchase, but not required.  I did end up spending an additional $30 for a set of 3 bristle brushes which seemed vital to achieve his effects.

The remaining 3 days covered an old mill, a floral and an abstract.  It’s amazing to see a painting being completed in 2-3 hours!  And what fun to try an abstract — not my usual subject!  It’s harder than you think.  Design elements such as shape, line, composition, movement, center of interest etc all still need to be considered for an abstract.

As an added bonus to my fun 4 days being ensconced in art at the Arvada Center, I was able to view both the Colorado Watercolor Society and Western Federation watercolor exhibits in the upstairs and downstairs galleries. So many beautiful and intriguing pieces.  The shows are up through the end of August, so if you get a chance to see them I would highly recommend it.  And if Sterling Edwards comes back to town, I would highly recommend jumping on the chance to take his workshop!

Book Review: Tuesday Nights in 1980 by Molly Prentiss

Synesthesia: a subjective sensation or image of a sense (as of color) other than the one (as of sound) being stimulated.

Imagine tasting wild strawberries upon meeting your future spouse, or knowing certain letters and numbers should be green, that applesauce tastes like sadness, and the word "mother" smells like citrus.  James, the main character of this unusual novel, puts his condition to use in writing unique critiques of artists' work for the New York Times.  Synesthesia allows him to communicate with art in a new way, and to write about art in a way no one else can. 

The reader is immersed into the art world of New York in the 1980's, introduced to quirky characters and their expressions of art -- art as essence rather than object, art as action. "Artworks were meant to provide pleasure, not income, and art was not about fame but about feeling."

Relationships and human interactions pull us into this story and keep us interested in the lives of James, his wife and friends, and how they deal with disappointment, challenges and change.  And being artists ourselves, we enjoy being part of their world.  "That's what an artist is," says James.  "Someone whose way of looking at the world -- just their gaze--is already an idea in itself!" 

The Unmolding of Hypertufa

The eagerly anticipated unmolding of the hypertufa has arrived!  Ann and volunteers gathered to unmold and trim the hypertufa planters, which had been curing overnight.  Still a little soft, they need a week or so to fully cure before they can be planted and given as gifts or sold in the LAC Gallery.  They turned out great, and once planted will be lightweight and functional.  Fun!
 

A Hypertufa Afternoon

In preparation for the upcoming LAC Garden Tour, the very creative Ann Quinn came up with the idea of making hypertufa planters to give as thank you gifts to the host gardeners, as well as to sell at the gallery.  What is hypertufa you ask?  It is a combination of Portland cement, perlite or vermiculite and peat moss.  This moist mixture gets molded into forms, decorated and dyed if desired, then after being cured for a couple of days, unmolded and readied for planting.  The resulting planters are lightweight and somewhat porous, making an ideal vessel for outdoor plants. 

A few of us gathered at Ann's house on Saturday and played in the mud! 
 
What a mess, but we donned our rubber gloves, some a little fancier than others, and mixed the ingredients then stuffed our molds and set them aside in garbage bags to cure. 

In the meantime, Ann took us on a little tour of her own garden, which was featured in the LAC Garden Tour a couple of years ago.

 I was so impressed that she had already harvested enough greens from her "hoop" vegetable garden to enjoy a salad.
 
 Crabapple petals rained down on us as we walked through her yard, laughing at her squirrel visitors and her sense of humor on her hand-painted garden post.

Even her front yard is in bloom with tulips and other flowers (I still have snow in mine!)  But the highlight is her homemade Little Library at the edge of the sidewalk, which attracts the neighborhood kids and adults alike.  Take one, leave one and enjoy.  And even the library itself is planted with sedums on the roof.

The hypertufa pots will be ready to unmold soon, so look for them at the gallery during the Garden show and Garden Tour. 

Sunday Sights at the Gallery

Sitting the gallery today, I marveled at the art of the LAC's newer members, along with the creations of members who've been with the Co-op for a while.  I listened to the patrons laughing and enjoying their libations at the Westfax brewery next door, and watched little kids run around the Casa Bonita courtyard.  It was a fairly quiet day, but here's some photos from my day.
If you haven't been into the gallery for a while, stop in and see what's new!

No Foolin' -- First Friday was Fantastic!

April 1st, and being a First Friday Art Walk, brought out the masses for an enjoyable evening of socializing, listening to music and of course, viewing the art!  
 
The Lakewood Arts Council Gallery was packed with visitors sampling the wide assortment of munchies, sipping wine and moving to the sweet sounds of The Sugar Factory. 


 
Lynnette Kupferer was demo'ing the fine art of mosaic-making and many of the Co-op artists were in attendance to talk about their art.
 

And nearby, the 40West Gallery was hosting a show which included the artwork of LAC's own Kathy Ross. 
 
 
Belmar's Block 7 was busy as well, with Valkarie Gallery and others staying open till 9 for a block-long art walk.  

If you missed this one, come on out next month on the First Friday, when Lauree Bartee will demo ceramic tile making and the Musical entertainment will be provided by Les Baca and Brian Sapp.

Try a new medium -- alcohol inks.

So many mediums, so little time!  Watercolors, acrylics, pastels, colored pencils -- I have them all and love to create, but tend to concentrate on what I know and am familiar with.  But I recently became intrigued with the relatively new medium of alcohol inks.  Even though they've been around for at least 10 years or so, I hadn't really noticed them until I saw a sampler pack on the discount rack at Aaron Bros and decided I must try them. 

Although there may be others, it seems the two main brands of alcohol inks are Jacquard Pinata Inks and Ranger Adirondack Inks.  Doing a little research for helpful hints on technique and materials needed, I found that they work best on non-porous surfaces (such as YUPO, ceramic tiles etc) and are permanent when dry.  Rubbing alcohol is used to thin the ink, added to the substrate to create different effects, and also cleans up the ink.  The containers themselves are squeeze bottles, so the ink can be applied directly to the work surface.  Straws are useful to blow the ink around, and brushes, Q-tips or other tools can be employed in painting with these inks.  The colors are vivid, and metallics add to the finished look.

There are numerous YouTube videos, tutorials on Pinterest and pieces for sale on Etsy using these alcohol inks.  Check them out and become inspired to create your own masterpieces while having fun with alcohol inks!