Another artist in The Muses group is Peggy Kerwan.  Maybe because she teaches yoga weekly, Peggy is usually very energetic and productive when I have painted with her on Tuesdays.  Peggy typically has a palette full of colorful, acrylic paint globs beside her and a canvas that quickly gets covered with her expressive brush strokes.  Sometimes she uses a rag or a finger to make her "finger-paintings" and she's nicknamed, "the smudger."

Peggy is a self-taught artist and works in many mediums.  For the past year, she has been experimenting in mixed media, creating collages and mosaics with collected papers (t'art) and papers (oils), in addition to the mosaics of glass and wood.  She has created several pieces in encaustic, a blend of wax, pigments and resins.  Peggy, who accepts commissions, also has experience in painting wall murals, faux finishes, portraits & figurative, abstracts, photo-op posters, masks, and monoprints.

"My fondness of whimsy, which has allowed me to paint many children's murals, sometimes finds its way over into my portrait and figure work.  In the past I preferred to paint from my imagination, using bright colors and a sense of humor to express my high level of energy and positive outlook."

Peggy's art has been exhibited around the Detroit metro area:  Ferndale's Lawrence Street Gallery (www.lawrencestreetgallery.com), the Livonia Civic Center Library, South Lyon's The Menagerie Gallery, Novi's Picasso Cafe, Canton's Village Theater, Dexter's Daisy Lake Gallery (www.daisylakeartgallery.com), and the Detroit Artist Market (www.detroitartistsmarket.org).

Tonight, as part of the First Friday Art Walk, at the Northville Art House (www.northvillearts.org) is the opening reception of the exhibit "The Painted Stage, Theater Portrayed Through the Artist's Brush (A Tipping Point Collaboration)".   Peggy's art will be exhibiting (June 5 - 20) as well as fellow Muses: Linda Logan, Daria Fileta, Mary Step, Candace Brancik, Barbara Eko Murphy, and Jeff Cancelosi.  I know Peggy and the other Muses put a lot a planning, time, and effort into the initial Tipping Point Exhibit (May 2009) which is now the Northville Art House exhibit.  The results should be fantastic!

www.flickr.com/people/miss_peggy/











 

Teaching fellow artists has many rewards.  One reward is to meet an aspiring artist as a student and then be able to observe their artistic growth during class and outside of class.  One such student of mine is Marilyn Kooistra Marsh.

Marilyn came to my class one night as a guest, as her daughter, Caron Valentine-Marsh, was taking an oil painting class from me.  Marilyn was interested in that class' topic on portraiture.  She then enrolled in my following two classes.

After working 40 years as a social worker/researcher and librarian, Marilyn's retirement gave her time to explore art history and to take art classes.  She studied drawing at the Ann Arbor Art Center (www.annarborartcenter.org).  Marilyn studied watercolor with Barbara Starner and color theory/acrylics/experimental with Leslie Masters.  She then started using water mixable oil paints and exploring landscapes subjects/impressions from her travels to Europe and the US.

Marilyn is a member of the Ann Arbor Women Artists (www.annarborwomenartists.com).  In 2008, she had sixteen paintings shown at Gallery 55+ in Ann Arbor for three months.  Most recently, I had the pleasure to see her work at The Side Door Gallery (www.thesidedoorgallery.com) in Dexter, MI.  The May through June exhibit, "Generations Art Exhibit" has artwork from pairs of relatives, and Marilyn is sharing the wall space with her daughter, Caron.

Her artist's statement:  "A goal for my painting is to portray the beauty and sensuality of color, form, and texture through a variety of subjects and styles.  In landscape paintings 9"plein air" and from photos) I strive to portray a mood/emotional experience.  often I alter the actual colors in the landscapes and occasionally "convert" to an abstraction rather than a photographic image."

Marilyn is a "young" artist who is exploring all the delicious aspects of painting.  Her motifs and shapes are simple but solid, her color choices are vibrant and committed, and her compositions are balanced and playful.  Her joy in painting shows.  I'm looking forward to seeing more of her explorations.

Update:  See a version of this blog with added photos on the Portrait Society website:

Portrait Society of America, Inc. - Portrait Society, Portrait Artists, Portra

If you love painting portraits like I do, then you must try to attend the annual portrait conference, The Art of the Portrait, given by the Portrait Society of America.  (www.PortraitSociety.org)  The following are some of the details and benefits.

The Location.  Since attending my first conference in 2003 in Washington, DC and sadly missing the 2004 conference in Boston, Massachusetts, I have been at every subsequent conference and I always enjoy them immensely.  The 2006 conference was in Dallas, Texas and the 2008 (the Portrait Society's tenth anniversary) was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The Washington, DC location is actually at the Hyatt Regency in Reston, Virginia, a nearby superb of Washington and near the Dulles airport.  The years I attended: 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009 were all in DC (Reston).  I heard during this year's conference that DC will be the permanent location, maybe because the specifics of managing the conference have been worked out rather successfully.

The Shuttle.  The conference begins in the late afternoon on Thursday, when most people are flying or driving into town.  You get a big clue that the DC conference is happening when you take the free, convenient shuttle to the hotel from Dulles airport and everyone on the shuttle is an artist or looks like one.  As opposed to sometimes grumbling, stern, darkly dressed business travelers, this group on the shuttle is usually smiling, dressed with a little more flair or color, and carrying all sizes of portfolios.  I usually buy some roses at the airport to enliven my stark hotel room and the flowers typically invite some artistic conversations.  One of the many conference benefits is the short shuttle ride, where you can perhaps begin connecting with other artists from around the country and maybe develop lasting friendships.

The Hotel.  Checking in at the Hyatt is usually swift and the staff are very courteous.  The attendees receive conference room rates.  Like most people, I take my things to the room before heading to the conference registration area.  The rooms at the Hyatt have always been nicely appointed and clean.  The hotel elevator bank can get busy at certain times, however, they offer another chance to connect with other attendees.  As an alternative and for some much need exercise, the stairwells are good for short trips.  I believe the hotel also offers an exercise room. 

The Conference Registration.  Volunteers and the Society's state ambassadors stand at tables loaded with the attendees registration packets.  The attendees receive in their packet: their name badges, tickets, and conference information.  This year, the packet included a lot of product promotional literature as well.  Again, one more chance to connect with people and if you haven't already, you can meet your state ambassador.

The Art Suppliers.  Another benefit of the conference is a room devoted to booths of art suppliers.  Besides offering information, the reps are selling various products, such as brushes or paints, and sometimes at reduced prices.  I have not checked whether the prices compare with the internet or catalog prices.  For me, I try to find bargains and unique items.  This year, from the Richeson Company (www.richesonart.com), I excitedly bought their paper palette that was the color of middle value gray.  Wow - this will be good for demonstrations and for my students before they invest in a wooden palette.   As for wooden palettes, I usually stop by the Turtlewood Palette booth (www.Turtlewoodpalettes.com), a company in Tennessee that I discovered during a Michael Shane Neal workshop (www.MichaelShaneNeal.com).  The company has a vast array of wooden palettes and every year I purchase one or two (the palettes travel great in the suitcase).

The Books and Dvds.  Here's your chance to peruse various portrait and art books that may not be at the typical bookstore.  Most of the authors are going to be speaking or demonstrating during the conference.  If your budget can afford it, you can purchase the book and if offered, stand in line to have it personally signed by the author.  When the book is really popular or short in supply, try to buy it early as I have always witnessed sell-outs each year.  The dvds are even a better deal to purchase at the conference because they are usually sold only through a special website (and you save on mailing fees).  Some dvds sell-out as well.  This year there were some reduced dvd prices, probably to move some stock and help our fellow artists in the current, strained economy. 

The New Face-Off.  Thursday nights are usually filled with some activity to supplement the incoming registration process and art supply shopping.  This year it was a new "Face-Off" program.  In a large room,  fifteen of the top-tiered portrait artists painted from models (three artists to a model) for two and half hours with  the normal model breaks.  The attendees could walk around the room or sit on provided chairs and witness various artists creating their alla prima portraits.  I believe all were painted with oil paint except Judith Carducci (www.JudithCarducci.com), who painted with pastels.  Having studied with Dawn Whitelaw (www.DawnWhitelaw.com), I spent more time watching and enjoying her endeavors.  Then, the resulting portraits were place in a room where attendees could write in silent bids to raise money for the Society.

The Artist's Perspectives.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are filled with a selection of top-tiered portrait artists' perspectives or talks, usually with plenty of slides and/or photos of artwork.  This year John Howard Sanden (www.JohnHowardSanden.com), Everett Raymond Kinstler (www.EverettRaymondKinstler.com), Richard Schmid (www.RichardSchmid.com), and Burton Silverman (www.BurtonSilverman.com) gave their particular perspectives.  Each gave rich information of their experiences, lives, and artwork, all with adequate touches of humor.

The Artist's Demonstrations.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are also filled with a selection of top-tiered portrait artists' demonstrations with a model that may be someone famous or perhaps another popular artist.  This year artists demonstrating were Mary Whyte (a watercolorist) (www.colemanfineart.com), Judith Carducci (a pastelist and a people choice selection from the Face-Off Thursday night), and Daniel Greene (an oil demo) (www.DanielGreeneArtist.com).   All three gave good instructions while painting under the bright stage lights.  There are three huge projector screens in the room that display a split-screen of the model and the painting.  The stage is too far away for most people to try to watch the actual action on the canvas.  Taking plenty of notes is good advice  for these demos as the information is forthcoming and worthwhile.  I just compared my Daniel Greene notes from the previous years and he is always very thorough and consistent, like his dvds.

The Break-out Sessions.  Friday afternoons have the two break-out sessions where attendees can select one topic from each session to attend.  Each year there's always a session with Daniel Greene critiquing the sent in slides and a drawing session or two by a popular artist.  Then there are panels with a group of top-tiered artists that discuss various topics of the business or techniques.  There's usually a demo session or two by a particular artist.  One of the regulars is Calvin Goodman, a management consultant (www.artmarketinghandbook.com), that helps artists.

The Portfolios.  If you have one, bring it.  Be sure to spruce it up and put your best work in it.  During the lunchtime hours, you can have top-tiered artists review your portfolio and give you advice.  Prepare to stand in line, especially if you wait for a more popular artist to review your portfolio.  In addition, you can have your friends or new acquaintances take a look at it.  You can also leave it on a long table that provided for the portfolios where other artists can look at it and maybe leave a note of encouragement.  Last, there's a portfolio competition and maybe you might win.

The Competition.  Besides bringing all the portrait artists together for the demos and perspectives, the other goal is to decide the winners from the finalists of the portrait competition.  This year there were fifteen entries displayed at the conference.  This is another benefit for the conference, seeing the finalist paintings together and up close.  During the opening ceremonies, the finalists' slides are displayed as well as the honorable mentions.  Then during the banquet Saturday night, the winners are announced and awarded.

The Banquet.  Saturday night is the night to put on your best, chat with your table mates and eat banquet food, hear the announcement of the winners, and listen to some selected speakers.  Special awards are given out this time and this year's Gold Medal Award was given to Nelson Shanks (www.NelsonShanks.com).  Afterward, many artists celebrate or go back to their rooms to pack because Sunday is checkout.

The Cecelia Beaux Forum.  This is a forum that specializes in promoting and mentoring women in the arts and it usually has a lunchtime program for the members.  This year Mary Whyte gave an excellent talk on tips to create your best painting ever. 

The Inspiration Hour.  On Sunday morning before the conference begins, attendees can experience an inspiration hour where artists can appreciate their spiritual influence in their work.  Usually there is a guest speaker to offer his or her point of view and this year the speaker was Calvin Goodman.

The Museum Visit.  The conference officially ends at noon on Sunday.  The attendees are then invited to take a round trip bus trip from the hotel to a local museum for the afternoon.  Again, the bus trip is another way to meet other artists.  This year the museum trip was to the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery  (www.npg.si.edu) in downtown DC.  Previously, I missed it due to my early flight home, however this year I made an extra effort to go (and paid for it by taking a $$60 taxi ride back out to Dulles).  My friends and I did receive a special treat.  Sculpture artist, Rhoda Sherbell, NA (www.theArtStudentsLeague.org), personally took us around the museum and so graciously showed us her three sculptures. 

The Friends.  The last topic is the most important.  In the world of portraiture when many times as an artist, you spend a lot of time working alone at the easel, being able to connect with other portrait artists is the most rewarding aspect of the conference.  Each year my circle of artist friends get larger due to the conference.  Sometimes just a warm smile and a quick catch-up are all that you can share because the conference is full of the stated above activities.  So, bring plenty of your business cards because there is always email or Facebook to keep in touch until next year.

 

 

 

 

 

This last weekend I was very lucky to experience a worth-your-while three day workshop at The Art Loft in Canal Winchester, Ohio where C. Michael Dudash was the featured guest artist.  

My artist friend, Candace Brancik, has been a devoted follower of Michael and his work; they both share similar careers in graphic illustrations.  When she told me about Michael's upcoming landscape workshop, I checked his website to learn more about him.   www.cmdudash.com

For me, it was a big "wow".  I immediately responded to his vivid colors, his juicy paint strokes, his excellant drawing skills, and especially his range of subjects (landscape, still life, figurative, and portrait).  I was sure then that the workshop would be at least be enjoyable just to see his demonstrations.

The first day Michael worked on an unfinished painting, demonstrating different paint application techniques as well as his choices of oil paint colors from his palette.  His reference came from an 8x10" photo that was slightly enhanced using Adobe Photoshop.  Michael seems to be very adept at using the program to bend colors or to overlay partial croppings from other photos.

For his brushes, he uses various bristle and non-bristle brushes, some being 'abused' brushes that give the right texture in spots.  He also uses softer sable or mongoose brushes for subtle blendings.  His canvases are mostly linen canvas glued onto a support of some type.  Michael's paint colors are the standard red, yellow, blue colors punched with the pthalos, grounded with the earth colors, and Permelba for his white.  He uses Liquin for a medium and oderless mineral spirits for washes and clean-up.

Some of his techniques could be described as painterly or stylistic.  When massing in, Michael likes to quickly swab on paint in a middle value, brushing in different directions.  From there, he'll add colors that are darker or lighter, meticulously laying the paint on top.  Or, he will add the same value of colors but with different temperatures.

A marvelous technique I learned from Michael was painting negative spaces, where let's say, the light background, is cut into the dark mass of the tree, as opposed to painting the tree with deliberate dark strokes over the light background.  I guess I knew this from adding sky holes to trees, but I never tried it in other places.  Wonderful, wonderful.  Thank you, Michael.

Another technique Michael explained was to paint all the darks one temperature (cool or warm) in order to unite the painting; conversely, paint all the lights one temperature.  (Check for this simple idea on your current paintings whether it might improve them.)

Regarding values, a topic more important than color, he reminds us to limit our values to three or four in order to make a more cohesive statement in our paintings.  For example, with clouds in some cases, it's better to keep the value around the same but vary the temperature to give them life.  Michael sometimes put a dab of black or white on the painting to judge his values.

He also talked about glazing (a diluted, transparent version of pigment); it's a great technique to make colors 'pop' on a painting.  The underpaint layer has to be somewhat dry to be effective.

Michael demonstrated for the public and us Friday night after the Friday's segment.  His subject was a farm scene in back of a corn field and he painted it on a large piece of linen canvas taped to a board.  Near the end, he pulled the tape back a bit to show how values can be compared to the white of the unpainted canvas.

There were  a dozen or so artists that attended this workshop and they were mostly from the area around Columbus or southern Ohio.  We all got to paint a couple of landscapes from photos or set-ups of still lifes. If he wasn't demonstrating, Michael spent his time critiquing us individually and as a group.  He was more than happy to go the extra mile and stay later if necessary. 

The artist Donna Noice helped so generously to make all the workshop arrangements and kept Michael and us very comfortable with her coffee, snacks, lunches, and her beautiful smile.  Thank you, Donna.

The Art Loft was also a great location (a historic, quaint, little town), easy to get to with free parking, and large windows for outside light as well as adequate inside lighting.  There was a nearby shopping center with restaurants and a clean, affordable Best Western hotel nearby.  www.robertwarrenartloft.com

Last, a big thank you goes to Candy for driving us there (including some snow on the way back) and for introducing me to C. Michael Dudash.  Wonderful.

 

One of the 9 Muses is Candace (Candy) Brancik of Milford.  On Tuesdays, I see Candy paint mostly in oils, usually starting with a small, tonal underpainting.  She then introduces her rich palette of colors, and builds her figures with a delicate grace of brushwork.  Her finished paintings have an old world feeling, however, they exude a contemporary confidence.

Candy writes:  "After 20+ years in the commercial art field, I realized I had strayed from the things I really loved about art, and so in 2004, I retired early from my job to go back to the more fulfilling field of fine art.  Currently, I paint with our Tuesday group from a live model, mostly in oil, and at home in the studio.  I find myself gravitating towards mixed media drawings of animals, and of birds in particular.  But I still feel I'm looking for that inner voice to come out, so my goals are to continue to experiment with media, develop technically, and eventually build a cohesive body of work."

Tonight, Candy is receiving top honors at the Lawrence Street Gallery's 2009 The Body Electric Juried Competition & Exhibition (www.lawrencestreetgallery.com) for her mixed media work titled "Stripes". Congratulations, Candy. 

Candy's website:  www.thepixelcollective.com/cbrancik

A core group of nine devoted artists, calling themselves "The Muses", meet every Tuesday for a few hours in order to create figurative art from a  female or male model. 

Most of the time the model will pose for short gestures for the artists to warm-up and then spend the rest of the time in an extended pose, either nude or clothed.  If the model doesn't bring their own costume, the costumes are selected from a large closet of colorful dresses, skirts, blouses, scarves, and jewelry.  Various props are used, such as different chairs, chaises, or benches, along with flowers, ceramics, or vases.  Background draperies are suspended behind the model stand, which is a large, wooden base on wheels.  The lighting comes from a long row of windows with northeastern exposure, some overhead spotlights, and a model stand light.

Music usually plays softly in the background.  While the artists work at their craft, lively banter fills the air with interesting discussions about the current news events or movies playing at the theaters.  There are always humorous commentaries that keep the chatter mixed with laughter.  During model breaks, the artists enjoy fresh coffee and technique discussions with each others' work in progress.

Pictured in the Muses photo above are -
Front row:  Daria Fileta, Peggy Kerwan, Jeff Cancelosi, Barbara Eko Murphy, Mary Step, LInda Logan;
Back row:  Sandra Bozer, Debbie Valentine Matthews, Candy Brancik.