Artists' Garage Sale

Let's fix this messy studio by getting rid of some stuff!

"This is the first ever 'clean out the studio' and recoup your losses yard sale!" according to Debbie Rasberry of the Piedmont Pastel Society. She has invited MAG and others to participate in this event for artists to buy and sell art items and meet each other in the process. It's a no-lose proposition. So plan on attending to sell or buy. 

Bring any art/photography supplies you are no longer using, or have never used and sell them to other artists. Easels, frames, frame supplies, any art/photography surfaces, paints, pastels, brushes, books and DVDs... bring it along and sell it.

Tables are provided, but artists are responsible for their own sales. Bring plenty of cash for change.

It is Saturday, July 20th, 10 AM to Noon, at the McDowell Art Center in the upstairs gallery at 123 McDowell Street, Matthews. The building is located next to the Matthews Community Center at 100 McDowell Street. Some gps gadgets have a hard time finding the art center.

In addition, any unwanted or unsold items can be donated to the Nash County Correctional Facility for a wonderful program that teaches interactive skills through art! They need supplies like pastels, pastel paper, watercolors, brushes, etc. Labeled boxes will be around for greatly appreciated donations.

Contact Nicki Shishakly at nmshish2@gmail.com to reserve a table.

Afterwards, PPS will have Adele Goodman do an animal pastel portrait demo and give advice on how to survive a negative critique at 1 PM. 

Leslie Hudson-Tolles: "Born Again Art Teacher"

Leslie shares tip of blending pastels with biodegradable

packing peanuts.

Leslie Hudson-Tolles teaches art because she really loves it. Her presentation for MAG at the McDowell Arts Center titled, "Fear Not", gave proof of it. It was no surprise to learn while in Connecticut, she taught art to Richard Schmid's children! We were very fortunate to have her as our teacher too last Tuesday night.

She opened her presentation with this statement, "Art is a journey, not a race." She encouraged all artists to avoid being labeled, to venture out and try all types of mediums and subjects. Leslie is known as a pastel equine artist. But she actually does all types of art: printmaking, sculpting, watercolor, and painting. And her pastel demo was not of a horse, but of a silhouetted sky scene. Her artistic journey is an example for us all.

An example of one of Leslie's prints

Leslie allowed for many questions and even 

allowed curious fingers to touch the wet pastels.

Here are some other helpful tidbits from Leslie:

Getting help through critiques are fine as long as they are not harsh. 

When out painting en plein air, put pastels in a deli tray filled with rice to keep them clean.

Add water to alcohol when blending the pastels and use crosshatch strokes.

She learned from Daniel Green to sharpen pastels with an x-acto knife.

While creating a scene, avoid predictable patterns. 

Your scene should also have an interesting path for the eyes of the viewer... a triangle... a "Z"... with a focal area, not just a focal point.

Don't use black. It makes the "great void."

Look for and be aware of negative spaces. Printmaking is good training for awareness of and making negative spaces.

When selecting someone to make your giclees, base it on whoever uses the latest and best equipment and also on whoever will work to get the best image. Evidence is found in the stack of rejects.

Curtis Sloops holds up one of Leslie's giclees as she 

explains the difficulty of making an image with white and brown.

Nancy Kennedy is arranging a workshop with Leslie at the McDowell Arts Center. More information about this will be posted on the blog as soon as a date is finalized. Don't miss it!

Thank you, Leslie, for a wonderful presentation!

Thanks to Cynthia Powers for all the photographs.

MAG Summer Show Exhibit at the MAC

It's summer! After fishing at the lake go and look at some MAG art at the 

McDowell Arts Center July-August

MAG artists are invited to present up to three works at the McDowell Arts Center for July and most of August. There is no theme... just let it be cool.

Take-in is Saturday, July 6th, from 10 AM to Noon at the McDowell Arts Center. There is no fee but please make sure your 2-dimensional works are wired. Sawtooths and clip hangers are not accepted. Take-down will be Saturday, August 24.

Also, at this show we will have pottery from some wonderful guest artists at Gaston. Should be a great exhibit!

Life Drawing Tonight and Every Wednesday Night

"Tom" by Jack

If you enjoy Life Drawing then bring your supplies to the Matthews Community Center on McDowell Street in historic downtown Matthews tonight, 6/5, a little earlier than starting time, 7 PM. The cost is very reasonable, no less than $4 and no more than $10, depends on how many attend to split the model fee. The only requirement is artists must be 18 or older to participate.

If you are able, offer to help with set up and take down and always thank Nancy Kennedy for scheduling the models and arranging everything.

Leslie Hudson-Tolles Presenter for MAG 6/11 Meeting

Leslie Hudson-Tolles with her husband

The June presenter at MAG's next meeting is Leslie Hudson-Tolles an artist known for her equine works in pencils and pastels. She also creates monoprints using etched zinc plates; and she paints and sculpts. Her works have made the cover of such magazines as: The Chronicle of the Horse, Visions, Equine Images, The Horseman's Yankee Pedlar and the California Riding Magazine. 

Even better, her artistic versatility goes below the surface. Her goal is stated on her web site: "Drawings, paintings, and prints that accurately portray the form, spirit and personality of the individual." Browse her wonderful gallery at http://www.lhudson-tolles.com.

Come and meet and learn from Leslie! All MAG meetings are free and open to the public.

Date: Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Time: 7 PM (social time starts at 6:30 PM)

Place: Downstairs studio at the McDowell Arts Center (123 McDowell Street, Matthews, NC)

Avoid Tangents! One of Many Lessons Learned at Critique Night

Gene and Russ critiquing pastel work by Verna Hash

Thanks again to Gene Lazo and Russ Smith for another helpful Critique Night at the McDowell Arts Center Tuesday night, May 21. Paintings and photographs were brought for their fresh knowledgeable eyes. Here's what happened:

A watercolor painting of a painting of a bee, within the context of a paint table with paints and brushes, brought out a discussion of how avoiding symmetry can bring zing to a work of art. Gene suggested tilting the bee painting rather than having it in line with the painting as a whole. It takes away the symmetry and draws more attention to the bee.

What do you do with a horse portrait when the horse is all brown? Russ suggested playing with the cool shadows to bring out facial features.

A word that was brought up a few times was, "tangent". It applies to when a subject or form touches and is in line with another subject or form. Try to avoid these. For example, in one painting, the peak of a gazebo roof perfectly touched the top edge of a canvas. The result was boring. So what do you do? Take the roof completely off the edge. This is a far better option than having the roof's tip top kissing the canvas' top edge. So... keep it interesting and go off on a tangent.

A lovely photograph was brought on canvas. Is the public receptive to unconventional presentations of photography? The reaction was mixed. That happens when art ventures off from the norm. Be brave. Do what appeals to you.

Some other advise from the audience was, "If you don't like it, don't paint it. Leave it out. You don't have to paint everything you see." "Make a strong distinction between the shaded and unshaded sides of a building." "That flower is positioned perfectly with top and bottom of the subject in the thirds section." "Beach paintings look great in pickled white frames." All this along with encouraging compliments to deserving efforts.

Please note that Critique Night will take a summer hiatus due to vacations but will return in September. Get those paintings ready!

Carol Pighin Mixes Inks at Demo

Carol Pighin explaining her process of painting oil 

over alcohol inks on canvas

You won't find anything like this demo on youtube because this is Carol's own technique and MAG was greatly honored to have her share it with us at our meeting Tuesday night, May 14, at the McDowell Arts Center studio room. 

Carol started off her abstract field of mums with the alcohol inks already purposely applied to the canvas. She had also applied clear gesso over the inks. The inks and gesso must dry before the thinned oil paints are added. 

Carol's supplies for the demo

Her palette included Indian yellow, ultramarine blue, phthalo blue, Winsor blue, cad yellow, cad lemon yellow, alizarin crimson, phthalo green and quinacridone red. Turpenoid was used to thin the oils before application so the inks behind will show through. Bristle flat and round brushes were used along with a palette knife to apply the oil paints.

When asked why she worked with alcohol inks on canvas, as opposed to yupo paper, Carol said, "... because I am an oil painter." She suggested those who are watercolorists to try their own experiments with yupo paper. Many in the audience after seeing Carol's demo, were coming up with their own ideas of how to incorporate alcohol inks with other mediums. 

Sharing artistic ideas and expanding on them is what MAG is all about. Thanks, Carol! We hope to see those ideas become real in our future exhibits.

Carol shows one of her completed works

Carol applying thinned oil over inks 

so underpaint of inks shows through

Field of Mums completed... lovely!

Thanks to Cynthia Powers for the photographs.