Review: Gauguin and Canaletto Exhibit's at our National Museum and the Chester Dale Collection

Preparations for an art program are keeping me busy this week along with a side trip to the National Museum to see the Gauguin and Canaletto Exhibit's.  But my most favorite exhibit of the day was the Chester Dale Collection - From Impressionism to Modernism (who gave to the museum some 300 works of art.  Chester who (1883-1962) was a successful businessman who made his fortune on Wall Street, and his artist/critic wife Maud put together one of the finest collections of 19th and early 20th century art.  One that I think rivals the Frick collection in New York.  The Monet's, Degas's and Cezanne were wonderful but the several Mary Cassatt's were my favorites.  While the Picasso exhibit still is on here in Richmond the several pieces they owned of his Blue period were also intriguing.   I wish I could share with you images here on this blog but I wouldn't want to infringe on copyright issues.   This is simply a must see for anyone who visits the museum.  (Many of these works are exhibited only here as was Mr. Dale's request.)  

The purpose of the trip was to see the prior mentioned exhibits.  Although Gauguin was not one of my favorite painter's his life was an interesting tale with an tragic end.  What I did find in this collection of paintings, wood carvings and ceramic sculptures was several almost impressionistic paintings he did, which was so out of his normal style.  Having always loved the skills needed to carve wood but lacking the strength in my own hands, I found his works in wood fascinating.  Also his ceramic sculptures.  Although some of his subject matter was a bit disturbing.  His love of the island people of Tahiti is apparent.

Canaletto's paintings in Venice were of course the detailed works of architecture that I adore but never want to replicate.  During the time of the Venetto  artists painting this city for tourism sales, Canaletto was surely the master who started it all.  What I found interesting was from the selection of his piers Canaletto seemed to paint the pristine and the "department of tourism approved" view of Venice.  Several of his piers portrayed the city a bit more realistic and time worn.  But all displayed an extremely technical command of their brushes.  (Amazing when you think of the quality of brushes they had to work with.)

Now when people say my colored pencil is time consuming I'll think to my self "Whoa if they could only see those Canaletto's."

Landscapes in Colored Pencil

                            Lakeside Sunset - 12 X 16 Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard
    
I have always admired the Hudson River Valley painters and wished to convey my style in a landscape.  Like most artists I'm always wanting to try something new, or add to my bucket list of paintings done.  My current challenge is to develop my style into the landscape genre.  I've been participating in a free landscape webinar put on by WetCanvas and F & W books and artist Johannes Vloothius.  These webinar recordings will be available for download by F & W at a later date.  I found out about the web classes after the first 8 classes were given, we are now into the 18th class.  (Ever the timely one here. LOL) This class is primarily for painters in oil, water color, acrylics and pastels.  But has so much great info for even this colored pencil painter.  I wish I had started the above shown painting after I gleamed valuable landscape knowledge from this master painter.  As it defies many of his do's and falls short with many of his don'ts. 

But I have learned from the advice of other artists friends, and that is not to mention a paintings faults but to learn from them and move on.  Even Johannes comments to not redo or fix a painting but to just progress from there.   So that is what I'll do.  The painting is of a sunset from the lake at Dillman's Resort in WI where I attended a colored pencil class given by Cecile Baird.  And no matter my issues with the painting I can still hear the loons calling at night when I look at it.      

I do wish to become adept at creating landscapes with colored pencil.  Realizing that I may need to practice with plein air work in pastel when on site.  But this was a studio piece from a photo of that sunset on a June evening when art was in the air.

Now back to scribbling on my new challenge rushing water UP Close and Personal............

New Website Up and Running and Other Business

After taking my time and making sure to learn then create my new website using iweb on my Mac (all in order to enable me to do updates myself and not pester my son Chris), I have learned much!  I have made plenty of errors (which equates to many more hours than a tech savvy person) and in general now have a sense of accomplishment, or  as much as any computer challenged individual can have.   Take a look at:  http://www.gloriacallahan.com 

Other than a whole new look, additional pages (class offerings, events and such) it contains some new work.  But also it contains a link to my BLOG here so I will be making even more efforts to keep up on updating this blog. 

"Business":  Yes something we creative types all shun but HAVE to make efforts toward in order to be efficient, organized and marketed.  (Or at least find my pencil sharpener!)  My old hat of being a comptroller for several companies i.e. accounting, keeps me motivated to track my finances and those of the Bon Air Artists Assoc. of which I am treasurer.  Working toward 501C3 (tax exempt) status for them has me resurrecting too much of my left brain.   And thus not creating as much art as I wish I could. 

Funny thing that left brain, it rears it's head when we least expect it, but useful when completing our taxes.  I find myself having to fool it more and more these days doing things like turning my photo ref upside down, looking in a mirror at my work and erasing more than before I took on this task.   But now that I'm done with the website set up, I'm on to the next post about colored pencil in landscape painting! 

Now where did I hide the photo ref.........  

14th National Exhibit at Gallery West, Alexandria, VA

My accepted entries into this show are below: 

Reflecting On Lunch In Sienna was a painting I did from my trip to Tuscany in 2009, 24 x 18 on Ampersand Pastelboard.

English Garden Foxglove 11 X 14 colored pencil on Ampersand pastelboard is a painting from my garden.

After a short visit with my mother in law in FL  and then Bon Air Artists Assoc. meetings, I'm finally back to business.  Sunday before the disappointing Steelers vs Green Bay Super Bowl game I had a day trip up to Old Towne Alexandria to deliver the 2 paintings to my first DC area show.  First of all after living in VA since 1988 this was my first visit to this area and boy was it charming!  I hope we have good results to the show which runs from Feb. 6th to March 6th, with the reception on Sat. Feb. 12th from 5-8 pm.  The juror was DC artist/blogger F. Lennox Campello.  His show statement was as follows:

“In over 30 years of creating, marketing, selling, buying and curating art, the only constant that has stood the test of time has been that I have never ceased to be amazed at the creativity and skill of artists. Just when you think that you've seen one green landscape too many, or yet another look at the female nude, or the way the skies imitate art; just when you've think you've had your art fill for those subjects, some amazing new artist pops into your visual range and punches you in the solar plexus of the mind with a brilliant new approach to those subjects.

      And that is exactly what happened during the jurying process for Gallery West's 14th iteration of their national show. I will admit right now that I was surprised, hypnotized and seduced by the sheer high number of excellent works of art submitted. Those of you who were selected ought and must feel proud of your accomplishment; it was a tough and talented competition. To those of you who didn't make the cut this time: As an artist myself, I have received my fair share of rejections, but also know that art is truly in the eyes of the beholder. As an experienced gallerist and curator I think that over the last three decades I have developed a finely tuned eye for putting together a show that satisfies my sensitivities and logic. Please notice that I said "my." That should be interpreted as keep creating art and keep leaving an artistic footprint behind you. That is a legacy that few people have.

     I was honored, challenged, surprised and pleased by being involved in this show, and I am sure that all of you who see it, will agree with most of my recommendations to you as to the state of the arts nation from this unique 14th year old perspective. I look forward to seeing this show.”

   

    Gallery West is one of the oldest cooperative galleries in Northern Virginia. Members are award-winning artists working in such diverse mediums as painting, collage, photography, digital art, ceramics, sculpture and jewelry. Gallery hours in February are Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Additional information and images can be seen at www.gallery-west.com.  Inquiries can be made at 703-549-6006 during business hours.    

Now to get working on my newest landscape...............................

Tabletop Marbles Finished

As I promised, here is my latest colored pencil work finally scanned and ready to frame.  It's an odd size and I won't go into the reasons why but needless to say it started out to be a demo piece I worked on during a Christmas event at Crossroads Art Gallery where I show my work.  After liking how the first few marbles turned out I kind of kept going until I had it all down on the HP watercolor paper I started on.  And since I haven't used that in a long time (preferring to work on Stonehenge paper or a sanded surface), I surprised myself that I didn't mind this paper again.   Oh, it's 8 x 13 - see a weird size but I think it will frame nicely in the 12 x 18 black frame I have for it.  That is after I cut the mat.

I guess my biggest accomplishment this weekend was to get this all scanned, stitched, color corrected and ready for the website all alone.  You see I'm trying to take on the image management and eventually the website management from my son, Chris, who has done so much for me in the past.  But his new job takes up so much of his time, I need to be able to get things kept up to date sooner.  And besides I need to be the big girl I am and make myself learn all the image/computer stuff.   (I cringe at having said this out loud, having put this off onto my son for far too long.)   

The weekend seemed to rush by me without getting any pencil onto paper except to make a new list of what I need to get done before we go to Florida.  However I did get some accounting work done for my job as treasurer at BAAA, my local art association.  

Next to do list item is to find some images to take on my trip, for pieces small enough to pack and work on while I'm away.  If I have enough room (we are flying) in my bags I'll try to take my pastel pencils.  Making an attempt to try them out as a plein aire media instead of my cp's.  But packing light isn't my strong suit.  Wish me luck.

Playing with pastels for the first time.

This week I spent a great deal of time researching how other artists work, show their work and where and also attended this months reception at Crossroads Art Center (where I rent space to show my work).  Last Monday (after my precious granddaughters went home from a 2 day stay with Nana) I gathered my few pastel pencils and small starter sets of pastels to ready myself for my first attempt at working in this medium.  For on Tuesday my friend and great pastel artist Betsy Kellum was going to show me the ropes in pastel painting.  So I at least needed to take pastel to paper and make a good attempt before I made a complete fool of myself at this media.  My intent is to find a faster media for Plein Aire Painting (for you non artists this is Painting in the Fresh Air).   My beloved colored pencil, the time consuming media it is, does not allow me to capture the light and moments that painting out of doors requires.  So thus I'm looking for a faster media for just this purpose.  Don't get me wrong I still love my cp's and it still IS my favorite but alas if I'm to get more out of outdoor excursions I need to be able to capture more than a basic line drawing and color swatch.

The first thing I confirmed was even though colored pencil painting was a time consuming media it is a fairly clean media, and pastels even with pastel pencils is far from clean.  At least in my hands!  But I knew this already right?  After playing with it for 2 hours I had it everywhere, my 4 year old granddaughter would have been proud.  But I was having fun, so I pursued my pastel adventure....... working on what Betsy said would be a good starter project.  She suggested to paint something you've done before.  So I pulled up one of my first colored pencil photo references, a still life of 3 Fuji apples on a blue cloth.  I didn't work from the line drawing I had from my cp piece, I worked one apple at a time with small areas of the cloth around it drawing directly onto the hot pressed watercolor paper I had on hand.  OK, I know, not the paper suggested for pastel use... but I like this paper and I use it at times for my cp work... and I have a lot of it in scrap form.  And I was only playing  right! My intent when I started was that I'd do one apple a little cloth and just have one quick experience with pastels.  But 5 hours later one apple turned into all 3 and all the cloth.  I actually did this piece in one fifth the time it took me to do the colored pencil one.  Now it's not laid out as well as the cp piece, but I wasn't following a line drawing and my intent was to just play.  So don't compare it for composition or as an exact copy.  No under painting just pastel on paper.

I'm posting my pastel piece and the original colored pencil one together so you can see and compare. Colored Pencil first, second pastel.

The second thing I learned was that despite my predisposition to pencils I found myself using and liking the pastel sticks better than the pastel pencils.  Probably because of their creaminess and the fact I could smoosh them around and blend like I do with my waxy Prismacolors.  For this experiment I used a set of 24 Nupastels, a 36 count of an off brand of beginner pastels, a few CarbOthello pastel pencils. a few Cretacolor pastel pencils and several Derwent pastel pencils.  Oh and 2 Conte pastel pencils, white and black, which I really liked because of their waxy feel. (Most like my prismas.)   Hey, I just like the wax's blending power, what can I say.  I haven't tried the Faber Castel Pitt Pastel Pencils yet so I'll try not to pass judgment entirely.  But so far my thoughts are that I like the Derwent least of all because they have a scratchiness to the pastel leads that makes them not as creamy to put down.  But since I currently have the most of them I relied on the Derwents for colors. 

Conclusions from this adventure into pastel:  1.  A much faster media, but again I wasn't trying to be faithful to the line drawing or composition.  So this should enable me to get more down within the plein aire realm;  2. Blending my way into a basic understanding of the media taught me that fingers are the my best tools although I did use the rubber tipped blender tools but I should try stumps for a less messy approach; 3.  I need many more colors of pastels in a better landscape palette to execute a basic scene.  If this sounds like art supply shopping.......................your right!  And what artist doesn't love that!

I hope to get my latest colored pencil piece scanned to post next week.  Off to order some more pastels. 


 

 

Art Blogging and the time it takes.

One of the facts of life I learned to accept is that there is very little time to be spread around when working as an artist.  Producing art, our most enjoyable act can be so impacted by the marketing, social networking, volunteering, business, and new venue tracking parts of an art career.  And the blogging here has been my down falling.  Sorry to all of you blog readers out there who may have looked forward to my filling pages with art, lessons, inspiration and such.  Another year, another good intention to try and fulfill.

Although my art can be seen on my website www.gloriacallahan.com and in person at Crossroads Art Center in Richmond, VA and various gallery shows, and public places it hasn't appeared yet here.  Partly due to the time constraints and partly due to my limits on image know how.  But I am making progress and hope to remedy this soon on the blog.

For those who have interest in where I'm currently showing I have 6 pieces of my art in the current art show at the VA State General Assembly building on 9th St. in Richmond, VA.  And as of 1/13/2011 2 additional paintings at Cedarfield's Art Gallery, Richmond, VA in their main building as part of the Bon Air Artists Assoc. exhibit.  (Of which I am a member and officer)  I will be showing February 6th thru March 6th, 2011 at Gallery West in Alexandria, VA as part of their juried show.