KSL News highlights Sugar House Art Walk

Instead of waking up to a soothing harp-music alarm this morning, I was jolted awake at 4:30 am by the clamoring of a marimba. I had accidentally selected the wrong ring tone for my alarm. With my heart pounding, I tried to remember who I was and why it was still dark outside...

After slamming down a quick bowl of oatmeal and blackberries, I sped to Sugar House Coffee to meet the KSL news team at 5:15 am for a live interview about the upcoming Sugar House Art Walk. My job was to stand with my canvas and easel and paint an image of the interior of Sugar House Coffee. Simple, right?

I set up my easel, laid out my brushes and began blocking in a rudimentary drawing of the red side table along the north wall of the coffee shop. Jen, the news reporter, came and told me to move down about 10 feet (I moved). 
 

I wiped my canvas clean and began to sketch in the new view of the side table.

15 minutes later she suggested that I back up 5 feet as she began moving the tables to accommodate my new position. 

I wiped my canvas clean and began to sketch in a newer view of the side table.

10 minutes later, Jen moved the other artist (there were two of us) and had him place his paintings on the side table, blocking my view completely.  Ah, well.  I can certainly flex...

I wiped my canvas clean, turned my gaze to the dessert counter and began a new sketch.

A crew of people entered the coffee shop and stood as a group in front of the dessert counter.  Two of them pulled up chairs, opened their laptops and set up camp. I resisted the urge to shout "down in front! This was not going to be easy. 

Wiping the sketch of the dessert counter off my canvas, I finally settled on blocking in a view of the east end of the coffee shop! Voila! Success at last!



This was an opportunity to stand as a proxy for all the Sugar House Artists - a token plein air painter. Once I figured that out, I really enjoyed myself.

It really didn't matter what I painted today. What mattered was that I was participating vicariously for all those closet plein air painters - who might feel inspired to paint when they see this blurb on TV.

Besides, there were some entertaining moments. At one point, Jen tripped over the leg of my easel and muttered "Jesus" under her breath - which caused me to giggle on the air...live.

When the barista handed Jen a freshly blended shot of carrot/apple juice from the coffee shop bar, the reporter took a drink, smiled and said something inane like, "Mmmm, this is very healthy." As soon as the camera turned off, Jen pulled a nasty face and did her version of a hairball hack.

If you would like to view the live video clips of our Sugar House Coffee experience, click here. 

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1105&sid=24735755&title=sugar-house-celebrates-salt-lake-culture-with-art-walk


This truly was an adventure.  I have a new respect for the reporters and their crews. Filming on location is a lot of work. They have to move furniture, plug lights in and adjust microphones and headsets. They make it look easy. Would I like to be a reporter for a living? Nope! I would rather be an artist!

The best part of my morning? I got to paint!

Grab Your Camera!

Want to take great pictures? Learn how to use your camera!

  

The new point-and-shoot digital cameras make it easy to get a good shot, however
a few tips and pointers can make a difference in the quality of your photography.  

Notice the shape of your subject and determine
whether a vertical or horizontal shot would be best. 

Compose your shot. Centering your subject can be boring. Try shooting off center. 

  

 

Zoom in for interest.  Remember: "the eyes reveal the soul!"

Take some action shots.

Keep the background simple so that it does not detract from your subject.

Below, the background is a little too busy.

 

This is simpler.

Shoot some images from various angles and positions - not just at eye level.

 

 

 

For a more contemporary look try zooming in and cropping the image.

If you are going to create a painting from a photo image,
make sure it is a good one! Chances of getting a great
painting from a bad reference photo are slim.
Good photo = good painting.

Now, go grab your camera and have some fun!

Portrait Workshop With Casey Childs

Have you ever taken a portrait workshop?

I decided to try one.

Taking a three-day workshop from Casey Childs proved to be a marvelous experience.

Over a three-day period, Casey took us through the steps to create a portrait. From the initial monochromatic block-in, through the generalized shapes of light and shadow, to the painting of the final details, he taught us a process that was exciting, grueling and rewarding.

We worked under the lights of an old gymnasium while a blizzard of snow whirled outside. We set up our easels in a half circle around our model, Christina. Each artist selected their own viewpoint of her and began their work. 

I set up my easel just behind Casey's, where my view of Christina was nearly frontal.

Even though I worked hard to complete my portrait of Christina, I wouldn't call it finished. Instead I would refer to it as an excellent visual aid of Casey's portrait painting process. Learning to step away from my easel and call my end product "good enough" was a lesson in itself! 

Here are our final portraits of Christina. They are each as unique as the artists who painted them.

 

Kindred Spirits Art Workshop

Where do I go on Wednesday afternoons?

To Art Access/VSA where I'm teaching a six-week art workshop about planetary nebulae. 

This class is being taught through the "Kindred Spirits" program. It's a lot of fun!

I thought you might enjoy a tour of our classroom experience.

Here we are working on making a nebula collage. We tear tissue paper into small pieces and then glue it onto brightly colored card stock.

We dry our projects with a hairdryer then flip them over to work on the other side. 

When both sides are finished, we sprinkle our nebula with stars.

 


Our hands get a little sticky, but it is worth the effort.

 

 

  Here's our group effort:

And now for the star show.  Each of our nebulae are unique.
Just like the nebulae in deep space, no two are alike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we created our artwork, we were mindful to remember a few things about nebulae. 

• Some nebula contain star nurseries. 

• Some nebula clouds are the remnants of dead stars. 

• Some nebula (like a super nova) explode in a violent fashion sending elements out into the universe.  These clouds of dust, depending on their composition (like hydrogen, helium, nitrogen and gold) have their own color. 

Although learning the science about nebulae was fascinating and helped us to understand a little more about our universe, creating our own nebulae with bright colors and shining glitter was the most fun! 

Wouldn't it be great to see our own nebulae creations floating up there among the stars?

It's All About Layers

I was driving by Fairmont Park (two blocks from my studio) just as the sun was going down and I stopped to shoot an image with my iPhone. I returned to my studio the next day to begin painting a landscape of the scene.

Several layers later - I had "Last Glimpse of February," 16 " x 20" oil on canvas

Here's my process: