Highlights of August 2014 Meeting

Our August 2014 meeting was in the Community Room of the Milpitas Police Administration Building in Milpitas, a spacious, comfortable and well-lit facility with plenty of seating and even a sink.

Several members had noteworthy accomplishments!

• Megan Seiter for earning CPSA signature status with this year's International Exhibition
• Marian Gault for being the event honoree of the International Calligraphers convention
• Gemma Gylling for three awards in the Animals 2014 Online Art Exhibition
• Ranjini Venkatachari for having three artworks included in a new book, "The New Colored Pencil"
• Ranjini Venkatachari for winning both First Place and People's Choice in the Sunnyvale Art Club's annual juried show
• Denise Howard for being the featured artist of the July issue of Colored Pencil magazine
• Denise Howard for having two artworks in the Pencil Art Society's first International Exhibition in Quebec
• Denise Howard for a new "In Depth" kit published by Ann Kullberg

Final plans were discussed for the chapter show, which has had a change of venue to The Peninsula Gallery in San Mateo.  The show will run Sept. 4-30 and the opening reception will be Sept. 6 5:00 - 7:00 PM in the gallery.  In conjunction with the show, the gallery is having a drawing for $200 of framing services.  Also in conjunction with the show, Ranjini Venkatachari will give a presentation "Color Pencil Possibilities" on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 1:00 in the gallery to introduce the public to our favorite medium.

A large bag full of freebies from the national convention was emptied onto a table and within 10 minutes every last item had been claimed.  There were paper samples, erasers, pencils of various types, a set of marker pens, an apron, a bottle of Gamsol, etc.  There was also a Zentangle textbook; we had a drawing for that, and Linda Huffman won it; she was the perfect recipient, as she mentioned that she has a niece who is autistic and Zentangle promises to be the ideal activity for her.

Ranjini’s hour-long demo was about techniques for working on Ampersand Pastelbord with Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels and colored pencils together, and we barraged her with questions.  Ampersand recently named her as one of their representative artists.  At the end of her demo, we had a drawing for the small set of Neocolor IIs that she’d used for the demo, and Mike Purdy was the winner.

We all learned something from each other during “show and tell”, too!  Mike Purdy described how he uses black Speedball ink for his backgrounds to make subjects pop; Maria Lemery described how working through my new butterfly kit from Ann Kullberg emboldened her to try a blurry background on a piece she’s working on; Phil Dean showed that a colored pencil drawing doesn’t have to be color, it can be black and white; Chris Swetlin described how he was able to complete a large portrait of his daughter in only 10 hours on blue Mi Tientes paper; Andrea Myers showed the brilliantly-colored leaves she learned how to draw under Maryann’s instruction; Denise Howard described her experience creating a step-by-step “kit” for Ann Kullberg and showed the final drawing.

Our next event will be the Livermore ArtWalk on Saturday, Oct. 11, 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM in downtown Livermore!  We will have a booth in a premium spot to display our work and hopefully sell some originals, prints and cards.

Our next chapter meeting will be Saturday, November 8 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM in Livermore; the exact venue and presentation are still TBD.

Chris Swetlin, Ranjini Venkatachari, Maria Lemery, Denise Howard, Linda Huffman, Phillip Dean, Andrea Myers, Mike Purdy

Ranjini Venkatachari demonstrates her techniques for working with colored pencil and Neocolor II on Ampersand Pastelbord

Chris Swetlin - show and tell

Phil Dean - show and tell

Maria Lemery - show and tell

Andrea Myers - show and tell