Recognition
- International Exhibition accepted artists Jackie Chang, Gemma Gylling, Denise Howard, Mike Purdy, Ranjini Venkatachari
- Andrea Myers, inclusion in CP Hidden Treasures
- Ranjini Venkatachari and Denise Howard, juried into Salon at the Triton Statewide 2-D Competition
- Ranjini Venkatachari, invited to be featured on Koh-I-Noor’s website
- Denise Howard, featured artist in May issue of Ann Kullberg’s COLOR magazine
- Denise Howard, inclusion in CP Treasures Vol. 4
- Denise Howard, juried into “SWARM: Invasion of the Insects” in Dowell, MD
- Paula Greer, three pieces juried into Alameda County Fair
Old Business
I gave an update on the plans for our annual chapter show (Explorations in Colored Pencil V) which will be at the Coastal Arts League gallery in Half Moon Bay in September. The show will run August 28 - September 23. Normally a reception is held the first weekend of a show, but since that happens to be Labor Day weekend we probably wouldn’t have much of a turnout, so we are planning to delay it till the evening of Saturday, Sept. 10. As always, there is no “jurying in” for our show; if you enter, you’re in! It will be an “open” show, meaning that non-members may enter (for a higher entry fee). Kendra Davis of Moss Beach will be our judge for the awards (1st, $100; 2nd, $50; 3rd, $25). You can see some of her art here: http://www.coastalartsleague.org/artists/KendraDavis/kendradavis.htmMaria Lemery gave an update on our participation in the Bothwell Arts Center’s Art Expo, to be held there on Sunday, June 12. She has conceived of having two tables, one for artwork, books and brochures, the other for artwork creation and demoing, and leading visitors through small exercises with colored pencils. She asked for volunteers to staff the tables for two shifts. Here’s a link for more info about the event: http://www.bothwell.lvpac.org/events/artexpo We are pleased to be able to participate and give back to the Bothwell since they have been so good about letting us hold our meetings there at no cost for the past couple of years!
We had a recap of the two-day Ann Kullberg portrait drawing workshop and the consensus was that it was a great success! Four folks brought their class projects to show. We started discussion about who to invite to present our 2017 workshop next April.
New Business
Since Membership Chair Maryann Kot is moving to Chicago, Vice President Maria Lemery has volunteered to step into that role instead. So we have an open position for Vice President!Andrea Myers volunteered (herself and her husband Ed!) to take over as our Webmaster now that it is done in Wordpress. Yay, Andrea!
We talked briefly about whether there is interest in having a plein air outing at Alden Lane Nursery again this year since those of us who attended it last year enjoyed it very much. The consensus was yes, let’s do it, so Phil Dean will check with Alden Lane to determine a suitable Sunday morning in June or July.
Presentation
After a short lunch break, we were honored to have nationally-known professional calligrapher and calligraphy teacher Marian Gault from Los Gatos present on how she combines calligraphy with colored pencil. She displayed several examples of her breathtaking work and answered questions about her process. She said that she plans out and creates a painting entirely on transfer paper and only then traces it to good paper to fully develop. After she finishes her original work, her husband Ned (who is an excellent photographer) digitizes it and uses Photoshop and a high-end printer to produce cards, prints, and bookmarks to sell. They collaborate on everything; even for this presentation, he drove her over, helped set her up, and told of a couple of her national accolades that she was too modest to mention! She showed us some of the tools of her trade, a variety of nibs and how they are used to create lettering. I was surprised to learn that there is special grid paper with various slants used for practice, and then for a finished piece those grid lines must be hand-darwn lightly on the good paper with rulers and T-squares and then erased once the lettering is finished. No wonder I had trouble with making consistent lettering when I tried to pick up the basics from the classic Speedball book many years ago—they never mentioned that! As an unexpected bonus, Marian offered to write each of our names on bookmarks that we could take home, and spent the next 45 minutes producing them while we continued the meeting with “show and tell”!Next Meeting
Our next meeting will be Saturday, August 13 11:00 - 3:00 at the Bothwell Arts Center in Livermore. Our presenter will be Roger Arno, a colored pencil artist from Saratoga who had an amazing career as an artist for NASA.Between now and our next meeting, the CPSA national convention will take place in Tacoma, WA, July 26-30. Consider attending! It’s a hop and a skip by plane, a beautiful area of the US, and an opportunity to meet outstanding colored pencil artists from all over the US and even some international ones. There are two full-day workshops at a cheaper price than you can find anywhere else. There will be fabulous door prizes and raffle prizes and even if you don’t win anything, you get a big bag of great art goodies just for attending. Registration for the convention itself is FREE—you only pay for your transportation, hotel, meals, and any workshops.
Happy drawing!
Denise Howard, CPSA, CPX
President, CPSA DC210 San Francisco
Below are some photos from Marian Gault's presentation....
