Mike Purdy's Demo at Coastal Arts League Gallery

On Saturday afternoon, September 14, DC210 secretary Mike Purdy took on the challenge of presenting our favorite medium at the Coastal Arts League gallery, in conjunction with our show.  He wasn't quite sure what to expect, nor was anyone else involved in the arrangements.  We were all surprised!  Here's what happened, in Mike's own words....

Saturday afternoon was really fun. It was a success and the customers were happy. It was really awkward at first. A few weeks ago I had sent the gallery e-mails that stated I would not be giving a demonstration. However when I arrived there were 5 people waiting for me to give my "demonstration". Since I didn't want to disappoint anyone I went ahead and gave them a presentation. Luckily I had plenty of pencils and paper to pass around. I spoke for almost 90 minutes about the CPSA, our chapter, pencils, paper, solvents, tools to use, etc. Everyone was very pleased. At 2:30, 5 more people came in and I spoke for another 30 minutes, then I left at 3:00. All 10 people were beginners who wanted to learn CP. They were asking about workshops, and they asked if I would conduct a full workshop in their area. I'm not ready yet, maybe one day.

Kudos to Mike for stepping up to the unexpected demand for information, and representing our favorite medium and our organization so well! This was great exposure for colored pencils, the CPSA, and for Mike.

"Explorations in Colored Pencil II" award winners

Friday, September 6 was opening day for our Explorations in Colored Pencil II show at the Coastal Arts League gallery in downtown Half Moon Bay, CA.  The opening reception was a success!  Thanks to the kind folks at CAL, Chris Swetlin who hung the show, Nenette Santos who took charge of the refreshments, and Mike Purdy who took photos.  An original and several prints were sold on the first day.

There are 40 pieces in the show, by 13 artists.  The show runs through October 6.  Go see it if you can--it's a strong show!  We heard that some of the locals are saying it's one of the best the CAL gallery has hosted in years.

The show was juried for awards by Half Moon Bay gallery owner Ellen Joseph, who had this to say about the difficult task:

Walking into this diverse exhibit, I was struck by the high level of skill visible in each piece. It is amazing to me that colored pencils can produce such brilliant results. It was certainly a challenge to pick just a few winners because each entry has it's unique beauty and story to tell. I applaud all the artists who contributed to this show. Keep up the excellent work!

Here are the award winners!

1st Place and $100:
Rest Stop by Gemma Gylling

2nd Place and $50:
Sophie by Megan Seiter

3rd Place and $25:
Malibu Succulents II by Phillip Zubiate III

Honorable Mention:
Reflections by Gemma Gylling

Honorable Mention:
California Poppy Quintet by Denise Howard

Honorable Mention:
Pescadero Surf by Christopher Swetlin

Phil Zubiate receives his 3rd Place certificate from DC210 president Denise Howard

Chris Swetlin receives his Honorable Mention certificate from DC210 president Denise Howard

Here are some miscellaneous photos from the reception....

To see even more photos from the reception, click here.

August 2013 Meeting Highlights

J.Y. Chang, Nenette Santos, Marian Gault, Linda Huffman, Denise Howard, Betsy Jones, Mike Purdy.
Not shown: Christopher Swetlin

Another great meeting!  We met at the Palo Alto Art Center on Saturday, August 17.  It's such a nice facility, we wish we could meet there all the time.  We welcomed three new members who were also attending their first DC210 chapter meeting: Nenette Santos, Marian Gault, and Betsy Jones.  Nenette Santos lives in San Francisco, so thanks to her, our chapter designation (San Francisco) is no longer ironic because we finally have a member there!  Marian Gault is a professional calligrapher who blew us away with her beautiful script, and we hope she'll give us a demo someday soon of how she combines calligraphy and colored pencil drawings.  Betsy is perhaps best known as the admin for the very busy Colored Pencil Artists and Lovers group on Facebook, but she's also the new national CPSA Public Relations Director.

We had lots of recognition to dole out!

•  J.Y. Chang, Denise Howard and Betsy Jones for their acceptances in the UKCPS International Exhibition
• J.Y. Chang and Denise Howard for achieving CPSA signature status
• Denise Howard for winning the Dixon Ticonderoga Award for Exceptional Merit for her Tree of Character in the CPSA International Exhibition
• Gemma Gylling for organizing another terrific CPSA convention--her last as national Convention Director
• Chris Swetlin for Honorable Mention in the Pacific Art League's "Figures and Faces" juried exhibit for Girl with a Bubble, which he had included in his demo for us at the June meeting
• Chris Swetlin for 3 pieces in the Pacific Art League's "Water Media on Paper" juried exhibit, going on this month
• Maryann Kot on becoming the new director of the Livermore Art Association Gallery

Our chapter show, "Explorations in Colored Pencil II", is coming up in only three weeks, so we discussed some logistics.  Big "thank yous" to Chris Swetlin for volunteering to hang the show, take it down, design the printed materials and round up some of the reception refreshments, and to Linda Huffman for donating $50 toward the purchase of refreshments.  This will be our first opportunity to display our new chapter banner!  Entries have started trickling in, but of course we know how artists work: most of them will probably arrive in the last two days before the deadline of August 23!  The entry form is downloadable from the Calendar page of our chapter website.

Right away after our show ends on October 6, the Livermore ArtWalk is on Saturday, October 12, so we discussed some details for that event, too.  We'll have the same great booth location as last year. Denise will provide her canopy, print racks and table. The deadline for signing up to participate in our booth is August 26.  The entry form is downloadable from the Calendar page of our chapter website.

Our biennial officers' election is coming up in October.  If you're a member of DC210 and would like to run for any position, or nominate someone else for a position, let Denise know so the  name can appear on the ballot.  Linda Loder has decided to step down after 11 years on the board (including 9 as our previous president), so the vice-president position will be open.

We already have a date and venue for our November meeting:  Saturday, November 16 at Emil Villa's Hickory Pit in Livermore.  Watch the Calendar page of our website for program details as they develop.  Thank you to Henrietta Haines for arranging this!

Everyone who attended received a "schwag bag" from the CPSA national convention, full of great samples of papers, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, and new products.  These were extra bags that were left over at the end of the convention and since Denise drove to it, she was able to bring back quite a few.  The remainder will be up for grabs at the November meeting!

Denise read aloud a recent blog post by Ann Kullberg, "Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged...Unless They Ask Nicely" and some of the comments that were posted in response to it.  It's about how presentation matters very much when entering artwork into shows, whether we like it or not.  A timely topic since our chapter show is coming up right away!  We talked about how we prepare our own work for various situations.

We briefly discussed "When is a colored pencil drawing not a colored pencil drawing?" but we will revisit it again at November's meeting since we were running out of time.

"Show and Tell" is always a delight--it's so much fun to see what everyone is working on, and works that have been posted online always look sooooo much better and more full of life in person!  Thank you to everyone who brought something and for sharing your cp problems.

Swetlin wins Honorable Mention in Pacific Art League show

Congratulations to Christopher Swetlin, whose beautiful Girl with a Bubble received an Honorable Mention in the Pacific Art League's current juried exhibit, "Figures and Faces"!  The show runs August 2-29 in Palo Alto.

We got to see this luminous piece in real life at our June chapter meeting when he presented his rather unusual techniques, using sandpaper, Xacto knives and electric erasers to abuse the paper as he develops his drawings.  In case you didn't pick up on it, his piece and title alludes to Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring."

For more details about the show, visit PAL's current exhibit web page.

2013 CPSA national convention recap

For a chapter our size, we had some pretty good representation and recognition at this year's CPSA national convention and the International Exhibition!  Denise here with some highlights....

Every year during the general meeting, there's a slideshow of all the entries into the year's International Exhibition.  Not just the ones that were accepted--all entries.  Folks get to applaud or even cheer for their friends and fellow chapter members.  It was fun to see our chapter represented with artwork by J.Y. Chang, Gemma Gylling, Denise Howard, Mike Purdy, and Chris Swetlin.

Gemma Gylling made the position of national convention director look easy, as usual.  This was her last year at the job--she's stepping down so she can focus all those hours of hard work on something else, like creating more art!  Congratulations to Gemma on organizing so many successful conventions.  We're glad to get you back for chapter-level stuff!

Gemma Gylling, Denise Howard, J.Y. Chang at the banquet

Jackie Chang and I both received our "signature" status, meaning that this was our third year of having work accepted into the International Exhibition.

J.Y. Chang and Denise Howard with their signature status certificates

And finally, I'm honored to say that my "Tree of Character" won the Dixon Ticonderoga Award for Exceptional Merit in the International Exhibition.  This comes with a $1000 cash prize, one of the largest given.

Denise (left) and Holly Siniscal (right) just as Denise's award was announced.
Photo by Gayle Uyehara

You can view all of the wonderful award-winning pieces here.

Prior to the festivities, I attended the DC presidents' forum, a two-day event that helps keep all the chapters energized.  Jackie and I both took Arlene Steinberg's one-day workshop, "Creative Trompe L'Oeil Made Quicker with Inktense Pencils and Pan Pastels".  There was also the general meeting, with fantastic door prizes, raffle prizes, and last-minute spirited bidding on the 39 silent auction pieces.  I managed to be the top bidder on Eileen Sorg's "The Surrogate", but it took some effort because everyone else really wanted it, too!  The silent auction raised over $5,000 for the CPSA this year.  As you may have read elsewhere by now, the piece that brought in the most in the auction was CJ Worlein's composite portrait of CPSA founder Vera Curnow surrounded by several board members and award winners, "Because of Her"; a whole bunch of people pitched in a total of $755 to group-purchase it for Vera as a big surprise.  She was speechless!

 Here are some other photos I took....

That is a whole smoked salmon, served with
diced eggs, capers and onions.  Hors d'oeuvres
before the general meeting!

At the show reception

The turnout for the show reception was huge

A woman from Japan, Reiko Anisman, who has a piece in the show, made a whirlwind 4-day trip from Japan just to attend the banquet and reception!

Finally, I got better acquainted with Betsy Jones.  You may know of Betsy as the main admin for the very popular Colored Pencil Artists and Lovers group on Facebook.  She has just moved from Pittsburgh to Sacramento and is joining our chapter, and she is the new national PR Director.  We're so pleased to have her with us!

It's hard to say what the best part of attending a CPSA convention is.  Connecting with soooo many cp artists from around the country (and the world), making new artist friends, meeting some of the top artists in the medium, sharing ideas, seeing the show pieces in real life, taking a workshop, winning a door prize...  I hope you're looking forward to attending next year's convention in Daytona Beach!  Gemma will be one of the workshop presenters, and I've been told that all the hotel rooms overlook the beach.  Less than 365 days to go!

One-day colored pencil workshop at Palo Alto Art Center in November

The Palo Alto Art Center is open again after a two-year major remodel, and is back in full swing offering all sorts of classes and exhibits.  I learned today that they will be offering a one-day colored pencil workshop this fall.  Here is the info:

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Beyond Black and White: Colored Pencil Workshop
Sunday, Nov 3, 10am-4pm, $89 resident/$102 non-resident
taught by Brian Lamprell, www.brianlamprell.com

Do you want to inject some color into your drawing? Students of all levels are invited to explore the basics of drawing with colored pencils, watercolor pencils and conte crayon, working from photographs. Newer student will be introduced to a variety of materials as well as techniques such as blending, hatching, burnishing, impress, and perspective drawing. Experienced students will further explore composition, form, light and shadow, and color theory.
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If you're interested in the workshop, contact the Palo Alto Art Center directly for more info.  Their website is http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/gov/depts/csd/artcenter/default.asp  The address is 1313 Newell Rd, Palo Alto.  Phone: (650) 329-2366

Explorations in Colored Pencil II prospectus and entry form now available

The prospectus and entry form for our annual chapter art show is now available for download from our website!  See our Calendar page for the download link, or click here.

You'll notice that the first page is information-only (the prospectus) and the second page is the form to send in.  We designed it this way so that we can print hard copies of just the first page to leave with art leagues, art supply stores, community centers, etc. and it will direct folks to the website to get the entire document.  Please help us get the word out by printing a few copies of that first page and leaving them at places where you think other artists might find them!  (Get permission first, of course....)

Some things worth pointing out: 

• Cash awards! 1st: $100, 2nd: $50, 3rd: $25
• Non-members are welcome to enter
• Submissions will be juried only for awards--if you enter, you're in
• Works need not be 100% colored pencil
• 3D works are welcome 
• Opening reception and awards presentation Friday, September 6, 6-8 PM

We are hoping to fill the lovely Coastal Arts League Gallery with so much wonderful colored pencil art, people will come from miles around just to gaze in amazement and want to join CPSA on the spot!

If you have any specific questions, contact me (Denise) at president@cpsa210.org or call me at (650) 787-9953.  Don't wait too late--the deadline for entry is Friday, August 23!

Many thanks to Christopher Swetlin for his graphic design work on the prospectus/entry form.