District Chapter 210 Meeting

November 13th • 12:30 - 3:00

The meeting place is "I've Been Framed"

411 Ferry Street, Suite C, Martinez, CA 94553

National Art Exhibit

We will show the new DVD National Convention show for 2010

Door Prizes

$75 "Ive Been Framed" Gift Certificate plus lots of fun art supplies.

Get tickets - 1 for attending, 2 for being on time.

Renew Your Membership at the Meeting

Agenda

@ Election information

@ Volunteer opportunities

@ Open forum - Share your ideas and what you would like at our meetings.

@ Share what you have been doing with your art.

@Bring work for critique and sharing with us.


Bring framed or unframed art for suggestions from our speaker.

"Time with Cathy"

Cathy Riggs owns and operates the frame shop.

She will do a discussion on the differences between the framing required for competition, for museum, for business and for home, as well as general tips on framing.

Linda Huffman's comment: "When we started talking about colored pencil, I realized that it is such a chameleon … but most are "burnished" or "heated" instead of being "pencil-like". I decided that each piece needed to be considered separately instead of under the "framing colored pencil works" umbrella.

Cathy also has some great deals on ready made frames too.

For Information:
Linda Loder (510) 455-6427
Linda Huffman (925) 370-7569
Jackie Chang (650) 387-8632

Time to Renew Your Membership

Dear Colored Pencilers,

It’s that time again, time to renew your CPSA membership!

The CPSA membership year begins on November 1 and lasts until October 31 of the following year. In order to be a member of the local chapter DC 210, you must be a member of the CPSA national organization first.

To join/renew your membership with the CPSA national organization, please observe the following steps:

1. Go to the CPSA membership renewal page at: http://www.cpsa.org/MEMBERSHIP/Membership.new.html
2. Please follow the fee and payment options discussed on that page.

Once you have joined/renewed your national membership, you can join/renew your membership in the DC210 San Francisco local chapter by observing the following steps:

1. Download and fill out the DC 210 membership application/renewal form, which can be found at: http://www.cpsa210.org/join.html
2. Send the membership form along with a $20 check or money order (made payable to DC 210 or CPSA DC 210) to the treasurer, J.Y. Chang

J.Y. Chang

2113 Sonador Commons

San Jose, CA 95128

Remember, dues are NOT prorated, so now is the best time to join/renew your CPSA membership.

We look forward to a great 2011! Happy penciling!

CPSA 18th Annual Exhibition and Convention

Dear Chapter members,

You should be so proud! All of you did a wonderful job helping and supporting this convention. Here is what Paula Parks, the Exhibition Director, had to say about it.

I want to especially thank Deborah Lanphear, Linda Huffman and Jackie Chang for their continuous help through the whole week. You guys were amazing, especially Deborah. I didn't know you had such big muscles!!

Sincerely,

Your very proud president

Linda

August 11, 2010

Dear Linda and members of DC 210, San Francisco, California

I would like to thank you and the members of your chapter for helping put on and promote an amazing Exhibition and Convention. From the time of my first contact with you, Linda, I knew that you would do everything possible to make everything run smoothly and to solve problems, as they inevitably come up, with a minimum of fuss and stress. It was a pleasure working with you to make our vision for an outstanding Exhibition and Convention become a reality. I have received rave notices from members, as well as the general public, who were impressed by the smooth presentation and welcoming feel of the convention events and by the outstanding exhibition at the Art Museum of Los Gatos.

When I was there for the judging, Deborah went beyond expectations, picking me up and taking me to the museum to meet with the staff, assisting with the awards judging, then taking me back to the SJ Airport. At the Convention, you were always there, coordinating the efforts of the chapter volunteers and keeping things running smoothly and efficiently.

Convention week went by entirely too fast, and my only regrets were that I didn’t have more time to get to know all of you better and to spend more time in the beautiful area where you live.

So again, on behalf of the entire CPSA Governing Board, thank you so much for all the effort you put forth in making the 18^th CPSA International Exhibition and Convention one of the most successful and enjoyable exhibitions yet. It was especially appreciated since we were also celebrating the 20th anniversary of CPSA. The help of the host chapter is essential, and we are truly grateful for the many hours your members contributed to making this year’s event outstanding.

Sincerely,

Paula Parks

DC210 June News

Hi District Chapter 210 members,

Our July meeting is on Saturday the 17th of July. Please make plans to attend and support us and CPSA National.

Saturday, July 17, 2010 starting at 11:00 am.

Livermore Adult School, 1401 Almond Ave, Livermore CA

This is an important meeting for us and we need to have you attend if it is at all possible. There is work to do ~ we are going to work on the packets that are distributed to all the convention attendees for the National board. The more hands we have to help… the faster it will go and the more fun we will have!

Thank you to everyone who has been working hard to get us to this point of preparation. I am very proud to represent you all as your president and I appreciate each and every one of you.

***********************************************************************

I hope you are getting excited about our convention this year. Below is some information that might help you make plans.

Members activities start on Wednesday for check-in and hospitality night.

Please let National and us know if you are planning to attend, so we can be sure to connect and say hello. Do not hesitate to call other members if you would like to find a room mate or someone to ride with. If you do not have a current roster let Linda Huffman (linda.huffman@yahoo.com) or me (lindaloder@sbcglobal.net). We will email you one.

CONVENTION WEEK SCHEDULE

Tuesday, July 27
CPSA National Board Meeting • DC Forum
Show Preview/Forum Dinner (CPSA National Board and DC Delegates only)

Wednesday, July 28
CPSA National Board Meeting & DC Forum/Joint Meeting
Hospitality Night (Hospitality Suite)

Thursday, July 29
Colored Pencil Workshops • Membership Meeting
(presentation of show entries, Silent Auction, door prizes)

Friday, July 30
Colored Pencil Workshops
Awards Banquet
CPSA cordially invites you and your guests to attend the 2010 Awards Dinner at the Biltmore Hotel and Suites, Santa Clara, CA. (See details following Workshop information.)

Saturday, July 31
Plein air excursion—Mission Santa Clara
Artists’ Reception—The Art Museum of Los Gatos
Evening Dessert Party—Biltmore Hotel, Santa Clara

Please register and pay for CPSA events online at www.cpsa.org
TIP: To ensure you have a name tag ready for you at the convention,
please register online even if you are not paying for an event.
Deadline for receiving online and mailed registrations is July 17, 2010.

Biltmore Hotel & Suites
2151 Laurelwood Road, Santa Clara, CA 95054
Cutoff date for special rate: Monday, July 12, 2010
(Don’t wait! Limited number of rooms available!)

The Santa Clara Biltmore Hotel is located just min¬utes from downtown San Jose in the heart of Silicon Valley. The hotel delivers five-star service, modern amenities and a warm California ambiance. Ameni¬ties include complimentary high-speed wireless internet, free parking, heated outdoor pool and spa, fine dining, fitness center, business center, extensive meeting facilities, and beautifully landscaped garden surroundings. Courtesy shuttle service to San Jose Airport and local attractions within five miles of our Santa Clara hotel is provided for your convenience.

For reservations, call the hotel directly at 408-988-8411.
Be sure to mention that you are with the Colored Pencil Society of America when making your reservation.

Special CPSA Rate: Garden Rooms $99.00 + Tax for up to four (4) people; Tower Suites $109.00 + Tax for up to four (4) people. Includes complimen¬tary Japanese/American Breakfast Buffet.
Check-in time: 3:00 p.m.; check-out time: 12 Noon
AIRPORT TRANSPORTATION: The Biltmore Hotel offers free transportation to/from San Jose Airport.

A Book Review By Jackie Chang

Alyona Nickelsen’s new book, Colored Pencil Painting Bible, published in February 2009, was both an interesting read and a valuable resource. Not only does the book give a very complete and well-written overview of general colored pencil technique and color theory, but also she outlines the details about her unique method.

From looking at Nickelsen’s drawings there is no doubt that she has mastered the technique of capturing realism through colored pencil. However, her technique is harder to discern through looking at the drawings on their own. A main feature of Nickelsen’s technique is her usage of solvents (she uses Gamblin Gamsol odorless mineral spirits in between several layers of colored pencil), to blend the pencil markings into a uniform surface of solid color. The individual colored pencil strokes are no longer visible, making her work seem much like a painting rather than a drawing. The conventional methods of using a blender pencil or the white colored pencil to blend can leave your drawing too waxy or leave your colors muddled by the white. While Nickelsen does describe the traditional techniques as well, she ties everything together and discusses the specific reasons and situations where you would use one method over another.

Another aspect of the book that I really enjoyed is how she gives a very good overview of the colored pencil field in general. She mentions CPSA in the introduction of the book and there is a foreword by Vera Curnow, founder of CPSA, which could be very interesting information for the emerging artist. She discusses the newest available technologies, such as Ester Roi’s warm/cool Icarus Drawing Board. She also integrates digital photography and Photoshop to a lot of the demonstrations she has in the book, discussing how she uses her digital camera to take pictures across many photo sessions, carefully altering the composition and the lighting until she gets the perfect shot. She then uses many Photoshop tools to help her to see the outlines and colors in the reference photo. Whether or not one agrees, digital photography and Photoshop have inevitably entered the art space and is part of the art-making process, and it is refreshing to see those technologies integrated into a how-to art book.

Nickelsen goes beyond discussing the techniques for applying pencil to paper, but also she talks about her learning process, such as keeping notes on swatches of color for future reference. She discusses different techniques for rendering the unique surfaces that one might encounter in a still life, such as grass, leaves, different types of flowers, water, crystal, ice, wood, fabric, etc., giving the reader enough details to encounter different situations that may arise, but also encouraging them to create their own compositions.

When you look at the full-color drawings in the book, a lot of which are true to life size, you are even more amazed when you learn that Nickelsen has only devoted herself to colored pencil art in the last few years. According to an article published in American Artist in March 2007, Nickelsen is mostly self-taught, and started using colored pencils in 2002. Since then, she has won numerous awards and garnered a lot of attention. That is great inspiration to any aspiring colored pencil artist, demonstrating that success can be achieved depending on how much effort and passion you are willing to put into it.

Spring is here!? Come to the Spring Meeting!!

DC 210 Meeting
Saturday, April 17th
** 11:00 to 3:00 pm **
Livermore Adult School
1400 Almond Avenue

Meeting discussion will include information for volunteers and attendees to the 2010 CPSA National Convention. Get in on the excitement of the convention and show. If you have entered a painting for judging, please bring it along with you to show. It is so exciting to have members in the show.

Bring: ** brown bag lunch with you to the meeting.
** art work you would like to share with everyone.

The purpose of the lunch is to have the time to chat with fellow artists and share our work and ideas.

Our demo artist: Nancy Saltsman of Livermore. Nancy is a certified Adult School Instructor and has been teaching art, including colored pencil classes for a number of years in the Livermore Adult School system. She will share with us a critique on several different kinds of colored pencils and a few new tools to use. Please bring paper. What Nancy recommends is Strathmore 400 smooth Bristol and/or dark or medium colored scraps.

Come and support our local art teacher who is also a member of our DC.

Looking forward to seeing all of you on Saturday the 17th!!
Keep on penciling………
Linda Loder, DC President

Presidents Message

Welcome to our blog! The blog will be in newsletter style and will replace our regular quarterly newsletter. This will be a great tool to keep us connected. All members are encouraged to send articles to Gemma for posting online anytime. There will be no deadlines so you will not get a once a month post, it will happen as things come in. You could get a couple of things one month and the next post might be a month or two out. You will receive updates as they happen the news will be more current than trying to save articles for a newsletter.

The blog is for everyone. The updates will be sent out to those who do not have an email address. There are only 2 or 3 at this point, almost everyone has moved into the electronic age. We, as a group have been slow to do this as well because we worried about those who were not doing computers. But it is the way almost everyone is communicating these days and we have to move forward with the times. It also saves the club a ton of money on postage.

Keep in mind that Gemma does not write the articles, she just posts them online. She will need articles to post and that means that we all can contribute. A book review or a new tip or trick you learned, any type of art class or workshop coming up in northern California (not advertising but information) would be great or a new product that you have discovered. Any kind of show you are in or even entering, any type of award you have received, we want to congratulate our members for their work. Some artists get published in different books, newspapers etc. That would of interest.

Do a work-in-progress

If you are working on a new pencil piece send a photo of the beginnings and what words you want. When you do this you could attach a little info about what tools you are using etc. These are so much fun to watch. Although the blog is not interactive, you can certainly put a note that you would welcome comments from members at your email address.