Plein Air Outing at Alden Lane Nursery

Some of our members met at Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore on Saturday, June 20 to do some "plein air" drawing under the massive oak trees.  The nursery is open 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM seven days a week, so the early morning arrival provided an opportunity to beat the heat and perhaps capture some scenes of droplets on freshly-watered plants.  A bonsai show was in progress so some took the opportunity to work from these tiny trees which look much larger out of context.

We'll do this again sometime!

Linda Loder

Mary Adamson

Mary Young

Mary Young

Maryann Kot's bonsai

Geoff Sargeant Wins Top Award

Geoff Sargeant’s piece “Sacrificial Stone - Tynong Quarry” won Best Picture at the Australian Guild of Realist Artists (AGRA) Autumn Exhibition.  Geoff, who lives in Victoria, Australia (and is a member of our CPSA chapter), says this has been a goal for many years and it is hard to compete with all the other media.  About his fantastic drawing, Geoff says "The subject is a mysterious quarry where the granite for Melbourne's Shrine of Rememberance of the First World War came from. It is close to where we live.”

Congratulations, Geoff—way to represent our favorite medium!

Sacrificial Stone - Tynong Quarry by Geoff Sargeant
16" x 24", colored pencil

Highlights of May 2015 chapter meeting, and upcoming events

We had such a great meeting on Saturday, May 30, chock full of colored pencil info and discussion about upcoming events!  It was held at the Bothwell Arts Center in Livermore.

Our program consisted of five mini-demos of 10-15 minutes each by some of our award-winning members:

• Mike Purdy: combining inks with colored pencil
• Denise Howard: combining graphite with colored pencil
• Ranjini Venkatachari: combining Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels with colored pencil
• Maryann Kot: combining head with wax-based colored pencil
• Denise Howard: combining PanPastels with colored pencil

Everyone got two sheets of the new Strathmore Colored Pencil paper to take home and try out, to report back on what they think of it at our next meeting.

I think everyone in attendance brought something for “show and tell”, and wow, every drawing was terrific!  I think our chapter will be well-represented in next year’s International Exhibition…..

At the end of the meeting we had a drawing for door prizes—a couple of Ampersand Pastebords contributed by Ranjini, and several items Denise brought back from last year’s convention: a pad of stipple paper, a sample pack of Bruynzeel pencils, and a combo pack of aquarelle paper and Bruynzeel pencils.

We decided it would be fun to have a plein air outing at Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore on June 20 at 8:30 AM.  By arriving so early, we’ll beat the heat and have great early-morning light with water droplets on the many flowers there.  We won’t plan an ending time, but you’ll probably feel like wrapping up by 1:00.  You don’t have to draw—you can paint, or just bring your camera.  There will be plenty of shade under the colossal oaks throughout, and their facilities are very nice.

Our next chapter meeting will be August 22 at the Bothwell Arts Center in Livermore.  Maryann Kot will present “Finishing your Drawing”, which will include information about fixatives, photographing and framing your work.  We’ll report on the CPSA national convention and I’ll have some goodies from it for more door prizes!

We are still planning our chapter show “Explorations in Colored Pencil IV” for September at the Pacific Art League in Palo Alto.  Mike Purdy will soon line up a juror and prepare the entry form.

We have registered to exhibit in the Livermore ArtWalk on Saturday, October 10.  We will have more details as the date approaches.

Since this year marks the 20th anniversary of our chapter, we are planning a special event at Campo di Bocce in Livermore. We picked first, second, and third choices for the date, all in September or October.  Stay tuned for the exact date!

 

 

 

 

 

During the business part of the meeting

Denise Howard demonstrated combining graphite with colored pencil

Ranjini Venkatachari demonstrated combining Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels with colored pencil

Maryann Kot demonstrated using heat (an Icarus drawing board) with colored pencil

Mike Purdy demonstrated combining inks with colored pencil

Denise Howard demonstrated combining PanPastels with colored pencil

Four DC210 members' works accepted into 2015 CPSA International Exhibition

Four members of our chapter have had their work accepted for this year’s CPSA International Exhibition!  The show will run July 11 - August 23 at the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art in Atlanta.  The happy artists are:

• J.Y. Chang
• Denise Howard
• Mike Purdy
• Ranjini Venkatachari

This is Mike’s third acceptance, so with it he has earned CPSA signature status.  This is the fifth acceptance for Jackie, Denise, and Ranjini, so with it they have earned five-year merit awards.

Congratulations Jackie, Denise, Mike and Ranjini!

The Blind Date by J.Y. Chang, CPSA, CPX

Happy by Denise Howard, CPSA, CPX

Table for Two by Mike Purdy, CPSA

Genealogy by Ranjini Venkatachari, CPSA, CPX