There was a long list of recognition for members who have won awards or had work in shows since our August meeting--what a busy bunch! We recapped our very successful chapter show, which was in September at the Coastal Arts League Gallery in downtown Half Moon Bay. We also recapped our October Livermore ArtWalk exhibit experience. We already have a claim on a better booth location for next year!
We made concrete plans for hosting a two-day workshop in 2014. Our workshop presenter will be Gemma Gylling, and a big thank you goes to her for volunteering her time! Gemma is a nationally-recognized wildlife artist who travels all over the US giving these same workshops, so we are fortunate to have her on our team. The workshop will be Saturday April 12 and Sunday April 13, 2014, at the Bothwell Arts Center in Livermore. We are also fortunate to have Maryann Kot on our team, because her connection with the Bothwell made it easy for us to seal the deal.
Because the restaurant is so convenient for many of our newer members, we voted to have our next meeting there, too, and we settled on Saturday, February 22, 2014.
We are still looking for a venue for our chapter show for 2014. Chris Swetlin has identified a possibility, the new San Mateo Library, but he's checking out some other venues that might provide better exposure and more wall space. As much as we'd like to have it at the Coastal Arts League Gallery again, it is already fully booked for the year so we cannot.
Maryann Kot gave a short presentation about the Fun Tangles workshop she is developing for 2014.
After lunch, we had a great discussion about "When is a colored pencil drawing not a colored pencil drawing?" Depending on which organization you belong to (CPSA, UKCPS, etc.) and whom you talk to, there are different restrictions on what you can and cannot call "pure colored pencil" for their international exhibitions. For example, CPSA allows solvents to be used with pencils, while UKCPS does not. And pastel pencils and Neocolor IIs are not considered colored pencils by either organization because the pigments used in them are pastel pigments, which are different from the pigments used in colored pencils. Finally, the surface itself can disqualify a drawing--CPSA requires it to be commercially-prepared for the International Exhibition. If you make your own paper or work on rocks or gourds, you can only enter those works in Explore This!, which allows and encourages using additional media and different surfaces with colored pencil. On a more individual level, depending on whom you talk to, some purists insist that even the use of a colorless blender violates the idea of a "colored pencil drawing", as does any effort to eliminate the appearance of pencil strokes. There is room for everyone and every style of working, but it's good to be aware of some of the opinions one might run into as a colored pencil artist! Denise passed around pastel pencils, Neocolor IIs and watercolor pencils so everyone could see what they are and try them out.
We viewed the DVD of the entire 2013 International Exhibition and the 17 award winners. It's fun to try to second-guess the juror and wonder what they were thinking when they chose this piece or that piece, for entry or for an award!
"Show and tell" is always the best part of a CPSA chapter meeting because it's when we all get to see what others are working on and how they're doing it, and learn from each other! We have members at all skill levels, and no matter what level we're at, there's always plenty more to learn.
Below are some photos from the meeting, taken by Mike Purdy. See you at our next meeting, in 2014!
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| During a break. For the most part, folks were too busy sharing information to really break! |
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| Maryann Kot talks about her newest drawing of some mushrooms during "show and tell" |
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| Gemma Gylling describes her suede matboard technique during "show and tell" |
