DC210 Meeting Scheduled in Palo Alto, CA

Saturday, January 22, 2011
1:00-3:30 pm
Palo Alto Art Center
1313 Newell Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303
650-329-2366
http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/depts/csd/activities_and_recreation/attractions/art_center/default.asp

Agenda
1:00 Convene in the Meeting Room for chapter business.
2:00 Docent-led tour of the Art Center to learn about their facilities, classes and programs.
2:45 Reconvene for refreshments and "show and tell."

Bring a colored penil drawing, finished or unfinished, for "show and tell."

Not yet a member?
Attend as our guest and find out what the Northern California chapter
of the CPSA is all about!

Check for a Google Map or follow these directions:
Take Hwy 101 toward Palo Alto.
Exit to Embarcadero Rd. west (watch the signage carefully, this can be a confusing
interchange). for ~ .5 mile.
Turn right at Newell Rd., the Art Center is right there and you'll see a big sign for it at the corner.

If anyone's up for an extra "field trip" after the meeting, University Art in downtown Palo Alto
is one of the best art supply stores around!

The DC210 November 13th Meeting

Members present their latest artwork for enjoyment and critique at the November meeting in Martinez, CA

Our November Meeting started on time and we were happy to welcome Aaron Cole who sat in and asked if he could take photos. These are the shots that you are looking at today.

Linda Huffman brought her wood duck and "Aunt Trudy's Table" to share. Roxi Fechtner brought three of her recent graphite drawings, a Japanese magnolia (botanical), a lion and a pineapple. Gemma brought her lion stepping into the water, and a couple of new paintings in mid-finish. She also brought another one of a lion swimming with its head out of the water. Jackie brought the pumpkins and the fork and spoon. Denise showed a couple of nice flower paintings. It's a special pleasure to be able to see our member's colored pencil work. All the work was simply wonderful.

We watched the DVD of the 2010 International Show on Jackie's computer.

We chatted with Cathy Riggs, owner of "I've Been Framed" ... a frame shop in Martinez, CA, about different framing ideas. She showed us some nice molding samples at very reasonable prices that she stocks at her shop. We talked about the work our members brought because most of it was framed.

A special thank you goes to Cathy for letting us use the back room of her frame shop for our

meeting, and also to Aaron for sharing his photos with us.

The winner of the $75 coupon for the framing shop was Gemma Gylling. I know she will use it, as she has been really working continuously at her art.

We have a new executive board that was voted in at the meeting. Linda Loder will continue as President, Denise Howard is our new Vice President, Jackie Chang will continue as our Treasurer, Roxi Fechtner as Secretary and Linda Huffman (who is appointed) will continue as our Membership Chair. Thanks to everyone for being a part of the board. Without these wonderful people, our chapter could not continue. 

Please come and help us get our chapter rejuvenated with activities. If anyone has ideas for shows or meeting locations, please let us know.

Photo Credit: Aaron David Cole





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.