Nancy MacDonald - Artist

Nancy MacDonald is a British artist with a degree in fine art from the UK, who moved to the warmth of San Jose, California in 1996. From 1999, she spent two years in Japan and used that period painting life portraits of many Japanese and Filipino models. In addition to the pleasures of the California climate, she is privileged to have spent several years under the tutelage of Bob Gerbracht working in Pastels and Oils. (Check out Bob's book People and Places, about his experiences as a painter.)

Urban Sketchers

Urban Sketchers is a network of artists around the world who draw the cities where they live and travel to. There is this blog, which is by invitation, a Flickr group, where anyone can share their location drawings, and a Google group to stay connected and foster discussion. USk was started on Flickr by Seattle journalist and illustrator Gabi Campanario in November of 2007. The blog was launched in November of 2008.

Six continents are represented by members. To become a member of the Urban Sketchers network, email a link to your urban sketches (blog tag or flickr set) and they'll be added to the list. Note: That will not make your drawings show on the blog but they'll keep a close eye on your work as they look for new correspondents. Send an email with your name, city and URL to urbansketchers at gmail dot com to join.

Terri Ford - Pastel Artist

Terri Ford has been a studio artist, has traveled extensively, done many portraits and is now focusing on plein air. This painting is a dune study from Carmel.

"Whether loose or tightly rendered I strive to convey an honest and compassionate portrayal of all that I paint. My interest lies in creating paintings that reflect the extraordinary character within the ordinary." - Terri Ford

Cecy Turner - Artist

Cecy Turner was the proud winner of a ThumBox pochade box at the Richardson Civic Art Society 43rd Regional Juried Art Exhibition in Richardson Texas.

This 8"x10" plein-air painting of a heron reflected in still water illustrates this quote from her artist's statement:

"I am fascinated with the glow of reflected light on various surfaces. Painting on location on a regular basis has opened many doors for me. I cannot improve nature, but I can rearrange and simplify it to correspond to what I feel." - Cecy Turner

Closing the Lid, by Lady Guerrilla Painter

The Guerrilla Painter and I were traveling recently, and I mentioned to him that I was having trouble getting the lid of my ThumBox to close easily. It didn't look like anything was in the way, so I asked him about each of the items I had in the lid and on the palette.

"The palette extension kit combined with the covered palette tray?" He said they should work fine together.

"I have two of our watercolor blocks in the lid..." There should be no problem with that, he said.

"And, of course, the palette needs to be in all the way..."
We couldn't see anything wrong.

I played around with it for a minute, trying to see what was making it difficult. He noticed that I'd stowed my Composition Finder underneath the covered palette, and he said, with a twinkle in his eye, "I put all kinds of things in the lid and on the palette, but I wouldn't go so far as to include a Composition Finder. I mean, there *are* limits!"

Sometimes, two millimeters really makes a difference.

NAMTA Annual Trade Show

A few weeks ago a few members of our staff and I traveled to Louisville, KY for the annual NAMTA trade show. Over 150 booths were set up and manned by all the big name art material manufacturers and suppliers for art retailers like us to come see what’s new in art supplies. This is one business trip that requires good walking shoes and plenty of room in your suitcase to haul home lots of free samples. There ends up being way too much to see and do but I couldn’t ask for a better trip.

The NAMTA organization (International Art Materials Trade Association) not only works to unite the art material suppliers and retailers but they also serve to better anyone who works in the fine arts. The organization offers scholarships and grants, news about what’s happening in the art world and resources for everyone. These guys (and ladies) do an amazing job.

On top of a fantastic trade show, we also got to enjoy the city of Louisville -pronounced “Lou-ah-vull” (I was corrected every time). It rained everyday while we were there which we enjoyed quite bit because we just don’t get a lot of rain in Colorado. The city was so friendly and there was no shortage of fun things to try to fit in to our busy schedule. On the first night of the show, we had the president’s reception dinner at the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchhill Downs. It was a lot of fun; we sipped mint juleps and talked art and horses all night long.

Not surprisingly, Carl managed to get some painting done with his ThumBox. He painted the Alvin booth from across the aisle. There was too much going on for me to even think about trying to paint any of it – but Carl has been doing this for years and he loves the challenge.

The trip was quite a success. I found some new products that you might enjoy and you’ll see them online or in our next catalog soon. There is still a lot of sifting through samples to be done. I already added one find to our website, “The Artist’s Book of Excuses”. It’s a funny little book about plein air painting that any artist is sure to love. Yes, this trip had it all: a great host city, lots of fun things to do and see, an amazing trade show filled with tons of products for artists and some great folks, and the NAMTA organization to take care of us all. I only wish it was open to the public… any artist would have loved it!

-Alicia

Sporny Solution

We reported here last year on the death of Stanley Sporny (see November 4 post) and, at the time, we didn't know whether his Sporny Solutions formulae might have been lost.

We're glad to say that the products will still be available. For anyone who is concerned about toxic fumes or wants to extend the working time of their paint, these materials are the answer. They contain no volitile organic compounds or citrus. The mediums are professional grade, non-yellowing and archival. The clean-up solvent doesn't evaporate and can be re-used many times.

This is the product page on our website.

Paint-outs in the Arizona State Parks

The Arizona State Parks are inviting artists, both professional and amateur, to paint for free in the parks on certain days (this time of year, the hours are 8:00 A.M. to noon). Artists meet at the designated time to have their panels or paper stamped and then head out into the scenery.

The parks are safe, have clean bathrooms and the views are irresistible. Four hours later the artists meet to display the finished piece/pieces and submit them for judging by fellow artists.

There are six events scheduled in the remaining months of 2009:

-June 6, 2009 at Dead Horse Ranch State Park, 8 am – Noon
-July 18, 2009 at Fool Hollow Lake Recreation Area, 8 am – Noon
-August 8, 2009 at Roper Lake State Park, 8 am – Noon
-September 19, 2009 at Slide Rock State Park (Apple Festival), 8 am – Noon
Additional Children's Paint Out Activity
-October 3, 2009 at Riordan Mansion State Historic Park, 8 am – Noon
-November 29, 2009 at Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park (Fall Festival)8am-Noon - Additional Children's Paint Out Activity

We think this is a great idea and were wondering if other states have such programs.

Plein Air in Bellevue Washington

The Eastside Association of Fine Arts in Bellevue Washington has regularly scheduled plein-air opportunities this summer for members and non-members alike. They will meet every Tuesday morning between mid May and mid September starting at about 9:30 AM at seventeen locations in the Puget sound region. Most have easy access, parking and restrooms.

Anything in any medium goes, from paintings or drawings that are highly realistic to abstract. At 12:30 or so they gather for lunch and a group “Show and Tell”.

The first get-together is this coming Tuesday, May 26, at the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle. They will be painting along Azalea Way which is about 1/2 mile of plantings with azaleas, rhodies, cherry trees and ponds in the park.

Ontario Plein Air Society Event

The Ontario Plein Air Society will be meeting up at the historic Williams Mill Visual Art Centre (about 40 minutes from Toronto) this Sunday from 12-5 p.m.

The town of Glen Williams has a myriad of 1850's buildings, a historic graveyard, the Credit River, parks, corner store, lovely bakery and 2nd hand bookstore. The mill itself is picturesque, is surrounded by woods on one side, and has plenty of parking.

The Ontario Plein Air Society welcomes all artists no matter what medium or level of expertise. They are a non-commercial group focused on promoting plein air painting in Ontario. If you are one of those lone-wolf plein air painters living in Ontario, join in the camaraderie and positive energy.

Plein Air Magazine Survey

Eric Rhodes, the publisher of Plein Air Magazine (2004-5) is taking a survey to find out to what extent there is interest in reviving the magazine, either in print or online. This will not affect Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine (which replaced Plein Air Magazine in 2006).

Painting Missouri - The Counties En Plein Air

We were fortunate to pass through Kansas City while the exhibit "Painting Missouri - The Counties En Plein Air" was on display at the central library. Painter Billyo (sic) O'Donnell and journalist Karen Glines collaborated to produce 114 paintings and essays, one for each county in Missouri.

The paintings ranged in size from 9"x12" up to 24"x30". The result of a seven-year effort during which the artist faced almost every weather element imaginable from sub-zero temperatures to 100-degree heat, the paintings have been published, accompanied by the essays, by the University of Missouri Press. The book is now in its second printing.

Subjects include historic buildings, small town streetscapes, wildlands and croplands, creeks and rivers, people and animals, the Christopher Wren church in Fulton, a tipi, a cannon, and the fountain at the Plaza in Kansas City in winter. There are nocturnes, twilight scenes, fog and mist, slanted light and high sun. Some of the close-up views and the distant vistas become quite abstract. Many compositions gain drama from large empty foregrounds and/or diagonal elements.

There was also a display case with his (well-used) palette, brushes, sketchbooks, notes, apron and easel.

Here is a link to Billyo O'Donnell's site.