daricemachel

The kind I want to talk about are those Heavenly creatures that help and guide you in time of need. The ones that are always near enough to lend a hand. I know of and believe in such an angel. she came into my life last winter. At first I was a little surprised to see her pop up everyday. She seemed to be everywhere I went. Being the sceptic I am, I tried to ignore her, thinking she’d soon disappear. Yet as the days and weeks passed on, she continued to show her presence. I finally got brave enough to confront her. It really wasn’t much of a confrontation, just a brief note to let her know I saw her. I had no idea where that acknowledgment would lead. “Would she go away?”, Would she stick around?”, Would i stick around?” These were some of the thoughts that would pop into my mind as our daily contact grew.

Then one day I was surprised by an email from her. The email wasn’t addressed to me by name. It was open, sort of like it was addressed to anyone who was listening. I read it. Then read it again. At that moment I understood her and connected with her thoughts. And then it hit me! (Yea sometimes I’m slow. ) This “Angel”, This “everyday presence” had a deep love for humanity! A love she shared everyday whether we paid attention or not. A love so strong it pulled at me until I could no longer resist. Her message was simple, it went something like this….” I’m looking to put together an event involving artists from around the world, to create one big art piece that can be auctioned off to a charity. I was thinking about having a large roll of paper for artists to paint, draw, sign their name or write a poem on, then mailed on to the next artist. What do you think?”……My first thoughts were ” What?! Is she talking to me?”

That’s when it hit me ( light bulb moment). This “Angel” is real! This “1stAngel” lady, this Elizabeth Edwards ( Beth, as she likes to be called), who’s presence I encounter everyday when I log onto “Fine Art America” and “facebook” is REAL! She’s not just some cyber Phantom who comes to the rescue when there’s a technical problem. She was flesh and blood! A woman with a heart of gold.

I reread her email for the third time and found myself responding. ” What if each artist painted, drew or wrote on a square piece of canvas? Then they can send in their work to be sewn together to make one large art piece. That way you would avoid getting it lost or damaged. Each piece could be on a 9×9 piece of canvas with an 8×8 image”

Another email came….”great idea! We’ll need someone to sew them together. I could do some of them, but I’m afraid I’d need help if to many were sent in…LOL”

” I can help with the sewing” I wrote back. A few more emails went back and forth, ironing out details. Beth created a discussion forum on her online magazine to help with issues such as what charity would we send this giant master piece to and how. Soon the plan was in place and the date set, Earth Day 2010. A call to artists was sent out. “Art Around the World” was born. http://1stangel.co.uk/aaw.php

Do you believe in Angels? I do, at least in one, her name is Elizabeth Edwards, Beth, AKA 1stAngel.

this was the painting featured on FAA

2009 started and ended well. I began the year with very strong goals to work towards. One of them was to find an art web site to show and sell my work. My research lead me to Fine Art America ( FAA ). After reviewing all it had to offer I signed up. Within two weeks one of my paintings was featured on the home page and soon after I sold my first print. Every morning I made it my job to log onto FAA and learn all about the wonderful marketing tools it had to offer. I began posting in the discussion forums during my first month of membership. It wasn’t long before I was one of the “regulars”, interacting with some of the worlds best artists. Many of whom I now call friends.

My excitement for this “treasure” of an web site grew as each month passed. New marketing features were added to help the artists promote and sell their work. One of my favorite features is the “customizable emails”, which allows me to send out beautiful and professional news letters to everyone on my email list. I am able to keep my customers, friends and family updated on new art work I’ve created or announce an up coming art show.

Another great feature that was recently added was “customizable greeting cards”. All my work is now available in the “card” format. Costumers are able to customize each card to suit their needs. The specs are as follows;

FAA greeting cards are 5″ x 7″ in size and produced on digital offset printers using 110 lb. paper stock.

Each card is coated with a UV protectant on the outside surface which produces a semi-gloss appearance.

The inside of each card has a matte white finish and can be customized with a text message up to 500 characters in length. The message is centered on the inside of the card and printed in black 18pt arial font.

The artist’s name and the name of the image is printed on the back of each card along with the FAA logo.

Cards may be ordered in a horizontal or vertical configuration.

Cards may be ordered with a white background or black background.

All greeting card orders ship within 48 hours, and shipping is available to any destination in the world!

I am now setting goals for 2010. The main ones will be focused on marketing my art work to increase exposure and sells. I will be creating more ideas for my students continued growth in the art of oil and acrylic painting. And I have made a goal to concentrate on posting more often in my blog.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and for your continued interest in my art work. May your New Year be full of creative energy.

Twenty years ago I wrote a lot of poems. Lately I’ve been reading through them and realized how much I’ve grown since then. Most of them no longer fit who I am today. A few of them can still make me feel the intensity of the emotions I had way back then. However, one is as true today as it was when I wrote it in July of 1989.

DUST ON THE SHELF

I take myself gently by the hand and listen to my fears and needs.

I comfort my soul in time of grief as I cry upon my knees.

With positive thoughts I will face the many tragedies that will come.

And always remember I’m important no matter how insecure I become.

No one understands or cares for me better than myself.

I must try never to forget I exist, like the dust on the shelf.

No piece of art is greater than the mind God has given me.

I alone have the power to control my destiny.

Nobody can destroy that which I have Built.

Save for one, the dreaded enemy in myself.

My foes may be many but no one is stronger than I.

And like the dust on the shelf, I will always be standing by.

I don’t have to think twice about the answer to this question. The single most inspirational and influential art teacher I have known is Lola Owen, my mother. She was my first oil painting teacher at the age of 16, teaching me how to mix and apply paint to canvas at our kitchen table. The thing that is most inspiring about her is her journey into the arts.

Lola was a stay at home mom, raising 5 daughters while dad worked to support us. Her creative skills helped to keep the modest income my dad made balanced. She sewed most of our clothes, designed and created our Christmas ornaments, made clothes for our dolls and created toys for us to play with. She took flower arranging and cake decorating classes at night, often bringing home amazing creations. Some of her cakes were so beautiful and took her such a long time to make it pained her to see us devour them in minutes. Mom spent a lot of time teaching us everything she learned in those classes. Each of my sisters and I learned the things that interested us. I enjoyed the sewing and flower arranging more than the cake decorating.

In 1974 our family moved to Kings Beach which is on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe, I was 15 at the time. The move created a few problems for our family. For some of us, the over active out of control teenage girls, it meant a new school, meeting new people and creating new friendships. For my parents it meant new jobs, building a new home and the never ending battle of controlling out of control teenage girls. Learning a whole new way of life was very challenging. All of us had to much time on our hands and some of us got into trouble quite often. Lola (mom) solved this problem for herself by taking up oil painting. The classes were held in a back room of a gift shop on the other side of the lake, a hour drive from where we lived. She commuted to the South Shore every week, even during big snow storms. When she brought home her first painting, a 24 x 36 Seascape, we were all amazed. My father, at first, thought she had purchased the painting. It took a bit of convincing to get dad to realize she had in fact painted it.

After a year of commuting to class and with a growing inventory of paintings, the need to find a place to display all the fine work Lola created became another problem. There were no galleries on the North Shore area of Tahoe at the time. My father decided to share a small space at the Sheet Metal shop he owned and operated. Together they remodeled the garage and Lakeside Gallery was born. The legacy of mom’s gallery didn’t stop there, it grew! She was approached by an enthusiastic customer wanting to take lessons from her. The woman’s persistence finally convinced Lola to take a chance at becoming her teacher. At first, mom was scared to death, feeling she was to new to the world of art to be of any use to someone else. It didn’t take long, however, for her special teaching style to became a success and many more students began to arrive. Little by little Lakeside Gallery took over Sierra Sheet Metal. first by adding a few art supplies then a classroom. As the classes grew a new need became an opportunity, framing. My father stared framing at night and on weekends for a select few. His business was literally moved out the back door and he eventually put Sierra Sheet Metal to rest, devoting all his time and energy to framing and becoming a master of the trade.

Lola was my first oil painting teacher. She taught me how to mix colors and apply the paint to canvas at our kitchen table when I was just 16. I’ve had many other art teachers through the years but she was the best. Her passion and love for art came through each lesson. She is a kind patient teacher, ready to answer any question asked and if she doesn’t know the answer she’ll find it. This year she is turning 80 and is still teaching people how to paint.

About Image; This is my mom’s first painting.

I was contacted through my web site a year ago regarding my “image with in an image” paintings, by a woman in South Africa. She was very interested in learning how to paint this style. She asked me if I knew anyone in South Africa who taught this style. I wrote her back stating I didn’t know anyone in South Africa but was willing to help her if she was interested. Needless to say this became an adventure in learning how to teach via email.

After much emailing back and forth, we settled on the subject (the elephant shown here). I proceeded with sending her the list of art supplies she would need. I didn’t know what brands they had there or if the names were the same, so I took pictures of my supplies as a visual for her to go by. I chose an image of an elephant and sent that to her as well.

Teaching this painting through the email was long and educational for both of us. I took pictures , made notes, refined my notes, and sent her the stages of my progress. She would then study the pictures and notes then work on her own painting. She then took pictures of her work for my critique. The whole process took over four months to complete. And we were both very happy in the end with the results

Yep, thats right. I’m a professional framer as well as an artist. I learned this fine trade from my father over 15 years ago. It started out as just a part time job to help balance my income while raising my four children. I took to framing like a duck to water and soon it became a full time job. Here are some valuable tips for framing your artwork.
1. When choosing a framer ask as many questions as you like and if the framer doesn’t answer your questions or explain the process well or to your satisfaction, go to another framer. Be very careful of those who hide info from you, such as; putting museum glass on a poster that cost you less the $20.00. This kind of shop is after bumping up their sales. and doesn’t have your best interest in mind.

2. If you have a stretched canvas with a dent or bulge spray the entire back of the canvas with water. The canvas will smooth out as it dries.

3. ….never let the glass touch your artwork! Glass is the number one cause of damage to art. Matting is not only for enhancing your work it’s used to protect it from the glass. The mat creates a physical and air barrier between the art and the glass which will help protect the art piece from condensation that can occur behind the glass do to temperature changes. This moisture can cause damage by discoloration, buckling and it can serve as a breeding ground for mold, mildew and fungi.

4. What are spacers? The purpose of a spacer (and a mat is a type of spacer) is to provide an area of space between the work of art and the glass. You do not want any work of art to be directly touching the glass on a frame. Condensation, dirt, dust, and tiny particles can build up and adhere to the glass in your frame. This could result in damage to the work of art.

5. What about drymounting original art? Don’t let anyone (not even your best friend) drymount a work on paper or anything else of value to a mat when framing it. Some framers may tell you that the work is too big to be secured with linen tape and that the piece has to be drymounted to foam core board to secure it within a frame. Don’t do it!

6. There are several aesthetic reasons for matting art. It creates a field around the art to bring out it’s colors and to draw the eye in. It adds drama to the presentation. It highlights a color, accents a shape and increases the overall size of the framed piece. It helps shape the presence of the piece,. For example, a black mat has the effect of lightening and enlarging the art work. A white mat will darken and shrink the image.

7. A rule of thumb to consider when planning a mat for your art is never use a mat lighter, brighter or darker than the lightest, brightest or darkest color of your art piece. And never use a “foreign” color. A foreign color is a color that is NOT in the art piece. You may be tempted to use the colors in the room you are decorating to frame your art to achieve a tie in. However, this generally doesn’t work for the art piece and then if you redo the room, you’ll likely have to redo your frame.

8. Using higher quality mat board is essential to protecting your artwork. Mat board that is NOT rated as Conservation Quality will allow the mat to discolor and possibly damage your artwork over time. These standard (paper) mats contain acids and lignins which for short-term use are fine. However, as a mat ages, damage can occur.

9. Protect your art from light and heat damage. Without light there would be no art. Light is what allows us to see and appreciate color. However, the very thing that allows us to enjoy photographs and art can also destroy them. Ultraviolet rays, or UV light, causes sunburns and wrinkles our skin. It also fades and discolors artwork. This damage is serious and irreversible. No conservation treatment can restore color to light-damaged materials. But careful framing and proper display can minimize the damage. I recommend conservation framing using acid free and lignin free mats which help protect your art work from the aging process. Use UV protection glass. The special coating on this glass block out 97% of harmful UV rays. Always hang your artwork out of direct sunlight. And never hang your valuable artwork over a heat source or in an area of high humidity. Heat and humidity will cause damage to your framed treasures.

The Elements of mixing color

When deciding to write this article, I thought it would be simple. At my age I should have known better. I’ve been mixing color for painting since I was 16. In my research I’ve discovered most articles, books and web sites talk of the scientific elements of color theory. I don’t think in scientific terms while I’m painting. I’m in a creative, visual mode when I apply paint to canvas. I choose my colors based on the subject, mood, time of day and the way they look to please my eye. When teaching my students I explain what values, hue and intensity means in relationship to painting, breaking down scientific terms into simple language by visual examples. I discuss primary, secondary, tertiary and complementary colors. All these elements are important  when learning to paint. And some of them are not easily learn.

Here are the seven basic elements, starting with hue.

HUE

Hue, in simple terms, refers to the name of a pure color. Scientifically speaking, hue relates to the length of the light wave, ranging in scale from red to violet, passing through orange, yellow, green and blue. all colors found in nature can be described as one of these 12 hues Red/Violet, Red, Red/Orange, Orange, Yellow/Orange, Yellow, Yellow/Green, Green, Blue/Green, Blue, Blue/Violet and Violet. By curving the linear shape of the visible spectrum into a circle you create a color wheel.

VALUE

The values of a color are one of the most important aspects of painting. This is how we get shape and depth of the object or subject we are painting. Value of a color means going from it’s darkest range to it’s lightest. Example: starting with black and adding white you create a lighter value of black. The more white you add the lighter gray you get. There are 11 value steps ranging from black – Level 0 to white – Level 10. Everything in a painting has value, sky, water, mountains, trees etc. Lets take a simple gray rock as an example. In order to get it’s shape you must have at least three values, dark, medium and light. One value will only give you a blob of color (see example below). Two values will leave the rock flat and uninteresting. Three values starts to give it shape and depth. The more values you add the more detailed the rock becomes. You can even make three rocks out of two.

INTENSITY

Intensity according to the dictionary means 1. quality of being intense. 2. extreme degree; great vigor ( not to be confused with my personality ). Intensity in color, sometimes referred to as saturation or chroma, is the term used to describe the purity and strength ( brightness or dullness ) of a color. In a painting if the value and hue of two different colors are the same, the one with the greatest intensity will come forward.

PRIMARY COLORS

Red, yellow and blue are classified as the primary colors, because they can not be generated by other paint mixtures. Theoretically, you can combine these three colors to create all other colors.

SECONDARY COLORS

Secondary colors are created by mixing two primary colors together. Example: Orange is created by mixing red and yellow. Green is created by mixing blue and yellow. Purple ( or violet ) is created by mixing blue and red. When mixing all three primaries you will get a dark neutral gray.

TERTIARY COLORS

Tertiary colors are mixed by using combinations of the primary and secondary colors. Red/Violet, Red/Orange, Yellow/Orange, Yellow/Green, Blue/Green and Blue/Violet.

COMPLEMENTARY

Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel are complementary colors. In a painting a complementary color will enhance a subject. Such as, a vase of purple flowers with a yellow background will be more pleasing to the eye then a background of green. Complementary colors can be used instead of grays to lessen the intensity of a color. However, it is important to experiment with the colors you use. You may find exceptions to this rule. For example: Orange is opposite blue and in theory it should neutralize it, but it often tends toward a green.

Value Chart

As an art teacher I’m always looking for new techniques to teach my students. I enjoy learning as much as I love teaching. At least once a month I go to the local book store to check out the art books. I have a large collection in which I use as references.

One of my favorite books is called “Acrylic Revolution” by Nancy Reyner. This book is full of “new tricks and techniques for working with the world’s most versatile medium”. It has page after page of fun and exciting ways to play with acrylic paint. There are so many techniques for both the professional and beginner artist to have many hours of fun creating paintings.

The first few pages are great guides for the beginner. starting with the ‘Essential acrylic tips”. Covering everything about the characteristics of the paint and the colors to use. Ms. Reyner then moves on to materials and equipment and how they are used. Such as Palette ideas, supports or surfaces to paint on and how to set up a studio.

Reyner then cover a large variety of tools you can paint with. Showing examples of paintings done with brushes, palette knives, cheese cloth and rags, string, sponges, eye droppers, toothbrushes and even feathers. All of her examples are done in an easy to follow, step by step process that makes you excited about getting started on your own. With over 100 pages of tips, techniques and projects you will soon be creating some amazing paintings.

Some of my more adventurous students and I have enjoyed experimenting with many of the techniques in “Acrylic Revolution”. It’s fun and exciting to see great results using non-traditional methods.

This painting I created using hyde glue to crack the paint.

I have been using acrylic paints for years as an underpainting for my oil paintings. I’d prep a blank canvas with thin layers of acrylic, in either a cool or warm color depending on my subject. I was hesitant to use acrylic as a primary medium due to their quick drying time. However, in the last five years I’ve been playing and experimenting with them more. The reason for this came about because of two very insistent students wanting to learn how to paint with acrylic. I’m very grateful to those two pushy students for I am now enjoying acrylic paints as much as oils and have become fascinated with their versatility. In the beginning achieving good results was a huge challenge for me. The longer I worked with them the more fun and exciting they became. I’m enjoying the ability to make my acrylic paintings look like watercolors on paper or an oil painting on canvas and everything in between.

When teaching acrylic painting, I often demonstrate the effects of adding various mediums to achieve certain looks. Such as moulding paste and heavy gel mediums to add volume to the paint, hyde glue or crackling paste for cracking the paint and sand mixed into gesso for a rough texture or to sculpt a 3D image. I also demonstrate how various papers can be used to give painting surfaces texture. My students are often in awe and excited with the results and eager to apply the techniques to their own paintings.

Another appealing aspect of acrylics is the low cost for start-up supplies. Many of my beginning students choose to start with acrylics because of this. My supply list for beginners is very simple and affordable. I start them out with the three primaries plus black and white, two brushes, a flat and a round, and their choice of watercolor paper or canvas board. All other mediums and additives are items they can purchase as their budgets allow. Since many of my students are children, the parents are very happy with this approach.

Next chapter; “How to” books