Why Take a Workshop? To Try New Stuff!!

It has been quite some time since I went to a workshop to just learn from another artist, but I did just that to learn from Vera Dickerson. She is known for wonderful figures surrounded by patterns made with stencils and collage. She also uses primarily acrylic paints. All skills I am interested in improving in my own tool box.

Vera Dickerson Teaching in Bend, Oregon

(We members of Watercolor Society of Oregon are fortunate to have internationally known artists come twice a year to teach here in Oregon. The workshops are considerably less expensive than taking a workshop elsewhere, and no flying is involved!) 

So the first day, we spent time making collage papers. Although I often make my own collage papers, Vera showed a somewhat different way, preparing the deli paper first with a wash of white gesso mixed with gel medium. Knowing stencils would be involved, I made 3 of my own using a plastic and hot gun.

My personal stencils and collage papers.

The next day, it was off to the races! We watched a wonderful demonstration by Vera, then began our own take on her process. Her stencils and patterns are mostly delicate--florals and lace-like patterns. She also uses more pastel colors, making for lovely settings for female figures. Me, I'm into bigger shapes and bolder colors, so even though I followed her technique, I came out with much wilder collage papers and wilder pictures.

So on the last of the 5 days, I softened my work to be a bit more like that of this great instructor. Plus my figure called for more sweetness.

The best things I came home with: I can use acrylics and even paint a person, I can combine collage materials and patterns, I can adapt these new skills into my own work, and finally, I can come home with something worth making into a story.

Reading in the Library

Margaret the Fixer

Working with watercolor paint is often intimidating to folks because there is the misconception that you can't fix a boo-boo. While recently teaching a workshop at Menucha, I got the nickname of "Margaret the Fixer."

Watercolor Bloom

When doing a demonstration for a class, one can't take the time to start over. The instructor (me) has to move along by fixing, or incorporating the error into the finished painting. So Day 1 I was moving along creating a very nice, smooth wash on my first "Fighting Zebra" painting when I got careless and a drop of water hit the still damp paint. This is known as a "bloom." In this closeup, you can see lots of blooms. This is because I decided to just make them a part of the painting. Why not?

The larger ones I just turned into some cultural patterns similar to patterns I saw in South Africa. And so, just like that, this became the painting I've now titled, "Fighting Zebras: Cultural."

Fighting Zebras: Cultural

Next, I wanted to make the sun behind the animals more interesting and related to the foreground circular designs. I also wanted it to have an authentic design, so I took off an earring I bought while in South Africa and used that to add interest to the orb.

South African Earring

Next demo painting included the fighting zebras on a vertical paper. the lower portion was painted yellow with a collage piece of an old watercolor painting down the middle. To me it has a very geographical feel to it. Next morning, I came in looking at the piece and realized the yellow had to be toned down, so I put a wash over it. By the end of the day, the two yellow sides had become gold with rocks scattered through it.

Fighting Zebras: Geographical

Next demo featured the fighting zebras again, but not center stage. I moved them off to the "golden mean" upper right. This was primarily done with a watercolor washes and collage materials. When I had finished the gluing, I felt like the Zebras were floating. Now how to ground them??  I took my brush with a matching, but darker green and with just a few strokes they were attached to the earth.

Fighting Zebras: Botanical

On the last day, the class participants requested a demo of watercolor washes, so I thought of a simple landscape with sky, clouds, mountains and grasslands with wild flowers. Somehow the Zebra patterns found their way into the mountains. Every once in awhile a simple watercolor is just satisfying.

Zebra Mountains

The Honor and Responsibility of Being a Juror (and tips for presenting your work)

This past weekend I was in Portland jurying the Spring Show at the Oregon Society of Artists. I am
always honored to be asked. It indicates that someone thinks pretty highly of my opinion and skills in judging fine art. (You should see the piles of books on art I own!) But aside from the honor is the responsibility to go into a show and look for paintings that not only "speak" to me, but also exhibit use of good technique, an understanding of strong composition and design elements, and have a professional presentation.

I enjoyed the opportunity to see so many great paintings and connect with good artists. It was not an easy task to pick only 7 award winners from this outstanding exhibit of art. I also send a big thank you to the OSA Board and the show coordinators who made my work as easy as possible. They put on a fabulous reception where I was able to talk about art in general and my award choices.

I will be teaching a workshop at the same venue, OSA,  in May.

Margaret Godfrey: "Adding Content to Your Art Mixed Media"

Thursday - Sunday May 3 - 6, 2017

$395 four days Limit 20 students

http://margaretgodfreyart.com/

call OSA to register: (503) 228-0706  (503) 228-0706

Over the years of selling my work, I have become serious about the importance of presentation. It is the artist's job to insure that the framing shows off the artwork. If I am asking someone to buy my work, I have a responsibility to mat and/or frame it in a way that makes the buyer see the care and pride I have in my art. A mat should be clean and sharply cut with a good 3 or more inches around the painting. A frame should enhance the work, not overwhelm it. If an artist reuses mats and frames (which I do) they should be retired when they show wear and tear. If a painting is on canvas and the sides are in view, they should be carefully painted, stained or finished in a careful manner.

Here are a few photos from yesterday's reception and close-ups of award winners.

My sister, Barbara with me at the Gallery

The crowd enjoying art

And the Award Winners

Introduction by Board Director, Tim Mahoney

In the OSA Gallery

NOW IN THE OSA GALLERY:
Spring Juried Show: Works by OSA members.
Juror: Margaret Godfrey

 March 5 - 29, 2017 

Winter Workshop Rescheduled

The winter weather was horrid which forced the rescheduling of my Portland workshop!

The good news there is plenty of time to sign up!

Margaret Godfrey: "Adding Content to Your Art Mixed Media"
Wednesday-Saturday May 3 - 6, 2017
$395 four days Limit 20 students
http://margaretgodfreyart.com/

Call (503) 228-0706 Oregon Society of Artists to Register.

If you have been to many art shows, you have probably seen a number of subjects painted over and over. Roses. Sunflowers. Trees. Children. What can an artist do to make their flower, person, landscape or abstract stand out from the others? What is YOUR message and how do you make your art unique? I want to help you find that element for your art.

So what will we do in the workshop (besides having fun, of course)? First, I will share my own method of digging into subject matter by gathering resources. Not only does it push back Alzheimers, but I find different ways to tell a story. My goal is to help participants do the same. My hope is that each artist finds ways to explore ideas, discover symbols, create a unique language to put more content into their art.

In preparation of this workshop I challenged myself  by choosing a common critter to paint. The Hummingbird. I wanted to create several small paintings telling more of this bird's story. It is the challenge of "what can I say that will make my painting unique?" How can I tell more about this fascinating little creature that we are all so familiar with? I began by looking into what I didn't know about this bird. 

Gathering Resources

An Anna's hummingbird egg is .5 to .6 inches long. Also the bird lays just 2 eggs. So I started with a stamp to scale. I started to put together one/half inch oval with part of an oval to create a border stamp. Stamps are a great way to personalize your art--something I will share at the workshop.

I thought of their small size and ways to paint in a way to convey the scale of the tiny bird to humans. My mind went to the summer when my husband and I sit in our yard late in the afternoon--we are often startled by the buzzing so near our ears as a hummingbird flies in for a drink at the feeder. Sometimes you can feel the wind created by their small busy wings. I used my husband's ear and painted it in proportion to the bird's size. Can you almost hear and feel this little guy?

Another great way to get inspired to paint is through words. I found this haiku poem that presented a vision of two creatures being almost paralyzed with surprise in a close encounter. 

And more hummingbird paintings and ideas are coming. Come join us in May when the weather is milder!

15 Art Blogs to Watch in 2012

Thanks to a nomination by my friend Ruth Armitage, my blog was listed in Donna Zagata's list of 15 Art Blogs to Watch in 2012. You can view the entire list at http://donnazagotta.com/blog/

The painting below was started earlier this month in the workshop I held at the Emerald Art Center. I used it as a demonstration of how to include subject matter in an abstract design. If you look closely, you will see the shape of a heron in the left white of the paper.

 

With a couple of days in the studio, I was able to continue work on this piece to completion. Another painting in my River Series

 

The Gift of Wings, mixed media, 22 x 30 inches

Workshop: Combining Subject Matter with Abstract Design

Demonstrating stamping on gessoed paper

This past Saturday, I wrapped up the four-day workshop "Combining Subject Matter with Abstract Design" at Emerald Art Center. It was certainly an exciting 4 days for me. Teaching always helps me become more aware of my own art endeavors, as I have to articulate my inspiration, my composition and design ideas, my use of materials, my decision making and problem solving process as my own paintings progress. 

In this workshop, we focused on two composition formats: cruciform and strata. Both formats are easily understandable, and, in my experience work well with inserting subject matter. Another large part of the workshop was creating collage materials by tinting natural rice papers, making stamps and stamping gessoed papers. For the participants who are mainly transparent watercolor painters painting fairly realistically, this workshop really stretched their thinking and expanded their experience. For those who are already experimenting, this just added new tools for their tool-belt.

Participants' work

Class after I demonstrated beginning surfaces for a painting

Throughout the workshop, I did short demonstrations on how to begin an abstract painting with various surfaces. And perhaps the most daring thing I did was take in a piece of my work at it's most awkward stage, and bit by bit build it into a finished piece. (I use the word daring, because I had to have the courage to work through the process in front of an audience, and the belief in myself to be able to bring the piece to a satisfying conclusion.) By doing this, I was able to show not only how to make interesting materials, but also how to apply them to a painting.

Participants with work (some pieces are in progress)

And here is the piece I brought in at mid-stage and worked through to its completion. Stay tuned for my next post which will take you through this work from inspiration to completion.

River Dandy, mixed media, 22 x 30

A Workshop Week

The first week of March, I made my way to Portland for a three day workshop featuring paper making and collage, taught by Deanna Thibault. (www.thibault4art.com) I really like Deanna's art and she has a lot of knowledge regarding making papers and creating art that does not require mats and glass or plexiglass glazing.

 

Deanna in action.

 

Two samples of Deanna's art in progress.

So one of the things I gained was learning how to make paste paper. We combined wallpaper paste, gloss medium and either acrylic paint or watercolor paint as a pigment. After making this goop, we covered everything from deli paper to rice paper to watercolor paper to make colorful patterned papers.

 

 

After putting the paste on the paper, we used all sorts of art and hardware store items to make patterns on the paper.

 

 

 

Once these papers are made, they can be used in combination with watercolor or acrylic paints to create interesting bits in a painting to create an impact that is hard to do with paint alone.

I made two pictures using a mixture of paints and collage. Neither are anything great, but I find I never create anything very special in a workshop. I use the time just learning a new way of working.

 

 

What I came away with was new ways of making dynamic colored and pattern papers. We even made cool papers using brown paper bags. I also became inspired to work toward creating art that is sealed with gloss medium, making mats and glass unnecessary. I know there have always been acrylics and oils which do this, but for me, this combination of painting and collaging is more in sync with the direction I've been going anyway.

An odd side effect of this workshop is that I've not been back working in the studio. I guess I'm letting it all digest as I process what I learned and think about just how it will affect my work.

If any Eugenian artists are interested, I would love to have a paste paper creating day. I'd be very happy to share the recipe I learned from Deanna and we could all go away with some beautiful papers to work with in our studios.

Spring! As of this morning, we have hummingbirds. The first little bird peered in the window this morning and I put up two feeders. Soon I had three hummingbirds feeding at the two feeders.