Click here to browse the deals. Happy shopping, and happy sketching!

Tyler Bend Bluff (oil on wood, 8×10) by John Wooldridge (Visit his blog at paintingarkansas.blogspot.com)

“Tyler Bend is a popular camping area on the Buffalo National River very close to US Highway 65 that gets a lot of canoe traffic in the summer months,” says John. “When I was there in late February it was pretty quiet, which is the way I like it. The late afternoon sun was streaming into the river valley and lighting up the bluff with a spectacular orange glow.”

Speaking of places we’ve been, and quiet rivers that call for watercraft, allow me to share with you a little story about a canoe that I once owned. I bought it because it was an ideal for me: just to be able to say that I had a canoe announced that I love nature and adventure. Little did I know! On the maiden voyage, my husband and I set sail during a canoeing fundraiser for breast cancer on what’s called the Little Miami River in Cincinnati. As soon as we pushed away from the shore, ready for a peaceful, hour-long float, I took off my life jacket (I didn’t want to worry about the tan lines, and I’m a strong swimmer).

Life jacket off and oar in hand, we quickly hit a very small drop in the water level; too small to be called a waterfall– it was probably only a one- or two-foot drop–and our canoe turned sideways, filling with water in seconds, and dropping me into the very little known only deep spot on the Little Miami, which happened to contain a whirlpool.

My husband floated to a nearby island and frantically began screaming my name when I didn’t surface. As he helplessly yelled, I was floating quietly along the bottom of the river; I know this because I could feel my feet slowly bouncing up and down, touching the floor. I waited a moment because in my experience, whenever one goes underwater, one just pops back up. But I wasn’t popping back up. Thankfully, because I was down far enough to touch the bottom, I was able to push as hard as I could on the next bounce and use all of my strength to swim upward, where I was greeted with shallow rapids. I then swam to the shore where I hung onto the exposed roots of a large tree, nervous with the fear of snakes that I could be intruding upon.

I was soon reunited with my husband and we somehow finished the trip. Nearby kayakers were able to help us retrieve the canoe, our oars and a few other things, including both of my sandals. Although this was years ago, I still haven’t recovered my sense of naïveté about water currents. And so, I can look at Tyler Bend Bluff and feel the wind, hear the soft waves lapping, and feel my heartbeat begin to race a little at the sight of these two innocent canoes.

I’m grateful that artists like John keep our memories alive, and give us quiet moments to reflect on spaces and stories that were, or might be. Jerry Yarnell is another artist who gives inspiration, and you can get one of his books, Paint Along With Jerry Yarnell Volume Two: Painting Inspirations, for only $4 during North Light Shop’s Overstock Sale. With his guidance, you can create your own thought-provoking paintings to enjoy for yourself and to share with others. Not quite what you need? Simply browse the rest of our sale items by clicking here.

Keeping my head above the water,
Cherie

**Click here to subscribe to the Artists Network newsletter for inspiration, instruction, and more!

The first IAPS convention was held in Denver, Colorado, in 1995, and since then has steadily grown. Artist Urania Christy Tarbet founded IAPS in 1994 to help unite pastel societies in the common cause of demonstrating the validity and quality of pastel as a fine art medium around the world. Urania compiled her story, along with reflections on the formation and development of IAPS by her pastel comrades, into a book entitled, Dare To Dream, which she unveiled at this year’s convention.

Here’s a look at the happenings at this year’s convention day-by-day:

Wednesday: The gathering kicked off on Wednesday, June 5, with preconvention workshops and the opening reception of the 22nd Juried Exhibition, the 2nd Master Circle Exhibition, and a Demonstrators Exhibition. Beautifully displayed in one of the hotel’s main ballrooms, the exhibition was open for attendees to enjoy throughout the convention.

Thursday: The convention’s official start was on Thursday afternoon with the ever-popular “Paint Around,” consisting of five prominent pastelists working in rotation on five different paintings. These were later available in a silent auction to fund scholarships. Thursday concluded with a “Welcome” buffet dinner and live band entertainment in the hotel courtyard under a magnificent New Mexico sky.

Friday: On Friday, the tradeshow opened to the public. Referred to as the “Candy Store,” it was filled with offerings and demonstrations from both familiar and new friends of pastel. Workshops and master demonstrations from pastel luminaries got rolling on Friday and continued throughout the convention.

The trade show at IAPS is a affectionately referred to as the “Candy Store” with many irresistible pastel temptations.

Pastelists enjoy special sales on all their favorite pastel brands, from Girault and Sennelier to Unison and Mount Vision, and many more!

Saturday: On Saturday evening, artists are given the chance to dress-up a bit and attend the banquet celebration. The gavel of presidency was handed to Liz Haywood-Sullivan who will be filling the vacancy left after the tragic loss of IAPS president Maggie Price early this year. The “IAPS Golden Mentor” honorees were announced and artists that had earned “IAPS Master Circle” status were honored. A new tier of distinction was also announced, “IAPS Eminent Pastelist.” Congratulations to artists Terri Ford and Fred Somers for being the first to earn that new distinction. In celebration of the tenth anniversary of IAPS, keynote speaker, gallery owner and author Jason Horejs discussed “The Ten Ways to Sell Your Paintings.” The banquet concluded with a tribute to Maggie Price, beautifully orchestrated by Liz Haywood-Sullivan and Maggie’s daughter Amy Vredevoogd.

Sunday: Although Sunday is the last day for the trade show and regular convention classes, there were still post-convention workshops that continued for a few more days. Many artists extended their stay in the area to enjoy the galleries and scenery of northern New Mexico.

Along with pre- and post-convention workshops, painters enjoy day-long workshops (plus demonstrations and classes) throughout the convention.

Start planning and saving now for the next convention, set for June 4 -through 7, 2015, with pre-convention workshops on June 3 and 4 and post-convention workshops on June 8 and 9 at the Hotel Albuquerque in Albuquerque. After attending one convention, you will never want to miss another. Putting faces to artists we have long admired, learning from master pastelists, interacting with manufacturers, and sharing stories and laughter with others that love the dry medium of Degas, makes it a pastel family reunion not to be missed!

All photographs courtesy of Kathy Detrano.

At the Pastel Journal Booth

At Pastel Journal’s booth at IAPS, we offered magazine issues and ArtistsNetwork.TV videos, as well as  Richard’s bestselling Pastel Pointers book; as well as three new favorites from North Light Books: Liz Haywood Sullivan’s Painting Brilliant Skies and Water in Pastel; Maggie Price’s Creative Freedom; and Luana Luconi Winner’s Painting Classical Portraits.

MORE RESOURCES FOR ARTISTS

Enjoy amazing deals at the North Light Shop’s Summer Sidewalk Sale through June 25!  Pick up archive copies of Pastel Journal or one of our CD compilations of a year’s worth of pdf-issues or five year’s worth of pdf-issues on a single CD for a fraction of the regular price! Now’s the time to make sure your Pastel Journal  library is complete!

Cow Parsley Lane (pastel, 20×26) by Peter Thomas (www.peterthomaspastels.com)

The Accidental Pastelist

An errant Christmas gift more than 30 years ago changed the trajectory of artist Peter Thomas’ life. In 1981, Peter was a watercolorist, as well as an art and design teacher at his English alma mater, Uppingham School. At the time, he was also exploring a printmaking system he had developed with friends, using a silkscreen with oil pastels that printed like monoprints.

“I needed oil pastels, and my sister–she knew I was broke–gave me a wonderful box for Christmas, four layers of what she thought would be useful for my screenprinting,” Thomas says. “When I opened the box, my face fell a little, because they were soft pastels and completely useless for my purposes. She offered to exchange the box, but I thought the pastels were so beautiful that I responded, ‘No, don’t change it. I think I’d like to take it out to France and see what happens.’ ”

With soft pastels in hand, he left Britain for the Dordogne, a county in southwest France. “I decided not to end up a disappointed teacher who was frustrated about never really putting his dream to the test,” Peter says. “I had met teachers who were good at painting or music, but who got trapped by teaching, and I didn’t want to be like that when I reached 50. I wanted to have tried, and if I failed, I would go back to teaching. I was quite a good teacher, and it was a good job. When I came to France, I thought I’d give painting five years to see if it was going to work, but after the second year, I never really thought about teaching any further.”

Once in France, Peter began renovating an old barn and outbuildings, transforming them into a house and studio. “The house was an old cowshed, but it had buildings around it which I bought later, and it developed gradually,” he says. “While I was a teacher, I wished to own a place where I could concentrate on painting. I loved France, and, during my holidays in the southwest, I fell for this old stable. I didn’t think I would stay this long, but it suits me. I feel at home here, even though I leave sometimes to paint other horizons.” ~Niall O’Neill

Inspired? Our readers often tell us that they keep every issue of their magazine; but we also have them available on CD for easy storage and access. You can get the Pastel Journal 1993-2003 CD; order if you’ve missed an issue, or just want the convenience of being able to the the CD with you anywhere you travel for inspiration such as this. And in the meantime, view more of Peter’s countryside paintings here!

Warm regards,
Sincerely,

Cherie

**Click here to subscribe to the Artists Network newsletter for inspiration, instruction, and more!

By Juliette Aristides

Drawing is the heart and soul of art. It is, however, often underestimated and sometimes even feared, because otherwise diligent artists are dissuaded by the commitment of time required. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, in the wake of Abstract Expressionism, neo-Expressionism, and the vogue for assemblage and installation art, drawing all but disappeared from the curriculum of most art schools. Drawing seemed unnecessary, almost antiquated. Even before that, as early as 1924, learning to draw was considered secondary to learning how to paint, as is evident in this observation by Harold Speed: “Drawing, although the first (in importance), is also the last thing a painter usually studies. There is more in it (drawing) that can be taught and that repays constant application of effort” (from The Practice and Science of Drawing, reprinted by Dover in 1980).

Color is immediately entrancing, yes, but form delights the mind as well as the eye. Why is drawing, no matter what the subject, so important? Think of a portrait where the eyes are misaligned or of a landscape where the perspective is askew. Whatever emotional impact the painting otherwise would have had is obliterated by a technical flaw. Speed believed that drawing could be learned, and I, as a teacher of artists, attest to that truth. Anyone can learn to draw but, like playing the piano, it won’t happen overnight and it won’t happen without practice. Some artists start with a facility, because they’ve been drawing since they were children. At my atelier, I see that kind of student and I see the other kind, the ones who lack skills but are determined to try. The second group makes huge gains, while those in the first group seldom take the risks necessary to succeed. The ones who have the discipline to persevere become trained draftsmen, capable of mastering the techniques of any medium.

“Self-portrait With a Star of David” (oil, 44×32) was inspired by Vermeer’s “Woman With Scales.” The framed picture on the left is an etching of a Rembrandt painting; on the right is a copy of a Russian academic drawing of the 19th century. Copying masterworks trains both your eye and hand.

The academic tradition

I currently teach my own atelier class at the Seattle Academy of Fine Arts. The curriculum that I’ve devised is rigorous, in keeping with the academic tradition that had its start in the workshops of Renaissance artists and flourished during the18th and 19th centuries, most notably in the École des Beaux Arts and the Académie Julian. Earlier centuries understood that the artist needed to be trained thoroughly as a draftsman before moving on to painting; often a decade of studying drawing wasn’t considered excessive. It was also accepted that an artist’s skills had to be sharply honed before he or she attempted to tackle the grand subject of the human form. Only after the artist had demonstrated craft in painting casts of figures and still life arrangements could he or she begin to express the vitality and nobility of the figure. Painting the human form requires the artist not only to achieve a likeness but also to suggest—with depth, sensitivity and integrity—what lies beyond the appearance: the soul.

Skill enhances self-expression

Beginning artists today have been told that skill itself inhibits self-expression. On the contrary, I believe that learning the artist’s craft enables you to express your own vision. Traditional skills are the foundation that you, the artist, work from. It’s craftsmanship, not the lack of it, that is the basis of self-expression. Conversely, being creative without knowledge of craft is like trying to decorate a structurally unsound building. It doesn’t make sense.

I consider my teaching to be passing on an artistic heritage that otherwise would be lost. When I teach I try to transmit the information an artist needs in a way that’s comprehensible. The complex tasks of drawing and painting become more manageable when they’re broken down into parts.

The first time I saw model Pan, I was taken aback; he had a deep quiet and an otherwordly presence that I find rare. In portraits like “Blu” (above; oil, 34×24) and “Pan” (below; Conte crayon and charcoal, 18×15) I tried to convey contrasting aspects of his spirit.

Pan (Conte crayon and charcoal, 18×15) by Juliette Aristides

Drawing is a process of simplifying

There’s nothing more important than drawing. The process of simplifying, the act of designing, falls within the domain of drawing. Everything, every aspect of art––that is, proportion, value and form—but color falls under the domain of drawing. If the artist is trained first as a draftsman, she’s free to concentrate on color rather than worry about getting or not getting the proportions right.

One of the paradoxes of learning how to draw is that the beginning phase demands that you sacrifice detail in favor of design and gesture, while the end phase requires that each area of the body be rendered or else the work will look generic and flat. Learning to draw takes time; it requires that you draw from life every day. At my atelier, students start by focusing on drawing; more advanced students move on to monochromatic and then fully chromatic painting. Students draw plaster casts, the nude model and still life setups; they also copy masterworks. The projects become increasingly complex as their skills, along with confidence in those skills, grow.

How to move from drawing to painting

There are as many ways to start a painting as there are temperaments. I find it helpful to divide the painting process into its varying components: composition, drawing, value and color––generally worked on in that order. The foundation is strong design; a strong design will have impact from across the room. The next most important component is drawing. My aim is that the drawing be both accurate and well conceived. Next, I work on unifying the values so that the dark areas provide a context for the lights. Last, I focus on color—on both the local color and on the way the light affects that local color.

Working in stages: an artist’s craft

Usually I spend several days working on the composition. Then I draw directly on the canvas. I refine the drawing with watered-down permanent India ink (so the next layer of paint won’t wash the line away), applied with a fine brush. Then I do a monochromatic underpainting that establishes the values. For this I often use raw umber mixed with turpentine; this mixture may completely cover the surface of the canvas, but the ink lines will still be visible underneath it. I pull out the lights with a cotton rag.

I work always from general to specific. I start with the broadest relationships in line, value and color before focusing on the smaller relationships within each object or within each part. Using a large brush, I block in the overall color relationships. Most edges are lost; I’m concerned with linking objects.

At this point, I look again at the drawing. Does it read well from a distance? Is there a subordinate part of the painting that’s getting too much attention? Does an edge need to recede or move forward? Often I make a list and consult the list as I make changes.

This painting represented a leap for me as it showed I’d gained the confidence to apply my drawing skills directly in paint. Up until this point I’d followed an indirect process of fully developing a drawing and then a monochromatic underpainting before moving to color. With “Drawing of Jeremy” (oil, 26×22) I began to paint more directly, playing with lost and found edges, as well as a highly chromatic palette.

Focusing finally on color

Now I’ll focus on one part of the painting at a time and bring each area to a finished state. I try to keep the shadow shapes unified and simple; I do this by not allowing too much of a variance of value within the shadows. Then I concentrate my efforts on the halftones between the core of the shadow and the lights. If I sense a color, I put it in—it isn’t so much a matter of seeing the color as it is catching a glimmer of it out of the corner of my eye. I trust that it will look right in the context. Rather than use any one color for a whole area, I look for relationships of colors. Color in nature is tremendously varied, highly complex and astonishingly beautiful. As long as the drawing and the value range are strong, color can be a matter of opinion. The viewer will withhold judgment on what seems plausible in favor of what the artist creates.

Light within darkness

I knew from the start that I wanted to be an artist. I grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania, a fairly small town. My parents had emigrated from Cape Town, South Africa, where I was born. My father was a physician and my mother, when I was young, stayed at home. We had many books, most notably a collection of 50 or 60 monographs on master painters. My family did a fair amount of traveling, too, so I saw a lot of art and actually copied many works. I was a great fan of Rembrandt’s.

When I was a teenager I would set my alarm for 2 a.m. so I could be alone and walk in the darkness. I’d read a lot of philosophy, and I thought that it was important to commune with nature, especially at the time when all the world seemed asleep. It’s amazing how much I could see; I did a lot of sketching then. When you’re that age, life is so new and you’re so alive. It’s as if you’re seeing things for the first time, as if everything is on fire.

I think that artists make continual use of that youthful intensity. As I’ve matured as an artist, my work seems to be more and more about revelation. I see painting as an act of illumination, of working through the darkness to the light. Light is a great revealer of things. I had a teacher, Myron Barnstone, who once said to me: “The grave is for darkness. Cobwebs are for the grave. When you’re alive you should be celebrating light.” That statement has resonated with me. I find it fascinating that there are in life these moments when you realize that something important is happening; that an experience will never be reproduced; that it will fade and be forgotten, never to be reclaimed—unless you paint it. To have the ability and have attained the skill to paint that kind of moment, to record that kind of revelation, is insanely wonderful.

Often artists will work and rework the same theme. As Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is famous for saying: “You must do over the same subject 10 times, a hundred times. In art, nothing must appear accidental, not even a movement.” Above is “Rachel” (oil, 21×13); below is “Academia (Conte crayon and charcoal, 22×13).

Academia (Conte crayon and charcoal, 22×13) by Juliette Aristides

Aspects of Craft
Tips from the atelier

1. Draw from plaster casts of antique statues.

2. Copy master drawings. This practice will give you the opportunity to study how the masters transformed nature, with all its variance, abundance and detail, into line.

3. Think like a designer. The greatest imitation is not the greatest art. When drawing from life, look for what it is you want to say and emphasize the dominant character of the model’s pose.

4. Work from the general to the specific. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the complexity found in nature and it takes experience to begin to sort out what’s relevant from what’s unnecessary.

• Squint while looking at your subject.

• Look through colored glass or colored acetate to help you see line.

• Before you start to paint, condense all the information into a tiny sketch—3×4 inches, for instance. If the sketch reads well from across the room, you’re ready to begin painting.

I start with a light drawing with medium or hard vine charcoal or sepia Conte crayons, gradually adding successive layers of tone, or I lay a uniform middle tone over toned charcoal paper while pulling out lights with a kneaded eraser as I did for “Recline” (Conte crayon and charcoal, 15×18).

This is a full feature article from The Artist’s Magazine (March 2004). If you enjoyed reading this,  Click here to see more stunning artwork and to read the other features from 2004.

About the Artist

“People have the impression that having children will limit their lives or enclose their world, but I realized after having my daughter and son that my world was closed before,” says Juliette Aristides, who won the Wilder Prize for Drawing from the National Academy of Design in New York City in 1995. She studied with Jacob Collins at the famous Water Street Atelier; she now has her own atelier. Her Web site is www.aristidesarts.com.

For more of Aristides’ teachings on drawing, see her Lessons in Classical Drawing, and Classical Drawing Atelier by clicking on the book titles.

Here’s a photo recap of just some of the many moments we’ll remember (photos courtesy of Pastel Journal’s art director, Jennifer Hoffman):

Artist Paul Murray won the Maggie Price Award of Excellence in the 2nd Master Circle Exhibition for his pastel, Dawn Walk.

Hall of Fame pastelist Duane Wakeham shared his insights in a gallery tour that he themed around the topic of color. Wakeham commented that we often give too much attention to subject matter, when more care should be given to the handling of color.

The fabled “Paint-a-Round” always inspires with five artists working for a limited amount of time sequentially on one another’s paintings. This year’s participants—Kim Lordier, Desmond O’Hagan, Liz Haywood-Sullivan, Debora L. Stewart and Stan Sperlak—exhibited calm under pressure to produce five exciting paintings.

The beautiful courtyard at the Hotel Albuquerque, Old Town, supplied the perfect setting for the Thursday night Welcome Dinner, a special celebration of the IAPS 10-year anniversary.

Even the Albuquerque skies contributed to the steady supply of creative inspiration.

Fred Somers, who was named an Eminent Pastelist (along with Terri Ford) by IAPS this year, savors the choices at Terry Ludwig Pastels like every attendee.

IAPS workshops take place indoors and out. Here, painters observe artist Desmond O’Hagan working his magic.

Artist Lorenzo Chavez demonstrates his approach to painting a winter scene in the Rockies.

Visitors to the IAPS trade show shopped the sales, chatted with manufacturers, and observed artists-in-action, including Stephanie Birdsall at the Holbein booth.

Artist Andrew McDermott gets started on a cityscape, demonstrating his direct approach and keen sense of color.

And it all happens amidst incredible Southwest scenery. Thanks, Albuquerque!

MORE RESOURCES FOR ARTISTS

• Our special value pack includes 7 essential resources for your painting the landscape in pastel, inlcuding a DVD on Mixing Greens with Liz Haywood-Sullivan. Check it out here!

• Subscribe to Pastel Journal magazine

• Watch pastel art workshops on demand at ArtistsNetwork.TV

• Get unlimited access to over 100 art instruction ebooks.

• Online seminars for fine artists

Preview Acrylic Materials and Techniques with Merle Rosen to learn some of her favorite ways of incorporating unusual objects and add texture to her art. From old yoga mats to homemade stamps, you can use just about anything to add unique forms and texture to your painting. Stream online at artistsnetwork.tv.

In the Step-by-Step Guide to Acrylic Collage, you’ll learn how to evaluate composition and problem-solve on the go, as well as how to add in the details that make a painting really stand out. Preview the video to see how adding a belly button and a hat to her figure add excitement to her work.

The best thing about these videos is that art techniques and inspiration can come from a variety of sources, not just a brush and and paint. By adding in these nontraditional tools and techniques, abstract and traditional painting gets a fresher, looser look and feel, and the result is energetic, vibrant work. If you’re looking to break out of a creative rut or work outside the limitations of paint brushes and applications, these videos are for you.

See the rest of the stunning watercolor paintings in the August 2013 issue of Watercolor Artist.

MORE RESOURCES FOR WATERCOLOR ARTISTS

• Subscribe to Watercolor Artist magazine

• Watch watercolor art workshops on demand at ArtistsNetwork.TV

• Get unlimited access to over 100 art instruction ebooks

• Online seminars for fine artists

• Sign up for your Artists Network email newsletter & receive a FREE download

When looking at the body of work of most figurative artists, it’s not uncommon to find multiple studies focused on the hands. Unsurprising, considering how difficult they can be to portray accurately. This exhibition features studies spanning nearly three centuries from artists such as Peter Lely, Charles West Cope, and David Wilke, in which the artists attempt to harness the complex yet expressive form. Approximately 15 works from The Huntington’s permanent collection will be on view.

Walking on Broken Glass (oil on board, 21×35.5) by Scott Fraser (www.sfraser.com). I love this painting.

That hasn’t always been the case, of course. We don’t simply graduate from school and then land where we’re meant to be forever (although I do believe that all my previous experiences leveraged me to being here, now). For many years I struggled; although I’ve never had a job that I didn’t like, partly because I choose to maintain a positive attitude–you should ask me about some of my teen jobs–there were times that I felt the call to quit the day gig and try to make a full-time career of my creative endeavors.

I think it’s something we all go through. I don’t know anyone, in any creative field, who began learning to paint, play guitar, dance, or sing because they thought it would be a great way to make a living. That’s what our left-brained friends do. We, you and I, presumably, gave creating art a go because it sounded fun, enticing, expressive…the list goes on and on. Maybe there comes a point when you master the techniques and think “I could/should get paid for this.” It happened to me, and then the daily mental struggle began. “I love this so much, I want to do it all the time,” I thought. But having the commitments of a family and mortgage made it a very scary jump to take. I waited, rode the wave, and found myself where I should be, now: writing about creativity.

But if your career path isn’t aligned with your art, don’t fret. Here’s the important thing to remember: this is your life, and you can choose to do what makes you happy, whether or not you’re getting paid to do it.

That said, go and create your art.

Warmest regards,
Cherie

**Click here to subscribe to the Artists Network
newsletter for inspiration, instruction, and more!