"Tuesday Nights" is having it's Spring Exhibition in my studio space!

“Tuesday Nights” is an Art Workshop for local creative types, facilitated by Artist Helen Wilson. Each Workshop is built around a project idea. The projects end in an exhibition. Mostly this is a way to advance creative skills while socializing with others of their artistic ilk.

At every meeting this spring a new project was introduced working with an aspect of Chance. We built Art inspired by: Fortune Cookies, The I Ching, An Artist Wheel of Fortune (created by member Marsha Cook), Rolling Dice to randomly select pages of a favorite book and work started by other members. But what really happened is that we went away and watched the Synchronicity of these inspirations appear in our own art. Each Artist was given Two 10” x 10” and Fourteen 4” x 4” blank canvases to fill.

The Artists where free to interpret the projects however their muse directed, and were free to extend themselves. There was one rule “keep a sense of play.”  The group can be seen on the blog http://tuesdaynights-thegameroom.blogspot.com

First of the two new nieces is finished.

Eden has come home.
It is such a funny thing, knowing when your done.

If I were a betting women
I would have bet Corrine would have finished first
but she is not ready to come home yet.
She took a wrong turn and I'm still coaxing her.
Colby next the first nephews.
I really need one of the two Donalds.


Alright family I need more pictures and yes the ones that show the adult in the child not the easy ones. 

They are getting close I can feel it!

Add more hair detail, finish the book and?

Just very small detail work mostly in the eyes. One more back layer. 

Looking at the progress again....

How creative people spend their day.

Something I really needed to hear from Hyperallergic!

The Progress of the two Nieces

I thought you might like these progress photos. Neither are finished, Eden needs the book the chair and her overall flesh still needs to be finished. Her hair will have more detail and will be darker. The light was different each time I photographed with my phone camera, so. I'm loving the background color which is really closer to the second to the last one. The eyes need more work and the flesh is just beginning to layer up and tone correctly.

 Korynne is so close but going through a big change. I loved the halo but wanted it to fade back. I played with several background colors and picked this muted pink with the lighter halo. It needs at least four more layer to get the effect I want. Her skin has warmed up nicely needs a little more pinking and more depth in the eyes. Her hair needs the same as Eden's. More detail and darker. 

How would it be to claim time devoted solely to your art this year?

Video of Racalia

Artists'Revival@Racalia

A Mixed Media Expressive Arts Retreat for Women

June 19-25, 2014

Sicily, Italy

As we grow and change, so do the images that keep 

us engaged with our artistic process.  We might be 

able to move forward and continue making art, but at 

some point artists have to STOP, step out of everyday 

life and become fully present with their art making 

process for it to thrive.

There is a relationship inherent in making art that requires tending and nurturing.

  

The Terreno Concept:

Together, we will work with the Italian wine making 

concept of terreno, as we apply it to the creative process.  

Terreno: /ter' reno/ adj  sense of place, personal 

connection with the earth, being present. 

Italian wine tasters define terreno as specificity of 

place affecting the character, quality, and personality, 

of the wine.

Specifically,  we will explore how making art, sleeping 

and eating among Racalia's olive groves, woodland 

and English Garden informs our art making while 

forging a deeper connection with our own sense of 

place, our own personal terreno and how that effects 

our art's color, character and personality. 

It is from this knowledge, this ability to stay present, that authentic art comes.

Between meandering walks, delicious Italian meals 

and refreshing swims in the Italian countryside you 

will be collecting inspiration, moving with your art and 

engaging in dialogue with your imagery.

This artistic dance is primary to all art yet is often left unattended. 

Decompress and renew your personal artistic identity.  

Begin a dialog with your images as companions.

In the end you will leave with helpful expressive arts 

processes, tools and mixed media techniques to 

continue taking your art to a new level.

We would love to have a personal phone call with 

you to clarify or answer any questions.

Pamela:  Click Here to schedule a convenient time to chat 

Helen: Click Here to schedule a convenient time to chat 

We look forward to exploring with you how this time, 

devoted to your art, would enhance all aspects of your life!

Ciao!

Pamela and Helen

Pamela Underwood, BFA, MA

http://www.pamelaunderwood.com

pamela@pamelaunderwood.com

619.857.8820

Helen Wilson, BA, MFA

http://www.helenwilsonartist.com

helenwilsonartist@mac.com

760.803.2857

Working on new painting…yes paintings.

Adding tone and highlights

Two artists with Two approaches in Sicily!

It's on! Pamela Underwood and I are doing an artists' retreat for women in Sicily! We have known each other for years and are both very excited about this! Check out the webpage.

http://www.pamelaunderwood.com/event/artists-revivalracalia-sicily-italy/

Seven days, 8 nights of adventure in an intimate community of artists

Experience Mixed Media art making, share art with other artists through the language of expressive arts, practice restorative expressive arts, meditative drawing, unconventional art techniques, swim in pool and pond, eat authentic Sicilian meals created by Racalia’s cook, All in a 1780s one hundred-acre villa overlooking the ocean with its own resident ghost!!

Nieces and Nephews

Started two more paintings for the Nieces and Nephews series...

On Teaching Art

 I teach through action and immersion. Just keep moving, contemplate later. In art, for me at least, there are times of rest and contemplation, and times of work. Art making is a time for work. It is the time to pull from the mental and make physical. Create a reality, a piece of art. For this the contemplative brain needs to move over, the art critic side isn’t even invited to the party. Learn to ask and answer your own questions on the move. The sooner I can get a student making art the better. Get something done and then we have something to talk about. Auh but here is the rub, your best contemplative thoughts will come to you while working. So I use the artist tool of the sketchbook. The thoughts that come to you while your working will not come again. Write them down and keep moving.

The group critique is important, yet the most important question to ask is, does it serve your art? Is this work serving my concept and is my concept serving my art. Why are you using oil paint, watercolor or acrylic which one serves you best? Would mixed media serve you better? Why 2D, why 3D? Why make an image in the first place, should you bring in the object that already holds the meaning your looking for? Critiques teach you to see. You need to learn to be honest, but to really do this you must feel safe. Critiques must always feel safe.   As the instructor it is your job to keep this balance.

You must be excellent at your technique yet I think of techniques as tools. The more tools in your tool box the larger your range, but the tools are not the art. The tools give you the ability to work out your concept more clearly but never confuse it with your art.

Know the history behind what you are doing, it will follow you no matter, you might as well use it. Context is everything, so you had better understand yours. For example if you are painting people in oil the whole history of oil portraits well influence the work. Both you and the observer will bring that to the work. For this reason I use art history in my teaching. If I think another artist or period of art has something to offer my student I make sure to open them up to it.

Know you inspirations and acknowledge them. As a teacher this is a hit and miss.  I look at what your doing show you work that I think might apply. The best way to do this is through emersion. This is why I show a lot of work in my classes. Half of art is learning to see, to do that you have to look at a lot of art.

I image my students going home tired but full, creative juices flowing. I like that image.

New Studio...Looking Better

1140 Main Street, I have not set my hours yet!

Getting the New Studio ready!