At our February meeting, Sandi, our president, announced that the entries to show have been selected. Check to see if you got in. Pay attention to our framing standards. NO gold ORNATE FRAMES 4 inches wide. Our standards allow frames 1 –  1 ½ “ wide. 

Feb. 22 – Leu Gardens Plein Air -meet by the outdoor tables.

Drop off artwork, for our show, is March 1st after our meeting at SOBO. So, come to the meeting and drop off your painting on the same day.

Our members show reception will be March 15th. We need volunteers for the show reception committee.

Teresa Kirk will do a demo March 1st. Teresa’s workshop is March 2, 3, 4. The early bird deadline ends Feb. 3rd. Supply list is on the website.

Our next board meeting is March 18, members always welcome.

It was mentioned that the artist studio tours in Lake and Volusia counties were being held in February and early March. 

Check our website for more information!

April 12 general member meeting will be on Zoom, so look for the link.

Note: Joan L. our vice president is looking for tips and tricks from our members to add to the website or newsletter.

Our demonstration was by Lolly Walton,  – “Creative Watercolor Journey”

Lolly Walton is an artist from Melbourne. She is a member of the Brevard Watercolor Society. She has been painting and talking from most of her life. She jokes that she was all lips when she was born prematurely and hasn’t stopped talking since. She probably should be considered an artist comedian!Her demonstration was not one painting but a series of techniques that can be used anywhere to add interest and texture to our paintings. 

   

The mess on her table is how she functions. “Painting is 80% planning and 20% painting.” She likes to paint while listening to music.
Pebeo Drawing Gum – don’t leave it in your car. It explodes! Splatter around the paper to save whites. USE: Ruby acetate in a window – it’s handy to see tonal values, however reds don’t show up.

Paint with found objects. For pencil lines, you can use watercolor pencils then can erase with water. Kneaded eraser will work but you’ll need to rub hard.

Use good paper and brushes. She uses Arches #140 but suggested we use #300. Fold then tear watercolor paper for a deckled edge.

Use beige tape, not color, to avoid influencing your color choices.

Set up your palette carefully so colors won’t contaminate each other.

Soak paper – in a tub, tape it down and it stays down.

How do you sell your paintings? Which paintings sell? – Landscapes, waterscapes, birds and abstract. “Love what you do, do what you love.”

How many people tone your paper?  For the light house use blues and turquoise as the tonal background.
Lolly brought lots of samples of her texture techniques!

Scrumbling =  dry brush technique used to create broken, textured, and layered effects by applying thick or lightly loaded paint over a completely dry, lighter base layer. It involves using a “scrubbing”

Scratching = cat comb can make it look like fabric.

Salt = water and pigment. There is a difference in the types of salt used.

Sponges can be used for texture. .

Sandpaper can rough up the paper to create texture to accepts paint. Like a basket texture.

Blow paint with straw and liquid soap for bubble texture.

The bubbles make a beautiful texture.

You can write a story on the back of the painting. Writing is harder than painting.

Saran wrap = can use the texture it creates for vertical trees.

Copywrite painting = $35 to write it. Do only one time then all are done.

Lolly’s fianal instruction to us was to go home and paint leaf front and back. Take a branch indoors and put it under a light, then paint it.

THANK YOU LOLLY for a very fun and educational demonstration of tips and techniques! For those who have any questions she said you can email her: Lollyart4sale@cfl.rr.com

(photos and copy courtesy of Terri and Lois)