Shows & Events 
3 Comments Today the list of accepted artists for the CPSA 18th Annual International Exhibition was published on the CPSA website, and my submission, Opaline Dreams, made the list. Woo hoo! The exhibit runs July 22nd to August 20th at The Art Museum of Los Gatos, California, with the artist’s reception on Saturday, July 31st.
Shows & Events 1 Comment April may bring showers, paving the way for May flowers, but it also is crunch time to meet a series of annual art deadlines. These past two weeks have been a flurry of activity. I just finished my CPSA Silent Auction piece, Citrine Dreams, and I’m working on matting it now. Two weeks ago I had giclee proofs printed of Bend and Crescendo, burned a CD, wrote an artist’s statement, and sent it off in the mail to Vera Curnow; this is the 20th anniversary of the Colored Pencil Society of America, and to commemorate, CPSA is creating a book. All signature members were invited to submit two pieces for the book. If all goes well, it will be available during convention week in Santa Clara. Today was the drop off for the Wilkes-Barre Fine Arts Fiesta, an annual local juried art show, and I submitted Opaline Dreams. Coming up on May are two submission deadlines which I took care of this weekend also: The Artist’s Magazine 27th Annual Art Competition (May 3) and the book Strokes of Genius 3: The Best of Drawing, Fresh Perspectives (May 1). Last year I was a finalist in the Artist’s Magazine competition, with Crescendo, and my name appeared in the December issue. This year I submitted Opaline Dreams. For Strokes of Genius, I went all out (did I mention that I really want to get into this book?), and submitted Bend, Crescendo, Cascade, Opaline Dreams, and Wrapped. Wrapped was an unusual choice with that grouping, but it looks a little more like something drawn than painted, so I included it in case my other work is too painting-like for the book’s requirements.
Works in Progress No Comments 
Finished! Time to complete was 9 days, probably around 30 hours. After coating the piece with fixative, and letting it dry, I did some color correction throughout, and then final detail work. I always try to avoid using black until the very end; it’s my trump card for values, and once I play it, I can’t go any darker. You can see how the hair has more definition from where the blacks were introduced. I’m happy with how it turned out – I really wanted something softer, which worked with the waxiness of the Neocolors, to have a more painterly feel to it. Now I just need to mat it with a backing and place it into a plastic sleeve. If you like it, you can bid on it at the CPSA Silent Auction, which is July 29th at the 18th Annual International Exhibition in Santa Clara, California.
News 2 Comments 
Just about done! Tomorrow I’ll hit it with a coat of fixative, then do a few tweaks and further color correction.
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Picking up some steam, now. There’s a point in every drawing where the hardest parts are done, and you get to play with colors and details. Feels like I’ve reached it with this update. Started to refine the lace, although there’s still a lot of color correcting to do there, and some detail work. Looking forward to dabbling on Tuesday (although it will be competing with my Lost addiction, so I probably won’t be as productive!)
Works in Progress 2 Comments 
A couple of hours Friday and Sunday working on color balancing, especially the skin tones, and further refining the face and hair. Haven’t done much yet with the lace – but that will be last so I don’t have to rework it several times for color and value balancing. Starting to come together. More updates to come later in the week.
Musings No Comments 
This weekend we had a fun getaway at Skytop Lodge, a remarkable historic resort in the Poconos. Both Kiersten and I have taken ballroom dancing lessons at Vince Brust Studios (in particular, for our first wedding dance), and a few times during the year Vince organizes a dinner/dance at Skytop. The lodge has its own big band – the Skytop Orchestra – and it’s a rare treat to swing dance to Glen Miller music played live. The resort is amazing – the grounds, gardens, and architecture are breathtaking – and I look forward to returning there for the next dance during warmer weather. Here’s a few of my favorite pics form the weekend:
Works in Progress No Comments 
Still figuring out what I’m doing with Neocolors. I decided to do a second wash for a few parts, and discovered (unfortunately) that the first wash will come off when rewet. I completely erased the left arm, as well as some of the darks in the dress! After some struggling I’ve fixed the oops, and have been working on getting the values and colors in the skin tones correct. I find it very difficult to force colors into light Colourfix paper - I tend to work with dark tones because of this. Since this piece is on a lighter tone, it’s been a wrestling match. The dress has been the biggest struggle. Overall it’s still on track though – still plenty of color correcting and value building to do. I haven’t done much yet with the lace of the dress, but I’ll work on the details once I get the values and color balance worked out.
Works in Progress 2 Comments 
On Tuesday night I worked on blocking in the first Prismacolor layers. Always a challenge to get anything done on Tuesdays when Lost is on! It’s starting to take shape. Should get a few more hours in on Wednesday.
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I’ve been invited to participate in this year’s CPSA Silent Auction. Two years ago I also participated, and created a work using one of the alternate poses from the larger piece that was accepted that year. In that case the larger piece was Cascade, and the auction piece was Respite. I like the idea of doing a sister piece for the silent auction – hopefully this year Opaline Dreams will be accepted, and my auction piece will be the sister piece.
Musings No Comments 
Last weekend Kiersten assembled a plant light stand, and it’s new home is in the laundry room of our basement (at the end of last year we finished our basement and turned it into an art studio. In the process, the laundry area was upgraded from ‘damp medieval dungeon’ to a nice, finished laundry room). Read more »