Welcome to Reports of the Art Guild's Recent Events!

Cheryle showed how to make small paintings for cards or gifts. The intent was to have us do our own, but that didn't happen, in part because we got a late start after a last minute switch to the central library. We still got a fine demo. She started by showing us how she creates evergreen trees using a pump spray bottle filled with water to spray on dry watercolor paper. She then drops in green paint, which she mixes using cobalt blue and aurelian yellow, varying the hues. As the paint mixes with the water droplets, it creates a lacy effect. She lets that dry before working further with the painting.

 

She added a vignette effect to two paintings by adding darker washes in the corners. One was a painting of a cactus flower and the other was of a parrot.  She wanted to create a darker oval around the edges of the painting, while letting her underpainting show through. For the parrot, she used a soft violet, created by mixing permanent rose and cobalt blue, which softened and darkened the edges. That made the background recede, and helped to bring the emphasis to the parrot.

 

Since Cheryle paints mostly with watercolor on paper, she can makes miniatures by cutting up a painting into small parts. This is a great way to make use of a painting that has good parts, but doesn't make a very satisfactory whole. But often, she makes very small paintings for gifts. She showed us some that were inserted in glass coasters. These she made with many images on a sheet and cut them apart. She deckled the edges by cutting them apart with deckled scissors, then wetting and abrading the edges to get a softer look. She also showed us how to tear an edge along a ruler to get a similar effect.

 

Finally, she painted a floral scene, explaining some of her techniques as she worked. She uses two brushes at the same time; one for water only, the other one for paint. For her underpainting she wets the paper, uses her base colors of cobalt blue, permanent rose, and aurelian yellow. placing the colors where she sees them and letting them diffuse on the wet paper. At the upper left, yellow is added over the pencil sketch. At the upper right, cobalt blue is added over the yellow. At the lower left, rose is added, and at the lower right, the underpainting is almost complete. Whites are saved with miskit. After the underpainting dries, she works in her detail. Most of her paintings are done with the base colors, layering them to get other colors. She occasionally adds ultramarine blue, burnt orange, cerulean blue, alizerin crimson, and burnt sienna.

 

We thank Cheryle for the many good ideas she showed us. You will also want to see her one person show at the Arboretum, which starts with a reception February 28 at 2 p.m. Thanks also to Rose Jacobson, Ellen Foster, John and Saundra Vasek, Kathe Tipton, Thomas Godby, and Pat Blackwell, who brought refreshments and Valentine decorations, and to Thomas Godby, Christine Niekamp, Rose Jacobson, Judy Franklin, and Bill Franklin who brought paintings for show and tell. Those are shown below.

 

                                      

 Bill Franklin         Judy Franklin       Thomas Godby       Rose Jacobson    Christine Niekamp

 

 

Jack began by showing us photos of art restorations he has done. He was able to save paintings that were burned or  torn by having the surface removed and transferred to a new canvas (wax reline process). Then he filled the missing areas with a plaster of Paris and glue mixture. Finally, he had to match the colors, brushstrokes, and styles of the originals to make the painting look like new. For painting dimmed by tobacco smoke, he uses Ivory Liquid and water and a cotton swab. For varnish that has changed color, he uses a special solution and a very light touch so as not to remove the paint. He also restores broken or chipped embellishment on a frame using the same plaster mixture mentioned above to resculpt the design while the clay is wet, making sure it matches the original design. He then sprays on the gold color, and tones back unwanted brilliance using a faux art stain with brush and paper towels. His goal is to make the repairs invisible.

 

For today's demo, Jack painted a scene of a white egret in a swamp setting. He first made a mask by sketching the egret on heavy paper and cutting around it. The mask was then coated with rubber cement (left) and placed where it would be on the blank "canvas." (He actually used masonite board, which may be easier to seal properly than canvas.) For the background, he used cobalt blue, cerulean blue, titanium white, medium yellow, and burnt umber light, which he mixed on a glass palette. He pulled one color into another on the canvas, creating variations in color and value in the sky and water as he painted horizontally. He added black for the vertical trees to get a darker hue. The masking allowed him to get continuity of brush strokes for the background as he painted right over the mask. He paid special attention to making the water look natural, using his color mixtures to create reflections.

 

Then he carefully removed the cutout from the canvas (left), leaving a white hole for the egret. He painted the shadowed side of the bird first, adding details and highlights later, including the black legs, which were not included in the mask (right). As a final touch, he added flowers and other contrasts to liven up the scene (lower left). The final painting is shown at the lower right. We welcome Jack back as a member, and enjoyed watching a professional at work. Included in the audience were a couple of new members, some guests, and Jodi Wheatley, a reporter working on an article about us for Waco Today.

 

 Thanks go to Jack, to Charleen Isbell, Myrl Luper, Gloria Meadows, Bill and Judy Franklin, and Karen Groman, who brought refreshments, and to all of those who brought their work for Show and Tell, shown below.

                                 

 

Nancy Cagle       Julie Cash         Bill Franklin       Judy Franklin      Larry Garza       Linda Green

 

                                  

 

 Tom Godby     Charleen Isbell  Rose Jacobson   David Leifeste  Christine Niekamp  John Vasek

We got a start May 30, and made more progress on June 7, 11 and 24. Work has continued on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, beginning at 10 am. To get in on the fun, check with Nancy Cagle (754-4416). The photos here were taken on or before June 11.

 

                             

The suspension bridge being sketched by Don Magid, painted by Bill Franklin (painting was also done by Nancy Cagle), and more or less complete

 

                             

Pat Blackwell, Judy Franklin, and Nancy Cagle sketching, and the ALICO building nearly done. Sketches of the Dr. Pepper building and the Mammoth were done on paper pending approval of their placement by Mr. Glinski.

 

     

Additional photos taken June 29, courtesy of Bill Foster and the Waco Citizen, show Ellen Foster and Robert Glinski with the bridge, and Ellen with the Dr. Pepper Museum. Not shown are photos that appeared in the Waco Tribune-Herald on July 6, including one of Gloria Meadows painting the mammoth.

                       

Additional photos by Myrl Luper and Gloria Meadows show Don Magid and Bobbee Watts sketching, Myrl Luper and Robert Glinski drawing a grid, the Mayborn Museum, the Texas Ranger Museum and The Cameron Park Zoo.

                 

Also, the McLennan County Courthouse, the Waco Suspension Bridge, the Mammoth, and Baylor statue and bear. Although she is not shown, Gloria Meadows has done a lot of animal painting.

 

The mural is still unfinished, but we hope to finish it over spring break, March 8-12.

Exhibit News

A number of exhibits are scheduled for this year and next.  Reports of them will appear here after they are hung.  For the schedule, see the Calendar page.  For specific details, see the Exhibitions page.