CPSA - District Chapter 210 San Francisco, CA, Blog

Maryann Kot Demonstration

2012-02-23T13:04:00.000-08:00

Icarus Heated Drawing Board Demonstration

Maryann Kot will be demonstrating colored pencil using the Icarus Heated Drawing Board at the Livermore Art Association Spring Show. The date and times of the show are listed below. She was told that she could be demonstrating at all times that the show is open, but if there are more demonstrators that sign up that may change. Members can e-mail her with questions on the times that she will be demonstrating at maryannkot@gmail.com.

The Icarus Drawing Board was invented by Mario and Ester Roi. It is a portable drawing board featuring two working zones, a warm zone and a cool zone. The warm zone is used for mixing pigments, blending and burnishing while the cool zone is used for line drawing, layering and detailing.

Livermore Art Association ~ Spring Art Show

At The Barn, 131 Pacific Avenue, Livermore, CA
March 31-April 1, 2012 ~ 10:00 am-5:00 pm.

Reception: March 31, 2012 ~ 7:00-9:00 pm.

Gemma Gylling in the News!

2012-01-30T15:36:00.000-08:00

Gemma Gylling Wins Big!

LOL • First Place

Gemma Gylling entered the Placerville Art Association Membership Exhibition.

There were about 15 entries in the animal category. She entered three colored pencil pieces. Her three pieces

took first, second and third place awards. This was an all media show so she is very proud of her success.

When she went to the reception she was presented with the People's Choice Award as well. Her work and a

friends work were the only Colored Pencil Artworks in the entire show.

This is how the placement Went:

First PlaceAnimal Category - LOL

Second Place Animal Category - Rest Stop

Third Place Animal Category - Wild Reflections

People's Choice Award - Rest Stop

Rest Stop

Wild Reflections

DC210 Chapter Meeting

2012-01-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

Chapter Meeting

Saturday, February 18 • 11:00 A.M.

Gemma Gyling's Home

3481 Priscilla Court, Valley Springs, CA

Gemma lives about 30 miles east of Stockton, but if you live in the bay area, don't let that stop you from attending! Denise Howard will be driving from Santa Clara and has two seats available -- contact her at president@cpsa210.org if you would like to ride along with her. We like to bounce our meeting location around because our territory is so huge -- this way everyone can attend sometime.

Denise will give a demonstration using UArt sanded paper, Lyra Polycolors, and a stencil brush to achieve painterly results, a great technique she learned from Bonnie Auten at the 2011 CPSA convention.

• We'll discuss the possibility of a chapter show during 2012!
• Bring a recently completed or work-in-progress piece for show and tell!

Dues Now Due!

2011-12-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

Have you renewed your CPSA Chapter Membership?

2011 memberships expired October 31, and the new year began on Novemeber 1. If you haven't yet renewed,
please do so!

• We're going to have new programs and opportunities in 2012, maybe even a member show.
• Your dues help make such events possible,
• Your presence makes them happen, and
• Your enthusiasm makes them worthwhile!

Visit the membership page on our chapter website (www.cpsa210.org/join.html) for the renewal form.

New President's Message

2011-11-13T15:44:00.000-08:00

Greetings to all chapter members past and present, friends and visitors!

I became the CPSA DC210 chapter president as of november 1, 2011, taking over the reins from Linda Loder after her nine hard-working years at the job. Thank you to all for your vote of confidence in me!

I am excited about the opportunities ahead to grow our membership, organize fun and interesting programs, foster camaraderie, and expand awareness of colored pencil as an art medium in the San Francisco bay area and northern California. To that end, I welcome and encourage you—whether you are currently a member or drifted away years ago—to e-mail me with your ideas and suggestions on what YOU would like the chapter to be and do to keep you coming or bring you back. We are here to support and encourage everyone in the region who works with colored pencil! I may contact you directly to solicit your input, so don't be shy.

If you haven't renewed your membership for 2012 yet, please do! Your dues support the chapter so that we can bring in speakers and the like. Download our new chapter brochure from the Membership page to learn more.

Happy Drawing!

Denise Howard,
President CPSA DC210

Letter from Linda Loder, Next Meeting information

2011-10-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Next Meeting
The next DC210 Chapter meeting will be held on November 12 at 11:00 am - 2:00 pm at the home of
Ken Woodworth, 307 West Oak Street, Lodi, CA

If the weather is nice, we can enjoy some plein air drawing around Ken's koi pond. Or we can enjoy a screening of "Chasing Hockney," a documentary about "the greatest portrait ever" which Ken says is a must-see for all artists. I'm intriqued.

August 6th Meeting Minutes by Linda Loder, Outgoing President.

Election of officers was held at our last meeting at Denise Howard's home in Santa Clara on August 6, 2011.
It's my pleasure to announce the results below.
New Officers Elected
President: Denise Howard
Vice President: Linda Loder
Secretary:
Treasurer: Jackie Chang
Membership Chairman: Linda Huffman
Webmaster/Blog: Yevonne Reynolds

We are certainly appreciative of the work of Jackie Chang, Yevonne Reynolds and Linda Huffman. We are in need of a secretary for the chapter. If you could possibly come forward to help out with this, it would be greatly appreciated.

We have more fun times ahead of us. I'm looking forward to Denise's presidency. She brings new ideas and a good deal of energy with her. I'm sure it will be contagious and we might all catch it. Please help. Give Denise all your support. I know she is going to do a great job.

Also, as of November 1, it's TIME TO RENEW our membership to the Chapter. Please go to the website: http://www.cpsa210.org/. The membership form is on the membership page and the dues at $20 a year for our chapter. If you have any questions, the contact numbers are on the home page. Please let someone know if you need help.
Don't forget you also need to pay your national dues to be a member of the chapter.

Happy Penciling to all,
Linda Loder
Past President DC210.

Livermore Artwalk 2011

2011-08-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

Join us for the Livermore ARTWALK

Color Pencilers, we are participating in an art festival called ArtWalk in Livermore on October 8th. Please join us and show your art at the booth. You can also bring prints of your original art and notecards of your original art. We can sell there, and the commission is 20% (and goes to ArtWalk). Visit our Website, http://www.cpsa210.org/ for instructions and to download the entry form.

DC210 has paid the registration fee. The cost for members to participate is $20, Non members $25.

If you are not a member of District Chapter 210 and are interested, please go to our website to learn more.

Contact Linda Loder, or Denise Howard for more information on how to enter. Their numbers are on the website's calendar page. You must make contact by September 15.

If you cannot attend or live out of the area, you may make plans to ship your pieces to a fellow member so your work can be included.

Volunteers are needed. Please contact Linda or Denise to schedule a time to help.

Mexican Riviera Cruise, Colored Pencil Workshops

2011-08-12T21:18:00.000-07:00

Spend 9 days of fun in the sun. On three (3) of the days there will be colored pencil workshops. Gemma Gylling is teaching a colored pencil class. Ann Kullberg and Linda Hardy will also present workshops.

There are only two spots left, so if you want to go, sign up right away. Here's the link with the details regarding the Cruise: http://www.annkullberg.com/cruise_home_mexico9.php

Do You Like Prismacolors?

2011-07-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

PRISMACOLOR PENCILS • ON SALE NOW!

We've just learned of a great sale going on at Aaron Brothers Art and Framing until Sunday, July 31. Buy one set of Prismacolors, get another set for a penny! This falls under the "select art supplies" part of their July "one cent sale." The Prismacolor sale isn't mentioned on the website, but they're tagged for the promotion in stores.

BUY NOW AND SAVE!

DC210 Meeting, August 13, 2011

2011-07-06T17:38:00.000-07:00

Where:
Upcoming DC210 Meeting
Denise Howard's home
672 Briarcliff, Ct., Santa Clara 95051

Bring:
Your bag lunch or something to share. We will provide simple drinks.

When:
11:00 AM to 2:00 PM

What:
• General membership meeting
• Discuss Artwalk participation - join the committee
• Discuss election - join the committee and help out
• Denise Howard and Gemma Gylling - Convention review and show and tell new products.

2011 CPSA National Convention will be held in Dallas, Texas in July. It is always exciting and fun. Lots of colored pencil artists to talk to and lots of new products to see and try out. "Come and hear the latest in the world of colored pencil. Try out some of the newest products that were highlighted there. See how they work."

• Critiques, share your work.
• Bring what you are working on and if we have time, we can draw.
• Enjoy the 2010 international show on large screen TV.

Please RSVP to Denise by August 3rd so we can make arrangements.

Workshop with Gemma Gylling

2011-05-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

Wolf Workshop on Suede Mat Board

How to Create Realistic Animals Using Colored Pencils

By Gemma Gylling

Have you ever looked at wildlife art and wondered how the artist created the fur's shine or have you thought the eyes looked so real you believed the eye was really wet? When an artist uses the right side of their brain, it becomes easy for them to see the object that they want to create. Gemma will teach you to break an object into small sections so you see only lines, shapes and colors. It then becomes much easier to achieve the realistic look of shiny fur or a wet eye.

Saturday & Sunday, June 11/12, 10 am to 3 pm

(with lunch break)

At Town Hall Arts/Gallery

Under the Clock, 145 Stone Street., Copperopolis, CA, Town Square.

Sign up for the workshop with Larry, larry@townhallarts.com,

or phone 209-785-2050.

Materials list available at Town Hall Arts.

Cost of two-day workshop: $60

Colored Pencil at the California State Fair!

2011-04-20T23:10:00.000-07:00

We just learned that the 2011 California State Fair has a Fine Art competition that includes a category specifically for colored Pencil. (Division 405 "Other 2D Artworks," Class 3: Colored Pencil.)

The deadline for online entry is April 22, and receipt of art (JPEG files on CD) April 27. The exhibit takes place during the state fair in Sacramento, July 14-31. Cost is $20 per piece entered, and accepted entries must be framed under plexiglass rather than glass.

If you do plein air work, they have a competition for that, too, for work completed on site during the fair!

Go to http://www.bigfun.org/competition-adult.php and https://www.bigfun.org/exhibits/all/exhibitshome.aspx for more details.

Hurry, this is an opportunity for more exposure for our colored pencil passion!

DC210 Meeting

2011-04-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

District Chapter Meeting

Saturday, April 9, 2011 • 11:00 am - 4:00 pm

Almond Avenue Adult School • 1440 Almond Ave., Livermore CA

Meeting Agenda

Please bring your lunch and bring your work to show. Bring your supplies and something to work on or start a new piece with everyone's help and input (if you want it). We will enjoy working together at the meeting.

If you have something to discuss or questions to ask, please let us know.

Art Books: If you have new or favorite art books, bring them to share! Many good books, particularly about colored pencil, aren't readily available for browsing in book stores or online, so this is an opportunity to thoroughly look them over before deciding to buy your own copy.

Anything exciting happening in your art life? Share it! Make new friends!

Not yet a member? Attend as our guest and find out what the Northern California Chapter of the CPSA is all about!

Want more information: visit our website at http://www.cpsa210.org/

or contact Linda Loder at (510) 455-6427

Announcement! New Updated Website for DC210

2011-03-21T10:39:00.001-07:00

DC210 Members, CPSA, District Chapters and Friends

We are happy to announce that the new DC210 website has been completed.

We invite our members and fellow chapter members to vist us at

http://www.cpsa210.org/

Included below is a small partial view of our new home page.

We were fortunate to be able to use the latest DC210

Group Project to enhance our pages.

It was a challenge to help create the new website for our District Chapter.

I wish to thank Linda Loder, Denise Howard, Jackie Chang and Linda Huffman

for their input, help, suggestions and support while building the new site.

I'm honored to have helped with its creation. Yevonne Reynolds

Congratulations Jackie Chang

2011-03-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Jackie on winning the

CPSA District Chapters' Award for Exceptional Merit ($1000).

We are all so proud and happy for you.

You have an eye for finding the beauty in the simple thing in life.

Dinner in Las Vegas by J.Y. Chang.

Congratulations!

2011-01-31T10:13:00.000-08:00

Two members of the DC210 San Francisco Chapter of the Colored Pencil Society of America, have been accepted into the CPSA Explore This 7 Online Exhibition. The show opens online at the Colored Pencil Society of America website (http://www.cpsa.org/) on February 1, 2011 and will run for one year.

We congratulate Jackie Chang and Gemma Gylling

Jackie Chang

Dinner Time in Las Vegas

Jackie says, "I drew this piece from a photograph that I took in Las Vegas, while waiting for dinner to be served. At first I was drawn to the shapes of the spoon and fork on the tabletop, and their placement in relation to each other. However, then I realized that all the spectacular neon Vegas lights were reflecting off the silverware, and that the spoon and fork were capturing all the ambient light and excitement around me, and that became even more intriguing to me."

Gemma Gylling

Wild Reflections

Gemma says, "When I was in Kalespell, Montana I had the opportunity to photograph this magnificent animal. This is the second piece I have done of this mountain lion. I couldn't believe how fortunate I was to be able to watch him make his way down a fallen log and into the water for a morning swim. I took hundreds of pictures of him so I am sure I will be creating more art from those reference photos. I hope to create a series called my "Reflections" series. I now have two pieces done for that series.

This piece was done on a Beige Suede Mat Board using colored pencils and some pastel. Most of the piece is colored pencil but I did use pastel on top of an underpainting of colored pencil to create the ripples in the water.

I was very excited to hear that my artwork was accepted in the Explore This exhibition. This is the first time I have entered the show because I usually work with 100% colored pencils and this show requires some other medium to be used with the CP. As of about 3 years ago CPSA now allows a signature award for the Explore This exhibition. This will be my first acceptance toward the CPX signature award. Very Exciting!!"

DC210 Meeting Scheduled in Palo Alto, CA

2011-01-05T10:26:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 22, 2011
1:00-3:30 pm
Palo Alto Art Center
1313 Newell Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303
650-329-2366
http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/depts/csd/activities_and_recreation/attractions/art_center/default.asp

Agenda
1:00 Convene in the Meeting Room for chapter business.
2:00 Docent-led tour of the Art Center to learn about their facilities, classes and programs.
2:45 Reconvene for refreshments and "show and tell."

Bring a colored penil drawing, finished or unfinished, for "show and tell."

Not yet a member?
Attend as our guest and find out what the Northern California chapter
of the CPSA is all about!

Check for a Google Map or follow these directions:
Take Hwy 101 toward Palo Alto.
Exit to Embarcadero Rd. west (watch the signage carefully, this can be a confusing
interchange). for ~ .5 mile.
Turn right at Newell Rd., the Art Center is right there and you'll see a big sign for it at the corner.

If anyone's up for an extra "field trip" after the meeting, University Art in downtown Palo Alto
is one of the best art supply stores around!

The DC210 November 13th Meeting

2010-11-18T18:33:00.000-08:00

Members present their latest artwork for enjoyment and critique at the November meeting in Martinez, CA

Our November Meeting started on time and we were happy to welcome Aaron Cole who sat in and asked if he could take photos. These are the shots that you are looking at today.

Linda Huffman brought her wood duck and "Aunt Trudy's Table" to share. Roxi Fechtner brought three of her recent graphite drawings, a Japanese magnolia (botanical), a lion and a pineapple. Gemma brought her lion stepping into the water, and a couple of new paintings in mid-finish. She also brought another one of a lion swimming with its head out of the water. Jackie brought the pumpkins and the fork and spoon. Denise showed a couple of nice flower paintings. It's a special pleasure to be able to see our member's colored pencil work. All the work was simply wonderful.

We watched the DVD of the 2010 International Show on Jackie's computer.

We chatted with Cathy Riggs, owner of "I've Been Framed" ... a frame shop in Martinez, CA, about different framing ideas. She showed us some nice molding samples at very reasonable prices that she stocks at her shop. We talked about the work our members brought because most of it was framed.

A special thank you goes to Cathy for letting us use the back room of her frame shop for our

meeting, and also to Aaron for sharing his photos with us.

The winner of the $75 coupon for the framing shop was Gemma Gylling. I know she will use it, as she has been really working continuously at her art.

We have a new executive board that was voted in at the meeting. Linda Loder will continue as President, Denise Howard is our new Vice President, Jackie Chang will continue as our Treasurer, Roxi Fechtner as Secretary and Linda Huffman (who is appointed) will continue as our Membership Chair. Thanks to everyone for being a part of the board. Without these wonderful people, our chapter could not continue.

Please come and help us get our chapter rejuvenated with activities. If anyone has ideas for shows or meeting locations, please let us know.

Photo Credit: Aaron David Cole

District Chapter 210 Meeting

2010-10-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

November 13th • 12:30 - 3:00

The meeting place is "I've Been Framed"

411 Ferry Street, Suite C, Martinez, CA 94553

National Art Exhibit

We will show the new DVD National Convention show for 2010

Door Prizes

$75 "Ive Been Framed" Gift Certificate plus lots of fun art supplies.

Get tickets - 1 for attending, 2 for being on time.

Renew Your Membership at the Meeting

Agenda

@ Election information

@ Volunteer opportunities

@ Open forum - Share your ideas and what you would like at our meetings.

@ Share what you have been doing with your art.

@Bring work for critique and sharing with us.

Bring framed or unframed art for suggestions from our speaker.

"Time with Cathy"

Cathy Riggs owns and operates the frame shop.

She will do a discussion on the differences between the framing required for competition, for museum, for business and for home, as well as general tips on framing.

Linda Huffman's comment: "When we started talking about colored pencil, I realized that it is such a chameleon … but most are "burnished" or "heated" instead of being "pencil-like". I decided that each piece needed to be considered separately instead of under the "framing colored pencil works" umbrella.

Cathy also has some great deals on ready made frames too.

For Information:
Linda Loder (510) 455-6427
Linda Huffman (925) 370-7569
Jackie Chang (650) 387-8632

Time to Renew Your Membership

2010-09-29T22:59:00.000-07:00

Dear Colored Pencilers,

It’s that time again, time to renew your CPSA membership!

The CPSA membership year begins on November 1 and lasts until October 31 of the following year. In order to be a member of the local chapter DC 210, you must be a member of the CPSA national organization first.

To join/renew your membership with the CPSA national organization, please observe the following steps:

Go to the CPSA membership renewal page at: http://www.cpsa.org/MEMBERSHIP/Membership.new.html
Please follow the fee and payment options discussed on that page.

Once you have joined/renewed your national membership, you can join/renew your membership in the DC210 San Francisco local chapter by observing the following steps:

Download and fill out the DC 210 membership application/renewal form, which can be found at: http://www.cpsa210.org/join.html
Send the membership form along with a $20 check or money order (made payable to DC 210 or CPSA DC 210) to the treasurer, J.Y. Chang

J.Y. Chang

2113 Sonador Commons

San Jose, CA 95128

Remember, dues are NOT prorated, so now is the best time to join/renew your CPSA membership.

We look forward to a great 2011! Happy penciling!

CPSA 18th Annual Exhibition and Convention

2010-09-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Dear Chapter members,

You should be so proud! All of you did a wonderful job helping and supporting this convention. Here is what Paula Parks, the Exhibition Director, had to say about it.

I want to especially thank Deborah Lanphear, Linda Huffman and Jackie Chang for their continuous help through the whole week. You guys were amazing, especially Deborah. I didn't know you had such big muscles!!

Sincerely,

Your very proud president

Linda

August 11, 2010

Dear Linda and members of DC 210, San Francisco, California

I would like to thank you and the members of your chapter for helping put on and promote an amazing Exhibition and Convention. From the time of my first contact with you, Linda, I knew that you would do everything possible to make everything run smoothly and to solve problems, as they inevitably come up, with a minimum of fuss and stress. It was a pleasure working with you to make our vision for an outstanding Exhibition and Convention become a reality. I have received rave notices from members, as well as the general public, who were impressed by the smooth presentation and welcoming feel of the convention events and by the outstanding exhibition at the Art Museum of Los Gatos.

When I was there for the judging, Deborah went beyond expectations, picking me up and taking me to the museum to meet with the staff, assisting with the awards judging, then taking me back to the SJ Airport. At the Convention, you were always there, coordinating the efforts of the chapter volunteers and keeping things running smoothly and efficiently.

Convention week went by entirely too fast, and my only regrets were that I didn’t have more time to get to know all of you better and to spend more time in the beautiful area where you live.

So again, on behalf of the entire CPSA Governing Board, thank you so much for all the effort you put forth in making the 18^th CPSA International Exhibition and Convention one of the most successful and enjoyable exhibitions yet. It was especially appreciated since we were also celebrating the 20th anniversary of CPSA. The help of the host chapter is essential, and we are truly grateful for the many hours your members contributed to making this year’s event outstanding.

Sincerely,

Paula Parks

DC210 June News

2010-06-20T19:13:00.001-07:00

Hi District Chapter 210 members,

Our July meeting is on Saturday the 17th of July. Please make plans to attend and support us and CPSA National.

Saturday, July 17, 2010 starting at 11:00 am.

Livermore Adult School, 1401 Almond Ave, Livermore CA

This is an important meeting for us and we need to have you attend if it is at all possible. There is work to do ~ we are going to work on the packets that are distributed to all the convention attendees for the National board. The more hands we have to help… the faster it will go and the more fun we will have!

Thank you to everyone who has been working hard to get us to this point of preparation. I am very proud to represent you all as your president and I appreciate each and every one of you.

***********************************************************************

I hope you are getting excited about our convention this year. Below is some information that might help you make plans.

Members activities start on Wednesday for check-in and hospitality night.

Please let National and us know if you are planning to attend, so we can be sure to connect and say hello. Do not hesitate to call other members if you would like to find a room mate or someone to ride with. If you do not have a current roster let Linda Huffman (linda.huffman@yahoo.com) or me (lindaloder@sbcglobal.net). We will email you one.

CONVENTION WEEK SCHEDULE

Tuesday, July 27
CPSA National Board Meeting • DC Forum
Show Preview/Forum Dinner (CPSA National Board and DC Delegates only)

Wednesday, July 28
CPSA National Board Meeting & DC Forum/Joint Meeting
Hospitality Night (Hospitality Suite)

Thursday, July 29
Colored Pencil Workshops • Membership Meeting
(presentation of show entries, Silent Auction, door prizes)

Friday, July 30
Colored Pencil Workshops
Awards Banquet
CPSA cordially invites you and your guests to attend the 2010 Awards Dinner at the Biltmore Hotel and Suites, Santa Clara, CA. (See details following Workshop information.)

Saturday, July 31
Plein air excursion—Mission Santa Clara
Artists’ Reception—The Art Museum of Los Gatos
Evening Dessert Party—Biltmore Hotel, Santa Clara

Please register and pay for CPSA events online at www.cpsa.org
TIP: To ensure you have a name tag ready for you at the convention,
please register online even if you are not paying for an event.
Deadline for receiving online and mailed registrations is July 17, 2010.

Biltmore Hotel & Suites
2151 Laurelwood Road, Santa Clara, CA 95054
Cutoff date for special rate: Monday, July 12, 2010
(Don’t wait! Limited number of rooms available!)

The Santa Clara Biltmore Hotel is located just min¬utes from downtown San Jose in the heart of Silicon Valley. The hotel delivers five-star service, modern amenities and a warm California ambiance. Ameni¬ties include complimentary high-speed wireless internet, free parking, heated outdoor pool and spa, fine dining, fitness center, business center, extensive meeting facilities, and beautifully landscaped garden surroundings. Courtesy shuttle service to San Jose Airport and local attractions within five miles of our Santa Clara hotel is provided for your convenience.

For reservations, call the hotel directly at 408-988-8411.
Be sure to mention that you are with the Colored Pencil Society of America when making your reservation.

Special CPSA Rate: Garden Rooms $99.00 + Tax for up to four (4) people; Tower Suites $109.00 + Tax for up to four (4) people. Includes complimen¬tary Japanese/American Breakfast Buffet.
Check-in time: 3:00 p.m.; check-out time: 12 Noon
AIRPORT TRANSPORTATION: The Biltmore Hotel offers free transportation to/from San Jose Airport.

A Book Review By Jackie Chang

2010-05-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

Alyona Nickelsen’s new book, Colored Pencil Painting Bible, published in February 2009, was both an interesting read and a valuable resource. Not only does the book give a very complete and well-written overview of general colored pencil technique and color theory, but also she outlines the details about her unique method.

From looking at Nickelsen’s drawings there is no doubt that she has mastered the technique of capturing realism through colored pencil. However, her technique is harder to discern through looking at the drawings on their own. A main feature of Nickelsen’s technique is her usage of solvents (she uses Gamblin Gamsol odorless mineral spirits in between several layers of colored pencil), to blend the pencil markings into a uniform surface of solid color. The individual colored pencil strokes are no longer visible, making her work seem much like a painting rather than a drawing. The conventional methods of using a blender pencil or the white colored pencil to blend can leave your drawing too waxy or leave your colors muddled by the white. While Nickelsen does describe the traditional techniques as well, she ties everything together and discusses the specific reasons and situations where you would use one method over another.

Another aspect of the book that I really enjoyed is how she gives a very good overview of the colored pencil field in general. She mentions CPSA in the introduction of the book and there is a foreword by Vera Curnow, founder of CPSA, which could be very interesting information for the emerging artist. She discusses the newest available technologies, such as Ester Roi’s warm/cool Icarus Drawing Board. She also integrates digital photography and Photoshop to a lot of the demonstrations she has in the book, discussing how she uses her digital camera to take pictures across many photo sessions, carefully altering the composition and the lighting until she gets the perfect shot. She then uses many Photoshop tools to help her to see the outlines and colors in the reference photo. Whether or not one agrees, digital photography and Photoshop have inevitably entered the art space and is part of the art-making process, and it is refreshing to see those technologies integrated into a how-to art book.

Nickelsen goes beyond discussing the techniques for applying pencil to paper, but also she talks about her learning process, such as keeping notes on swatches of color for future reference. She discusses different techniques for rendering the unique surfaces that one might encounter in a still life, such as grass, leaves, different types of flowers, water, crystal, ice, wood, fabric, etc., giving the reader enough details to encounter different situations that may arise, but also encouraging them to create their own compositions.

When you look at the full-color drawings in the book, a lot of which are true to life size, you are even more amazed when you learn that Nickelsen has only devoted herself to colored pencil art in the last few years. According to an article published in American Artist in March 2007, Nickelsen is mostly self-taught, and started using colored pencils in 2002. Since then, she has won numerous awards and garnered a lot of attention. That is great inspiration to any aspiring colored pencil artist, demonstrating that success can be achieved depending on how much effort and passion you are willing to put into it.

2010-04-03T23:22:00.000-07:00

Spring is here!? Come to the Spring Meeting!!

DC 210 Meeting
Saturday, April 17th
** 11:00 to 3:00 pm **
Livermore Adult School
1400 Almond Avenue

Meeting discussion will include information for volunteers and attendees to the 2010 CPSA National Convention. Get in on the excitement of the convention and show. If you have entered a painting for judging, please bring it along with you to show. It is so exciting to have members in the show.

Bring: ** brown bag lunch with you to the meeting.
** art work you would like to share with everyone.

The purpose of the lunch is to have the time to chat with fellow artists and share our work and ideas.

Our demo artist: Nancy Saltsman of Livermore. Nancy is a certified Adult School Instructor and has been teaching art, including colored pencil classes for a number of years in the Livermore Adult School system. She will share with us a critique on several different kinds of colored pencils and a few new tools to use. Please bring paper. What Nancy recommends is Strathmore 400 smooth Bristol and/or dark or medium colored scraps.

Come and support our local art teacher who is also a member of our DC.

Looking forward to seeing all of you on Saturday the 17th!!
Keep on penciling………
Linda Loder, DC President

Presidents Message

2010-03-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our blog! The blog will be in newsletter style and will replace our regular quarterly newsletter. This will be a great tool to keep us connected. All members are encouraged to send articles to Gemma for posting online anytime. There will be no deadlines so you will not get a once a month post, it will happen as things come in. You could get a couple of things one month and the next post might be a month or two out. You will receive updates as they happen the news will be more current than trying to save articles for a newsletter.

The blog is for everyone. The updates will be sent out to those who do not have an email address. There are only 2 or 3 at this point, almost everyone has moved into the electronic age. We, as a group have been slow to do this as well because we worried about those who were not doing computers. But it is the way almost everyone is communicating these days and we have to move forward with the times. It also saves the club a ton of money on postage.

Keep in mind that Gemma does not write the articles, she just posts them online. She will need articles to post and that means that we all can contribute. A book review or a new tip or trick you learned, any type of art class or workshop coming up in northern California (not advertising but information) would be great or a new product that you have discovered. Any kind of show you are in or even entering, any type of award you have received, we want to congratulate our members for their work. Some artists get published in different books, newspapers etc. That would of interest.

Do a work-in-progress

If you are working on a new pencil piece send a photo of the beginnings and what words you want. When you do this you could attach a little info about what tools you are using etc. These are so much fun to watch. Although the blog is not interactive, you can certainly put a note that you would welcome comments from members at your email address.

Wahoo!!! Convention Is Coming Here In July.

2010-03-01T23:04:00.000-08:00

The next five months should prove to be very exciting and interesting with the National Convention coming to our area July 28th through the 31st. As you remember our chapter is the host chapter and we are assuming certain responsibilities to help with this fabulous event. If you are interested in helping, let us know. We will need a little help for a few activities.

Why go the convention?

If you have never gone you deserve to see all the new ideas and products that will be on display and given away. You will meet the artists that do all the great work. All the latest and greatest ideas and people will be there. The last time that a convention was in our area was in 2001, so you see it is not an opportunity that is in our backyard very often. The location changes yearly east coast, west coast mostly.

Workshops

You have an opportunity to have two different workshops from well-known colored pencil “movers and shakers” who are in our field. They will help to show us how to progress as a colored pencil artist. I have attended many of these and have never been disappointed with what I learned.

The Member Meeting

Free admission, open to everyone.
Tons of prizes art related are given away to people attending. The vendors are very generous to us.
The entire group of entries for the exhibit will be shown. This is the ONLY time you can see this. I found this to be one of the most interesting parts of the event. I just love seeing what people are doing and entering.
You get a real look at why judging a show is so difficult.

The Awards Dinner

Sit with your friends and see the awards given away. Get excited!! There will be thousands of dollars awarded to cp artists just like you.
The dinner is always special and its lots of fun getting to know other cp artists.
This is a paid event.

Gallery Reception

See the paintings and meet the artists.
This is open to the public.
Invite your friends to come and see the show.