Tag Archives: art

Another Reason to Use iPad or iPhone Art Apps

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I love to use art apps to record color sketches quickly, whether sitting by a lovely scene or whipping by in the passenger seat of a car. Photos just don’t ‘cut it’ for this type of use. The camera does not capture colors accurately — at least without time-consuming gyrations. Hauling out paints and nailing the right color note on the fly is also improbable.

With an art app, all you have to do is select the right color from a comprehensive array at your fingertips. Here are several palettes from which I can dial the desired color, swipe it on the screen, and adjust intensity/opacity as desired. The slideshow also includes a few color notations made to capture relative colors, instead of a specific scene.

Living Room Tour via iPad

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When I first got an iPad, I’d sit around the living room every night doodling whatever came into mind or view. After awhile, it occurred to me that I’d developed a prosaic tour of our living room from my sofa vantage, with hubby reading nearby, and a parade of accidental still lifes marching across the coffee table at my feet. None of these efforts is great art, but it was a fun way to gradually hone skills in this new medium.

Welcome to my living room!

Not to Distract You from the Weekend Shows . . . but It’s Time to Plan an Art Adventure for Fall!

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With art buddy, Eneida Somarriba, I’m going to teach a 10 week class on making art on the iPad — at the Yellow Barn Studio, Glen Echo, MD, 4 to 6:30 pm on Thursdays, starting September 20, 2012.

If you haven’t tried this fun and revelatory form of finger-painting, you’ve got to do it! David Hockney, a modern master, has focused on the iPad for several years, exhibiting his digital pictures at UK’s Royal Academy and elsewhere.

Arrival of Spring in Worldgate 1, a Hockney iPad Image from Royal Academy Show

After declining a request to paint a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, he changed his mind on the occasion of her recent Jubilee, presenting her an iPad picture of her aboard the Royal Barge during the festive event.

Jubilee Pageant on the Thames: The End of the Regatta

So, whether you want to make colorful stick figures, high art, or anything in between, don’t miss this opportunity to learn iPad art in a structured environment.

In tomorrow’s post I’ll give you a virtual tour of my living room, painted over a couple of weeks as I worked nightly on what I could see from the vantage of my sofa.

The Third Exhibit is Kensington’s ‘Paint the Town’, with Montgomery Art Association

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The Kensington Armory/Town Hall is the site of my third show over Labor Day weekend. The hours are noon to 4 pm Saturday and Sunday, and 9:30 am to 4:30 pm on Labor Day. There will be a public reception Saturday evening from 6:00-7:30 pm.

For this exhibit, I plan to hang four framed paintings and show 10-12 matted originals and possibly prints of recent iPad images in a nearby rack. The slide show below gives a sense of these works — but they look much better ‘in person’. Come see them!

I’ve Got Three Exhibits over the Labor Day Weekend

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First up will be the 42nd Annual Labor Day Art Show at Glen Echo Park, to be held in the historic Spanish Ballroom from September 1 through September 3. The exhibition and sale includes a wide range of media, such as sculpture, painting and drawing, ceramics, glass, jewelry, and photography. It is open daily from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. There is also a public reception on Friday, August 31, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free.

Here are the two pieces I’ll be showing.

Atop the Arcade

Atop the Arcade on a crisp October day. oil on canvas.

Long afternoons of modeling can make a girl sleepy.

Dreaming in red and orange. Gouache on paper.

Vinales Finale ~~ on to Havana!

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We had beautiful days in Vinales, sunrise to sunset. I took lots of photos and, while waiting for evening activities, made a couple more paintings. A gouache of the valley below our balcony (the black paper didn’t photograph well):

a gouache painting of the Vinales Valley beneath our balcony

‘Gauzy’ gouache of the valley beneath our balcony.

and a watercolor of a lone palm tree presiding over the pool (painted happily with a Mojito at my elbow):

A painting of a solitary palm tree with mogote background, watercolor

A proud palm by the pool at Los Jazmines,Vinales.

Here are a few more photos in and around Los Jazmines Hotel, made primarily to fix the place and its beauties in my memories:

Early sunrise at Los Jazmines.

photo of the valley with a tobacco barn under construction

Tobacco barn underway in the valley.

looking down the length of the bar

The cozy cafe-bar in the hotel.

bartender behind bar pours coffee

We DID drink coffee in addition to plentiful Mojitos!

pink hotel and blue pool

Pink hotel and blue pool made a cool combo.

waiter and guests chat in the cool evening

A casual evening around the pool.

sunset, sky and part of the hotel balcony

We sigh and snap a photo of our last Vinales sunset.

painting on a wall near the hotel

We pass a ‘colorful’ mural en route to the morning bus.

Goodbye, Vinales! Goodbye, Los Jazmines! On to Havana!

My Gouache Geisha ~~ Cuban Gouache Backstory

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As mentioned earlier, in Cuba we painted mostly with gouache for portability. In broad terms, gouache is a type of watercolor paint that makes heavy, strong opaque colors and whites, due to the use of ground chalk or other opaque filler with the color pigments.

I found it a challenge to handle. To gain some experience before the trip, I worked only in gouache at each Yellow Barn class for the semester preceding departure. My first challenge was to paint a lovely Japanese woman dressed as a geisha. Here are photos of her poses, as well as my two paintings.

A Second Stab at Capturing Our Worthy Cuban Model

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Not happy with my first gouache effort of the day, I decided to try another – this time, a profile of the farmer’s head. He wasn’t sporting his cigar at the time I did my sketch, but then again, my sketch didn’t merit a cigar. After my piece, see a photo of the real deal.

The farmer's profile

My take on the farmer's profile

Our courtly farmer, in the flesh.

The farmer makes posing a bit more bearable by chewing a cigar.

Our model, with Cuban hat and cigar.

Cuba was a Trip!

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With a cohort of fellow artists from the Yellow Barn and several family members (including my hubby), I just completed an extremely interesting and fruitful trip to Cuba. We planned to interact with Cuban artists; paint Cuban people, land and cityscapes; soak up the culture; and leave behind art supplies and other items that could be useful.

We began in Pinar del Rio, in western Cuba, exploring the Vinales Valley, with its mysterious mogotes, and other environs. Here is the spectacular view from our little balcony immediately upon arrival.

Red earth, green fields, and mysterious mogotes

Vinales Valley, with Mogotes in the Distance

And a photo of fellow artists, also soaking up the beauty.

All Enjoy the View

All Enjoy the Spectacular View

And an ipad sketch I immediately began (using ArtRage3).

iPad Sketch of Vinales Valley

iPad Sketch of Vinales Valley

Plein Air Competition Trains Us in Environmentally Clean Methods

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A beautiful scene of Glen Echo Park on the day of the plein air competition

Potomac Patch's Photo of Yellow Barn's "Paint the Park Green" competition

This past weekend the Yellow Barn, situated on the lovely Glen Echo Park grounds, held a two-day plein air competition, featuring environmentally sensitive techniques for painting in oils, acrylics and watercolors. The setting was magical and the camaraderie was warm, as we fanned out around the park to develop our paintings for the Sunday evening competition.

plein air painting of arcade sign and courtyard

Oil painting of Glen Echo's Art Deco 'arcade' sign and courtyard

This is what I accomplished on Saturday. I was up on the second floor balcony looking down over the ‘arcade’ sign into the courtyard. A two-day Cajun and Zydeco music festival was also in full swing over the weekend, so I was at least able to boogie while making a dull painting!