Figure Drawing, Fall 08 Final Class!

Hi Folks,

Friday, Dec. 5 is the final class for Figure Drawing, Fall 08. Here's the agenda:

9:30--11:30 Last drawing session (Greta is scheduled to model)
11:30--till 2: Pot luck lunch and group critique

Bring a contribution to the pot luck (I will provide Italian beef sandwiches and some killer banana puddin') and the following drawings:

1. Your outside project (self portrait conversation with a well known person)
2. An early drawing---for comparison
3. An example of line (can be gesture, contour, etc.)
4. An example of a value study
5. A portrait
6. The drawing you feel is the most successful of the semester (could be one of the previous)

I have some of your drawings and will return them to you Friday. I look forward to it.

Carolyn

I really, really dislike Geek Squad

I won't go into the details right now, but there is no way this company should be in business.

My portable hard drive has crashed, and my laptop is acting up. I will resume posting regularly as soon as I finish lamenting the fact that I didn't go into computer technology.

And, for those Watercolor folks who are checking.....we meet at the Mint today at 10am. Bring your supplies---weather permitting, we will paint out on the museum green. If the weather doesn't hold, we will sketch inside the museum. They won't allow us to bring our watercolors though. Someday I will talk them into it.

Interested in Private Lessons?

Since I am getting inquiries about private lessons, I have decided to consider it. If you are interested, please contact me at carol@carolynwhitman.com and we can chat. I will only consider serious students who are at least a mature 16 years or older.

Gallery Reception today --- Jan. 30

A closing reception for the Faculty Exhibit in Ross Gallery today---4-6pm. See you there!

Supply List for Spring Watercolor class

For those who want to ask Santa to bring some their watercolor supplies:

As with any art material, buy the best you can afford….
Paints: I prefer tubes, but pans are okay.
I like Winsor Newton Artists Watercolors. The student grade version is Cotman watercolors.
* optional colors

Cadmium Red
alizarin crimson
Lemon yellow
Cadmium yellow
Yellow ochre or raw sienna
Burnt sienna
Burnt umber
Permanent Rose
Viridian cobalt blue
Cerulean blue
Winsor blue (phtalo blue)
Payne’s gray
Perm. Sap green
Indigo*
Violet*


Brushes:
Sable are best, but are expensive. I like Winsor Newton, but there are a lot of good sable watercolor brushes out there….just make sure they are for watercolor. You cannot interchange your watercolor and oil brushes.
Princeton makes a decent synthetic sable brush. Look for “spring” and a good point.
Sizes:
1” flat
½” flat
Size 10 round
Size 4 round
liner
other sizes as desired

Palette: I like a butcher’s tray (available with watercolor supplies), but you can purchase a plastic or ceramic palette, depending on your taste. Make sure there is enough room to mix easily.

A natural sponge and a synthetic sponge. These often come in a set.
Gummed tape (I have some on hand, so wait on this)
One large water container (1 quart or more), one smaller water container (8-16 oz.)
Board for stretching paper. You can buy a watercolor board, but a masonite sheet works well, and are cheap, so you can have a couple of them.
Paper towels (there are never enough…Viva is a good brand)
Masking fluid (I have some on hand—you might want to wait on this)
Cotton swabs have many uses; small spray bottle for water.
Pencil, ink pen, erasers, hardbound sketchbook (get a size you can easily manage, or keep using the one you have)

Watercolor paper (I like Arches):
140 lb. must be stretched; don’t go less than 140lb.; You can purchase cold-press paper by the sheet, by the block , or by the roll. You do not need to purchase all three. 5 sheets of Arches 22 X 30” 140 lb cold press paper costs $15.88 at www.dickblick.com . I estimate you will need about 15 sheets or so. Around half of these will be cut up into smaller sections for studies, etc.
Watercolor Block eliminates the need to stretch paper. Needs to be at least 12 x 16”, You will still be required to stretch some---you need to know how.

Suggested Vendors: Cheap Joes on Monroe; Binders at Cotswold www.danielsmith.com ; www.dickblick.com ; www.asw-express.com ; www.cheapjoes.com ; www.jerrysartarama.com ;

You’ll be taught how to mat and frame your watercolors; and you need framing materials for at least one project. The cost will be kept to a minimum, but you’ll need matboard, a frame and glass. Don’t buy this now….wait till the time comes.

Lastly, you’ll be required to enter at least one exhibit. Entry fee for the student show is $5.

Contemporary Cool and Collected at the Mint Museum

I viewed the new Mint Museum exhibit Contemporary Cool and Collected yesterday. A good exhibit...though I wish it were a little stronger on painting. Here are a few of my favorite highlights:

Lalla Essaydi, Converging Territories #7

Chromogenic print, 30x40"

What an absolutely stunning piece! Here's a statement about her work from http://www.aperture.org/ :

Lalla Essaydi's photographs deal with a rebellion against the limited domain of the female within Islamic traditions. As noted in Nazar: Photographs from the Arab World (Aperture, 2005), according to Islamic tradition, the street is the domain of men, and women are condemned to live indoors. Behind closed doors, they are nothing more than decoration, suggests Essaydi, a situation she that she vividly represents in Converging Territories, which appeared in the spring 2005 issue of Aperture magazine alongside a text written by Isolde Brielmaier. Essaydi places Islamic women in isolated spaces and literally decorates them with texts written in henna. The texts-a reversal of the silence of their isolation-give the women a voice, with which they can speak to the space and to one another. The rebellious character of the photographs is magnified by the fact that within Islam calligraphy cannot be practiced by women. Converging Territories, #30 was photographed in the house where women and girls from the artist's family were locked up, sometimes for weeks, when they transgressed the rules of Islam. Essaydi herself was sent to this space as a youth; escorted by silent servants, she would be left alone for up to a month. As Isolde Brielmaier notes, "her intention and introspection are evident in her photographs: we see Essaydi turning 'space' into something more than just the delimited enclosures of that house of her childhood." Brielmaier goes on to say that "at a time when many images in circulation portray Arab people in increasingly negative ways, Essaydi reclaims and reconsiders ideas of what it means to be Arab and female on her own terms."

Shana and Robert ParkeHarrison, Mourning Cloak, photogravure, 55 x60"

The info card by this image states that the butterflies "act as a shield, protecting Everyman from his empty existence; or implies a richer existence by interacting with the natural world." As I looked at this I couldn't help but wonder why the Chrisian symbolism of butterflies isn't mentioned...it's a clear symbol of resurrection.....

Tony Oursler, Invisible Green Link?, aluminum, acrylic, LCD screen, DVD player

I love it when I get surprised...it's not necessarily a new idea for the artwork to cause you to reverse viewpoints and recognize yourself as the work to be viewed; but I wasn't expecting it for some reason.

Stephanie Pryor, Untitled (painting light blue background), acrylic paint and acrylic ink on gessoed board.

A lovely little poem on canvas. Beautifully crafted and suggestive. But I'm sick of pieces titled Untitled.

The Elizabeth Murray painting Split and Join is probably my least favorite of all I've ever seen of hers. I got a kick out of Tara Donavon's Controlled Caging, and of course, Josef Koudelka's Untitled (Coal Mining Started in the Region around the Year 1400) was haunting to me. All in all, a worthwhile show. Take some time and enjoy it :-)

Teaching Schedule for Spring 2008

Tentatively, my teaching schedule for Spring 2008 is:

Watercolor on Fridays (all day class---9:30--3ish)

Drawing I on Monday/Wednesday 12:30-3:20

Art Appreciation online

*This schedule is subject to change*

This painting is by Ron Isaacs, my old painting professor at EKU.
And yes, that's me and my beloved dog Angel! Here's the full painting:

His work is pretty incredible, and so beautifully crafted.

Of course, it has nothing to do with my teaching schedule---I just thought I'd give you something interesting to look at :-)

Free Portrait class at CPCC

Free college day is Nov. 3, and I'll be leading a 1 hour portrait class. Here's a link to the info:

http://www1.cpcc.edu/free-college-day

Everything is provided! Enjoy---but you must pre-registered---only a few spots left!

Enter Visual Arts Raffle at CPCC

Visit the CPCC Ross Gallery or Pease Gallery Thursday, Oct. 4 through Oct. 23 to enter two different raffles to win original artwork by CPCC faculty and artists Elizabeth Ross and Carolyn Whitman. The cost is $1.00 per ticket. The raffle will conclude at the end of Fall Fest on CPCC Central Campus on Oct. 24, 2007. Tickets will be sold at the Visual Arts Tent all day. Proceeds will go toward a museum trip for Visual Arts students.

Raffle #1:

Win your choice of the following framed giclee prints by Elizabeth Ross:

Smoke Tree Wings by Elizabeth Ross

Maze by Elizabeth Ross

Both prints are valued at $650

Raffle #2

Win a portrait sketch by Carolyn Whitman, done from life or your photos.

Here's a sample of one of my sketches:

Dot by Carolyn Whitman

The value of a pastel portrait like this is about $300. You can see more examples of my portrait work by visiting http://carolynwhitman.com/Artwork/portraits.html

Please contact me if you have questions.

Change in teaching schedule---Fall 07

Okay folks,
It looks like I won't be teaching Figure Drawing this semester after all. As chair, I really am a piece a furniture to be moved around as needed (haha!) Due to some issues beyond my control, I must take over a number of Art Appreciation courses. I am disappointed, as Figure Drawing is by far my favorite class to teach. However, I have assigned a fabulous instructor in Ed Burnam, and I plan to sneak in draw with you guys whenever I can. I am planning to continue posting on this site....I want to create a resource for students, so if there are topics you want covered, shoot me an email to carol@carolynwhitman.com or carol.whitman@cpcc.edu . You don't have to be one of my students, all questions from all interested folks are welcome.

Additionally, I will be organizing an open Figure Drawing studio on Fridays. This will be available to any student enrolled in ART or AAC courses at CPCC. I will post more info in the next couple of weeks. If there is enough interest in the community outside CPCC students, I will consider organizing a open session and taking on private students.

Carol

PS: the image above is from my first figure drawing class as a student more than 20 years ago! I feel old today.....

Art supply sale at A & C

Just an FYI for anyone looking for good deals on art supplies: Artist's and Craftsman on Elizabeth Ave. in Charlotte is going out of business :-( and everything in the store is on sale. I was there about a week ago and there was still quite a bit of stock on the shelves. I believe the store will close by the end of August....sad to see them go.

Models needed in the Charlotte area

If you live in the Charlotte area and want to model for a life drawing class, please contact me at carol.whitman@cpcc.edu . The class meets Monday and Wednesday from 12:30 to 3:20 beginning mid August. I will also be organizing a open drawing lab on Fridays----$5.00 to enter, with all proceeds going to the model(s). The model and I will agree upon a min. amount, though I'm sure we'll have no lack of participants. Participants will be limited to 18.

Here's the plan....

This blog is for student info; to post student work, etc. I will post info I hand out in class (that isn't copyright sensitive). Students (and visitors), please return often for updates. I plan to update a couple of times a week; perhaps more as the Fall semester gets into full swing. I do encourage you to make comments, etc.