o The jurying process is available to all Active Members of the SOS-FCA

o Drop off paintings at the Leir House Monday Oct. 5th between 9:00 and 10:00 am, pick up at 2:30 pm, no paintings will be accepted after the cut-off time of 10:00 am. It will be a very short meeting and we are very excited to offer a critique session as our program. All three jurors are willing to critique any paintings that are rejected. This is an "optional" opportunity for artists, one painting per artist. It will be a valuable learning experience for us all and we are very grateful to Gaye, Ken and Karel for their expertise.

~ Oliver - The 26th annual Fall Art Show will be held on October 3rd & 4th 2009 at the Oliver Community Centre Hall. Applications will be accepted until Saturday September 19th 2009. The theme for the show is 'Autumn'.

~ Osoyoos - Michael Jorden will be in the show, "Men of the West Exhibit", at the Osoyoos Art Gallery from September 12th to October 3rd 2009.

~ Penticton -

- George L. Traicheff & Friends art exhibit, September 17th to October 1st 2009 at Leir House.

- The current show at Leir House is "Mud made Funktional" by the Penticton Potters Guild.

- Dream House Tour 2009 takes place on November 27th & 28th 2009. Designers decorate houses at Christmas time. Local schools will be given trees to decorate and they will be displayed at the Penticton Trade & Convention Centre. Volunteers are required for inside the homes on the 27th & 28th. Volunteers will receive a free ticket for the tour, 2 for 1 meal and an invite to the volunteer appreciation dessert at the Penticton Trade & Convention Centre on November 28th from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. For more info contact Sharon at the PDCAC office or Thea.

~ Summerland - No New Information.

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SEPTEMBER 2008 Monthly Newsletter

FEDERATION OF CANADIAN ARTISTS

South Okanagan-Similkameen Chapter

113 - 437 Martin Street, Box 154
Penticton, BC V2A 5L1
http://www.fca-sos.ca

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A REMINDER TO ALL MEMBERS OF UPCOMING EVENTS:

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Mark your calendars!

OCTOBER 4th - GENERAL MEETING @10AM, LEIR HOUSE (Upstairs) - PROGRAM - BONNY ROBERTS DEMO

NOVEMBER 1st - GENERAL MEETING @10AM, LEIR HOUSE (Downstairs) - PROGRAM - SUCCESS SLIDE SHOW 2008

DECEMBER - NO MEETING

JANUARY 9th - GENERAL MEETING @10AM, LEIR HOUSE (Location TBA) - PROGRAM - CRITIQUE BY SHANDRA ALBO

Executive meeting times will be announced

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A WARM WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS :

*Please pick up a “New members information booklet” at the next meeting*

The following people have volunteered to be “Mentors” and will help new members navigate the world of the Federation of Canadian Artists

If you think you might like to have a mentor, please contact one of the following volunteers. They look forward to hearing from you.

Laila Campbell ~ George Traicheff

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Our Library news:

Send your reviews to dianeestabrook@shaw.ca and we'll publish it here, this gives us an opportunity to decide if it has sparked an interest to borrow it. We have a wealth of information available to us, just give Kate a call.

LIST OF BOOKS IN THE FCA resource Library is available just email dianeestabrook@shaw.ca

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Upcoming shows in Vancouver FCA gallery

Federation of Canadian Artists - 2008

***FOR YOUR INFORMATION***

Brad read the responses to the letter (at the September meeting) that we sent to Janice Robertson, (Standards Chair of the FCA), regarding her letter to Chapter Presidents re: Standards. Some of the highlights were:

o Janice stated that the overwhelming feeling from the committee members was that written juror comments are not an effective way to give people feedback. With time constraints and hundreds of images to look at, there is not time for anything other than the most cursory comments, which often serve to confuse people more than enlighten. She did say that she would share our letter with the FCA board members.

o Heidi Lambert, (Chapter Liaison), responded that she got a similar response from the Fraser Valley Chapter at the last meeting. Heidi's suggestion was to have Critique's and hold Mentoring classes. She felt that juror's comments were too brief and never positive. Critiques on the other hand should be constructive and positive as well as being beneficial to the artist. Heidi also said that she was working with Janice Robertson on getting some help to the chapters that are in the interior. They are working on a list of AFCA's and SFCA's that would like to travel to teach in the interior. There should be more information very soon.

A REMINDER TO ALL MEMBERS OF UPCOMING EVENTS

Spilsbury Medal Show
December 9 - December 24, 2008
* Entry deadline: October 23, 2008
* Paintings due: December 4, 2008

· AFCA & SFCA members only. Any subject, any medium.

Mixed Media
February 3 - February 15, 2009
* Entry deadline: December 11, 2008
* Paintings due: January 29, 2009

· Works must be executed in more than one medium. Open to Active & Signature members.

Landscapes
February 17 - March 1, 2009
* Entry deadline: December 11, 2008
* Paintings due: February 12, 2009

· Landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes, any medium. Open to Active & Signature members.

Register online at www.artists.ca, by phone at 604-681-8534 or in person at Federation Gallery (Tuesday to Sunday between lOam - 4pm)

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2008 - Exhibitions in the valley. - EXHIBITION COMMITTEE

Get your Bio's ready for any show you enter please, SEND THEM TO Sharon Snow! Entry fees for juried shows to $11.00, ($6.00 for the FCA and $5.00 for SOS). Non-juried shows $5.00 to SOS.

Tinhorn Creek exhibition, “Creative Harvest", is over now and we had 8 sales in total.

The second show at Lang Vineyards is up and running and since mid August, there have been 4 additional sales. Prior to August, there were a total of 14 in the first show. This exhibition runs until the end of October, takedown date to be announced.

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Workshop Committee

JUST WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR!!

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On July 24th, in recognition of their Centennial, Karel Doruyter presented a painting to the City of Penticton.

The painting was presented to Jake Kimberley (Penticton Mayor) and the chair of the Penticton Centennial Advisory Committee, Sharon Amos.

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BITS & PIECES

MEMBER NEWS

~ There is a new gallery, called "Local Colour", at 60 Front Street Penticton. The gallery is owned and operated by 7 local artists and is open 10:00am to 5:00pm Wednesday through Sunday. There will be an open house from October 15th to 18th. On the 17th, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm you will be able to meet the Artists

~ Oliver Community Arts Council - 25th Anniversary Fall Art Show, (at the Festival of the Grape), will be on October 4th & 5th. You are welcome to enter paintings - contact Enid Baker - more info to follow in a Fan-Out.

~ Art Visions 2008 will run from October 25 to November 7, 2008. This exhibition of quality images from Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) members will be on show at Hambleton Galleries and Art Ark Gallery in downtown Kelowna, BC. This is open to all Active & Signature FCA members. For more into visit http://www.artvisions.ca/

~ The Artist Project Toronto is seeking applications from independent fine artists for its second annual juried exhibition and sale March 5th to 8th 2009. For more information, and to download an application, visit http://www.theartistprojecttoronto.com/

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Did you know Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci avoided the palette and mixed colors directly on the canvas, Italian researchers said after they reconstructed his work step by step "as if watching him while he painted."

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How to paint abstract art

Composition

In lesson 1 of How To Paint Abstract Art we tried to do away with the myth of the abstract painter that creates a masterpiece in five minutes, like Jagger/Richards would write rock music. In art it doesn't work that way, in general. Willem de Kooning sometimes needed years to complete paintings that look messy at first sight, but were overpainted time and again. Jackson Pollock's most famous art works are very carefully composed, which takes time.However, Picasso's credo was: A finished painting is a dead painting, and he preferred not to spend too much time on a painting, because more than anything he wanted to preserve the expressive quality of his art work. But he did very carefully prepare many of his paintings, with numerous sketches.How far you can go with working and reworking a painting depends on your patience and your compositional skills. The better you are at composition, the more you can stuff your paintings with ideas. This begs the question: What Is Composition? In this author's impaired, but increasingly more popular way, I will now try to explain what composition is, by using some images that will remind you of Kindergarten.

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We are using three shapes to begin with, as shown in image 1. Image 1 has no composition; we have just lined the forms up from left to right. In image 2 we have committed our first act of composition by moving the forms around, resulting in a somewhat more harmonious picture compared to image 1. In image 3 we have introduced the green at the top left. Green and yellow are related colors, so we move the green bar over to the yellow disk. In image 2 and 3 the blue triangle didn't seem to point in any particular direction, but by moving the green bar like in image 4, it looks as if the blue triangle is pointing from top left to bottom right. We reinforce this effect by moving the blue triangle closer to the point where the green bar intersects with the yellow disk (image 5). This represents one of the most important aspects of composition: lines of action, in this case from top left to bottom right. In image 6 we have moved the red square along this line of action.

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Okay, let's add another object. We add a purple square, as shown in image 7 and images 8 to 11 show how different positions of the new object affect the image. If we thought that composition is about filling empty spaces, then we would move the purple square to left bottom left corner, as in image 8. This doesn't look right, because there is no connection between the purple square as the other forms. Let's get back to image 6. Note how focusing on the blue triangle enables you to see all forms in one glance, while in image 8 you have a tendency of moving your point of view from the purple square to the other forms and back, trying to understand what you're looking at.

Image 6 has a center (the blue triangle), while the center of image 8 lies somewhere between the blue triangle and the red square (where the black dot is, in the image on the left), so the center lies in an area of white space. Try focusing on image 8's center and you'll see all shapes without having to move your point of view, but you will still be wondering what the purple square is doing in the bottom left corner. Image 6 is rather pleasing on the eye because the blue triangle is immediately recognized as the center of the image, while in image 8 you have to move your point of view several time before you have found the center of the image (i.e. the point that allows you to see all forms in one glance). Making a picture easy to understand, that's what composition does.

So now we know that we have to connect the purple square to the other forms, we move it closer, as in image 9. As shown on the left, the center lies on our main line of action, but the blue square next to the yellow disk looks very awkward. We try moving the purple square up to the red square, which creates a second line of action, but now the center is off the first line of action. We fix this by moving the purple square as in image 10 and lo and behold, the center is back on the first line of action and the second line of action is now almost perpendicular to the first, see the image below.

Next we introduce another form which moves the center of the image to the center of the blue triangle, as seen in image 12. We feel that the left end of the new shape is left hanging in space, so in image 13 we add a dark-purple rectangle to support the new triangle.

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In the images above I used very simple shapes, leading to a pretty lame art work, but the above-mentioned principles are used in almost every style of painting. Take for instance Picasso's painting Sad Mother with Child.

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Because the pair isn't moving, Picasso had to use lines of action that suggest a static situation. The boy needs space to his left side (right side from our perspective) so that the line of action associated with his field of view can develop to the right. If the woman were also looking to the right that would suggest horizontal movement, which conflicted with the static situation, creation confusion. The line of action associated with her field of view must be able to develop, so instead of making her look straight to the left (where the canvas ends), Picasso makes her look to the left and down. This line of action balances that of the boy's and the net result is a static situation, which is confirmed by the vertical line of action through the middle. The line of action created by the knife opposes the line of action associated with the woman's field of view and serves to add more dynamism to an otherwise too static composition. The horizontal line of the table confirms and support the horizontal of the boys line of view.

"So what's the big deal?", I can hear you think. "You've showed me what composition is, SO WHAT?". Well, first take another look a image 13, from our composition example. It's hardly a masterpiece, but it does look clean, which is a result of the strict composition. More importantly, it invites to do more. Because it's a well-organised image that doesn't confuse, it's relatively easy to add another form, in other words: to expand the composition. If you don't take care of your painting's composition then you will get stuck much sooner, and reach the point that you don't know how to go on.When I prepared the above composition example, I was guided just by intuition, and only after the fact I analyzed what I had done. This shows that there is much more logic to intuition that one might think, but the morale is that because of the logical organization of the composition, you are making it easier for yourself to understand your own art work, and thus to elaborate on it. By the same token it's a good idea to be neat, just because that makes your painting easier to understand. The more inaccuracies and irrelevant details, the messier your painting becomes and the easier the eye gets confused. Personally I alternate spells of wild gestures with smooth finishing. If you want to be expressive then you can't get around incorporating an element of chance (or noise) in your painting, but at some point your art work becomes such a mess that creativity comes to a grinding halt and you don't how to go on. What you should do is try to eliminate irrelevant details, by neatly overpainting them. This should simplify your painting, because with fewer details your brain needs to expend less computing power on trying to make sense of what you're looking at.The style of our composition example could be called geometric abstraction and Picasso's example is figurative art, both styles which are comparatively easy to compose. Modern abstract art however, departs from the traditional rules of composition and no lines of action can be discerned. In that style you're completely at the mercy of your own intuition, but on this page I'm hoping to teach you how to think in terms of composition and make you understand what it's for.A good example of modern abstract art is abstract expressionism, a style in which an artist tries to paint without creating a global composition. On every level of the painting (both locally and globally) he tries to create contradictions, such that the painting as a whole is well balanced. So as to not get you too hung up on composition, we now move into the realm of abstract expressionism, which can be a fresh wind compared to the strict rules of traditional composition.

I have included some images of paintings of the young abstract expressionist Mike Wong Joon Fong because it's such a good example of how a modern abstract painter works. Look at the way Mike has been dripping the paint onto the paper, first the black and then the yellow, resulting in a particularly attractive counterpoint of two colors. The reason why it looks so nice is that Mike has expressive talent on which he is relying completely in this painting, but if he ever wants to make his mark in the world of art he will have to make more paintings like his Unveiling, below, left.

The oil paint had already dried when he scraped off the bottom third of top the top layer and I think I see some vertical scratches in the top part too. Apparently Mike had been looking at his painting for while, was dissatisfied with it and then he got an idea and started scraping. Compare this to .....

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.... his painting Do not be afraid above, right. Fine painting, but not nearly as interesting and powerful as Unveiling. The morale is that with the scratching in Unveiling Mike has given his painting a completely new turn that has increased it's expressive strength and depth. The increased compositional balance makes Unveiling more pleasant and relaxing to watch than Do not be afraid. So do not be content with your art work too easily. If you see room for improvement, rework the painting.

You don't have to have Picasso's imagination to create an abstract art painting. How to paint abstract art is the topic and in a sense abstract art is the most forgiving style of all, because anything goes, as long as your abstract artwork can give you the feeling you have expressed yourself. So fetch your brush right now - and a sheet of paper. You can also use canvas, of course, which is more expensive.

If you use paper, then the kind of paper you need depends on the medium you use. For starters I recommend acrylic paint. It dries quickly so you can overpaint your creation many times during one session. Using oil paint can get messy because it won't dry at all during one session and the beginner will end up mixing all paint he/she has into a grey-brown abstract art blur.

You can buy paper that is primed for acrylics or prime a sheet of ordinary paper (not too thin, please) yourself with acrylic medium. In the latter case, just apply a thin layer of medium (don't dilute it) and let it dry, but I recommend the former.

For paint, get yourself the cheapest acrylic paint you can find because we're assuming you're only trying to amuse yourself at this point and with cheap paint you can splash it around freely and fun and freedom are king in abstract art.

One of the keywords in our approach to abstract art is spontaneity. This means letting your brush take control, unearthing visions from the depth of your nervous system like a shaman in trance. That is one side of abstract art. The other side of abstract art - and of any other kind of art - is using your intelligence to guide your animal instincts.

Now, intelligence is a very nasty word, evoking images of geeks, nerds and other professors, but let me tell you this: You possess intelligence. And you're going to use it to paint abstract art, or else you'll end up an abstract expressionist with loads of talent but with helpless paintings.
What we need is a plan.

What would you like to paint? Who would you like to be? Kandinski, Mondrian, Modigliani, Picasso, Klee, Chagall? To be a copy-cat is an excellent way to start painting, not just abstract art. Art historians attribute the success of French art to young students going to the Louvre, copying the old masters. This is legitimate as long as you know the difference between educational copying and forgery. Copying is too strong a word for our purposes, by the way, because we will try to stimulate your imagination, but with a plan - and a little help.

Suppose you like Chagall. Suppose you feel like painting a Russian peasant hovering over his barn like possessed by an alien. Fine, but that's too complicated. You would have to paint the peasant, the barn and paint it so that the picture makes some sense so that the viewer knows what he's looking at.

So it's better to be inspired by Picasso and simply paint a face. That sounds hard to do, but Picasso showed how to balance realism and abstraction in portraiture. So pick up your brush and paint something that looks like a face. Don't paint it "en face", that's not very interesting, but "en profile" or else something in between. You may also use a pencil to make a drawing, or charcoal, but only use charcoal on a surface that is large in size (like 50 by 60 cm), unless you can apply the charcoal very lightly. If you are too prolific with charcoal on a small sized surface you will create a terrific mess, from which your painting may not recover during the painting process.

Now that you have something that looks like a face, remember one thing: Your drawing is sacred. We're referring to the contours of your drawing in particular. Once you've finished the drawing and have started to paint, never change the contours of the drawing's main elements, in this case the head, the eyes, the nose, the mouth and the ears and hair-line, if you have drawn these. Within these contours you can go wild!!!!!!

You can also go about it in a different way, depending on how abstract you want your paintings to be. If you feel drawn to abstract expressionism, you may want to start painting without any plan and create as big a mess as possible, right away. That is, you paint random forms by instinct, without a preconceived plan. With this approach it's important to know when to stop and start thinking about what you've done. A beginner will have a tendency of painting layer over layer and merging down most of the painting's color. Try not to paint layer over layer in a random, uncontrolled way. When you have the feeling you can't go on without overpainting existing brush strokes, stop painting altogether. I can't overstate the importance of knowing when to stop painting and to continue later, when you have a clear head and contemplated what you have painted. Don't assume you can finish your paintings in one go, it takes discipline and judgement to know when to stop and wait for new insight and ideas.

So suppose you have made a start with making a painting that looks expressive. One possible way to elaborate on it is to take a small sized brush and try to accentuate the most relevant elements of your painting. You don't do this by thinking about it in a conscious sort of way, but try to imagine what it would feel like if you applied this brush stroke in that color to that location. If this sounds esoteric, it's because painting is about the most implicit form of intelligence: intuition. I can't expect you to understand everything I've said on this page, but I think you'll recognize many things as you get more experience. If I can make you think about your painting, instead of just messing about mindlessly (which for a beginner is the natural thing to do), then I think we have gained something.

In lesson 2 of How To Paint Abstract Art we'll talk about composition.

"Brain researchers estimate that your unconscious database outweighs the conscious on an order exceeding ten million to one. This database is the source of your hidden, natural genius. In other words, a part of you is much smarter than you are. The wise people regularly consult that smarter part."
-- Michael J. Gelb

Abstract art timeline:

~ ±1850 - 1907 : Philosophical debate puts into question the established values of classical art.

~ 1905 - 1915 : Pablo Picasso and Georges Braques create cubism and Henri Matisse's fauvism serves as a bridge between post-impressionism and expressionism. Before the advent of cubism, Picasso's 1907 painting Les Demoisselles d'Avignon already inspires many artists to abstractism (Kandinsky, Léger).

~ 1910 : First signs of pure abstract art: Kandinsky, Mondrian.

~ 1912 - 1925 : Piet Mondrian and Russian abstract artists, led by Kasimir Malevich's suprematism and Vladimir Tatlin's constructivism, complete the creation of pure abstract art. Modigliani sets benchmark for abstract portraitism.

~ 1925 - 1945 : Period characterised by geometric abstraction (De Stijl) and painterly automatism (Joan Miró).

~ 1945 - 1960 : Painterly automatism becomes more radical in abstract expressionism and art informel, while some artists combine automatism with geometric abstraction (Rothko).

~ 1960 - 1980 : Introduction of abstract art with design characteristics, as in Op Art, Pop Art and contemporary geometric abstraction.

~ 1980 - NOW : Postmodernism - artistic inability to innovate or lack of social acceptance of innovation?

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… Thank you to our Sponsors …

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September 2007 Monthly Newsletter

FEDERATION OF CANADIAN ARTISTS

South Okanagan-Similkameen Chapter

113 - 437 Martin Street, Box 154
Penticton, BC V2A 5L1

REMEMBER – WE HAVE A LIBRARY!!

New book on order:

Suzie Seerey-Lester has written a book titled ‘My Painting Is Done – Now What Do I Do?’, this is about how to manage the art business.

To take a book out on loan, call Kate Kimberley and arrange for pick up.

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Important Dates to Remember

Check your calendar today.

Oct 13 General meeting @ 10:00 executive meets @ 9am

Dona Smithson will look after coffee

- Sharon Amos of the Penticton Centennial Advisory Committee will be here at the October meeting to give a talk.

- Faigee Niebow will give a 1 hour presentation

Nov 3 General meeting @ 10:00 executive meets @ 9am

George Traicheff will do an egg tempera demo

Dec - No Meeting

Jan 5 2008 General meeting @ 10:00 executive meets @ 9am

Sandra Albo will give us a critique on our paintings in January 2008

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A WARM WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS :

*Please pick up a “New members information booklet” at the next meeting*

The following people have volunteered to be “Mentors” and will help new members navigate the world of the Federation of Canadian Artists

If you think you might like to have a mentor, please contact one of the following volunteers. They look forward to hearing from you.

Marlene Aikins ~ Laila Campbell

Kate Kimberley ~ George Traicheff

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Upcoming shows in Vancouver FCA gallery

Images from Western Canada
October 30 – November 11, 2007

* Entry deadline: Sept. 27, 2007
Paintings due: October 26, 2007
* Annual exhibition of works from FCA Chapters, Active & Signature Chapter members only.

Small, Smaller, Smallest
November 13 – December 2, 2007

* Entry deadline: October 4, 2007
Paintings due: November 9, 2007
* Images no larger than 165 square inches, any subject, any medium including original prints, Active & Signature members.

Spilsbury Medal Show
December 4 – 23, 2007

* AFCA Entry deadline: October 25, 2007
* Paintings due: Nov 30, 2007
* Annual Signature members prize competition, open to AFCA & SFCA members only. Any subject, any medium.

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2007/08 – Exhibitions in the valley. - EXHIBITION COMMITTEE

Get your Bio's ready for any show you enter please, SEND THEM TO Sharon Snow !

* "Latitude" Osoyoos Art Gallery* -Oct. 6 – 27

Signature and Active members - the show will be a qualifying (juried) show. (See FCA listing)

The FCA will have a Juried show in Osoyoos Gallery, Osoyoos. Oct. 6 - 27th/07 ~ Reception Oct. 6th. 2 -4:00 pm ~ Set up date Oct 4 at 11 am. The FCA fee is $10 per entry and we can enter up to 3 paintings each. $6.00 of each entry fee will be sent to the FCA office in Vancouver, and $4.00 will stay with our Chapter to help cover the costs of the show. George will also charge for taking the images. The Osoyoos Gallery charges 30% commission on all sales.

**Craft Fair at the Lakeside Hotel HAS BEEN CANCELLED**

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WORKSHOPS

Bonnie Robert’s Workshop – Full!

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BITS & PIECES

Thea Haubrich (Treasurer) wants a volunteer to help out with the writing of checks and receipts

Please email her if you can help - info@encaustic.ca

Eunice Purdy is 90, happy birthday Eunice.

News from our September minutes

· - Oliver – Don’t forget to submit art for the upcoming show, ‘Reflections’, held on September 29th and 30th. Forms are available on the table.

· - Osoyoos – Sandra Albo has an upcoming new show with Bonny Roberts, Myra Hammond and three other artists that opens on Sept 29th.

· - Penticton – There is an upcoming Penticton Arts Council Executive meeting at Leir House on September 13th at 7:00 pm where they will be discussing if they want to continue leasing Leir House from the city of Penticton. The Arts Council pays 35% of its revenue to the city of Penticton. This is in preparation for the Arts Council general meeting on October 18th. Thea said she would attend on our behalf.

The Van Gogh Challenge in Oliver – by Enid Baker

On Saturday, August the 18th, seven various artists approached Vincent’s "Cedars with Wheatfields" in seven various ways.

Thea Haubrich in encaustic; Marion Trimble in paper collage; Dianne Birnie in cloth appliqué and needle embellishment, then quilting; JoAnne Turner decorated a potato box (very apt considering Van Gogh’s concern for the poor farmers); Terry Irvine in wet felting, Kurt Hutterli made a metal puzzle and Enid Baker in fabric paint and quilting.

This event occurred at the Quail's Nest, Arts Council in Oliver. It was a very exciting day. Some had started beforehand so that all could be very near completion by three pm. Close to one hundred people dropped by to cheer us on and by three o'clock we were basically finished.
The finished pieces will be hung at the Oliver Arts Council annual art show on September 28, 29th. There is some talk of it hanging at Leir House.-Then the Louvre (sigh).

Paint! 15 artists had paintings juried into this show. Congratulations to all of them. Do stop by Mat & Mitre Gallery to have a look at the excellent work. There were 19 Juror's Choice Awards presented. The show will be moving to the Can Coffee Co. on Sept. 30th. The opening reception on Aug. 21st was very well attended. Mat & Mitre Gallery charges 30% commission on any sales.

Paint! is moving to Can Coffee on September 30th. We should all go for lunch at Can Coffee on Monday Oct 1st. Kate will arrange for those interested in attending.

‘Lang Vineyard's show' had 8 sales in the first three months. Three more sales since the second group set up at the beginning of August. Jack Deppisch, Barb Hofer & Velma Bateman all sold paintings in August. There are 19 artist's works hanging there.

The show runs through until the end of October and there is bound to be a lot of activity there during the Fall Wine Festival starting September 28th.

Tinhorn Creek Vineyards - 20 artists are exhibiting 60 paintings at TCV. We offer a warm welcome to the several supporting members who are exhibiting with us for the first time. Tinhorn Creek Vineyards is a beautiful setting and hopefully all members will get out to view this really good show before it finishes on Sept. 15th. TCV charges 10% commission on all sales.

There have been 7 paintings sold at Tinhorn and the artists who have sold them are - Sharon Leonard, Bev Inkster, Kate Kimberley, Dianne korsch, and Sharon Snow. Yeah!

Handworks Gallery in Oliver will be displaying paintings along with the other crafts they sell. The owner of Handworks has invited FCA members to participate. This will be on an individual basis and not through the FCA. A 45% commission will be charged on all sales. If you're interested, - contact Esther Brown at 498-6388.

Six artists agreed to put one painting each in Handworks Gallery. This will be for three months or longer. If someone else is interested in hanging a painting please contact Esther at Handworks.

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- PLEASE NOTE -
Public and private art galleries usually charge a minimum of 30% commission
on all sales. Private galleries are in the business of selling art & they
need the higher commissions for their livelihood. Many charge much higher
than 30%. Wineries usually only charge 10% - they don't have to depend on
the art sales for their business.

Gary Langrish and Irene Grey will have a show at Red Rooster in September- reception Sept 23rd from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

Thea Haubrich had her first show and sold three paintings.

Art Gallery of the South Okanagan
presents
Kitchen Stove Film Series ~ Fall 2007
Series Subscription: $30 AGSO Members & Students $34 Non-members

Subscriptions are available for sale September 4th at the AGSO, 199 Marina Way, 493-2928
and The Book Shop, 242 Main, 492-6661 All movies are shown at the Pen-Mar Cinema at 7 p.m.

Naramata Arts Studio 9th Annual Fine Art Exhibit and Sale

You are invited to the Opening Reception Thursday September 27th, 2007 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Located
in the St. Peter's Church on Robinson Road in Naramata, it is open for your viewing pleasure from Friday September 28th to Wednesday October 3rd, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. everyday except Sunday which begins
an hour later at noon.

If you don’t ask, you don’t get!

Dona and I recently attended the School District Administrators conference in Penticton on September 4th. The Keynote speaker was Roy Henry Vickers speaking about his life as an artist. At the beginning of the afternoon session we were introduced to him, and learned that he is a very softly spoken, spiritual, gentle man. I took the opportunity to ask him if he would like to attend an art show opening that same evening. The words were coming out of my mouth without any thought at all. Much to my surprise he said “Yes, he would love to”. His lecture was a very moving, personal, in-depth look into his life, his childhood and his climb to fame.

Dona and I picked him up at his hotel at 6:45 and we were joking that he probably wouldn’t be there, however, he was waiting outside the lobby and greeted us with a happy smile. We drove him to Mat & Mitre where our juried art show opening was about to happen. The only condition he made was that we would only stay half an hour. We introduced him to all present, and he took time to look at all the art work, then he addressed the audience.

We whisked him away and drove him to Munson Mountain, where we enjoyed the most beautiful red sunset I have ever seen, and Roy was very moved by the scenery. We then took him to see “Romp” the children sculpture on Okanagan Lake, as well as the large “Kokanee” sculpture. When we returned him to his hotel, he mentioned that in all the stop- overs in various cities, he has never had anyone show him around, and he was very appreciative of having a closer look at Penticton.

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The pictures above were taken at the Mat and Mitre opening August 21 2007. Roy Henry Vickers is a well-known artist from Hazelton, BC. His web site is www.royhenryvickers.com. The first picture, left to right, is Sharon Newton, Dona Smithson, and Roy Henry Vickers. The second Roy Henry Vickers and Dona Smithson.

In the interest of promoting two worthy goals, one being the promotion of "Beds &" and secondly to provide a credible venue to fill a void left by the unfortunate damage to the Lloyd Gallery on Main Street, we at "Beds &" are offering our considerable wall space as a gallery for local art, on a consignment basis.

We also have the space to allow willing participants personal showings of their works, complete with road signage and linked in with our regular advertising.

We all know someone with a piece of art that is worth something and everyone can become an agent for us simply by referral.
Please contact us at 492-2370 for more details, stop in, or feel free to forward this to someone who may benefit.
Here's to a successful last half of 2007 for all of us!

Julian Freeman
Beds &

2964 Skaha Lake Road
Penticton, BC V2A 6P1
Phone: (250) 492-2370 Fax: (250) 490-7288
www.bedsand.com

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A Note on Optial Mixtures in Oils

Curry’s newsletter:

OPTICAL MIXTURES
Written by Jay Jensen
jjensen@megagroup.ca

One of the joys of painting with oils is the ability to create optical mixtures. An optical mixture is achieved by layering a color on top of a different color, or by dabbing small swatches of different colors side by side. In either case, the colors that you have applied retain some of their identity and, at the same time, are blended together by the eye to form a new color. The effect is invariably more vibrant and luminous than if you were to try to make the same mixture on the palette, and, after all, isn’t capturing the luminosity of our world the real work of a painter?

Anyone who has experimented with paint knows that mixing red and blue on the palette will make purple, red and yellow orange, blue and yellow green. These are examples of physical mixtures; no doubt that every artist needs to develop this skill in order to progress as a painter. Problems arise when the artist desires to create more complex, nuanced colors, such as for shadow areas and flesh tones. Mixing these colors physically frequently results in dull, lifeless passages on the canvas. In other words, colors that lack that essential ingredient: luminosity.

An optical mixture allows the artist to create a complex color without losing luminosity. Optical mixtures glow, optical mixtures vibrate, and they add depth to your work. We stand in awe before the work of Rembrandt and Vermeer, to name just two glorious examples from the history of art, in part for their mastery of creating optical mixtures. I would argue that Mark Rothko, an abstract painter from the modern period, was no less preoccupied.

There are three basic methods of creating optical mixtures: juxtaposition, scumbling, and glazing. Below is a brief description of each technique. Any good book on oil painting technique will contain more detailed information. Of course, feel free to experiment. Be open and alive to the “accident” that gives life and energy to your work. Also note that all three techniques may be employed in one painting. All of these effects can be achieved using acrylics, too.

The last quarter of the 19th century saw the emergence of the alla prima technique as the method of choice for applying paint to canvas. It is still true today. From that period, the work of the Impressionists is an example of how subtle, luminous color can be achieved by the juxtaposition of tiny blobs of relatively pure color. From a distance, the eye cannot see the individual blobs and, instead, mixes them together in your brain. The paintings of Claude Monet, perhaps the quintessential Impressionist work, literally hum because every square inch of the canvas has been deftly modulated by the juxtaposition of myriad dabs of relatively pure color.

Scumbling is the technique of brushing a lighter, more opaque color over a darker, more transparent one. I find this technique particularly useful when I am painting a sky; it is a great way of recreating the way clouds partially dissolve and emerge from the sea of blue. Scumbling allows you to easily control the shape and the intensity of the cloud form. Of course, this is just one example from my personal experience as a landscape painter, but there many others for this versatile technique. Experimentation will surely open many new possibilities for different applications.

Scumbling can be done when the underlying coat of paint is dry or still tacky. The consistency of the paint you are scumbling with is best when it is fairly stiff. Round, flat or fan brushes may be used to apply the scumble.

Glazing is the technique of the Old Masters. Before the invention of acrylic paint, glazing was the technique that distinguished the oil painting medium from the other two major painting mediums in Europe: egg tempera and fresco. Glazing is less popular today because the technique requires that you paint in steps and, consequently, is more time consuming than alla prima. Personally, I like building my paintings up; it gives the work a greater sense of depth, a variety of surface, and, you guessed it, luminosity.

The technique of glazing is the opposite of scumbling: a transparent coat of extended pigment is brushed over a more opaque underpainting. It is an ideal method of creating luminous shadows; for the artist can exaggerate the value and the hue of the undercoat and then tone down and darken the shadow with a glaze or multiple glazes.

If you have ever shopped for oil paint, you have surely noticed that pigments are classified by their transparent or opaque qualities. The cadmium colors are naturally opaque and are therefore unsuitable for glazing, as are titanium white and cerulean blue. Colors such as ultramarine blue, Prussian blue, alizarin crimson, Payne’s Grey, and raw sienna are naturally transparent. Their transparency can be extended by adding a glazing medium – several recipes exist, as well as some ready-made products – so that you can control the value, hue and intensity of the glaze.

For those of you who are concerned with posterity, glazing is a technically sound technique because it respects the basic principal of oil painting of fat over lean. The underpainting, especially, when it is mixed with titanium white, or diluted with turpentine, is a lean base, which means it is relatively oiless and therefore more stable. Since transparent colors are naturally fatter, i.e., oilier, plus the fact that most recipes for glazing mediums contain linseed oil as an ingredient, the glaze is fatter than the base and consequently, more flexible. The layering of the two in this order allows the surface to resist cracking and flaking over time because the glaze can contract and expand over the more stable, leaner base.

As mentioned earlier, more than one recipe exists for making a glazing medium. Here is one which you can mix yourself and that dries relatively quickly: 1 oz. Gum turpentine, 1 oz. Dammar varnish, 1 oz. Stand oil, 15 drops cobalt drier. Of the ready-made products, Liquin is an alkyd gel that dries usually within a couple of hours, a possible compromise for the impatient alla prima painter!

Regardless of whether you work figuratively or as an abstractionist, learning to create optical mixtures is a way of taking your paintings to another level of technical and compositional sophistication. That’s not to say that the alla prima technique is inferior to glazing; most of the great paintings of the last century are all examples of alla prima. But alla prima is just one oil painting technique. Acquiring some mastery of these older techniques could add some dimension to your work, and that is always a worthwhile pursuit.

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