Highlights of March Meeting, 2019
The meeting began with the presentation of awards to the RISD High School student winners of the Young People's Show. (You can see photos of show pieces and Winners by Clicking Here)
Then, our demo artist, Jo Moncrief, gave us an introduction to fluid acrylic abstract painting. She began her demonstration by first making sure the area, table and artists were well-protected from spills and splatters since liquid acrylics can be messy. She explained that she uses inexpensive plastic bowls from Dollar Tree for paint, which can later be peeled out of the bowls to use and incorporate in other artwork if desired. She also uses condiment plastic bottles or sports bottles to hold paint and paint combinations which can be mixed in bowls, or poured directly from the bottles. She uses golf tees to plug these bottles and puts Vaseline on the tips so they don't get stuck from dried paint. She has found that the best mixture of paint is 3 fingers from a tube of paint, 2 fingers of pouring medium and 1 finger of distilled water. The paint needs to have body and not be too thin. Some describe the consistency as that of warm honey.
She sketches in charcoal lines to map out the rule of thirds for her basic composition, trying not to make the center of a painting the focus. To make texture, she'll use modeling paste on top of the gessoed canvas. She carves Styrofoam plates to use as ink pads on deli paper to make various textures that she often incorporates in her paintings, too.
When she pours onto a previously painted canvas, she'll often wet the surface to help the paint flow better. To help direct the pours, she'll tip the canvas, use tools like putty knives, brushes of all sizes, and sometimes sprays drier paint with alcohol to create interesting patterns.
She encourages experimenting as happy accidents often lead the paintings into undirected designs. She has used additions of people, dogs or cats to create a center of attention on an abstract if it needs it. She suggests stopping when the painting is 95% done, as more people overwork a painting than not.
During the break, the members voted for the Painting of the Month winners, who were announced at the end of the meeting.
1st Place, Betty Anderson for "Iris Duo", Watercolor 2nd Place, Lindy Ballew for "Big Horn", Watercolor 3rd Place, Ted Houston for "Meet Iris", Screen Print