Highlights of May Meeting, 2019
 |
The meeting opened with announcements regarding the pick-up date for the Regional Show and the upcoming Call for Entries for the Summer Show. Then a Kay Hoag presented a slide show of her recent visit to China. The City of Richardson's sister city, the City of Pengzhou, China invited two artists from Richardson to attend their arts festival in late |
April to create artwork depicting things in Pengzhou for permanent display. The 5-day visit took place in conjunction with the Pengzhou Peony Festival in April. The visiting artists agreed to finish 2 works of art that include elements of Pengzhou to be incorporated into the city's parks and recreational areas. RCAS Member, Kay Hoag, was one of the artists invited to participate in this event. Here a just a few of the photos she shared with us.
This month's demo artist was Ron Stephens demonstrating his abstract acrylic art technique. He explained that most of his work is intuitive. He makes numerous smaller color studies with various materials' and works in a square format that gives him the most flexibility for his designs. The square format allows him to do a turn test to see which view of his finished painting looks best.
In his designs, he includes 3 sizes and 3 shapes, connecting them with passages of color, line and contrast. He may study his sketches for a day or 2 before proceeding. He notes that every painting needs a center of interest and he believes in thinking things through before beginning.
He begins by placing initial pencil marks as a roadmap for the rest of the painting. Then he adds paint, beginning with black or dark values for structure, then greys, then color, repeating the same colors in different areas of the painting.
Lately he uses inexpensive "chip" brushes from a hardware store for painting with gesso and acrylic paints, which are damaging to brushes. Chip brushes are cheap, can be bought in bulk, and can just be thrown away when wrecked.
He doesn't use mediums to thin his paint. He only uses water. When mixing colors, he sometimes encounters "happy accidents" of unexpected hues. He adds texture, not only in the initial thick application of gesso, but also by lifting and using cardboard, screens, and bubble wrap as stamps. At some point, he likes to add calligraphy with water soluble graphite or colored pencils or water-soluble crayons.
And he sometimes finger paints - enjoying getting his hands into the paint. Near completion he takes time to step back and look at the painting to decide what else it needs . It is important be aware of not putting too much into a single area. Finally, he turns the painting in various directions to determine where the anchor point is in the painting and which view is the most pleasing to the eye.
At some point, he likes to add calligraphy with water soluble graphite or colored pencils or water-soluble crayons. And he sometimes finger paints - enjoying getting his hands into the paint. Near completion he takes time to step back and look at the painting to decide what else it needs
It is important be aware of not putting too much into a single area. Finally, he turns the painting in various directions to determine where the anchor point is in the painting and which view is the most pleasing to the eye.
During the break, the members voted for the Painting of the Month winners, who were announced at the end of the meeting.
