Classes Are Getting Close

I just want to remind everyone that Jan 4th is the cut off day for under enrolled classes at Torrance, this is especially true for the watercolor class because we are short by 4 people and I'm sure that they will not let the class go with so few people enrolled. If you want your classes to go you must sign up this week, ask a friend to sign up with you, it makes it more fun when you can share.

Don't for get that I will be teaching watercolor up at the PV Art Center and I believe that they will keep registration open until the first day (wish Torrance would take heed), so it my Monday watercolor class is closed at Torrance, I will be teaching at PVAC all day on Tues. Classes there a 3 hours long and run for 10 weeks so they do cost a bit more but you do get more. Call for information at: 310-541-2479 the class I will be teaching is currently listed as Cathy Cangro's watercolor classes.

Hope to see you all in the New Year. Have a Happy and Creative New Year!

Registration Update

Happy Holidays Everyone.

Just wanted to let you know that there is good news and bad on the registration front at Torrance. Good news is that I have enough people in the acrylic class signed up already that we shouldn't have any problems with the class going the whole semester. Watercolor is a different story.

Right now there are only 5 people signed up and we need at least 4 more to make our minimum for the class, we are also on the deadline of Jan 4th for the cutoff when they start closing classes so please, if you were planning to take the watercolor class, sign up ASAP so our class doesn't close. They are becoming very hard nosed about under enrolled classes and are giving us very little wiggle room.

So grab a friend and give each other the gift of art classes.

Thanks to all of you and have a great Holiday and a Happy New Year! See ya soon.

Brief Update

Hi Everyone.

Just wanted to let you know that I am now the President of the Torrance Artist's Guild.

The Guild has been around for a long time and is a great place for artists in the South Bay to gather, talk to other artists, learn about all things art and enter friendly competitions. Yet, in spite of all the benifits the Guild brings to it's members, when the President was asking for someone to step forward to take over her job, no one would.

I wasn't sure that I would be good choice for the group because my participation is minimal at best - I usually go to the holiday potluck - but by the last meeting when they were suppose to vote on the new board and no one had stepped up, there was just no way I was going to let the group disband for lack of a leader. So at least for the next year or so, the Guild is safe.

I would like to encourage all of you to come to meetings, you don't have to join unless you want to but you get to see what other artists in the community are doing, there is usually a good demo on a wide variety of media and you can see how different artist handle their chosen medium that might be different from what you've seen before.

Meetings are on the second Tues of the month at the Ken Miller Rec Center right behind the Plunge in Torrance at Torrance blvd and madrona Ave. The general meeting usually starts around 7 pm-ish, take in is at 6:30 and there is a short business meeting before the demo. Members will bring their art and the demonstrator will judge for 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th and HM but there is a people's choice everyone gets to vote on both members and non-members.

Remember to get signed up for classes ASAP and keep your cameras handy for any great pictures you see before class. Have a great holiday no matter what you celebrate. See you soon.

Register Now

Hi Everyone,

I just want to encourage you to get enrolled now before it gets too late. You might put your art classes on your gift list or give the gift of an art class to a friend or loved then you can take a class together.

I just don't want you to wait too long then have the class you wanted to take close before you get a chance to sign up, remember they will close classes a week before the semester starts so don't be late.

Thanks to those of you who have already signed up especially in the acrylic class, we only need a couple more in that class but watercolor needs to get going.

Stay warm while you paint. See you soon. - LP

Torrance: http://www.tprd.torrnet.com/sdi/RegistrationMain.sdi

PVAC: 310-541-2479

Registration Now Open

I hope that everyone had a great full-filling Thanksgiving, I know I ate too much!

I just want to remind everyone that registration is open for residents of Torrance now and will be open for non-residents next Tues (Dec 8th) for more info you can go to: www.TorranceCA.gov.com and go to classes. If you have a registration number you can register on line. Or you can phone the office at 310-618-2720 have your credit card handy. The numbers for my classes are: Acrylic 3126.101 Watercolor 3127.101 These numbers can be found on page 13 of the "Season's" catalog. Be sure that the person you are talking to has the right class, there has been a problem with them adding people to closed classes or telling potential students that my class has closed when it hasn't, this will be especially true the week before classes start.

Also remember that they close under enrolled classes the week before classes start so if you are thinking of taking any classes over there or if you know someone who is thinking of taking classes, be sure to register ASAP so your classes don't get closed for lack of enrollment.

If Mondays aren't good for you I want to remind everyone that I will be teaching watercolor on Tuesdays all day up at the PV Art Center starting in January. I will be taking over Cathy Cangro's class which she will start and I will step in. You do not have to be a PVAC member to take a class there but if you are you do get a member's discount. They are taking registration now by phone 310-541-2479 or FAX 310-541-9520 with credit card or you can mail or walk in to the lobby to sign up. The address is PVAC 5504 W. Crestridge Rd. Rancho Palos Verdes Ca 90275. If you have never been there and want to sign-up in person, it is almost at the top of Crenshaw Blvd at the last signal, make a right then an immediate left into the parking lot. I past it several times because it is kinda hard to see.

I also wanted to let you know that if you have a Facebook account, I have started a group called - what else - ArtbyLerri. It is to show the projects I am working on and to discuss art topics. Right now I am just posting my own work but if there is enough interest, I can start an albumn for everyone to post to maybe to get some feed back. Anyway, I'd love to have some fans that weren't family.

Have a great holiday and happy New Year, I hope I will see all of you in one of my classes.

TV Art Programs

TV Art Programs

Hi everyone.

I just wanted to let you know that, at least for now, KOCE ch. 50 out of Orange County is running art programming Monday thru Thursday at noon.

Though the artists that are currently being featured are oil and acrylic painters (Bob Ross, Jerry Yarnell and Wyland), there is still much to learn from watching them from design, subject matter and color mixing to name a few. If they keep the art programming going, they could also have watercolorists on as well. I just don't know how long this lapse in fund raising 24/7 will last but you need to take advantage of it while we are off.

I did send out a msg to my acrylic painters earlier and I hope they take advantage of it, however, exposing yourself to other artists and media is good no matter what you use. Two artist I think really help those who are just learning are Jerry Yarnell, acrylics, and Terry Madden, watercolor, though Terry isn't on right now, just keep an eye out for him. Sue Schwee is also another one to watch for she works in watercolor and acrylics and she has some good ideas for beginners, her style is more to the arts and crafts side, but I have learned a lot from watching her over the years.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they don't go back to their tired old "send us money" programming, maybe if they can keep the shows I watch on I will send them something again. Keep painting and enjoy your time off.

Fall 09 classes

To all my students: Monday will be our last class for the semester, I encourage you to bring in something for critique because it is a good way to learn what you are doing right and what you could improve on. Bring something you really like or bring in your "problem child" you will be amazed how supportive the class is and what you can learn.

Acrylic Sky Demo

Many of my acrylic students still feel the need to do a detailed drawing before they ever start a picture, there is nothing wrong with a detailed drawing per se, but it is like trying to work shackled for most people because they are so afraid to loose their drawing that it ends up looking like paint by number and not at all like what they see in their mind. The drawing should just be there as a guide, a reason we use the vine charcoal or chalk to sketch in our design, it should not be chiseled in stone, as it were, because the drawing is not the important part, the finished painting is what should be important. If you are constantly worrying about the drawing, the painting can suffer.

I did a demo on skies using some existing rocks I had on my canvas from a previous demo. In the first example, I painted around what I had on the canvas. While not bad, it had a more impressionistic feel to it, if impressionism is what you want, then by all means, go for it, however, it has been my experience teaching that for beginners or people who are struggling, they want to do things that are more realistic yet are so afraid to start a painting without a detailed drawing and following it to the "T" they get impressionism whether they want it or not or worse, the drawing tends to make them want to finish sections as they go and there is an inconsistency in their painting from start to finish: some areas are over worked and some are under worked the result is not pleasing.

In the second demo I did, I ignored the rocks that were there and just painted my sky right over them, my only concern was the sky. I used my soft 2" blending brush starting with some gesso where my sky would be then adding color into the gesso and blending it with big "X" strokes. You can get some really nice skies using this technique but it does take practice because it requires a very light touch. Once I had my sky in, I went back and repainted the rocks and twigs, this sky looks like it is behind the rocks as it should be.

As I always tell you: There is no one right way to do anything, the right way is what is right for you but if you are unsatisfied with your painting, you need to try other methods until you do find something that pleases you.

Watercolor Distance Demo

Acrylic students, don't stop reading because much of what I am going to say about distance applies to all media not just watercolor.

I asked the class if there was anything that they would like to see a demo on, when one person said "How do you get distance in a painting?" there was a murmur of agreement. I will have to agree that one of the common problems I see with my students in both classes is when they are doing landscapes in particular, but with most of their painting in general, is being able to create the illusion of distance in their painting. I say "illusion" because we are really trying to trick the viewers mind that there is great depth in our painting even though it is on a 2 dimensional surface.

You often hear me refer to Betty Edward's book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain", if you haven't read it I strongly suggest that you get it and read it. While I'd hope that you would follow the exercises as you read it, just reading the book will give you a good insight into how your brain works. She bases her ideas on studies done with people who have had brain injuries or surgeries where each hemisphere is working separately from the other. For most of us, we live in our left brains most of the time otherwise we would never get anything done, the right side is sort of a background program so we can move thru space or recognize a friend. The short version is the left brain has its own "short hand" for the things it encounters in day to day living, this allows it to recognize things name it and move on, the problem for artists is this short hand lacks detail, for example, grass is green so therefore all grass is green and let's move on. While this might be okay when you are driving down the street, it you want to paint that street, well that's a different story, because the grass isn't always green, the right side sees the nuance, the detail, the beauty. Unfortunately, for most beginners, the left side has control of the brush so paint the grass green and be done with it!

When you have quiet time, and I'm talking time to just sit and let your mind wander (this is a right brain activity), look out into the distance. What do you see? Don't actually try to name it that is left brain, but think about the color and where you would find it on your palette. If you were looking out towards Catalina for instance, you would probably note that it is a soft bluish or grey color, it may even be a warm reddish color depending on the time of day. You will see little, if any, detail, it will mostly be a light colored shape. When you go to paint this scene, try to bring that image to mind because your left brain knows that it is brown dirt with green plants and grasses that would look just the same as the stuff right next to you.

Keep this phrase running thru you brain when you are painting: Things in the distance are lighter, greyer, lack detail and appear smaller and closer together (think phone poles or fence lines going off in the distance). If everything in your painting is the same color and the same value (light or dark), you painting will appear flat. Start off in soft bluish/grey tones and add color as you move into the mid-ground. Just suggest distant objects and save the detail and saturated colors for the foreground.

In the demo, I started off with a light blue/purple wash to do my first line of mountains. The next ridge of mountains I added more color but it was still in blues and purples but it is still very light. The third ridge I added green to get a soft grey green color and used the edge of my brush to suggest tops of distant trees, still pretty light. The forth ridge, I added more green and detail and is a couple shades darker than the previous layer but still on the grey side. For the final layer, I used green with blue in a more concentrated form and created several closer trees. They are much darker and detailed then the previous layer, however, if I wanted to, I could still add things to the foreground that are closer yet. This works in all media because it is the illusion we are going for not the type of paint we are using.

We will be off for a couple of months so I hope that everyone keeps on painting and looking for that next project, remember I will just be doing specific demos from now on, not a class project so you need to start now finding something you want to paint. I also want to remind everyone to register for class as soon as you can. DO NOT WAIT until the last minute because they will close classes a week before classes actually start. Registration for Torrance residents starts Dec 1st, non residents on Dec 8th. Classes start week of Jan 10th. Bring your friends.