Impressions Newsletter

March 2008

Whew its dusty here some days at present with the new street-scaping taking place a few doors away.  Welcome to our March newsletter, and be warned that when you visit us we may not be quite up with all the dusting needed, as the dry weather has been good for progress on the earthworks so far and at times, we see clouds of dust floating on the breeze outside the door. We are looking forward to the completion date at the end of June. We were pleased to hear confirmation that there will be some local art i.e. a water feature sculpture by Grant Palliser included in the site.

 Contractors working outside  our block of shops

It will be nice to have a fresh newly landscaped street at our door. But do remember that if you are planning to join us Wednesday evening (5th March) for our celebrations that if you can’t find a car park out front try the Petrie car park off McGlashen Avenue.

Celebration 5th March 5-8pm In-Store

We look forward to seeing you at our celebration on Wednesday evening. To enter the free draw, your entry form must be submitted by 6.30pm at the latest, and the winners must be in-store when the draws are made, or a re-draw will take place. It promises to be a great evening – a good way to round out the day with a complimentary glass of wine and nibbles, demonstrations to educate, a special announcement which I’m sure will be of interest to you, and free gifts to take away. It will also be a good night to bring your wallet with you as there will be special buys available from 7.05pm.

Art Workshops

From time-to-time, Impressions will be organising and sponsoring art workshops. The first of these are two workshops to be run on Thursday 6th March on the use of painting mediums. The tutor will be Gareth Evans, from Main Art in Auckland who will provide hands-on instruction, giving you an understanding of the intended use of each medium and when it should be used.

  

The fee for each workshop is $20.00 and places cannot be confirmed until payment is received. All materials will be supplied. Payment may be made by cheque (make payable to Impressions), or by cash, eftpos or credit card in-store.

 

Venue: The Meeting Room, Tasman Recreational Resource Centre (Richmond Town Hall), 8 Cambridge St, Richmond.

Places are selling quickly so we recommend prior registration to avoid disappointment, as places are strictly limited to 15 people per workshop.

 

New Products

We continue to extend the range of our supplies (although space is starting to run out!) in order to offer our artist clientele as complete a range as possible.This month we have added: -

 Drawing sets i.e. compass sets for those wanting the tools to add perfectly symmetrical circles etc to their drawings.

Linen Canvas – Linen is the finest canvas. Made from flax, the fibres are longer and tougher than that made from cotton. Linen canvas is available in a range of qualities, and can be ordered by the yard, if we do not have the particular canvas you require in stock. There is a folder of canvas swatches in the canvas bay in-store for you to make your selection. Orders generally take about 1-1½ weeks to fill (the materials come from Auckland. The linen canvas we have selected to stock is a more modest price than some of the range. Take a look next time you are in if you think you would like to try using linen.

Be sure to catch the canvas stretching demonstration during our celebration evening. Lewis, La Verne, Charlotte and Nathan will be on hand to answer your questions about how to stretch your own canvas. Many people purchasing artwork these days prefer the un-framed stretched canvas look.Instructional DVD’s

We intend to gradually introduce a range of instructional DVD’s to our stock. This month we have started out with four titles dealing with watercolours:-

·         “Watercolour Simplified”

·         “Celebrating the Seasons in Watercolour”

·         “Incredible Light & Texture in Watercolour”

·         “Improve your Sketching in Watercolour”

Priced at $69.50, they represent great value – it’s like taking your art tutor home with you and being able to endlessly replay any segments dealing with techniques which you need particular help with.

Staedtler Calligraph Duo Pens

Double ended calligraphy pens, with lightfast, pigmented ink. $5.70 each.

Art Tuition

As classes get underway for the year, if you are looking to find a teacher to suit your needs, remembers to log on to our website, http://www.impressionsnelson.co.nz/directory.htm for the up-to-date information of classes that are available. It seems that the classes at Waimea College filled very quickly, with only a few places left at the start of the term. It is good to see Waimea College extending the range and number of art classes available.

Hint

Use the best materials you can afford. This really is a truism to take to heart. Sure, an expert artist may have the skills to cope with less-than-adequate materials, but even then, the limitations of lesser products can take some of the joy out of painting.

Your brush is possibly the most important tool you have in your paint-box. Poor quality brushes will quickly lose their spring and “snap” causing them to lose shape and get straggly. It is very difficult to paint with a skewed brush – a bit like a carpenter trying to hit home a nail straight with a crooked hammer! A good quality synthetic brush is better than a low-grade natural hair. Look for brushes which have a firm ferrule, a well-shaped head and which retain that head shape when the brush is wet. (At Impressions, we have a testing area where you are welcomed to wet the brush with clean water and see how it responds when you “paint” the water onto paper or canvas.) We recommend testing any brush that is new to you to see how good it is in taking up water, retaining the desirable painting shape and how the brush head snaps back to position when rinsed.

Low grade paints are filled with bulking agents to literally fill up the tube. There may be up to five pigments used to create the colour in the tube – which makes life really difficult when you are learning to mix colours. Often, even art tutors experience great difficulty in mixing colours with “play-quality” paints because of the uncertainty about what the tube contains. The fillers also reduce the paints’ ability to be spread smoothly across the support. If budget is the top priority, our recommendation is to start out with art school quality paints (TRUE student grade) and gradually build your selection of colours. We feel it is better to start with a limited palette of student or artist grade than a big number of play-grade colours.  To prevent your paints from hardening in the tube, always squeeze the tube from the bottom and firmly close the cap to exclude all air.

 

Rowney Georgian Oils are True Student-Grade Oil Paints

The same rings true for your support – whether it be paper or canvas. Go for a medium quality paper or a lighter-weight artist-grade. This way, you will see your watercolours granulating as they should. Low grade paper may result in the paints “pooling” on the surface. Economy-grade canvas can be upgraded by the application of a coat of gesso (albeit that the canvas label says it is already primed.) When an inadequate coat of gesso or other primer has been applied, oil paints may bleed into the canvas itself. With the economy-grade canvas, be aware that it is priced this way because light-weight, flimsy stretcher bars are used, and the canvas is machine stretched sometimes resulting in warped and dented canvas or stretcher frame.

 In the end, you get what you pay for. But if you want success and enjoyment from your painting, you need to set optimum conditions for this to happen. Our staff members are very happy to help you make the best choices for your situation. Do ask for advice so that you get the best-possible materials that you can afford.

 

Thank you for once more taking time to read our newsletter. Next month I will update you on the content of our special announcement to be made on Wednesday night, for those who don’t make it to our celebration.

Best wishes for a wonderful March – my favourite time of the year!

Glenys and the Team