Impressions Newsletter
November 2009
Hello everyone,
I trust you have had a productive and enjoyable month. I had the pleasure of presenting two of the three prizes sponsored by Impressions for the Isel Art Competition at Isel in Bloom celebrations on Sunday 11th October as well as a prize of drawing materials to the winner of a logo competition for Eastern European Orthodox Church (Nelson) on Friday 30th. Although the number of entries was low for the Isel House exhibition, the works presented were deserving of praise. But as with any competition, there can only be a few winners. On this occasion the 4-10 years section was won by Eugenia Hage. In the adult section, second prize went to Liz McCauley and first prize to Lesley Haddon. The voting for the People’s Choice selection was due to close on 31 October. Each artist chose a different approach to the subject matter and my congratulations go to each entrant for tackling quite a demanding subject.
On Wednesday 28th, Lloyd Harwood informed and entertained Impressions Art Club members with a demonstration of how to use oilsticks. And one lucky lady went home with a set of student grade Markal Paintsticks to try. If you would like some basic information on how to use paintsticks, go to our website www.impressionsnelson.co.nz and click on “Help Sheets”, where you will find some notes on Painting with Oil Paintsticks which you can download.
Impressions Art Club - Members’ Special
Art Books and DVD’s – Save 15% throughout November
We now have about 50 titles on the shelf of books which give instruction on how to paint and draw. These books are a great reference source for anyone wanting to teach themselves how to create artworks, dealing with issues such as what materials to use, how products work through to how to paint water, anatomy etc.These books would make a great Christmas present for you or a friend as it is a gift that keeps on giving.
One title of particular note has been written and published by local artist and tutor, David Jowett. His booklet “Drawing, Vision and Perspective” is a particularly useful source book for anyone who struggles to get the correct perspective in their drawings. Normally just $10.00, for Art Club Members during November the price will be just $8.50. As you will appreciate, perspective is critical to realistic artwork – so if you struggle with this, I’m sure the answers you need are in David’s book.
While you are checking out the book titles, take a few minutes to catch up with the current art magazine titles on the shelf. There is no reduction on art magazines, however. Again these are a great resource as well as a great read. Whether your taste is for painting in watercolour, creating installation art, sci-fi images, or just want to know what’s going on in the international art scene, these magazines will give you the answers.
Hint of the Month
Gilding Paintings
Some artists like to incorporate the warm dazzling glow and shimmer that a layer of metal imparts to their paintings. The art of gilding has been used for many thousands of years to decorate and beautify both buildings and artwork alike. Ancient methods of gilding involved applying a basecoat and then a thick tacky varnish over that. The leaf was pressed into the varnish and then burnished. This method of applying metal leaf has remained pretty much the same for thousands of years, and although the process may seem mysterious, it’s really very simple.
Prepare by base-coating the area of your support to be gilded – choose a colour that complements your subject matter, if you want the colour to show through the cracks and crevices between the metal sheets.
Gustav Klimt incorporated gold leaf into a number of his paintings
Brush on gold-leaf size – this milky-coloured liquid adhesive dries clear with a tack so the sheets of metal will stick. Let the size dry to this tacky state for an hour.Apply the metal sheets with clean hands by using your fingertips to slip the metal sheets directly from the pack/booklet onto a large postcard, and then gently slide the sheets onto the painting. It will only stick where size has been applied. Overlap the sheets at the edges if you want a solid gold surface. Go over the leaf with a soft brush to remove any excess leaf. If any leaf tears away, it indicates that those adhesive areas may not have had enough tack. Just wait for the adhesive to dry then apply more adhesive to fill the spaces, or just let the base colour remain exposed.
True gold leaf will not tarnish. However, composite metal leaf will, and so it needs to be sealed with a varnish.
(Information sourced from The Artists Magazine, December 2007)
Impressions Art Awards
Thank you to all those artists who took the time to respond to our survey regarding the Art Awards. I felt it was time we sought the ideas and opinions of a wider sampling of artists as to what they seek in an art competition. Clearly we cannot meet everyone’s ideals, but we do seek to satisfy as wide a cross-section as possible.
Items New Into Stock
Stabilo Chinagraph aquarelle pencils - $3.80 each. These pencils have been recommended to me by one of our local art tutors as they are both useful tools for drawing used both dry and wet. You’ll find them with our other chinagraph pencils.
Japanese Wood Carving Tools – Set of 3 $16.15 and Set of 5 $33.75.
Flint Oil-based printing inks - $12.10 each
Masking tapes – we now carry these in 12, 24, 36 and 48mm.
Blank Cards – these have a window to take your own special miniature artwork to send with Christmas or birthday greetings etc, or to give with a gift. These can be purchased singly (0.80c gift card & $1.40 greeting card) or in a pack of 10.
Rowney Aquafine Watercolour Half pans
Rowney Georgian individual watercolour half pans – a range of the most commonly requested colours has been added to stock. Half pans are especially great for painting plein air as they take little space, and are very economical ($3.45 each pan).
Exhibitions
“Rebus” – NMIT Art & Design Graduate Exhibition at the Suter Art Gallery, 208 Bridge St, Nelson from 14 November – 6 December.
During November, Charlotte Lipp will be displaying a collection of small paintings at Lustre Gallery, 36 Collingwood St, Nelson.
The partners at Art @ 203 invite supporters to their Special Christmas Exhibition opening on Monday 30 November from about 5.30 to 6.30pm approximately. Contact the Gallery for more details closer to the date. Meanwhile, Jane Sussmilch has joined the Art @ 203 partnership and celebrates with her “Revived” exhibition which continues through the first week of November.
“Fishing Kaiteri” - Soo-Yir Lammers & Nicolette Louverdis exhibit at The Beached Whale, Kaiteriteri from 7 November – 21 November.
“The Farthest Promised Land”, an exhibition of selected artworks by Rose Shepard at Taylors – We Love Shoes, 245 Trafalgar St, Nelson.
The gallery and tasting room at Kaimira Estate, 97 Livingston Road, Brightwater are opening once again and will host an exhibition “Enigma” by mixed media artist Larisse Hall from Nelson, and glass artists Lynn Price from Mapua. The winery is open 11am – 5pm Monday – Saturday. The exhibition runs from October 24th to 27th November.
Stoke Social Seniors Art Group will hold a one day exhibition at the Stoke Memorial Hall on Monday 7 December from 10am – 2pm.
To see the work of our artists of the future, call in to Broadgreen School Hall in Nayland Road, Stoke between 16 and 19 November where approximately 1000 student artworks will be displayed.Thought for the Month
“Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.” (Baltasar Gracian)
This quote reminds me of a story outlined to me in-store recently by a customer who had just finished reading a book, which rang true to him about the nature of talent and practise. The gist of the message was that when you have the passion to pursue any interest with repeated practise, you develop skill (often mistaken for in-born talent). Without practise, no-one develops the skill to a high level.
Closing Thought
As we head into summer (please let us have a real summer!) we look forward to longer daylight hours, Christmas rush and holidays (for many). If we can be of service in any way, please just ask.
Best wishes for a great month,
Glenys and the Team