 My grandsons Tristin (on the right) and Casey.
I'll be leaving our beautiful Island home for 10 days. It's my first trip off island since arriving here last July. I'm calling my trip a mini vacation. I'm sure I'll need another vacation once I get back. I'm packing a lot of "first"s in this 10 day trip. " First" stop Reno to visit with my oldest son, Joshua and his family. We are planning a day visit to my mom and dad's on Sunday. We'll check out mom's new art school, my "first" time seeing it, take lots of pictures and do a lot of catching up. Monday I'll be flying out of Reno with my youngest daughter Monique and her family, heading to Florida (my "first" time there) to my second oldest child's, Michel's wedding. I'll be meeting her soon to be husband and his two beautiful teenage daughters for the "first" time. Michel has scheduled a pedicure for me, another "first", a hair cut and who knows what else. It's going to be a packed week of getting ready for the wedding, taking pictures, shopping, playing at the beach, shopping, playing with my grandsons and more shopping. I might get in a little Gallery exploring while there too.
Aloha for now.
Letters like these make me homesick for my students. Each one holds a special place in my heart.
January 2013 has started out on a very positive foot. On New Years Day Charlie and I went to the Kula Botanical Gardens and spent the day photographing the amazing tropical flowers and trees. I now have a large library of images for future paintings for both my self and students.
Speaking of Students, Art E Studio in Lahaina had it's first students on the 14th. One student took a four hour class in the morning and two students in the afternoon.
On January 15th I was voted in as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Lahaina Arts Association. Here is a link for you to see what this non-profit organization is all about http://lahaina-arts.org/ I am thrilled to be a member of this fine organization and am looking forward to learning and helping as much as I can.
Then on the 16th I got a surprise phone call from a book author wanting to use one of my paintings for the cover of his book. After a few days of research and the help of a few artists on Fine Art America, Charlie and I came up with a proposal and I'm happy to say He excepted. I'll keep you up to date on when the book will be published.
Well that's it for now. I wish you all a pleasant Aloha Monday.
Hello 2013! What a welcome surprise you are considering the World was suppose to end on 12/21/12. But I for one, am happy it didn't. I have way to much living to do before I journey on to the next phase of existence ( what ever that might be).
2012 was a fantastic year. Starting with the birth of grand child number 6, born on January 3. Baby Clair weighed in at 5lbs 14oz. She turned a year old yesterday and I just mailed off her present this morning. Yep a little late, good thing she is a baby and wont mind......this year.
The first half of 2012 was very busy for Art E Studio with 12 classes and over 40 students a week. Needless to say my plate was defiantly full. Besides teaching I was also preparing to close Art E Studio in Chico for the move to Maui. The second half of the year was busy with the move and setting up the new studio/classroom here in Lahaina. I'm looking forward to all the unknowns headed my way in 2013 and I want wish all of you a very prosperous New Year.
How did Lahaina Maui become the third largest art market in the world? That is a question we have been asking gallery owners and artist since we moved here. The answer we get most often is "because the artists moved here". Well duh, now why didn't I think of that? For 28 years I had this dream, passion, drive and obsession to move to Hawaii. My goal was to open an art school where kids and adults could come and enjoy creating the beauty of these magical islands. The more I read about the art world here, the more driven I became.
Every week I have the opportunity to meet at least one of those "artists who moved here". Some are just staring out. Others have created a huge name for themselves and are quite sucsessful. All of them, so far, are not only talented but are happy enjoyable people to be around.
It's easy to see why this small island attracts so many creative people. The perfect weather, the beautiful ocean and amazing mountains are so inspiring. Not to mention the "Aloha" spirit that everyone seams to possess.
Front Street in Lahaina is home to some "world class" galleries, offering the works of some of the greatest artists in history. Such as Picasso, Chagall and Warhol, just to mention a few.There are some very famous actors who's artworks you may or may not know of, such as Anthony Quinn and Anthony Hopkins, as well. There is even a Gallery, Kingwell Island Art, who's owner Jim Kingwell and I have a passed connection. Jim once tried to get his work into my moms gallery in Kings Beach, Lake Tahoe and he joked that we might have dated, not. "Maui Hands Gallery" is home to over 300 local Maui artists. They have three location on Maui. "Lahaina Arts Society" makes their home in the Old Lahaina Courthouse, under the the historic banyan tree. And last, but not least, is Village Galleries, the longest running gallery in Maui, opened since 1970. Lynn Shue, the gallery's owner, has a warm sunny personality making everyone feel welcome as soon as they walk through her doors. Lyn has mentored many local artists through the years. Helping them to launch their careers. I feel very fortunate to be an artist in two of her Galleries.
Well that's it for today. It's time to paint. Thank you for reading my blog. And remember, you are more them welcome to comment. I'd love to hear from you.
Last week I covered the first two items on "10 Things For Students To Know", today I'm going to talk about the next three.
Number 3 on the list, "Buy quality materials", is one I can't stress enough. I talked about it some in my blog post titled "Where Do Your Paints Come From". Buying quality art materials will help you achieve better results. It’s tough enough to get a good result when you are learning to paint without giving yourself a further handicap by using inferior paints, brushes and supports. Often times new students are given art kits as gifts from well meaning grandparents or parents. These kits contain paints, brushes, supports and instructions and can cost anywhere from $15 up to $100s. Needless to say the lower priced kits (in the $15 to $30 range) often contain inferior products and are not worth the money spent on them. Inferior brands to watch out for are Reeves, Basics and Winton. The higher priced kits by Grumbacher, Winsor & Newton, Liquitex and Golden are by far the better deals even though they cost more. Buying cheap is often a false economy and is likely to set you up for frustration and disappointment. For more info on supplies check out my supply lists for oil painting and or acrylic painting.
Number 4, Do workshops or take classes with different teachers. There is no right or wrong way to paint, there are only results. With such a multitude of techniques and different ways of working no one person can show you or teach you all that’s possible. Every workshop or art class is worthwhile practice and who knows what you might learn that will be useful. You may find not all instructors or teachers are to your liking. There could be a personality conflict or the level of instruction is at a higher level then you are ready for. Either way, you will still learn something even if it isn't what you expected.
Number 5, You have an artistic license. Use it. An artistic license means you do not have to limit your options to what is before you or to what is ‘real.’ Use reference material, remember your painting is your creation. You can change the color, change the tone, emphasize, minimize, simplify, change the position of, add in or leave out any element of your painting to make it a better picture. Experimenting is a huge part of the creative process. Be open minded to all the ideas that pop into your head. If a creative idea is not working for some reason or another, put it aside for awhile and move on to something else. Maybe it will come around later or maybe it won't. The more you work at being creative, the more creative ideas will come to mind.
To finish up this post, I want to leave you with these two quotes.
"I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else."
~Pablo Picasso
"Just as our eyes need light in order to see, our minds need ideas in order to create."
~Nicole Malebranche
On this website I have a page title "10 Things For Students To Know". Today I'm going to expand on the first two. The first being "Learn to paint by painting". Nothing teaches like experience. You can learn about painting by listening to others, reading books and magazines, and by watching teaching dvds and videos or taking classes and workshops but it is only in the act of painting that you learn to paint. As you struggle to achieve the desired out come for each painting your skill and knowledge well grow. Not all of your paintings well turn out as planed or be masterpieces. But I guaranty you will gain a better understanding of mixing colors, values, perspective, technique and your own style. Never be afraid to try something new. The more you push yourself and the more risks you take, the better you will become. So paint...and then paint some more.
2. Give yourself permission to succeed and give yourself permission to fail, experiment, enjoy the process of painting as much as the end result. Give yourself a ‘good’ talking to. Don’t be one of those people who say they want to learn to paint and then continually tell themselves they can’t, or berate themselves because they’re not painting masterpieces immediately. It takes years to paint masterpieces. You will be lucky if 1 out of 6 paintings turns out just the way you planned. Do not compare your work with others. You are unique, your paintings will reflect that uniqueness. Each painting you complete will be good. For every one you do will increase your level of understanding. Allow yourself to grow and you will succeed.
In the beginning our ancestors used the natural environment around them to create pigments to use in their dyes. They'd crush colored rocks to a fine powder and add it to animal fat. They were able to produce a nice range of color.
The Old Masters would go to the markets to find rich colored gems and rocks, crush them to a fine powder and add linseed oil or egg tempra to create their paint. That was a lot of work.
Today all you have to do is go to an art supply store and buy a tube of paint. But did you know that in today's world pigment for paint is still being made from rocks and minerals and in many cases the same way as it was in ancient times?
In the photo I posted for this blog, you see a display stand with rocks and vials of pigment my mother created and a chart of rocks and minerals. I use these two visual displays as teaching guides during my color wheel class. I have found them to be very effective in teaching new students. It gives them a better understanding of how paint is made and why it can be expensive to buy.
There are different levels of quality paint in today's market. Student grade paint is cheap to buy but has very little pigment in it to produce a fine quality painting. Often times you end up using more paint and it will cost more in the long run.
Professional Artist quality paint cost a lot more but you use a lot less to get the rich colors you're looking for.
The difference between the two qualities is the amount of pigment used with the binder of the paint. I highly recommend buying the higher quality paint. It's tough enough to get good results when learning to paint without giving yourself a further handicap by using inferior paint. Buying cheap is a false economy and is likely to set you up for frustration and disappointment.
Art E Studio is open for business.
Yahoo time to celibrate. Art E Studio is back open and ready to rock! The new sign for the outside was printed today and will be up tomorrow.
Our three month annerversary on Maui was spent painting the walls and organizing Art E Studio's new studio space. I managed to get three of the four walls painted today. Shifting all those boxes you see in the photo from one side of the room to the other as I worked my way around took more time then I liked. Tomorrow I'll shift the remaining boxes on the left side of the room so I can finish painting the last wall. Then Charlie and I will be putting in the new cabinets for my desk. After that I'll start to unpack and organize the studio so I can get back to painting and begin work on developing my art school.
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