Creative Catalyst Newsletter July 29, 2008
SAVE $5: Double Summer Savings on Pember’s Vibrant Orchid Workshop
Let Ann Pember show you how to paint with the natural tendencies of watercolor. Learn to mingle pigments on wet paper, and create the delicate smooth transitions so essential to beautiful florals. Ann finds a skillful balance between clean transparencies and vibrant hues.
In this workshop, she shares her meticulous approach to color. You learn her criteria for color selection and her process to test pigments before committing them to the final painting. She highlights specific colors she has come to trust and discusses why they work so well. Ann also explains how to implement a well planned value pattern while maintaining flawless transitions.
Don’t miss out … one week only … ends 8/5/08 and valid on Online and Mail In Orders only – not valid on phone orders.
Receive a plexi value viewer FREE with the purchase of this workshop … just add “Free PVV” in the comment section when you check out.
Beam workshop still on PRE-ORER Special
We are delighted to release a NEW & RE-RELEASE Mary Beam DVD workshop “An Inward Look” along with a re-release of her very popular workshop, “From Trash to Treasure” on one DVD.
This DVD is a light-hearted introduction to acrylics and contains two projects. In the first project, a new and improved re-release of “From Trash to Treasure”, Mary makes order out of garage sale chaos. You learn to look for design possibilities, simplify shapes, layer colors, and mingle transparency with texture and opaque pigments.
Mary has you look inward to discover your personal symbols in the NEW second project, “An Inward Look’.’ She encourages you to work with a contemporary design scaffolding while accessing the inner self as a resource. Mary uses contact paper, plastic, and resists to achieve intriguing textures.
NOTE TO PREVIOUS Mary Beam DVD workshop customers: Please be aware that 97 minutes are completely new. In addition, you will see “From Trash to Treasure” again in a new and improved edit. We want you to know that some of you may have seen part of this before … it is a re-release, improved re-edit. We hope you enjoy this DVD as much as we have.
HURRY! DVD will arrive in our warehouse next week. Pre-Order price ends August 6.
A Thoughtful Response on Color
A thoughtful response from Marney Ward to last weeks “From Behind the Camera”
Dear Lynn, I noticed you sidestepped the thorny problem of warm and cool blues. It’s easy with the red and yellow primaries because they have a warm primary on one side and a cool one on the other, but blue is the coolest colour and whether you add yellow or red you are making it warmer. Purists insist that purplish blues are warmer and greenish blues are cooler but I disagree; if anything, I think the greeny blues are warmer because they feel emotionally like warm, shallow sun-warmed water versus cool, deeper, distant water, and because they remind me of the sunny Mediterranean, whereas purplish blues like French Ultramarine remind me of distant mountains and shadows. Also, colour is really just shorter or longer light waves, and violet is the shortest light wave, furthest away from the longer, warmer, reds and yellows, which would tend to support violet being a cool colour, and hence violet-blues cooler than greenish-blues, which are closer to the warm side of the spectrum. Infrared is actually physically hot, which is the opposite end of the spectrum from ultra-violet.
Anyway, the term “warm blue” is just a pet peeve of mine, and I wish that until there is some consensus on what, if any, are warm blues, people would stop referring to them and assuming other people know what they mean. I have found artists to be split pretty well down the middle as to which blues are warmer, Cerulean or French Ultramarine. I think the colour wheel has its limitations and we can get into trouble when we push its symmetry too much. One’s emotional reactions to a colour are more important than some abstract theory or proclamation.
Marney
Thank you Marney! You make a great point.
Lynn Powers
In This Issue
Double Savings on Pember Workshop
Beam’s Workshop PRE-ORDER Special Continues
What is a Pre-Order / Pre-Order Special?
Click through for an explanation of PRE-ORDERS
On the horizon at Creative Catalyst
Here is a quick run down on what to expect from Creative Catalyst in the coming months: Sue Archer’s COMMANDING COLOR watercolor workshop will be next, followed by John Salminen’s URBAN LANDSCAPE, also in watercolor.
Then we switch media to oil and Craig Nelson’s most recent contribution, a still life workshop for beginners using a limited palette. After that, Anne Bagby shares her insights using collage and mixed media. Then we return to watercolor and a wonderful workshop with Pat Weaver painting animals. Each workshops release date is separated by about 30 days.
Clearly, it’s going to be a great fall/winter for creativity!
More About The Schedule Here
Carla O’Connor DVD Workshop on Sale
Carla O’Connor’s painting process promotes unique personal expression and rapid artistic growth. She uses the human form as a springboard for powerful, expressive design. Each logical step in her process addresses a specific design issue. Her initial quick drawing, or “set up,” relates the figure to the background and divides space into intriguing shapes. Working on gesso-coated paper, she modifies visual paths in her composition to keep the viewer inside the painting.
The workshop is 2 hrs. 10 min. long. Additionally, there are three bonus clips, gallery and printable handout.
Enjoy a Summer Craft and learn a skill with Lisa Engelbrecht
Learn how to hand letter AND apply it to a wonderfully festive Bali Lantern with Lisa Engelbrecht. It’s like two workshops in one! Lisa begins by teaching a solid foundation to calligraphy and demonstrates the important points to successful decorative hand writing on fabric.
You learn how to use pens, quills and brushes. She shares tips on how to seal and write on several types of cloth, and demonstrates a variety of ‘inks’ for special effect. Lisa then creates a rich background for her hand lettering, using a few simple materials. She applies what you have learned to the construction of a collapsible Bali lantern.
The lantern is a unique creation, perfect for honoring a special occasion or just for the joy of making the lantern. It can be easily adapted to a variety of media and purposes and a great project to do with children. These lanterns are fun and beautiful!
Approx. 2 hrs. 4. min
From Behind the Camera – Value your own work.
Unknowingly we might contribute to how other people value our efforts by how we treat our own paintings. Do we treat our paintings with respect, store them in a safe place, handle them with care, or frequently give them away?
The artists who film with us treat their work with respect. Their artworks are shipped in sturdy well padded boxes with the paintings in cellophane sleeves or large plastic bags. When they handle their work, it is with care. Their professional behavior shows they value what they do and that others should value it as well.
All artists sometimes donate their work as part of a larger marketing scheme, to get their name “out there”. Additionally they may choose to donate some of their work in support of a cause. However, I think there is a danger of donating one’s work too often. The general public needs to understand that art, like the efforts of an architect, accountant or teacher is the result of study and focus. It is the basis of one’s livelihood.
Recently I heard of a renowned artist that was asked to donate a significant work to mark the opening of a new art museum. The painting was to be the focus of a major fund raising drive. The artist declined. He suggested that a donor buy his painting and donate it to the institution. That way the donor had a tax write off and social recognition for his efforts, the organization has the painting and the artist gets paid. This may seem a bit selfish of the artist until one remembers that the architect, builder, and museum director are all paid. And to add insult to injury, the artist can only write off the price of materials, unlike the donor who can write of the full amount of his purchase.
Cheers, Lynn
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