Reminder!
If you pre-ordered Patricia Seggelbruch’s “Encaustic Collage Workshop,” you still get to ask a question! Watch your new dvd and then follow the link in the email that Susan sent you and submit a question to the artist. We (and she) want to hear from you!
Artist News and Notes
Congratulations to Cheng-Khee Chee, Saturated Wet Technique, for winning second place in Watercolor West’s 41st Annual Juried Exhibition. Cheng-Khee won with his piece, “Koi 2008 #1.” (Seen above.)
A second congratulation goes out to Frankie Ridolfi, How to Bind Books, for being nominated for the American Library Association Notable Videos for Adults list for 2009.
Craig Nelson’s, “A Solid Start in Oil Painting”
Stop staring at blank canvas and start painting. With Craig Nelson’s simple method for still life, you’ll overcome your hesitation and kick start your career in oil. You’ll develop foundation skills, create a path for improvement, and even save money at the art store.
Learn from master teacher Craig Nelson. With this instructional video workshop, A Solid Start in Oil Painting: Still Life, you follow the logical and intuitive steps of a nationally recognized master. You learn the sequence, design, placement, shapes, dimension, light, and color to master the art of portrait drawing.
You’ll build an affordable kit as Craig walks you through essential materials and navigates the pitfalls of store displays. You’ll learn to paint vibrant scenes with only four colors and four brushes.
John Salminen’s, “A Designed Approach to Abstract”
Join John Salminen in this Master Class Watercolor instruction DVD as he uses the language of design to build a complex layered abstraction. The design analysis and thinking he demonstrates in A Designed Approach to Abstraction, may be applied to all media and is appropriate for artists at all skill levels.
John begins with simple objects as a springboard to suggest shapes and line. He then works to create intriguing and unpredictable effects all the while using design principles to create a cohesive captivating painting. He floods in warm tones, dry brush blending, scrapes in darks, and masks lines. He creates a variety of line and edge qualities, careful to always add to the whole.
What People Say – September 22nd edition
“I’ve ordered from you many times and emailed questions to you; you are prompt, polite and a wonderful company”
Judy R., Healdsburg CA
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First Q/A for Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch
Question 1 from Mary
I want to do more abstract work and am particularly interested in seeing your shellac burn method. Have you tried shellac burn of a piece that has several layers of rice paper incorporated in the wax? If so, will you please describe the technique?
Thanks for your question Mary!
The shellac burn technique is one of the most popular because of its organic feel and the fun of burning and watching results unfold right before your eyes! It can be caustic, as we are creating fumes in the burn of wax and shellac, so take precautions when doing this technique. Do it in the open air, away from flammable materials, and if you are very sensitive, wear a vapor mask.
I have tried this technique over rice paper; also over decorative papers, photo transfers, Japanese silk tissue paper and sumi paper! As long as you apply the shellac over wax, with the papers embedded underneath wax, you will get the desired effects. I suggest a few layers of wax between the papers and shellac, but one may be enough if you are ready to blow out any papers that may ignite if the wax melts away too quickly and exposes them to flame. The technique is demonstrated in my book, on the DVD and I do it at many demonstration-the next of which is in Seattle at Daniel Smith Art Supply ( -look for their ‘free demonstration’ heading) Hope this gets you where you want to go with the technique and happy burning! 
ps: I’d love to see your HM painting~If you have work online or digitally, send me a link so I might indulge in other’s encaustic play!
What do you think?
Here at CCP, we take great interest in what our customers think of our website (and blog!) Our goal is to make our website as rewarding and user friendly to visitors as possible. Over the next several months we will be including questionnaires into the CCP newsletter and here on the blog to get a better idea of exactly what you would enjoy on the site. Please take a moment to give us some feedback with this week’s survey. We greatly appreciate it!
We’ve also setup an RSS feed for the blog, and a Twitter account for the company! Follow either or both (take a look on the right side of the screen for the icons, located under the search box) to make it easier to keep up with what’s going on at CCP.
Mary Todd Beam’s, “An Acrylic Journey”
Mary Todd Beam’s light-hearted approach to acrylics breaks down barriers to creativity. Mary leads you through two complete paintings as you explore layering, line work and your artistic identity.
In the first project of An Acrylic Journey: From Trash to Treasure & An Inward Look, Mary strives to achieve order out of the visual chaos of a garage sale. She uses a view finder to isolate her subject and proceeds to simplify the objects into more basic shapes. Mary simplifies subjects in a line drawing then builds a foundation of bold, transparent pigments. She caps the painting with opaque layers and textures enabled by her acrylic process. She introduces concepts like linkage, abstraction and simplification.
In the second painting, Mary encourages you to look inward for inspiration. In this abstract composition, she cuts masks from contact paper and prints personal symbols with sheets of plastic. She finishes the painting with a graphic flourish.
Sue Archer’s, “Commanding Color”
Sue Archer uses her complete command of the watercolor medium to realize the bright clean colors and strong light that defines her work. Her analytical style requires careful planning and thorough knowledge of composition.
In Commanding Color, the lessons combine live demonstrations with practical examples from Sue’s personal gallery. Each concept comes in handy during the pineapple demonstration. She flows complementary colors into pre-wet paper to create subtle transitions.
Sue boosts your artistic confidence with a series of lessons on pigment quality, design principles, and color theory culminating in a glowing still life of a pineapple. You’ll learn to control value and contrast, harness the powerful white of your paper, design negative space, and energize your subjects with complementary colors.
Overcoming the Unspoken Message
Earlier this year (about January) I made the decision to paint for myself. I gave myself permission to follow hunches. I don’t paint to enter shows, to be like someone else or to impress anyone. Quite the contrary. Perhaps I would have better conventional success if I played it safe, but I wouldn’t grow.
The experience is exhilarating, addictive, freeing and sometimes crushing. But when I look back, I realize that I have made progress these past six months. Maybe not that much but I have actually grown.
One of the biggest hurdles I’ve had to overcome was the idea that I was too old to change, that I didn’t have time to improve to the level I’d love to attain. When I decided to paint only for myself, that false concept, which I hadn’t even realized I’d bought into, fell away. I’ve felt lighter, stronger and more directed. I still try new techniques as demonstrated by CCP instructors, but I don’t feel any need to do it all! I take bits and pieces. I choose what might work for me (a way to hold the brush, a color combination, a designing process) and leave the rest. It’s like choosing only dessert at a buffet!
Life is full of unspoken messages. Sometime we get lucky and realize it before it’s too late. I may never get exactly where I want to be, but I will have a heck of a good time trying.
What unspoken messages do you face? How do you go about overcoming them? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Ask a Question; “Encaustic Collage Workshop” Pre-Order Special
Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch’s fast, fun, and inexpensive methods break down the barriers to working in encaustic. In this DVD workshop Patricia leads you through three encaustic collage projects using dozens of creative methods and materials. You’ll start with low-cost supplies from stores you visit every week and incorporate techniques from collage, scrapbooking, painting, and other media that make you feel at home.
Take advantage of the Pre-Order special and get the chance to ask Patricia a question!
1. After an on-line Pre-Order is placed, you will receive a questionnaire form via email.
2. You can fill it out with your question for Patricia and send it back.
3. The artist will then select questions from the group to answer.
4. Over the next several weeks, answers will be publicly available on the newly revamped ccpvideos blog and made available to everyone!
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