Saturday, March 23, 2013

March Meeting

Hi folks. We had a great meeting at Ruth's last night. Judy took pix, so you're in for an extra treat! Here are the 3 of us who bucked the cold weather, stubbornly insisting that spring IS here!


Lynn went first. She got laid off from her regular job designing metal ornaments, which has been happening for a few years now. If all goes as planned, she will get re-hired in September. In the meantime, she is pleased to be busy doing freelance and and her own art.


MaryBeth brought some of her latest punch and fold-up characters. She also did a great set of vintage looking patterns that would look terrific on dishtowels, napkins, tablecloths, etc., using Illustrator.



Nicole is preparing for Surtex, which is in 8 short weeks! She's going to show her new work on her new ipad. She also posted a new design on a Shutterfly contest, the first one she's done this year. And, she's back up to working 3 days a week at her "day jobs."  She thinks that she's happier with too much work than too much time. More good news... her husband got a full-time job!












Ruth gave a talk at Bay View for a Women in Work day. (Christine, who couldn't attend last night, also presented) Ruth was nervous, but felt that her mom's spirit was there to calm her. (Her mom passed away earlier this month after a long illness) She "whipped up" this illustration as part of her activity... she had the girls illustrate and Alice or Jabberwocky.
She has also gotten two new jobs, one from the Methodist Publishing House, a new client.

Michelle spent a week at her sister's waiting for her niece, who arrived a bit late, but healthy! (hooray) While she was in Maryland, she worked on posters and CD covers/interior for one of her long-time clients, going for a vintage look.













Donna is working on a new project, using her collection of snowmen as characters with a bit of storytelling and humor. She's been making ACEO's of these characters, and is loaded with ideas.
Judy is stoked about Zentangles. She's considering taking a class that will officially make her a Zentangle teacher, because she LOVES Zentangles, and she LOVES teaching. She is teaching Final Projects at RISD-CE, and doing a great job getting the students ready for graduating from the certificate program in Children's Book Illustration.
Sandy gave a presentation at Judy's class on Perspective, and brought some of the materials she'd prepared for the talk. She demonstrated how David Weisner used perspective in one of his illustrations, and we were all impressed with her expertise and interesting way of presenting it.

I didn't bring a thing, but promised to get myself back on track by the next meeting. I am enjoying teaching my Illustration II class.

Linnea had a cold, so she couldn't come, but she relayed some GREAT news through MaryBeth... she sold 2 of the paintings in her new gallery in CA.... already! WOW. Congrats, Linnea.

And Carol Way Wood, who could FINALLY make it to a meeting.... couldn't... because her daughter DID go into labor!  Hope all is well, Carol.




Mary Beth was wearing a cool jacket, handcrafted by an artist (sorry, I didn't catch the name), and we were impressed by the cleverness of it's construction (in addition to the beautiful art)

Next meeting is at MaryBeth's on Friday, April 26 at 7:00. Put it on your calendars!

Best, Cheryl






Saturday, February 23, 2013

A Fun FAN

We had a wonderful meeting At Christine and Joe's house. While we met and shared our work, Joe slaved away in the kitchen finishing the excellent lunch the two of them had planned.

I'm back to submitting to Illustration Friday. To help keep me on task, please sign up on my blog to get my post each week for I.F. It's easy just fill in your email on my blog HERE. Post a comment and I'm sure to keep up with the art...I think.
Pictured is this week IF 's word WOOL. My first pic shows the original art, the second shows a sketch over, with how I plan to improve the piece (created in sketchbook Pro on IPAD).

Susan Novich also is starting up Illustration Friday again, and did a bunny Easter card (pic) with a storm of eggs for IF's word "Storm" last week. She made the art, printed it out as a card, posted it on her new Etsy site, and sold one right away!

Mary Beth Cryan brought her little punch-out-and-assemble Presidents for a new Dover Books (pic). And she brought back tales from her trip to NYC. Activity books still seem to be the best selling ideas for her. Fingers crossed on some results for her efforts.
 
Linnea Leeming brought five new beautiful painting she calls small sketches. They were all amazing and we took turns guessing what we saw in them. We did not see a single penis as that is the first thing she looks for and paints them right out! Linnea uses Fabriano Artistico 300 for her acylic sketches.
Sandy Valpey Cordts has been taking courses at RISD. She brought her life drawing that were great, but she got the biggest oohs and ahhhs from her self portrait. Sandy will be starting a new class at RISD "2 dimensional design" on the same night I'll be teaching the portfolio review class. Isn't it great to have artist friends with overlapping interests? Sandy recommends Robin Weismans Saturday life drawing open studio.
Jean Cotton Brought a bunch of stuff she is doing with her students. I was fascinated by the round Zen tangle she made as an example for the class. Also showed us black silhouette drawings over colored backgrounds. She used Liquid Watercolors from Dick Blick that worked great! Jean brought her latest mug from her "Making Faces Pottery" shop she has on Etsy. They are sooo cool.

Nicole Tamarin had lots of great new images for the upcoming Surtex show in May. She is worried she won't be prepared, but she has so much from last year along with a lot of new stuff we assured her she will do just fine. You go girl!! See her art on her website HERE.


Joanne Friar brought a pen and ink drawing she planned on water coloring over, but ended up finishing with her trusty acrylics. It's a pretty piece taken from a poem about a little singing bird. Joanne may make this into a post card. We suggest a card.  Maybe an active Etsy site for Joanne's cards in the future?
She also brought an amazing Christmas stocking she designed and cross stitched for her grandson.

Christine Hannon showed us two versions of a waterlily she printed with a solar metal plate technique. I didn't understand it all but the end results were cool.
She also showed us pictures of the walls she was starting to faux paint before she fell off the ladder and the job was scrapped! She is starting a new mural in a folk art style of a girl walking into a carnival. She is going to post the stages of this project on her blog.

FYI, the  reasonable compact scanner husband Bill just purchased is:Epson Perfection V500 PHOTO w/digital ice technology! I love the title. 

Lots of other goodies arrived from FAN members today. I brought my Favorite Hermits. here is the recipe.

The writer is not responsible for any errors or omissions on this blog. She kept forgetting she had taken on the job as meeting secretary and found it hard to keep up. She indulged in pondering about this piece and that with all the visual and verbal overload.