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| Schmidt Brewery Smokestack |
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| Scenes from the rails near Schmidt Brewery. |
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Schmidt Brewery and the Tracks -- Tiny Sketchbook for 6/29
Drawing Class: Magic with Toned Paper, at Old Town Artists
Check my Class Schedule for beginner drawing at Bloomington Art Center
My simple beginning Acrylic Painting Classes at Michael's in HarMar are perfect if you just want to play for a couple hours, learn some basics, and go home with a painting. Download a class calendar here!
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I teach "Magic with Toned Paper" drawing (beginner to advanced) at Old Town Artists in St. Paul. It's a relaxed, fun place, and I am currently updating my class schedule for spring/summer 2012.
Want to learn to do this? It is so much easier than you'd think!
This drawing method, using black and white (and various earth colors) on tan or other non-white paper, dates back at least to the Renaissance. Artists commonly used tan, grey, blue, and even pink paper, drew on that in charcoal or other dark media, and then put the highlights in with chalk or white paint.
When I show my students how to do it, they say, "Wow! That's like magic!" -- and it is. It helps even novice artists make sophisticated-looking drawings, and best of all it's a lot of fun.
The class is open to anyone -- beginner to advanced -- and for practice in our first session, we'll start with brown paper from grocery bags. Why? Because they're the perfect color and texture, they're free, they're fun, and you don't have to worry about "wasting" anything while you get the hang of the technique.
We will draw from life, mostly in the studio (though if the weather's good we may play outside), and I promise: no cliche still-life setups with wine bottles and bowls of fruit. We'll bring in unexpected items -- children's toys, tools from the shed, seed pods, shoes and hats, and even your favorite objects from home.
If you already draw and want to learn to paint, this class is a great transition. Drawing this way teaches you to think like a painter and strengthens your ability to make good compositions.
Advantages of taking classes at Old Town Artists include:
Great location with a beautiful view across the river
Studio has a fridge, microwave, coffeemaker, and water heater for tea; I will provide coffee, tea, sugar and creamer. Students may also bring food or drink (including wine and beer) of their own.
Plenty of free parking
Many other artists' work going on in the space, making it more than an average classroom
SPRING Classes: Saturday mornings, 10 to noon. Three weeks plus the optional fourth week "makeup class" (because life does happen, I allow for the fact that you might have to skip a session), April 7 through 28. Once again, pay for three classes and have the option of taking four.
Tuition: $60
Materials: $20 -- OPTIONAL -- if you already have black/white drawing materials and non-white paper, or wish to buy for yourself, feel free to bring your own. Or, for $20 I can provide a package which includes: 8 sheets of 11 x 15" tan Stonehenge paper; a carbon pencil; kneaded eraser; vine charcoal; white pastel; blade for sharpening pencils. Bring your own drawing board or use one of ours at OTA.
Comment here or email/send a Facebook message to me to sign up. Class is limited to just six students.
My simple beginning Acrylic Painting Classes at Michael's in HarMar are perfect if you just want to play for a couple hours, learn some basics, and go home with a painting. Download a class calendar here!
______________
I teach "Magic with Toned Paper" drawing (beginner to advanced) at Old Town Artists in St. Paul. It's a relaxed, fun place, and I am currently updating my class schedule for spring/summer 2012.
Want to learn to do this? It is so much easier than you'd think!
 | |
| Upside Down Dog, sketch from life in black and white on brown paper, by Tracie Thompson |
When I show my students how to do it, they say, "Wow! That's like magic!" -- and it is. It helps even novice artists make sophisticated-looking drawings, and best of all it's a lot of fun.
The class is open to anyone -- beginner to advanced -- and for practice in our first session, we'll start with brown paper from grocery bags. Why? Because they're the perfect color and texture, they're free, they're fun, and you don't have to worry about "wasting" anything while you get the hang of the technique.
We will draw from life, mostly in the studio (though if the weather's good we may play outside), and I promise: no cliche still-life setups with wine bottles and bowls of fruit. We'll bring in unexpected items -- children's toys, tools from the shed, seed pods, shoes and hats, and even your favorite objects from home.
If you already draw and want to learn to paint, this class is a great transition. Drawing this way teaches you to think like a painter and strengthens your ability to make good compositions.
Advantages of taking classes at Old Town Artists include:
Great location with a beautiful view across the river
Studio has a fridge, microwave, coffeemaker, and water heater for tea; I will provide coffee, tea, sugar and creamer. Students may also bring food or drink (including wine and beer) of their own.
Plenty of free parking
Many other artists' work going on in the space, making it more than an average classroom
SPRING Classes: Saturday mornings, 10 to noon. Three weeks plus the optional fourth week "makeup class" (because life does happen, I allow for the fact that you might have to skip a session), April 7 through 28. Once again, pay for three classes and have the option of taking four.
Tuition: $60
Materials: $20 -- OPTIONAL -- if you already have black/white drawing materials and non-white paper, or wish to buy for yourself, feel free to bring your own. Or, for $20 I can provide a package which includes: 8 sheets of 11 x 15" tan Stonehenge paper; a carbon pencil; kneaded eraser; vine charcoal; white pastel; blade for sharpening pencils. Bring your own drawing board or use one of ours at OTA.
Comment here or email/send a Facebook message to me to sign up. Class is limited to just six students.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Island Station Power Plant, St. Paul
This evening was exploration-time. I was certain this building was a brewery; not until I got home and looked it up did I learn that it was a power plant. It even has a Wikipedia page.
Minneapolis Alley and a few Phlox -- or why I sometimes hate my scanner
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| Actual colors. This being a book, though -- I can't lay it truly flat to photograph it. |
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The scanner flattens the paper nicely -- but look how muddy the colors are. Ugh.  |
I often dislike feeling that I've got to carry a purse, but it helps to have a sketch book in there. :-)
Monday, June 27, 2011
The State Fair, John Waters, and Why Art is Scary
First, a disclaimer: I am aware of John Waters but am not particularly a fan. This is John Waters:
Waters is a long-time, serious art collector who is mostly famous for making outrageous movies. I've seen Pecker, which I enjoyed, but not Hairspray (yet). I'll probably never bother with Pink Flamingos. And I think he is a creepy-looking dude and that moustache (is it even real? Does he pencil it on with eyeliner?) is one of the most bizarrely discomfiting things I have ever seen.
So why do I plan to go see the exhibit he curated at the Walker Art Center?
For the same reason I liked Pecker: he's poking fun at the Art World, and I'm hardly alone as an artist in feeling that the Art World desperately needs poking.
In the years I've been painting murals on the walls of regular Americans, I've learned that we are afraid of art, and afraid of artists. Or, if "afraid" is too strong a word, we are definitely intimidated.
People thought they had to walk on eggshells around me. I've had self-made millionaires, I mean amazingly astute engineers and entrepreneurs, worry aloud that I'd think their questions were stupid. I came to understand that we have a disconnected culture. We don't teach art in America. And yet -- from somewhere -- we all get this impression that if we know nothing about art, it's because we are somehow deficient. We're to blame.
Two things about this:
1. It's stupid.
2. Most artists don't believe it.
If you "don't know anything about art," guess what? Artists are fine with that. We don't expect that you will, any more than your electrician expects that you'll know anything about wiring your house.
But the You Should Know This Stuff myth persists, mostly not among artists themselves but among the general public and among some people in the non-art-producing segments in the Art World. Every artist I know has walked into certain galleries and instantly felt intimidated and unwelcome. One thing I love about the Twin Cities is that our galleries tend to be so friendly, but there's still that barrier of having to walk through the door, which can be hard to do when the You Should Know This Stuff belief is standing between you and the doorknob.
And that is why I just registered to enter the big art show at the Minnesota State Fair. Chances of getting rejected are about 80%, simply because there's limited space and so many entries, but I adore the whole idea. It's a huge gallery and nobody there is an expert. If you want to have a Pronto Pup and walk around looking at art, and saying just what you think about that art, you know it's okay. The Fair knocks down the barrier, the same way outdoor art fairs do.
Which brings me back to John Waters, who has apparently recorded an entire audio tour of the exhibit, in Pig Latin, which he feels makes just as much sense as most art-speak. He's put up a photograph which squirts water at any viewer who steps over the tape-marked Do Not Come Closer than This line on the museum floor. The Walker probably couldn't let him sell beer and Pronto Pups in there, but you get the feeling that if he could, he would. He's having fun, mocking the impenetrable facade of High Art, and no, I wouldn't call myself a fan, but for this? I think I might kind of love the guy.
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| Photo from the New York Times, taken by Stephen Maturen; click here to go to the article. |
So why do I plan to go see the exhibit he curated at the Walker Art Center?
For the same reason I liked Pecker: he's poking fun at the Art World, and I'm hardly alone as an artist in feeling that the Art World desperately needs poking.
In the years I've been painting murals on the walls of regular Americans, I've learned that we are afraid of art, and afraid of artists. Or, if "afraid" is too strong a word, we are definitely intimidated.
People thought they had to walk on eggshells around me. I've had self-made millionaires, I mean amazingly astute engineers and entrepreneurs, worry aloud that I'd think their questions were stupid. I came to understand that we have a disconnected culture. We don't teach art in America. And yet -- from somewhere -- we all get this impression that if we know nothing about art, it's because we are somehow deficient. We're to blame.
Two things about this:
1. It's stupid.
2. Most artists don't believe it.
If you "don't know anything about art," guess what? Artists are fine with that. We don't expect that you will, any more than your electrician expects that you'll know anything about wiring your house.
But the You Should Know This Stuff myth persists, mostly not among artists themselves but among the general public and among some people in the non-art-producing segments in the Art World. Every artist I know has walked into certain galleries and instantly felt intimidated and unwelcome. One thing I love about the Twin Cities is that our galleries tend to be so friendly, but there's still that barrier of having to walk through the door, which can be hard to do when the You Should Know This Stuff belief is standing between you and the doorknob.
And that is why I just registered to enter the big art show at the Minnesota State Fair. Chances of getting rejected are about 80%, simply because there's limited space and so many entries, but I adore the whole idea. It's a huge gallery and nobody there is an expert. If you want to have a Pronto Pup and walk around looking at art, and saying just what you think about that art, you know it's okay. The Fair knocks down the barrier, the same way outdoor art fairs do.
Which brings me back to John Waters, who has apparently recorded an entire audio tour of the exhibit, in Pig Latin, which he feels makes just as much sense as most art-speak. He's put up a photograph which squirts water at any viewer who steps over the tape-marked Do Not Come Closer than This line on the museum floor. The Walker probably couldn't let him sell beer and Pronto Pups in there, but you get the feeling that if he could, he would. He's having fun, mocking the impenetrable facade of High Art, and no, I wouldn't call myself a fan, but for this? I think I might kind of love the guy.
St. Paul View from the Window at Old Town Artists
This was last night at the Old Town Artists studio, and I chose to spend a bit of time playing with an 8 x 6" canvas I had on hand. There was already a painting on this canvas, a mockup for a commissioned piece that I didn't get.
To be clear, I had no regrets about not getting that job. You get things or you don't, and it's never personal. Trouble was, that little canvas wasn't a painting I liked much, and I was tired of having to see it all the time. So I just painted over it in something of a loose and haphazard fashion, with the colors I happened to have on the palette at the time. Some days, the required focus for Serious Art simply isn't there -- but I did want to play.
It was an enjoyable process even if I am not sure what I'll ever do with the resulting painting. I'm terribly disappointed in the way the photo appears on this blog, too; something about Blogspot's software seems to dull it down, and I am not sure why.
One thing, at least: I like it better than the one that was on the canvas before.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Pit Bulls and a Dachshund at Urbanimal's Adoption Day
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| Loosely Based on Sheldon |
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| Hazel the Dachshund |
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| Nash Resting |
So I stayed anyway and had a great time sketching dogs and talking to volunteers and fosters. This is like art school for me, learning to capture (more or less accurately) animals in constant motion. Also, Nash, bless his sweet little Pittie heart, was absolutely SURE that my drawing pencil was a nifty new species of chew toy.
Many thanks to Urbanimal and Underdog Rescue for their kindness and hospitality.
Coming Soon: Drawing and Painting Classes at Old Town Artists
This just in!
Old Town Artists has approved my proposal for teaching classes in our studio space there. Schedules and class outlines coming soon. Watch this space, email me to be added to my student contact list, or subscribe to this blog with the links at the top right of the page.
Old Town Artists has approved my proposal for teaching classes in our studio space there. Schedules and class outlines coming soon. Watch this space, email me to be added to my student contact list, or subscribe to this blog with the links at the top right of the page.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Meet me (and Terry the "Itty Bitty Pittie") at Urbanimal!
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| My 4" square "Itty Bitty Pittie" |
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| The photo of Terry that made me smile right back until I couldn't resist painting him. |
I've been invited to come out and meet him and some of the other dogs of Underdog Rescue, tomorrow at Urbanimal in Minneapolis, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., and I can't wait. Definitely taking my camera and my sketch book.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
One Last Peony
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| Peony the Fourth, 4" square oil on canvas by Tracie Thompson |
I love these ever so much, but this was the last one still alive in the studio today.
Fortunately, I found THISTLES. And cut a half dozen of them -- big, bold, purple fuzzy thistles for me to paint. That should help ease the pain of having another year's peonies fade away.
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