6″ x 4″, ink *SOLD*
Colored Pencil: techniques & tutorial
It’s a very simple tutorial, but the final image is charming: Colored Pencil: techniques & tutorial
Reception and awards ceremony at the Fall Fest Art Show 2009
This Friday, September 18th, Fall Fest Art Show’s reception and award ceremony were held, and my Fortitude received Honorable Mention:
Something fascinating happened during the reception: Nava Attia-Benoit’s painting just happened to look like a gentleman who walked in. Not only the face, but the hat and shirt looked about the same! He was asking for the artist who did the portrait and was finally introduced to Nava who never met him before. What a surprise for both of them!
Congratulations to winners Kim Newell, Karen Mumford, Jim Burns, Nina Uppaluru, Nava Attia-Benoit, Nancy Near, Jane Kwant, Janki Chokshi, John Perez, Belinda Lima, Slava Shabrov, Grace Seidman, Yao-Pi Hsu, and others.
Many thanks to everyone who organized this show and helped to make it a success.
Fall Fest Art Show, 9/19/2009 and 9/20/2009
Fine Arts League of Cupertino is having their annual juried Fall Fest Art Show on September 19 and 20, 2009.
Reception: September 18, 2009, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
FALC will be conducting a Silent Auction during the reception. The proceeds will be donated to the West Valley Community Services – a non-profit community-based agency that provides many community services in Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga and West San Jose. If you would like to participate, New Spring I will be a part of the auction:
Three artworks will be a part of Fall Fest Art Show: Mom & Son, Truckee River, and a new piece, Fortitude:
Show open: September 19-20, 2009, 10 a.m. till 6 p.m.
Show location: Community Hall, 10350 Torre Ave., Cupertino, CA 95014
On the Racetrack III
On the Racetrack III – 11 3/8″ x 8 3/8″, pen and ink on drawing paper
The third and final part of three drawings inspired by Bay Meadows, a racetrack that, sadly, does not exist anymore. We used to visit it regularly, and it was always a pleasure for us and our kids to spend a day there. Now the long stretch of stands, the smell of the paddock, the turf and the sight of stables and horses everywhere are all gone to yield space to houses and office buildings.
Scinthia
Scinthia – 4″ x 6″, charcoal on drawing paper
This is what I hope to be the return of my long lost love for portraits. I mean human portraits. Horses were always fine and still are. But I haven’t draw a single human face in more than 15 years except for an occasional sketch here and there. It’s coming back now an feels like slipping in old comfortable shoes. “Scinthia” is not a real person, it’s my guess at what the name might look like.
Fortitude
Fortitude – 9″ x 6″, colored pencil on drawing paper
“Fortitude” is an ode to the plant that grows in our patio. I can never remember what it is called. But whatever it is, it survived a serious frostbite last winter, had to be completely chopped out, and in a few months came back as lush and healthy as ever. Right now this plant with an unmemorizable name is taking over the patio despite the heat. I keep hoping that it will stop on its own and I won’t have to trim it. It would be difficult to decide which parts to take away.
Rose Shenson Show at the Triton Museum of Art, 9/5/2009 till 10/4/2009
Campbell Artists Guild of which I am a member will have their annual art show at the Rose Shenson Gallery from September 5 till October 4, 2009.
Rose Shenson gallery is located on the grounds of the Triton Museum of Art, 1505 Warburton Ave., Santa Clara, CA 95050.
The show will be open on Saturday and Sundays.
Come to see my new piece, On the Racetrack III, and previous works: On the Racetrack I, On the Racetrack II, Running Free, and Russian Ridge View.
Google’s calling for free art
In an interesting move, Google now asks notable artists to provide them with free art for its new browser, Chrome.
The best part is that Google solicits this type of work from notable artists like Joe Ciardiello and Melinda Beck. If it was general crowdsourcing, I could understand it somewhat – emerging illustrators or hobbyists don’t mind to work for exposure only, just go look at those contest places all over the web. It’s still means using and abusing people to me, even though those people don’t seem to mind. But to approach someone who worked for the likes of ESPN and Rolling Stone and ask for a freebie is an insult. Those artists had plenty of exposure already and were well paid for their work. It’s not as if Google could not do the same.
So maybe crowdsourcing does have a nasty effect on the rest of creative community: if so many artists have no problem with working for free, the rest are expected to cave in and do the same, accepting it as a new norm.
Silicon Valley Open Studios Invitational Exhibition, 9/4/2009 till 9/28/2009
I was invited to participate in the juried SVOS Invitational Exhibition that takes place at the Pacific Art League from September 4 till September 28, 2009.
Two artworks will be on display: Plum Blossoms in Los Gatos Creek Park and Bonding:
Opening reception at PAL: September 4, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Show location: Pacific Art League, 668 Ramona Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301
AVArtFest 2009
The festival moved to the Pioneer Memorial Park, Mountain View this year. It’s a smaller place than the grounds of the Triton Museum (or so it looked to me), but the park is right next to downtown Mountain View – a place that is more popular than Triton. No, seriously, many people have no idea what the Triton Museum is or even that Santa Clara has an art museum.
Fine Arts League of Cupertino and Campbell Artists’ Guild, two clubs to which I belong, were sharing a lawn at the edge of the park. I was showing with FALC and chatting with CAG friends too – nice!
A sketch a day: morning coffee ~ colored pencil, 4″ x 6″
Silicon Valley Open Studios 2009, weekend 3
The third weekend was the quietest out of all three. There were almost no visitors, very few people even walked by. Maybe it was the heat, maybe something more interesting was going on in the neighborhood, maybe we didn’t do enough to promote the event.
Slava and me were showing at the Great American Framing. Marsha Sims, Kathy Sartain, Cathy Zander from the 1st SVOS weekend at Community School of Music and Arts were here again, and I met other artists that I don’t remember seeing before: Lei Min and Linda Salter.
Lei’s oils are beautiful and energetic. She used to do commission portraits and showed me an prospect from her solo exhibit with awesome portraits of Taiwan, Philippine, and Malaysia prominent figures and of their family members.
Linda Salter paints and draws many different subjects: great portraits, still life, figure drawings, landscapes. She seems to work in every medium available – oil, watercolor, graphite pencil, pastel, ink – and always experimenting. She was doing nice small ink drawings while in the gallery. Made me want to pick up my ink and brushes again.
We still had some guests, some good conversations with them and with each other, and I saw the local University Arts store for the first time. To say that I was impressed would be an understatement. It’s huge, it’s full of great stuff, and what I can’t or won’t use myself is still fascinating to look at. I am not going to their San Jose store, ever.
Got my horse photos, thanks Irina!
A sketch a day: grazing chestnut horse – pastel pencil
May 12, 2009 sketch
AVArtFest in Pioneer Memorial Park, Mountain View, 6/6/2009
On June 6, 2009 I will participate in AVArtFest with the Fine Arts League of Cupertino. The park is located next to downtown Mountain View.
AVArtFest is open from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m.
For more information please visit AVArtFest website.