Virtual Hugs and Kisses for April Fools’ Day – Beware of 4/1 Scams

Getting Viral? The nations’ 11,600 or so Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators have enough ventilated space that they are in the second-lowest risk occupation, according to the NY Times. Only loggers are at lower professional risk for Covid19. Don’t get complacent.

Fear of Blank Page

Unpack Your Bags – ASBA Mobile is Off. ASBA notifies us that the Annual Meeting in Mobile are postponed until 2024. Cancel your hotel reservation or whatever. Next year in Pasadena may require different wardrobe choices.

For the Default Teachers. I think we can all appreciate this Cartoon  from Drew Sheneman.

Images for Artists. Carol Till (the Prez) does etchings and prints. She sends this working photo, and some images.

Layout Blocking

Print on Handmade Paper

With watercolor on WC paper

Chine colee

“From Platte to Peak”. Illustrate type plants collected by Dr. Edwin James during the first actual scientific expedition to the western High Plains, led by Major Stephen H. Long, during the summer of 1820. Many plants are familiar and widely dispersed, and you may already have some finished pieces that fit the size limits. The Call for Entry is at Online Juried Shows, open now and closing August 15, 2020. Martha Narey is the contact for the James Plant List and supporting materials.

Sand Sagebrush

Lavender-leaf Sundrops

Featherplume

Fiddleleaf Hawkesbeard

Red-Dome Blanketflower

Silvery Lupine

Purple Groundcherry

Alpine Primrose

Economic and Social Contraction, Reach Out Remotely

USA Number One! But did we really want this distinction….

Census 2020. If you haven’t filled it out, do it here now.

Gathering of the Guilds Show & Sale, scheduled for Sunday, April 26, 2020 from 10am to 4pm, falls afoul of the stay-home order, and so is POSTPONED to Sunday, October 4, 2020, at the American Mountaineering Center, 710 10th Street, Golden, CO 80439. Save the date; enjoy the extra notice.

Out In LalaLand is published a commentary suggesting that just looking at the word “calm” has, indeed, a calmative effect, a trait shared with just sipping a nice hoppy beverage, which pleasure we in Denver are not denied, after all, as long as we take it home, Mayor HalfcockedHancock having revised his order. Your Editor cannot raise a glass with/to all and drink your Health, but here is a graphite sketch of the aforementioned word; feel free to criticize, evaluate, or submit your take on it.

Images for Artists. Irma Sturgell admires the late poet Mary Oliver, and has made these images in her sketchbook.

 

Support Your Local. It will be news to no one that your Editor is Retired; household income is at present unimpaired by events. We get take-out lunch a couple times a week from the same places we customarily visit for lunch – and tipping as we would, too. We want our friends and acquaintances in the business to be there with the good local food, so let’s help keep such smaller places going now. I expect the assorted fast-food chains will do ok…

Spring Newtines*

*not Newtons, not Saltines

Cannabis & Medicinal Herbs is CANCELLED. La Cour French Bistro and Jazz Bar (AKA Denver’s Art Bar at 1643 South Broadway) is closed through April and cannot hang our show. 
… and serendipity taketh away.

Member Meeting. The April member meeting is CANCELLED. More information will follow. When we have any.

Schools Not Out?!? Perhaps you now have children (or grandchildren) unaccustomedly underfoot – er, at home – requiring that you replace three or four education professionals, and on-line at that. Perhaps you, yourself, have to pop forth an on-line version of a class you teach. Well, Default Teacher, try this brief recess while you plan for your KitchenTableAcademy^TM.

“From Platte to Peak”. Illustrate type plants collected by Dr. Edwin James during the first actual scientific expedition to the western High Plains, led by Major Stephen H. Long, during the summer of 1820. The Call for Entry is at Online Juried Shows, open now and closing August 15, 2020. Contact Martha Narey to get a copy of the James Plant List and some ancillary materials.

Long Expedition Route 1820

Art Supply. In support of all our efforts, we do need supplies and materials. Contact the Guiry’s in your area for any services they may offer. Dick Blick and Utrecht are still shipping, if your Editor’s email inbox is an accurate indicator. Meiningers in Denver has a policy to help get your materials to you.

Amusement Supply. The Sale of Recreational Marijuana may halt tomorrow, March 24, at 5:30 pm. Sales of Recreational Alcohol at package stores may cease tomorrow also. I hope you’re all prepared…

Images for the Artists. RMSBA’s Board and Committee members are asked to send images to the Editor of their current projects and drawings and sketches to be posted for our edification. Susan Fisher and Vanessa Martin are the first to participate. You can send your stuff, too.

Vanessa Martin- Handmade Journals

Susan Fisher - Clematis vine & robin's nest

Oh, the Ides! … and the Yellow Flags.

US Public Health Service Quarantine Flag

OMG!

In Paris, all the cafes are CLOSED!

No wine!

In Ireland, all the pubs are CLOSED!

No beer!

So how shall we manage the pandemic?

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus map. This in from the Department of Geography and the Environment at DU:

Y’all might be interested in this: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus GIS Map

Steven R. Hick

GIS Director & Professor of the Practice - GIS

Department of Geography & the Environment

University of Denver

Artists’ Reception for Lost in the Woods at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens Education Center in Vail, Colorado, was Monday, March 2. Exhibit closes April 18. 

Cannabis & Medicinal Herbs. La Cour French Bistro and Jazz Bar (AKA Denver’s Art Bar at 1643 South Broadway) will display works from our Cannabis show during April 2020. We solicit original artworks created in traditional botanical media that fit into the theme by portraying cannabis or any other medicinal herb.

Eligibility: RMSBA Members

Entering Images: Please send a .jpg (low res. ok) to Sharon Garrett or Dorothy DePaulo, who will determine if your image fits with the theme and into the space available.

Sales: Sales are encouraged at this cash-and-carry exhibit. Artist receive 76% of the sale price; 19% goes to La Cour and 5% to a selected charity [501(c)3 RMSBA]. You also can offer small prints and cards for sale.

Calendar:

 1. Exhibit dates: April 2 to April 30, 2020.

 2. Instructions for delivery will follow upon acceptance.

 3. Install: April 2.

 4. Opening reception April 3. Members wishing to attend the reception must make reservations with La Cour online, or call (303) 777-5000.

NOTE: La Cour is currently Closed due to the Pandemic.

“From Platte to Peak”. Illustrate type plants collected by Dr. Edwin James during the first actual scientific expedition to the western High Plains, led by Major Stephen H. Long, during the summer of 1820. Many plants are familiar and widely dispersed, and you may already have some finished pieces that fit the size limits. The Call for Entry is at Online Juried Shows, open now and closing August 15, 2020. Martha Narey is the contact for the James Plant List and supporting materials. We all now have several weeks to concentrate on making plant portraits, what with many activities having been curtailed.

Netleaf Hackberry

Mountain Mahogany

Delicious Raspberry

Rocky Mountain Maple

Do you recognize Saint Patrick’s Day? What do you recognize the next day?

Artists’ Reception for Lost in the Woods at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens Education Center in Vail, Colorado, is set for Monday, March 2, 2020, 12 – 2 pm. Please join us if you can.

Cannabis & Medicinal Herbs. We happily announce an upcoming no-fee show-and-sale exhibit! This serendipitous opportunity goes up in the venue on April 2. Maybe you have an existing piece that fits with the theme, or you have a little time to create something new.

La Cour French Bistro and Jazz Bar (AKA Denver’s Art Bar at 1643 South Broadway) will display the pictures from our Cannabis show that recently closed in Durango during April 2020. Some pieces are no longer with the exhibit, and the Bistro is quite large, so we seek other artworks focusing on medicinal plants to fill out the show.

We ask for artworks created in traditional botanical media and conforming to standard botanical art criteria. They must fit into the theme by portraying cannabis or any other medicinal herb. You may create a new piece befitting the theme, or submit an existing work. No size or framing restrictions are imposed. You can offer small prints and cards for sale.

Eligibility: Members of the Rocky Mountain Society of Botanical Artists.

Fees: There is no fee for this exhibit.

Entering Your Images: Please send a .jpg (low res. ok) to Sharon Garrett or Dorothy DePaulo so that they might determine if your image fits with the theme and into the space available.

Sales: Sales are encouraged; it will be a cash and carry exhibit. Artist receive 76% of the sale price; 19% goes to La Cour and 5% to a selected charity [501(c)3 RMSBA].

Calendar:

 1. Exhibit dates: April 2 to April 30, 2020.

 2. Instructions for delivery will follow upon acceptance.

 3. Install: April 2.

 4. Opening reception April 3. Members wishing to attend the reception must make reservations with La Cour online, or call (303) 777-5000.

Presentation of Artwork: Frames are expected to be good quality and befitting a gallery setting. Selected entries must be:

• Framed and ready to hang.

• NO sawtooth or projecting eye screw hangers. Use D-rings and picture wire.

Label the back of your artwork with your name, address, phone number, email, title of artwork, sales status and price. Titles must include the Latin name of the plant portrayed. 

Accepted entries not conforming to these constraints may be refused at the time of hanging.

All artwork will be transported in RMSBA Fleece Art Sacks. Other packing material will not be stored by the RMSBA.

New Show at Spark! Gallery. Phillip Potter is a local artist whose work has botanical elements and themes and who is among the aspiring artists participating in our From Platte to Peak opportunity. Try him out while you’re down the Santa Fe Art District.

Upcoming Lecture from the Tesoro Cultural Center: This in from Heidi Snyder:

"The Great American Desert: Major Stephen Long's Colorado Expedition of 1820"

Saturday, April 25, 4 pm Buck Recreation Center, 2004 W. Powers Ave, Littleton

Sunday, April 26, 2 pm, Denver Public Library, 10 W. 14th Av. Pkwy, 5th floor, Denver

(limit 60, no registration)

Sunday, April 26, 6 pm, The Fort, 19192 CO-8, Morrison

Using images of original paintings, sketches, and maps, John Steinle will discuss the Stephen Long expedition of 1820 on its route through Colorado and other parts of the west. He will illustrate the many "firsts" that this expedition accomplished, and why the West was labelled the "Great American Desert" in the expedition's aftermath.

Call the Tesoro Cultural Center at 303-347-5999.

Limber Pine Herbarium Sheet

RMSBA Exhibit. “From Platte to Peak” calls on us to illustrate plants collected by Dr. Edwin James during the first actual scientific expedition to the western High Plains, led by Major Stephen H. Long, during the summer of 1820. Many plants are familiar and widely dispersed, and you may have some depictions of them in your own existing portfolio that fit the size limits. The Call for Entry is at Online Juried Shows, open now and closing August 15, 2020. Martha Narey is the contact for the James Plant List and supporting materials.

Alpine Clover

Alpine Thistle

We want your artwork!