Botanical Art with Altitude Shines This Summer in Member Exhibition - Call for Entries

Vanessa Martin has secured a terrific gallery event for us in July of this year, at Square Deal Framing and Gallery J(click HERE for information about this gallery), July 15 through August 29th. This gallery has a number of exhibits annually, and we are delighted we are on this year's schedule.

The exhibit is titled "Botanical Art, with Altitude!," and we are invited to submit any images which include botanicals. This is a little more open event than some, and is unjuried. You may submit up to 3 artworks, matted and framed in the manner you wish, and ready to hang with hanging wires.

We will hang at least one, but hope to be able to include more. The entry form allows you to number your images in order of hanging preference. Images labeled as "1" will be hung first, and then we'll hang the others in your order of preference once space is determined. We have room for 45 to 50 paintings.

Works may be for sale. Gallery retains 25% commission. There is a small entry fee ($25) to support organizational expenses and tasty treats for the opening, which is scheduled July 19th, 2014, 4-6 PM.

Botanical Art with Altitude
Specifications:
*Submit up to 3 artworks, number them for hanging preference.
*Submission deadline: 28 June 2014
*Artworks must be matted, framed and wired for hanging.
*Drop off art Saturday at Square One, July 12th between 1-4pm
*Exhibit Start: July 15, 2014
*Reception: July 19, 2014, time to be determined.
*Exhibit closes August 29, 2014.
*Pick up artworks August 30th, between 1-4pm
You may enter up to 3 artworks. Please fully complete all requested
information on the entry form.

Location: Square Deal Gallery
1460 S. Colorado Blvd, Denver, CO  (next to Black Eyed Pea Restaurant)
Contact: Vanessa Martin; Click HERE to contact her.
Special Exhibit Information: You may enter up to 3 matted and framed
artworks, wired and ready to hang. At least one artwork will be hung, and
second and third images may be hung if there is room. We have room for about
45 to 50 paintings. Please include genus and species if known, common names are always good, and you may title the work.
Click HERE for the Entry form.

Keeping a Sketch Set Handy

Minimal Perfection
            A good way to find time to draw is to make drawing easier, keeping drawing supplies immediately to hand. At a minimum, try these materials and supplies:

            2 B graphite pencil – the workhorse of the art world

            2 H graphite pencil – great for fine lines, paler shades
            Ebony pencil – facilitates laydown of dense darks
            A sepia Conte crayon or pencil – a nice mid-tone and a
            touch of non-black
            A white colored pencil – great to combine with darker
            tones, pump up highlights
            Hand held sharpener – keep your pencils sharp
            2 pens – Copic or Pigma Microns are great. .05 and a 1 are
            great - for super dark fluid lines and great for contour work
            White plastic Click eraser pen – to draw with. Don’t bother
            to erase extensively. Re-work lines on the fly, using the
            “wrong” line to steer you away from it to a more
            effective line.
            Spiral bound sketch book, white paper or with a selection of
            colored papers, or just one non-white paper – working on
            non-white paper allows you to proceed without establishing
            mid-tones, and asks you to look at things a different way than
            the usual every day sketch. Seeking new experiences is
            integral to good drawing exercises.

 

 

This kit, pulled together in a small case or baggie, can travel easily wherever you need to go in your home, office, or on the road.

 

 

I generally add a touch of color when I want to, or when I'm drawing something that has unique color and I want to remember it well. You can add watercolor to your drawing, or colored pencil, to create a more fully rendered drawing. I like to keep my drawings simple, so recently I set myself the task of using 5 colors only to create a drawing. I have a 'base' of graphite, and add colored pencils - Caran d'Ache indigo blue (very true color), sepia (any maker) or brown ochre and 2 local colors. Then, I use a white Gelly Roll pen for pops of white where I want them, or a white colored pencil. You'll be seeing the results of that plan here and there in our month of drawings a day.

 

So, pick out the materials that work well in your hand - graphite, wax or oil pencils, brush tip art markers, technical pens, watercolor...you name it! What works for you is the right choice. We'll start A Drawing a Day in earnest on Saturday, 1 March 2014. Remember, you can send me your scans HERE, by attaching them to an email. And remember, send your thoughts about the drawing too. Sharing technique enriches those who share their work as well as those who view it. 

Why draw?

Well, first because a good drawing is the foundation of a good painting. It’s the basis of all we do as botanical artists. A completely rendered drawing is a work of art and illustration on its own. A great cartoon (outline only drawing) allows the artist to transfer the image to great paper and add color or ink to make a finished artwork. It works out and solves problems before the excitement and confusion of color is fully involved.

Sketchbook page with specimen pasted in, and form study beside it,

3 colored pencils, by Libby Kyer

There are other special benefits when you develop a drawing habit. They include:

            Daily drawing integrates art into your life. Change your sense of ease and proficiency just by drawing each day? Yep. It works. It’s like playing scales on a piano daily. Art is a physical skill as well as a creative one. Just like piano. Your hand has to talk to your head, and then back again to your hand to make it work. Practice makes perfect. Really.
            Daily drawing will illuminate what you already know, reaffirming your confidence in your known skills.
            Daily drawing will illuminate what you don’t know. When we run into a problem with a drawing, if we’ve given ourselves permission to draw at will and make mistakes as well as masterpieces, we’ll find out what we don’t know. Then, we can research how to solve the problem effectively, rather than just wondering, “Why can’t I get this to work?”
            Daily drawing helps you develop your own style. You already have style. Constant use of your skills develops that style into a recognized personal statement. It informs the art so that others have an idea of how you approach it. Viewers identify with style.
            Daily drawing helps you discover where you want to go with your art. Find yourself drawing a ‘favorite’ subject a lot? Figure out why you’re drawn to that subject. Think of ways to use this knowledge to enrich your artistic life. Perhaps a series of small white flowers in a bed of lacy greens will allow you to honor that yen and lead you to a new understanding of self.

What Shall We Do for Our Drawing a Day Project in March?

So for our purposes, we will not be viewing fully rendered realist images this March. Let’s commit to making really good drawings – sketches, contours, massing in studies, blind contour, gesture drawings, or any other application of line, tone or color to surface that serves us. And, let’s share the results. Send them to Ye Olde Blogmeister by clicking HERE, and then forwarding a scan of your work and a brief description about why you drew the image, and what it did for you; for example, worked out a problem in a bigger picture, captured the sun at just the right spot falling on the cat, helped you rewire your brain to draw only what you see, worked out form issues, captured motion, etc. We’ll post your image and your words here. 

 

 

Janet White's lovely sketch created during a class at the Denver Botanic Gardens, demonstrating good line quality and lots of interesting leaf shapes representing perspective.

Stay tuned for some tips on how to keep a drawing kit handy, so even the busiest of us can take a moment to draw, feed our inner artist, and create something special. And there will be links about drawing, materials, inspiration and motivation posted at regular intervals to help you along. By the time Spring really arrives (being high plains residents, we know that March 21 date is a bit premature, but April will bloom!) we’ll have our drawing licks tuned up and be ready for massive, blooming, growing color!

 

If you have questions, contact Libby HERE.

Hooray for us!

MyLife.com (Click HERE to go to the article) )compiled a list of the 10 best cities in which artists can thrive. Starting with a list of the 50 most populous cities in the U.S., they scored various metrics including cost of living, resident age, number of arts industry professionals, number of museums and galleries and household income and weighted the scores based on importance. Here are the top 10:

1. Atlanta
2. Seattle
3. San Francisco
4. Austin
5. Denver
6. Nashville
7. Minneapolis
8. Boston
9. Portland
10. Las Vegas

Denver achieved its ranking in part because of the percentage of the population working in the arts industry and the number of galleries and museums to visit.

Drawing a Day is Galloping Towards Us

Let’s get ready, shall we? First of all, what is a drawing? Webster’s Dictionary says:
Draw·ing ˈ(drô-iNG), noun: drawing; plural noun: drawings

1.    a picture or diagram made with a pencil, pen, or crayon rather than paint,  especially one drawn in monochrome. 2.     the art or skill or making pictures or diagrams with a pencil, pen, or crayon.

Enlightened? I’m not so much. The first definition refers to the tools used to create an image. A pencil uses graphite or a variety of media mixed with pigment. A pen uses the media in ink, generally polymers to carry black pigments. A crayon uses a wax medium with colored pigments, but for the sake of Webster’s definition, they’re probably referring to drawings made with single colored pigment in the wax medium.

 Let’s compare that to the word sketch, which Webster’s defines as: a rough or unfinished drawing or painting often made to assist in making a more finished picture.

 

MICHELANGELO Buonarroti Study for the Libyan Sibyl

Chalk on paper, 29 x 21 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Nothing completed, but many things considered, using chalk and a variety of line to create tone

Better now? Right. Not much more enlightenment there, and a fair amount of confusion, because it calls a sketch an unfinished drawing or painting. So what is a painting? For the purposes of this discussion, let’s think of a painting as an image fully rendered realistically in color. Or, more medium limited, an image created in paint. What is paint? Pigment carried in one or more media (supports). And yet, again, these definitions are really more related to media, and I think we can use a better, more contemporary concept not limited by an arbitrary definition about media or states of completion. Let’s be more free, more artistic, more us.

How about: A drawing is an image, created by making marks on a surface, in any medium. It is valued as a preliminary rendition of images to be finished later, a completely rendered image with limited media or tools, or an image with value known to the artist and observer.

That’s better. It’s more realistic, more open, more accepting and therefore more liable to invite those who love to draw to do so, without limits. Hopefully, it invites those who find drawing difficult or irritating to try again, make drawing their own positive event. That means, when March comes and we leap into making a drawing a day, we know that all the strokes we make on a surface feed us, and generally, are intriguing to viewers.

Birders Bounty

Cassins Finch, Detail, colored pencil on film, Heidi Snyder

Interested in drawing birds? Heidi, our intrepid president, has arranged a great opportunity for our members, Check this out!

Hi Everyone,

Come and join us, we will be sketching birds at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science,(thanks to Heidi, Heidi you rock, thank you!).
We will be sketching real specimens in the behind the scenes lab (which sounds like a lot of fun). The department work area will only hold 12 of us at a time, so we have scheduled 2 days, Feb. 21st at 10:00am and March 7th at 10:00am. So, you know what that means - The first members that I hear from have the best chance of getting the day that they want.
Check your calendars and send me an email as soon as you can. This is an opportunity not to be missed. Just reply to this email or email me HERE.  .

The birds are calling!

Hope To See You There!!!

Carol Ferguson

RMSBA Program Director

 

Time to plan your postcards..

 

 

For more information and contacts, Click HERE
  

Is It Time to Exhibit Your Artwork?

Whether you are an advanced painter or a beginner, exhibitions serve a great purpose in the development of your artistic life. What are the benefits of exhibiting your art? Well, there are many. First, if you want to work professionally, exhibition is probably necessary. Your resume needs to show that your work has been accepted into juried exhibits, and one-person exhibits are a true indication of interest in your work.

If you aren't aiming toward a professional career, exhibitions are still an important part of an artist's life. Why? Having confidence in your own art methods, materials and results leads to more excitement and satisfaction in creating art. Feedback is a very good thing to have, as you can find out how others react to your art, not in a judgemental sense, but more in an empathetic sense.

"Knowledge is good" as we all learned from the classic film Animal House and their college motto, stating the obvious! And knowing your own goals and needs for your art is knowledge that is explosive! It can ignite your artistic talents.
 

Do you want to exhibit? Let's explore the proposition, see how it fits in your artistic life.

The Pros are pretty amazing:
Nothing is quite as intensely satisfying as the experience of sharing your joy in an art piece. And gallery/museum exhibits are a wonderful place to share. If you don't exhibit, you lose that opportunity. When hanging out at a gallery or exhibition opening, creative eavesdropping is a valuable art form. Can viewers see what you are trying to say/represent with your art? If so, ask them why the art moves/attracts them. If not, why doesn't it move/attract them. 

The Cons can be a bit daunting:
Exhibiting really only works well if it's part of your plan annually. Which, by inference, means you really need an annual plan. That takes some thought. Once you commit to an exhibit, you DO have to produce art in time to meet calls for entries deadlines. And there are often expenses - framing, glazing, matting, mailing, getting your artwork returned are not cheap. Do you want to spend the money it takes to do it right? Do you want to have your time scheduled externally, that is, following an other's schedule in your own art process?

The answers to the questions above may help you decide a lot of things in your life as an artist, including the theme being addressed in our blog in February, "To Show or Not To Show." It's knowledge that is indeed good to know about yourself.

Pseudolarix amabilis, by Libby Kyer, has been shown nationally at the Hunt Institute and the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens Florilegium exhibitions, and in Kew at the Sherwood Gallery. Lots of mileage out of a single image. You might want to consider regions you want to show in, so that you can design an image beautifully suited to travel!

Some other questions that need answering

How's your inventory?
        What do you have in recent paintings to present?                

        Do you know your own pace for production if you need more?

        Can you meet the artwork demand for new artworks for exhibitions?

How's your budget?

        Juried shows:  Entry fees are between $25 and $50 per show, generally for up to 3
        pieces, paid whether you are accepted or declined. It's good to enter the maximum
        artworks allowed for the entry fee.

         Framing in the simple frames called for by most botanical art exhibits is about $150
       to $200 for a 16x24" frame with mat and Plexiglas glazing.

         Delivery: Hand delivery is always less stressful if the exhibit is in your area. If you
       need to ship your entry, it will cost about $85 to $100 per leg - out and back - which
       includes insurance.

So, perhaps this gives you some insight into the planning and money needed to enter exhibits. There are, of course, variations in costs depending on location, jury status and other bits and pieces. As food for more thought on this subject, here are some links you can use to see what galleries want!

Great tips for finding a gallery and exhibiting are HERE.
 

What galleries look for in an artist - a great discussion is HERE.
 
Choosing the right gallery for your art - some guidance is HERE.

Next time, we'll talk about some shows you might be interested in when planning your exhibitions calendar.

Holidays are OVER! Let's get busy!

And, let's start the year with getting everything in order, so that painting the rest of the year is a breeze. OK, we're botanical artists, so we'll aim for everything being in order so the rest of the year produces lots of carefully created, meticulously detailed, heavily documented astounding time-intensive paintings! We like that!

What is being prepared? Well, it starts with your studio or studio space. Here are some tips for the basics. You'll want:

         A good table – room for artwork, specimen, materials and papers to coexist during painting. make sure the table height combined with your chair heights puts your eyes comfortably on your specimens and paper.

        A great chair, with lumbar support, that allows you to have your feet flat on the ground comfortably, working in a balanced position. It's incredible how making sure the ergonomics of chair and table are perfect decreases fatigue!

        A great light. You'll want to arrange for great ambient light through window, Solartube or skylights, with no "hotspots" to interfere with good vision. You'll also want spot lighting, to light your specimens for great depth understanding, and to light your paper for great color work. Look for a balanced light that mimics north light.

Know what you have – an inventory plan. It's always good to know what you have on hand, know what you need. So:
        Inventory your materials and supplies.
        Know what you need – Make a quick list of all you don't have.
        Check out sales for the things you do need, and buy in bulk when you can. If you know you'll use up brushes during the year, keep an eye out for brush sales, especially in January and February.

What if you have all your materials and supplies gathered, a good spot selected to work in with perfect lighting, and you're still not achieving? Try finding out what really is stopping you.
Define “stoppers’ – Figuring out reasons why you haven't achieved what you've wanted in a day goes a long way to insuring you'll get past that "stopper" to achieve more the next time you're in the studio. Think of it like this: Say to yourself: I’d have painted/sketched/drawn today, but I am out of/don’t have ____________________. That's an inventory problem usually. Get what you need.
        Or, “When I paint, I need the right music, but I don’t have it handy.” That's an equipment failure, if there's no way to play the music/video/movie that provides the right background for your work. Fix the problem immediately.
       Or, "This painting is so intimidating, but it's working out, I think. It's so hard to put the first brush stroke down." That's a confidence problem Always have a practice piece to work on to limber up your skills, just as a musician plays scales before any work starts.

Promise yourself time to paint, first thing in the day if possible: I find that we tend to try to get everything else in our lives done BEFORE we paint. Reverse that. Paint first, for an hour or two, or even just 15 minutes if that's what you have. You'll thank yourself for doing so.

Looking for supplies and materials? Search by phrase, rather than specific item. For example, try “cheap art supplies” as opposed to "watercolor brushes." Craft stores frequently have somewhat better pricing for one-off purchases - a single brush, one pan of watercolor, etc. Using a more open-ended search phrase will open up new vendors to you. Here are some places with neat tips about good studios:

 

 

Max Moss talks about his studio at Small Studios That Work.

Small Studios that work: Click here.

A quick tutorial for setting up a studio: Click here.

Lighting and other important bits: Click here.

Help for organizing your studio: Click here.  

A great little easel for the botanical artist: Click here.

Well-priced drawing table and stool: Click here.

 

Do you  have some tips and tricks you'd like to share for creating a great studio and work practice. Click here and send them to us. We'd love to see pictures of your studios, and words about how they work for you.

A Botanical Art Website You'll Love

 

 

Botanical artist Margaret Pope, at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, sent a link to the Florilegium Program's website. Cindy Hartwell, their webmaster, has put the "Sonoran Desert Past and Present" exhibit on the website. She has done terrific job. Some images have been added to compliment the text as has more info on plant anatomy. The exhibit it will remain on the website and the added images and information will give viewers additional historical and educational information. For example, there's a great work of illustration from the USDA Botany Division's magazine,  published until 1901. Click HERE to go to the website, and you may want to add this address to your favorites, because there is a LOT to be seen and learned. Many thanks to Margaret and Cindy.  



RARE II Call for Entries Now Available

 

 

Pedicularis groenlandica, Patricia Whalen

The official Call for Entry for our Rare II exhibit is now available. This is a great exhibit that will travel extensively. The schedule is below:

Exhibit dates : February 14, 2015 – December 1, 2016

Venues for Rare II

February 14, 2015- April 27 - Wildlife Experience, Parker, CO
May 1, 2015 – September 28 - The Mitchell Museum, Trinidad, CO
October 1, 2015 – December 28 – Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO
January 16, 2016- April 16 – Sangre de Christo Art and Conference Center, Pueblo, CO
May 30, 2016 – July 6 – Wild Horse Gallery, Steamboat Springs, CO
July 10, 2016 – August 31 – Steam Plant Event Center, Salida, CO
Sept2016 –December 2016 - Grand Junction, CO (proposed)
Reception dates: To be announced with each venue.

To go directly to the Entry Form, please click HERE. Don't forget to check deadlines and include them in your planning calendars.

Time for Our Monthly Get-together

This month's meeting is an olio of fun things to do - visit with friends (excellent way to spend time), eat (always a favorite!), share techniques and tips (even more popular than eating!!) and something new to us, an ART SWAP! Does it get any better? Here are all the particulars from our President, Heidi Snyder:

Hello all,
Just a reminder that the first RMSBA meeting of the year will be

Sunday

Jan 26, at 1PM

Golden Library

1019 10th street

Golden, CO

(303) 235-5275

On the agenda:
1. Tips and Tricks - art secrets you are willing to divulge/demonstrate -so bring materials to demonstrate them.
2. Potluck - bring some food to share, hot or cold.
3. Art Swap - To facilitate the art swap we will divide the art materials in a "donate" section and a "sale" section.

For the latter please clearly mark your item with a price and your name.
Hope to see you there!
Heidi Snyder
(303)929-7577

Remembering - RMSBA/Wildlife Experience Exhibition

In case you weren't able to see this beautiful exhibit, you can click here or go to the Exhibit box to the right and see a reprise of the artworks. Look quick! This exhibit will only be online for a brief time.

Aesculus glabra, Horse Chestnut, Shanelle Deater

Inspiration Sites in Ephemera

All four of our new ephemeral links are courtesy of Bored Panda, which searches the web for bits that intrigue, excite, incite and inspire. Thank heavens the Panda has been very bored lately. You won't believe these sites! Click here for one site to whet your appetite, then go to Ephemera and click on the links for more visual adventures.

Holiday Meeting a Treat!

Colored pencil, Dorothy DePaulo
A warm welcome to 2014!

As the snow flies I hope you are all staying warm, mindful of the fact that this very snow will produce spring's growth and that this might actually be a good time to work on your art projects.

We had a lovely RMSBA Christmas party at Wendy's place (thank you for your hospitality, Wendy), and the elections (informal, but valid) produced the following results:

Exhibit chair Vanessa Martin

Membership: Sharon Garrett (who continues to head up RARE, thank you Sharon)
President Heidi Snyder
Program chair Carol Ferguson
Secretary Julie Terry
Treasurer Vicky MacWilliam

Vicky will retire from her position the end of 2014, but would happily mentor anyone who is inclined to fill the treasurer's position for 2015. She assures me it's all very doable and if you have any questions please direct them to Vicky MacWilliam at her email.  At this point you would have a whole year to ease into the position with Vicky's constant assistance - a very valuable help.

Thank you to all who filled a board position - RMSBA is what its members make it.

Dorothy DePaulo finished her 2-year term as (wonderful!) president and RMSBA owes her a renewed sense of purpose and vigor. It will be extremely difficult to fill her shoes, but with your help I am willing to try.

2014 promises to be a big year for RMSBA with hosting ABSA's annual convention the middle of October for which the planning is well on its way. Also well on its way are the planning and preparation for RARE II, to debut at TWE February of 2015.

So far we have one specific date for you to put on your calendar: January 8.

On January 8, at 1 PM, in the Denver Botanic Gardens café, we will meet to put together the RMSBA program for 2014. While email is a great tool, it cannot replace the synergy of a group of brainstorming creative minds, so I encourage you to join us for 40-50 minutes. With enough participants a lot can be accomplished in a short amount of time. If you have any suggestions or input please contact our program chair Carol Ferguson at her email.

That is it for now, and I am looking forward to an exciting and 2014.

All the best

Heidi Snyder

Holiday Gifts Created with Botanical Art

In November, 11 colored pencil students gathered in a class led by Libby Kyer to create festive cutting boards in “Cutting Edge Art.” Over 3 days, we made strong compositions suitable to be reproduced for glass cutting boards. Many students ordered multiples of their works after they saw the finished results on their first cutting board. It was a great class, resulting in new skills in colored pencil and composition and a great gift, hand-made for the holidays. Check out some of the results!

 

"Pumpkin Fest," the completed cutting board photographed on a dark cloth. You can see the pattern of the glass on the board, which is why artists created images with strong color and detail, to show well through the glass. This one is by Jan Boyd-Haring. Her finished artwork is shown below.

 

This vibrant image reproduced well under glass, and shows up  more clearly than in the photo above, but design must take the glass texture into consideration.

 

One of the great pleasures of this class was seeing the variety of composition, color and approach exhibited among the artists. Check it out!

 

 

Autumn Leaves by Kristi Czajkowski

 

 

 

Cherry Lattice by Carol Varian

 

 

 

The Gourd by Elizabeth Lococz

 

 

 

 



Gourd #1 by Mary Barnes

 

 

 

 

 

Harvest by Vickey Wood

 

 

 

 

Herbs by Katy Howe

 

 

 

 

Sunflower by Hannah Rottman

 

 

It being the beginning of a new year, perhaps it's time to look into classes you might find inspiring, challenging or needed. Take a look and some good leads under Workshop Listings. You'll find drawing classes from Susan Rubin and Marjorie Leggitt, a range of botanical art classes from the School of Botanical Art and Illustration at the Denver Botanic Gardens, and links to Colorado Institute of Art and Art Students League of Denver. Especially in cold weather, it's nice to have a good studio to go to and share a learning experience with other artists. Hope to see you in the educational scence soon! 

 

Heidi Snyder's Work Accepted into FON XIII

Congratulations, Heidi! She tells us:
All [images] are based on my personal reference photos (yes, I saw the osprey), and done in pencil [and colored pencil] on drafting film, with some ink and pastel on the back and in case of the osprey, 2 layers of drafting film with a third layer of pastel on paper. I am humbled and elated to have gotten in."

Mullein by Heidi Snyder

Alamos Barrel Cactus, colored pencil, Heidi Snyder

 

 

Osprey, colored pencil, Heidi Snyder

Member Patricia Greenberg Illustrates Park Guide

When asked how she spent her summer at a recent RMSBA Member Meeting, Patricia Greenburg replied, "Most of the summer 2013 has been spent working on these illustrations for a children's book about Rocky Mountain National Park ... it will be a guide to the history of the park, written by Patricia Pickering and Patricia Washburn (seems like you had to be named "Patricia" to work on this project!). It will include historic photographs as well as my drawings of the local flora & fauna ... it's been so much fun to do.

 

Cover Art, 7x7", watercolor wash & colored pencil on smooth Bristol board, Patricia Greenberg

Each of the animals on the cover will act as guides along the existing roads in the park ... they will highlight sights along the way & point out animals & plants you may see in the area. Right now the copy is being edited & I still have 2 more drawings to finish. We hope to have it published by the spring of 2014, just in time for the 100th anniversary (2015) of RMNP. Hope this is something you were looking for & thanks for the opportunity.

Page 6, 8x10", watercolor wash & colored pencil on smooth Bristol board, Patricia Greenberg

Ancient Art of Fore-edge Painting Discovered

As artists grounded in traditional painting, it's always exciting to hear about other lesser-known traditional arts. The University of Iowa has a treasure trove of fore-edge painted books. Known as "secret paintings," they are only visible when the edge is fanned correctly. Click here to see more of this amazing art form.  

 

New Gallery Opens with RMSBA Member

Valkarie Gallery originated from the creative minds of founding members Frank Farrar, Valerie Savarie and Karrie York. Together, they envisioned a space where they could collectively create and display their art. A place where they could invite a diverse collection of artists to exhibit their work and whose art greatly inspired the creation of their own. Both gallery and working studio, Valkarie is owned and run by artists, for artists and invites the community to join us in the celebration of all things creative! RMSBA member Dorothy DePaulo is a contributing member to this new gallery.

Opening and Inaugural Exhibition: November 1, 2013 - January 12, 2014
Valkarie Gallery
445 South Saulsbury Street
Lakewood, CO

Find out more by clicking here.

Dorothy's featured piece is Mesquite, colored pencil on film, which was recently purchased by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum for their permanent collection. Congratulations, Dorothy.

Illustrated by RMSBA Artist, Book Event Benefits Judi's House

 

RMSBA member Dorothy DePaulo illustrated Pam McClelland's tale, Turn It Around Sadie. Told in rhyme and charmingly illustrated, this uplifting story will empower children and their parents to perservere in difficult times.

 

This event benefits Judi's House, started by Brian Griese in memory of his mother who he lost when he was 12 years old. In November of 2002, he opened the doors to Judi's House, helping children find hope and healing after the loss of a special person. It's available for only $9.95 at this happy event.

 

You're invited to an FAC, with food, wine and a purppose - making Turn it Around Sadie available free to families participating in programs at Judi's House in 2014. Pam and Dorothy will donate a book for every book purchased during November and December. This book is a great Chrismas gift for your family and young friends.

 

The specifics: When: Friday, November 8, 2013, 4- 7 PM

                       Where: Judi's House

                                    7655 Robb Street

                                    Arvada, CO 80005

                       Contact: 303.526.9734, RSVP if possible