Another Great Art Workshop

This past weekend, Island Arts Magazine had the pleasure of hosting Nicholas Pearce's "Limited Palette" acrylic painting workshop. With an almost full class of 11 students, our weekend began.

First thing Saturday morning, Nicholas told us that we were going to listen to music, sing and dance while we paint. The idea is that if you are singing, then your brain does not get hung up on every little detail of your painting. The music was cranked up loud as we began gridding our black canvas.

Gridding wasn't new to me, but I just hadn't done it since art school. It was one of those simple techniques that I had forgotten about. I quite enjoyed the process while singing to the tunes.

After lunch, with our 1.5" brush in hand and using our limited palette of 4 colours plus white, we started blocking in colours. Let me tell you, that brought about a lot of moaning and frustration, from myself and the other students. Threats of smuggling in smaller brushes on Sunday ran rampant. At one point Nicholas left the class room to take a call. I said, "Ha, the teacher's gone." Without missing a beat, most of the class replied "Get out the small brushes."

For myself, painting this way was a test in trying to remember how to mix a particular colour, mixing on the canvas and trying to get your darn brush to work properly. I suggested to Nicholas that perhaps my brush was faulty ... and NOT operator error?!

Sunday morning, we came into class with fresh eyes and thought "Wow" these really aren't too bad. Perhaps Nicholas had stayed all night and worked on our pieces? How nice!

We all worked really hard cleaning up our paintings, while getting into our musical groove. Nicholas walked about giving us encouraging direction. By the end of the weekend, we had a group showing of really spectacular work. BRAVO everyone.

I love organizing and participating in workshops. There are always tricks and tips that come about, from the instructor and also from the participants. In this particular class, I was re-united with the process of gridding; a wonderful tool for working big. I was frustrated with a limited palette and realized that I need to work on my colour mixing skills. I love the idea of down-sizing my palette to only a few colours.

Thanks to Nicholas Pearce for providing us with an energetic, thought prevoking and FUN weekend. Special thanks to all the artists who took on the task of working big with a "Limited Palette".

Check our website often for upcoming workshops.


Till Next Time ...

From the Prairies, to the West Coast and Beyond...

Susan

Designing a Business Card

The start of the new year is a good time to design a new business card. I always have cards handy; in my purse, in my jacket pockets and in the glove box of the car. It is an inexpensive and very effective marketing devise and you never know when you will have the opportunity to hand out your card. I have been known to hand them to someone sitting next to me on a plane. Over the years I have had many different business cards. They have always been very colourful, printed on both sides and on a nice thick card stock.

The first group are some cards from my Toronto graphic design days. I liked having my photo on the card, which I felt gave it a personal touch. In those days I went to many 'business after hours' events for networking. There were usually door-prizes and 8 times out of 10 times, my card would be pulled out of the fish bowl. The luck of the draw, possibly, but more then likely because my card was made of a heavier card stock.

Once I moved to Saskatchewan I started putting my own artwork on my business cards, as you can see by this next bunch. I liked to take advantage of using colour.

This is my latest card. As I am wearing two different hats, the front of the card represents Island Arts Magazine and the back of the card represents Young at Art and my artwork. I like this format very much. For my new card I think I will design something very similar, just using new images.

My advise when designing your business card is:

• Keep the design clean.
• Don't put too much text on the card.
• Don't use too many different font types. Even though a script font may look lovely, it's often hard to read.
• When using text on a dark background, the text should be bold, otherwise the background ink will bleed into the text, making it hard to read.
• Keep it simple.

Till Next Time ...

From the Prairies, to the West Coast and Beyond...

Susan

Visual Arts Voice

I was honoured to have MY story published in the Visual Arts Voice, Fall 2014 - a CARFAC BC publication. Enjoy the read.

Susan Schaefer – From the Prairies...to the West Coast...and Beyond!

As my 55^th birthday draws near (yikes), I look at my life as an artist.

I sit here from the living room of my Qualicum Bay home / studio typing on my lap-top. My husband Jeff or L & L (lover and lugger - as he likes to be called) is typing on his iPad. We have a beautiful garden which we both enjoy and a spectacular ocean view. The summer breeze is gently blowing and I feel truly blessed to be here, on Vancouver Island at this time in my life.

As far back as I can remember I was drawing, colouring and playing with colour. Growing up in rural Saskatchewan, the only thing we had to colour with were pencil crayons and wax crayons. I was a nerdy kid, who absolutely loved to get geography homework. Sounds weird right? That meant that I could colour in the maps, shading the edges of the ocean from light to dark as it went further from the shoreline. With wax crayon I could take a pencil sharpener, shave off the wax and use mom's iron to melt it down into some cool and interesting shapes. Not so good for the iron I was told. Sorry mom.

It was in the year 2000 when my art career went from being a hobby to a profession lifestyle. I was living in Saskatchewan in a lovely “little house on the prairies”. I joined the local artists guild and organized art workshops. I started working in watercolours, but as my confidence grew I branched out into acrylics and oils.

One day a girlfriend said “you should have an art show right here in your house.” That was a scary thought. I gave in and invited 5 ladies over for a glass of wine and some nibblies. That evening I sold 3 paintings. Wow – that was great. From then on I had a yearly art show in November (as that is my birthday month), at my home studio. I invited more and more patrons each year and made sales, but more importantly, many friendships were formed.

In 2007, I moved to Qualicum Bay on Vancouver Island. For the first few months I explored the island, painted and joined a few art groups. That winter a friend of mine invited me to go to Mexico with her. I love going south, as it gives me a fresh outlook on things. While there, I decided to 'go for it' and create an ARTS Magazine to showcase west coast artists. With a graphic-design background and very proficient on a Mac computer, in March of 2008, the Island Arts Magazine was launched. Another scary endeavour, but I thought “If not now, when?” We have just published our 27th issue and the magazine is going strong with subscriptions across Canada and into the USA. And it is still FUN to create.

Through the Island Arts Magazine, I was able to meet many wonderful artists up and down the island. We also get invited to and sponsor amazing events. For the past 5 years we hosted the Island Arts Expo, a weekend of workshops, artists talks and exhibition of artwork. After 5 years, we decided to move onto other endeavours. In the last few years I have been organizing workshops in Qualicum Bay, bringing in artists from across Canada from whom I wish to learn.

I keep further involved in the 'goings on' by volunteering at local galleries. I spend a lot of time marketing my work, which pays off as I have collectors across Canada. Recently I received a commission from a patron in Mexico which we will be delivering in December. What a burden!

I feel very fortunate that I can do what I love, and have so much fun doing it. It is a great feeling when you have created something from your heart and then someone loves it enough to include it in their life. I am truly grateful and I am excited to see what I can accomplish in the next 55 years.

Till Next Time ...

From the Prairies, to the West Coast and Beyond...

Susan

Why I Love Workshops

I never tire of organizing and attending workshops. This past weekend was no exception.

Almost two years in the planning, it was our pleasure to host David Langevin for a painting workshop; his first on Vancouver Island.

Three days may sound like a long enough time, but the days just flew by. Friday we worked mostly on theory; properties of paint, etc. It's a good idea to have a clear understanding of your materials. Notes were made, great questions were asked and answered and many laughs made for a fun and informative day. We had time in the afternoon to practice glazes and veils.

Day two we worked on a painting using glazes and veils, as the old master Caravaggio painted. David says "Now take the glaze and brush it across the entire surface. Understand? Now you try."

Day 3 we tackled a grisaille painting; a method using different shades of grey. Once you have a strong value painting, you then add the colour.

We all enjoyed David's 'magic' as he went through his process of working on a painting. It  brought on great discussions, conversations and lots of laughter.

Starting with a detailed drawing on the canvas, he puts a warm glaze over the entire surface.

More glazes, more colour, more discussion - the painting quickly came to life.

Looking good now! Asked if it is finished, David says "Nope, not yet."

David is a master of the old masters. As David says "Only David Langevin and Caravaggio paint this way".

I love to organize workshops and bring in wonderful artists to learn from. We keep the class size limited to 12, which makes for an intimate and comfortable group. It's fun to spend the weekend with like-minded artists, a chance to meet new people and to sharpen one's painting skills.

Plus, if the mood moves me, I often make fresh cookies for our morning break.

Check out our website for upcoming workshops. See you at the next one.

Till Next Time ...

From the Prairies, to the West Coast and Beyond...

Susan

Artist Anonymous - 7 Symptoms

You know who I'm talking about!

1. You can't go a day or two without painting otherwise you start to twitch.
   
2. When you get down to your last canvas you have a panic attack.
   
3. You'll drive down to Victoria and back to save a couple of dollars at Opus.
   
4. You'll take your kids piggy-bank money and buy more paints.
   
5. You sign up for workshop after workshop...but it's never enough.
6. You make your spouse move his 'stuff' out of the garage so you can turn it into a studio.
7. You get excited when you see the Island Arts Magazine!
   

Sound familiar? If you have any of the above symptoms, then you are truly an art-addict!

There is no cure. So best to just dig in and enjoy the ride!

Till Next Time...

From the Prairies, to the West Coast and Beyond...

Susan