Funky Figures

Yesterday morning we had the last Figure Group session for the year, and will break until after the holidays. We had a male model who had his own funk about him. I really enjoyed drawing him in his dark-rimmed eye glasses. We drew him once before last year along with Hannah who was several months pregnant - he is a sweet fellow. Here are some of my drawings from yesterday. Trying to play some more with my watercolors and keeping some of the negative space intact. I think these are each about 20-min. sketches.

Watercolor & Graphic Arts Society Fall Members' Exhibition - Last Days

The Fall 2010 Members' Exhibition of the Watercolor & Graphic Arts Society of Mobile is winding down. We have been showing at the University of South Alabama Library since November 1st, and will be taking down the show this upcoming Monday, December 20th. It was a very professional looking show, if I can say so myself (I was the show chairperson for this show). I decided to include a few photos here:

This is me posing beside my pastel drawing from figure group, "Red Head".

Our Fall show was dedicated to the memoray of Lee Hoffman, who passed away in March of this year. Here is a beautiful watercolor by Lee, called "Sunset at Bridgehead". The Best of Show and a Merit Award were also given in Lee's honor.

We had a delightful judge, Diane St. Germain, who is a signature member of the Louisiana Watercolor Society. This is an example of her work. She was especially pleased with the mix of water media and graphic arts in this show.

Ben Shamback won the Lee Hoffman Memorial Best of Show Award for his etching, "Hagen's Head".

Bill Morris, Lynda Touart and Karen McGahagin shared the Members' Choice Award - first ever three-way tie!

Marie Nickerson beside her water media "Touch of Autumn" which won the Best Water Media award; and Judy Aronson beside her watercolor "Whose Shadow?" which won an Honorable Mention award.

You still have a few more days to catch this lovely show. And then the Watercolor & Graphic Arts Society will be hanging our Mobile Bay and Delta Show at the Mobile Arts Council for the month of January - our opening reception will be on January 14th during the LoDa Artwalk.

Figure Group and Holiday Studio Tours

Last night I drove over to see the opening of the Eastern Shore Art Association Members' Show. I have 2 pieces in the show: "Koi Splash" and "Winter Grackles at St. Marks Refuge", both have previously hung in Mobile but not previously in Fairhope. A nice crowd for the Fairhope First Friday Art Walk. And a nice start to the weekend.

We had a new model today in Figure Group and we all seemed to be inspired by her - lots of wonderful drawings today. It's been a while since I posted some figure drawings, so here are a couple from this morning - pencil sketch and watercolor (my favorite quinacridone gold) - 20 minutes each. I was concentrating on using shadows and negative space to define the form.

After Figure Group, several of us met for lunch at Butch Cassidy's Cafe, and then on to the Holiday Studio Tour. Several local artists have grouped together and opened their studios or homes for display of their handcrafted items for sale as holiday gifts. We visited Bertice McPherson's pottery studio, Val Webb's home with several artists showing together, and Kaoru Oka's home where several artists joined to show weavings, pottery, jewelry and book art. I bought 2 pottery bird whistles from Bertice; 2 sets of beaded bracelets made by Soul of Somanya (African village women from Ghana, West Africa) at Val's house; and a hand-crafted book made by Barbara Spafford at Kaoru's house. It is a wonderful feeling to have completed a portion of my Christmas shopping with purchases from local artists friends and a good start to the holiday season.

I also have started an artist journal, although it is a habit I have yet to adequately cultivate. Anyway, here are two "recent" sketches: a small utility structure I often drive past on the Brookley Field Industrial Complex which I completed in October (I wanted to capture this structure because it appears to be threatened by adjacent construction and may not remain for long); and a colorful simple sweetgum leaf which fell from the tree in my front yard in late November. We've had beautiful color this fall, and I regret not having been able to get out for much plein air painting lately due to bad weather or my travel schedule or other art activities and demands. But hopefully soon!