What's Next at Windy Hill Studio?

"Time Found"

What's Next at Windy Hill Studio?

The calendar says Fall and so does the weather, but this Fall is little different for me. I have always viewed fall as a time of new beginnings. I guess it is that I am a perennial student or teacher, so for me the new beginnings tend to start in September.

But for the first time in several years I will not be returning to teach at the Y Arts Studio. It was tough decision but it was time for a change. I've gotta say though, I miss my students already.

So what's next? Well for starters there were 3 commissions to complete this fall. Two have already been finished and delivered to happy customers. I'll be starting sketches for the third one next week.

Teaching???

And I'll still be teaching but probably not till 2016: time and dates to be announced. I am set on the locations: Sackets Harbor Arts Center and The Thousand Islands Arts Center. There is also a possibility that I will be teaching a class or workshop at the Arts Center in Hamilton.

Bay House Artisans

Meanwhile, we are still going strong at Bay House Artisans in Alexandria Bay. The Fall weather brings out plenty of tourists by bus, boat or cruise ship, so we still have a lot of activity in town. I will be dropping off a supply of holiday themed merchandise later this week.

The Lyric Coffeehouse and Bistro

The Lyric, in Clayton is carrying my Woodlands and Waterways 2016 Calendar, as well as a few small framed prints. The Lyric is a great place to have lunch, dinner or just coffee. If you stop in during the Fall try their pumpkin spiced latte!

Shows

The summer was a wonderful time for me for art events. The Artists Studio Tour in 1000 Islands was very successful and my show at the Sackets Harbor Arts Center received lots of attention. Sales were good too.

During the Fall I will be participating in a few group shows: Snowy Splendor at the Onondaga Historical Association, Associated Artists Fall Show at the Manlius Library and The North Country Arts Council Show in Watertown. 

I have just one solo show scheduled for early winter. It's at the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Church in December. Since the artwork is hung in the sanctuary I'll most likely have several soft soothing winter scenes to carry the congregation past the holiday mayhem and into the bleak midwinter.

And last but not least..........

I've got to finish my homework from the art marketing class I took last Spring! 

Although I was able to implement many of the ideas from the class, I didn't have a chance to try everything. So now you know what's on my schedule!

Many Thank You's

"Invitation"

Many, many, many thank you's to all who came to my Woodlands and Waterways show at the Sackets Harbor Arts Center. And even more thank you's to those who bought my artwork!

I was pleased and honored to be the featured artist for the month of August. The show actually ran 5 weeks due to Labor Day being a little later than usual, so I got even more exposure! I have been a member of the Arts Association of Northern New York in Sackets Harbor for about 3 years, but this was my first time as a featured artist in their lovely gallery.

Opening Reception

The opening reception way back on August 1, was attended by an assortment of friends from home, and Grass Lake, fellow artists, cousins and a steady stream of folks who were just touring around Sackets Harbor.

The fact that it was War of 1812 Re-enactment Weekend made the town even livelier than usual!

End of Show Reflections

The show came down this week and as I was putting away the paintings I couldn't help but reflect on my two biggest summer art endeavors: The Thousand Islands Studio Tour on Memorial Day Weekend and my Woodlands and Waterways show at the Sackets Harbor Gallery. Both took a huge chunk of time and effort but like most things that you really put your heart and energy into, they paid off in so many ways. I am so grateful to have had those opportunities.

"Daybreak"

Woodlands and Waterways, What's Next

Although the Sackets Harbor show was the first time I have used Woodlands and Waterways as a show title, I have been using the phrase for quite a while to describe the subject matter in my work.

Woodlands and Waterways is an ongoing series that I have been working on for nearly as long as I have been painting. I have always been drawn to land, water and sky. I've created images in watercolor, acrylic, pastel, torn paper and silk dyes all inspired by the shape of the land, dramatic skies or reflections on the water.

The group of paintings at Sackets were less specific in location than other parts of my series. Nesting birds, canoes resting by the water and Adirondack chairs are images we find in many of those places we go to escape from the hustle-bustle of everyday life. I thought this group was well suited to the laid-back location.

My next group of images for this series will be done with fabric dyes on silk.

I'm thinking --Water Lilies!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Tomorrow night The Boys of Summer: Art Meets Baseball opens at The Tech Garden in Syracuse.
And once again I find myself unable to attend an art reception due to another art commitment. But such is the life of a working artist. No offer to teach, or demonstrate my art form goes ignored if I can help it. Especially when much of my subject matter and sales revolve around summer along the woodlands and waterways of  Northern New York. The summer and tourist season here is roughly 10 weeks and I cram everything I can into that short time.

And when the season is over I'm back to teaching, marketing and preparing for the next summer.

So what does that have to do with "The Painter's Glove"? Well baseball is a big part of summer. But that's not why I chose this subject matter. Two reasons determined this choice: the baseball show (mentioned above) and I needed something different from my usual subject matter to use with my painting students at the Y Arts Studio. I was scheduled to teach an acrylic painting class in Spring 2015. I wanted to paint something from life, something I could set up in the studio at the Y and even drag back and forth to my home studio if I needed to. So the glove was just lying around in the garage and I thought why not give it a moment of glory!

Finding the Color

As a landscape painter I naturally gravitate toward specific subject matter: land, sky, water. But as a teacher I must approach many different types of subject matter and styles of painting and try to merge them with my own particular style.

For me, color, pure joyful color, is paramount. When working with students I try to encourage them to use color in an expressive mode, rather than being bound to reproducing an exact replica of the color of the object in front of them. Light, shadow, form and shape are defined by color values (lights, darks, neutrals) rather than mixing various shades of the local color.

So, with the baseball glove being primarily brown, brown and brown (hmmm sounds like a law firm) the joy in painting is in finding the values within the browns and painting them with colors which have the same value, not necessarily the same color.

Start With An Underpainting

When I work with acrylic paint I always start with an underpainting using complementary colors. Complements are colors which are opposite each other on the color wheel. Complements add a nice sense of depth when used underneath a color. They also lend a bit of dramatic surface tension when bits of the complement are visible under the local color.

It can be tricky trying to determine the complement for brown. I usually think of brown as being a darker version of orange and so go to blue as its opposite.

For the baseball glove underpainting I mixed 3 or 4 shades of blue in values ranging from dark to light. As the paint mixed on the canvas, more colors were created. The glove was painted roughly, with very little detail in the values of blue which corresponded to the light, medium and dark areas of the glove.

I also used a palette knife to add some thick rough textures in the paint to play up the beaten up quality of the glove.

When the local color was added by using various shades of orange, yellow, brown, purple and blue, I let the rough texture pick up bits of the colors as they hit the high spots within the roughness. I also used large brushes to keep me from getting too detailed.

When I was satisfied with the overall look of the glove I added the details of the laces with smaller brushes.

Finding a Title

How did I come up with the title? The glove had been my husband's when he was a kid. Each one of our three kids used the glove for short periods of time until they graduated to a new, better glove.

Since I have a small hand the glove fits me very well. For many years I used the glove when I would throw (badly) the baseball to my kids as they were learning to play America's Greatest Pastime. Evidently it didn't make much of an impression because they moved on to soccer, lacrosse and Irish Dance. The glove still sits in the garage and comes out to play ball (badly) once in a while.

 

And it's root, root, root for the Home Team

And...back to the baseball show-
I hope this show hits a home run and the opening reception is a success. I wish I could be there along with my painting.

But I'll be demonstrating watercolor in Alexandria Bay (not a bad gig).
Subject matter: Boldt Castle-of course!

 

 

Lessons Learned at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park

What's Art Camp?

Every year that I teach YMCA Art Camp at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park I start with the same intention. To fill the half-day camp with art projects, games and a daily hike along the art trails, followed by snack and more art! We walk into the woods, over to the ponds, to the Secret Garden and to the place where it all started, the home of Bob and Dorothy Reister.

Each year I tell the kids the story of Bob and Dorothy and I can't believe how enchanted they are by it. They start taking notice of which sculptures are Dorothy's and ask if Bob was an artist too. And I answer, no he was not an artist but I think he built the house, and the A-frame studio and the barn (which we call the Art Barn).

The Art Barn

Then they start to notice the other names on the sculptures around the Art Park: Rodger Mack, David Harper. And the amazing thing is that they remember them! And tell their parents!

Many times at the Camp Art Show, parents comment on how they had been coming to the park for years with their kids, but didn't know much about the place.  But now after attending art camp the kids seem to feel a sense of ownership. They are the ones giving the tours to their parents and telling them the story of the Art Park. And where to find "Stacks", how to get to the Secret Garden, and the Spaceship in the woods, and which pond has the biggest frogs.

Owls and Snakes

Somehow without really planning it, a sense of stewardship comes into place. The Art Campers care about the art installed in the park and also about the park's natural resources. They become conservationists, explaining the composting toilets to their families and telling their siblings why they shouldn't pick the flowers, or leave the water running in the sink. One day several of the kids tried to work out a plan to send some of our excess rain to California. (By train, in milk tank cars.) I really hope someone can put that plan into action.

More Owls!

So every year, we start with art, but end with so much more. And every year the teacher learns just as much as the students.
Thanks Art Campers!

The Fenner Wind Farm

Watercolor Class at the Thousand Islands Arts Center August 10 and 12

Watercolor: the Basics

The best way to learn the beautiful luminous technique of transparent watercolor is to begin with the basics.

In my upcoming class at the Thousand Islands Arts Center in Clayton, you will learn the properties of watercolor, color mixing, wet-on-wet technique, dry brush and creating texture.

After experimenting with each of these techniques you will have the opportunity to create 2 - 3 simple watercolors. All supplies are included in the class fee: $72 for TIAC members and $80 for non-members. The class will be held on August 10 and 12 from 10:00 am - 1:00 pm.

We still have a few openings left in class, so why not join us? Call the Thousand Islands Arts Center 315 686-4123 to register.

Polymer Clay Jewelry Class at the Thousand Islands Arts Center, August 12

Why Not Try Something New???

I will be teaching at Polymer Clay jewelry class at the Thousand Islands Arts Center in Clayton on Thursday August 12, 2:00 - 4:00. 

Polymer Clay is easy, colorful and the possibilities are endless. Pendants, earrings, pins and more can be created in just a few minutes, baked in the Polymer Clay oven and be ready to wear when you leave. Or maybe later for a casual dockside dinner ;)

All supplies are included in the fee: $36 for TIAC members and $40 for non-members. You can call the TI Arts Center to register. 315 686-4123.

I hope to see you there!

Joan Applebaum's Woodlands and Waterways at the Sackets Harbor Arts Center

Coming into the Home Stretch

Not much time for blogging now as I finish last minute details for Woodlands and Waterways and also prepare for a week of teaching art camp for the YMCA.

I'm really excited to be showing in the Sackets Harbor Arts Center.  I've been in a few shows there, but never as featured artist. The space is gorgeous: lots of white walls, an easy hanging system and good lighting.

And the building is a historic structure situated in a quaint historic town, with a cool ice cream stand, views of the harbor, and lots of good eateries and fun shopping. Who wouldn't want to be in Sackets!!!!

And to top it off there will be a War of 1812 Battle Re-enactment down in the park (walking distance from the gallery).

So it looks like there is something for everyone in Sackets Harbor next weekend and I do hope to see you at my artist reception 1:00 - 4:00. There will be food and WINE! N/A drinks too.

And you can check out my Pinterest page (Joan Applebaum) for some previews of paintings that just might be in the show, and I have a few of the local restaurants listed as well.

So c'mon out to the show!