IDAL-International Decorative Artisans League -2012 Convention

If you are following this blog, you are interested in the field of art! You might be a decorative artist, someone who dabbles with painting furniture or just wanting to find techniques for your own home decor.

Have you looked into taking week long classes at someone's studio? I love to do this, but there are times when money and time do not allow it!

Are any of theses images getting your attention? They are all examples of one or two day classes that will be held in July at this year's IDAL convention in Reno, Nevada. It is just a plane ride away to learning some cutting edge techniques and getting to talk shop with artisans from around the world!

Learn how to paint decorative ornamentation (as shown above) or maybe......

You want to do some realistic clouds on your ceiling!

Or photo realism! Using air brush techniques, create a truly realistic cloud formation.

How often do you get to study with an artist from Florence, Italy using chalk paint, casein and waxes to produce beautiful hand painted furniture?

Want to improve your mural and trompe l'oeil skills? Mats Carlsson from Sweden is teaching two different classes !

How about a chance to talk to representatives from the big art related companies? Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, Golden Artist Colors, 3M, Crescent Bronze Powder Co,Modern Masters, Pierre Finkelstein Institute of Decorative Painting Royal Design Studio, Sherwin-Williams, Society of Gilders, Stencilwerks and many others will be on hand in the Expo area. You can buy products and have some hands on experience in their booths. Demonstrations will also be going on in the Expo area. Watch ILia Anossov demonstrate true fresco techniques and others show how to be a more creative artist.

I will be there! How could I miss such an opportunity? Go the the web link and grab a plane ticket! I hope you will come join me in this creative convention!

Driven to Paint....

Over the Christmas holidays, I had a job to  woodgrain two metal doors for a client. The clients are a husband/wife team of doctors and I would be working in the medical complex while they were closed.
I knew I would enjoy this job because the mother of the wife was a very prolific painter and her work is featured throughout the halls and waiting rooms of the complex.

Living in exile in Yugoslavia and being sent to prison did not deter her from painting

Painting from her soul, she used canvas, sometimes in the form of scraps  glued together... wood...any flat surface she could find.

You can see the urgency in her brushstrokes, the energy, the drive to paint.

The daughter, (wife) besides being an oncologist; is also an accomplished artist favoring sculpting. These pieces are in the waiting room of the medical complex.

Almost 800 paintings tell the life story of the mother.....the villages they lived in, the dreams for better.

I somehow managed to woodgrain the two doors, often taking inspirational breaks to look at the many paintings lining the hallway walls. I considered it an honor to have even been asked to do the job, knowing the depth of artistic background the couple have.
What drives you to make the world better for 2012? We can all make it better through art!

High-Tech vs. Low -Tech...

I received an email a few days after Thanksgiving from Sinopia Pigments. This was just after "black Friday" and their opening line was-

"Now that you have taken care of your high-tech cyber Monday gift shopping, its time for your low-tech artists on your lists..."

This really stuck in my head and I thought about it for several days...I had been struggling over the decision to purchase an iPad or similar tech gadget. I really enjoy my MacBook computer and 4s iPhone and thought it would be nice to add an iPad to the family.  I thought I could justify the purchase to make choices easier for my clients.

But that Sinopia ad kept playing over and over in my mind...."low-tech artists.."

High -tech gadgets or low-tech tools...which direction is best for me?

BOTH!

First things first, I published a new book of updated work for clients to view. I have found that on initial meetings with prospective clients, they can be overwhelmed with the 9000+ photos on my computer! 

They love looking at photos on an electronic screen, but this is like looking at a magazine...there is not always a  personal connection.

They want something they can hold and touch. They respond well to a book! This is the first thing I give someone to look at. It has enough photos that they can see my style and then, if needed, the computer can provide other, more specific shots.

So, for now, no iPad in my future. Just a new self published book through Apple and my three year old MacBook to drag around. High- tech or low- tech...I think artists still lean to a simpler, old- tech style.