Tallahassee Watercolor Society Newsletter September/October 2024

Brush Strokes Member Exhibition

You’re Invited! Please join us for the opening reception and awards ceremony for the 2024 Brush Strokes Member Exhibition.

Thursday October 3, 2024

6- 7 PM

Tallahassee City Hall

300 S Adams St Gallery on 2nd floor

This year’s show features 46 paintings by 28 member artists. It runs from September 25 thru November 20. The show is beautiful, and the opening reception is a fun event. We hope to see you there.

Note: Parking can be tricky around Tallahassee City Hall. Metered parking on the street is available, and there is a parking garage west of City Hall on Duval St. at Kleman Plaza. You can find a map of some parking options at www.talgov.com/Parking/parking-services. Note the areas in purple are metered spaces, which are often the most convenient, flat and least costly.

Bill McKeown

My painting "Arches" has been juried into the 96th Grand National Exhibition of The American Artists Professional League in the Salmagundi Club, New York, NY.

October 28- November 15, 2024

Barbara Edwards

Barbara has received the Award for Abstraction in the 42nd annual Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors. The show runs from 8/3/2024 -9/28/2024 at the View Arts Center, Old Forge, N.Y.

Barbara has a painting accepted ( Seeking the Grass) into the Georgia Watercolor Society Members Juried Show. The show runs September 14 -October 26, 2024. The reception is September 28th at the Festival Hall, 201 N Main St. Greensboro, Ga.

Mary O Smith

I am a featured artist for the Pines and Palms Plein Air, High Cotton. I am doing a half day watercolor class the Tues before.

Also doing a demo for Jacksonville Watercolor Society at regular meeting, November 26th, and workshop February 4-6. Look for more info to follow. www.jacksonvillewatercolorsociety.org

Marty Holland

Spent the summer working on notecards and enjoying painting.

Call to Artists: Enter the Art & Soul People's Choice Awards!

LeMoyne Arts is thrilled to announce a special opportunity for all artists contributing to our upcoming Art & Soul art auction! We invite artists who generously donate their works to our auction to participate in the People's Choice Awards. This exciting competition offers a unique chance for your artwork to gain recognition and be celebrated by the community.

How It Works:

All Professional artists donating directly to the Art & Soul auction will automatically be entered into the People's Choice Awards.

Attendees of the event will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite artwork.

The artist with the most votes will win a $300 cash prize!

This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your work, gain exposure, and connect with fellow art enthusiasts. Your donation not only supports LeMoyne Arts but also enriches our community with your creative spirit.

To Participate:

Simply donate your artwork directly to the Art & Soul auction, and you will be automatically entered into the People's Choice Awards.

Deadline for Donations:

Please ensure your artwork is submitted by September 16th.

We look forward to seeing your incredible creations and celebrating the vibrant artistic community that makes Tallahassee shine!

For more information or to donate your artwork, please contact isabella@lemoyne.org.

​​​​​Thank you for your support and contribution to the arts!

Sincerely, LeMoyne Art

International Quilting and Jasmine tribute exhibitions open at Gadsden Arts

Discover quilting and fiber by artists from sixteen countries, from Iceland to Japan, and across the United States in Gadsden Arts’ new major exhibition, Aviary: International Quilting and Fiber Art, organized by Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA). Join us for the opening reception Friday, September 20, 2024 at 5pm with a Curator’s talk at 6:30pm. Admission is free for members and children, and just $5 for adult nonmembers or $3 for adult students.

Featured exhibitions opening alongside Aviary include an eloquent tribute to the life of Jasmine Kara Richardson by her father, acclaimed painter Eluster Richardson; an exhibition of Florida bird life paintings by Brenda Francis; work by great 20th Century Black artists Jack Whitten, on loan from Art Bridges, and Thornton Dial Sr. from the Gadsden Arts Permanent Collection; and our fifth Gadsden Arts Artists Guild exhibition of the year.

To create the Aviary exhibition, SAQA Director Martha Sielman invited “artists around the globe [to] respond to the birds they admire in myriad ways using a wide variety of materials and techniques.” In the hands of these master artists, the humblest materials, such as thread, paper, and fabric, transform into incredible art. The mixed media exhibition presents the familiarity of birds while also displaying them as creatures worth our admiration, allowing us to dream that we too, can take flight.

Aviary is made possible in part by donors to The Impact Fund and the Watson Arts Fund, and sponsors Tallahassee State College and Black Fig. Gadsden Arts is supported in part by the Gadsden County Tourist Development Council and City of Quincy. The exhibition continues through December 14, 2024.

Alongside Aviary, The Jasmine Kara Richardson Story by Eluster Richardson features his daughter Jasmine, who has been the subject of many of his compelling portraits. Starting when Jasmine was just two years old, these paintings celebrate Jasmine’s life and Richardson’s love for his daughter.

Winging It by Brenda Francis captures Florida’s avian and environmental diversity. Francis paints with a mastery of her medium and color, depicting serene scenes of Florida birds in their natural habitats, almost emphasizing the waterscape more than the birds themselves.

Jack Whitten and Thornton Dial, Sr., made possible in part by Art Bridges, compares and contrasts art by two celebrated 20th century American artists who grew up in Bessemer,

Alabama. Following very different paths, and overcoming many obstacles, they became two of the most celebrated American artists of the late 20th century.

The fifth Gadsden Arts Artists Guild exhibition of 2024 presents artwork by Nancy Adams, Wendy Adams, Keith Andrews, Amy Cober, Jane Driber, Thomas Friedman, John Isaacs, Joan Matey, Hui Chiu McClure, Linda Rabon, Maria Renzulli, Siroos Tamaddoni-Jahromi, Mary Liz Tippin-Moody, Georgia Turner, Amy Von Chamier, and Erika Zambello.

Bring friends for more exhibition-related events, such as our October 10 Dine & Discover Luncheon featuring artists from Aviary, Jim Miller, and Brenda Francis; or our October 19 fiber art workshop with Leslie Cohen. Information is at gadsdenarts.org. Create your own event for any group of four or more by calling 850-627-5023.

Gadsden Arts is located just 20 miles from Tallahassee. Visitor hours are Tuesdays – Saturdays 10am – 5pm. Exhibition admission is free for all museum members, children ages 17 and under, families visiting the ArtZone, and children’s groups, and $5 for adult non-members. Every Saturday is a Free Family Day at Gadsden Arts. For group reservations, call 850-627-5023. Information: www.gadsdenarts.org.

Chain of Parks Art Festival Call to Artists

Celebrating 25 years, LeMoyne’s Chain of Parks Art Festival returns on Saturday and Sunday, April 26 & 27, 2025, in downtown Tallahassee’s “Chain of Parks”. The Artist Application will be available between August 15 - Oct. 31, 2024.

The 25th annual Chain of Parks Art Festival is a multi-day Fine Art event that includes this two-day outdoor artist exhibit. The Festival has been ranked in the Top 100 Fine Art Festivals by Sunshine Artist Magazine for 10 straight years, ranking #7 in the Nation and #1 in Florida for 2024! Awarding over $10,000 in cash prizes with approximately 160 juried artists accepted to participate. Held in a group of city parks known as the ‘Chain of Parks’ in downtown Tallahassee, Florida, the Chain of Parks Art Festival has been recognized as a Legacy Event by Visit Tallahassee due to the 35,000+ visitors and patrons it attracts.

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Application Deadline: October 31, 2024
• Jury Notification: November 15, 2024
• Booth Fee Due: January 5, 2025
• Event Setup: April 25, 2025 (parks-8:00 am, streets-12 noon)
• Artist Welcome Reception: April 25, 5:30-7pm
• FESTIVAL DATES & TIMES: APRIL 26 & 27, 2025
• Saturday: 10 am – 5 pm
• Sunday: 10 am – 4 pm

To learn more and apply, visit ChainofParks.com

​​​​​​​All other applications (Entertainers, Food Vendors, Community Partners, etc.) will be available from October 31 until February 2, 2025

A guide to close-up portrait painting

Cher Pruys is a self-taught artist who works in different mediums. Here, she describes the thought process that goes into her portrait painting

I choose my subjects carefully to engage my audience – and also to share a story. Usually, I like to take numerous photos of them from many angles before starting the portrait painting. Even though these differ from my chosen pose for the final composition, I find this allows me to get to know the person well and to form a connection with them. I prefer natural light when I take photos as I feel it has a much softer look. I believe that lighting is of the utmost importance to a successful composition.

Light evokes so many feelings and conveys emotion. I spent a lot of time understanding light and paying attention to how it affects what we see. My portrait paintings s vary in the light I portray, as they all have different moods and convey different messages, such as nostalgia, romance and even emptiness. To tell a story that engrosses viewers is a driving factor in the portraits I like to paint, as this lends itself to the piece becoming one that leaves a lasting impression.

Once I have decided on the right perspective for a subject, I begin to sketch on 300lb hot press paper; it’s so smooth and perfect for high detail. It is a bit unforgiving, but worth it for achieving the desired results. Accuracy in my subjects’ features is essential for the hyper realistic results that I find desirable. The sketching is the most important – as well as the most demanding – part of my process, taking countless hours to create a drawing that is highly detailed with an undeniable exactness.

Once I am satisfied with my sketch, I pick my palette. Keeping in mind that colour conveys meaning by sight, like sound does to the ear, I choose wisely. This comes into play with the background especially, where the right colours can add depth and symbolism to my work. Blue shades, for example, can add a tranquil feeling; red a glow of passion and green a refreshing aura. There are rules for choosing colours in painting, such as the 60-30-10 rule which states that 60% of your artwork should be a dominant colour, 30% should be the secondary colour or texture and the last 10% an accent. However, I was never good at following rules and I have carried that trait into my work, breaking almost all of the advice and happily achieving success while doing so.

For instance, I once attended a class early in my career where my piece had won an award at an important international show. The teacher proceeded to use my painting as an example where he analysed my work, declaring the proper steps I had obviously used to achieve the results. Yet, almost everything he said was the opposite of what I had done. Rather than be intimidated and question my methods, I simply swore off taking to heart the advice given as gospel and continued doing it my way, while continuing to be open to whatever constructive criticism of my work would be offered in the years to come.

I use mainly acrylics as well as gouache and watercolour at times, picking a limited palette for skin tones, preferring mixing colours rather than any straight out of the tube colours. Currently, I view my chosen photograph, the one I’m going to work with, in grayscale, as I find it much easier to find the proper value and tone of my subject. This is, of course, essential to create a finished piece that has depth and dimension, resulting in realism. I never want my portraits to appear flat.

I paint the eyes, eyebrows and mouth first, as these are the features that I find bring my characters to life and capture the essence of their personality. The gaze of my subject will ultimately portray the mood of the work, for example intense, soft, or somewhere in between. Most artists paint the background before concentrating on the main subject, whereas I put a light halo around my subject and leave the background until my subject is almost finished, shy of final details and highlights. The halo helps to keep my edges clear when I do add the background. The hair comes next. Unlike most artists who block in the dark areas first, I painstakingly paint the fine strands light, one by one. Then, I layer on the darker shades. Even though this requires me to go back and redo all the light strands, the payoff is well worth it, resulting in remarkable texture – I hope – and highlights which add to the realism.

The next step is to lay in the darks, then the mid tones and, finally, the lights. This helps to define the contours of the face and results in a wonderful 3D appearance that is so important to avoid the flat look that so many portraits can exhibit.

I then work on the background, which is often overlooked in portrait painting. It plays an important role and can be a powerful narrative tool in the success of the overall painting. I find it can provide my subject with a sense of meaning. If I want the focus to be solely on the subject, I choose a neutral background, but I keep in mind that the addition of details can help set the context of each person’s story. Complicated backgrounds are sometimes necessary, but not always required, to produce an effective result. I try to always keep in mind the basic principles of design when choosing a background for a specific work, these being contrast, balance, emphasis, rhythm, pattern, movement, variety and, of course, the one I find of the utmost importance, unity.

Next, is the high detail and highlights, and this takes a lot of time, patience and close scrutiny. I achieve this in several ways, including holding my work up to the mirror and taking a series of photos of my painting, even upside down. I then put them up on my computer screen where I can carefully view them and find any areas which need adjusting. I find this really helps me to see what I cannot see when looking directly at my work. It is also valuable for the final flesh colour adjusting, which is not possible to do on the actual painting, especially when using the 300lb hot press paper which could not stand up to such abuse with the brush! I then return to the easel to adjust the colour, highlights and perhaps the features that may need tweaking.

My style is very demanding but rewarding. It requires me to devote many hours to the drawing of my subjects, with the details essential to the success of the piece of artwork. This artform is enhanced by the narrative of the overall piece. This is where the storytelling comes into play. I love telling a narrative with my paintings that I feel will resonate with my viewers.