Pittsburgh - This Weekend

Shady Side Art Festival on Walnut Street - Booth #57 at Walnut and S. Aiken

When:

  • Saturday, August 27th, 2016 

    10:00am to 7:00pm

  • Sunday, August 28th, 2016 

    10:00am to 5:00pm

Where:  -  Find me in Booth #57 at Walnut and S. Aiken

739 Bellefonte St in Pittsburgh, PA

Cost: Free Admission

RSVP:

RSVP Here

The 20th Annual Shadyside… The Art Festival on Walnut Street is a proven summer weekend art show located in the Shadyside area of Pittsburgh, PA. On August 27th and 28th this popular neighborhood of tree-lined streets, historic homes and trendy businesses will again be transformed into an outdoor gallery of fine art. The Shadyside locals look forward to this fine art show each year. Walnut Street offers something for everyone – national retail stores, unique locally owned shops, numerous restaurants, bars and eateries featuring a vast variety of cuisines. Hope to see you our there!!

Venue: Walnut Street in Shadyside (Pittsburgh, PA)

Making Successful Grays by Michael Chesley Johnson

I follow Michael Chesley Johnson's blog and saw this the other day. I thought he had some good ideas about mixing grays and wanted to share them.  I hope you find this as interesting as I did. 

You can check out his work at http://www.michaelchesleyjohnson.com

"Morning at Raccoon Beach" 5x7, oil 

"Morning at Raccoon Beach" 5x7, oil 

Greys are both easy and difficult to conjure up.  Easy, because there's nothing like a dirty brush to work its black magic in creating rather ugly greys.  Difficult, because a pretty grey takes a certain amount of apprenticeship in mixing color.

First, let's make sure we've got reasonably clean brushes.  That will keep you from summoning grey without meaning to.  Now, let's think about how greys are made.

They say you can make a grey by mixing a color with its complement.  This is true, but it can be a very muddy grey.  A prettier grey can be made by mixing a color with its near-complement instead.  This is because the grey is closer in character to the color being greyed.  Try it.  Use a color wheel to help you identify the near-complement.    If you want to grey down a green, don't use red - instead, use red-violet or red-orange.

Let's take this a step farther.  Look at the color you want to grey and decide if it is a cool or warm version of its base color.  To grey it, add the same temperature of its complement.  If it's a cool red, use a cool green.  If you use a warm green with a cool red, this will make mud.  Using a cool with a cool will make a more beautiful grey.  As an example, I paint a lot of fog, and many times I'll start off with a light pink - that's cadmium red light with lots of white, and very cool - and then scumble on a light cool green, such as viridian with lots of white.  This combination gives me a mudless fog.

In the little 5x7 sketch above, I use this approach, but for a sunny scene.  The scene had a lot of grey in it.  I painted all the major shapes with the complement of the correct value and correct color temperature, and then overlaid them with the local color.

(First posted June 15, 2011)

--- Michael Chesley Johnson, AIS PSA MPAC PSNM www.MichaelChesleyJohnson.com


Paint on my friends,
Dawn

 

 

Why do you do it?!?

Why do we do what we do? This is a question that keeps coming up in the classes I have been at C4 (business classes for artists). I am amazed by how hard this question is to answer.

Easy answers:

I can.  I love it.  I'm curious.  Etc....

Why is this such a hard thing to answer? I have been making art most of my life. I have a degree in painting. I have been teaching painting classes for 14 years. But why do I do this? Well... I love making 3 dimensional space on a 2 dimensional plane, moving color back in forth within that 2D space. I love problem solving, and I just like to walk around and look and think about how so many things are possible on one little planet.

 I have been assigned to make my mission statement  as part of my class work, and after a lot of struggle, I think I have it.

Mission: Create expressive paintings that elevate the ordinary and encourage the viewer to appreciate the beauty of the day to day.

When it comes down to it, I always feel so lucky. I love my work and I can always learn and improve. I look forward to seeing what tomorrow brings. 

Paint on my friends,

Dawn

Painting Location: Colony Square

This is the Northside on Colony Square at 15th and Peachtree. Across from the High Museum .
I took photos on my jog today. If I looks to busy, there are tons of gorgeous house back in the neighborhood

Parking would be either at Colony Square or find street parking back in the neighborhoods. Just read all the signs. There is metered parking as well. I would drop my supplies and then park.

Atlanta Painters @ the Harvest Farm

 

  • Sunday, April 17, 2016
  • 10:00am  1:00pm
  • Harvest Farms752 White Street, Suwanne GA 30024 

Bring a hat/sunscreen!--and let's picnic afterwards! There is a shaded seating area and great restroom facilities...bring a little snack to share and we can socialize...

This area is part of "old Suwanee" when it was still a blue-jean overalls kind of place. There are cute old houses along this road, a small church, as well as a railroad track and believe it or not an unpaved road...also the park has walking trails through the woods. Should be something for everyone here! I might bring my bike and go for a short exploratory ride afterwards if any one is interest in joining me...very quiet, no traffic in this area...

http://harvestfarmsuwanee.com/about/about-the-garden/