ZenDoodle Fun This Saturday!

This Saturday, Nov. 17th (10 a.m.-1 p.m.), we will be having fabulous fun learning about ways to create artwork using different designs in my "Zendoodling for Fun & Meditation"!  The sample design at the right looks complicated, but it's very easy to create, one stroke at a time.  Zendoodling is a fun but calming process of combining strokes of the pen into amazing designs to create art.

You will learn the basics of the zendoodle process, plus lots of different designs and create lovely artwork to take home.  You take home the pen, multiple pre-cut pieces of the lovely watercolor paper that we use, plus some ways to collect the designs for future use.

It is so much fun to put these patterns together in an intentional manner to make fabulous artwork that can be used for cards, decorations, or framed art.  I will also teach you how to incorporate watercolor or other colored media into your designs.

I still have a couple of slots open for the class.  If interested, call me to sign up: 575-430-6148.  Come join the fun at SpiritBird Studio, 221 Karr Canyon, High Rolls, NM.  Get directions HERE.  Cost is only $40 for the materials, ideas and completed artwork.  You take home plenty of materials to do many more pieces.

My latest in my SpiritBird Series is a commissioned 5"x7" oil on panel, "Spirit of Love." I love the feeling of light and flight!

Zendoodle "Playshop" Coming Up!

The SpiritBird Studio Holiday Gala was a great party!  Lots of folks came to enjoy art, wine, snacks and fall colors--and special holiday prices for the art.  Happy winners took home some fun small pieces of original art. Look for next year's dates in the near future.

My "Zendoodles for Fun and Meditation" Playshop is coming to SpiritBird Studio (High Rolls) on November 17th, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.  Cost is only $40, including materials and tax.  Space is limited, so sign up soon!  Contact me at 575-430-6148 or email at sarajchambers@yahoo.com.  I am calling this a "playshop" as there should be absolutely no work involved!  You will take home several pieces of completed artwork, materials, and lots of ideas.

Zendoodles are doodling with intent.  In this "playshop", you will learn the basics of combining patterns for fun artwork. The important thing to remember is that you do not have to be good at drawing to create a great piece of artwork!  We will be playing with designs to create art.  I will show you the simple steps involved in this fun process and share multiple patterns for you to take home to play with.  Create greeting cards, journal decorations, clothing items, stationery . . . the list is endless!

You can also embellish any drawing that you do for training or fun to take your piece to a higher level.

Directions to my studio are on my website:  www.SaraJChambers.com.

Amaro Winery Art Show Reception

We had a fun time on Friday night at the Amaro Winery reception for my art show!  I neglected to take pics at the reception but have a couple showing a bit of the show.  Lots of folks came to enjoy the art, the music by Soulshine, and, of course, the WINE!  I am truly pleased and grateful to have this opportunity to display my artwork at this lovely venue.

 The show looks really great in this light, airy space, with some super colored walls, too.

If you missed the reception, you can view the show from now until January 2.  Tasting room hours are 1-6 every day but Sunday (1-5).  They often have live music on Fridays from 7-10.  What a marvelous opportunity to enjoy wine and art at the same time!
Thanks, Amaro Winery and Kelly (owner)!

Busy October

I have been quite actively preparing for three upcoming exhibits.  Two of them are in October and I will send paintings for the third at the beginning of the month!

First, I am setting up an exhibit as featured artist at Amaro Winery in Las Cruces, which I will hang next Tuesday, September 25.  The reception for the exhibit is Friday, October 5th, 5-9 p.m.  Come and enjoy an evening of art, wine, live music by Soulshine, and food. 

You can visit  Amaro Winery to see the paintings (and enjoy the wine and company) from September 25-January 2 (2013) during regular tasting room hours, 1-6 p.m. M-Sat, 1-5 Sun, and, of course, on Fridays until 9 or 10 p.m.  Amaro is located at 402 S. Melendres St., Las Cruces, just south of Amador Ave.

Next, my annual studio event is coming!  Save the dates!

2012 Holiday Studio Gala

SpiritBird Studio

221 Karr Canyon Road, High Rolls

(directions at www.SaraJChambers.com)

Saturday & Sunday

October 20 & October 21, 2012

2-6 p.m. Saturday

2-5 p.m. Sunday

New paintings

Holiday Savings

Refreshments

Hourly drawings for art

Silent art auctions

This is happening the same weekend as the High Rolls Apple Festival.  The fall colors should still be great, so come on out and enjoy the art and the mountains!!

Last, I will have six paintings in the Artists Haven Gallery November show, which opens November 3rd in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  I am excited to have my paintings in this special exhibit for the third year in a row.  The gallery features six artists a month, plus they display two pieces of each artist's art year around.

Look for the postcards announcing each event.  See you at Amaro and SpiritBird Studio!!

Resources for Gesture Drawing

I have been teaching gesture drawing in my drawing class lately.  I have found that doing this exercise is ADDICTING!  Below are some excellent online resources for gesture drawing.  The Pixielovely site is especially amazing.  How generous!  I expect to make a contribution to keep this one going.

http://www.terryvision.com/pages/previousBlogs/Blog_17Jan07-Tips.html 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=ctkRwRDdajo 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmiwGm32dXU&feature=related  explanation and demo plus great references!

Pixielovely Figure Drawing Training Tool:  http://pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php  FREE!

Come join us for drawing class challenges on most Tuesdays, 9-12.  Cost is only $31.78 per class or $105.94 for 4 classes, prepaid.

Painting in Open Acrylics

I have been training myself to paint in acrylics, in preparation for our trip to Peru  I have acquired a 6x8 Thumbox Guerilla Easel.  It's very fun to use.

I am combining Golden Open Acrylics with regular ones to get blending with fast drying.  I got a couple of sample sets that have 22 ml tubes--just right for travel.  So far, I still battle the regular acrylics drying too fast in the New Mexico dryness, but I am learning to tweak them in combo with the Opens.  Here's hoping--we are leaving soon!

I painted this 8x6 experiment of Yarrow on linen today in not too much time. I am getting faster!:

I find I like using a palette knife, as the texture seems better, after putting in an underpainting.  Let me know what you think. 

Spectrafix--Miracle Fixative!

I seldom if ever use fixative with my pastels.  The boards that I use with pumice surface really holds the pastel without fixative.  But I have explored ways of sealing and varnishing my pastels in order to maintain the bright colors and textures without glass.  Although I was able to do so, the process was extremely imperfect:  It required much labor, lots of coats of spray varnish, much reworking, could not be done in my studio (fumes!), was weather dependent (wind! Think "New Mexico"!)

Recently, another multi-media artist, Bob Burridge, recommended using Spectrafix  casein-based fixative as a means of overcoming theses obstacles.  I just tried the Spectrafix on a small pastel (above).  I cannot see any difference in color or texture from "before" to "after"!!  I am AMAZED.  I plan to try varnishing it after it sets for a week, per one of the customer comments.  Totally no smell or fumes.  Cannot wait to try painting a pastel on canvas.  It will be great for charcoal drawings, also.  Thanks, Bob! 

Here is their website: http://spectrafix.com/index.html

PS--I am not receiving a commission from Spectrafix ;>)

Chile and Drawing

This is a partial view of a three foot tall chile that I am painting to be donated for the Hospice El Paso art fund raiser auction in early September.  What a challenge!  Since this is poppies, the working title is "Red Hot Poppers."  Get your bids in early!

Meanwhile, I am also offering an ongoing drawing class (3 hours per session), which will meet the next three weeks in July--Monday, July 16; Tuesday, July 24; and Tuesday, July 31. Classes will begin again early in September, probably on Tuesday mornings, unless there is consensus for another time.  Stay posted for times and dates.

The July classes will meet 9 a.m. to noon each session.  Cost for the three July classes is $75 plus tax, if paid in advance. Otherwise, the classes are $30 plus tax per class.  Tuition beginning in September will be $100 plus tax for 4 classes at a time when paid ahead, or $30 plus tax per class.

I will be teaching and reviewing drawing exercises and skills, and will begin to cover the basics in drawing the human face and figure when it seems appropriate to the class members.  Each class will feature skills, inspiration and application.  Join us to hone your drawing skills, gain some discipline and incentive and become the draughtsman (-woman /person?) you are meant to be!  Call to sign up today:  575-430-6148 or send me an e-mail:  sarajchambers@yahoo.com.

Creative Composition Coming!

My "Creative Composition" class is coming up soon!  I have shortened the class to three days--June 18-20 (M-W), in order to accommodate some students' schedules, so the price is now $250.  Such a deal!  I still have a few openings.

The class will meet from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily for the three days.  We will cover the most important elements of composition, except for drawing, which many folks are taking next week from my friend and fellow artist David Barranti at the Cloudcroft Art Workshops in Cloudcroft, NM.

Come find out what the masters have to teach us, as well as secrets that many have never heard or were able to learn.


What is Gustav Klimt teaching us in this famous portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (that only a few years ago auctioned for $132 million dollars)???!

Pastel Society of El Paso Demo

What a fun time I had doing the demonstration for the Pastel Society of El Paso last Thursday.  About 20 people watched me create this 20 x 16" painting of a garden with red flowers:

I love painting in pastels.  They are so direct and have such a powerful punch of color.  They are also a very fast medium for me.  This painting took me about an hour, and that was while I was talking!

I had a terrific group of artists join me for my "Small Jewels" class on Saturday!  We each created between two and five paintings.  The artists learned that they could create powerful, colorful "jewels" of art on small formats in a very limited period of time in almost any medium.  These pieces encourage fluency of drawing, composition and painting, and result in lovely pieces that fit anyplace!  Remember--the more pieces of art you produce, the better you get!  Production is even more important than product.

My next class is Friday, May 11, beginning about 9:30 a.m. at the Hondo Iris Farm in Hondo, NM (east of Ruidoso, Hwy 7, Blue sign at Mile Marker 284, just off highway).  It is aptly about "Painting Irises".  See info at the right for details or go to my website:  www.SaraJChambers.com

Remember that early, discounted registration deadline for the "Creative Composition" class is June 1.  You save 10%!  Such a deal.

Spring Plein Air

Fellow artist Sue Parry and I went out to paint the glorious spring day yesterday. It was a three-painting day for me--always a joy!

I began warming up with a modified contour of the mesa that intrigued me and started adding water color to capture how I felt about the scene.  Along the way, I decided I liked two things:  One, drawing rhythm of the landscape and not every detail; two, that I didn't paint every detail.  I got a little carried away with the drawing before I stopped, but I still like the effect.  "Spring in the Air," 6"x8" pen and watercolor.

Having warmed up, I moved into doing a small pastel piece of the same scene, flipping the orientation to vertical.  I seldom work this small in pastel, so I challenged myself to pull this off.  I love the vibrant colors and the textures of the mesas and pushing the warm and cool contrast.  It's a little too fussy overall for what I thought I wanted, but I enjoy it.  This one is "Spring Mesa," 7"x5" pastel on board.

With about 30 minutes to spare, I decided to tackle another pastel on a 6x8" board with a different viewpoint.  Deciding to draw the contours in a cad red light was so exciting that I decided to see how far I could push the fantasy!  I really wanted to exaggerate the warm and cool contrast, choosing only the violet and the turquoise to parry against the cad red and gold, and finishing the sky with a dark blue.  In about 20 minutes, I thought I had pulled it off.  I love the result!

"Spring Evening," 6"x8" pastel on board.

PayPal Options and Ruby Jewel

Heads up!  I have added payment by PayPal options to my classes at the right top of my blog.  You can use credit cards, as well as funds transfer.

Note that two of the classes have discounted rates for early registration/payment.  The "Brush-free Oil Painting", April 18-20, is 10% off if you register by April 1 with full payment of $180 (instead of $200).  "Creative Composition" is only $295 for the five days (June 18-22) if you register and pay by June 1.  Otherwise it is $325.

This is my latest painting, "Ruby Jewel", 6"x6" oil on gallery wrapped canvas.  I am thinking about adding a "Buy Now" button for these small pieces.  What do you think?

Eagle Ranch Show Ongoing

Remember that the "Small Works Exhibit" at Eagle Ranch Art Gallery is on display until March 31.  We have several bids already on the silent auction piece.  You can bid for it online at the Eagle Ranch Art Gallery website. Here is an image of the painting.



Use this link to learn how to place your bid:  http://www.heartofthedesert.com/gallery.asp 

Here is a hint of what one of the walls in the show looks like:

Eagle Ranch Gallery Small Works Exhibit

I am really excited about my "Small Works Exhibit" that is opening TODAY at Eagle Ranch Art Gallery, 7288 Hwy 54/70, just north of La Luz.  I took LOTS of small paintings and they look FABULOUS hanging in the Eagle Ranch Art Gallery!!  Thank you, Marianne Schweers and Eagle Ranch, for this opportunity to share my artwork.

The opening reception is this Friday, March 2, 6-8 p.m.  We will have art, live music, refreshments and FUN!  Indian Plains Flute musician Ed Pias is playing for our event.  His beautiful melodies make a great backdrop for the art and conversation.

I will give away a mini oil painting at 7 p.m. as a bonus for some lucky attendee at the reception. I am also offering a 5% discount for art purchases made at the reception.  What a deal!

For the entire month of March, I am featuring a silent auction for one of my 14"x11" (small work) pastels.  The subject is yellow irises that I painted at the Hondo Iris Farm last May.  This is also an example of what we will paint during my "Painting Irises" class on May 11 at the Hondo Iris Farm.  If you want to paint irises, sign up today!  I am offering free shipping for the painting, if you live out of town.  So you have no excuses not to bid!  The opening bid is only $335 for a painting that retails for $635--what a deal!

Come see the show, 8 to 6 Mon.-Sat., 9-6 Sundays, until March 31. 

Worthy of Attention

Here is a link to an interesting inspirational article for artists, deceptively titled "Pigeons," by artist and marketer Jack White: http://faso.com/fineartviews/39213/pigeons  Even if you don't agree with White, you can learn much from his observations.  His wife is Mikke Senkarik, an excellent colorful, prolific artist who shares her insights into painting on her blog by the same name.

I learn much from sharing other artists' ideas and information and love to pass on some of the resources.

Yesterday's painting was informed by a conversation I had with a good friend and artist about warm and cool used to create depth in a painting. I was really thinking about that when I was painting this little floral oil painting (buy it $120 pp).

Zentangles

Because I am so attracted to patterning and texture, I have become intrigued and been "playing" with a process called "Zentangles," doodling in pattern in a meditative way.  See information here and here.  There are some pretty cool videos on YouTube also. This is one of my earlier pieces:

I have since, tried to incorporate some realistic drawing that employs the doodling/patterning.  The flicker is my first effort.  What a lot of fun, while thinking about design, composition, variety and repetition!

Remember my upcoming classes!  Sign up early as space is limited.  Also, remember to come to Artisan Santa Fe on Feb. 4 to see me paint in oil sticks.

Class Schedule 2012:

March 24, 2012  Painting Floral Landscapes   SpiritBird Studio, High Rolls, NM

April 14, 2012    Small Jewels (3”x4” to 6”x6” paintings) SpiritBird Studio, High Rolls, NM

April 18-20         Brush-free Oil Painting     SpiritBird Studio, High Rolls, NM

May 11, 2012     Paintings Irises (on location)   Hondo Iris Farm, Hondo, NM

June 18-22, 2012 Creative Composition    SpiritBird Studio, High Rolls, NM

Demo at Artisan Santa Fe

I feel like I've been off the planet, instead of on vacation--with Christmas coming on the heels of our two-week Caribbean cruise!

I am busy creating pieces in preparation for my free oil stick demonstration, "Oil Sticks: The Secret to Brushless Oil Paintings,"at Artisan Santa Fe on Feb. 4th (1:30 p.m.).  I do hope lots of artists will check out this lesser-known approach to oil.

I will also be offering a three-day class on using oil sticks at my SpiritBird Studio in High Rolls, April 18-20.  Cost is only $200 for the three days, and includes some supplies.  Space is limited, so register early!

This is my latest piece, "Canyon Maple," 12x12.  I love how the oil stick and palette knife application work together to bring different textures to the piece!

Class Schedule 2012:

March 24, 2012  Painting Floral Landscapes   SpiritBird Studio, High Rolls, NM

April 14, 2012    Small Jewels (3”x4” to 6”x6” paintings) SpiritBird Studio, High Rolls, NM

April 18-20         Brush-free Oil Painting     SpiritBird Studio, High Rolls, NM

May 11, 2012     Paintings Irises (on location)   Hondo Iris Farm, Hondo, NM

June 18-22, 2012 Creative Composition    SpiritBird Studio, High Rolls, NM