Great Courses - How to Draw

I have been thinking about taking a drawing class for a few years.  I have never had such training and thought it would help me elevate my art.  A summer course at the local community college looked interesting, but the commitment was 8 weeks of 3hrs four days a week.  Very intense and with my volunteer commitments it did not seem reasonable.  As a result I found an online course from Great Courses.  They were on sale ($49 vs $334!) so I bought the How to Draw and the Fundamentals of Photography.  With these courses I can work at my own pace, but I have to remain disciplined! Hmmmmmmmmmm...

BTW You Tube has lots of How to Draw videos like the one below.  However, the Great Courses course is 80hrs of video and it is presented by a full professor from the University of Washington.

Yuma Art Symposium

I am happy to say that I am attending the Yuma Art Symposium this year.  Unfortunately I have been unable to find anyone to attend with me...

I am looking forward to seeing the works of
Geoffrey Gorman.

Jason Hess, ceramic artist from Flagstaff, AZ

 
Craig Nutt, wood artist

Mi-Suk Hur

Field Trip

I am off on a field trip with my neighbor Linda this AM.  She is taking Printing I at Yavapai College this semester.  The class is visiting a local printer at his studio today.  I am not sure what to expect, but I always love to see other artist's studio.  I will take my camera and if he allows, I will take some pics and post later (updating this post) if they are at all interesting...

It rained last night and the pollen counts are a little lower today, so I plan to work in the landscape today and not in my studio.  Soooo much to do!  LOL

UPDATE:
The tour of Skyline Type Foundry was very interesting!  This guy, Scott, has acquired very old printing machines and refurbished them.  Although he has many printing presses, he mainly creates the metal font types.  Apparently there is a niche market for type set printing these days.  Everything retro...

This machine liquefies the metal and drives it into a "matrix" chamber to form the metal type. It is automatic once the operator sets up the spacing etc. which can be different for different letters and fonts.

I was very excited to see the all the old machines.  It brought back good memories of my career as a manufacturing designer and engineer!  I really did enjoy that work.  (Hmmmm, maybe that's why I enjoy the metal welding so much?!?)   In addition to enjoying the tour, I needed two photos for 16" X 20" prints on metal, only $9.99 Groupn from Print Pix!  I had purchased the Groupon in December and it was ready to run out in two days!  Below are the two pics I used.

 

PS Didn't work much in the landscape, by the time I got home and had lunch it was 2PM!  Shortly afterwards it began to rain again!

PSS Monday is our first session to paint the step stools, so look for a new post about that event...

A Winter Cold...

Well, a winter cold on top of my allergies has kept me out of the studio!  However, I am feeling better and I am off to Marjon Ceramics in Phoenix on Saturday for a clay hand building workshop with Sandy Luehrsen.

After the workshop, dinner at sister Melinda, Walter and friends Lisa and Phil.  Then I will leave early Sunday morning to get home before the worst of a winter storm!  Lots of rain then snow Tuesday & Wednesday...  With the three weeks of 70 degree weather in February (above normal!), my poor fruit trees have started to bud and we will be down to 17degF next week!  I have to figure out how to blanket my small trees to prevent damage.  Always something to do and it if often not my art!!!

Yuma Art Symposium Experince

The drive to Yuma was uneventful until reaching Quartzsite.  At that point I began to see a barrage of large (bus size) RV trailers and lots of them.  They were on the road and parked in the desert.  Apparently Quartzsite is a mecca to over a million visitors most of whom converge on the small town in a wave of RVs during January and February.  The Gem and Mineral show, a Blue Grass Festival, an Off Road Rally and many other events are held during these two months.  Who knew?!?!

Past Quartzsite and just outside of  the city of Yuma one begins to see miles of agricultural fields. Apparently, Yuma County is the winter vegetable capital of the world, or so they claim.  In fact, about 90 percent of all the leafy vegetables grown in the U.S. from November through March are grown in and around the Yuma area. Who knew!?!?


I arrived at the Symposium registration site, Timkins Pottery,  at 10:45 AM.   And no one was at the registration booth to give me my information.  I was not happy because I had no map or presenters schedule.  Long story short within the hour I got my information and they even invited me to lunch outside of their pottery studio.  Unfortunately, I had missed all but one presenter for the day.

I stayed at the Yuma Best Western which was within walking distance of the Art District and venues.  Although the rate was reasonable, I think I will stay at the Hilton next time!  Enough said...

There were many events to attend, the pin auction, the show your art night, the Gallery Opening Night, the file, saw and solder competition, and finally the dinner dance.  This was the 35th year so I felt a little like an outsider.  However, I will consider going again next year...

Yuma Art Symposium

I just registered to attend the Yuma Art Symposium, scheduled for Feb 20 - 23rd, 2014.  I have never been to such an event. There are several presenters speaking on subjects for which I have an interest. And the student rate is pretty reasonable - $80.  They have an established website, blog and a facebook page. I guess they are media connected!  Since I have a class Thursday evening, I will have to leave on Friday after my Tai Chai class...  Apparently this is the 35th year.  It looks very organized and has lots of things to do...

Ceramic Tile Making

Simple process yet a very sophisticated outcome!

Centering on the Wheel