The Third Iteration of "Tango in La Boca"

"Tango in La Boca"

Buenos Aires, Argentina

8" x 10" collage and mixed media

This should do it. I decided to add some of the red into the left wall panel and haze it out using Japanese collage paper -- I really like this particular lacy paper for these purposes. I bought the paper in a packet from Gerald Brommer at his collage workshop.  I have never spent so many hours on such a small painting. It's been a journey. Experimenting is fun, though.

I will submit this piece to our Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society juried show, "Think Large Paint Small." I don't know if it will get selected for the show, of course. We have many fabulous artists in the society. We can enter up to three paintings and I plan to create two more pieces. No side of the framed art can exceed 14 inches. Charlotte Huntley is the juror. Ribbons will be given for first, second, and third place. An artist must be a member to submit paintings, and our membership fee is a most modest $30. There is a fee for submission. Read more about the show here.

If you are seeing this post and have not seen previous iterations, take the links for the first iteration and second iteration.

More Collage on "Tango in La Boca"

"Tango In La Boca"

9" x 12" Collage and Mixed Media

One of my fellow South Side Art Club artists thought the grey wall on the left was too stark against the highly patterned piece. Penny suggested adding the suggestion of some bricks. Instead, I decided to go back and rework the painting. You can see the original here. I wanted to soften some of the edges of the red of the building as well. Gerald Brommer told us to just keep adding collage paper until the thing got too thick to frame!

I'm still not sure. Might have to darken the section on the left. Thoughts?

Another dancer

"Dancing on the Plaza"

Mixed Media

18" x 13.5"

Our neighbors went on a Mexican cruise a while back and shared this snapshot of a beautiful woman dancing at one of their ports of call. Jim gave me permission to use his photograph in my art. I tried a full sheet of this dancer once using acrylic paint and I wasn't happy with it. I began this and decided to rework the background. I am using Arches 300 lb hot press paper here, which can take a lot of abuse. I did some scrubbing out and used some gouche and gesso along with my watercolor .

I enjoy painting dancers, and you can take the dancer label on the lower right frame to find other paintings I've done related to tango and gaucho dancing inspired by our South American trip. Bob and I have taken ballroom dancing lessons for several years and we often dance as many as four times a week. It's great exercise, fun, and a nice shared activity, like our travel and bicycling.

Dancing in the Streets

"Dancing in the Streets"
Buenos Aires, Argentina
8" x 10"

Acrylic on canvas

We spent 8 days in Buenos Aires at the end of a trip around Cape Hope by cruise ship in February. While there, we visited San Telmo where we saw people doing wonderful Argentine Tango in the streets. We were inspired to take two private lessons from a professional couple who rented studio time to give them to us. When we returned home, we added Argentine Tango to our weekly ballroom dance lessons.

We learned that the tango got its start in the brothels where the men would dance with each other to pass the time while waiting. The upper class did not embrace the tango until it became popular in France and other European countries, which gave it respectability. The dance is now a very important part the Argentine social scene. A Milonga is the venue where people dance the tango, and we had hoped to go to a Milonga while in Buenos Aires. However, we are definitely Americanos who tend towards an early bedtime, so we never managed to stay up until 2:00 a.m. to attend a Milonga. How do folks get up the next morning and go to work?

I wanted to do a very simple rendering of dancers doing the corte step without a lot of detail. I covered the canvas with an orange mother color and then proceeded to paint the scene with little detail. I finished the buildings by adding some black line using liquid gesso. I have much to learn about working with acrylics. Near the end of the process, I used some gloss medium and I rather liked the smooth coverage I got from doing that. More experimenting is in order.

The Gaucho Dancer

"Gaucho Dancer"

Ushuia, Argentina

This is what happens when Mary meets Betsy Dillard Stroud - new experiments! I will experiment more with complex surfaces. Taking a page out of "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" day, I used stamping, gouche with watercolor, and layering to achieve an exciting surface. I did not throw acrylic or collage into the mix, which Betsy did. The young man is from a photo I took while watching young people do a gaucho show in Ushuai, Argentina, in February. I love to paint dancers. I would like to abstract the background more than I did here -- a step at a time towards the ideal.

Today I am off to an Acrylic Party sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society this afternoon. The company supplies the materials and we bring our paper and brushes.

Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society "Anything Goes" at the Palo Alto Art League

"Dancing the Blues"
11" x 14"
Watercolor and charcoal

One of my art goals this year is to enter two shows. I have actually met my goal. I entered Silicon Valley Open Studios in May and yesterday, I entered three pieces into "Anything Goes" being sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society (SCVWS) at the Palo Alto Art League on Ramona Street in Palo Alto. Members were invited to submit pieces done in any media. You will see much watermedia, including acrylics, but you will also enjoy oils, collage, and a wonderful bronze sculpture.

Here is the beautiful flyer featuring art by several of our many accomplished artist. If you live in the area, the show is on through the end of the month. The reception is Friday night and this is my very first art reception for a public show sponsored by others. I am looking forward to a lovely evening. Please feel free to drop by between 6 and 9 p.m. Wine, light refreshments, and terrific art will make the event special, and you might choose a piece to add to your collection. Bob and I hope to see you there.

We could enter one framed piece and two matted, unframed pieces. I framed "Morning Light" previously featured on this blog. I did a bit more tweaking since I posted the piece, but I can't show you the improvements as I failed to photograph the finished piece. The unframed pieces include "Dordogne Sunflower" previously featured on the blog. "Dancing the Blues" shown above is the second piece. This is an image I have done in series as a part of a challenge on Myrna Wacknov's blog. I especially like the use of charcoal line on this one and the energetic background. Myrna has a lovely acrylic on display at the show.

SCVWS is a well-oiled machine and everyone who enters the show volunteers for a task. When I arrived at 11, the place was buzzing with volunteers examining the framed pieces to ensure compliance with show rules, receiving the art, and creating labels for the framed art. I was part of the hanging committee, with experienced hanger Karen Wong providing guidance to several of us. I was impressed with Karen's ability to group unlike art and provide a harmonious and eye-catching experience to the viewer. The two rooms with 48 pieces are very inviting. There are a number of windows and doors, so we put up the SCVWS show panels in places where they would not obstruct the overall view of the show. With two teams of hangers at work, we were done before 3! I learned a lot about how to successfully hang an art show. That's one of the things I love about volunteering in the society. I learn so much and have met many wonderful people.

I will exceed my goals this year as I also plan to enter "Linear Visions," the SCVWS Members Show that will be at the Rose Shenson Community Art Gallery, Triton Museum, in Santa Clara. Expect to see all things related to either using the design element, line (one I love!) or featuring some relationship to line. You can read about "LinearVisions." I am very excited to know that prominent watermedia artist Christopher Schink is the juror for this show and will select the pieces to receive awards. You can see that he really gets "line."

You'll be hearing more about my show experiences. Stay tuned.

Open Studios Wrapup

I pose with "Mother's Tea" which sold the first day

Part of my display, including "Two for Tango" and "Mujer del Gaucho," sold on Day 2

My flower bike welcomes patrons to the studio

A lovely Mother's Day gift from my dear friend, Pam

We had a lovely second day of Open Studios. I sold nine paintings and numerous cards. My fellow artists had good sales as well. The crowds were steady. Bob did the greeter duties on Sunday. Both Bob and Arleta were terrific at their job. I had to show you my flower bike, which was a lovely gift from my co-workers when I retired. It's a true "fixie" for any of you who might know cycling lingo.

Since then, I've been super busy going to drawing class, meeting some social commitments, and doing a brown bag lunch session on commuting to work by bike requested by IBM at their Silicon Valley Lab. Tomorrow we teach a second session at IBM Almaden Research, and Thursday we work an energizer station at the Caltrain depot in Morgan Hill for Bike to Work Day, followed by breakfast at the Specialized Bicycle Company headquarters.

I am continuing to work on the closeout of the show. I am just getting my house back in order and trying to find a place for unsold art. I am doing thank you notes to the collectors who bought art, and recording sales for my business records. It's interesting to analyze what sold. I sold a still life, a very modern experimental piece, two dancer-themed paintings of people, several florals, and a landscape. All but two were framed and two were unmatted and unframed. Cards also sold very well. A special of four for the price of three was very popular.

Hopefully I am back to creating art, not doing the work of art, soon.

Future experiments

Source for future experiments

My latest edition of Watercolor Artist had the most interesting creativity article. The author suggests using Photoshop to alter your original art, which will help you abstract your painting. I played around with his suggestions a bit yesterday. (1) Open an image of your original art in Photoshop. (2) Select Filter, Artistic, Cutout, and then play with the three parameters presented to get variations of your art. (3) Use these as a source of inspiration for a series of paintings that can be ever more abstract. Here are a couple of mutations that I did with "Mujer de Gaucho 2."

I can't wait to try these, but wait I must. We have a major wedding in the family with Bob's daughter being married on April 18. We are very involved with events and will be hosting about 80 people for brunch the day after the wedding. So if you don't see much activity here in the next week and half, you know I'm cleaning house, shopping, or cooking. We are very excited about Jamie getting married and being a part of the big event.

I just tried the same Photoshop process with one of the cyclamen pictures and that one has awesome potential as an abstract./p>

Another Gaucho Woman

"Mujer de Gaucho 2"

Watercolor, 13.5" x 20"

While in South America, I painted a gaucho woman dancing in a modest sized format from snapshots I took of gaucho dancers . You can see the first sketch here: http://mary-artadventures.blogspot.com/2009/02/south-american-art. My second one has a bit different background and lighting. I will be showing this piece in the Silicon Valley Open Studios.

We are having glorious California days and I want to get out and a take some photos of the wild flowers. Yesterday we took our bicycle class on a 50K ride along the valley's eastern hills. They were so green in the sunshine. Later they will turn golden (as we like to call them); think raw sienna or ochra. I should have brought my camera along. Today I had to spend some time buying a dress for Bob's daughter Jamie's wedding, so hiking the hills is not possible today. However, I was pleased with the speed with which I found the dress, as I am not a shopper.

Argentinian tango dancers

" Argentinian Tango Dancers"

We returned last night from a conference in Washington, DC. Yesterday morning before leaving I had a bit of time to complete this painting. Bob and I take ballroom dance classes, and I love art that features dancers. While we were on the cruise in South America, we danced every night, but we could only watch at the Milonga (the Spanish word for a venue for Argentinian tango) as South Americans did beautiful renditions of this dance. We only know Ballroom Tango, which is really quite different. We saw a wonderful tango show on the ship, and the following day, the performers taught a tango lesson. We ended up taking two private tango lessons from the performer's brother, Leandro, and his wife, Sol, in Buenos Aires, and they were excellent teachers. Now we are signed up with an instructor at our dance studio for Argentinian tango. George used to teach tango in Buenos Aires.

I mentioned two artists in my previous post and added a link to Jean Pederson's blog. The link had a problem, but is working now if you would like to check out her blog and her website. She is a wonderful artist.

Challenges in 2008

I've been consumed by taxes for the past few days and playing catchup after our long trip. I haven't really had any time for my art. My drawing class also was cancelled this morning. The images of the dancer were done for a challenge on Myrna Wacknov's Creativity Journey early in 2008. Myrna randomly drew three elements of design, which turned out to be a vertical format with texture, using the mother color of red orange. I created these three paintings based on those elements.

South American art

"La Mujer de Gaucho" watercolor sketch

Ushuaia, Argentina

Las Mujeres de Gaucho photo

My charcoal sketch

I managed to do a bit of sketching in graphite, charcoal, and watercolor, while traveling almost 5000 miles by cruise ship around the lower latitudes of South America. Ushuai, Argentina, on the Grande Isla de Tierra del Fuego, is the southernmost city in the world and a frequent staging area for expeditions to Antartica some 800 miles away. We took a shore tour that included a trainride at the end of the world, a gaucho show, and a visit to the Tierra del Fuego National Park.

We were surprised at the quality of the gaucho show which was in a rustic barn with a visibly amateur stage setting. However, the young folks were anything but amateur in their ability to perform. I took the snapshot of the women, which is not very clear, but good enough for reference materials. A few days later I used the viewer on my camera to do a charcoal sketch, selecting the woman in red as my subject. I then created a grid, which is straight in person I might add (pardon the camera skew), and redrew my composition on a watercolor pad. I did this painting as a sketch for further development in my studio. Interestingly, you might agree with me that the charcoal sketch is a better rendition. Note the positioning of the body and head. In fact, I want to improve upon the charcoal sketch to nail the dancer's body mechanics. That's why I like to do multiple sketches and paintings.

Now that I am home, I plan to do a series based on the sketch where I vary elements of design as taught by Mike Bailey and Myrna Wacknov. (Check out Myrna's blog for her latest workshop slide show to see the results of her instruction this week. Fascinating!) I also have several wonderful source pictures for gaucho men for future reference.

Tomorrow I will share a few little sketches I did in Buenos Aires.