Mulvihill Cheat Sheet - Post This on Your Easel!

Squint !!!

First Pass – Cover the Canvas

To mix a color for each color spot, squint and ask:

Hue

Is it warmer or cooler?

Chroma

Is it brighter or duller?

Value

Is it lighter or darker?

Second pass - Relate or compare color spots that are next to each other in terms of hue, value and chroma.

Third pass – Relate within the entire canvas. 

Compare like hues.  Of all the blue shapes, which is the warmest, brightest, darkest? Of the reds? Of the greens?

Compare like values.  Of all the light values which are the lightest and darkest?  Of the mediums?  Of the darks?

Set the chroma range.  On the entire canvas, which color spot has the highest chroma?  Which the lowest?

Set the value range.  On the entire canvas, which color spot is the lightest?  Which is the darkest?

Final pass - Only when all of the relationships are correct:

Push the focal point by manipulating relationships

Add Details

Edges (hard versus soft)

Highlights (lightest lights)

Accents (darkest darks)

Copyright Mary Mulvihill 2011

3rd Annual North Park (San Diego) Plein Air Event

California Art Club cosponsors North Park Plein Air Event. Text and photo from  CAC newsletter.

3rd Annual CAC/SDAI North Park Plein Air Event   WHEN        Monday, April 18                         9:00 a.m. - Paint-out                         12:30 p.m. - Lunch                         2:00 p.m. - Critique led by Carolyn Hesse-Low WHERE     University and 29th/Kansas Street                         North Park, San Diego EVENT        3rd Annual CAC/SDAI North Park Plein Air Event COST            CAC Members: $10 for 1 entry and $20 for 2 entries                         Non Members: $20 for 1 entry and $30 for 2 entires AUDIENCE       All CAC members and friends   CONTACT        Marjorie Taylor at taylorpaintings@gmail.com   DETAILS   Street parking is available on the side streets and                         residential streets throughout the neighborhood.                         After painting, we'll grab a quick lunch at the Mission,                         located at 2801 University Ave, followed by a                         critique led by Carolyn Hesse-Low at 2 p.m. at the                         San Diego Art Department, located at                         3830 Ray Street. If you would like to enter your                         paintings in the 3rd Annual CAC/SDAI Plein Air                         Competition, you can register for the event at the                         San Diego Art Department at 3830 Ray Street                         anytime between April 4 - May 9. You can have as                         many canvases as you want stamped, and the cost                         for CAC members is $10 for one entry or $20 for                         two entries. Download the prospectus for details at                         http://www.sandiegoartdepartment.com/2011%20Plein%20Air%20Prospectus.pdf.

Still Life Books

These are the books we looked at in class during our still life discussion. The titles are links to the site that carries the book.

An Artist Teaches: Reflections on the Art of Painting

Oil Painting Secrets from a Master: 25th Anniversary Edition

Problem Solving for Oil Painters: Recognizing What's Gone Wrong and How to Make It Right

Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting

I must have been looking at a reissue date, because David Leffel's first book was published 25 years ago - so there are quite a few years between the two books.  He just gets better!

Color Spot Painting

In class on 3/16 the students worked on a still life of colored blocks painted in sunlight.  The exercise dovetailed with the other lessons in Session 1 on seeing and relating color.  The color block study comes from the Cape Cod school of painters.  Charles Hawthorne was the founder, suceeded by Henry Hensche , then succeeded by Lois Griffel.  Susan Sarback was also a student of Henry Hensche.  The following books are a good resource:

  Hawthorne on Painting


  Hensche on Painting


  Painting the Impressionist Landscape: Lessons in Interpreting Light and Color


  Capturing Radiant Light & Color in Oils and Pastels

Class Instructions for 3/23

Next week is the last class of the session and we will be painting outdoors again.  The exercise should be doable in several hours and we will move back indoors.  The following week is the first class of the next session and we will be starting a "personal" still life ... one you design, paint at your own pace and take to completion.  A studio painting!  This will be a chance to apply everything you have practiced this session.  I know it has been outside your comfort zone to not take this session's exercises to completion.  But, they were not paintings!  So, let it go.  I am very, very pleased with what you learned.  That was the goal.

So, next week bring in 5 or so objects that you would like to use in your still life.  I will bring all of my drapes and we see if you have the makings of a good still life set-up.  You will be ready for a quick start, then, on 3/30.

A few things to keep in mind.

• Nothing intricate, tiny or multi-colored(a busy, floral pattern on a plate).  A green apple with a rosy blush would be OK.

• Look for objects that have simple form (sphere, cube, cylinder or a combination).  No cuckoo clocks!

• Nothing incomprehensible to the viewer (crumpled paper, rock, your grandmother's knit booties, etc).

• Not too many objects.  Three to seven.  I would prefer you do two small still lifes over one large one.

• Consider variety of one color so you can relate and differentiate them, such as a bright yellow object, a low chroma yellow object, with a dark yellow drape.

• Think about color.  Use a complementary scheme (red/green, blue/orange or violet/yellow with one side of the pair dominant) or an analogous scheme (three colors next to each other on the color wheel) with one object that is the complement (blue/blue-green/green with an orange object or violet/red-violet/red with a blue-green object).  Use your color wheel to figure this out.

• Don't split the still life half and half with temperature (half warm and half cool).  One side of the color wheel should be dominant.  You can usually solve this problem by the color of the drapes you use.

• Keep in mind that the goal is to paint the color spots on each object (color is form or a plane change means a color change) and relate them to the background or object next to them.  Or what the past eight weeks have been about!

Have fun!  Have FUN!  It is a studio painting and you are going to work it to completion, but at this stage (and really forever) whatever you paint is always practice.  Sometimes it works out and you have a masterpiece.

Remember that this week, 3/23, is our long day.  We'll order tacos from Wahoo's or sandwiches from Submarina (or you can brown bag it) and I will do a still life demo. I will set up an overhead blue light with a warm side light - to simulate the double light source outside from the sky and the sun.  I've never done this before, so as usual I am flying by the seat of my pants.

Finally, have an idea of your schedule for the coming session.  I will ask which days you will be out of town and we'll see if we can choose the two long days to fit the most schedules.

February/March Syllabus

The February/March session meets on 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 2/23, 3/2, 3/9, 3/16 and 3/23.

The focus of this session is on seeing/mixing color and still life. Exercises include:

• Double Primary Color and Complementary Color Wheel
• Local Value versus Light Theory (Black and White on Red)
• Reflected Light (Black isn't Black/White Isn't White)
• Form and Color are Inseparable (Oranges on Green) 
• Form and Light Theory or Light/Halftone/Shadow (Where is an Orange Orange)
• Complementary Color and Intensity (Orange on Blue/Apple on Green)
• What say the Sun (Color Blocks in Sunlight)
• What Say the Sky (An Orange and Grapefruit in Sunlight)

We will be working with a palette knife to paint clean, color spots.

Call for Artists - Fallbrook Public Library

Call for Artists - Fallbrook, CA Library

The Art Selection Committee is now seeking submissions for the following 3 shows:

Show Title: "Watercolor Images of North County San Diego" 

Deadline for submissions: February 11, 2011

Show opening: March 8, 2011

Criteria: All styles of Watercolors (Framed, matted, wire on back, not to exceed 24 x 30" framed)

This show will depict the variety that exists in northern San Diego County, from the mountains, deserts, towns and ocean to the people and the lifestyles. 

Show title: "Wildlife Art"

Deadline for submissions: April 1, 2011

Show opening: April 27, 2011

Criteria: All two-dimensional media, including photography (Framed, matted, wire on back, not to exceed 18" x 24" framed)

An exploration of wildlife, reaching from America to the rest of the world.  

Show title: "America: One Nation, Many Voices"

Deadline for submission: May 13, 2011

Show opening: June 7, 2011

Criteria: Two-dimensional paintings, all media (Framed, matted, wire on back, not to exceed 18 x 24" framed)

An exhibition designed to illustrate the multitude of contributions to our national heritage by people from diverse cultures and backgrounds.   

To apply, submit digital pictures along with your contact information through the Friends of the Fallbrook Library website OR Artist Opportunities at Fallbrook Library.

• Please submit no more than eight (8) images per exhibit per artist.  Images must be submitted as jpegs or tiff files.
• Clearly mark each submission with title, medium and dimensions (h x w).
• All interested persons are encouraged to apply. Priority will be given to Southern California residents. Submissions should appeal to diverse populations and ages, reflect community interests, be representative of diverse cultures and points of view and support local cultural activity.
• Work shall be delivered three days prior to the show or at a mutually agreed upon time and picked up after the exhibit in a timely manner.
• Items that exceed 80 lbs. will not be accepted.
• Artist agrees that images of artwork may be used promotionally by the San Diego County Library and the Friends of the Fallbrook Library, without fee or obligation.
• Artists will be required to complete a waiver of indemnity and liability releasing the Fallbrook Branch Library, the County of San Diego and the Friends of Fallbrook Library and any of its agents from liability for any loss, damage or theft.
• The San Diego County Library and the Friends of the Fallbrook Library will handle standard promotion. Any special promotion of the work shall be the responsibility of the artists themselves. Additional promotional materials (fliers, posters, press releases, etc.) need to be reviewed and approved by Library staff prior to the show.
• Work may be "for sale." Prices will not be posted on the works; however a complete list of works and artist contact information will be available to the public at the library by request.  If work is sold it must remain in the library for the duration of the exhibit.