The Portrait in Red Chalk

Dan Thompson’s red chalk portraits caught my attention due to their painterly nature and dry drawing materials. As someone who doesn’t always have time to break out oils, this technique lends itself to the expressive marks that brush and oil paint yield. Below are some pictures from his red chalk demo I attended at Studio Incamminati earlier this year.

If you’re interested my notes and some gems that Dan shared while executing this drawing (let me know in the comments), I’m happy to share! Dan holds this workshop (and others) in venues across the country. Visit his website for information http://danthompsonart.com. #art #drawing #teachingartist

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NOTAN — an exciting way to add more sophistication to your compositions

Getting to know and understand NOTAN, a Japanese term that translates to light/dark harmony in the work, will help you add another dimension to your compositions.

One of my favorite painters, Jeremy Lipking uses Notan to reinforce the effect of this painting:

Images and palette information via oilcolorpalettes.blogspot.com

In this example above, Notan (contrast of light and dark) works subtly to help draw our eye to the focal point and then dances us around the space by the way of the light trim on the girls dress.

Jeremy Lipking’s oil color palette:

• Mixture: Ultramarine Blue, Titanium White, Alizarin Crimson (med value, cool blue for cooling colors)
• Titanium White
• Cadmium Lemon
• Cadmium Yellow
• Cadmium Orange
• Cadmium Red
• Alizarin Crimson Permanent
• Burnt Sienna
• Ultramarine Blue
• Cobalt
• Golden Green
• Viridian
• Ivory Black

Source: Clifton Phachanla

Interested in purchasing these oil colors? Visit Blick Art Materials.

Art shows and jurors

How jurying a show works for me

After talking with others on their jury process, I’ve come up with my own that works pretty well.

I base my selections for an organization’s survey show of members work (it would be different for a curated show) on these three qualities in each piece: mastery of composition, technique, and foremost, the expressive quality of the artist’s idea or concept. These qualities are what I return to when I analyze a piece. Other things affect my decisions as well, including presentation.

Recently, I was the juror for prizes for the 75th Anniversary Show of work by members of the Greater Norristown Art League in Pennsylvania being hosted by Montgomery County Community College. There were 125 works entered with eight prizes to be awarded, including “Best of Show.”

There were many high-quality traditional pieces in a variety of mediums entered in this show with some work having exciting non-traditional mounting methods and unique viewpoints in both 2D and 3D.

IF YOU GO: The show’s opening reception is Wednesday, Sept 15th, 5–7pm. Next week there will be a gallery talk on September 18, 1–3pm. The show will be up until Friday, September 30th at Montgomery County Community College, Fine Arts Gallery, Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422 (USA).

Art in the Storefront, Ambler PA

In addition to my graphic design and publishing business, I am a painter, and over the next few weeks I will be putting final touches on  new paintings for “Then and Now,”  an exhibition at Ambler’s Art in the Storefront. This show will include paintings from when I was a young painter through today. The works for the exhibition will show a progression in my work including portrait, still life, and landscape paintings.

Save the date and stop by for the opening on Friday November 20, 2015, from 5:30–7pm. Art in the Storefront is a sidewalk event, and the work will be in the window of Denney Electric, so please dress for the weather and an enjoyable time! The show will be up until January 13, 2016. Street parking is available as well as a municipal parking lot. To see an animation of my painting process check out the slide show on the home page.

Alumni and Faculty Exhibition Montgomery County Community College

A “Meet the Artists” Reception for the Annual Art Faculty and Invited Art Alumni Show is happening this Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, from 1-3 p.m., at the Fine Arts Gallery in Blue Bell, PA. The show opened Tuesday, January 21, and will continue through Friday, February 14.

“Winter Tea in Kennett” by Karen Kappe Nugent, oil on canvas, 14″ H x 18″ W.

This is a show where invited alumni of the college art program and faculty show their work side-by-side.  At drop-off I saw some exciting things, including work on plexiglass by one alumnus.  The show will include paintings, ceramics, sculptures, and more.
Even though my painting in the show “Winter Tea in Kennett” was a 2013 Art of the State of PA award winner, the goal of this still life was to express the form and color of simple objects like a donated teapot I picked up at the Salvation Army, a cup and saucer purchased from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and a tea fob that was my fathers. On the technical side, it was a challenge and a lot of fun to render the form, get just the right colors, and push the values in the painting. While this might look like a tightly rendered painting, it’s really not.  There are a lot of painterly brushstrokes — and that’s one of the most enjoyable experiences of painting for me — capturing something with  paint from my brush.

The college opens all its exhibitions to the public free of charge. For more information on the exhibition or artists in the show, contact the Gallery Director, Holly Cairns by phone at 215-619-7349 or email her hcairns@mc3.edu.

What can designers learn from painters?

Graphic design is more about organization.  Painting is usually more about expression.  A balance of organization and expression in art and design leads to successful outcomes.

Edge quality in painting is a big deal.

It’s one of those things that separate the good from the best.  The edge quality in graphic design is often hard edge due to the nature of the tools.  Photographic images incorporated into your layout as a design element can totally transform your work from an austere crisp graphic to something that is more expressive and appealing. This will keep your audience looking at your message longer.

All lines are not created equal.

Good line quality is important because it can support the visual communication of an idea from a poster or website. Painters use tools that immediately allow them more expression in contrast to a designer who usually works digitally and spends a lot of the time with hard edge picture boxes.  It may not be appropriate for every project but when possible, experimenting with line quality can dramatically impact the quality of your designs.

Pictured left to right: Chinese Reader for Beginners, With Exercises in Writing and Speaking James C. Nute, Arthur P. Lites, Stanford, California, 1942.  Lines, M Plus M Incorporated, New York, New York, 1991 and Endangered (series of six posters)
Sommese Design, State College, Pennsylvania, 1993.

What’s a compositional shape anyway?

At at the most rudimentary level, designers begin a layout by thinking in very graphic terms about the content, including proportion and compositional shapes.  How creative one can be with their compositional shapes and proportions depends on their ability to see and comprehend proportions. Many times when a design is lacking that special sauce, an adjustment to proportions is all that is needed.

For designs with character that stand out from the cookie cutter template solutions proliferating our visual field, think line quality, edge quality and keep up your drawing. For additional design resources visit the AIGA Archives.

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