Summer Studio at RDA!

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Photo courtesy of RDA

I am pleased to announce that for 10 weeks this summer (June 1 through August 15) I will be resident in Studio 2 at River District Arts, Sperryville VA. The studio is open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 10 am to 5 pm. I will be there most public hours working in the studio and available to talk about my work. My husband Mike Pivarnik will share the space, offering his gorgeous hand-turned wooden bowls.

This is an exciting opportunity to put my work in front of the public in a combined gallery and fine artisan marketplace setting that enjoys ever-increasing tourist traffic and boasts a thriving community of artists. In fact, RDA is often described as a mini “Torpedo Factory of Rappahannock County” due to being modeled after the well-known Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA.

Original art, prints, books, notecards, and merchandise featuring my art will be for sale in my RDA studio. I am hoping that the exposure at RDA will bring with it new commissions and new collectors of my work. While I plan to offer “exhibit” pieces that are professionally framed, I will also cater to the casual art buyer by offering unframed and “convenience” framed originals and prints. By “convenience” I mean works framed in nice-looking but inexpensive ready-made frames. This approach allows me to offer art at more affordable prices, provides a hassle-free “ready to hang” experience for buyers, and makes it easy to remove and re-frame art by those buyers who prefer to make their own framing choices based on individual preference and decor.

I hope you’ll drop by to say “Hi” and get a biscuit for your canine friends! If response and sales warrant it, we may elect to stay on with a year’s lease after the 10 weeks.

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Studio Round-Up

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Things have been busy! With Spring here, the first order of business was to clean the studio patio, hang the hummingbird feeders, and get my cut flower bed planted. Done, done, and done! Things are already popping up in the garden and the first hummers have started to claim the feeders. I even had a small bit of time one warm day to “test” the hammock.

Koda, Shiloh, and Jasper Portraits

Bitz, a Hungarian Wirehaired Vizla (11 x 11, watercolor)

Several portraits have been or are about to be sent to my lovely and much appreciated collectors, including those of Koda, Shiloh, Jasper, and Bitz. Next up in the portrait queue are Millie and Birdie, two English setters. I am also discussing a four-dog commission with a friend. No names, as it is intended as a gift and we wouldn’t want that secret getting into the wrong hands, now, would we?!

Tulip Trio I (15 x 22, watercolor)

It hasn’t all been dogs on the easel lately. I love tulips, so I was inspired to paint some from my garden this past weekend. However, due to poor (read: total lack of) planning in terms of colors to use in the shadows, I ended up making a bit of a mess of things. So, I am painting it again. More on that outcome in a future post–I’ll compare the two paintings and have a few things to say about the value of knowing when a piece isn’t worth rescuing/finishing and why it’s a good idea to move on to a new attempt with lessons learned firmly in mind.

Firnew Farm -- Walk to River from Studio

The last two weeks I have had the privilege of attending the Firnew Farms Artist Circle, a gathering of artists working in all mediums for a day of painting and group critique. The group meets at Firnew Farm, a quintessential Virginia farm of rolling hayfields surrounded by trees and bounded on one side by a fantastic creek/river (not sure which one). The dappled light, energetic water, and rock formations create a magical place to sit and sketch. The studio is surrounded by small gardens and offers fantastic views all around. But the most inspiring thing is really the people who make up the Circle. What a creative, productive, and friendly family of artists–exploring their art and life as an artist each in their own way and with everyone bringing something wonderful to the mix.

My application for membership is being reviewed and I guess you can tell how hard my fingers are crossed that I am accepted! (Update: my application has been accepted! Yay!!!)

And finally, tomorrow I’ll be a panelist at an event designed to provide writers and other creatives with “been there, done that” information about self-publishing’s pros, cons, process and pitfalls. All panelists will offer their books and book-related merchandise at a signing afterwards. The event is free to the public–if you’re local, I hope you attend!

Phew! That’s it…for now!

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Awesome Week at “Art Camp”

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Last week, I attended the 2013 Kanuga Watermedia Workshops in Hendersonville, NC. It was my first time ever attending a fully immersive, multi-day art workshop. What a fun experience and artistic growth opportunity! “Art camp for grownups” is the best way of describing it. There is something really special and creatively energizing about being in the company of over 200 artists for a week.

Lake at Kanuga, Adjacent to Kanuga Inn

Kanuga Conference Center is a conference retreat affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The site hosts many different groups over the course of a year, including the secular Watermedia Workshops. The grounds are beautiful and offer walking trails, a lovely lake, many trees, and attractive stone and wood buildings. I shared one of the historic cabins with three other women, and shared a room with my friend Kathy. Although rustic, it was clean, the twin bed was comfy, and the shower was hot and had superb water pressure. There are other options for those who may be more fussy about accommodations but I’m happy camping in my horse trailer as long as I can get a shower each day, so a cabin with a soft bed seems more than adequate to me.

Meals were served buffet-style in the Dining Hall at Kanuga Inn, a short walk from the cabin. The food was fantastic! There was always a diverse selection of well-prepared options (hint: get in line early). I opted for the box lunch instead of eating lunch in the dining hall. The box lunches are really good and since they are delivered to your workshop room just prior to the start of the lunch hour, offer more flexibility as to when and where you enjoy your lunch. Highly recommended. Otherwise, it starts to feel like all you do is run to the dining hall for meals, with a couple of hours of painting in between.

Registration took place on Sunday followed by a reception, dinner, and evening program. The workshops ran 9-4 Monday through Thursday and studios remained open for painting into the evenings as late as one might wish–or even all night. There were programs offered each evening, some of which I attended. Next year, I probably won’t attend so many and will use the time to paint and sketch instead. Extended weekend programs were offered for the weekend following the workshop. I might do an extended weekend program next year (these cost extra) which goes through Sunday if any appeal to me.

Sue Archer “Design In Watercolor” Workshop

Kanuga attendees must select one instructor to work with for the week. I chose to attend Sue Archer’s “Design In Watercolor” workshop. I love the quality of light and color play in her work and felt like Sue’s workshop would offer information that could help my own work evolve. That turned out to be true in spades.

Sue is not only a fabulous painter, she’s also a great teacher!  Through a series of short lectures, compelling demos, and guided practice, she made it easy to understand and apply the concepts and approach she taught. She had literally piles of prepared examples and tons of her finished works to illustrate the various teaching points. While students were working on exercises, she bounced around the room observing and offering helpful individual advice. Sue is a direct, no bullshit kind of person. She communicates in a crystal clear fashion, stays on task and expects her students to do the same. Yet there was always plenty of time to “catch up” on assigned practices or work on supplemental pieces to practice skills. If you know me, you know how much this approach appeals to me.

My work from Sue Archer's workshop

In addition to the workshop instruction, Sue offered each participant a private 15-20 minute consultation to discuss anything about their work they wished. I learned so much from that private session. Sue identified a few key shortcomings in my sample paintings that will help me in future compositions. She also identified weak points and problem areas in a few reference photos I planned to use for paintings and offered sound advice about how to rearrange and crop for a stronger composition. Her honest, direct advice was invaluable.

If you are a serious watercolorist and ever have a chance to take Sue’s workshop, do it! She is a generous and excellent instructor. You will learn SO much. If traditional watercolor is not your thing, check out one of the other workshops–there is a lot on offer for watercolor, acrylic, gouache and mixed media artists. The 2014 workshops will probably be listed soon–the instructors planned for 2014 have already been selected and were listed in our program materials.

Photography Workshop with Mark Stadsklev

On Friday morning, I took a helpful half-day photography workshop from photographer Mark Stadsklev. It was mainly discussion, with many example photos shown, followed by some practice shooting outdoors. The focus was on using the camera’s manual controls to achieve creative effects in photos and to “think outside the box” and go for something more than the traditional scenic photos we see (and take) so often. I had avoided my camera’s manual controls before due to lack of understanding about how to set them to get “perfect” photos.

Moving the camera while shooting to deliberately blur an image

This short workshop opened my eyes to the creative possibilities of settings that might normally be considered “wrong”. Mark’s philosophy is that, sure, you’ll end up with a lot of so-called bad shots, but you just might end up with an award-winning gem by exploring your camera’s capabilities without worrying about what’s “right” and “wrong” in terms of settings. I can easily see him expanding his expertise and approach into a two-day workshop that begins with a review of the manual settings and their relationship, offers some structure practice in using them, and then encourages and guides students in playing with them to produce creative effects and perspectives in their images. Hope he does that…might be my extended weekend choice for next year if so.

Mark’s images are beautiful…take some time to visit his site. You can follow him on Twitter at @artwithinnature.

Heads-Up for 2014

If you are thinking about going to Kanuga in 2014, keep your eyes peeled and get  your deposit and workshop request in as early as possible because the popular instructors’ workshops fill quickly. The application for the 2013 workshops came out in August 2012 and I sent my deposit and request in a week later. The remainder of the payment was due by Feb. 1, 2013. I expect that things will probably run on similar timelines for the 2014 workshops…and I plan to attend again, so maybe I’ll see you t here!

Kanuga Goose Sketchbook Page

Following the week at Kanuga, I did a Doggitude book signing at ArtMoB Studios and Marketplace in Hendersonville, NC on Saturday. The event was organized by my friend and fellow canine artist Miriam Hughes and hosted by gallery owner Michele Sparks. It was a lot of fun signing books, meeting dogs, and talking to their people. ArtMoB is an adorable gallery with many different styles of fine art and craft represented, much with a whimsical flair.  Well worth a visit if you visit Hendersonville’s lovely historic downtown area.

Me Sketching at the ArtMoB Book Signing (photo by K. Webber)

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Another One Done

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I’m working my way through the portrait queue that resulted from the Doggitude Kickstarter. This is the latest portrait completed, a handsome dog named Shiloh.

Shiloh (11 x 11, Watercolor)

There are still several to go. Jasper, an Australian Shepherd, is next in the queue. Although I estimated end of March delivery, it is likely going to slide another month or six weeks to complete the portraits for which I’ve been supplied with dog photos already (some backers have yet to provide photos despite my tenacious nagging). I had a little bit of delayed burn-out while working on Shiloh which has put me a few weeks behind. Sometimes, you just can’t put creative work on an assembly line.

 

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Sketch Kit Tinkering

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After the demands of last year, then my mom’s month long visit, then taxes among a few other things, I been a little burned out and finding it hard to get back to the easel for portrait work. One of the things that always seems to recharge my batteries is simple sketching from life…and that always leads to thinking about my sketch kit.

Kits are kind of like handbags…the more space you have, the more stuff you seem to accumulate. My sketch kit had gotten a little bloated with stuff I might use, so I was on the lookout for a perfect little bag that would force me to carry only what I do use. Small camera bags were my first thought but all those I saw were either too big and bulky or else too small. And, well, they’re ugly. I wanted something pretty. Then I spied this in the Accessories department in Walmart and it was instant “MUST HAVE!”:

So, I set about choosing which kit supplies would serve for a typical all day sketch crawl. That necessitated making a little half-pan watercolor box from a repurposed wax ear plug box to fit the bag, and making some hard choices about what to leave out. Here’s what initially went into the bag:

From L-R: Derwent Charcoal Grey Inktense pencil, HB pencil, Pilot Varsity “disposable” fountain pen refilled with Noodler’s Lexington Gray ink for drawing, Pentel brush pen, Lamy Al-star with 1.1 calligraphy nib for writing (Lex Gray ink in that too), a film canister of water, watercolor box, #4 and #10 Escoda sable travel brushes, 1/2″ flat synthetic, aquabrush, and bits of NeoColor II water-soluble crayons (great for layering textured color).

From L-R: Small sponge; tiny tin with sharpener, spattering toothbrush, kneaded eraser, blue tack; syringe and needle (for refilling the Pilot; the Lamy has a converter); pen brush cartridges; two vials of Noodler’s ink. 

Since I took those photos, I’ve made some refinements: left out one vial of ink and added in a Derwent Blue-Grey watercolor pencil, 5″ C-Thru ruler, short-handled 1″ Hake brush, and a very small snap knife (for sharpening, scraping, and cutting). The Hake brush is on probation…it is functional for wet work but I am not sure I will use it. If I don’t use it regularly, it will come out.

Anyway, this is a great little kit that is an easily transportable size either alone or in my bigger handbag. It has far less “bloat” than my previous kit. Now it’s time to take it on a few sketch crawls and see how it holds up in actual use.

Footnote: For those curious about the colors in my watercolor box, they are as follows (and always prone to change):

  • PY155, Lukas Permanent Yellow Light
  • PY53, Da Vinci Nickel Titanate Yellow
  • PO49, Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold
  • PR122, Lukas Magenta
  • PR209, Da Vincie Quinacridone Red
  • PR101, Daniel Smith Transparent Brown Oxide
  • PY153+PG7, Lukas Sap Green
  • PB28, Lukas Cobalt Blue
  • PB15:3, Lukas Cyan

These colors were selected to produce a palette with extremely wide mixing range. As usual, my palette consists of single pigment colors with the exception here of sap green. I am not a big fan of hues or convenience colors, but having a useful green from which to mix others helps avoid using up my yellows too quickly. I’m not too sure I like this particular formulation; it’s a bit too yellow. I might end up mixing my own sap green or replacing it with Pthalo Green which offers some interesting mixing possibilities.

I may also eventually replace PR209 Quin Red with PR242, Lukas Permanent Red Light which is more of a warm scarlet. It seems to me that PR122 and PR209 are both cool reds and might mix too similarly for it to be useful to have both. On the other hand, adding a little PO49 Quin Gold to PR209 Quin Red makes a lovely scarlet.

The NeoColor crayons may not survive the heat in the summer…an artist from the Artist’s Journal Workshop group on Facebook said hers melted in very hot temps. I’m not sure I’d ever be outside sketching if it was THAT hot but the possibility of melting crayons is something to be mindful of when the weather gets warmer.

 

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Host a Doggitude Book Signing!

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It’s easy! Here are the basics (also available here in PDF format):

A Doggitude book signing is a fun event that can help bring more customers to your store, gallery, or event–especially for dog-themed venues. This information sheet answers the most frequently-asked questions about hosting a book signing. Get in touch with me to discuss other questions or request a book signing date.

Who can host a book signing?

Anyone who has a venue can host a book signing! Since my book focuses on dogs and dog art, venues that are art- or dog-themed or where dog-lovers frequently visit are likely draw the most interest. Examples include galleries, art centers, pet boutiques, dog shelter events, horse shows, dog fairs, pet and dog shows, tack shops, art fairs, fine art and craft shops, horse and dog club events, and local festivals.

If a venue is not within 100 miles of my studio, travel expenses must be covered by the host unless I’m already going to be in the area for another reason or the book signing event is part of a book tour that I organized myself.

What happens at a book signing? 

Generally I sit at the signing table where my book, artwork, and Doggitude merchandise is displayed and chat with visitors about the book as well as sign copies of the book that have been purchased.

Once per hour, for about a half hour, I do a painting demo to show how I paint dogs’ eyes in watercolor (since that is a feature of my work that is most remarked upon). If canine companions attend, I enjoy getting up to interact with them and offer them biscuits if permitted by their owners. If a coloring table with crayons and Doggitude coloring pages is set up, I enjoy wandering over to encourage any kids who might be coloring there. If the host has designated a local shelter or rescue for my typical donation of 10% of my proceeds, they can be invited to talk about their work and adoption process, and even bring some of their animals to introduce to attendees.

At certain venues, it may be possible for me to give a talk the day of the book signing or teach a workshop the day before or after. Information about talks and workshops I offer is available at http://www.carolepivarnik.com/ccpart/workshops/.

What’s this about a donation?

I typically donate 10% of my proceeds to a local no-kill dog shelter or rescue designated by the host. If the host does not wish to designate a local beneficiary, the donation will go to Rappahannock Animal Welfare League which is my shelter of choice.

Who handles payment transactions?

Typically I prefer for the host to do that when a book signing is conducted at a retail venue. In such cases, it is the host’s choice to post-purchase sold books and other Doggitude merchandise at my wholesale price or retain a negotiable commission (which generally ranges from 15-35% of the retail price). At events where the host collects payment, I require a check from the host to settle things up at the end of the event. At that time, the host may also purchase additional books and merchandise at wholesale prices to offer for sale in their store. I do not supply books and merchandise for sale on a commission basis.

In non-retail venues, I can collect payment and sales tax myself. I am able to accept cash, checks, and (if a wi-fi or mobile signal is available) credit cards.

How is a book signing date selected?

Hosts generally suggest a dates after we discuss my availability, other events the host may be planning, and local events which may coincide. You can get some idea of my schedule and potential availability by looking at the Events page at
http://www.carolepivarnik.com/ccpart/events/. In retail locations, book signings are generally held on weekends, usually from noon or 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. At festivals or other events where people are going to be around anyway, weekday book signings can work well.

What kind of prep is required for a book signing?

Once we have agreed on a date, the host is responsible for:

  • Promoting the event beforehand to your own contacts and in local media; the more promotion done, the more likely the chances of a successful book signing.
  • Selecting a local no-kill shelter to benefit from my donation policy and arranging details if they will be invited to speak at the event.
  • Choosing and preparing the space where the signing will be held.
  • Obtaining and providing any refreshments to be offered at the event.

I will provide a poster file for printing and distribution. I promote all my book signings on the Doggitude Web site, Facebook page, to my own contacts and to local media.

What amenities are required the day of the signing?

The basic needs are a 6’ or 8’ table, comfortable chair, access to an electrical outlet (for the hair dryer I use to speed demos along), and display space around the table for my art and signage. Art can be placed on easels or hung on walls. I usually bring three 16 x 20 framed paintings and six 12 x 12 framed prints. For a polished look, it is preferable to cover the table in a cloth that drapes down more than halfway in front or use a table skirt.

Other suggestions: separate coloring table for kids and a refreshments table (coffee, water, pastries). If dogs will be allowed to attend with their owners, consider their wagging tales and curious noses when selecting locations for signing, coloring, and refreshments tables. It’s a good idea to ensure there is  plenty of room to move around so that dogs don’t start to feel crowded.

For book signings that take place outside, a tent or other shelter is required. Direct sunlight is bad for watercolor paintings and unexpected rain or wind is not a good mix with art and printed products.

How do I get more information?

Just get in touch!

 

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