ART CENTER is approved

Howdy! I must confess that I was disappointed that not that many artists showed up to the City Council meeting last night! The good news is that City Council has given the okay for the Art Center pilot program. The next step is to name the non-profit that will be managing the art center... This is a huge step that has been years in the making! It's very exciting news for the arts community.

Studio Easel For Sale

Deluxe studio easel. Solid oak easel features adjustable canvas height, sturdy base with lockable wheels, canvas ledge with provision to hold containers for tools or brushes. The easel can be collapsed for storage. Overall storage height is 75". Purchased at Meiningers Art Supply, Denver, Co.

Call - - - Betty Warner at 864-0934 $200

May Framer's Gallery Report

Good morning art enthusiasts!  WCAG members are displaying 25 very nice works at the Framer's Gallery, located one block off the square (610 S. Main) in Georgetown, TX.  Participating artists this month are: Lowana Carter, R Castro, Marianne DeRiggi, Kay Dimitri, GretchenArt (Gretchen Hecht), Ann Koziell, Gregory Heflin, Lynn Kessel, JoRene C. Newton, Virginia Headly Masserang, Joan McShane, Holly Moore, Betty Stinson, Alexis Templeton and Kerry Whitfill. 

During the First Friday's People's Choice vote, Lynn Kessel's two paintings were in a neck and neck race with each other for first place.  At the end of the night "Watchful Eyes" won the People's Choice Award.  Congratulations Lynn!

Any WCAG members who wish to display their art at the Framer's Gallery in June should email the gallery chair, Connie Hartsfield, at charts303@yahoo.com.

Artist America Martin returns to Austin for a solo exhibition at Wally Workman Gallery

BY MICHAEL GRAUPMANN 05.05.12 | 03:00 pm French artist Paul Cezanne once remarked, "One does not replace the past; one only provides a further link to it." A revolutionary figure in the art world during the early 20th Century, Cezanne knew a thing or two about respecting the great Impressionists who influenced him while still forging ahead with his unique style that paved the way for Modernism. Taking a look around the enjoyable new solo exhibition of Los Angeles-based artist America Martin at Wally Workman Gallery, you'll see a similar unapologetic homage to the confident contemporary artist's influential teachers like Gauguin, Rothko, Picasso and, yes, Cezanne. To read the full article, please visit the Culture Map website. I just ran into this story, and never heard of the artist, but I can tell you that I am going to be going to this show. Maybe I'll see you there... Nick

This past week Amy Guadagnoli, who makes wood block prints, spoke at the
Williamson County Art Guild meeting. She cuts her blocks, and prints each one by
hand, making a mono-print. I was so inspired that I decided to make my own print, on a much smaller
scale, using the Staedtler Master Carving Block. I cut a piece 31/2 X 61/2 and drew on the design.
These blocks are so easy to carve; it's like cutting butter! Having never carved anything quite this size,
it was a little challenging. I did not want it to be too perfect, but more organic looking, so I think it
worked out pretty well. I tend to make circles and curves when I make marks; this is what happened.
The connecting circles depict how everything is connected in the universe. The dove of peace flies in
the spiral sky above the rising sun, and the wheel is a sign of moving forward. I used some screen
printing inks on rice paper (this is the bright one). Lumiere paints were used on the black paper,
and black on the white rice paper. I'm sure I will be doing more of these because I love the unexpected, the surprises, that you get with the whole process.

The Blue Dove

Sonia, from Stinger Studio, has been leading some of us in different ways of doing things.
The dove was started with a very colorful background on heavy watercolor paper.
I then outlined the dove and painted white around it to leave the negative space of the dove.
It looked too white for me, so I sanded the background with sand paper until some of the background color
was peaking through. I like it better this way. 

Salon International 2012

Hi Friends.  This last weekend was AMAZING!  I had the opportunity to meet some of the top artist from around the country.  The Greenhouse Gallery hosts the Salon International, a Project of The International Museum of Contemporary Masters of Fine Art.   If you have a chance to go to San Antonio to see the exhibit (going until May 5th) you won't be disappointed.  It is amazing!   I was truly humbled by the quality of work on exhibit.   (www.greenhousegallery.com ).    There are four large rooms of art.  Here is a pic of one the walls.

April Framer's Gallery Report

April is a very busy month at the Framer's Gallery, located at 610 S. Main. There are 12 WCAG members exhibiting 22 works of art. Exhibiting members are: Sandy Archer, Kay Dimitri, Jennifer Gunn, GretchenArt (Gretchen Hecht), Gregory Heflin, Mary Jones, Pricilla Jones, Virginia Masserang, E. Holly Moore, Betty Stinson, Alexis Templeton and Kerry Whitfill. Works will be on display until May 2nd.

With so much great art there was some major competition for the People Choice Award. During each First Friday event visitors to the gallery get to vote for their favorite art piecet being presented by WCAG members. Throughout most of the evening there was a 3 way tie for 1st place and a 4 way tie for 2nd place (actually it would be 4th place). Anyway, at the end of the evening one piece was chosen as the winner. Congratulations goes to Gretchen Art (Gretchen Hecht) for her painting, "Poppy Days are Here Again."

Members who would like to participate in May need to email the gallery chair, Connie Hartsfield at charts303@yahoo.com and make a reservation.

Gallery Tour- Call For Entries!

Georgetown Arts Alliance
Call for Entries – Gallery Georgetown Tour Promotional Artwork
April 3, 2012

Dear Artist:
The Georgetown Arts Alliance Promotions Committee is requesting submissions of artwork to be used in the promotion of the Gallery Georgetown 2012 tour, tentatively scheduled for 5-9 p.m. on Saturday, November 3. The artwork selected will be featured in a poster and other possible promotional materials for the tour.
Gallery Georgetown will be an evening to appreciate and shop for local art by touring participating local galleries around Georgetown while tasting wines and appetizers and enjoying live music.
This will be the inaugural year of the event, and the committee wants to incorporate art in the promotional materials from the get go. The Arts Alliance Promotions Committee will select the winning art to be used for the official Gallery Georgetown 2012 poster.
Artwork must be original and communicate/interpret the artist’s depictions of what the Gallery Georgetown tour could be. Traditional, contemporary, impressionist, abstract, photos and digital two-dimensional works of art are welcome.
There will be approximately 150 posters of the selected artwork printed. The posters will be used to promote the event, as well as be offered for sale. The artist will retain all rights to the original artwork but will give permission to the City of Georgetown and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce to use for promotional materials.
All entries must be submitted on a labeled CD using JPEG (.jpg) files only. Please note that we will not be accepting actual pieces of work. Entries must be dropped off at the Main Street Program office in Economic Development on the second floor of 816 S. Main Street (or postmarked) no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, June 29, 2012.
Artist selected will be notified by Monday, July 16, 2012.

Next Months Speaker Amy Guadagnoli

Austin based printmaker, Amy Guadagnoli, is our featured guest and speaker for the Art Guild meeting. Amy wraps this year's guests, but we are already lining up artists for next year. For more information about Amy, you can visit her website.

Patricia Lyle Interview

Check out Patricia Lyle's interview!

Pinterest.com and copyright infringement

Pinterest.com is a website that created a place for you to share your stuff. Unfortunately it's a place where everybody else can share your stuff too. Without your knowledge or consent. And when that happens, you've lost control over your art. There's been a lot of controversy about Pinterest with regard to copyright infringement.

Click here to read more about it.
But it's good that there's been controversy about it, because now Pinterest.com has created the code that will allow you to protect your art from someone who may want to ... uh ... "borrow" it from a blog. That code has been installed on this blog and the artwork you've posted here is now protected from being "pinned" on Pinterest by anyone, except you if you choose to do that.
For those of you who have your own blog, and would like to protect your art, it's a simple easy fix. Just copy and paste the code into your blog's template. If you're not sure how to do that, just follow these instructions.

1. Copy (hi-lite it and [control-c]) the following line of code
<meta content='nopin' name='pinterest'/>

If any of the following images are too small for you to see
what's going on, just click on them to enlarge them.

2. Go to your blog's dashboard and click "Design".




3. In the top left click "Edit HTML".







4. Now Look for <HEAD> and place your cursor right behind it and hit "enter" to add a blank line. Then paste [control-v] that line of code you copied from above into the blank line.








5. Click the "Save Template" button and you're done! And your artwork is safe from being pinned on Pinterest.

Golden Paints explain the difference in Acrylic Paints

If you are like me... you often get confused when it comes to technicalities involved with the different kinds of agrylic paints... Check out this video!

Hero

A very interesting video about drawing....

New Constitution and By Laws for WCAG

To Members of the Williamson County Art Guild
From the ByLaws Amendment Committee and the Board
The Guild's Constitution and By-Laws have been re-written and are being brought to your attention for approval in the form of an Amendment. The current ByLaws require that the members be given a thirty day notice before an Amendment can be voted upon.

The Board now plans to bring this Amendment to a vote at the May 1, 2012 General Meeting.
Please take a few minutes and read the documents. The Board voted at its March 13th meeting to recommend that the members approve this Amendment. Approval will require two-thirds of those voting to approve the Motion.

If you have questions, please contact Wes Odell, By Laws Amendment Committee.
wesodell@gmail.com

Click here to read the documents.

March Framer's Gallery Report

March First Friday in Georgetown was a day of great art, great weather and lots of people.  WCAG artists exhibiting at the Framer's Gallery (located one block off the square on Main Street) are: Sigi Field, Linda Figg, Alexis Templeton, Joanne McShane, Holly Moore, Gretchen Hecht, Anne Throop, Ruby Pecot, Marianne DeRiggi and Greg Heflin.   They have provided some amazing art and it can be viewed through April 3rd.

The voting for the People's Choice Award was close.  The final two voters of the evening sealed the win for Alexis Templeton's acrylic painting "Blue Ridge."  Congratulations Alexis!

There have been numerous sales from the Framer's Gallery in the past few months.  This reminds me to let our artists know that if one of your paintings sells, you can bring another one (of a similar size) to hang in the empty spot!

Jennifer Balkan's new show

Jennifer Balkan is currently being featured in the March 2012 American Art Collector Magazine... and has anew exhibit opening at the Wally Workman gallery in Austin this weekend....I think it will be worth your time to go there and check it out.

Call for Landscape Art - ArtSpace (Round Rock)

The 'Call for Art' - Landscapes, is on the website at www.roundrockarts.org.  The Round Rock Arts Council needs entries in by Sunday, Feb 26th at 5 pm.

St David's Hospital holds reception for WCAG Artists

The St. David's Hospital in Georgetown hosted a "thank you" reception for the Williamson County Art Guild on Thursday evening, February 9th. It was a lovely event and a good time was had by all in attendance.
Click here to read more and see photos.

WCAG February Framer's Gallery Report

There is some very nice art being displayed by WCAG members at the Framer's Gallery during the month of February. Participating artists include Maggie Allen, Kay Dimitri, Marianne DeRiggi, Gretchen Hecht (GretchenArt), Gregorty Heflin, Priscilla Jones, Holly Moore, Wes Odell, Ruby Pecot, Alexis Templeton and Kerry Whitfill.  The art will hang until Febuary 29th. 

 

Our People's Choice winner is Alexis Templeton's acrylic "Moon Phases."  Congratulations!

 

The Framer's Gallery is located at 610 S Main in Georgetown, TX.  Have some fun. Go by and take a look at our member's art!

Stinger Studio Feb 4th - March 30 Exhibit

All artists have new work...we welcome you to the Opening Reception on Saturday, Feb. 11th, 6pm to 9pm.

Salado Show

Salado Wine Sellers has a beautiful venue for showing art. I was invited by the gals from Taylor to exhibit with them. The reception is tonight, Jan 20th from 5-8. It is all about the sea, and everything in it, including mermaids.

The weather is beautiful; come join us in Salaldo, 814 N Main.

12 Art World Habits to ditch in 2012

An interesting read...take your own conclusions.
Read Matt Gleason's story in the Huffington Post.

East Austin Studio Tour This Weekend!

Join me and Scott Gordon, a talented photographer, at 2023 E. Cesar Chavez during the East Austin Studio Tours.  We will exhibit work in the future home of our shared studio space.  10-5pm.  Rain Showers Over Flowers is a new painting on display. 40 x 30 x 1.5 | mixed media and acrylic

Austin City Hall - The People's Gallery - Call for Entries!

Howdy Everyone! This is a great way to get exposure beyond Georgetown and Round Rock!

Call for Artwork: People's Gallery 2012
Deadline: December 5, 2011, midnight
The City of Austin is now accepting applications for the 2012 Austin City Hall People's Gallery Exhibition. The Exhibition will run from February 2012 through January 2013. Applications must be made through the online application system ASAPP! by midnight on Dec. 5, 2011.

Download the complete Call

An Artist Information Meeting to explain the application process will be held November 22, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. at Austin City Hall, room 1029 (301 W. 2nd Street).

WCAG November Framer's Gallery Report

The art at the Framer's Gallery just keeps getting better and more and more people come to the gallery during Georgetown's First Friday Celebration.  This month WCAG artist, Pat Langley, won the People's Choice Award for her giclee, "Geisha."  Congratulations, Pat!  Pat says the original was created using hand painted and stamped papers.  Pat also carved the stamp she used in the background.  "Giesha" is approximately 15" x 29".  Pat has a blog which can be found at http://patlangley.blogspot.com.

Take a class with Jennifer Balkan

Howdy! The great Jennifer Balkan...our guest artist for last month, just announced that she's putting together a new class. If you are interested, please read below! Thanks!

New class!!
We'll spend the first two classes sketching the figure in charcoal with our goals being (1) to see the figure as an abstract composite of dark and light shapes (values) in order to create a a strong value statement; (2) to get a proportionally accurate figure; both of which will contribute to a (3) compelling composition and statement of light and shadow.
The third and fourth classes, we'll paint using white and umber oil paint and create rich monochromatic figure compositions.

This class is designed for people who have some painting and drawing experience but are new to the figure.

Class meets Wednesdays, 6:30-9:30 11/30-12/21.
Class size is limited to four.
Cost is $250 plus $45 model fee.
Class meets at my studio at 3109 Lafayette Avenue in East Austin.

Let me know if you're interested!

Cheers,
Jennifer




www.jenniferbalkan.net

How to MAKE COMMENTS on this blog

For those of you who might be new to blogging, we wanted to take some of the mystery out of how you can make comments about what you're reading here, so we thought some instructions might be a good idea. It's actually very easy, but there is one simple requirement; you need to be set up with any one of the six following types of accounts.

Google Gmail | LiveJournal | WordPress | TypePad | AIM | OpenID
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Making Your CommentOnce you have your account created, look for the word "comments" with a number in front of it near the bottom of the posting. The number is how many comments have already been made. If it's 0, that means you get to be first!

Just click on the "comments" link to open the box where you type your comment. When you've "had your say" look below for the place to choose your account type (the one of the six above that you created). If you're using a Google account it's probably already selected for you. Then click on "Post Comment" or "Preview"; either takes you to the next step.

If you want to change anything in your comment before you send it, click on "Edit" in the box, make your changes and "Preview" again.



When you're ready, look in "Word verification" for a group of letters that you will need to type into the little window right below them. (If this step gives you trouble, don't worry, there are unlimited "do overs" here.)

Click the "Post Comment" button AND YOU'RE DONE! :)

Now that didn't hurt much, did it? :)

Elements Art Reception

Please join me and wonderful artists at Austin Details Art + Photo on Saturday, October 22nd.  Space, design, color, and light unite in this exhibit.  1-3pm.  106 E 8th Street. Featured artists include Rebecca Bennett, Sharon Keshishian, Carol Lyon, Cheryl Rae, Thomas Jack Hilton, and Jann Alexander.  My 3D work will be on display and I would love to share it with the WCAG.

WCAG October Framer's Gallery Report

Wow, another one of our brand new members won the People's Choice Award. Congratulations goes to Kay Dimitri for her oil painting, "The Door." This painting and the art of other WCAG members will be on display at The Framer's Gallery, located at 610 S. Main in Georgetown, TX until November 2nd, 2011. So be sure to go by and take a look at the great art there!

Art Hop 2011

Howdy! I just wanted to remind everyone that Art Hop starts tonight with a reception from 6pm to 8 pm at the Georgetown Public Library. Make sure that you check out the exhibit. Have a great weekend!

Origin Magazine Party and Art Exhibit tonight!

Good morning!  Tonight is Origin Magazine's Party and Art Exhibit at Quattro Gallery (Audi Dealership on Pond Springs).  It's open to the public.  I would love for some WCAG members to come!  There will be food, drinks and various artists.  The event will go until late.  DJ Spooky will be spinning and signing his book at 11pm.  I hope it's a big hit!  This is one of my paintings featured in the show.  Off the Hook | 36 x 24 x 1.5 | 2011 | acrylic on canvas