Busy Busy Busy

I’m getting ready for shows and events in May and June here in Southern California.

Next weekend, May 11th and 12th, I’ll be showing my hand-painted silk scarves at Unique LA.  This local artisan made show will be at the California Market Center in their Penthouse.  The show is open from 11-6 both days, my location is T106, not far from the coffee bar (you’d think they’ve met me!).  

Bring your Moms for Mother’s Day!  AND, if you print out and bring this blog post you’ll receive 10% off the price of any scarf (retail sales only).  

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The following weekend, on May 19th, I’ll be showing for my 5th time at the terrific Balboa Island Art Walk.

This is the Art Walk’s 19th year, and there are more artists than ever showing their work.  I will once again be located between Coral and Apolena Streets, just look for my apple-green umbrellas.  The show is strung all along Balboa Island’s bayfront walk, overlooking lovely Newport Harbor, from Marine Avenue past the Ferry Landing.  The Art Walk lasts from 9 am to 5 pm.    

My display at the 2012 Balboa Island Art Walk

I hope to see you at one or both events!  Thanks!

About Making Browns and Greys in Watercolor

Whenever I want browns or greys in a painting, I mix them.  I do not use brown, black or grey paint in my palette.  I’ve just started a new workshop, and realized this is something I tell all my students.  When new students sign up for the workshops I send them a supplies list so they’ll be prepared on day one.  I don’t include white, either.  I like my colors bright, clear, and initially un-muddied.  When black, browns and white are included in a pre-fab set of paints, so be it, but they are never included on my list of colors for a new student to buy.

Why do I believe this?  Because its easier than pie to mix your own greys and browns, and when you do, the colors are much more interesting. Browns and greys can be mixed using different combinations of the primary color triad, or secondary or tertiary triads for that matter.

Various warm browns mixed by using violet and yellow or orange (above and below)

Want a nice chocolaty-brown?  Use Alizarin, a bit of cobalt blue or even purple, and a nice cadmium orange.  Change the amounts of each color you add to get the tint you want.  

red and green to make a cool brown, using drop-in and mixed methods

How about a nice warm payne’s grey?  Start with Permanent Blue or French Ultramarine, add a little yellow, and then if needed, a touch of red. Or pink.  Again, play around with the amounts you add to change the tint.

a Payne’s grey, mixed from primaries:  blue and yellow

a whole different grey using three versions of primary colors

So my thought has been: why buy them, unless of course you use a lot of them?  I don’t use them much.  But also I think that when you mix them either in the palette or on the paper, they’re so much more intriguing.  Shadows and dark areas are much more luscious using darker values of colors, or putting in a layer of an opposing color on the area you want the shadow to be.  There’s so much more to discover in the painting.

Here’s a question: how often does brown occur in nature?  Yes, the ground is brown.  A lot of animals are.  Tree trunks, generally, are brown, but there’s so many different colors.  If you look at a eucalyptus tree, is the trunk the same color, as, say, a redwood?   I find it so much more fun to see what I can come up with.

Detail, “Cherry Blossoms”, ©Jill Rosoff 2012

I did a painting last year of Cherry Blossoms.  Have you ever noticed that the branches on fruit trees are sometimes more of a rich burgundy color, not at all brown?  If  you look closely at this painting, you may notice that the branches here are indeed a deep, reddish burgundy.  What may not be so obvious is that I painted each branch first with a layer of Alizarin Crimson, a great, rich, deep, cool red.  And while the strokes of color were still wet, I dropped in some Viridian green.  This is a color you just can’t get out of a tube of raw sienna, or burnt umber.  It’s a very complex burgundy.   That’s right, its in the purplish range, and oh so very interesting!  See the full painting here:  Cherry Blossoms.

And by the way, do you know where the two browns’ names, sienna and umber, come from?  Go to northern Italy.  The earth in Sienna, in Tuscany, and in Umbria, which is next to Tuscany, are just about those colors.  And the difference in raw and burnt?  The raw versions are straight from the ground.  The burnt, or warmer, versions, have literally been burned, where the fire brings out the warmer tones.  Don’t you just love knowing that?

Making good on the New Years resolution

“Lavender Poppies on red patterns” ©Jill Rosoff 2012, 10″ x 7″

I started this piece in the fall, as a demonstration piece once again in one of my workshops.  This piece actually started me on the intention of loosening up on color ‘rules’ I have consciously and unconsciously obeyed.  Since I often use a subject I know when I’m playing around with ideas, and I have been painting Iceland poppies forever, so shape, color and composition are like second nature to me,  I find it really easy to go for changes and experimentation with them as my subject.  

There is no such thing as a lavender Iceland poppy.  Yellow, orange, reds, pink, and white yes, but nothing in the blue spectrum.  And I’ve always wanted them.  So ‘tada!’ I made them.  In the grand scheme of things its really not much of a huge plunge, but then again, baby steps are just fine to start out on new paths.  I also broke another covenant I heard early on in my painting education, that paintings with red backgrounds can be difficult to make work, let alone sell.  Thank goodness Henri Matisse didn’t believe that!  There are essentially four different reds used in the background, but with layers and some mixing, it looks like more.  I am really enjoying how this piece turned out.  You?

This piece is now available through my Etsy shop.

Silk Scarves at Patchwork Indie Arts & Crafts, Sun. Nov. 11th

This coming Sunday, November 11th come see my Silk Scarves

in Long Beach, CA at

Indie Arts & Crafts Festival

Location:

at the Marine Stadium in Long Beach
Space #6 just opposite from the food trucks!

The Marine Stadium is at the corner of Bayshore & Appian Way at
the lot by the boat launch ramps (just follow the signs).

Directions:

From the 405 South:
Exit at Studebaker.  Turn right on 2nd St, take 2nd St. to
Bayshore Ave. Bayshore takes you right to the lot.

From 405 North:
Take the 405 to 22 west, exit on Studebaker. Left on  Studebaker to
2nd St. to Bayshore. Again Bayshore will take you right to the lot.

Can’t make it to any of my shows?
By all means contact me, using the Contact link below.
We’ll make a date for you to come peruse my paintings, notecards, reproductions, and of course, the scarves!

This just in!  

Enter to Win a $100.00 ETSY card!  

When you arrive and sign in at Patchwork, tell them that you heard about Patchwork from Jill Rosoff Artworks! 

Fall Fruit

“Fall Fruit” ©Jill Rosoff 2012, 15″ x 15″

Its starting to really feel like Fall at last!  So it’s perfect to show off some Fall Fruit.  I actually did this piece a few years ago, I was playing with the idea of making a pattern for textiles, maybe wrapping paper, or wallpaper.  It was an experiment in using different colors than I typically would, especially the wonderful pomegranate red with the greens of the pears, the bay leaves and the tangerine leaves.  

Lately I’ve been teaching an introduction to watercolor techniques at the local junior college, which has been great fun, and I’m thrilled that the workshop has been picked up again for February.  But between that, preparing for and doing festivals and boutiques with my silk scarves, and my other watercolor workshops, I haven’t had the chance to complete paintings I’ve been working on to show you here.  I’ve got a few really fun ones going on though, many were started as demonstrations in the workshops, which I’ve been developing at the painting table later on.  So you’ll see those new pieces up here soon.  

By the way!  For those of you in Southern California, the next festival where I’m showing my hand-painted scarves is on November 11th in Long Beach, at the Patchwork Indie Arts & Crafts Show.  I’ll be doing a demonstration on how I paint my designs onto the silk, and also showing some scarf tying and knotting, too.  Come find me, I’m in Space #6, just opposite the food trucks!  AND I’ll be sharing the space with Susan Haldeman of LadyBIM, with her wonderful hand-embellished sachets, pillows, bamboo baby wear and more.   And we’ll be next to our friend Lucky Zelda to boot!  Hope we see you there!

Being on the Other Side of the Painting Experience, Part 3

  continued from Part 2, posted October 17 

While I was having such a grand time watching the painters as they were in the process of developing their painting, I was also looking around the painting studio.  You start noticing interesting things, given the time to sit and take the environment in:  the air ducts, the odd shape of the room, where the windows are, the flourescent lights, and how those two sources of light inform the visuals.  And some wonderfully mismatched socks. 

Aren’t these fun?  She might just be an artist!  

I took my first break after posing for about an hour.  I wanted to hold the pose for a long time, but was also really looking forward to seeing their paintings in progress.  After the placement of my limbs were marked so I’d be in the right position when I resumed the pose, I unfolded my tucked-in leg, stood up and stretched.  Then I walked around, talked to each painter, heard about what they did, both for a living and with their art, which sometimes dovetailed.  It turned out two of them are art teachers in the community college district.   And they allowed me to photograph their works too.  The versions I’m showing here were taken toward the end of the session, when the pieces were fairly well developed.  

So here are the works of the five artists, at least where they got them to at the end of the session.  After three hours, it’s a pretty fun collection.  Its an experience to see oneself painted or drawn in so many ways.  Each person’s individual view is so distinct, their palettes are so unique.  I hadn’t realized that I’d hand-painted silk scarves  of pink and orange poppies for the sitting.  

Pat’s painting of me in the pose she was so captivated by

 

Such a diverse result!  I especially loved how some incorporated my paintings that were hanging on the wall behind me, melding them into their compositions, or in my scarf, picking up the colors from me to the surroundings, five very distinct renditions.  I got very nostalgic for painting in a group, it was some of the most fun part of painting in school, seeing everyone’s version of the model and pose.   My great thanks to all the artists for having me come and pose, and for letting me show their works.  

Being on the Other Side of the Painting Experience, Part 2

Continued from Part 1, posted on September 25th

One of the first things that occurred to me after I made the commitment to pose for this painting group was, “geez, if I could only lose a few pounds before this!”   When I shared this with Connie on the phone a few days later, and she replied, “Oh no! Mom wants you for how you look now!”   For a woman of size, that’s some statement, and rarely heard.  But I got it, it was actually really sweet.   And I remembered from my days as an art undergrad that full-figured women were usually great subjects in my figure drawing and painting classes, their shapes are so, well, round and fleshy.  So I put aside my knee-jerk vanity reaction, and got more into the mindset of the Venus of Willendorf.

I was now going to be the figure being drawn or painted, after years of being the artist/observer in a figure drawing class.  These artists were going to be looking at me, concentrating my pose.  Now, I have a pretty good idea of what to do as a model from all my experience in figure painting classes.  And Pat had told me how she wanted me to pose, so there was no guesswork, really.

When I was in those painting classes, working out the my composition, where to place the figure, getting the gesture the model presented onto my canvas or paper, in the back of my mind, I always sort of wondered what the models were doing or thinking about while holding a long pose.  Were they planning that night’s dinner?  Reflecting on a recent conversation, or a book they’d read?  All the while, they’d keep physically still, and hope that their leg or arm didn’t go to sleep.  Being zen enough to be able to empty my mind and meditate is certainly a goal, and would’ve been a great thing to have perfected for this workshop.  I would do my level best.

Composite of photos I took from my view in the pose.  That’s my foot over on the right.

So there I was, watching artists paint.  I started feeling a little envious, actually, I hadn’t painted the figure in ages, and here I was, in a painting studio, with a model.  I suddenly realized I knew exactly what these artists were doing and what they were going through in their minds as they started working out their compositions.  They were looking at their subject, then back to their canvases or pieces of paper, then back at the model and gradually forming their composition.  Where will I put her on the canvas?  How will I incorporate those  paintings she did that are up behind her on the wall?   Will I keep the scarf she’s wearing on her?  I was watching them looking at me, at my pose, and at the whole setting as all this was going on in their minds.  I started to really enjoy watching them paint me.  

One artist contemplating his painting, stepping back to get a longer view of it…

Another artist concentrating on her drawing.  See how she holds herself while she draws.

Balancing on toes (in fun socks)

I realized that I have this sense memory of the postures I saw each artist in.  They are suddenly posing for me, in a way.  And each pose telegraphs to me ways I’ve felt in their places.  I’m sure I’ve sat or stood those ways countless times.  I identify with them:  the step back to get some perspective on the work in progress, with maybe something to lean back on which temporarily counters the muscle tension of the normal lean-in toward the artwork while working on it.  Or the hunch forward in concentration, elbows on the table holding the rest of the body still, toes pointing in.  And when working so delicately, that ones body moves into delicate positions, even almost on tip toes.  I would sometimes get to the end of a 3 hour session and find that my neck ached, or some part of my body was incredibly tense because I’d been holding myself oddly as I was getting something onto the painting just so.  So even though I’m not painting on this day, I’m having a glorious time with these painters.  And hopefully they did with me.

Part three coming very soon!

New Scarves and Supporting the Local Alzheimer’s Association

Last week I participated with the local Alzheimer’s Association’s annual Visionary Women Luncheon, which honors caregivers.  What a lovely thing to do, to honor these individuals who are caring for people with Alzheimers, or a working to find ways to treat this devastating disease.  One aspect of the event is during the social time before and after the luncheon, where this year they featured eight artists demonstrating ad presenting their work.  I showed my scarf-painting technique, and of course brought my scarves to sell.  It was a really good day, I enjoyed showing the dying process, and sharing my scarves with a new audience. 

While setting up the scarf-painting demonstration, photography by Ting-Ting Lee, of Ting-Ting Lee Studio

I had a lovely time, talking with everyone, showing and  describing how I paint my designs, that each scarf is individually painted, and then signed and numbered.  So each scarf is really a piece of wearable art, which is one of the reasons I wanted to make the scarves in the first place.  

I have envisioned some of my paintings printed on textiles, because for the longest time I thought it would be fun to be able to wear designs from some of my paintings.  I’ve always loved Liberty patterns, and vintage Lanz and Villager, too.   The methods of painting on silk with dye are very different from painting watercolors, but can be done in a way so that many of the same themes and colors that I do in my paintings can be adapted for my scarf designs.  I am constantly working out ways to make the scarves evoke similar imagery to my paintings.  

And some designs come about simply for the scarves.  One of these, my new “Leaves” design, is one of three I’ve recently developed.  Here is the first new design, modeled beautifully by my friend and colleague Susan Haldeman, who helped me with sales at the event while I was demonstrating.  And the great thing about this pattern is that it can be done in any color combination.  As a matter of fact, I’d love to hear what combinations of colors you’d like to see it in!  Use the Comment button below!

“Leaves” scarf design, in grass green and light olive with red dots, @Jill Rosoff 2012

So I got to the event early, unloaded my scarf boards, on which I pin and then paint the raw scarves.  You can also see my scarf display rack, with more of my scarves on it.

Setting up, photography by Ting-Ting Lee, of Ting-Ting Lee Studio

      Talking with people while demonstrating my Dragonfly design, photography by Ting-Ting Lee, of Ting-Ting Lee Studio

Satisfied customer and Alzheimers’ Association supporter in her new Leaves scarf in lavender and turquoise, next to the event Sponsor Board.  Yes, that’s Shirley Jones there on the board, who was the keynote speaker for the event. 

photography by Ting-Ting Lee, of Ting-Ting Lee Studio

All in all it was a terrific day, and I was particularly pleased for the opportunity to work with the Alzheimer’s Association.  Look for my upcoming post featuring more new scarf designs!  And also Part 2 about modeling for the painting class!

Being On the Other Side of the Painting Experience, Part 1

The artist, next to my tulips painting (see the clipping of it over in the right-hand column, there).  Segment of painting in process, by Janet Logan

A little over a week ago, for my first time ever, I was the model for a small artist’s group.  This all came about when 2 friends, mother and daughter, came over for coffee in July.  I met Connie while at an former job, where one of my responsibilities was to schedule educational seminars for the members of the professional organization.  Connie worked for a company in New England that gave qualified educational seminars, which she brought to us and was the seminar presenter.  She came out a total of three times, over the years, but when she came to do the first one, she asked if her mom, who lived nearby, could come to see her give the seminar.  Her mom, Pat, turned out to be a painter too, and we immediately hit it off.  After I left that job, I lost contact with Connie, sadly.  Then a little over a year ago, Pat emailed me that Connie had an artist client for whom she was doing PR who was going to be a group show nearby here, and could I come to the opening?  And suddenly, happily, we were back in contact.  Thank goodness for the internet!  

So Pat and Connie came to visit, we were having a great conversation over cafe’ lattes, when Pat suddenly said she loved the way I was sitting on my couch, under one of my paintings, and would I consider modeling for this group she paints with? Long story short, we scheduled it, and it happened a week ago Thursday.  

In the emails confirming the date, Pat was so excited that I was going to pose for them.  She wrote, “You were just so elegant sitting in your space with your large painting behind, being so animated about your work.  So, if you could bring your couch and that large painting, that would be good.”  I howled as I shared this little gem with Connie.  Just so you know, the painting she was referring to is a very large piece, the paper is 40″ tall by 60″ wide.  Unframed.  But her enthusiasm was so fun and so sweet to hear, that I offered to bring one or two of my 22″ x 30″ pieces with me to hang on the wall behind me while I posed, if she wanted.  She was thrilled. 

So, here is where I was sitting when Pat and Connie came over:  my couch and the painting over it.  I was sitting on the right side of it, leaning on the arm of the couch, as you can see in the drawing up top, with my legs up on it, out to the side.  

And here is the set-up Pat had ready for me at their studio, with a futon approximating my couch, and two of my watercolors (obviously not as large, and much easier to transport) up on the wall behind.

Very similar!  And particularly easy, since I don’t have a bevy of nubian slaves that would be able to schlep my couch and painting onto my car, and to this painting studio.  Yet.

And here is Pat with her painting of my part-way through the session.  And yes, Pat is wearing one of my scarves that her daughter Connie had ordered from me for Pat’s birthday.  Doesn’t she look great in it!

More of my experience watching others paint while I model, and their paintings in the next posting.

Working with Fall Colors

“Leaf Study 1″ ©Jill Rosoff 2012, 6″ x 6″, watercolor on paper

I’ve been playing around with some of my typical palette and color combinations lately.  Its stemming from my designing with seasonally-related color combinations in my new designs on my silk scarves.  The palette of colors I regularly use lean more to the spring and summer spectrums.  Fall colors, the ones I grew up with, looked frankly dull and drab to me.  Now, of course the typical fall color palette is influenced by the colors of the leaves changing, truly, and the mums plants that were for sale back then were in yellow, gold, orange, rust, and the most incongruous color of a flower to me, brown.  Brown mums were just not at all attractive to me.  Rust-colored mums were a close second.

Since the scarves are more fashion than art related, I needed to bring fall color combinations into the scarves palettes, so I googled “‘fall colors 2012″ and got listings for the official color predictions from all sorts of resources, but especially Pantone.  Here are 2012′s fall season palette of 10 colors:

This selection looks downright spring-like to me!  These are the colors of a tropical vacation, no?  It doesn’t scream “We Gather Together”, thats for sure!   The orange up there, top row, 2nd from the right, officially called Tangerine Tango, is the ‘color of the year’ for 2012.  Perfect for me, because I could call it Iceland Poppy Orange.  I’m dying to see what the official color will be for 2013.  Please oh please make it a good color for my flowers, oh Pantone color wizards!  I have to say, wouldn’t it be great to be a member of this board of people who get to decide colors for each season of each year?  That is a job I could really get into!  Imagine selecting color combinations for the use of the fashion and interiors industries!  No more beige!

Until that job offer comer through, I’ve decided to try and use this palette of colors in a painting or two.  And of course the scarves.  Its been a great exercise so far, it’s helped me step out of the comfort zone of my well-ingrained, go-to palette of colors.  

And so the painting up top is the first piece I came up with in what I hope is a long line of paintings and scarves using this new scheme of colors.  I hope you like it.  As a matter of fact, would you let me know please?  Use the “Leave a comment” link below!  Thanks!

The Leaf painting is now available for sale on my Etsy shop:  Rosoff Artworks.  Want to compare it to other paintings of mine, palette wise?  Scroll down and look at other paintings on this blog, or go to my  website and compare them to my larger-format paintings.