"Vernal Equinox March 20, 2013,
East Capitol Street, Washington DC" The sun came up at 7:11 a.m. during rush hour on a clear, very cold morning. Stonehenge doesn't have rush hour traffic.
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Apps for Artists course April 8 - 29My next Creative Apps for Visual Artists four week short survey course will start April 8 through 29, Mondays at 7pm at the Art League school. More info about the course under the Apps for Artists heading
"Monterey Cypress" Quick SketchDemoThis demo took about 20 minutes, including standing back regularly for a distance view, which is important. It was nicely edited down to 8.5 minutes which makes me sound quite a bit more articulate than I actually was. From the Art League Blog ...
"With Winter term classes underway, our camera crew is once again making the rounds of Art League classrooms to record instructor demos. Today we’re pleased to add the first pastel demo to our library, courtesy of Nancy Freeman! In the video, Nancy shows her Wednesday morning Exploring Pastel class how to do a quick pastel sketch, working from a reference photo she took near Monterey, California. It starts with showing the paper who’s boss." If you have any trouble with the video, here's the link to the Art League site: A Quick Pastel Sketch Demo with Nancy Freeman
Observations by Chris With :
"Nancy Freeman is a versatile artist, skilled in the use of pastels, oils, watercolors, and, above all, the computer. Through the magic of pixels, the computer becomes tubes of paint capable of placing a little pigment here and more pigment there. The results are evocative hybrids with the look of photographs but the soul of paintings. The rich layers and subtle textures obscure the images’ origins while providing a visual compositional feast. One marvels at the arrangement of shapes, the balanced placement of colors, and the calculated use of space. The images transport the viewer from the physical world of simple looking into the realm of revery and ecstatic discovery." Chris With has worked with the National Gallery of Art for 32 years, the majority of that time as Coordinator of Art Information, fielding a host of art-related inquiries from the public, whether or not they pertained to the Gallery's collection. Chis is one of the curators for the Arts Club of Washington. After retirement in 2010, and lecturing on art history for the adult education division of George Mason University, the focus now is in lecturing widely on a broad array of topics and writing essays and catalogs, largely on 19th and 20th century German art. Chris With has a Ph.D. in modern European history from UCLA. Hill Digital Quilt Project |
| Hill Digital Quilt collaborative projectI like viewers to have a say in some of my artistic decisions, to be an active part of the creative process. So a very big "Thank you" to all the participating viewers who chose the winning photos from the dozens of candidates. These winners were transformed into the final panels, then printed, framed and installed in the Quilt Matrix located at the Hill Center on Capitol Hill. Of course the project took longer to finish than anticipated, but I am very pleased by both the process and the outcome. It was quite interesting to see which images gathered the most votes - not always the ones I would have expected. My favorite transformed panel was always the one I had just finished, so the final few panels are my final favorites. This project was also a prototype for future collaborative art projects. I've been working with the concept of evolution for many years now, how images can morph into other images, or start whole families with generations and siblings and cousins. In the past I always had to provide the forces that transformed the images, as well as determine which would surrive to the next generation. With the internet, this survival-of-the-fittest decision can be crowd-sourced, providing a more natural force to work with. This project proved the concept to be viable. So again, many thanks to you all. I have many ideas for future projects, and hope you will participate again.
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The color palette: My color sense tends to be rather bold and saturated, so I wanted to explore a more subdued palette. I pre-selected a range of values in 7-8 colors. | The excercise of painting 30 paintings in 30 minutes really gets the creative juices flowing, and forces you to focus on the essentials. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the event, I found myself getting quite irritated at that minute going by so quickly. Just as I was getting into the flow of each painting, "Ding!" the minute would be up. It would be easier if it was just charcoal, but I'm a color addict. The entire excercise, including a few seconds between each to put the old one away and prepare for the new one, took about 45 minutes or so. Preparation and clean up added a few more hours. The advanced planning helped. I had gathered papers in several different colors and textures, and pre-selected a palette of largly compatible soft pastels from which I only occasionally strayed. Also, I already had in mind what I wanted to explore -- geometric shapes (squares, rectangles, stripes, and frames). I feel as if I've barely scratched the surface of possibilities. I am so pleased with the experience and the production that I intend to repeat the process, maybe a 60-60, or one with 90 seconds each, or maybe even two whole minutes! |
Round 6 Hill Quilt |
Artfête Open House & Holiday Party Tomorrow! Friday, November 30, 6:00-9:00 pm The Art League’s Madison Annex, 305 Madison Street, Alexandria, VA I will be demonstrating live at this event. There will be other special events, sales by the jewelry, pottery, and other departments, faculty exhibits, a live band, and we are promised good food. This will be the first such event in the newly expanded and renovated facility, so come and help inaugurate the new space! For more info, go to :http://www.theartleague.org/content/artfete2012 |
About the Artist
Nancy Freeman has a decades-long fascination with digital art which she supports by painting portraits and teaching various art subjects. Right now she devotes most of her creative time to digital art because it's so satisfying.
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