Here's a Tip for You!

Here is a Tip: At the end of the Spring Pastel Event FREE demo with Mary Shea , I overheard a lady tell Mary, that she was glad that up on the walls of the gallery/demo space there were four framed pastels by Mary, because seeing those artworks influenced her to come to see Mary at the FREE demo. So, whenever you stop by the stores, look for artwork by the artists' who are scheduled for the FREE demos to help you decide which ones would be helpful to you. It works the same way with going to one of the FREE demos to help you to decide on what workshops would be the most helpful to you!

Mary Shea and the Daniel Smith Spring Pastel Event

Last weekend was the Spring Pastel Event at the Daniel Smith Stores in both Seattle and Bellevue. Out of the several Events and FREE demos scheduled, I was able to attend Mary Shea's FREE Pastel demo on Saturday at the Seattle Store.

Mary Shea works primarily in pastel and some printmaking (monotypes) and for the pastel demo, Mary shared with us some of her techniques and her enthusiasm for making and experimenting with different art processes. Playfulness is an important part of Mary's art, and it shows in her enthusiasm for her art materials and willingness to experiment...."it's always worth it to try!"

For the demonstration, Mary used Sennelier Pastels and we each got some free Sennelier Pastel samples!

Because "I get a little frustrated sometimes on white paper", Mary told us that she likes to work on Cason Mi-Tientes pastel paper [ "working on a black background really makes the colors sing" ] and do watercolor blocking on paper and monotypes, then drawing on top with pastel. Other papers that Mary likes to work with in pastel are printmaking paper (ones that have good "tooth" for the pastel to grab on to) and heavy handmade papers .

It was a fun hour to hear Mary Shea share her passion and enthusiasm for drawing and painting with pastels, thank you Mary!

Spring Pastel Event this weekend at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

Spring Pastel Event at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store!


Saturday, April 26th from 9:00-4:00

SPRING PASTEL EVENT:

Hands-On, multiple demos, Artwork, give-aways and more.

Pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord
with Che Lopez at 11 am and 12:30pm on the sales floor

(Sponsored by Unison FREE Samples)

Sunday, April 27th from 11:00- 4:00

SPRING PASTEL EVENT:

Hands-On, multiple demos, Artwork, give-aways and more.

Pastel on Paper
with Mary Shea at 12pm and 1:30pm on the sales floor

Start Abstractly Finish Realistically
with Gary Gumble from 2pm to 4pm in the event room

(Sponsored by Sennelier FREE Samples)

Spring Pastel Event this weekend at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store!

Spring Pastel Event at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store!

Saturday, April 26th from 9:00-4:00

SPRING PASTEL EVENT:
Hands-On, multiple demos, Artwork, give-aways and more.
Start Abstractly Finish Realistically
with Gary Gumble, 1:45 pm- 3:45 pm in the event room
Pastel on Paper with Mary Shea
at 11 am and 12:30pm on the sales floor
(Sponsored by Sennelier FREE Samples)



Sunday, April 27th from 11:00- 4:00
SPRING PASTEL EVENT:
Hands-On, multiple demos, Artwork, give-aways and more.
Pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord
with Che Lopez at 12 pm and 1:30pm on the sales floor
Pastel Portraits with Yanshu Hsu

from 2 pm - 3 pm in the event room.
(Sponsored by Unison FREE Samples)

Watercolor Artist Tom Hoffman gave a FREE Watercolor Demo last Saturday at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store

WaterColor Artist Tom Hoffmann gave a FREE Watercolor Demonstration last Saturday, April 19, at our Daniel Smith Store in Seattle.

Tom talked about his painting philosophy, his creative process, shared with us some of his watercolor "sketches" from his travels in Mexico and painted a watercolor street scene from one of the sketches. It was especially interesting to listen to Tom talk about watercolor painting because one of his street scene paintings is on the cover of our new Daniel Smith Summer Sale Catalog.

Some of Toms' tips for the attendees were that for him it's about "what not to paint" that painting is a process of editing out everything but the essential visual keys. He later added that he "prefers to leave something for me [the viewer] to add to the piece".

He also described it as kind of like a horizontal "graph" or timeline....

Photo (too much info) <----> An artists balancing ("how little can you do and still tell the story") <----> sketch (too little info)

Tom shared with us how he mixes really rich, "not murky" darks (shadows) in his paintings by mixing Daniel Smith Watercolors in Phalo Blue, Quinacridone Red and Quinacridone Gold. In the new Daniel Smith Summer Sale Catalog on page 3, Tom talks more about this and other watercolor tips that he has found, definitly worth reading!

The audience was very attentive watching the painting come alive under Toms' brush and watercolor, it was really amazing to watch it happen.

A couple of other things Tom said that I noted down because I thought they were interesting and motivational were: "The role of the pencil is to allow me to confidently put the paint down". Darks are the "narrative content, and the forms that are worth looking at". "I like gorgeous paint more than anything else". And lastly, "I want people to say: 'Hell, I can do that!'"

Tom Hoffmann is an instructor atthe Gage Academy of Art and will be offering workshops later this year through Daniel Smith, more information to be posted later. The workshops will be an excellent opportunity to learn from a very good instructor.

Training For Our New Daniel Smith Summer Sale Catalog

The new Daniel Smith Summer Sale Catalog has been mailed out and you should be receiving it very soon if you haven't already gotten it. To be ready for your questions about new products in this catalog, we had training sessions last week for the Call Center and Store sales people. Our trainers, Thom Wright and artist Jennifer Phillips did a great job filling everyone in on the benefits of the new products so we could pass them on to you, and pointed out the terrific values of the items that are now ON SALE for you!

There are a couple of new Daniel Smith Paints being introduced in this catalog. Two new Daniel Smith watercolors: Smalt Genuine and Perylene Violet (everyone attending got tubes to play with!) a very beautiful blue and a juicy reddish violet on page 3. Also, a new Daniel Smith oil paint: Cadmium Red Medium Hue " offers an "alternative to classic Cadmium Red. It's a vibrant, strong primary red...an organic color, it has high chroma and strong opacity", on page 23.

A couple of other things that caught my eye during the training session I attended. The first was the new Atria Stainless Steel Brush Washers in three sizes on page 59, they are airtight to prevent odors and spills. The other was the new A-Frame Studio Easel on page 95. which has a wood tray to brace the legs and provides some storage, and tilts both forward and back.

If you have not received a catalog and would like one, click here to request a Daniel Smith Summer Sale Catalog ...we are now ready for You!

FREE Demos this weekend at Daniel Smith

Seattle Daniel Smith Store
Saturday April 19th, 11am and 1:45pm - FREE
Watercolor: Expanding Your Travel Sketches
with Tom Hoffman

Bellevue Daniel Smith Store
Saturday, April 19th, 11am and 1:45pm - FREE
Watercolor: Mixed Media
with Anne Olwin

Bellevue Daniel Smith Store
Sunday, April 20th, 12pm & 2:00 pm - FREE

Wild watercolor with acrylic medium:

Hands on experience painting with watercolors
and Daniel Smith acrylic medium on fiber and paper.

with Gail Baker

Juliette Aristides Book Signing at Daniel Smith in Seattle

Sunday, April 13th, Classical Realist Painter Juliette Aristides was at the Daniel Smith Store in Seattle to sign copies of her beautiful new book; "Classical Painting Atelier" and talk with visitors.

Before I asked Juliette to sign my copy, I spent some time going through the book enjoying the lush oil paintings in the book. I had not had the opportunity to see the book before the launch and Juliette's' signing, so I am glad I did, so that I could talk to her about some of the paintings in the book.

An interesting thing that Juliette pointed out is that several of the paintings reside in private collections in the Seattle area. The cover painting of a striking woman glowing in the surrounding darkness by William McGregor Paxton is one, and as I recall, Juliette said that it was on loan to the Seattle Art Museum . I must make sure I see it in person.

While I have not had time to read more than a few pages, I have found that it is laid out in a series of Lessons within the chapters. Juliette's written words, descriptive and eloquent, guide the reader to see what she sees in the painting she is using to illustrate an artistic point. The book does feel like a two dimensional Atelier, with Juliette as the readers' instructor. Juliette teaches in the Classical Atelier style at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, so the Lessons in the book are very likely based on Lessons she uses to guide her Atelier Students.

This is a wonderful book I am going to look forward to reading, and if you have an interest in oil painting this is one you will want to add to your collection too.

Many thanks to Juliette Aristides for coming to Daniel Smith to launch her newest book!

You have another opportunity to meet Juliette Aristides and have her sign "Classical Painting Atelier" this coming Friday, April 18th at the Gage Academy of Art :

Juliette Aristides

Friday, April 18, 7:00pm, FREE

Gage Academy of Art,

1501 10th Ave. E, Seattle,

Geo Studio, Third Floor

Book Signing for Juliette Aristides at the Daniel Smith Store in Seattle

You're invited to the Book Signing for Juliette Aristides this Sunday, April 13th from 12 to 2PM at our Daniel Smith Store in Seattle.

Juliette is the artist and author of the respected "Classical Drawing Atelier" a "A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice" for drawing. Juliette's newest book which debuts this month is called: "Classical Painting Atelier" .

We here at Daniel Smith Artist's Supply are excited to welcome Juliette to our Daniel Smith Seattle Store to help launch her new book. To celebrate, we are hosting a Book Release Party with the opportunity for you to be the first to pick up a copy and have Juliette sign yours!

Come by to meet Juliette Aristides, purchase her new "Classical Painting Atelier" book and sign Your copy!

First Thursday Art Walk in Seattle's Pioneer Square

The First Thursday of every month is the Seattle Art Walk or as it is also known as: Pioneer Square Gallery Walk .

This April's First Thursday, the Daniel Smith Seattle Store Manager (friends for years) and I went Gallery hopping to see the Art that was on display.

It was a nice mild evening (no rain!) so there were a lot of people in the galleries, walking in the streets and hanging out in Occidental Park. I saw my favorite painting of the evening at ArtForte , my friend saw hers at Linda Hodges and we both enjoyed the three artists whose prints were featured at the Davidson Gallery.

Bellevue Store...Paint Pots!

One of the things I like about walking into the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store is how beautifully visual their displays are.

Last week I noticed this one for Spring....Paint Pots!

So when you stop by the store, be sure to check out their creative efforts!

Ann Breckon's Free demo on Watercolor: Flowers and Baskets

Last Saturday's Free demo at the Daniel Smith

Store in Bellevue

was with watercolorist Ann Breckon

showing the audience some tips (and tricks too!)

for painting flowers and baskets in watercolor.

After the demo had ended, as usual, many people stayed to ask

a few more questions as they looked at the painting that Ann had

done during the demo, always a great way to learn!

If you would like a more intensive, hands-on class to learn more

about watercolor painting, register for Ann's

WATERCOLOR: Baskets in Watercolor workshop

coming up Thursday, April 24th.

Even if you are unsure of your drawing ability,

Ann will show you some tricks to get you beyond that.

****************************************

Thursday April 24th WATERCOLOR: Baskets in Watercolor

with Ann Breckon annbreckon.com

Come learn easy ways to paint what looks like a difficult subject.

Ann shows you how to create different kinds of woven baskets

that are beautiful, dimensional, and realistic.

This class will cover several ways to incorporate baskets

into your own charming still life paintings.

$75 per day 11 am to 4 pm

Anne Olwin's Recent Free Demo at Daniel Smith's Seattle Store using Watercolors on Wallis Paper and Pastel

One of last February's weekend Free demos at the

Daniel Smith Seattle Store was with Anne Olwin .

Anne's demo was on techniques for working on

Wallis Sanded Professional Grade Pastel Paper using

Daniel Smith Watercolors and Sennelier Soft Pastels.

For an one hour seminar, Anne Olwin was able to give a lot of information, tips and techniques packed into that space of time! For the watercolor portion, Anne worked on a sheet of the Wallis paper (about 16 X 20) which she had lightly sketched some sunflowers.

Beginning with the watercolors, Anne applied watercolors to the sanded surface. While she was doing it, she passed around to her audience, a sample of the paper with watercolor paint on it, so we could feel how rough the surface was (nice tooth to it) and what watercolor looked like.

As Anne began painting the watercolor onto the Wallis paper, we could see in the demo mirror how she applied it and how it was looking. We could see the sunflowers begin to take shape.

Then Anne turned the demo painting into mixed media by working some Sennelier Soft Pastels into some of the watercolor and into the plain surface. Anne began playing around with the surface and the media producing some very interesting results!

Anne's ongoing chat about what she was doing began moving towards the idea of Having Fun With Painting! To not be afraid of playing around just to see what kind of results might happen. She said that if she liked the results, then that was something to remember to use another time, if she did not like it, well then Anne would remember that too.

The essence is that making art should fun, to not be afraid to play around, indulge in our natural child-like curiosity and experiment. We should also try not to treat our art supplies as so precious that we "freeze up" and stifle the creative flow or process, and to remember, that we can always start over on another piece of paper. Anne said that sometimes adults need "permission" to play with our art materials...and she gave her permission to the class with a laugh!

Everyone in the audience was really warmed up now about the idea of playing with the art materials, and ready to follow Anne's play with the pastels on the Wallis paper.

Thanks to Anne Olwin for sharing with us some fun and exciting ideas with the watercolors and pastels on Wallis paper!

*******************************************************

Anne Olwin will also have a Workshop, Sunday, April 6th, 2008

at the Daniel Smith Bellevue Store.

"Get a jump on the spring flowers, learning how to capture their freshness and beauty.

Painting from the bounty of her own spring garden, Anne will show you how to capture the effects of light as it dances over fresh flowers and creates a vivid colorful composition.

Let Anne help you with her expert knowledge to arrange flowers in your spring compositions. $75 per day 11 am to 4 pm"