DANIEL SMITH Art Supplies

DANIEL SMITH Store in Bellevue's FREE Weekend demos for August 16th & 17th with Artists Patricia Seggebruch and April Richardson

2008-08-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

The Bellevue DANIEL SMITH store has invited artists Patricia Seggebruch and April Richardson to give FREE demonstrations for working in Encaustic and making Monotypes respectively. Come by to find out more about these two mediums....you know you want to!

Saturday, August 16th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

ENCAUSTIC: Painting in Encaustic

Patricia Seggebruch

http://www.pbsartist.com/

Sunday, August 17th at 12 & 2 pm

MONOTYPE: Layer After Layer

April Richardson

aprilrichardsonartist.com

*****

Seattle DANIEL SMITH Store FREE Weekend Demo for August 16th with Collage Artist Nola Ahola

2008-08-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

This Saturday the Seattle DANIEL SMITH Store has invited Nola Ahola to do a FREE demo on Collaging and Painting on Exotic Papers. Check out her website to see some of her fabulous Collages!

Saturday, August 16th at 11am & 1:45pm

COLLAGE: Painting on Exotic Papers

Nola Ahola

nolaahola.com

*****

DANIEL SMITH Store in Bellevue's FREE Weekend Demos for August 9th & 10th with Artists Michele Usibelli and Patrick Howe

2008-08-06T23:59:00.000-07:00

FREE Oil Painting demonstrations this weekend at the Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Store. This is a great way to Pick up some new oil painting tips, learn more about painting in oils , or just inspire you!

Saturday will be with Oil Painter Michele Usibelli and Impressionistic oil painting. Michele will be sharing some of the basic Impressionistic painting techniques she uses in her own paintings .

Sunday's FREE demonstration will be with Artist Patrick Howe showing you some of his tips for gorgeous reflective light in landscapes done in oil paint. Just how does he do it? Come to the FREE demo and find out.

Saturday, August 9th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

OIL: The Impressionistic Approach to Painting

Michele Usibelli

micheleusibelli.com

Sunday, August 10th at 12 & 2 pm

OIL: Reflective Light

Patrick Howe

Patrickhowe.com

*****

Seattle DANIEL SMITH Store FREE Weekend Demos for August 9th & 10th with Artists Deborah Stachowic and Bruce Edwards

2008-08-06T23:57:00.000-07:00

It's a watercolor weekend for our FREE weekend demos here at the DANIEL SMITH Store in Seattle ! If you are thinking about learning about watercolor painting, or would like to learn some new tips or even to just get inspired, then you are invited to come to our FREE watercolor demos.

Saturday, watercolor artist Deborah Stachowic will be sharing her tips on Painting European Scenes in watercolors. Deborah who travels extensively and takes her watercolor paints with her, is sure to have some ideas for you.

Sunday, artist Bruce Edwards demonstration will be on keeping a watercolor Journal. This is a wonderful way to document your summer vacation, and Bruce's' practical tips are sure to help and inspire you to make your own watercolor Journal while on your next trip.

Saturday, August 9th at 11am & 1
Watercolor: European Landscapes
Deborah Stachowic
paintscapeabroad.com

Sunday, August 10th at 12 & 2pm
WATERCOLOR: Journal Entries in Watercolor
Bruce Edwards
bruceedwardsartwork.com

*****

Bellevue DANIEL SMITH FREE Weekend Demos for Aug. 2nd & 3rd with artists Michael Jacobs and Nola Ahola

2008-07-31T23:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend's FREE demonstrations at the Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Store will have artists Michael Jacobs and Nola Ahola. Saturday's FREE demo is with Michael Jacobs (The Creative Zone ) showing how to make "Interactive" Greeting Cards . On Sunday, the FREE demo is with Nola Ahola demonstrating how to "Paint" in Collage with Exotic Papers . Come and join us for "how to" do some fun projects!

Saturday, August 2nd at 11 am & 1:45 pm
BOOKMAKING: Making Interactive Greeting Cards
Michael Jacobs
thecreativezone.com

Sunday, August 3rd at 12 & 2 pm
COLLAGE: Painting on Exotic Papers
Nola Ahola
nolaahola.com

*****

DANIEL SMITH Store in Seattle's FREE Weekend Demos with Daniel Rice and Blanche Niznik

2008-07-31T22:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend the Seattle DANIEL SMITH Store will have FREE demonstrations with artist Daniel Rice on Saturday and Blanche Niznik on Sunday. Daniel Rice will be sharing his tips on painting with acrylics, and Blanche Niznik will be demonstrating her tips on using painting knives with oil paints.

Saturday, August 2nd at 11am & 1:45pm

ACRYLIC: The Gift Of Acrylic Painting

Daniel Rice

danielriceart.net

Sunday, August 3rd at 12 & 2pm

OIL: When All Else Fails Use a Knife

Blanche Niznik

blanche-niznik.com

*****

DANIEL SMITH'S FREE Weekend Demo with Botanical Illustrator / Artist Linda Ann Vorobik

2008-07-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, for the FREE weekend demo at the Seattle DANIEL SMITH Store , Botanist and Artist Linda Ann Vorobik gave a talk and demonstration on Botanical Illustration. Linda, well known for her Botanical Illustrations in reference books such as The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of of California , gave a through (as through as a person can do in an hour!) introduction to basic Botanical Illustration.

Linda Ann Vorobik , who has an extensive education and professional expertise in Botany, has blended her scientific interests and background with the sensuality of art that appeals to her when she works on her artistic Botanical Illustrations...her "Plant Portraits". Linda had this to say about her work as an artist: "I'm a sensualist, to me art is about connecting with the medium, not sitting at a computer with a mouse".

Linda had a lot of materials and artwork that she invited everyone to look over before she began her demo. Linda reviewed with us the art supplies she uses for her botanical illustrations, several unusual items were magnifying glasses, and watchmaker's forceps...all the better to see and access the fine details of a flower or plant. Linda told the audience several times how important it is for accurate botanical illustration to "Measure, Measure, Draw". Of course unless you are doing scientifically accurate botanicla illustrations as Linda does, you don't necessarily need to "Measure, Measure, Draw" when doing your plant portraits.

Going through the steps Linda takes, she showed us how she works:
Step 1: Pencil sketch - sketch out your subject.
Step 2: Composition - make xerox copies of pencil sketch, cut and paste until you get the composition you want. Tape your drawing paper (Strathmore 500 Series Illustration Board ) to your paper with the composed sketches.
Step 3: Pen & Ink - Lay your taped drawing paper over a light box and begin tracing out in ink, your composed sketches.
Step 4: Watercolor (if she is doing the illustration in color).

Linda showed us a couple of the techniques she uses for getting dimensionality in her pen and ink drawings; thin and thicker ink lines with different nibs (or pens) or pressure when tracing out the shapes, and leaving a "white gap" between lines to show that something (a background leaf) is behind another object (a foreground leaf). It was interesting to see how really effective that was when we got out of our seats and moved in for a closer look. Linda also brought her laptop with her to show us photos of how effective watercolor washes are for building up glowing, translucent color with a couple of onion studies.

This was just a very brief introduction to botanical illustration, Linda will be teaching a Botanical Illustration Workshop on Sunday, August 17th at the the Seattle DANIEL SMITH Store . If you are interested in Botanical Illustration, or in improving your skills for drawing or painting flowers and plants, then this is a good opportunity to get some hands on learning with an professionally experienced, and well known Botanical Illustrator. Thank you Linda!

Workshop
Sunday August 17th

WATERCOLOR: Botanical illustration

with Linda Ann Vorobik

vorobikbotanicalart.com

Linda Ann Vorobik will teach you the steps of botanical illustration from drawing plants to publishing in professional books and journals, with sample art and images illustrating these steps. Botanical illustration is defined and compared with plant portraiture. Using tools for pen and ink or watercolor you will learn how these medias apply to rendering beautiful botanical images. All skill levels are welcome: accomplished artists can learn added botany skills and skilled botanists will learn to draw.

$75 per day

11 AM to 4:00 PM

001 020 334

*****

DANIEL SMITH's Newest Extra Fine Watercolor Triad - Firenze

2008-07-25T12:04:00.000-07:00

DANIEL SMITH has a new Limited Edition Watercolor Triad called "Firenze" which features the colors Permanent Yellow Deep , Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet , and Verditer Blue.

This new DANIEL SMITH Triad are DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine Watercolors chosen by Watercolor Artist Brenda Swenson. Brenda chose these colors because:

"When working with a limited palette I look for colors

that “feel” like my subject matter.

All 3 of these colors have low staining qualities that I like

and mix wonderfully to create new colors.

The city scene of Florence is warm and bright so

I wanted to have a warm dominance of temperature.

The wonderful granulation of Verditer Blue added texture

to the shadows and glazed beautifully,

even for a semi-transparent color"

So, if you are dreaming of traveling to Italy, have a desire to paint Mediterranean landscapes.... or are lucky enough to actually be traveling to the region and hope to do some Plein Aire painting....well, this might be the DANIEL SMITH Triad for you!

*****

Special FREE Event Demo: Introducing the New GOLDEN OPEN Acrylic Paints with GOLDEN's Nina Deckert

2008-07-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

For everyone who works with GOLDEN Acrylics , Acrylic paint in general, and Oil paint may want to come to the Early Bird (9:30am) FREE demo at the Seattle DANIEL SMITH Store on the New GOLDEN OPEN Acrylics. GOLDEN Acrylics' very knowledgeable representative, Nina Deckert will be there to "Show and Tell" all about this new really cool product....there will be some FREE goodies (samples!) of this revolutionary new acrylic paint!

Since DANIEL SMITH will be carrying the entire line of the New OPEN Acrylics (look for them on page 42 of the new 2008-2009 Reference Catalog) Nina has been holding training sessions this week with the DANIEL SMITH store and catalog people. Nina will be offering some of the same information at this FREE demo!

What's so new and wonderful about the new GOLDEN OPEN Acrylics? Well they have a much, much longer open time to work with. This is a totally new formula (and top secret too!) for acrylics that allows artists extended time to work with the paint...almost like an oil paint. The paint feels luscious and silky, again like an oil paint, when you apply it to your surface. The paint does not skim over as there is a humectant in the formula to attract moisture from the air helping to extend the open time. You can mix and work over the surface with blending, more like painting in oils, but with no solvents!

The new GOLDEN OPEN Acrylics clean out of brushes really well with water, and are designed to mix with GOLDEN's Heavy Body Acrylics (and other brands including DANIEL SMITH Ultimate Acrylics ) which, depending on the amount of OPEN Acrylic mixed in will extend the working time of the mixed color. There is lots more, so come by to find out more from Nina at the Special Event this Saturday at 9:30 am! Remember there will be a cool package with 3 samples of GOLDEN OPEN Acrylic! Thank you Nina!

Saturday, July 26th at 9:30am

EARLY BIRD DEMO

ACRYLIC: New, GOLDEN OPEN Acrylics

Nina Deckert

ninadekert.com

*****

Reminder: Special FREE Event This Weekend, July 26th and 27th With DigiPen Institute of Technology Faculty at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

2008-07-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

Be sure to come by for this very Special FREE Event at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store with the Faculty from the DigiPen Institute of Technology . DigiPen Institute of Technology is the leader for Game Development and Computer Animation Education. This is a great opportunity to get an introduction into training for a career in Computer Game Development and Computer Animation.

So, have you ever wondered if this is a career direction you would be interested in exploring? Here is your opportunity!

Please look at the schedule below for this two day, all day FREE Event to find sessions that you are interested in.

SPECIAL FREE EVENT

*****

July 26th and 27th Animation Weekend with

DigiPen Institute of Technology Faculty

*****

Saturday: Traditional Animation Techniques Sessions

10am Pre-production Overview of the industry and

process. going from storyboard to animatics,

and character design issues.

11:30am Character Design Discussion about

the creative process of designing engaging

characters that can be animated.

1pm Environment Design. The considerations for backgrounds.

2:30 The Art of Animation. The various forms of animation,

and the specific challenges involved with

bringing artwork to life.

*****

Sunday: Art Production for Games Sessions

12noon Game Introductory Overview The challenges

of creating art for games.

1:30pm Industry Tools Game assets tools such as

Flash, Photoshop, and 3DS Max.

3pm Creating Animation for Games The technical issues involved

with the implementation of animation into

real-time interactive environments

*****

Daniel Smith Store in Seattle's FREE Saturday Demo with Watercolor Botanical Artist Linda Ann Vorobik

2008-07-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

This Saturday the Seattle Daniel Smith Store will have 2 FREE demos with Watercolor Botanical Artist Linda Ann Vorobik. Linda will share some of her observations and tips for Botanical Watercolor Illustration, and this is a great (FREE) way to find out more about attending Linda's Workshop on August 17th at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store. If you are a garden enthusiast, this is a demonstration that you will want to come to!

Sat July 26th at 11:30 am & 1:45 pm

WATERCOLOR: Botanical illustration

Linda Ann Vorobik

vorobikbotanicalart.com

DON’T FORGET Linda’s Workshop August 17th Seattle Store!

*****

The Seattle Daniel Smith Store's FREE Weekend Demo, July 19th with Marianne Perkins

2008-07-23T15:53:00.000-07:00

The FREE weekend demonstration at the Daniel Smith Store in Seattle last Saturday was with Watercolor and Walnut Ink Artist Marianne Perkins .

Marianne talked about and showed the group lots of her tips for working with Walnut Ink with different tools and on different kinds of papers. Papers like Arches Watercolor , Vellum, Bristol Board (favorite), really most types of papers. She has also done mono-prints with Walnut Ink on to printmaking paper.

Some of Marianne's tips were: Do not use your best watercolor brushes to apply the Walnut Ink because you can't get all the ink out when you clean the brushes. Akua Kolor's Needle Applicator - 5 pack is a wonderful way to draw with the Walnut Ink, you get some very expressive lines. When using these, Marianne has one of the 5 applicators filled with water so that she can easily clean the needle of the applicator she just used for drawing. She attaches the used needle to the water-filled applicator and gently squeezes water out through the needle. Consistent, and immediate cleaning of the needle before the Walnut Ink dries in the needle is very important, because if it dries out, the needle will be permanently clogged and ruined.

Some of the really cool effects that Marianne gets with Walnut Ink are when she works with it as mixed media. Marianne often adds watercolor (she really likes the effects of the Daniel Smith Luminescent Watercolors ) when painting (not mixed together!) and Pastels . When using Pastels, she lays down some Pastel color on scrap paper, then using a brush (with water) takes up some of the pastel dust and paints it onto her work.

Another of Marianne's favorite tools is Frisket Masking Film, and she often uses the same shape over a couple of times. She gets some interesting effects when the masking film starts to loose some of it's "tack" and the Walnut Ink or Watercolor begins to seep underneath the film.

Marianne had several framed Walnut Ink paintings / drawings on display near the demo table, which inspired several questions during the demo. It is always interesting to see the Artists work on display while they are talking about how they work, and demonstrating to get those effects. Marianne told the group that while she ..."loves the process of painting, I don't always love my paintings". She added that it's through the process you discover new ways of creating visual excitement in your work, so don't be afraid to play, experiment and get involved in the PROCESS, that is how you make exciting Art!

*****

Bellevue Daniel Smith Hosting FREE Animation Weekend Event with DigiPen Institute of Technology Faculty

2008-07-16T15:07:00.000-07:00

The Daniel Smith in Bellevue is hosting a FREE Special Event Weekend with the DigiPen Institute of Technology Faculty on July 26th and 27th.

This is truly a special opportunity for anyone interested in computer art and animation as Digipen Institure of Technology is the; "first university in the world dedicated to teaching how to create video games." This FREE Special Event will be held in the Gallery/Workshop space at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store. Please see the information below for topics and times.

*****

FREE SPECIAL EVENT July 26th and 27th

Animation Weekend with

DigiPen Institute of Technology Faculty

*****

Saturday:

Traditional Animation Techniques Sessions.

10am: Preproduction Overview of the industry and process,

going from storyboard to animatics, and character design issues.

11:30am: Character Design Discussion about the creative

process of designing engaging characters that can be animated.

1pm: Environment Design, the considerations for backgrounds.

2:30pm: The Art of Animation, the various forms of animation,

and the specific challenges involved with bringing artwork to life.

*****

Sunday:

Art Production for Games Sessions.

12noon: Game Introductory Overview,

the challenges of creating art for games.

1:30pm: Industry Tools Game assets tools such as

Flash, Photoshop, and 3DS Max.

3pm: Creating Animation for Games, the technical issues

involved with the implementation of animation into

real-time interactive environments.

*****

Daniel Smith Artists' Materials: "Best of the City" as Listed in Seattle Metropolitan Magazine

2008-07-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

While looking through my copy of this months Seattle Metropolitan Magazine , and checking out their "Best of the City" lists, I found a nice surprise when I saw Daniel Smith listed! Under "shopping and Style" on page 109, under "Craft Supplies" (OK, that should be Artist Materials or Supplies!) there we were!

I know, and you know, that Daniel Smith is the BEST Art Supply Store, and it's always nice to be recognized by others too.

The link to Seattle Metropolitan Magazine does not actually show the lists for their "Best of the City" , so you'll have to pick up you own copy to check it out. When you do, remember, this July 2008 issue is their 3D edition so you will have extra fun looking at the magazine through the included 3D glasses in the issue!

Our thanks to Seattle Metropolitan Magazine for the nice "pat on the back"!

*****

Bellevue Daniel Smith Store FREE Weekend Demos for July 19th and 20th with Bruce Edwards and Jim Stoccardo

2008-07-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

This weekends FREE demonstrations at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store will have Bruce Edwards on Saturday showing how to create expressive journals in watercolor. On Sunday, Jim Stoccardo will be demonstrating Drawing and Painting on Claybord, if you have ever wanted to know more about working on Claybord, this is a great way to get some tips. Remember, both of these demos are FREE!

Saturday, July 19th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

WATERCOLOR: Journal Entries in Watercolor

Bruce Edwards

www.bruceedwardsartwork.com

Sunday, July 20th at 12 & 2 pm

Drawing & Painting on Clayboard

Jim Stoccardo

www.jimstoccardo.com

*****

Seattle Daniel Smith Store: FREE Weekend Demos July 19th with Marianne Perkins

2008-07-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

This coming weekend's FREE demonstrations at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store is with local Watercolor Artist Marianne Perkins who will be doing two FREE demos on Drawing using Walnut Ink on Saturday, July 19th. Come by to learn more about expressing yourself with walnut ink and picking up some drawing and painting tips from Marianne, it's FREE!

Saturday, July 19th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

DRAWING: Walnut Ink

Marianne Perkins

*****

Daniel Smith's Newest Watercolor Triad - Sand & Surf!

2008-07-09T01:47:00.000-07:00

Daniel Smith's Newest Triad...

Recently Daniel Smith added a new Watercolor Triad just in time for Summer Watercolor Painting! It's the Sand & Surf Triad colors chosen by Watercolor Artist Susie Short . It's official name is: "DANIEL SMITH: Limited Edition Watercolor Triad, Susie Short's Sand & Surf".

If you are planning on going to the beach this summer to do some Plein Aire Painting, then you may want to bring this Triad along with you! Either take the Sand & Surf Triad itself, or add one or two of the colors to your collection if you already have either the Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors in Indanthrone Blue , Ultramarine Turquoise, or the Goethite, Brown Ochre, and complete your own Triad!

Susie recently did a FREE demo at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store using mostly this Sand & Surf Triad (click HERE to see) and will be doing another FREE "Sea and Shore" demo this weekend at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store on Saturday, July 12th at 11am and 1:45pm.

*****

Bellevue Daniel Smith FREE Weekend Demos July 12th & 13th with Carol Stecher-Jones and Blanche Niznik

2008-07-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

This upcoming weekend, July 12th and 13th, the FREE demo at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store will have Carol Stecher-Jones demonstrating basic Watercolor Painting. Carol's own Watercolor Paintings have a strong sense of light and space, click HERE to see some examples of her work. Sunday's FREE demonstration will be with Oil Paint Artist Blanche Niznik, please click HERE to see examples of her work

Sat July 12th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

WATERCOLOR: Let's Get Started

Carol Stecher-Jones
arts-umbrella.com

*****

Sun July 13th at 12 & 2 pm

OIL: When All Else Fails Use a Knife

Blanche Niznik

*****

Seattle Daniel Smith Store: FREE Weekend Demos July 12th & 13th with Susie Short and Patrick Howe

2008-07-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

This upcoming weekend's FREE demonstrations at the Daniel Smith Store in Seattle are with Watercolor Artist Susie Short on Saturday the 12th. If you would like a preview of what it would be like click HERE to read the blog article from Susie's demo in June at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store . Sunday the 13th is with Patrick Howe with a FREE demo on oil painting and reflective light. Patrick's website shows some of his oil paintings that have some beautiful reflective light , you just might want to come to the FREE demo to find out how he does it!

Saturday, July 12th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

WATERCOLOR: Sea and Shore

Susie Short

DON’T FORGET Susie’s Workshop

July 27th thru 28th Seattle Store!

*****

Sunday, July 13th at 12 & 2 pm

OIL: Reflective Light

Patrick Howe

*****

The Seattle Daniel Smith Store's FREE Weekend Demo last Saturday with Artist Jerry Baldwin

2008-07-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, July 5th, one of the FREE weekend demos at the Daniel Smith Store in Seattle was with Landscape Artist Jerry Baldwin . Jerry was demonstrating some of his tips for painting Landscapes with Pastels .

First, Jerry likes to pre-paint in watercolor on Wallis Sanded Paper , the basic shapes, and colors he sees in the landscape he will be doing in pastel. It has excellent "tooth" for the pastel and heavy enough not to buckle when the watercolor paint is applied. The colors are not necessarily the colors that will be used for the shapes in pastel, for instance the color of the sky in watercolor for the demo was yellow.

Working from a photo, Jerry applied his pastels, working over the sanded surface from his trays of pastels. The trays are actually black Styrofoam trays that Jerry got from his butcher. They work especially well because they are light weight, soft surfaced (don't chip at the pastels) and since these are black rather than the usual white, really "pop" the colors and don't look dingy like the white trays do. A tip while working, have an empty tray to keep the pastels that are being used for the current work, so that it's easy to find that color again when you want it.

Another tip from Jerry for cleaning your pastels; place them in a container of cornmeal and gently shake the container. This will "sand" the outer surface of the pastels removing the "gunk". Then sieve them out with your fingers.

When Jerry was working over his board and ran into an area that was challenging him, he told the audience: "If you make a mistake you learn something, if you don't make a mistake you learn something else, so either way you learn something!" The audience appreciated that comment since everyone can relate to making mistakes while making art! It's especially comforting to know that it happens to professionals too.

It was interesting to see the landscape appearing under Jerry's pastel work, and to see it finished by the end of the demo. Thank you Jerry!

*****

Bellevue Daniel Smith Store's FREE Weekend Demos for July 5th and 6th

2008-07-04T22:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend's FREE demos at the Daniel Smith Store in Bellevue will give you tips on capturing your travels in ink and Watercolor with Expeditionary Artist Maria Coryell-Martin , and tips on Watercolor Painting on Ampersand Aquabord with Local Artist Che Lopez

Saturday, July 5th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

INK & WATERCOLOR: Expeditionary Field Sketching

Maria Coryell-Martin

expeditionaryart.com

*****

Sunday, July 6th at 12 & 2 pm

WATERCOLOR: Painting on Aquabord

Che Lopez

*****

Seattle Daniel Smith Store FREE Weekend Demos: July 5th & 6th

2008-07-03T16:01:00.000-07:00

This weekends FREE demos at the Daniel Smith Store in Seattle are with Jerry Baldwin for some basics for creating landscapes in pastel, and Jim Stoccardo with acrylic painting and drawing on Ampersand Claybord. So please feel free to stop by and get some tips to add to your creative knowledge!

Saturday, July 5th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

PASTEL: Landscapes

Jerry Baldwin

*****

Sunday, July 6th at 12 & 2 pm

ACRYLIC: Drawing & Painting on Clayboard

Jim Stoccardo

*****

Employee Acrylic Art Show at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store

2008-06-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

Now on view in our Daniel Smith Gallery.... Our Employee Acrylic Art Show at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store! Next time you visit our Daniel Smith Store in Seattle, please stop by our Gallery to see what our talented Daniel Smith Artist Employees have created in Acyclic.

There are lots of different techniques on display ranging from straight forward acrylic on canvas painted with brushes, to many forms of mixed media (photos, ink, pencil, Super Sculpey, Liquitex Pouring Medium , different kinds of Golden Gels , Styrofoam, even rice!) on different surfaces (Ampersand Gessobord with 2" cradle , and other Ampersand Gessobords ). There were even a couple of paintings that used Golden Phosphorescent Green which is a glow-in-the-dark acrylic paint, and available at the Daniel Smith Stores.

Most of the paintings have artist labels with titles and mediums used to help viewers know what they are looking at. You just might get an idea or two for using different art materials from seeing these.

This show will be up through mid July...and we will have another Employee Art Show following this one!

*****

1) Annie Van Englen - "Untitled 1"

2) Annie Van Englen - "Untitled 4"

3) Annie Van Englen - "Untitled 2"

4) Annie Van Englen - "Untitled 3

5) No Label

6) No Label

7) Connie Tehada - "Polarbear"

8) Bryan Mandronico - "Untitled"

9) Bryan Mandronico - "Staint Sweetums"

10) Kelly Patton - "Stag Beetle: Dusk"

11) Kelly Patton - "The Puppeteer"

12) Kim McCarthy - "Untitled"

13) Unlabeled

14) Unlabeled

15) Connie Cagley - "Quetzalcoat 1"

*****

Watercolor 101 with Che Lopez at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

2008-06-27T23:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 28th Watercolor 101 With Che Lopez Get a jump start on learning some watercolor painting basics with the Bellevue Store's own Che Lopez . For the Watercolor 101 Workshop , Che will show you some fun and useful tips to help you get started painting in watercolor, just in time for Summer!

This is a great deal (not just having Che as your teacher) but each student will receive a $10.00 coupon to use at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store towards buying art materials. So the class is $10.00 to register, and then you get a $10.00 coupon (to use at the Bellevue store) so that pretty much makes taking the class free!

$10.00
9am to 10am
001 020 004

Bellevue Daniel Smith Store's FREE Demo on Saturday, June 28th

2008-06-27T23:12:00.000-07:00

Acrylic Weekend! The FREE demonstration this Saturday at the Daniel Smith Store in Bellevue is Acrylic painting, and Sunday is "Come Paint with Staff" in acrylic paint.

Saturday, June 28th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

ACRYLIC: Pour it on!

Dianna Shyne

DON’T FORGET Dianna’s Workshop July 23rd Bellevue Store!

*****

Diana Shyne Workshop
Wednesday July 23rd

ACRYLIC: Pour it on! Build it up!

With Dianna Shyne

Join impressionist painter Dianna Shyne in a

distinctive approach to acrylic painting.

Dianna will show you her techniques

with a combination of fluid and

heavy bodied acrylics to create dynamic images.

Using landscapes for the basis of composition and form,

students will learn to increase their freedom and control.

Start your summer with a painting class that is fast paced, fun,

and inspirational!

$75 per day

11 am to 4 pm

001 020 057

Seattle Daniel Smith Stores' FREE Weekend Demos for June 28th & 29th

2008-06-27T22:32:00.000-07:00

This weekends' FREE weekend demonstrations at the Daniel Smith Store in Seattle is an All Acrylic weekend! Be sure to check out the Seattle Store Employee's acrylic paintings in the Store Gallery.

Saturday, June 28th from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm

ACRYLIC: Fluid Acrylic Basics

Paula Balch

SPECIAL Hands-on Event

Sunday, June 29th at 12 & 2 pm
ACRYLIC: Everyday Still Life Expressions
Cheryl Hoople
absolutearts.com

*****

Bellevue Daniel Smith FREE Watercolor Demo with Susie Short on Saturday, June 21st.

2008-06-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

Watercolor Artist Susie Short was at the Daniel Smith store in Bellevue last Saturday for one of the weekly FREE Daniel Smith demonstrations . Susie's theme for the the watercolor painting demo was "Sea and Shore" to give some insight and techniques on painting the shore for the 11am demo, and the second demo at 1:45 was tips on painting waves crashing onto the shore.

Susie shared lots and lots of insights, with her amazing observations on shore landscapes and tips on how to paint them in watercolor . She showed the packed room full of watercolor enthusiasts "feathering" to get the strong horizontals of the shoreline and parallel surf, how she makes the foaming surf and spray pop from the paper, achieves the translucent effects of the waves and water as it covers the sand and rocks...and so much more! For an hour demo there was a lot of great stuff!

Working mostly with her new Daniel Smith Sand and Surf Watercolor Triad: Indanthrone Blue , Ultramarine Turquoise , and Goethite (Brown Ochre) Susie demonstrated the watercolor painting effects she was showing the audience...really amazing! Susie also used just a touch of Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolor, Green Gold for the light glowing through the wave just before it crashes.

Susie also had a painting on display that she did just a few days before when she was at the beach, it was an incredible shore landscape with dark rocks that she did with the new Sand and Surf Triad, and a touch of Quinacridone Burnt Orange which when mixed with the other three colors produced the most amazing deep, rich dark for the back-lighted rocks. This painting was the one she recreated for the 11am FREE demo.

When Susie was talking about how to paint the waves, she shared her excellent observations on how the light effects the water and how to create those effects with watercolor painting. It was also fun to watch and learn because Susie became very animated waving her hands and arms to act out the action of the wave...complete with sound effects! Susie is a very inspiring watercolor painting instructor, so be sure to come to her next Daniel Smith FREE Demo at the Seattle store : Saturday, July 12th at 11am and 1:45pm to see for yourself. Thank you Susie!

Susie Short also many watercolor workshops and watercolor painting videos and DVDs too! The next Daniel Smith Workshop is:

Sunday & Monday July 27th and 28th.

WATERCOLOR: Sea and Shore

with Susie Short

$75 per day

11 AM to 4:00 PM

001 020 059

SUMI: Lotus Breeze with Yuming Zhu - Saturday June 14th FREE Demo at Daniel Smith in Seattle

2008-06-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

Yuming Zhu began with a good basic introduction to the materials used for Sumi Painting. He briefly talked about the brushes used such as the Jade Bamboo Brush and Rattail Fine Line Brush and what characteristics each type of brush brings to the painting. Other materials such as the rice paper; Best Shuan, and Double Shuan, that is used, how it works with the Sumi Inks, why you need the Ivy Wool Felt (to keep the paper from sticking to you work-surface) and more really good Sumi Painting materials tips.

After introducing the audience to some of the basic Sumi Painting materials, Yuming began talking to us about painting the Sumi way: "You see your subject, you interpret your subject, you express the essential character of your subject." "You paint what you feel, not what you see."

Then Yuming began his painting of Lotus Flowers in the water...a very physical activity. Watching Yuming was like watching a martial arts bout; a period of studying and sizing up the opponent (the painting as it exists at that point), gathering energy and engaging with the painting using the brush, then pausing to stand back and absorb the results of that engagement. Yuming steps back, resumes his study of the new painting, and repeating his actions until he was satisfied with the painting.

Afterwards, Yuming answered questions, and the most interesting one was about how "rough" he was with his brushes when he was applying the ink to the paper. Yuming replied; "don't worry about abusing your brush when painting, work your brush the way you want/need to, when you clean your brush, that is the time to respect your brush."

Click here for tips on caring for oriental style brushes.

It was interesting talking to Yuming afterwards about the energy he gathers about himself just before applying the inked brush to the paper. Yuming talked about "chi" and told me that it's about "capturing the moment and energy...and paint what you feel, not what you see." It was a very interesting demo, thank you Yuming!

More on previous FREE Daniel Smith demonstrations

of Sumi Painting with

Elizabeth Kay

and with

Pasty Surh O'Connell

****

Watercolor 101 Workshop with Che Lopez at the Daniel Smith Store in Bellevue

2008-06-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 21st Watercolor 101 Worshop

with Che Lopez.

Get a jump start on learning some watercolor painting basics with the Bellevue Store's own Che Lopez . For the Watercolor 101 Workshop , Che will show you some fun and useful tips to help you get started painting in watercolor, just in time for Summer!

This is a great deal (not just having Che as your teacher) but each student will receive a $10.00 coupon to use at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store towards buying art materials. So the class is $10.00 to register, and then you get a $10.00 coupon (to use at the Bellevue store) so that pretty much makes taking the class free!

Be sure to register early since the class size is limited.
$10.00

Saturday, June 21st
9 am to 10 am
001 020 004

Bellevue Daniel Smith Store's FREE Weekend Watercolor Painting Demos for June 21st & 22nd

2008-06-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

This weekends FREE demonstrations at the

Daniel Smith Store in Belleve

is watercolor painting with Susie Short on Saturday,

and Kay Barnes on Sunday.

Kay recently did a FREE watercolor demo

at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store, and please click here

for more information on that

Watercolor: Florals demonstration.

Saturday, June 21st at 11 am & 1:45 pm

WATERCOLOR: Sea and Shore

Susie Short

Sunday, June 22nd at 12 & 2 pm
WATERCOLOR: Florals
Kay Barnes

Eastside Association of Fine Arts Show at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

2008-06-12T22:42:00.000-07:00

This month, the Daniel Smith Store in Bellevue is hosting an Art Show featuring members of the Eastside Association of Fine Arts in the Store's Gallery. The EAFA members' work was hung the last week, and will be up through June 28th, so be sure to stop in at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store to enjoy the show!

The EAFA currently is having it's 2008 Member Only Show at Trilogy of Redmond Ridge, May 31 to June 26, 2008

Bellevue Daniel Smith FREE Demos this weekend, June 14th & 15th

2008-06-12T19:32:00.000-07:00

This weekends' FREE demonstrations at the
Daniel Smith Store in Bellevue

Saturday, June 14th at 11 am & 1:45 pm
SUMI: Spiritual Harmony
Elizabeth Kay
DON’T FORGET Elizabeth’s Workshop
July 9th thru 11th Bellevue Store!
womenpainters.com

Sunday, June 15th at 12 & 2 pm
WATERCOLOR: Working Wet to Dry in Watercolor
Joanne Shellan

Seattle Daniel Smith Store FREE Weekend Demos June 14th & 15th

2008-06-12T18:06:00.000-07:00

This weekends' FREE demonstrations at the
Daniel Smith Store in Seattle

Saturday June 14th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

SUMI: Sumi-Lotus Breeze

Yuming Zhu

Sunday, June 15th at 12 & 2 pm

Watercolor: Step by Step Painting

Gary Nelson

Daniel Smith Store in Seattle's FREE Weekend Demo with Kay Barnes

2008-06-07T22:41:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday's FREE weekend demo at the

Seattle Daniel Smith Store

was with watercolor artist Kay Barnes .

Kay began the demo with a very lively chat about her background, and some of her painting philosophy. Kay is not only an expressive artist, she is also a very expressive teacher, and here are a few of the things she said to us during the demonstration:

"...it's just a piece of paper, not canvas you have to stretch and prime!....Watercolor is the easiest medium to get started in, it's less expensive and you get results sooner." "Most people who don't do watercolor don't realize how flexible it really is." "God doesn't like a stingy painter!...How many of you have thirsty paintings?" "Water is the vehicle to get the paint to move...put the water where you want the paint to go...pulling the wet to the dry to evenly distribute the color." "...don't try to control everything - allow things to happen." "Take time to stand back in AWE to allow watercolor to happen!"

Kay's demo painting was already sketched in and ready for watercolor. Kay told us she often uses an Artograph Prism Projector to sketch out her image from one of her photos, it saves a lot of time especially when teaching! The sketch was a close up of flamboyant yellow and red parrot tulip. Kay began her watercolor painting showing us how she wets the areas she is working on, applies her watercolor, talking while she paints..."all your brushstrokes count, make them curved and directional." "if I don't mix the colors on the paper (because they will turn gray) and allow time to mix on their own - they keep their own identity."

One of the brushes Kay told the group she was enjoying painting with, was a Daniel Smith Platinum Series 24 Squirrel/Synthetic Watercolor Brush because it has the water holding power (the squirrel) and springiness, flexibility and strength (the synthetic). After the demo, several people were interested in checking out the brush, and Kay gave a bonus impromptu talk about the brush by the brush counter...a natural teacher!

I always enjoy seeing artists' palettes and how they actually set them up to paint, and Kay's was no different. She told me she squeezes about 1/2 a tube on to the paint well for every color, then allows them to dry out until there is just a little "give" when touched with a finger. Kay prefers not to paint from freshly squeezed paint...too easy to get too much paint on the brush. Then, when she is ready to paint she sprays water over the paint on her palette a few minuets before painting to soften the watercolor paint. Kay does it this way because she has found it preserves the "tips" of her brushes to not try and "jam" paint onto the brush when the paint it too dry.

The demo was as entertaining as it was informative, Kay is a natural teacher. Kay has watercolor workshops and classes scheduled through her Eden Gallery at kaybarnes.com

If you missed this FREE demo on Floral watercolor painting,

Kay will be doing another at the:
Bellevue Daniel Smith Store .
Sunday, June 22nd at 12 & 2 pm
WATERCOLOR: Florals
Kay Barnes

Watercolor 101 Workshop at the Bellevue Daniel Smtih Store

2008-06-05T18:43:00.001-07:00

This weekend at the Daniel Smith Store in Bellevue

is our popluar Watercolor 101

taught by Artist Che Lopez from the Bellevue Store!

Saturday, June 7th and
Sunday, June 21st

Watercolor 101

Che Lopez

Have you found yourself wanting to learn some basic

"how-to" for watercolor painting?
Well, this is a nice way to get a start on watercolor painting
with this one-hour class of watercolor basics.
Che Lopez will show you fun and useful tips

for your watercolor projects.

Each student will receive a $10.00 coupon to use
at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store towards purchasing
art materials...now that's a good deal!
Please register early, as class sizes are limited.

$10 per day
9 am to 10 am
001 020 004

Seattle Daniel Smith Store FREE Weekend Demo: June 7th

2008-06-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

This weekends FREE demo at the

Seattle Daniel Smith Store

Saturday, June 7th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

WATERCOLOR: Florals

Kay Barnes

*********

***

Bellevue Daniel Smith FREE Weekend Demos: June 7th & 8th

2008-06-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

This Weekends FREE Demos at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

Saturday, June 7th at 11am and 1:45 pm

Acrylic: Pouring!

Annie Van Engelen
Annie will be showing the new and exciting
acylic pouring medium by LIQUITEX

* Notice *
Sharon Tietjen's

demo scheduled for June 7th,
has been cancelled

Sunday, June 8th at 12 & 2 pm
SUMI: Sumi-Lotus Breeze
Yuming Zhu

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

Northwest Watercolor Society's Tour to See How Daniel Smith Makes Watercolor Paint

2008-05-30T23:03:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, 13 board members of the Northwest Watercolor Society visited the Seattle Daniel Smith Store to tour the on-site manufacturing facilities where the Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors are made. The same manufacturing facilities are also where the Daniel Smith Original Oil Paint , Daniel Smith Ultimate Acrylic Paint , and Daniel Smith Printmaking Inks are made.

The tour was in four parts:

Since this was a VIP tour, it began with Katherine Taylor, Manager of the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store introducing John Cogley, owner of Daniel Smith, to the NWWS board-members. The group met at the front of the store where the video of "How Paint is Made - The Daniel Smith Way!" plays in the foyer of the Seattle Store. John talked to the NWWS group about what was happening on the video by explaining some of the processes, sharing stories and answering questions. It was really interesting to find out a few new things I had not previously learned before since John is very involved in the entire process beginning with being active in finding new minerals for Daniel Smith Prima Tek Paints .

David Pruneda, who works in the Seattle Store, took over for the next part of the tour by leading the group through the store to the room where the weekend FREE demos are held, it's also used as a Gallery. The group took seats to listen to David talk about the minerals used for making Daniel Smith Prima Tek Colors by showing and passing around some of the corresponding minerals such as Azurite Genuine . There were "rocks", and jars of powered minerals and examples of Prima Tek watercolors painted out on watercolor paper. There was also a map on display showing where some of the minerals come from...literally all over the world!

The next part of the tour was conducted by Ron Harmon, the long time Daniel Smith Chemist, who took us back into the manufacturing room. There Ron showed us the the 5 large to huge mixers that the pigments are mixed with the various liquids. Watercolor with Gum Arabic and water, Acrylic with acrylic emulsion, Oil with either safflower or linseed oil, and Lithographic ink with litho varnish. Next, are the various three roll mills that "take the pigment particles and tear them down" to transform the mixes into Daniel Smith paints and inks. While we were there, one of the mills was being used to refine Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold Watercolor , so it was extra cool for the NWWS group to see. Lastly Ron lead the group over to see the two filling machines, one for watercolors and the other for acrylics, where the tubes of paint are filled. The inks are actually too thick for the fillers and the cans are hand filled beside the mills. Here is a trivia question for you...how are the labels applied to the tubes? Answer: by hand! Bonus answer: by Ron's daughter's hand!

Next, David lead the group back to the demo room to answer more questions...there is always so much to learn!

At the end of the tour, most of the group were amazed that while they "knew" that Daniel Smith manufactures its' name brand paints and inks, they had not realized that the Daniel Smith Watercolors , Acrylics and Oil Paints and the Printmaking inks are actually made in the same building as the Seattle Daniel Smith Store.

Next time you are visiting the Seattle Daniel Smith Store to pick up more art supplies, just remember that a couple of walls over on the south side, is where the magic of COLOR for your paintings is made!

The tours are now resuming after a long hiatus, and Daniel Smith Manufacturing Tours are available by appointment for groups of up to 20.

Boardmembers of the Northwest Watercolor Society, thank you for coming, we were happy to see you, and show you how our Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors are made!

Northwest Watercolor Society meeting with Deanne Lemley and her Plein Aire Painting Demonstration, and Daniel Smith Plein Aire Art Supply Display

2008-05-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, the Northwest Watercolor Society held its' "4th Tuesday of the month meeting" in Bellevue. Their guest for the evening was Deanne Lemley who gave a demonstration on Plein Aire watercolor painting.

The Bellevue Daniel Smith Store was also invited to set up a display of Plein Aire art supplies so that NWWS Members could see the wide range of artist materials available to the Plein Aire Artist during the social time before the meeting, and Deanne's demonstration.

Katherine Taylor, the store manager, and artist Che Lopez also of the Bellevue Store, were there to set up the displays and answer questions about all the Plein Aire artist materials. Along with the Daniel Smith Plein Aire art supplies, Che brought (to show everyone what he actually uses) his entire personal Plein Aire kit including his Daniel Smith Tripolar Half French Style Easel , Artist's Tote bag, and three watercolor palettes , one each depending on his mood for that landscape! Two of the most talked about items were the Plein Aire Easel Shelf to add more workspace, and the clamp-on Artist Easel Umbrella to shade out glare while painting.

After the General Membership meeting was the anticipated Plein Aire watercolor painting demonstration by Deanne Lemley. Deanne re-created a Plein Aire watercolor painting while the audience watched. It was amazing to see the painting reveal itself while Danne painted, on the projected screen so everyone in the large audience could see. Deanne Lemley offered many tips on Plein Aire Watercolor Painting while she was working including these two:

"Stop painting when the light moves."

and

"When you paint from life you see opportunities that

you can never make up."

This was the last meeting until September. Non-members are welcome to attend these Northwest Watercolor Society meetings to introduce them to what the NWWS is about.

It was a fun and informative evening and many thanks to the members of the Northwest Watercolor Society for inviting Daniel Smith to participate!

Bellvue Daniel Smith Store FREE Weekend Demos this Weekend...

2008-05-28T23:50:00.000-07:00

This weekends FREE demos at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

SPECIAL EVENT Saturday, May 31st from 1 to 3:30 pm

ACRYLIC: Golden A to Z

Barbara Depirro
FREE!

Sunday, June 1st at 12 & 2 pm

WATERCOLOR: Garden Journal

Molly Hashimoto
FREE!

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

DON’T FORGET Molly’s Workshop June 8th at the

Seattle Daniel Smith Store

Come to the FREE demo and meet Molly ton learn more

about Garden Journaling, and to find out if Mollys'

Workshop in June would be good for you.

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

Sunday June 8th

WATERCOLOR: Garden Journal with

Molly Hashimoto
Back by popular demand!

Fine-tune your skills for summer by taking one of Molly’s

most loved workshops.

Bring your own favorite photos and catalogs

to create beautiful pages of studies, sketches,

and small landscape plans.

Many different techniques will be demonstrated for you to find

the ones that work best for your journals and artistic purposes.

Bring a blank journal, or cut paper to size for a journal

that you can put together after the workshop is over.

Instructions will also be provided.

$75 per day

11 AM to 4:00 PM

001 020 069

Seattle Daniel Smith FREE Demos Coming This Weekend....

2008-05-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

This weekends FREE demos at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store:

Saturday, May 31st at 11 am & 1:45 pm
MULTI-MEDIA: Anything Goes on Ampersand Panels
Patricia Seggebruch

SPECIAL EVENT Sunday, June 1st from 1 to 3:30 pm
ACRYLIC: Golden A to Z
Barbara Depirro

SUMI: Spiritual Harmony with Elizabeth Kay - FREE Seattle Daniel Smith Store Demo

2008-05-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday's FREE demo at the Seattle Daniel Smith store was informative (as they all are) and extra entertaining with Sumi Artist: Elizabeth Kay. There was a bit of theater in Elizabeth's demonstration of Sumi Painting; music, movement and motivation for aspiring Sumi Artists...and at the end of each Sumi painting Elizabeth completed, there was a burst of spontaneous applause!

Elizabeth Kay had lots to tell in a packed hour. She demonstrated "The Four Gentlemen", which are the four basic brushstrokes in Sumi painting, Discussed what to look for in Sumi paper and how it's different from watercolor paper ...much, much thinner, and you paint on the smooth side. And so much more....

As Elizabeth painted three different Sumi paintings she was inspired by music, Asian naturally, but there were some musical surprises in store for the audience. Each painting had a very different type of music playing while she painted: Classical, the theme music from the movie "Dances With Wolves", and my favorite painting of a Bird of Paradise was done to Salsa Music! Elizabeth's brush twirled and danced across the sumi paper enticing a splendid Bird of Paradise to appear...very dramatic!

Elizabeth had lots of wonderful motivating words to tell the attendees: "An Artist is someone who paints", Elizabeth calls all her students who attend her classes Artists. "Know your Subject, Love your Subject, Paint your Subject". Paint on the best Sumi paper you can, and master that surface because you never know when that particular work will be the One...and "if it doesn't work, you've made wrapping paper!" Elizabeth asked the attendees the question: "When is a painting finished? When the Artist dies".

If you missed the opportunity to come to this FREE demo, and if you weren't there you really missed something! Well, you have a second chance because the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store will be hosting Elizabeth Kay with a second FREE demo this coming June:

Saturday, June 14th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

SUMI: Spiritual Harmony

Elizabeth Kay

womenpainters.com

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

Elizabeth Kay will be having a three day SUMI Painting Workshop

at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store,

June 19th through the 21st:
Experience the joy of painting in sumi and

brilliant asian watercolors

during a three-day workshop.

You will learn to master basic sumi strokes

while controlling the use of water, ink, and color

with an objectiveto capture the spirit and vitality of the subject.

Elizabeth believes that

"you are an artist if you hold the brush in your hand,"

and that "painting to theme music gives

each artist a sense of peace and harmony.

"The class structure will progress in the following format:
Day One: Materials, basic strokes and unique traditions,

and beauty of the sumi art form.
Day Two: Create several small sumi paintings.
Day Three: Complete your paintings by mounting

on decorative asian papers.
$75 per day

11 AM to 4:00 PM

001 020 014

Last Weekend for the Northwest Watercolor Society Member Show at the Daniel Smith Store in Bellevue!

2008-05-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

If you have not had a chance to stop by and see the

Watercolor Paintings by Members of the Northwest Watercolor Society

now on display at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store,

this is your last weekend.

The show is part of our:

May is Watercolor Month celebration!

The NWWS Show ends on Wednesday, May 28th.

The work on display is worth coming to see,

so we invite you to stop by and enjoy the Watercolor Paintings!

Bellevue Daniel Smith Store FREE Weekend Demos This Weekend

2008-05-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

This weekends FREE demos at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

Saturday, May 24th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

SUMI: Chinese Ink Painting
Read here about Patsy's Sumi FREE demo at the Seattle Store May 6th
Patsy Surh O’Connell
FREE!

Sunday, May 25th at 12 & 2 pm

WATERCOLOR: Paint Watercolors that Dance with Light

Elizabeth Kincaid
FREE!

Seattle Daniel Smith Store FREE Demos and More!

2008-05-20T23:17:00.000-07:00

This weekends' FREE Demos at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store

Saturday, May 24th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

SUMI: Spiritual Harmony

Elizabeth Kay
FREE!

**********

Also, DON’T FORGET...
Elizabeth’s Workshop June 19th thru 21st Seattle Store:
Thursday to Saturday June 19th to 21st

SUMI: Spiritual Harmony

Elizabeth Kay

Experience the joy of sumi painting and

brilliant asian watercolors during a three-day workshop.

You will learn to master basic sumi strokes

while controlling the use of water, ink, and color

with an objective to capture the spirit and vitality of the subject.

Elizabeth believes that "you are an artist if you hold the brush in your hand,"

and that "painting to theme music gives each artist

a sense of peace and harmony.

"The class structure will progress in the following format:
Day One: Materials, basic strokes and unique traditions,

and beauty of the sumi art form.
Day Two: Create several small sumi paintings.
Day Three: Complete your paintings by mounting

on decorative asian papers.
$75 per day

11am to 4pm

101 020 014

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

Sunday, May 25th at 12 & 2 pm

ACRYLIC: Pour it on! Build it up!
Dianna Shyne
"I will be using images from my recent painting trip to the
Yunnan Province of China to demonstrate this acrylic technique."
FREE!

**********

Also, DON’T FORGET....
Dianna’s Workshop June 22nd Seattle Store:
Sunday June 22nd

ACRYLIC: Pour it on! Build it up!

Dianna Shyne

Join impressionist painter Dianna Shyne in a distinctive

approach to acrylic painting.

Dianna will show you her techniques with a combination of

fluid and heavy bodied acrylics to create dynamic images.

Using landscapes for the basis of composition and form,

students will learn to increase their freedom and control.

Start your summer with a painting class that is

fast paced, fun, and inspirational!

$75 per day

11AM to 4:00 PM

001 020 057

Watercolor Event Weekend at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store!

2008-05-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend is the Watercolor Event at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store!

Saturday, May 17th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

MULTI-MEDIA: Anything Goes on Ampersand Panels

Patricia Seggebruch

FREE!

Saturday, May 17th at 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm

Watercolor and Acrylic: Bird Sanctuary

Pia Messina

FREE!

Sunday, May 18th from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm

WATERCOLOR: Green Envy

Annie Van Engelen

SPECIAL HANDS-ON EVENT
FREE!

Sunday, May 18th from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm

WATERCOLOR: Discovering the possibilites of walnut ink!

Marianne Perkins
FREE!

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

Saturday, May 17th from 9am to 10am

Watercolor 101

With Che Lopez

Start your day early in this one-hour class of watercolor basics.
Che will show you fun and useful tips for your watercolor projects.
Each student will receive a $10.00 coupon

to use at the Bellevue store towards

purchasing art materials, what a deal!
Please register early, as class sizes are limited.

$10.00

001 020 004

FREE Weekend Demos at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store

2008-05-14T18:49:00.003-07:00

This weekends' FREE demos at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store
Saturday, May 17th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

WATERCOLOR: Mixed Media with

Anne Olwin

FREE!

Sunday, May 18th at 12 & 2 pm

WATERCOLOR: Sketch Journaling with

Caroline Buchanan
FREE!

Kirkland Artist Studio Tour

2008-05-14T00:08:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day Weekend was also the Fifth Annual Kirkland Artist Studio Tour and I came with John Cogley, owner of Daniel Smith Artists' Materials, to visit the studios on the tour. We were able to visit the studios of Ann Fiser and Robert Fiser, Elizabeth Kincaid, Chris Sharp and Layla Jacobson before fatigue from the Camano Island Studio Tour the day before set in and cut short our itinerary for the day.

While at the Studio of Ann and Robert Fiser , Ann showed us a unique way she has of keeping her watercolor paint examples. Ann paints the watercolor on watercolor paper she has cut out approximately 1.5 by 6 inches from full color strength to 50% to a wash, labels it, punches a hole at the top and keeps it on a ring in much the same way as an interior designer would with paint samples. The advantage is that when she adds a new color to her collection Ann can easily slip it into place. Really a cool idea!

Elizabeth Kincaid had a very unique way of organizing her workspace and palette, she uses an entire butcher tray for each watercolor and each tray rests on plastic paper organizers, four high, that you buy at office supply stores! This way her colors don't get corrupted as she feels they do on a smaller palette. We also got to take a peek at a work in progress that is a real labor of love for Elizabeth, her extraordinarily complex "Tree of Life" watercolor painting.

Trying to make the rounds to both the Camano Island Studio Tour and the Kirkland Artist Studio Tour in a single weekend began to wear on us, so we decided to shorten the tour that Katherine Taylor (Manager of the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store) had planned for us.

Our last two stops were a group exhibit at Sharp Studio where we chatted a bit with Chris Sharp, and stopped to see Layla Jacobson and Petra Fursman and the paintings on display at the Petranella Fursman Studio.

When visiting each of the studios, John brought some Daniel Smith Art Supply goodies to give to the artists we visited, in the form of a hand full of tubes of Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors!

Camano Island Studio Tour

2008-05-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the

Camano Arts Association's 10th Annual

Camano Island Studio Tour on Mother's Day Weekend

and we are excited that this year

Daniel Smith Artists' Materials

is a sponsor of the Camano Island Studio Tour!

A group of us from Daniel Smith car pooled with John Cogley (owner of Daniel Smith): Tina Leader (Human Resources Director), Jaren Balzer (Information Systems Manager), Katherine Taylor (Bellevue Store Manager) and Deborah Burns (me, the Daniel Smith Blogger!).

We left Seattle Saturday morning with John driving, for Camano Island and were able to visit 17 of the 32 studios and galleries before the end of the day. Because I was not the navigator (Jaren was our "navigator extraordinaire") I may have lost count of how many places we went to and may have missed noting a few, my apologies if I missed you. Actually, I think is was probably very challenging focusing on the driving (John) and navigation (Jaren) considering all the laughing and fun we were having in vechicle!

While making our rounds of the Tour, we ran into others from Daniel Smith: Thom Wright (Purchasing Manager), Connie Cagley (Marketing Specialist, Society Relations) and her husband Guy, and Charlene Vogt (Catalog Sales Manager) who was hosting a party (yummy meatballs and more!) at a friends cabin on the Island.

The studios and galleries showed a wide range of art work among them: Watercolor, Oil, Acrylic, Glass, Ceramic, Metal, Photography, and Jewelry. I took some photos of the work spaces of a few of the artists, unfortunately once I got home to review and label the photos I realized that I did not take nearly as many photos as it felt like, next year I will have to focus on taking more.

We visited: #27) Seagrass Gallery , #1) Bob Paczkowski Studio , #2) Rainchild Metal Works: Ben Rainchild , #5) Dan Bergsma Art Glass: Dan Bergsma #6) John Muhler Studio: John D. Muhler, Debbi Rhodes , #7) Jack Dorsey Studio: Jack Dorsey, Ann Cory , #8) Jack Gunter Art and Design Studio , #9) Janet Mitchell Studio , #10) Old Mabana Schoolhouse: Linda Demetre , #11) Betty Dorotik , #12) Diane Hill Studio: Diane Hill, Jeanine Borree, Sue Uhrich , #13) Lee Beitz , #14) Matzke Fine Art Gallery , #15) Kathy Hastings Studio: Kathy Hastings, Marguerite Goff , #16) Thompson Art Studio: Susan Thompson Cohen , #17) Rays Through Art Glass: Ray Fossum , and #18) Camano Island Pottery: Roger Cocke .

Some of the studios had breathtaking views of the Puget Sound, which of course made us each wonder how challenging it must be to focus on painting when there is a spectacular view outside the window!

Camano Island is such a beautiful location and having the opportunity to drive around the Island and see so much art was a wonderful way to spend the day. A few of us could not resist and went home with some original artwork and prints of original work...

...have to do our part to help support the Artists!

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

Images:

# 1: 2008 Poster for Camano Island Studio Tour by John Muhler.

# 2: Jack Gunter Studio entrance.

# 3: Diane Hill Studio entrance.

# 4: Diane Hill's workspace

# 5: Jeanine Borree and paintings at Diane Hill Studio

# 6: John Muhler Studio entrance, sculpture by Debbi Rhodes

Artists Reception Last Friday at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

2008-05-13T21:46:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, May 9th, the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store hosted an Artists Reception for members of the Northwest Watercolor Society whose paintings are hanging in the store this May for Watercolor Month .

The Reception was from 5:30 to 7:30 and held in the room where the weekend FREE demos are held and most of the paintings are hung. Hostess Supreme, Store Manager Katherine Taylor, was in her element making sure everyone was having a good time...there was food for the hungry and art for the soul!

I was unable to get there until a quarter of seven (I was with my clients until late) so I missed meeting most of the people attending and Katherine happily filled me in. I met a couple of lingering artists, Marianne Perkins (ink and watercolor: "Still Life in Seattle") Adam Nichols (watercolor: "Surf Walk") and later, Roger Baker (watercolor: "Morning Mist")

Marianne, who will be doing one of the FREE demos this coming Sunday, May 18th, on "WATERCOLOR: Discovering the possibilites of walnut ink!" at the Bellevue Store, was fun to talk to about the show.

Marianne helped with getting the show hung and tagged so had a funny story about a painting by Nadir Kianersi whose title "Not Finished Yet" caused a little confusion when Marianne was making the title cards. Every time Marianne called Nadir to find out the title of his painting, he told her "not finished yet" and Marianne thought he meant that the painting was "not yet finished" so made a title card with "Untitled" on it. Well, the painting was of a couple of unfinished Bellevue Skyscrapers and the descriptive title for it was...drum roll please!..."Not Yet Finished"!

This is really a good show and shows a wide range of water-based mediums, and subject matter. The show is up until May 28th and it's worth a trip to the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store to check it out.

Northwest Watercolor Society Paintings on Display this Month at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

2008-05-08T16:52:00.000-07:00

For the Month of May, in celebration of Watercolor Month,
the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

has invited members of the
Northwest Watercolor Society
to display their paintings on the store walls,
and in the demo/workshop room until May 28th.

*****
Come by and enjoy the paintings anytime during store hours.

Artist Reception Friday May 9th, 5:30 to 730

Come and meet the Artists!

FREE Demo and Mother's Day Event at the Bellevue Daniel Smith this Weekend!

2008-05-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

This weekends FREE Demo and Mother's Day Event

at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

Saturday, May 10th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

PASTEL: Landscape

Jerry Baldwin
FREE!

Sunday, Mother's Day, May 11th from 11 am to 1 pm

WATERCOLOR: Paint a Special Mother’s Day Memory
with Store Staff. Samples, and some Hands-on.

Bring in small dried flowers to learn different methods
of integrating into your artwork.
FREE!

FREE Demo Saturday and Hands-On Event on Sunday, Mother's Day at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store

2008-05-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend FREE demo and Mother's Day Event at the

Seattle Daniel Smith Store

Saturday, May 10th at 11 am & 1:45 pm

WATERCOLOR: Garden Journal
Molly Hashimoto
FREE!

**********

Also, Don't forget Molly Hashimoto’s Workshop

Watercolor: Garden Journal

June 8th at the Seattle Store

Back by popular demand!

Fine-tune your skills for summer by taking one of

Molly’s most loved workshops.

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

Sunday, Mother's Day, May 11th from 11 am to 1 pm
WATERCOLOR: Paint a Special Mother’s Day Memory
with Store Staff. Samples, and some Hands-On.

Bring in small dried flowers to learn different methods
of integrating them into your artwork.
FREE!

May is Watercolor Month at Daniel Smith!

2008-05-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

May is Watercolor Month at the Daniel Smith Stores in Bellevue and Seattle!

Through out the month of May, the focus is on watercolor

and there are are lots of watercolor FREE demos,

Workshops, and the Watercolor Event May 17th & 18th.

So look for upcoming events, receptions, and demos

celebrating Watercolor Month!

Patsy Surh O'Connell and her FREE Daniel Smith Demo on Chinese Ink Painting Last Saturday

2008-05-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday's FREE demo at

Daniel Smith in Seattle

featured

Patsy Surh O'Connell
demonstrating Chinese Ink Painting or Sumi Painting.

Patsy talked about her process in creating a painting, she works from a sketch, then traces it onto the good paper like Natural Mulberry Paper , then paints in the image outlines with black Sumi Ink , later working from dark to light she works in the Color Ink . She also talked about the different papers that she uses, and passed around sheets of the different papers for us to see up close.

When showing the audience some of her techniques with water, Patsy used a painting she brought that was partially done of a jeweled hummingbird and taking a spray bottle, sprayed the painting with it! All of us cringed at the damaged we expected...thinking watercolor! Patsy calmly showed us that the ink, once dry would not run...if you work in watercolor you know this is a very different result.

Patsy showed several ways of working the color inks into the paintings, using brushes you "pull" the color into the area. Patsy also showed us the two brushes in one hand technique that she said she sees on her visits to China.

It was a very interesting hour, and seeing Patsy's work in progress was fascinating, thank you Patsy!

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

Patsy Surh O'Connell

will be at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

on Saturday May 24th at 11am and 1:45pm

for another FREE demo on Chinese Ink Painting.

Watercolor 101 Workshops with Che Lopez at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

2008-05-01T18:45:00.000-07:00

This May there are two Watercolor 101 Workshops

with Che Lopez at the Daniel Smith Store in Bellevue .

Saturday May 3rd and Saturday May 17th

both are one hour from 9 to 10 am

and are $10.00 each day.

The cool thing is that each student will receive a $10.00 coupon to use toward the purchase of art materials!

This is a basic watercolor class where you will learn to stretch and staple watercolor paper, choose a basic watercolor palette, and learn about the features and benefits of watercolor brushes. You will also learn to create a simple wash, wet on wet methods, and dry painting techniques.

So if you always wanted to learn how to paint in watercolor, here is a great way to get you started!

Be sure to register early because class sizes are limited!

** Portrait of Che Lopez by Holly White Gehrt

FREE Watercolor Demo with Annie Van Engelen at the Daniel Smith Store in Bellevue

2008-05-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday May 3rd from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm

FREE Demo

Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

WATERCOLOR: Showers & Flowers with

Annie Van Engelen

SPECIAL HANDS-ON EVENT

[ You get to paint too! ]

FREE Demo on Watercolor and Travel Sketches with Tom Hoffmann at the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

2008-05-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

Sunday May 4th at 12 & 2 pm

Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

FREE Demo

WATERCOLOR: Expanding on Your Travel Sketches with

Tom Hoffmann

hoffmannwatercolors.com

Tom did a recent FREE demo on

Watercolor and Travel Sketches

at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store

it was very inspiring.

Don't miss out!

FREE Watercolor Demo Sunday with Deborah Stachowic at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store

2008-05-01T17:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday: May 4th at 12 & 2 pm

FREE Demo

Seattle Daniel Smith Store

WATERCOLOR: Large Flowers with

Deborah Stachowic

paintscapeabroad.com

FREE Demo on Sumi: Chinese Ink Painting with Patsy Surh O'Connell at the Seattle Daniel Smith Store

2008-05-01T17:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday: May 3rd at 11 am & 1:45 pm

FREE Demo

Seattle Daniel Smith Store

SUMI: Chinese Ink Painting with

Patsy Surh O’Connell

Here's a Tip for You!

2008-04-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-04-22T17:36:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-04-09T23:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

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"

Kathy Collins Free Watercolor Demo at the Daniel Smith Bellevue Store

2008-03-31T23:16:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Watercolorist Kathy Collins

demonstrated some of her

watercolor techniques to a full house at the

Daniel Smith Art Supply Store in Bellevue .

The Free demo was:

"Watercolor: Impressionistic Watercolors"

Kathy painted on a full sheet of watercolor paper a composition of boats docked, nearby was a similar painting matted and framed on an easel facing the audience, as a point of reference for us. We watched as Kathy applied the Daniel Smith watercolors to her penciled in sketch with a 2 inch synthetic bright brush. It took just 1/2 an hour to create her watercolor painting and she talked throughout describing her thought processes as she made her choices...it was very interesting to hear.

Towards the end Kathy started warning about overworking a watercolor, to not as she says: "Don't futz it!" Just stop, and start another before you are tempted to overwork it, after all, "it's only paper."

While she was painting, there were some really nice small sketchbooks of Kathy's being passed around of different trips, the most recent was to Hawaii. Kathy sketches in scenes with an extra fine sharpie, then later paints in watercolor. The sketchbooks were a hit with most people in attendance, they were a very personal record of Kathy's visit and everyone enjoyed her "trip".

There were also copies of a couple of articles that Kathy has been featured in, one was from

The Artist's Magazine , April 2007. I took a moment to read a bit, and this quote from Kathy (paraphrasing Frank Webb) really caught my eye: "...it takes acres of paper to make a painter", so true!

Afterwards everyone crowded around the demo table to ask lots of questions for the remaining 1/2 hour to get more insight about Kathy's color choices in general, and where she decides to apply the color to get her impressionistic effects. It was a very engaging demonstration!

Kathy Collins also has a watercolor workshop

coming up April 20th, 2008

at the Daniel Smith Bellevue Store.

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

Sunday April 20th

WATERCOLOR: Impressionistic Watercolors

Kathy Collins kathycollinswatercolors.com

Kathy will show you how to create

impressionistic watercolor painting

using dramatic high contrast watercolors.

Learn techniques for large charging color,

and mixing flowing wet paint right on the paper

to achieve dark values while preserving white spaces.

Kathy’s artwork has been published in

Watercolor Magic, and The Artist’s Magazines.

A workshop not to be missed! $75 per day 11 am to 4 pm

Daniel Smith Free Demos this weekend at the Bellevue Store!

2008-03-27T18:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March. 29th at 11 & 1:45 pm

WATERCOLOR: Impressionistic Watercolors

with Kathy Collins kathycollinswatercolors.com

DON’T FORGET Kathy’s Workshop April 20th Bellevue Store!

Sunday, March. 30th at 12 & 2 pm

ACRYLIC: Vibrant & Colorful Acrylics on Paper

with Theresa Goesling theresagoesling.com

So drop by the Bellevue Daniel Smith Store

for some helpful tips and "how to"s for painting with

Watercolors and Acrylics,

they are FREE!

There are Free Demonstrations every weekend

at both the Bellevue and Seattle Stores,

be sure not to miss out.

Life Drawing at the Daniel Smith Store in Bellevue

2008-03-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

Did you know....

Every Wednesday there is Life Drawing at the

Daniel Smith Artists' Materials Store in Bellevue ?

It's from 4:30 to 7:30 PM and costs $9:00.

Here is a great opportunity to practice some

focused drawing with a live model.

The first half an hour is gesture drawing to warm everyone up,

then longer poses for the remainder time.

Karin Schminke's Recent Daniel Smith Free Demo - MULTI-MEDIA: Basic Intro to Using InkAID

2008-03-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

Karin Schminke's recent FREE demo at the Daniel Smith Seattle Store allowed those who attended to see and learn a few of the techniques she likes to use in her Multi-Media Digital Printmaking work. Many more are discussed in much deeper detail in her book, with Dorothy Simpson Krause and Bonny Pierce Lhotka, the "Digital Art Studio ".

This is a very process oriented way of making Art, and Karin talked about how important it is to "start with the basics - then follow your own creativity".

For part of the demo, Karin talked about using different papers, different InkAID Precoats , watercolor and rice papers, and showed the audience some samples of the effects. Karin also likes to work with Arches Black Cover Paper to get certain effects. When using the Arches Cover Black, Karin paints the surface unevenly with one or two coats of InkAID White Matte Precoat and after thoroughly drying, prints her image onto the surface. Because of the uneven application, the thickness varies on the precoat, and when the image is printed on to the formerly solid black surface she gets some really interesting effects.

Karin shared a lot of information with us about how the different materials could be used, which allowed those attending the demo to ask a lot of questions. It was a great opportunity to get answers to specific questions from an artist with expertise in a very specific medium!

At the end of the hour long FREE demo on March 8th, Karin sent us all off with these encouraging words to experiment with different processes: "Be Brave!"

Daniel Smith Watercolor Extravaganza Featuring PrimaTek® Watercolors

2008-03-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

Coming up tomorrow, Saturday, March 22nd, 2008, is the

Daniel Smith Watercolor Extravaganza

at both the
Daniel Smith Seattle Store (All Day)

and the

Bellevue Store (11 to 1 PM).

So come by and join the staff applying

Daniel Smith PrimaTek® watercolors

to their favorite surfaces (hands-on will be a special time)

and there will be FREE samples!

PrimaTek® Colors are Daniel Smith's own

"straight-from-the-earth pigments"

such as:

Amazonite Genuine
Rhodonite Genuine
Hematite Burnt Scarlet
Natural Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Genuine
Minnesota Pipestone
Purpurite Genuine
Lapis Lazuli Genuine
Tiger's Eye Genuine
Sodalite Genuine

If you have always wanted to see some of these exclusive

Daniel Smith Watercolors in action....

stop by either store on Saturday, March 22, 2008!

Yanshu Hsu's Free Pastel Portrait Demonstration at the Daniel Smith Art Supply Store in Seattle

2008-03-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

While it was cool and gray outside at the Daniel Smith Seattle Store for last Saturdays' (March 15th 2008) FREE demo with Yanshu Hsu demonstrating Pastel Portraits, inside Yanshu brought light to her Indigo Blue Canson Mi-Teintes pastel paper when she applied her Unison Soft Pastels to paint her Nice's portrait.

The group who attended the demo watched intently while Yanshu added the light flesh tones to her sketched out figure in dark blue and dark red/orange (sorry I forgot to ask which colors). The luminous, light colors allowed the soft curves of the girls face to emerge from the flat, dark surface. Yanshu continued to work over the surface and in just over a half an hour was the nearly completed portrait of her Nice.

Afterwards Yanshu invited questions from the group about her materials and her process. She also answered questions regarding her background (she was a student at the Lu Xun Art College in China), she is a member of the Northwest Pastel Society , and teaches private pastel painting lesson at her Yanshu Art Studio outside of Seattle in Sammamish.

Yanshu will also be participating in the upcoming SPRING PASTEL EVENT : April 26th & 27th at the Daniel Smith Seattle Store. Yanshu will be there on Sunday, April 27th from 2 to 3 PM.

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

SPRING PASTEL EVENT at both the Seattle and Bellevue Stores

Saturday, April 26th 2008, from 9:00-4:00 SPRING PASTEL EVENT: Hands-On, multiple demos, Artwork, give-aways and more. Pastel on Paper with Mary Shea at 11 am mary-shea.com (Sponsored by Sennelier Free Samples)

Sunday, April 27th 2008, from 11:00- 4:00 SPRING PASTEL EVENT: Hands-On, multiple demos, Artwork, give-aways and more. Pastel on Ampersand Pastelboard with Che Lopez at 12 pm (Sponsored by Unison Free Samples)

If you have been wanting to learn more about Pastel Painting, this could be a great opportunity for You!

Welcome to the Daniel Smith Blog!

2008-03-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

Hello! Update June 19, 2009, we have moved the DANIEL SMITH Blog to it's permanent address at: http://danielsmithblog.com/ . Please visit us there for more on DANIEL SMITH: Artists' Materials.

Also, please feel free to follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DANIELSMITH_ART

Art...here at Daniel Smith... we are all about helping You to express the creative, artistic side of You. This blog will be an evolving place to share information, and creating conversations with You.

I will be exploring lots of different topics on subjects that I find interesting about making art, Daniel Smith and our products, especially the ones we develop and manufacture, as well as subjects and questions You may have.

To begin our journey, we'll start at the Daniel Smith Seattle store where the Daniel Smith corporate offices are as well. Our Call Center, where telephone catalog orders are taken, and where where Daniel Smith Watercolors , Daniel Smith Acrylics , Daniel Smith Oils , and Daniel Smith Inks and Printmaking Supplies are Manufactured are also at the Seattle location.

We also have our Daniel Smith Bellevue Store , where I will also be visiting as well. The Warehouse where all your orders are full-filled, is in another location nearby. I will be visiting these places in the future to let you in on what's happening, and how it all works.

There are also many free demonstrations as well as workshops at both stores. I will be attending some of them, and sharing some of the tips that the Artists share in their demonstrations. This is a place to share and learn, and I will be learning right along side of You the things about making Art that I have myself have not done (yet!). I studied painting and lithography in school, so there is much for me to learn about watercolor, acrylic, and other mediums as well. We will be on a journey together!