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

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

*****

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

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!

Welcome to the Daniel Smith Blog!

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!