Don Valley Art Club juried annual show, 2019 Todmorden Mills, Toronto

The Michael Prue East York Foundation Award of excellence

August Peonies by Stuart Graham 

This was the one award I did not jury, but I totally agree with the selection. I love this piece. Awesome in every way. It was chosen by a member of the East York Foundation. I wanted to include it as its such a stunner!   

Award for Best Interior

Salon des Artistes, Rouen Museum, France by Vanaja Cotroneo

I felt this piece needed an award for the painstaking work on the perspective of the building and it's architectural detail, the painting inside the painting, and the thoughtful figures, each figure involved in specific activities, eating, listening, writing, etc. i talked to the artist after the awards were done, and she informed me of the hours and hours it took to finish this piece. 

Award for Original and Innovative

Nightfall arrives on Our Illuminted Planet by Dee Birchmore

I love having an award to encourage artists to reflect their deepest, farthest out there ideas. Afterall, when we share ourselves, the thoughts we have inside of us, is when we start developing a voice, a unique artistic vision that makes us different from everyone else. 

Award for best Cityscape

Night Crossing by Tracey Narduzzi

I found the amount of detail in this piece to be just right, left out enough, left in enough. it also has great feeling of nightlife about it. 

Award for Best Abstract

by Eva Johnson

The composition is solid, leading the eye all over and though the picture plane. Good eye flow. I often say to my students when you say it like you mean it, people will listen, and follow. 

Award for Best Portrait

Piece by Piece by Nora MacPhail

This portrait is full of integrity. The sensitive way the eyes are painted, the broad brush strokes, suggesting beard without painting every detail, the colour palette is lovely. The style is loose, but the drawing is quite specific, plus the brushwork was very loose and lively. 

Award for Best Landscape

Yours to Discover by Joan MacDonald

Like the cityscape, we are looking at a piece that has enough detail, not too much. To simplify the composition, and lead the eye through all areas of the picture plane is what we are all after. You may not see it on this image, but the sky was softly graded, creating a nice sense of the dimension of the sky. I also like the colour play, some realistic colour, and some out there. Fun.

Award for People, other then a portrait

Hanging Around, by Marian Ferguson

What I like here is the assigning something very specific in every area of the picture plane, which allows the blues and oranges to play off each other. I also like the varied textures and soft/hard edges from one plane to another. The boys here are having some conversation, they are involved, really engaged. 

Award for Best Floral

Three Roses by Lesley Healy

Some pieces need no explanation, but I'll say it anyways. What crazy amount of patience required to execute this piece. So thoughtfully created. Patience!! Sometimes a traditional, realistic approach can be quite beautiful. 

Honourable Mention

Summer, by Masood Omer

Honourable Mention

tea cups by Jessie Gordon

This piece had lively brushwork, yet when you stand back from it the image is quite clear. Two paintings in one! playful colour as well.

Honourable Mention

Vineyard, by Eric David

I love a full, harmonious colour palette. This piece was just fun and stood out because of it's colour. I imagine this piece was so much fun to paint. I'm thinking about the values in the sky, mixing slightly different values softly changing as the are broken by the red branches. 

Honourable Mention

Breezy Day by Ioana Bertrand 

This piece is whimsical, a little mysterious with the undefined background, and the two figures, one in front of the laundry and one behind. fun, edges, special effects. A lot going on! Also original.

Honourable Mention

Le Tour by Marion Wilson

The first thing that struck me about this piece was the original idea being expressed here. I like the way the cyclists in front have all the detail, getting more vague as they recede in the back. I was drawn to this piece because of the original subject matter, which stands out in a  large group show. Nice to see an array of ideas. 

Honourable Mention

Sam's Choice by Ellen Sienkiewicz

Originality comes in different forms, subject matter for one. Or dimensions of picture plane. In this case, we have a landscape scene that suits the dimensions of the picture plane beautifully, accentuating what the artist wanted to express-beauty by expanse. 

Honourable Mention

The Black Settee by Norman Lockington

 This traditonal full body portrait was very carefully rendered, committing to realism. The patiently painted folds of the skirt, the loose brushwork of the couch, to the nicely blended face.

Don Valley Art Club: I'd like to thank Louise Lefevre for asking me, Georgia Bowen for assisting me, and Norman Irwin for the extra pics I was missing.
This show is on filmy 19nth, free admission, over 100 paintings at the Todmorden Mills on Pottery Road.

Fascination with Underpainting for pastel

I was quite surprised when I reviewed my posts over the years and saw how little, I have written about Underpainting. For the many years I operated my Carp, Ontario studio, I offered two week long pastel workshops: Underpainting for pastel, and Pastel and the Figure: Voice through Colour. They were both offered once a year, for many years. Oh- also just my 5 day Intro to pastel!

Every time I offered the week long underpainting workshop, I was frustrated at how limiting one week was. It was a constant review of what can I cut out, and what are the most important elements of the workshop to keep.
Reason: The possibilities within Underpainting, like any creative element, is infinite.

Here is my sample board, with three different papers that can take an underpainting, and are also ideal for pastel, from left to right: U-art sanded pastel paper, watercolour paper, and printmaking paper. (Note: If you would like to purchase U-art paper, it is available at the Drawing house in Barrie. 

 12x18 600 grade or 12x18 400 grade      Price for both are $9.41. 

Drawing House

60 Mary Street, 

Barrie, ON

L4N 1T1

Tel. (705) 503-2996

Website: drawinghouse.ca)

A students clearly envisioned composition for underpainting

The underpainting, and underpining of a solid composition 

pastel colours worked up, the purple underpainted colour worked perfectly to support the trees in the background, while the pink sky provided a perfect harmonizing contract to the cools in the sky. 

                                                Underpainting and starting to work up the pastel

I love a workshop for variety of ideas. Here's the underpainting

Here's the abstract, which was so fun to watch develop!

                                   

The underpainting in monochromatic purples,....the pastel layer on top, semi -abstracted and stylized. Tape across the bottom as the student liked the way it worked with a gutsy compositional cut.

                       

A simple underpainting here-pink sky, deep red in the water and a deep blue foreground to support the depth of water. On theft, the pastel was just starting,....and to the right, with quite a bit of the working up. 

Many times, students would ask me about underpainting, after having read one article on it. Ideas about what underpainting is, were very limiting. Thus, I designed my workshop around showing how there are many, many possibilities. Through the many approaches to underpainting, I hope to show my students that with some experience, one can start to make more and more specific decisions around creating the effects you want.

This underpainting was three, close in value shades or red. Warm and cool. I'm showing this phase so you can see the composition and the underpainting. As maker, it's up to you, how much of the underpainting shows through, how much gets covered. 

You'd have to see the piece in person, to see the red showing through. 

The clear and true most important thing about underpainting is that: IT IS FUN. Fun, to work pastel on an already coloured surface, one that moves from one colour to another. To not control, but rather to work with the underpainting. It gives us the joy of working spontaneously.

Planning an underpainting for pastel and working with your limited and expanded palette is so complicated that one may not be able to control the effect, but rather work with what is. In our world of highly controlled processes, it's refreshing to be forced to play and let go of not controlling everything.

These are just some of the thoughts that went into planning a 2 day underpainting workshop given at the McMichael art gallery in April.

Next at McMichaels: Teaching Pastel Mastery as a night class, this coming fall. To ask questions, contact me at marg.ferraro@gmail.com. To register for this course, go to mcmichael.com and follow the links from learning to adult and look for pastel and my name.