Recent Member News & Awards

There have been lots of exciting events taking place in Texas, with many artists receiving local and national recognition. Here are a few things our artists are buzzing about:

Michael Gillespie:

Michael Gillespie of Crandall, TX, had two recent shows, a solo show and a two-person show. The solo show was "Portraits, Figures, and Biblical Themes" at C.C. Young Senior Center in Dallas, and Michael sold a figure painting there. The other show was at the Forney Art Center's Gallery in Crumbzz Breakfast Bistro in Forney.

In other exciting news, Michael received a Merit Award for a figure painting (shown below) in the Pastel Society of the Southwest's Annual Juried Show (Judith Carducci was the judge), and he was named a Signature Member.

Merit Award winning painting by Michael Gillespie

Ann Kraft Walker:

Ann Kraft Walker has had great success in national competitions, including the Portrait Society of America's Members Only Competition! Below is a list of recent awards and exhibitions:

- " Four Months At Sea " - Honorable Mention - Cumberland Society Juried Exhibition
- " Jiggy's Birds " - Award of Merit - NOAPS International On-line Exhibition
- " Eileen's Lament " - BoldBrush and Raymar Finalist (Fall 2013)

-   PSoA Members Only Competition 2013 - First Place Still Life
- " Four Months At Sea " and " Cinderella " - Salon International - April 2014
- " In A Mirror Dimly " - OPA National Exhibition - June 2014
-   Texas Masters Show - InSight Gallery - March 2014

PSOA Members Only Competition
1st Place Still Life Award winner, "Eileen's Lament"
by Ann Kraft Walker

Brenda Hash:

Brenda Hash's pastel painting, "Thoughts of Elberta" (24" x 36"), will be awarded a Certificate of Excellence at this year's PSoA Conference in Washington, D.C. for the 16th Annual International Portrait Competition. 

Certificate of Excellence winner, "Thoughts of Elbert",
by Brenda Hash

Suzie Baker:

Suzie's self portrait, "Squint" (oil, 20x16"), won 2nd place in the 2013 PSoA Members Only Competition's Outside the Box category.

2nd Place "Outside the Box" category winner,
"Squint," by Suzie Baker

James Tennison:

James Tennison received a 5th Merit award in the Commissioned Portrait category of the 2013 PSoA Members Only Competition for his beautiful portrait of "Caroline," 36x24", oil.

5th Merit award winner, "Caroline,"
by James Tennison

Anna Rose Bain:

Anna Rose Bain's oil portrait of "Caroline and Carson" (42x36"), received a 6th Honorable Mention in the Commissioned Portrait category of the 2013 PSoA Members Only Competition. 

Anna was also juried into the following national shows:

- "California Beauty" - Oil Painters of America 23rd Annual National Juried Exhibition (June 2014)

- "Self Portrait at 23 Weeks Pregnant" - American Women Artists 17th Annual National Juried Show (August 2014)

6th Honorable Mention winner, "Caroline
and Carson," by Anna Rose Bain

Artist Studios - Texas Edition!

Since we didn't have a Spotlight Artist for August, I decided to do a special blog post on artist studios (I got the idea after spending an entire weekend giving my own studio a makeover). These Texas artists were kind enough to open their studio doors and give us a little glimpse of their world. Whether working out of a closet or a grand-scale room with north light, these artists are making the most of their space and being creative in their problem-solving for storage, easels, lighting, and much more. Rosslyn Duncan has been spending the summer in Europe and shares some of her experiences there. Michael Holter uses a separate room as a gallery space. Cheryl Cousin shares her tiny space with children and finds that she can still create while using table easels instead of larger ones. Vicky Gooch turned her game room into a studio, and Julie Barbeau discovered a way to use shutters to have consistent natural light all day without north-facing windows. Bob Shepherd discovered both the ideal studio wall color, as well as a great way to hang artwork without destroying the walls.

Be inspired, fellow artists! We are all in this together! :-) (And THANK YOU to those who contributed to this post!)                        

- Anna

Rosslyn Duncan: "I have been to Paris and have spent three days marching round the Louvre Museum which was fabulous. At one point I asked in my best spoken French if I could possibly have a small stool so I could draw some of their marvellous sculptures, only to spend ten minutes waiting as they brought round a wheelchair. Guess I wasn't looking my best!!! What a laugh Brenda and I had about that one. Also, we managed to get locked in The National Gallery, in London which was crazy and wonderful at the same time. We got to re-visit all the halls as we were guided out by staff. Whilst in Paris I managed to stock up on wonderful books about Van Eyck, Michelangelo's drawings, and a massive edition of Leonardo de Vinci's complete works. This book is huge, filled with all his drawings and paintings. I have included some images of my studio here in London, one at the Wimbledon Studios, where we have around 250 artists working in the same building. I also have a rather untidy one at home too. Very lucky lady. I am writing an essay on the latest Vermeer Exhibition at the National Gallery here in London, which was a joy to attend as they were playing the same instruments that are depicted in his paintings, with the 16th century songs. At the Portrait Gallery in London, Brenda and I viewed the recent BP Portrait award which was filled with quite a range of different portraits. This year it was a mix of photo-realism and more expressive painting. Unfortunately no photos were allowed from this gallery. Cheers, Rosslyn Duncan."

photo 1- Aisha, my model in my studio  with skulls.
photo 2 - Very tidy studio showing my walls which allow light to filter through.
photo 3-  A very untidy studio, I am afraid this is usually how it is.
photo 4 - A collection of some skulls I collect.
photo 5-  Another view of the studio.

Ceci Luepnitz: "This is a pic of my studio...it is my favorite place to be!! It is on the 2nd floor of the home that we built in College Station."

Michael Holter: "The first is a shot of my studio done with my iPhone and Photosynth (it stitches together a series of images into a panoramic view).

My studio space is at the back side of our house with large windows going out to the patio and pool area. The main area is about 14x20 and as you can see is packed with all the 'stuff' that goes with this kind of work. Everything happens in this room with my computer, printer and scanner in the corner (where I was standing as I shot the photo). I have another room that acts as an extra viewing (gallery) area and storage for frames and more 'stuff'. And paintings hang throughout the house as well.

The second image is of my "other" much more spacious studio that God built for me. I love this one best. And we share with anyone who wants to use it. - Michael"

Michael Gillespie

Deborah Allison: "After years of painting in the back rooms or garage, I've finally moved my studio to the front room of a 100 year old home on the main street in town. So it serves as gallery as well as studio with lots of natural light. It also has tract lighting to supplement.  Years ago, at the Portrait Society Conference, I won the Hughes easel and I love that I can roll it around as needed and finally, I am painting a large enough painting to warrant the easel!"

Teresa Elliott

Cheryl Cousin:  "I live in a small two bedroom apartment with my youngest daughter, who is a senior at UTEP and my oldest daughter's 13 year old son, who decided he wanted to finish the 8th grade here in El Paso.  I use to have a full size sleeper sofa and a chair, but I got rid of them last summer when I started grad school.  I have online classes at the Academy of Art University and have rearranged my work space several times based on the advice of my instructor and fellow classmates. I had a little leeway, but no longer.  I'll have to make do with this space until the end of school year when my grandson goes home to his mom.  Due to the lack of space, I started using table top easels and the lightweight aluminum easel in the picture.  I have a wooden French fold-away easel with the drawer, but it takes up too much space."

Vicky Gooch:
Image 1: "About six years ago we decided to move into a big new house in the suburbs. New homes have game rooms and media rooms and just a lot more space than older homes.  So we asked the builder to plumb the house for a wet bar.  We put in a shop sink instead!  This is my clean up corner.

Image 2: It is a suburban game room so it comes with grand windows and a cat tree.  I love the big windows and my quiet green view over the yards and pond. Sometimes I need to supplement my lighting so I have added a custom light fixture to imitate light from the window.  The thing that looks a bit like a trash can beside the cat tree is actually an air filter designed to remove odors and make painting in the house a bit safer.

Image 3: This is where you will find me!  Besides my easel, I have a large work table, taboret, still life stand and computer stand on wheels.  I can rearrange things to suit my needs.

Images 4-5: This is my model stand.  I modified something meant for a large group.  I can easily set this up or put it away without help and yet it is very strong.  I love to paint from life but I can't do that every day.  Every once in a while I hear of a studio space opening up in one of the studio buildings in Houston and I get very tempted because it's so quiet out here. But then I look around and count my blessings!"

Edna Krueger: "I use the wooden pop sticks you get with ice cream or can buy in craft stores. I prefer using ones I've had the pleasure of eating the ice cream 1st then wash them, paint a solid color & mark the name of the items on that shelf. I use the ticky tac puddly that you use to post names cards of your work to walls with when displaying for an exhibit. Stays in place till you move it and does no damage to the shelf that I know of. Helps in finding items in the studio.

For containers holding supplies like office supplies etc. I have fun with it! I use decorative duck tape and colorful scrapbook paper and create labels on the ends of the storage boxes. This is more fun to look at than a factory box. I haven't gotten all of them but am close to finishing that project. I hate not being able to find something and wasting time hunting what I need down! I may have a lot of things in my studio but I also teach many different medias with my students and need to have the supplies on hand. I also like to work in many different mediums which is a throw back to my commercial art career days. It may be a mess but its an organized one."

Anna Rose Bain: "My husband and I have rented our current house for the last five years. I use the entire front room - which is a large open space originally meant to be used as both a dining room and a formal sitting room - as my studio. The studio is the first thing you see when you walk into the house, so it's convenient to have painting students and clients over. I enjoy the high ceilings and being able to stack my paintings 'salon style' on the walls. I can also bring my Santa Fe II easel all the way up without worrying about hitting the ceiling, so there is room to work on bigger paintings if I so choose. My only issue is lighting; I have a south-facing window and an east-facing window. I make due with 5500k fluorescent bulbs in softboxes attached to light stands (all available at CowboyStudio.com), and these do a great job of replicating natural light. As far as storage - WOW! I miss Wisconsin and having a basement! But my husband built a model stand for me, which holds stretcher bars and other supplies below it. He also built a great big storage shelf for all my canvases, frames, and miscellaneous supplies. The shelf is tucked inside my office, away from the main viewing and working area."
Image 1: View from the front door when you walk in
Image 2: View from the other side, looking towards the front door.

Julie Barbeau: "My dream of finding a large studio with north light windows has never come true.  I've had this "bonus room" studio less that two years.  Although the space is great with the high ceilings and wood floors, controlling the light from so many windows has been difficult.  Little by little I have made improvements to control the glare from various windows.  The mini windows face north but they are so small and high that the glare was killing my eyes.  I bought valances in various colors, including these off-white ones in the photo and dark grey.  That stopped the glare from that side.  Next I added sheers behind the wood blinds on the large southeast double windows.  This is the main light source for the studio.  Depending on the cloudiness and time of day I can open the shutters or adjust the shutters slats or pull the sheers to the side.  This is giving me enough light to paint from natural light all day. Finally I had to set up a room divider draped with black velvet to block the light that was coming up the stairs from the high entry windows.  The studio is painted a blueish gray to mimic north light.  I have Blue Max full spectrum bulbs (5500 K, 93 CRI from fullspectrumsolution.com) in the studio lights.  But I prefer to use natural light when ever possible."

Bob Shepherd: I recently finished redoing my studio.  When we built our home we were lucky in that the builder was able to pop the ceiling up an additional 2 feet to their current height of 12 feet.  The studio is above the garage and is around 400 square feet.  Originally the space was a true white but that was pretty boring.  When we all met at the Portrait Society of America I queried many artists and came up with the color I used.  It came from Pamela Blaise and Scott Burdick's blog.  It is Benjamin Moore's #1490 and  am very happy with the color.  I painted the new color up to the picture rail and left the white on the ceiling.  The smartest thing we did was the picture rail.  All pictures are hung from brass hooks using clear plastic wire.  I use a minimum of nails."

Note from your ambassador: I hope to hear from more of you for another "Studios: Texas Edition" feature in a couple of months. Till then, I hope you found this helpful and inspiring!

Houston Meet-and-Greet a Smashing Success!

Saturday, June 29 - Houston area artists (as well as a few from Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio!) gathered at the iconic Cadillac Bar in Houston, TX for our annual Meet-and-Greet! There were 20 people in attendance, including members Alix Dunn, Beverly Chemin, Francis Huang, Sheila McGraw, Kim Abbati, Kirsten Coco, Delaram Izadpanah, Lenore Prudhomme, Pam Schrader, Rhonda Lanclos, Suzanne Taylor, and Suzie Baker. Non-members were also welcome to attend, and those who came enjoyed the meeting very much. The table was abuzz with excited conversation about networking and art-making. Our demo artist was PSOA member and 2013 Certificate of Excellence winner, D.K. Richardson. She brought several of her original pastel and oil paintings for attendees to admire (it's always wonderful to see the originals in person!), and gave a wonderful demonstration on steps to finishing a painting. She had two images on display to show "before" and "after" applying finishing touches. The demonstration was interactive, with a lot of helpful Q&As. 

As TX ambassador, I'd like to give a huge thanks to D.K. Richardson for sharing her time, talents, and wealth of information with fellow artists. I'd also like to thank Lenore Prudhomme, who found the venue for us and reserved our space.

The Meet-and-Greet was a hit and we are already looking forward to our next event, possibly in San Antonio in the fall. Stay tuned!

Recap: Judith Carducci Workshop, January 2012

Hi everyone,
This is your TX ambassador, Anna Rose Bain writing...
I hope that this spring is finding you happy, successful, and painting up a storm! I thought I would share a little about a recent workshop I attended with one of the Portrait Society's most esteemed faculty members, Judith Carducci. If you've ever had the opportunity to learn from her, or hear her speak at PSOA conferences, you know that Judy is a firm believer in working exclusively from life. Because of her purist dedication to life drawing and painting, and her passion for her craft, Judy's work is incredibly strong and vibrant. She is also a great storyteller and for every point she makes in her teaching, she can give an example from her wealth of experience. Personally, I have gained a great deal from her instruction and advice, and I hope that if you get a chance to study with her, you will take advantage of the opportunity! She is a great artist and person, but... she won't let you off easy. Prepare to be challenged! The 14 of us who took her January workshop in Dallas, certainly were!

Here are some pictures from the 5-day workshop.

Judy at the beginning of her demo, day 1. The model was WWII veteran, Jim.

Explaining the anatomy of the ear.

Measuring the length of the face.

Judy's finished charcoal demo of Jim (with a sketch of eye - part of her demonstration of the anatomy of facial features)

Our wonderful host was Michael Mentler, head of the Society of Figurative Arts. The workshop took place at his studio (samples of his artwork in the background). I really love this shot of him! :-)

Judy would demo in the morning, and then the students got their shot at it in the afternoon to impliment what they learned. Above: artist Christen Benat, working on a profile view.

The first day was focused primarily on values, so we stuck to black and white, or in my case, brown and white. Here is my little monochromatic sketch of Jim, in oil on canvas. I only used Rembrandt's transparent oxide brown and white.

The model for day #2: Sylett, an artist's model with 30 years of experience! Judith really enjoyed doing this demo for us, and we enjoyed watching! She was working on a brand new line of Canson pastel board, courtesy of Canson via Michael Mentler (Michael represents their brand).

The finished demo. A solid, colorful, and exciting portrait!

The students hard at work.

My little 12x9 profile study of Sylett.

 Michael Mentler posed for Judy on day 4.

She began and finished the portrait in charcoal, realizing early on that it didn't need any color; it was already a strong impression! 

The finished portrait of Michael... or should I say, Gandalf the wizard? (Sorry, Michael, couldn't resist!)

Our afternoon model, Buck, was no less exciting! Here he is posing with a wolf skin hat, turquoise jewelry, and a staff. 

Artist Rebecca McClure off to a very strong start. You could really feel the energy in the room!

An exciting rendition by Ellen Moore.

 Here's mine. I really took Judy's advice to heart: no matter where you are positioned in front of the model, find something you LOVE about the pose and run with it!I loved the backlighting on the furry hat, as well as the mysterious shadow that the rim cast over Buck's eyes.

On the last day of the workshop, Judy did a self-portrait as her demo. 

The progression was very exciting to watch! We all sat riveted and humbled by her masterful execution of the self portrait.  

Here it is finished. One of the students purchased this piece.

Finally, a group photo (sans two of the students, Carole Fadal and Connie Erickson -- we missed you, ladies!), with Judy holding her magnificent portrait.

Here's what Judith herself had to say about the workshop after it was done:

I've just returned from Dallas where I was a guest of Becky and Hank Pearson (Becky is the pert redhead on the right in the group photo) and the workshop was hosted by Michael Mentler of The Society of Figurative Arts. Michael's studio is an ideal place for a workshop, with good lighting, space, easels, materials, and absolutely splendid models with variety of characteristics to challenge the por...traitist. Michael, and his assistant, the artist Anna Bain, were always available to make things work for our comfort.

It was a wonderful group! VERY enthusiastic artists. Three of them had been in my workshop in southern France last summer.

One of them bought the self-portrait I'm holding. She had asked earlier "Why would anybody want to buy a portrait of a person they didn't know?"

I told her that sometimes people are intrigued by the character, or it reminds them of somebody they know and love or a member of their family; I have a painting over my desk of a young man I don't know but he looks like my son and could be an "ancestor" - portraits of one's ancestors being prized where I come from. And sometimes they are bought by artists who are impressed by the work, the composition, the color, the brushwork, the lighting - and want to go to school on it. Or they are just beautiful or wonderful works that the person wants to own and enjoy looking at. Ironically, she then fell in love and couldn't resist mine!

To find out more about Judy's workshops and see more of her amazing portrait work, visit her website at:
http://www.judithcarducci.com/, or her Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Judith-Carducci-Artist/293819957331633

Also, if you would like to share about any workshops you may have benefitted from recently, PLEASE do! Send your written blog post, along with some photos, to Anna Rose Bain at: annarosebain@gmail.com. Your fellow Texas portrait artists look forward to hearing from YOU! :-)