September 2011, Donna Baron

Donna Baron discussing her art.

Members attentively observing.

Donna Baron did a demo for the SAA meeting on September 17. 
She showed the members how to simplify the painting process by concentrating on values and large shapes.  She used acrylic paints but the same principles apply to oils. The first part of the meeting was for SAA business. The remainder of the meeting was devoted to the presentation by Donna Baron on simplifying landscape painting. Donna teaches classes on traditional acrylic painting and simplifying the painting process at Plaza Art. She currently works with acrylics because of their fast-drying property. She displayed the interesting talent of painting sideways which delighted onlookers. She narrated the process as she blocked in and developed the shapes within her painting, answering questions  as she worked.

  

June 18, 2011, Michaele Harrington

General Meeting at the Davis Library, 2:00, at the Davis Library, 6400 Democracy Blvd., Bethesda.

Michaele Harrington critiqued the two and three-dimensional artwork of over 20 SAA members.

May 28, 2011, Allen Linder

May 28

General Meeting at the Davis Library, 2:00, 6400 Democracy Blvd., Bethesda.

Allen Linder, a sculptor and teacher at Montgomery College, gave a presentation.

April 30, 2011, Tamah Graber

General Meeting at the Davis Library, 2:00, 6400 Democracy Blvd., Bethesda.

This was a presentation by Tamah Graber, a glass artist.

Click her picture below to read her bio...

 

And click here to see her web site. 

March 26, 2011, Susan Murphy

General Meeting at the Davis Library, 2:00, 6400 Democracy Blvd., Bethesda.

This program was a presentation by watercolorist Susan Murphy; subject getting into a juried show.  She runs ARTHOUSE, a studio and gallery in Sandy Spring MD.

The Washington Watercolor Society joined us.

Florence Gang introduced Susan Murphy who is a multi-skilled artist. When Susan decided upon a career in art, she designed and helped to construct an annex to her house that would be dedicated to art. “ARThouse is a teaching facility for the development of art professionalism.” She also turns out elegant picture frames, produces giclee prints or lithographic reproductions, and photographs client's art work.

Susan represents various artists and exhibits their work in ARThouse. Her own paintings have won awards at prestigious watercolor shows. She is an experienced juror and participates regularly in juried exhibits.

Susan received a warm welcome from the 12 members that attended the meeting. She shared with us her ideas of what it takes to get a work of art accepted in a juried exhibit. Try for an unusual subject for a juried show. Follow the rules for show. She stressed originality and do not use someone else's work whether it be a photo, off the internet, or out of a magazine. Juried shows must be your own idea and composition. She also discussed the elements of design and the principles.

The members were very interactive and Susan answered all of their questions and concerns. It was an informative afternoon and we missed all of you who did not attend. A note to all, if this is representative of the interest in Senior Artists Alliance, the group may have to fold. Please try to make every effort to attend future meetings.

November 14, 2010, Mira Hecht

What do we do best?

About 25 SAA members spent a few hours with Mira Hecht, an Abstract artist and instructor at the Corcoran.

Florence Gang welcoming 25+ members

We started with an art history lesson (abbreviated) showing how painting evolved from realism to today's abstractionism.   We had a taste of movements such as Impressionism, Cubism, Expressionism, Modernism, and some of the work of Kandinsky, Klee, Miro, O'Keeffe.  We even touched on the emergence of photography and its affect on the painting of realistic scenes and portraits.

We were then treated to examples of Mira's work. x

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A very pleasant and informative afternoon.  Thanks Mira!  ...And for those who were there, please tell the rest of the members your impressions by commenting below....

October 2010, David Daniels, watercolorist

The SAA joint meeting with the Washington Watercolor Society was called to order at 2:20pm at Davis Library.

Florence Gang announced a decision by the Board of Directors to donate $500 to Montgomery College.  She also announced SAA has applied to Black Rock and Friendship Heights for exhibits in 2011.

Lieta Gerson then introduced our program guest, David Daniels, watercolorist.

David began by speaking about "why" he paints...

Because of his science background, he is a curious individual and wants to try something new with each painting.  He feels if an artist experiments instead of painting in the same way each time, he will experience growth as an artist.  He encouraged each of us to approach each painting as a challenge to try something different.

He always paints on large (4' x 6') paper which is glued to alumilite?, unmatted and varnished. but he reminded us that this type of presentation is usually not accepted in watercolor shows.  He recently began using squirrel hair brushes, uses many different brands of paint, and freely uses frisket to preserve white of paper.

Before starting to paint, he does background studies...value, composition, design and color, which gives him freedom to just paint since all the decisions are already made.  He also spoke about the importance of shape, value, color temperature, dominance and variety.

After demonstrating his painting technique (lots of water and letting colors flow into one another), he presented one of his large, finished paintings.

Click for a series of interviews with David Daniels, and see him at work in his studio.