This weekends’ FREE weekend demonstrations at the Seattle DANIEL SMITH Store is an All Acrylic Paint weekend! Be sure to check out the Seattle Store Employee’s Acrylic Paintings in the Store Gallery.
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Saturday, June 28th from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm
Sunday, June 29th at 12 & 2 pm
ACRYLIC: Everyday Still Life Expressions
Cheryl Hoople
absolutearts.com
Saturday June 14th FREE Demo at theAfter 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.”
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!
Saturday June 14th at 11 am & 1:45 pm
 Sunday, June 15th at 12 & 2 pm
Last Saturday’s FREE weekend demo at the DANIEL SMTH Seattle 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:
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“…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
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Originally published June 7, 2008
http://danielsmithart.blogspot.com/2008/06/daniel-smith-store-in-seattles-free.html
Saturday, June 7th at 11 am & 1:45 pm
Dave showing members of the Northwest Watercolor Society (NWWS) where on the map Purpurite Genuine comes from
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 SMITHÂ 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:
Next, David lead the group back to the demo room to answer more questions…there is always so much to learn!
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!Â
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Originally published May 30, 2008
http://danielsmithart.blogspot.com/2008/05/northwest-watercolor-societys-tour-to.html
Updated August 10, 2009:
Here is the link for the DANIEL SMITH Video: “The Art of Making Paint”
Every Day,  Express Yourself with ART….
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~Deborah Burns
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This weekends FREE demos at the DANIEL SMITH Seattle 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 Paints A to Z
Barbara Depirro
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Originally published May 28, 2008
http://danielsmithart.blogspot.com/2008/05/seattle-daniel-smith-free-demos-coming.html
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 SMITHÂ Store will be hosting Elizabeth Kay with a second FREE demo this coming June:
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Elizabeth Kay will be having a three day SUMI Painting Workshop
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Also, DON’T FORGET….
Dianna’s Workshop June 22nd Seattle Store:
Sunday June 22ndÂ
Watercolor Sketch by Deborah Burns
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!
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Watercolor Painting by Deborah Stachowic
Last weekend was the Spring Pastel Event at the DANIEL SMITHÂ Stores in both Seattle and Bellevue. Out of the several Events and FREE demos scheduled, I was able to attend the FREE Pastel demo on Saturday, with Mary Shea, at the DANIEL SMITH 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!Â
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Originally published April 29, 2008
http://danielsmithart.blogspot.com/2008/04/mary-shea-and-daniel-smith-spring.html
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 Hoffmann participated in a FREE Watercolor Demonstration last Saturday, April 19, at our DANIEL SMITH Seattle Store.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….
Tom shared with us how he mixes really rich, “not murky” darks (shadows) in his paintings by mixing DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine 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.
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.
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 :Â
You’re invited to the Book Signing for Juliette Aristides‘ newest book, “Classical Painting Atelier“, this Sunday, April 13th from 12 to 2PM at our DANIEL SMITHÂ 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 called: “Classical Painting Atelier” .
We here at DANIEL SMITHÂ Artist’s Supply are excited to welcome Juliette to our DANIEL SMITHÂ 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 have Juliette sign Your copy!
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Originally published April 11, 2008
http://danielsmithart.blogspot.com/2008/04/book-release-party-for-juliette.html
