March 2021: Online Art Workshops

March 2021, for me, was more about taking art in and incubating ideas rather than creating finshed pieces of art. I participated in an unusually large number of online workshops, webinars and art demonstrations.

It was so great to listen to other artists and learn about their processes. Particularly while we find ourselves still living with COVID 19 lockdown restrictions.

Online Webinars and Demos

I participated in three excellent online webinars and demos in March

The first was a two hour webinar Making Inks from Garden-Grown or Foraged Plants with Ottawa artist Wendy Feldberg which was presented by PAL Ottawa  

This event generated their largest audience ever with over 100 participants (from Canada, the US and Europe which created temporary technical difficulties with their ZOOM capacity)

Wendy is an excellent presenter, highly organized and incredibly knowledgeable. I was interested in her presentation after borrowing two books from the Ottawa Public Library recently: 

• The Organic Artist by Vermonter Nick Neddo
• Make Ink by Jason Logan who is a a Toronto-based creative director and strategic graphic designer.
  

It's unfortunate that PAL Ottawa did not leave the video online for others to enjoy. There was so much information. Her blog has not been updated since July 2020, however, there is abundant information about her, her process and her art there https://wendyfe.wordpress.com/

Wallack's Silk Screen Printing Demo

I signed up for "Screen Printing Demonstration with Christina Jacobs" on March 18th presented by Wallack's Art Supply Store in Ottawa. I haven't done silk screen printing since my art school days in Toronto so I enjoyed this demonstration thoroughly.  

Christina Jacobs is a Michigan-based Speedball Demo artist and print maker and she demonstrated three silk screening techniques made available on Wallack's YouTube channel below.

Wallack's Block Printing Demo

I signed up for "Block Printing Demo with Mike Pennecamp" on March 19th presented by Wallack's Art Supply Store in Ottawa. I love lino printing and I found this demonstration incredibly informative and fun. 

Mike Pennecamp is also a Speedball Demo Artist and printmaker with a really great sense of humor. It was really great to hear him breakdown all of the supplies and talk about his process. His demo has inspired me to get out my printmaking supplies this spring

 Sketchbook Revival and Sketchbook Skool in March

https://www.karenabend.com/sketchbook-revival-2020/sketchbook-revival-2020-highlights-opt-in/

 

Since 2018, Italy-based artist Karen Abend has organized and hosted a FREE online workshop called "Sketchbook Revival" which is a creative space for fellow creatives to show up, explore and try new things, have fun and discover different ways of being creative.

I participated in the inaugural session in 2018 and decided to sign up again in this fourth year because I was interested in several of the workshop guides (Danny Gregory, Carla Sonheim, Jeanne Oliver, Shari Blaukopf, Karen Stamper, and Koosje Koene to name a few).

Some key takeaways from this year (March 18-31, 2021):

• I found myself focusing on the style of art pedagogy that each workshop guide was bringing online. I focused on the technology they were using, the setting they chose, the "suggested materials" list and the actual practical exercise offered.
• I was surprised that I absolutely loved Shelley Klammer's workshop exercise on "automatic drawing" and her slide deck on the history of automatism in the 1920s and 1930s. I learned about Joan Miró (1893-1983) who was always trying to dismantle the notion of representation (a subject close to my heart this past year)
  
• Each workshop guide leaves a parting gift for the participants and special mentions go to:
  
• Trupti Karjin provided a 31 page book "Thriving Artist Roadmap" that describes various stages in a creative's life: Initiate, Enthusiast, Apprentice, Pioneer, Virtuoso. What this Booklet does for each category is describes "things a ____ might say, things to watch out for, next steps to evolve, reading recommendations and podcasts. I thought it was absolutely brilliant!
• Danny Gregory offered a FREE one month trial to his Sketchbook Skool Spark which included free workshops as well. I signed up for the "Seeing" workshop (valued at $198 USD). An incredibly generous parting gift from Danny indeed!

I am STILL using the SAME palette hat I created in 2017.

Some Artist Quotes I Loved In March

• "An artist is attracted to certain kinds of form without knowing why.You adopt a position intuitively. Only later do you attempt to rationalize it or justify it." Fernando Botero
  
• “I don’t think these mills were built to be beautiful objects, but in some weird way, they are. They’re cloud factories — all the muted grays and browns. They’re fascinating. They have a life to them.” Artist Ron Donoughe  (Ron’s website https://donoughe.com Watch this video to see how Ron spends his “day at the office.” https://donoughe.com/about-ron/
• "You learn more from your sketchbook pages that you dislike than from your sketchbook pages that you love." Helen Wells 
• On "putting more calm" into your paintings: "How in this minimalist poem, can you give us a lakey lake or the barniest barn?" (Sara at Painter's Keys) and "The best way to be a bore is to leave nothing out" Voltaire
  
  

Some Artists Who Inspired Me In March 

• Interdisciplinary Newfoundland artist Teana Hynes and her latest exhibit "Workhorse" featuring her photos, drawings, sculptures, all about and evoking Labrador west, the mines and how it shapes the people and landscape. Hynes also created a book of the same name to accompany the show, which she said has been selling quicker than she can get them. The book and her work can be seen at tanea-hynes.com/
• Hamilton artist Bhairavi Jathar shares her thoughts about painting, productivity and the pandemic.
• B.C. artist/illustrator (currently in Brooklyn, N.Y) Gracey Zhang and her incredible sketchbooks! She describes her work as "focusing on people and interactions; commonality of body language and human rituals; messy but hopefully understandable." Follow Gracey Zhang's work here. When Gracey got trapped in Lisbon at the start of the pandemic, her diaries took on a whole new meaning.

Some Tips, Techniques and Random Explorations 

• Tip: Traveling with wet paintings? Have you ever tried using a dollar store tie rack? See: Traveling with wet paintings  
• Tip: Website Making a Mark recently highlighted a website called Syntax of Color which aims to focus on Art Materials and Colour. (It's actually the resurrection of an old site with new materials) Lots to explore if you love exploring color https://www.syntaxofcolor.com/blog

My sketch of this sweet little dog from twitter - those eyes!

I really appreciated the feedback on my February blog post from followers who told me that they enjoyed certain content (like the artist tips and quotes, etc. that I added last time), so I plan to maintain those elements as a regular part of my monthly art updates. 

Jon Gnagy (1907-1981)

In closing, I want to share some information about an artist I recently learned about. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Jon Gnagy (1907-1981) who was America’s first TV artist predecessor to the now-trendy Bob Ross. 

His TV show, "You Are an Artist," taught viewers that anyone can draw. See: https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/before-bob-ross-jon-gnagy-was-americas-first-tv-art-teacher

“Jon Gnagy taught me to draw," Warhol once declared as did author and illustrator Richard Egielski, who described Gnagy as his childhood hero, writing, "I drew along with him every week."

Artist Jon Gnagy.(see the  Jon Gnagy website - created by his daughter Polly Gnagy Seymour)

Jon Gnagy's daughter Polly Seymour has created a website in his honour and added links to many of the 10-15 minute lessons ( http://www.jongnagyart.com/Jon_Gnagy_Art/Television_Lessons.html )

What I love most about Jon Gnagy's legacy is that he wanted to inspire everyone to create art.

"I believe that you are an artist. I believe that everyone is an artist. When I say this I am not trying to be sensational. I merely state it as a conviction which has been proving itself for years in my beginners' art classes.

Everyone is an artist because everyone is a camera. Every sunset you have ever seen, every interesting old man, or beautiful woman is recorded in your brain. In fact, everything your eyes have looked upon during your entire lifetime is imprinted in your brain as surely as is a picture on film or sound on a record. And there is a way by which you can bring these pictures in all their clarity and brilliance, out of your brain to your fingertips and on to paper or canvas."

—Jon Gnagy

And reading about Jon seemed particularly relevant during these pandemic times where I have seen so many artists who have had to change quickly from teaching in-person workshops to teaching online.

"In 1939 Gnagy read about Vladimir Zworykin's experiments in television and decided television was the "ideal teaching medium". Seven years later, Gnagy was on the air, teaching "the world's largest art class"."

When Jon Gnagy's "You Are an Artist" television show went out of syndication in 1970, it held the world's record for the longest continuously running show on television. 

"The formula was simple and irresistible: a man, an easel, a piece of charcoal, and a sketch that was completed and framed in fifteen minutes."

Thinking back again about the amount of time that I spent online in March 2021 participating in online workshops (rather than creating finished paintings) seems much less concerning to me now.

As the famous quote says, "Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." (Famous quote by John Lennon? Bertrand Russell? Laurence J. Peter? Marthe Troly-Curtin?