Thursday, October 11, 2012

September Meeting Notes

Angie Banta Brown kicked off our fall events with a great still life lecture/ demo on September 8th at the Thousand Oaks Library.

TXPS Secretary, Roger Snyder gives a summary as follows:

Angie Banta Brown gave a demonstration of composition and design, illustrating the concepts with a collection of her prints and photographs. She discussed in detail how to select items arrange them and photograph them. Angie always photographs her arrangements as some components such as flowers change with time. She then paints from her iPad.

Angie recommended starting with 1 or 2 objects and is not confined to using an odd number of items. She often uses stripes of color or ribbons to tie these objects together. She prefers to use natural light instead of artificial spots. Her usual viewpoint is from above in order to avoid a horizon effect.

Angie demonstrated her technique, starting a still life of two vases, roses and peaches. Painting on of the peaches, she pointed out that value is often more important than color. She uses a limited palette.

During Angie’s demonstration, the audience asked several questions. Concerning the use of fixative, she does not like to use it due to the color darkening effect. There was also a discussing of framing, with Angie and several other members commenting that they were now mounting their pastels directly against the glass and sealing the edges with tape.

During the afternoon, Irene Taylor and Mary Campos Lopez participated in a hands-on activity with the community, several coming in to try their hand at pastel painting.  A very good impression was left by the Texas Pastel Society at the Thousand Oaks Library.  TXPS has been invited back for their anniversary celebration on Nov. 17th.

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