Texas Pastel Society
May Membership Meeting
May 3, 2014
The May membership meeting was held Saturday afternoon at the
Coppini Academy. Eight members were in attendance.The meeting started with a brief business meeting. Irene Taylor announced that the exhibit at the Bijou theater included 14 members. Janice Westrich had already sold two paintings from that show. The next scheduled TXPS event was the exhibit at the Central Market in July and August. There will be limited space available. Interested parties should contact Charles Krause.
Irene then introduced Mary MacIntosh. Mary started with a brief biography and then went on to describe her recent trip to the Plein Aire Painting convention in Monterey California. For the first time, at the urging of previous attendees, there was a separate Pastel (and watercolor) track. There were many noted pastelists demonstrating and a number of opportunities to get out in the field and paint along side these artists. A report of the New Braunfels artists at the convention appeared in the local newspaper.
Mary then turned to the subject of how to take pastels out into the field, starting with a description of some of the equipment she had used and abandoned. She then demonstrated her current setup of a tripod with a custom made mast to hold a board for mounting painting surfaces. She then went on to show a set of arms mounted to her box of pastels that simply mounted on the tripod legs, resulting in a very sturdy system. She also mentioned that James Coulter (look on Google) sells parts and assorted hardware.
Some of the other items she discussed included: a viewfinder (very important), a stone bag (to add weight to the tripod when painting in a wind), sun screen and insect repellant, a good hat and other items. These were nice packed in a Kelte backpack with a belt to support the weight on the hips. She noted that it was important, of course, to find a pack that you could fit a pastel box in.
Mary recommends the Plein Aire Convention, as well as the IAPS convention, and Barbara Jaenicke’s workshop at Mary’s studio this fall.
Mary then showed several work-in-process paintings. These were started with a gouache underpainting. She completed her presentation with a demonstration of how she paints grasses (at the request of several members). Her technique: start with the ground (dark eggplant and blue-grays), next the midlevel colors (medium greens) and then finishing with the lighter details.
Roger Snyder, Secretary
