Awendan | Creativity in the Arts

Palm Springs Art Museum – Members Gallery

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Ron Wilker

Palm Springs Art Museum – Members Gallery

The Palm Springs Artists Council has over 350 members that support the museum and the arts in Palm Springs, California. The museum has recently added a new feature to their web site. They have added an Artists Council Online Gallery that will provide a rotating display of Artists Council Members artwork. The gallery currently is showcasing the work of fifty of its members.

To locate the gallery, I found it by placing the mouse cursor on the “councils” tab from the main menu which provides a dropdown menu of options. Then select click on the “Artists” option. In the middle of the page that is displayed is an Artist Council Schedule – At – A –Glance section. The Artist Council Online Gallery currently is the first option (link), by clicking on this link it will take you to the gallery section.

Each piece of artwork that is displayed provides the title of the artwork and the name of the artist. When you click on the image it enlarges the picture and will provide additional information about the artwork, usually the type of medium that was used to create the artwork. Information is also provided as how to contact the artist either an e-mail address or a phone number. In some cases if an artists has his/her own web site that is provided as well.

This is an excellent venue for local artist to have their artwork available for viewing by a national audience. I urge everyone to take some time to appreciate the work of these fine artists.

I do have one minor complaint with the information that is provided with each piece of work and that is they do not provide the dimensions of the paintings or sculpture.

To make it easy for everyone I am including a link to the gallery page at the Palm Springs Art Museum.
Members Gallery

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Gouache – Not a Four Letter Word

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Ron Wilker

Gouache – Not a Four Letter Word

If you are like me you made have heard the term “gouache” occasionally when reading about art or talking with friends but had no idea what it meant. That is why I decided to find out something about the word.

Obviously the first place I checked was a dictionary any dictionary will do since they pretty much give the same definition. The root of the word “gouache” comes from the French and the pronunciation is shown as [gwahsh, goo-ahsh; Fr. Gwash]. The main definition is ‘a technique of painting with opaque watercolors prepared with gum.’ Also, the word “opaque” means ‘not transparent.’

To make a comparison “watercolor paints” are considered ‘transparent’, whereas “gouache” is considered a water-soluble paint that is opaque. However, since both are water-soluble they can be used together. One difference between the two is that with gouache the pigment particles are bigger and the ratio of those pigments to the water content is higher.

The term “gouache” in the art community also has a variety of aliases such as “body paint” or “opaque watercolor” or “designer’s gouache”.

If you have tried painting using watercolor then you know the challenges that it presents. Well, working with gouache also has its own challenges. The values of the colors are not the same wet as they are dry. In general the darker tones will have a tendency to dry lighter while the opposite is true of the lighter colors. The lighter colors tend to dry darker. Gouache dries immediately and usually to a matte finish

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The American – Abstract Expressionism

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Ron Wilker

The American – Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism came on the American scene after World War II and continued through the 1940′s, 50′s and into the 1960′s. It is characterized by the extreme application of paint on the canvas and to some critics its messiness. Abstract Expressionism is also referred to as Gestural Abstraction, which applies to the method of how the paint is applied to the canvas. This is usually achieved by dripping, smearing, dabbing and any other unique method of putting paint to canvas. A few of the best at doing ‘Action Painting’ are Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning.

Some characteristics of Abstract Expressionism include appling the paint in a calligraphic manner like writing with the paint. Also, the use of unconventionally applying the paint in shapes using brilliant colors.

Two of the best in Abstract Expressionism are:

Willem de Kooning

He was born on April 24, 1904 and died on March 19, 1997. He immigrated to the United States in 1926 and worked in New York in a variety of fields including commercial art, sign painting, and window dresser and as a carpenter. It was in New York that Willem met other artist such as John Graham and worked for the Federal Art Project.

Woman III - Willem de Kooning

From the 1950′s Willem de Kooning created his first ‘woman’ paintings and at the time they had caused a scandal. One of these ‘woman’ paintings is ‘Woman III’ painted in 1953 was purchased for $137.5 million dollars and is now in a private collection.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) is currently having a ‘Retrospective’ of Willem de Kooning’s art work from September 18, 2011 through January 9, 2012. The showing brings together over 200 of his works from both public collections as well as private collections.

Jackson Pollock

No._5,_1948 by Jackson Pollock

Another of the Abstract Expressionist was Jackson Pollock who was born in 1912 and died in 1956. In 1936 he was introduced to the use of using liquid paint at an experimental workshop in New York City. In the 1940′s he used the technique of pouring and dripping liquid paint on canvas and boards. This technique is considered as one of the origins for the term ‘action painting’. Aside from using his hands and wrist he sometimes would use his whole body to create a painting.

An example of Jackson Pollock’s painting is ‘No.5, 1948′ this painting was sold for $140 million dollars and now is in a private collection, also.