June 13, 2010 In art, creativity, fine art By Patricia Saxton

Contemporary Portraits …(More Travels with Jose and Nick)

It’s always kind of fun to attend an art opening. It’s very organic, for the most part, without all the electronic noise or manufactured influences of our modern times. And of course, there’s the opportunity to meet the most interesting people.

If you go with Jose and Nick, it’s even better. Their enthusiasms are infectious, their humor delightful. As I’ve mentioned before, Jose Rodeiro is a prolific artist (top left image above) and art historian who teaches at NJCU. No kidding, I learn something wonderful and new every time I’m in his company.

Neither Nick (also a master artist) nor I were in this show, but we’ve become somewhat of a troop, a band of cavorting artists.

My daughter’s been around them enough now to feel at ease, and part of the troop. Nick is interested in her future and convinced she should attend Parson’s. She tries to tell him she wants to be a writer, but he’s sure she’s an artist. (It’s all good, Nick.)

And if you can’t have an early 1900’s Paris salon, this is the next best thing for earfuls and eyefuls of colorful opinions and great varieties of art. Speaking of colorful, along with lively exchanges with Jose and Nick and other artists, and friends Nutia, Robert and Lucy, we had the most charming chat with a young Argentinean who loves soccer almost as much as his 7-foot long pet iguana. (oh my.)

I will admit that my girl wasn’t too enthused when she saw the sign announcing that this was a portrait show. I said, trust me, it won’t just be paintings of generals and grandma’s (nothing wrong with those, mind you, just not what a creative-minded teen might be excited about…). And of course, she wasn’t disappointed.

So, the reason we were there: Not just your classical portraiture, this evocative exhibit of 30 artists is showing through August 15 at the Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery in Annunciation Center at the College of Saint Elizabeth (CSE), 2 Convent Road, Morristown, N.J.

Summer hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 4:30 to 8:00 p.m. or by appointment (artgallery@cse.edu or 973-290-4314).

More samplings of what you’ll see:

Artists Exhibiting in Who We Are: Contemporary Portraits

Rob Barth, Lafayette, N.J., Amy Becker. Madison, N.J.. Patricia A. Bender, Somerset, N.J., Gianluca Bianchino, Little Falls, N.J., Janet Boltax, Montclair, N.J., Travis Childers, Fairfax, Va., Judy Cooperman, Great Neck, N.Y., Ellen Denuto, Denville, N.J., Todd L.W. Doney, Gillette, N.J., Pat Flaherty, North Caldwell, N.J., Enrique Flores-Galbis, Forest Hills, N.Y., Marianne Fourie, Hoboken, N.J., Hayat Huma Gul, Wayne, N.J., Neal Korn, Union, N.J., Yen-Hua Lee, Scarsdale, N.Y., So Yoon Lym, Wayne, N.J., James Kearns, Dover, N.J., Kendall Messick, Jersey City, N.J., Leslie Milton, Short Hills, N.J., Charles Perkalis, Whippany, N.J., James Patrick Reid, Madison N.J., José Rodeiro, Madison, N.J., Larry Ross, Madison, N.J., Wayne Roth, Mountain Lakes, N.J., Sam Sebren, Athens, N.Y., Miriam Stern, Teaneck, N.J., Peter Tilgner, Montclair, N.J., Doreen Valenza, Livingston, N.J., Raul Villarreal, Verona, N.J., Willem VanDooijeweert, Mountain Lakes, N.J., Bill Westheimer, West Orange, N.J., Barry Zawacki, Mountain Lakes, N.J., Sue Zwick, Summit, N.J.

2
0
April 18, 2010 In drawing, fine art, illustration By Patricia Saxton

Work in Progress

Here’s a glimpse of a work-in-progress. When the time is right (and client approved), the final piece will be unveiled ~ for now, I thought that in this digital world, some good old-fashioned pencil work might be refreshing. :  )

pencil drawing in progress / © p. saxton

pencil drawing developed and incorporated with oil painting / © p. saxton

Share

1
0
March 21, 2010 In fine art, presentation By Patricia Saxton

Press Coverage for March 25th Art Opening of "The Many Faces of Eve"

A Women’s Intuition in Perth Amboy

By Ralph J. Bellantoni
Correspondent

The Perth Amboy Gallery Center for the Arts celebrates Women’s History Month with the group exhibit “The Many Faces of Eve.” The show opened March 8 and the center will host a reception from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 25.

The show presents work by Jamie Allen, Patricia Banks, Harriet FeBland, Gracelyn Molina, Amy Ortiz, Patricia Saxton, Adrienne Wheeler and curator Laura Cuevas. The artwork addresses issues of morality, sexuality, family, spirituality and self and social identity in an expansive diversity of styles and media. The light of the primal Eve refracts in resplendent display through the particular energy, talent and resourcefulness of each accomplished artist.

Cuevas’ own paintings and oil pastels straddle the abstract and figurative in her
depictions of bodies, fruits and foliages melting and blurring into sensual fields of color and texture. FeBland has been dubbed “the poet of geometry” because of her mathematically precise paintings, transformed through the intuitive prism of her creative imagination. Ortiz explores themes of the intertwined connection of women and nature through surreal compositions.

Wheeler’s work arises from ancestral and spiritual practices drawn from the Bakongo traditions of the Atlantic coast of Africa. She creates “Nkisi” (sacred medicine) — consisting of carefully assembled materials bundled into fetishes of spiritual potency. She created her installation in response to the recent earthquake that devastated Haiti.

In this composition, Wheeler’s Nkisi represent bundles of bodies, belongings, medicines, airlifted supplies and hope. She reminds people that Haiti has actually been in a state of devastation for centuries. She hopes her work can act as a catalyst for change — a plea for vigilance in bringing an end to the vicious cycles of global human suffering.

Saxton has been drawing and painting since early childhood. She has run her Saxton Illustration & Design firm for more than 20 years, and is author and illustrator of the children’s stories “A Book of Fairies’‘ and “The Book of Mermaids.”

“Somewhere around the age of 3, I picked up a pencil and never quite put it back down,” said the artist.

Saxton merges image and text, the real and imagined, in her fine art works in pen and ink, pencil and oils. She accentuates positives over negatives and seeks the nourishment of mind and soul through her art.

“I am particularly delighted to be a part of this unique exhibition and its diverse
collection of women artists honoring the feminine and the “many faces of Eve,”’ said Saxton.

THE MANY FACES OF EVE: GROUP EXHIBIT CELEBRATING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

1 to 6 p.m.
Mondays through Saturdays
through April 30
Opening reception from 5:30 to
8 p.m Thursday, March 25
Perth Amboy Gallery Center for the Arts
399 Reade St., Perth Amboy
Free
732-826-8083 www.perthamboygallery.org

Share

0
0
March 7, 2010 In art, design, drawing, fine art, illustration By Patricia Saxton

Drawing Tips: Colored Pencil

Colored pencils are one of my favorite mediums. They’re also one of the most unforgiving, as a friend recently discovered.

My friend’s son, a budding artist, had apparently drawn an amazing picture, then decided to color it in with colored pencils. But he “hated what he did” and wanted to erase the color. She asked me if there were an amazing eraser out there that would solve the problem – or if he was doomed to start over.

My short answer was that there is no “amazing eraser” for colored pencil, and that yes, he was most likely doomed.

So maybe you too have decided to try illustrating with colored pencils. You’ve got your base drawing down and now you’re coloring away, shading, blending, watching the colors come to life. Time passes without notice.

Then in one dreaded moment, you realize you’ve gone too far. You reach for your eraser. You erase…. nothing happens. You try again. You curse. Maybe you scream. But you pull yourself together, because you think, ha! – there’s gotta be a solution. It’s just pencil, after all.

Not to dash your hopes, but here’s the harsh reality: Unless you’ve used your colored pencil v-e-r-y lightly (in which case you haven’t gone too far, so there’s been no cause for dread), you – just like my friend’s son – are probably, almost definitely, doomed to begin again.

There are people who use an electric eraser, or an eraser that sharpens like a pencil, but these take practice (otherwise they smear or eat the paper), are meant for small areas, and can be more frustrating than starting over. White artist erasers or gray putty erasers, which I personally love for regular pencil, don’t do the trick with colored pencils, only taking off slight upper layers of shading.

Aside from starting over, another option is to turn your mistake into something else – sometimes a mistake offers a new way to think about your picture. But once you’ve laid down a bunch of color, erasing is not a viable option.

The real lesson here of course, is about going slowly…. before it’s too late to go back!  And that making a sketch first (even a rough one) to test out the color is a real smart thing to do.

You can also lay a piece of tissue paper over the drawing and color over it (on the tissue paper), to get an idea of how the color might look – just keep in mind that the texture of the tracing paper creates a different feel, and that colored pencils will behave differently on drawing paper. But this simple step can let you know whether you want to forge ahead with color at all.

And like anything else, the more practiced you become, the more skilled and confident you’ll be, and those mistakes won’t be such a concern.

Share

0
0
January 21, 2010 In fine art By Patricia Saxton

New Classicism Exhibit: January 21 – March 5 / Morristown, NJ

It’s been my good fortune over the past year to befriend brilliant art historian and prolific artist in his own right, Dr. Jose Rodeiro. I also had the honor of sharing the stage with him recently at the Mosaics of Art Exhibit.

Now it’s my pleasure to let people know about another exhibit that’s very close by, which will include Jose’s work along with several other well-respected NJ, NY and PA artists (see invitation below). Here are the details:

………………….

New Classicism, exploring the influence of classical Greek and Roman ideas on contemporary artists, is the theme of the latest exhibition at the Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery located in the Annunciation Center on the campus of College of Saint Elizabeth. All are invited to attend the reception for the artists, on Thursday, January 21 from 4:30 – 7 p.m. The show, which will remains on view through March 5th, is free and open to the public.

“Clio, the Muse of History Asleep”, Jose Rodeiro / Sepia Watercolor. 28” x 18”

New Classicism brings together paintings, sculpture, mixed media works, DVDs and photographs, which illustrate the impact of ancient Euro-Mediterranean cultures on ten contemporary regional artists, including two New Jersey City University professors: Winifred McNeil (Jersey City, NJ), and Dr. Jose Rodeiro (Madison, NJ), as well as NJCU alumnus Gianluca Bianchino (Little Falls, NJ).  Also showing are Franc Palaia (Jersey City, NJ), James Patrick Reid (Madison, NJ), Jesus Rivera (Union City, NJ), Vincent J. Romaniello, Jr. (Willow Grove, PA), Edward Schmidt (Piermont, NY), Cheryl Wheat (Piermont, NY) and Sue Zwick (Summit, NJ).

"Bar Meliton", Jose Rodeiro / oil on canvas board, 16 X 20

"Bar Meliton 2", Jose Rodeiro / oil on canvas board, 16 X 20

"Violin of Amnesia", Jose Rodeiro / pencil and watercolor on blue-tinted paper, 23 X 47

Note: There’s an update about the show on my other blog, at patriciasaxton.wordpress.com

Share

0
0
January 16, 2010 In art, fine art, illustration By Patricia Saxton

An Old Piece Made New

Sometimes it’s just as rewarding to bring new life to something old as it is to create something entirely new – as both efforts work that magnificent tool called imagination.

Here’s a pencil drawing I did a few years back, made new with color.

0
0
December 10, 2009 In art, creativity, fine art, painting By Patricia Saxton

"Mosaics of Art" Exhibit ~ Thursday, December 17

I’m pleased to be a part of this group exhibition featuring nine dynamic, colorful fine artists whose works reflect varying styles and techniques. All are welcome to attend. Come and enjoy!

Share

0
0