JEAN KIEGERL - ARTIST
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A Few Words from Jean
​(i.e., an occasional blog)

So much enthusiasm!

14/3/2020

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Away Game:
​- The opening instruction class and first coaching session made a great beginning for all these enthusiastic painters. Such excellent questions and care in following the instructions. They even do homework! It makes me think I should have gone into adult education much earlier. 
- I have been working on the Arts Council's Public Artworks program, which buys works by local artists and displays them in various public locations. Currently, we have Cindilla Trent's "Mosaic Butterfly" in the Public Library, Bev Veale's "Hollyhocks" oil paintings at City Hall, and my "Courthouse" watercolour at the old Courthouse. The committee is now working on the details of this year's acquisition. 

Home Game:
​- My moonlight painting got a lot of snow and too much light to be from the moon last week, so I painted out a lot of that white this week. An advantage of just using black and white paint is not having to match the colours.  Now it is ready to put back the pale details, like the distant shore and moonlight on the frozen lake.  
- A brief self-isolation for spouse's (ordinary) flu gave me a chance to see if it could be more positively renamed "art retreat." Well, who knew there could be so many self-distractions inside one house! I never got my studio apron on once in the 48 hours. Disappointing, but note-to-self:  put "painting" higher on the to-do list even when there is nothing else to do.
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And they're off!

22/2/2020

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Home Game:
- Just the beginning of a new black/white acrylic this week on a 18x24" black canvas of moonlight on Stoyoma Mountain east of Merritt.  Foreground of lake and trees happening next ...



Away Game:
Great start to the watercolour workshop yesterday morning with a quick 'head start' session. Thank you all for jumping in with such short notice. I hope it helped you feel more comfortable with starting on your own - get that paint wet :)


References for further study, if you are interested:
  • Colour; Travels Through the Paintbox by Victoria Finlay - a book on the history of each colour, which involves pirates, beetle juice, poisons, espionage, and other surprises. 
  • - My go-to website for checking info on any watercolour topic.  http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/water.html The artist, Bruce MacEvoy, also seems to be a chemist and researcher - he actually tests paints and gives practical information on a range of watercolour topics. 

Some tips  (sent by email to the workshop participants):

- The textbook, Watercolour in 10 Steps by Patricia Seligman, is just for learning basic painting skills, not creating  beautiful little artworks, so don't try for excellence, just improvement. 
- Use real fruit whenever possible, rather than painting from the book's photos and sketches - recognizing the actual shapes and colours makes for better future paintings. 
- Give an exercise a try or two, and think whether you see what Patricia was trying to teach you. Then move on to the next exercise. After the third one, go back and try the earlier ones again and see if your skills are improving. Repeat :)
- There is no magic, it's just practice. No 'practice makes perfect' either - 'perfect' is not part of learning to paint. 
- Relax - if the painting does not work out, it's just a piece of paper. 
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Next steps

18/2/2020

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​Home Game:
 - I'm still working on "Waiting 'til the Cows Come Home" - but where are the cows? I seem to be a little intimidated by adding them. Maybe next week...
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- Maybe I work better under pressure - this black and white painting was done in 2 days because I wanted to send it home with my brother who was passing through from Vancouver to Saskatoon. 
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Away Game:
- The NVCAC is sponsoring 3 art magazine subscriptions for the Library in 2020 - Artists Magazine, Watercolour Artist, and Southwest Art. These are funded as a small part of the expenses for  the sketch and watercolour courses. Back issues are already in the Library from previous subscriptions and, really, they never get stale :) 

- The Watercolour for Serious Beginners course has 15 serious beginners registered! The paint kits will be ready to pick up on Thursday at the Courthouse for those who want to get a head start. 
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step by step

8/2/2020

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  Home Game:
- A little short on actual wet paint time this week :(  Next week I will schedule it in so other stuff does not take over my art life. 
- I dropped in on the Library Painters on Thursday (10am-2pm) - it is an open, free drop-in for artists to just bring their gear and project and paint with other artists. So great to see how the skills improve that way. Hmmm, I should join them next Thursday...
- I visited Hambleton Gallery in Kelowna, as I do whenever I can. Seeing high quality artwork in person keeps my 'artistic eye' tuned for professional level painting quality and skills.
- updated my website's Portfolio panels with more images, now I need to annotate them with names, sizes, media and prices.
- I have been working on photobooks of my art, since most are now unavailable to me (gifted, donated, or sold.) Now there is a 30% off sale if I can get them finished by Feb 12. There's a goal - and another project that keeps my hands away from actual paint. 

Away Game:
- 10 people registered in the class now, so it is definitely a GO  :)
- I shopped at Opus Art in Kelowna to get supplies for the class - brushes, paper, etc. Opus Art Store donated 15 of their cloth bags to hold the sets! 
- More texts arrived - from Britain and New Zealand! 10 on hand now, only a few more to come.
- I am getting paint kits and palettes ready. I  ordered more paint colours to make sure the palettes will be useful beyond the textbook exercises. 

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Every little bit counts

2/2/2020

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Home Game:
  • "Reborn", watercolour on paper, 14x11" , matted and framed - ready for the show at the Courthouse Gallery. Need to think about pricing...
  • I tried some sketchbook practice - a nice pen sketch of the evergreens with lake and mountains. This was from observation through a big window, about 20 minutes. 
  • Then, being inspired by the Opus Daily Practice ad, I painted it. Hmmm, I think I liked it better before. The sketchbook paper was hot pressed, so did not forgive my brush errors. I used a wet brush on the trees, when really they needed a dry brush technique to show the thin needles of trees trying to grow on rocks. Daily practice is a great idea to get my art brain working again. 
  • I registered for an oil painting class in late March (3 Fridays) with Yvonne Reddick, so I can learn the palette knife painting technique. I love going to workshops, especially if they are specific technique rather than abstract painting or 'just-express-your-creativity.' 
  • The new issue of Artists Magazine just arrived - yea! 
​Away Game:
  • "Watercolour for Serious Beginners" is approved and posted online and even has registrations already! 
  • Opus - Daily Practice has started their February challenge. I might have to learn to do Instagram to see how that works. Or is that just "finding another way not to paint", as my wonderful artist-friend Bev Maize used to tease me. 
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From Sketching to WC

27/1/2020

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Away Game:
  • Sketch class has ended and attendance was solid. What a treat to have such students! They even did homework! And they are interested in carrying on, so on to Watercolour next.
  • Sticker shock on the supplies - watercolour paint prices are about triple now, so changing my plan from giving students a supply list (cost $200+) to buying in bulk from a discount supplier. The strong interest by these students in actually learning to paint (rather than just trying it out) makes a professional kit more practical. It's way less frustrating for all with quality materials, and the kit will last them for years. 
  • NVCAC has my application for the WC class, which will be in March to give all my book orders time to arrive, and to get the registrations in, and to create the paint kits. The course is more expensive than I anticipated after all the little things are added in. However, since I am donating my instructor fees back to the NVCAC, it is not so stressful if  I am out of practice with that budget page. 
Home Game:
  •  Wow, I did a watercolour painting for the next Gallery show! With people in it!  It does help a lot that they don't have to look like particular people :) 
  • Framing will be easy - I started with a frame and mat from my stash and painted to fit it. Why didn't I think of that before - way less expensive than custom framing because of odd sized pictures. (One of the reasons I switched to acrylic on canvas.) 
  • Art Avenue, the quarterly magazine from the Federation of Canadian Artists (artists.ca) just arrived - more inspiration to get me going :)
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Sketching and beyond

16/1/2020

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Away Game:
  • So the Sketching class is going just fine. It was a little tense when only 4 signed up by decision day, but then 6 more joined just as I was writing up the cancellation notice. Ten very interested students and Diane to keep everything organized. (What did I ever do without her?) It is heartening to find out that I still know how to teach and that I still love doing it. 
  • At least some of the sketchers are interested in WC, so I ordered all the textbooks I could find on Amazon at a reasonable price. More seemed to be show up on the afterwards (maybe because I created a market?) Also, looking into how to set up the supply kit for such a class. 

Home Game:
  • Giving the class has reminded me how much I loved sketching, so I keep my sketch/wc kit in plain sight now. A few sketches have happened almost without me having to force myself into it. 
  • I have been working on some of my unfinished oil paintings, to relatively good effect. "Waiting for the Cows to Come Home" finally has some bulls hanging around the pasture gate, and that was not as difficult as I feared. I clearcut the hideous yellow trees and turned that area into grassland meadows - much better. Maybe the cows will show up soon. 
  • I have made it to two of the Library Painters sessions on Thursdays and have a real painting to show for it. Watercolour on hardboard (one of the Ampersand boards I found in my cleanup.)
  • "Goat Hunt" 5x7", watercolour on board, varnished and framed. ​
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Sketching - let's start

6/1/2020

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OK, it's starting! 

Home Game: 
I have my studio back and reorganized. The frames and canvases are sorted into a better location and  my paints and tools are ready to use. There were even some great hidden finds - a dozen black 8x10 frames for a long forgotten project, ready-to-use Ampersand boards for oil and even for watercolour. These will give me a head start as they need no prep days.  I stocked up on full sheets of watercolour paper in case I need a little practice painting large before committing to big oil paintings.
 
Away game: 
  • First workshop program is ready to go: "Ready, Sketch, Paint" is approved by the NVCAC and the advertising up and running. Now we just need some people to want to do it... I am hoping for 10-12. 
  • Second workshop is simmering - a beginners watercolour program using the "Watercolour in 10 Steps" textbook that worked so well in the past. Unfortunately, it is now out-of-print so it will be a challenge to find enough copies, but Amazon.ca seems to be working on it. 

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Starting over

1/1/2020

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2020 A new year, with new opportunities:
- The Nicola Valley Community Arts Council has a great new Board of Directors and I am now "Past President" with a 'consultant' role so I can use my experience to help them with the rough spots. 
- I now have time for the NVCAC projects that have been on the back burner - like a revival of the Valley Visual Artists as a way to develop local art talent and support the existence of the community art gallery. 
- I can use the NVCAC resources to help new artists get started with workshops, hopefully building the clientele for other instructors and future programs beyond the beginner levels in many media. 
- I can get my own art going again - reclaiming the spare room for my studio and reclaiming my time for painting.
- I can connect again with the artists who got me started and those who keep me going, find some advanced workshops and other sources of inspiration.


I am soooo looking forward to jumping back in to ART!
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    Merritt once had a local art group called "Valley Visual Artists." They painted together  regularly, organized annual art shows and hosted art workshops. It faded away, but never really disappeared. Maybe the VVA will rise again... 

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