Friday, September 8, 2023

Post 397: Military Call 4 Art and the Artists at the New Open Space Arts Show

Military Call for Art and Artists at the New "Heritage" Show

A Military Call for Art and a congratulations are in order.

A Military Call for Art at the Workhouse Residency

Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton, VA

Check out the details here:

https://www.jotform.com/form/230675763109157

Open Space Arts Show

Congratulations to the following 24 artists whose work was juried into the Honor Your Heritage art show that will be displayed at OSA from September 20 - October 15, 2023. 15000 #140 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA.

Akon Otoyo
Ana Quispe
Anna Huerta
April S. Mckether
Connell Calvert
Elizabeth Stathis
Erika Romo
Evelyn Chatters
Silvio Amurrio
Jeffrey Holman
Katie Keller Dugan
Kenneth L. Mckether
LA “ZERO” MEJIAS
MUNOZ, L
Mayra I. Torres Juarez
Nicholas Sweitzer
Nicole Serna
Otis L. Stanley
Pierre Georges
Scott Elliott
Sheri Herrick
Sonya Cromwell
Tom Payne
Zee BerrĂ­os 

The Art Reception for the current show at Open Space Arts is Friday, September 15, 2023 - "Strut Your Stuff" will end on September 17 with the "Honor Your Heritage" show starting up Sept 20.

Let's have a show of hands for these artists! Ok, leave a congratulations in the comments!

Note that the Prince William Art Society will no longer be the managers of the gallery space as of October 1, 2023.


Author: Penny Shaw
 
Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA and Artistry Spin Blog Admin, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.


Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 52-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Post 396: PWAS Busy Weekend - ChiliFest and Arts Alive

PWAS Busy Weekend - ChiliFest, Arts Alive, Strut Your Stuff

The hills are ALIVE, with the sound of...paint brushes...How about some big art shows this weekend? Two days of ART - Saturday, September 9 at Stonebridge, in front of and IN Open Space Arts and Sunday, September 10 at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas, ARTS ALIVE!

PWAS Arts Weekend

Prince William Art Society (PWAS) will be at both! Many of your favorite LOCAL artists with all flavors of art for you to enjoy! Three art shows in 2 days!

FREE - Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center, Open Space Arts Gallery AND PWAS Popup Art Show in front of the gallery
15000 #140 Potomac Town Center
Woodbridge, VA
(across from DSW)
Chilifest Saturday, September 9, 2023 11am to 6pm
 
 
Stop in to see the "Strut Your Stuff" art show at Open Space Arts - art in and outside the gallery!
 
FREE - Arts Alive on Sunday, September 10, 2023 
Hylton Performing Arts Center 10960 George Mason Cir
Manassas, VA 20110 12-5pm
 
https://www.pwcartscouncil.org/artsalive/

Stop by and say HELLO!

Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA and Artistry Spin Blog Admin, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, Donna's Etsy Site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.


Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 52-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

Monday, September 4, 2023

Post 395: Watercolor Painting Workshop - Aspen Trees with Mike Flynn

Watercolor Painting Workshop - Aspen Trees in Winter with Mike Flynn

In case you want to learn more about Watercolor...

The Loft Gallery Art Class in October

We are delighted to announce that the following mini watercolor painting workshop has been scheduled and is open for registration! The workshop will take place at The Loft Gallery, and registration is through the instructor, Mike Flynn.

Watercolor Painting Workshop

Aspen Trees in Winter

This class is designed for students (beginner to intermediate) who want to explore the unique principles of watercolor: transparency, speed, & spontaneity. Workshop will emphasize and demonstrate brush work, color mixing, wash techniques, value patterns, design layout, and composition. Students will create an 8"x10" painting. All art supplies will be provided by instructor but students must bring a 16"x20" hard board or foam board to use as a painting support surface. Must be Age 16+ and class is limited to 8 students.

When: Monday, October 16, 2023

Time: 9:00am-12:00pm

Where: The Loft Gallery 313B Mill Street (upstairs), Occoquan, VA

Price: $85 (includes instruction and painting supplies)*

For more information and registration, go to: http://www.mikeflynnartist.com/

Supplies will be provided - disposable plate pallet, watercolor paper, paint, brushes, plastic cup, tissue, pencil, eraser, tape, ink pen, white gouache and scrap paper to practice.

Students will paint an 8"x10" painted image in an 11"x14" mat.

*NOTE: Students will only need to bring a 16"x20" hard board or foram board support surface.

There will be no customers coming into the gallery during class time.



Author: Teresa T. Brunson
 
Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA and Artistry Spin Blog Admin, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, Donna's Etsy site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.


Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 52-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

Sunday, September 3, 2023

Post 394: Donna's Cave Paintings Blog - by Donna Liguria Art: Post 322: Fall Art at the Mill Art Show

Donna's Cave Paintings Blog - by Donna Liguria Art: Post 322: Fall Art at the Mill Art Show - A Nice D...: Fall Art at the Mill Art Show - A Nice Drive to Millwood   Over the river and through the woods, to Millwood, Virginia we go! Sandra McClelland Lewin...


Highly recommended to go visit Art at the Mill when the show opens September 23 - October 8, 2023. The Art Reception is Sunday, October 1. 

PWAS Member Michelle Baker is also showing at the Mill - are there any more PWAS members at this Fall Art at the Mill show?

More pictures and information available on Donna's Cave Painting blog

Post 393: PWAS Meeting with Guest Kathleen Best Gillmann August 28, 2023

PWAS Meeting with Guest Kathleen Best Gillmann August 28, 2023

The Prince William Art Society meets monthly on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center on the corner of Cotton Mill and Hedges Run in Woodbridge, VA. (The pool house, sort of). We had the BEST guest artist this past meeting, Kathleen Best Gillmann. She is currently showing at the Lorton Workhouse among other places.

Mixed Media

Ms Gillmann walked the members through several of her artworks, describing and answering questions about how she created them, using pastels and colored pencils. Everyone enjoyed her artwork and had a bunch of questions!

The Artistry Spin Blog post found here describes Kathleen's background https://artistryspin.blogspot.com/2023/08/post-385-pwas-meeting-guest-artist.html



After Kathleen's presentation, everyone enjoyed the snack and beverages, and a little social time before the Board started the "business" side of the PWAS meetings, talking about our upcoming shows and adventures.


Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA and Artistry Spin Blog Admin, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Etsy Site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.

Photography/Video Credits:
Donna Liguria

Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 52-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

Saturday, September 2, 2023

Post 392: Art Tips 12 Photography

Art Tips, Tricks, and More...12

You never know when you might hear an art tip about something that is just the suggestion that will solve an issue for you or help you and your work in some way. This is an ongoing series of tips and I would LOVE to have your suggestions as well!
Photo by sydney Rae on Unsplash

Art Tips, Advice, Suggestions when Photographing Art Receptions, People, Art Shows

Photography tips from PWAS Member Otis Stanley, whom you will often see snapping photos. This tips are for photographing people

1. Find the light direction.
2. Avoid frontal portraits, angle the subject.
3. Be aware of the background. 
4. Take several frames of the subject.
5. Smile at subject to ease the atmosphere. 
6. Edit and crop each frame.
7. Be bold, get the capture (shot).
8. Be creative.
9. Break the established rules.
10. Get close, zoom out.
Bonus - have fun.

Art Tips is a series of blog posts with around 10-12 tips per post. See the rest of the Art Tips Series on this page for more tidbits of advice: https://artistryspin.blogspot.com/p/art.html

Send me YOUR art tips too or drop them in the comments below. AND let me know if you find an art tip here that you LOVE!


Author: Otis Stanley
 
Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA and Artistry Spin Blog Admin, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Etsy site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.

Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 52-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment! 

Friday, September 1, 2023

Post 391: What Are the PWAS Members Working on Now?

What Are the PWAS Members Working on Now?

The Prince William Art Society (PWAS) is a group of artists and art lovers located in Prince William County, Woodbridge, Virginia. The group has been meeting and creating art for over 50 years. While this blog has only been in operation for a couple of years, we have a lot of artists that we like to show off occasionally and share what they do and think about art.

On Our Easels, Laptops, Tablets, and Work Tables

For this blog post, I asked the PWAS members what they are currently working on along with 2 other questions/opinions.

1. What are you currently working on?
2. What art tip is the BEST thing, best advice ever given to you as an artist?
AND/OR
3. What is your opinion on an art education?

Let's see what the responders say....and click on the picture to see a larger image.

PWAS Artist: Leora LaGraffe

Here are two recent (this past week) works of mine in soft pastel on UArt pastel paper. Both are 12x9 inch 



The best advice I’ve received from other artists is to never get discouraged from comparing your own work to other art. Just keep trying to be the best you that you can be, and if you must compare, compare your own work to work you did years ago. There is a good chance you will see improvement in your work over the years, and this will help you remain encouraged and hopeful about your work.

Thank you for this opportunity to share, and for all you do. - Leora LaGraffe

PWAS Artist: Jeffrey Holman


“Art Appreciation”. I was at the OSA desk one evening and saw this young girl playing games on her mom’s phone while surrounded by art. I was struck and amused by her focus on the little screen, ignoring all the creativity around her. We ALL need to LOOK at the world around us more often.

Art Education…a complicated topic. Having a ‘teacher’ is important, whether it’s in school, workshops or teaching yourself. For some people going through a structured curriculum is very important (or essential): Being shown/told which way to go, these are the rules, ‘how it’s done’, ‘how it should/must look’. I think too many artists get trapped in standard approaches and their teacher’s ‘style’. Some are better off self-taught, sometimes called “Un-taught”; exploring things on their own without rules, traditions and preconceptions. Being your own teacher can help you see and do things in a different way…not a bad thing. Classes and mentors can save lots of time, perhaps years, getting to a ‘professional level’, but we run the risk of our work looking too mainstream or standard.

In the end we are all, more-or-less, self-guided in our journey through artistic expression. We make choices, whether it be college, workshops or the trial and error of being ‘un-taught’ (my personal choice). There are myriad directions to choose, and we can change course, or not, whenever inspiration prods us. Probably the most difficult part of art education is knowing how to recognize when, or if, to chart a unique individual course deeper into art that only you can explore and experience so you can create YOUR art, not reflections of someone else’s.

PWAS Artist: Sheri Herrick

I'm almost finished with this painting of Raglan Castle in Wales.  One of my  ancestors married Sir William Thomas who did the major building of the Castle in central Wales in the early 15th century. Fortunately, a distant cousin did all the hard work of  finding our origins in Brecon, Wales and the history of my 10X great-grandfather who came to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the early 1600's.


PWAS Artist: Zee Berrios

1. Currently working on: (attached) It is 48" X 48" acrylic on canvas. It will be titled "Grateful Company". It is based on a photograph by Irwin Penn in the 60's. 


2. Best art advice ever given was by the late Artist/professor FĂ©lix Bonilla. He said that the potential for a masterpiece was a creation of "something that was never done before, universally understood and that would teach something"; also that the best pieces of art will always include a "dominant, a subdominant and a subordinate"...

   3. Art education is a wonderful opportunity to progress and go beyond the normal, nevertheless, there are extraordinary, wonderful and amazing artists that have never had an Art Education.

PWAS Artist: Otis Stanley

16x20 Acrylic Working on black stretched canvas.

Best art tip given to me was "free your mind and your art will follow".

PWAS Artist: Donna Liguria

Painting miniatures almost feel like a painting frenzy. The 3x4 mini canvases that I show come with a mini easel and are quick works in acrylic and markers, that I hope are enjoyed by all that see them. This week I have so far done 24 of them. Yep, 24. And started another painting called "The Marshes of Harkers Island, North Carolina" 16x20 Acrylic on canvas. Maybe it could have an AKA as "Morning Glory".

I am a mostly self-taught artist but I can certainly see the value in an art education...but is it needed? An absolute must? No, I don't believe so. If you have a creative soul and the desire to learn, see the absolute need to practice, I think an artist can do wonderfully well.

As I am the writer of a LOT of my weekly art tips, I can just point you to the entire series and you can find them listed on this page: https://artistryspin.blogspot.com/p/art.html

It will be wonderful to see the finished artwork once these artists are done, won't it?


Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA and Artistry Spin Blog Admin, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Etsy site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.


Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 52-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.
Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!