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Please not that all the images, artwork and text contained in this newsletter, are the copyright of Teresa Mallen and any artists that are featured. The images, artwork and text may not be copied or reproduced in any way unless written permission has been obtained.

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all having a wonderful spring. I have been trying to find the time to put in a veggie garden. The plants are in but now it needs weeding!

One of the benefits of having a large meadow near our house is that we end up living close to birds that like this sort of environment. I love listening to the bobolinks, red winged black birds and the many meadow loving varieties of sparrows. These sparrows are such lovely song birds! The whip-poor-wills start singing every evening at dusk. One woke us up the other morning at 4:04 a.m. as it sang its song from a lilac tree outside our bedroom window. I did some research and they apparently sleep on the forest floor in the day time and at night they fly around eating winged insects such as moths. Maybe the one at 4:00 a.m. had finished off a nice juicy moth and it just had to burst into song! I am glad that our meadow is helping preserve bird species. For example bobolinks have been shrinking in numbers due to loss of habitat.

I hope you get the chance to get outside often to enjoy this wonderful season. Why not go for a walk, a bike ride, or paddle a canoe? - moving helps with the bugs. :-)

www.teresamallenstudio.com

I had fantastic news in May. I was notified that a painting I had submitted, 'Jack Pine Kaleidoscope', was juried into the 16th Annual Coloured Pencil Society of America Exhibition, Seattle 2008. I am absolutely delighted and honoured. Literally hundreds and hundreds of people submit work from around the world in the hopes of being accepted. Only 125 pieces were chosen and the fact that one of them is mine, is truly amazing. To be honest, a few weeks after receiving the news, I still find it some what unbelieveable. I now have to get this painting ready for shipping. It has to be in Seattle at the end of June. It will be on exhibit from July 2nd - Sept. 28, 2008 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

If you want to learn all about working with coloured pencils, why not join us Saturday mornings June 7th, 14th and the 21st? I am offering the Introduction to Coloured Pencil course then and there is still a bit of time left to register. If you are interested drop everything and email me at teresa@teresamallenstudio.com.

For those of you who are reading this and are members of the Kanata Art Club, thank you for such a wonderful evening on May 14th. I really enjoyed my time with you. I hope you enjoyed my presentation on coloured pencil techniques as much as I enjoyed giving it. You were a wonderful audience and I appreciate all of the positive feedback I received.

I was delighted to receive an email from Zainab Hussain with the news that she had a work accepted into the Young at Art 2008 Exhibition. The city of Ottawa in partnership with community arts organizations present these exhibitions to celebrate the creativity and talent of Ottawa's youth.

Zainab also received an Award of Exellence!!! Woohoo and yippee!! You go girl! Zainab's entry was done in coloured pencil and features penguins. Here is a picture of Zainab standing beside her art. The piece is entitled "Make Mine Vanilla".

This piece was recently exhibited at the Kanata Civic Art Gallery. It now moves to the Foyer Gallery at the Nepean Sportsplex. Here the citywide award winners will be on display from June 7th - 15th. I visited the show in Kanata and wow, such talent! I was really impressed at the quality of the art. These young people are all very busy with their studies and other pursuits. Realizing that such mastery of their media requires dedication, commitment and time increases my admiration. I was also delighted to see the number of coloured pencil works submitted as well as graphite. Yeah for pencil artists!!!

I met Zainab and her family when I was exhibiting my work during the Red Trillium Studio Tour. Zainab is homeschooled and following the show, her mother Atiya contacted me asking if I would come to her home to teach a group of homeschooled teenagers. We ironed out the details and during the month of February 2007, I taught the Introduction to Coloured Pencil Course on Thursday mornings. What fun! Now, all my students are wonderful people but this class holds particularly fond memories for me - I had so much fun!! These young ladies (and one Mom - hi Gerri) were so enthusiastic. They were so keen to learn and try new things. We had music playing, great food to snack on, lots of laughter and of course how could I forget the ferret entertainment during our break time?!? All the Moms were wonderful too. Just a great time all around.

Zainab later went on to take the Beyond the Basics course. She is a very talented young lady with a real love for art. A look at her sketchbook reveals that she enjoys drawing and that she enjoys a variety of subject matter.

I asked Zainab if she would write a bit about herself for this newsletter so I will let her speak for herself...

Other than color pencil I also work in watercolor, acrylic, graphite, and charcoal.
One of my hobbies is piano, and I play soccer, I am still into archery but I haven't been able to do a lot of that because there aren't many places to shoot. I also like reading and watching movies.
I have just finished my second year of part time university, I'm doing a program called head start which allows high-school age students to take up to two courses per semester. I have been doing arabic, and have taken an assortment of other courses including aboriginal studies and psychology. I'm still homeschooling as well.
As for after school I have absolutely no idea.

This is a picture of my friend's cat, it is in watercolor and color pencil.

Wow! Isn't her work amazing?! I love the cat...you probably all know that I love illustration and this piece looks just like it belongs in a book along with a story of the adventures of this kitty!

Okay, the rose...what a fantastic job working in graphite! Such lovely value changes and I really like the cropping of the piece.

And wow, the watercolour is really terrific!! Anyone who has tried watercolour knows that it is the opposite of coloured pencil. With coloured pencil the colour goes where you put it. With watercolour you have a lot less control. Zainab you did a fantastic job - I love everything about the piece, your use of colour and the gradations in the washes that you achieved is really outstanding. I love the shading and the colour changes on the leaves and I adore the couple of areas of intense blue (lower left corner and also in the lower middle/right). I really love the gradations of colour in the petals too.

Thanks so much for sharing your art with us! I really enjoyed seeing your work and I am sure everyone else will too.

Last year Zainab submitted one of her pieces for the Student Gallery of my website. Click here, to see her motorcyle piece.

Congratulations again Zainab on your accomplishments and all the best with those university courses!

Sad to say but there is nothing for the feedback section...and we got off to such a wonderful start with Sandi's portrait in the April newsletter. :-(

If you are new to my newsletters here is how it works. It is really quite simple. Do you feel you need help with something? Contact me and I will give you my advice. Perhaps you have a work that you would like me to review and to give feedback on. Perhaps you have just started a piece and you are unsure if you are heading in the right direction. Maybe you have a photo picked out and you are wondering if it would make a good painting. We learn from following another's process and this feedback is being offered as a way to learn from each other. If you have something you would like help with, email me a photo or a scanned image and we will go from there. You can always remain anonymous in the newsletter if desired. I look forward to hearing from you. The July issue needs your input!

"When you've got it, you've got it. When you haven't, you begin again. All the rest is humbug." Eduouard Manet.

A schedule for classes in 2008 has been posted on my website. You can find complete details on each course there.

As stated above, the Intro. class is set to start in just days so if you are interested email me right away: teresa@teresamallenstudio.com.

A reminder: While my new studio is very spacious, space is still limited. So...in order to avoid disappointment, please register early to secure your spot. This also lets me know how much art supplies will be needed for a course. Post dated cheques are fine.

If you are interested in reading about what is involved in getting your work into a gallery, check out my blog at www.teresamallenstudio.blogspot.com. I have posted several entries giving my thoughts and advice on this issue. These entries were all in May so you won't have to backtrack too far into older posts.

Are you reading my blog and would like to share your thoughts? You can click on the comments section at the end of each post to read what others have written. If you have a google account or are willing to open one, you can also leave a message. If you would like to make a comment but you don't wish to leave a message on the blog, why not write me an email? I would love to read your comments, no matter how they reach me.

Remember last month's question regarding lightboxes? Well this question prompted more two questions.

Karen Johannson asks, "I read the part in your newsletter about lightboxes. I am not sure I understand why you use one."

Leslie Parrott asks, "Why do you use a lightbox? Can't you just use tracing paper?"

Thanks for the questions ladies. Why would you use a lightbox? Well, this way you keep your paper in excellent condition. I suggest artists avoid drawing or sketching on their 'good' paper. If you make any errors or want to make any corrections, erasing your lines runs the risk of damaging the fibres and potentially altering the tooth or texture of the paper. If you don't want to complete an entire line drawing, at least rough out your composition or a basic outline on a separate paper. This can then be transferred.

Can't you just use tracing paper? Yes you can. Some papers are not see-through so you would have to use another transfer method, such as using tracing paper. I prefer the lightbox/window method as I find graphite tracing paper can smudge onto my good paper and I like to keep it as clean as possible. Use whichever transfer method you like.

Remember when tracing your lines, either directly onto your paper using a lightbox or indirectly using transfer paper, to keep your pressure as light as possible. You don't want to score your good paper. If your lines dent the tooth of the paper, it will show up when you go over it with your coloured pencil layers. Keep the lines of your transfer such that you can barely see them.

I like to use Sanford's Col-Erase pencil (gray colour) to transfer my drawings. It is really soft and it can be removed easily.

Sue Cannan asks: "I know that many coloured pencil artists work at drafting tables. Can you tell me why and do I need one?"

Yes Sue you are right, many coloured pencil artists (as well other artists using graphite or ink) eventually end up using a drafting table. There are two reasons I can think of.

1) Health reasons. I did a quick bit of checking - Wikipedia reports that the human head weighs about 3.6 kilograms or 8 pounds. Wikianswers says that the weight is 5 kilograms or 12 pounds. Whichever it is, our heads are heavy stuff. When you work on a flat surface, you naturally lean your head over so you can see what you are doing. This isn't good for your neck. Working on a slanted surface allows you to work with the weight of your head positioned vertically over your neck and shoulders. This helps reduce strained muscles. This might not be an issue if you are working for short periods of time but for those of us who spend hours at our drafting tables, it makes a tremendous difference.

2) Perspective. When you work on a flat surface, you are not able to see the perspective of your work properly. Working on a slant allows you to see your work from a better angle. If you do work flat, remember to lift your drawing from time to time to check on the lines, angles and general perspective of your drawing. Even when working on a slanted surface, I would recommend placing your work on an easel or taping it to a wall from time to time in order to check your drawing.

No you do not need one. Coloured pencil art is wonderful in that it doesn't require a lot of special tools, space and set up. Many artists start off working on a flat surface. If you have read the May newsletter, you might remember me mentioning the sheet of acrylic I use in my lightbox set up. I also mentioned that I take this sheet of acrylic with me when I take my projects away from the studio. I can lean the acrylic against a surface such as a desk or cupboard and I instantly have a slanted surface. I can also use it as a flat surface when I place it over the tops of the arms of an armchair. It isn't that I never work flat but I am not in that armchair all day :-) ...usually just for a bit of time of time in the evening in the winter if I wish to sit by the fire.

You could also create a slanted surface on a table using a sheet of acrylic by placing objects underneath one end. I have seen someone use rolled up bath towels, (wrapped in masking tape to keep them in that shape), underneath their sheet of acrylic.

If you do wish to invest in a slanted table, be mindful that you get what you pay for. I have seen slanted tables used for crafting projects that really are not all that stable. They sometimes are not adjustable either. I have a large drafting table called a Tech-Mate. I bought the largest size and I have never regretted it. As you can see from the photos you can put a lot of stuff on the surface. I use reusable adhesive (sometimes called mounting putty) as 'brakes'. A bit of this stuff rolled up and pressed onto the Borco stops items (such as my clock radio, electric pencil sharpener, and pencil containers) from rolling or sliding off the surface. My table is very adjustable and sometimes I change the slant to a more vertical one. Please note that due to the height of a drafting table, you will need to work from a stool or a special chair. You may have noticed the pillow draped over the edge of the table frame. This is there because when I am sitting at the table, I like to rest my legs on this part of the frame and the pillow gives me a nice bit of cushion.

You might have noticed the word Borco and wondered what I was referring too. Borco is a brand name for the vinyl cover that is often put over the surface of the drafting table. It is sold separately. Where I bought my table, they cut the Borco to fit my table. You just need to secure it with some double sided tape. This vinyl cover is used by professionals in the drafting industry. It gives a wonderful surface to work on and at the same time it protects the surface of your draftng table.

I repeat that you do not need to worry about all of this. The main thing is to get out your pencils - anywhere and anytime. Practice and learn techniques. Enjoy the medium. Sit in a way that is comfortable - if that is a recliner then go for it. There are no rules here. Keep things simple. Don't feel you have to invest a lot of money in order to do this right. I didn't jump right into the drafting table thing either. I am presenting the above info for your consideration if and when you decide to work on a slanted surface.

First up is coloured pencil artist Bruce Barrabrandt's site: www.artbybruce.com. Bruce and his wife run a Bed and Breakfast in Pennsylvania Dutch country. I really like the softness of his style. The website has lots of interesting things to check out - you just might find yourself booking a little holiday away. I love Bruce's sense of humour. If you are having a bad day, just click on his site and check out the art categories: Famous Artist Series and his 'whimsical' collections. Enjoy!

My second coloured pencil artist is a very talented illustrator named Paula Pertile. Like Bruce's work , I like the softness of her coloured pencil style and of course her illustrations. Have a look around her website, www.paulapertile.com. I love her imaginative yarn series. She has a step by step demo and other goodies. I really enjoy reading her blog. I enjoy the drawings she posts and I also enjoy what she writes about as well as her sense of humour. Do check her blog out at http://drawingafineline.blogspot.com.

I sincerely hope you have enjoyed this newsletter and that you were inspired. My goal in this newsletter is to encourage you and to provide with helpful ideas and resources that will aid you on your artistic journey. This newsletter is for you so please feel free to participate. If you have a question, please ask. If you need help, just shout. If you have a work that you would like to share (that is, you don't require 'feedback'), please send it along. We would all love to see it! If you have a helpful tip or suggestion, send it along. Don't be shy, why not get involved?

(If you would prefer to not receive a newsletter in future, please email me. Put 'remove' in the subject line and you will be deleted from my mailing list.)

Teresa Mallen Studio	Coloured Pencil Artist
	www.teresamallenstudio.com