Contact Teresa Information

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all surviving this snowy record breaking winter...There is a lot of news to report - classes, a mini-conference, a new blog etc. so lets get to it.

First of all I have a fantastic new studio! My husband and I moved last fall. We bought a 21 acre hobby farm complete with a small barn (no we don't have any animals yet, just our dog). I have inherited a wonderful perennial flower bed in the front yard (planted in the foundation of a former stable) and I have lots of room to do more planting as well as to grow veggies. I have also inherited the former owner's art studio...all luscious 700 square feet of it. I am a lucky gal indeed. Not only do I have a wonderful space to create in, I can also teach my classes in this room. We are still located in West Ottawa and as we only moved 10 minutes up the road (Dunrobin area), we were able to keep our phone number. For those of you who are registering for new classes or ordering another kit, please remember to email me to get my new mailing address. The art work on the right (of our home) was done in 1979 by the former resident, artist Ann Crook.

www.teresamallenstudio.com

Drawing Basics covers what it says, the basics of drawing. While on the studio tour these past few years, I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with literally hundreds of people. I have been surprised by the number of people that shyly admit that they have always wished they could draw. This will be my first time teaching this course and I am quite excited to be part of fulfilling wishes! This course is for everyone who wishes they could draw but believes they cannot. Drawing is simply a skill that can be learned. ANYONE CAN LEARN TO DRAW...anyone! I don't just think this, I know it. I was not an artist as a child. I did not draw constantly from the time I first held a pencil. Yes, those folks do exist but it isn't the only way to become an artist. I taught myself to draw in my 30s and because I had the desire and I enjoyed it, I practiced.

Let me make this clear...you do not need to be able to draw to take this class. This is not a class about improving skills that you already have. While everyone is welcome to register and yes refreshing your skills would occur, please note that in creating this course, I am assuming you are a complete beginner. You have a brand new sketch pad and some just sharpened pencils and you are ready to go. We will take things slow so don't be afraid that you will be left behind while the 'stars' of the class hit the ground running. I promise you that after our seven sessions together, you will be drawing things that amaze you. Yes, you really can do it.

Portraits in Coloured Pencil is another new course being offered in 2008. I have also encountered many people who would like to do portraits with their coloured pencils. In this course we will discuss some of the problems in truly capturing a likeness. Students will be able to practice with exercises on how to draw and colour the various parts of the face. Basic line drawings will be given.

This would be a good time to discuss why I provide line drawings in my classes (except the drawing class obviously). I do this for several reasons. First of all this speeds things up. These classes are packed with information, exercises and projects and as the focus is on learning about the coloured pencil medium it helps to eliminate the time it would take for someone to draw the object first. It also reduces anxiety in the classroom. I am mindful that I am teaching adults that come from different levels of experience in art. This is not a fine art school where I can assume that my students are all at the same skill level. While some people may be able to draw quickly and accurately, many take longer to get things right. I know because I am one of the slow ones! I can draw but it does take me awhile and yes, I do have to use my eraser. I have encountered potential students that would love to learn the techniques involved in working with coloured pencil but they are intimidated by the whole 'drawing from life in class' thing. Line drawings solve this anxiety issue. I want my students to truly enjoy the process of learning and so I take responsibility for designing classes that make art 'beginner friendly'. Now obviously with the drawing class, students will be learning the basic fundamentals of drawing so it wouldn't serve them to provide line drawings.

Okay, back to the portrait course...students will learn how to create skin tones with coloured pencils. Backgrounds, freckles, eyeglasses, wrinkles, how to pose a person etc. will also be discussed. This will take place over four Saturday mornings in November. If you have ever thought you might like to do a portrait of a loved one, say of your child or grandchildren, why not come out and learn some valuable tips on how to succeed in this?

The Mixed Media Workshop is all about fun and instant gratification. Again, this is new for 2008. If you are already using coloured pencils, you know that it isn't exactly a fast medium. (I hasten to add it has a tremendous lot going for it as a medium, but yes, it isn't exactly a speedy way to work.) So, in this workshop students will get to experience the elusive thrill of completing a 11" x 14" piece in one day! Students will work on a canvas (materials provided) and will use fluid acrylics and gesso to create the base. The idea is to create a piece that is suggestive of a tapestry. The woven lines of thread in a tapestry will be suggested by drawing with coloured pencils on top of the paint (once it has dried of course...we will use hair dryers to speed the drying up.) You arrive at 9:00 a.m. and the morning hours are spent doing the painting bit (no painting skill or experience is required). We will break for lunch - lunch is included in the course fee. I hope the weather will permit us to eat in the garden. In the time remaining you will use your coloured pencils to create the 'threads'. No experience with coloured pencils is required. By the time you are ready to leave you will have a contemporary painting that is ready to hang. Pretty darn speedy and very gratifying! So clear your calendar September 20th and come on out for some paint flinging fun. Please dress appropriately. I don't know what it is about me but I always seem to get paint where I don't want it...guess that is why I normally work with a dry medium! :-)

A reminder: While my new studio is very spacious, space is still limited. I would have to get rid of some essential furniture such as my comfy couch (not visible in the pictures) and my hanging chair in order to get more students in. :-) So...in order to avoid disappointment, please register early to secure your spot. This also lets me know how much art materials will be needed for a course. Post dated cheques are fine.

Yes I have just created a blog, www.teresamallenstudio.blogspot.com. This is an art journal in which I shall be posting such things as works in progress and any other items I think coloured pencil enthusiasts might wish to know about. If you like what you see, bookmark my address as one of your favourites and check back often.

A mini-conference has just been announced. It takes place in west Ottawa (Carp) Saturday April 5th. The event is being hosted by the West Carleton Arts Society. There shall be three guest artists presenting on painting, digital art as a new fine art medium, as well as 'nurturing your creativity'. Food is included and the whole day only costs $20.00!!! At this price the mini-conference should fill up fast. You do not have to be a member of the West Carleton Arts Society to attend. To get more info and to learn about the instructors, go to the 'events' section of their website, www.westcarletonartssociety.ca. If you are interested, contact the organizers as soon as possible to reserve your spot. See you there!

Student News

One of the great pleasures of teaching is meeting so many wonderful students. Everyone seems to have an interesting life and wonderful stories to tell. Here are some examples:

Linda Murray-Herbert breeds exotic finches and canaries. One baby bird even made it to a two day workshop last June. Linda brought it along as it It needed feeding throughout the day. It was neat to teach a class with a baby bird occasionally chirping in the background. When Linda isn't tending to birds, she is committed to her growth as an artist. She meets regularly with other artists to spend time working together and learning from one another. She enjoys trying her hand at various media - she brought along a lovely painted china plate to show us. You can see one of her pieces in the student gallery on my website. Remember submissions are always welcome!

Libby McCalden attended the Intro. course last April and she is passionate about cartography. She has established her own business providing custom cartographic services. She has just learned that her business will be getting mentioned in a future issue of WeddingBells magazine. Libby provides custom maps for wedding invitations to indicate directions to the reception. Libby is currently finishing up a map for friends in which she used coloured pencils (can't wait to see it). If she wasn't busy enough, Libby is expecting her second child next month! You can check out her website by clicking here or by going to www.creativecartographics.com.

Sheila Sims lives in the Westport area and has found that retirement brings time for new endeavours...she has created a new business as a gardening coach. She has put together a delightful and informative website, www.the-garden-coach.com. Sheila has also been busy this past year writing a book! It will be available next month and is titled The Gardener's Handbook. For details, look for the book title under the 'contents' section. I suggest you visit her website so you can experience a wonderful sense of spring, a tonic for any winter doldrums you may be experiencing this wintry March. Thank you Sheila for the picture of the baby bird.

First of all, for those of you in the Ottawa area, Wallacks (in their Nepean location) currently has several of the 132 pencil sets, Premier line, on the shelf (as of the first week of March). The sale price is $145.95. I mention this in case any of you would like to buy the complete set of colours. If you do the math, Wallacks sells individual pencils from open stock at $1.49 each. $1.49 x 132 pencils = $196.68. So, $196.68 - $145.95 = a savings of $50.73. Obviously if you already own many pencils this might not be an attractive option as you can continue to build up your set through open stock. If you have the 48 pencil set, you still have 84 pencils to go. You might consider buying the larger set and then putting aside the pencils that are the same colours as the ones you already have. You could then sub them in as you use up your current pencils. Anyway, just thought I would pass the bargain info along.

For those of you with older pencil sets you might want to know that Prismacolor has added new pencils. The Premier line used to have only 120 pencils. A few years ago they eliminated several colours (all the neon shades - no great loss, as well as all the deco pencils, i.e. deco pink, deco orange etc.) They substituted these pencils with 12 new ones and then add 11 more to bring the total to 132 colours. The new colours are: Putty-beige, Peach-beige, Beige Sienna, Chestnut, Chocolate, Gingerroot, Sky Blue Light, Powder Blue, Muted Turquoise, Pale Sage, Kelp Green, Green Ochre, Nectar, Seashell Pink, Sandbar Brown, Kelly Green, Moss Green, Artichoke, Espresso, China Blue, Denim Blue, Blue Lake, Caribbean Blue. To see swatches of these colours or to see a complete list of pencils in the various sized sets go to www.Prismacolor.com.

The only change to the 48 set is that Deco Yellow was replaced with Powder Blue.

Wallacks now has Derwent ColorSofts in open stock. These pencils are Derwent's answer to complaints about hardness. I find them slightly softer than Prismacolor. The pigmented core or 'lead' is thicker than Prismacolor and as a result the pencil itself is a bit thicker. For those of you used to Prismacolor, they will feel a bit chunkier in your hand. My Boston electric sharpener will sharpen them but the opening in my electric X-Acto is too small for these pencils. Due to their softness, they don't hold a really sharp point for long. Compared to Prismacolor Premier pencils, I find that as you are using them, slightly more pigment flecks onto the paper. They feel a bit dryer on the page, especially if you are used to the waxiness of Prismacolor brand and they feel different as you layer colors. Again, you will only notice this if you use Prismacolors a lot. Derwent's website provides a lightfast rating for each of the pencil colours which is helpful, www.pencils.co.uk. Anyway, now that they are in open stock you can grab a couple to give them a try and you don't have to invest in a set.

Wallacks also now has KOH-I-NOOR pencils in open stock. These pencils are pure eye candy...I couldn't resist buying some (of course for research purposes if nothing else, right?!) These are woodless pencils (no cedar casing) with a lacquered exterior (which makes them look so rich and yummy). They are about an inch shorter than regular coloured pencils. They are a slim pencil so sharpening is fine. Even though they are a smaller pencil, they are heavier in the hand due to the fully pigmented core. They wear down slower than other brands because of the pure core. In use, I find that they are harder to 'keep light'. I prefer to build up colour in light layers and due to the heavier weight in my hand, I found it slightly more difficult to keep working in a such a light manner. Now this is of course probably due to the fact that I am very used to the feel of Prismacolor pencils. These pencils are well suited for really saturating your paper with pigment. You do not have to press as hard as you do with the softer pencils in order to fill the tooth with rich pigment. These pencils would probably suit you if you love to burnish. I searched the internet but I couldn't find any info regarding lightfastness.

Everyone these days seems to be sharing this fellow's blog so I guess I will jump on the bandwagon. The amount of content is so overwhelming, you had better grab a coffee first, you might just be awhile...www.gurneyjourney.blogspot.com. While I haven't spent too much time at his blog, I can recommend the 'colour' section (see his index). I especially enjoyed the colour gradation blog, the 'multicoloured streetlights' and you might wish to read the post from January 20th, 'Is Moonlight blue?'. Fascinating!

This website is for those of you that might like to read postings from other pencil artists, chat room style...www.scribbletalk.com.

I have just discovered Jeanette Jobson's blog, www.illustratedlife.blogspot.com. Jeanette is an artist in Northeast Newfoundland. If you visit her blog, scroll down to 'Image Kind' to view her work. Look for 'Eric', an orphaned orangutan done in coloured pencil on drafting film (if you are unable to find him, use the hyperlink at the word 'eric' in this sentence). I absolutely love her use of colour and her stroke technique in this piece. Just delightful!

There is a studio tour this month! Yippee. The Pakenham Maple Run Studio Tour takes place Saturday and Sunday March 29th and 30th, 3008; 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Don't miss studio 6. Chris Van Zanten's blown glass objects are so beautiful and there will be glass blowing demos throughout the weekend. Studio 7 is Nancy Young's home. I love her landscapes! Studio 8 has several folks. Look for Janet Potter's glass jewellery and Heather Sherratt's woven garments. Great stuff. Lets hope for good driving weather! The March issue of the Humm featured two artists new to the area. Guy Cranston and his wife Sharon Fox-Cranston work in pastel. The pictures included in the article look fantastic and I look forward to seeing their work at studio stop number 2. For complete details visit www.maplerun.on.ca.

I was recently asked by someone who had taken the Intro. course if I could tell them again about spraying with a fixative. Perhaps you could use this info as well...

Fixative are used to 'fix' artwork while you work or once you are finished. Charcoal artists spray their work so it won't smear. Pastel artists have to spray their art while they work in order to fix the pastel chalk to the surface. Coloured pencil artists spray their artwork in a similar fashion if they are working on sanded pastel paper or other abrasive surfaces. Otherwise, coloured pencil artists usually spray their artwork at the end in order to prevent wax bloom. If you use oil based pencils such as Polychromos you do not have to worry about this. Wax bloom occurs when wax based pencils have been used, especially if you have used heavier pressure. Over time a white haze or film appears on the surface of the paper and your work will look dull. The wax is a binder used to bind the pigment and other ingredients in the core 'lead'. When the wax rises to the surface it may oxidize which brings about the hazy effect. Prismacolor pencils are wax based.

How to deal with wax bloom: I gently and lightly wipe my finished work with a tissue to remove any haze that may be there. I then spray my work with a couple of light coats of workable fixative. I use a workable fixative in case I ever choose to rework a piece. I have once taken a painting out of the frame a year after it was finished in order to rework it. I was able to because I had used a workable fixative. There are permanent fixatives on the market as well. I have heard that fixatives can change certain colours but I haven't experienced this. I recommend you apply a couple of light layers of fixative. Apply once, let it dry and then reapply. Don't hold the can too close and don't soak your paper. I imagine that if colour changes were to occur, it would be the result of using too much spray. Another tip is to hold your art work vertically. That way as you spray, any larger globs of fixative that might come out of the can will, thanks to gravity, fall to the ground instead of hitting your paper. Also, I suggest you do this outside and I choose to wear a nose/face mask (the kind you find in a hardware store for when you spray paint or work around drywall dust).

Fixatives can also be used in the following situation. Lets say that you have used a fair amount of pressure and you find that you have lost the tooth of the paper. It won't take any more layers of colour. By spraying a coat of fixative, the surface will regain a bit of texture for the pigment to grab on to. You should therefore be able to add a few more layers of colour.

Here is some advise for the starving artist: "Artists ought to walk a mile in someone else's pants. That way you're a mile away and you have their pants." (Joseph P. Blodgett)

You may have noticed these words popping up on my website and my blog. You might be wondering what am I referring to with this phrase.

There are some maxims and philosophies that we live by and this is one of mine. By sharing this thought in my press, I hope to encourage readers to pause and reflect on how they might add beauty to their personal lives. Of course you could invest in a Teresa Mallen original :-) but this isn't just a visual concept. Think of all your five senses. It could be taking the time to listen to some beautiful music. (Why not dig out one of your favorite CDs. Bet you can't remember the last time you played it.) Indulge your nose with some new scented body powder or perfume. Take the time to slow down and really taste your food - try eating an apple as if you have never tasted one before...even the most humble foods can taste beautiful if we eat with awareness. Stop by an art store or gallery and feast your eyes on the beautiful artwork. Remember that it doesn't necessarily have to cost a lot of money to add beauty to your life. We have all seen pictures of expensive homes with designer furniture that leave us cold while a humble cottage filled with odds and ends furniture can look much loved, intimate and beautiful. For the cost of a fast food sub you can treat yourself to a bundle of fresh flowers (I frequent the Loblaws flower shop). You can have beautiful flowers for your house that will last for at least a week. Another one of my luxuries is specialty bath soap (think Crabtree and Evelyn or the Body Shop). I have my husband give me a few bars for my birthday and for Christmas and this supply usually lasts most of the year (yes they are more expensive but they do last a lot longer than cheaper soap). Every shower or bath is a beautiful experience. In the summer I travel with a pair of sissors and old pruning shears in my car. When I spot some wonderful wildflowers growing along the road (i.e. ditch weeds such as Queen Anne's Lace), I fill the trunk and suddenly my house is transformed into an indoor meadow. (Just remember to shake off the 'beautiful' bugs that hitchhike home on your plants.)

You get the idea. Beauty is indeed subjective so why not give this some thought.

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Teresa Mallen Studio	Coloured Pencil Artist
	www.teresamallenstudio.com