Roses on Parade and more stuff

Boy, how time got away from me there. I just recently finished my rose for the Roses on Parade event for the Tournament of Roses event.

Finished 2 paintings today - not too big, but still nice

I was surprised after Class today, I finally got 2 paintings finished. They are quarter sheet watercolors, 11x15". I have been working on these a little here, a little there, but finally got them done. I also have another painting that is almost done, probably finish it tomorrow. We'll see. I was hoping to join the Thursday paintout group tomorrow, but I just found out they will be going to Bonnelli park in San Dimas. Unfortunately that is just too far for me to go when I consider my gas budget. Or lack of budget. Now if someone just wanted to buy a painting -- I might be able to swing it. I guess I had better post those pictures.

You can now see some of my work at the Tirage Website

I have been with Tirage for - I don't know - over 10 years, but since I don't always do a whole lot of paintings, they haven't put me on their website with pictures and everything until now. If you go to http://www.tirageart.com/artists/barnes.shtml you can see some of my stuff, plus see more work by all the other great artists who are represented by Tirage, etc.

And if you want to see these and other paintings the old fashioned way - by going to see them eyeball to actual painting, you can visit the gallery which is located at 1 W. California in Pasadena. That is the northwest corner of Fair Oaks and California in a little complex with a bunch of very nice antique stores as well as a very good taco restaurant.

Plan for my Summer Classes beginning in Mid July - sign up before all the spaces are GONE

Well, it will be a few weeks until the Summer classes start up, but it is probably a good thing to sign up now to be sure you can make it and the Watercolor class schedule works with that amazing Summer schedule you have planned. After all, now is usually the time people start planning "What am I going to do this Summer?".

If you have decided that with fuel prices going up you might do fewer things far away from home, maybe it is time you learned something new. After all, the conventional wisdom regarding the aging brain (something I can relate to) is that you need to keep it active. Who says your brain stops growing at adulthood? New research shows our brains need novel things to work on in order to stay healthy and continue to grow into old age. Consider a new watercolor class to be brain food. Start a new you by learning to paint like you always wanted to --- but didn't know how.

My classes are small so I can take beginners to advanced students. And while watercolor is not easy, it is learnable - I teach how to think in watercolor, and how to get the paint to do what you want it to do, not go off and puddle here and there and make you crazy. You may still find that we are crazy in the class, but that is fun crazy, which is totally different.

One of my goals in this class is to teach you to recognize what you did to the paint to make it do that weird thing that you didn't used to understand. I am not saying you will be an instant watercolor genius, but watercolor IS understandable, and I can tell you a secret - it is frequently possible to change or remove watercolor paint - you don't ALWAYS have to live with your mistakes. That is something else I cover in the class.

So come on down and go with the flow - watercolor is about the triumph of the heart and the agony of - of - well there is agony enough to go around - we will try to minimize that even though we can't always make it go away entirely.

My watercolor classes meet at the Coffee Gallery in Altadena, located at 2029 N. Lake Ave. - on the corner of Morada and Lake Ave. Each class session lasts for 8 sessions, and costs $175 for the series. For an additional $20 I will bring paint/paper/brushes so all you have to bring is yourself. I only take 6 students per class so you won't get lost in the shuffle.

The Monday night class begins on July 21st and meets from 7:30PM to 10PM on every Monday evening except we have to skip the first Monday of each month (the room I use has another meeting that meets the first Monday of the Month, and they have been doing this for far longer than my classes have been going on.) That means the Monday night class will meet on: July 21st, 28th, August 11th, 18th, 25th, and September 8th, 15th and 22nd.

The Wednesday afternoon class begins on July 23rd and meets from 1:30 to 4PM every Wednesday afternoon. This means the Wednesday afternoon class will meet on: July 23rd, 30th, August 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th, and September 3rd and 10th.

If you want to see what kind of paintings I do - which of course would give you an idea of where you could be heading - my website is www.barnesroberts.com.

My Radio Commentary is in the Archive Place Now

Now that it has been a couple of weeks since my Radio Commentary was on KPCC, you can get to the archive of that program and hear it by going to this URL: http://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp/shows/2008/04/26/index.html

I have been busy lately what with the California Art Club Gold Medal Show at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, and helping out my mom with some issues, so I have not been painting a whole lot - but plan on joining the Thursday paintout group tomorrow morning at Eaton Canyon in Pasadena. Maybe see you at the paintout tomorrow or at the Museum show - I will be stopping by the museum at least Friday and Sunday afternoon. Contact me if you want to meet up.

If you want to hear my commentary about realistic art and the California Art Club Gold Medal show that opens today, April 27th it is already available on the web. If you go to the "Off Ramp" website, which is a show on KPCC 89.3FM, you can hear my commentary streaming on the web or download the podcast. Here is their website: http://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp/. My commentary begins about 29 minutes into the program.

What a Surprise! On Saturday, April 26th from noon to 1PM, if you listen to the KPCC program "Off Ramp" on 89.3 FM, I will be giving a commentary about realistic art and the upcoming California Art Club Gold Medal show being held at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. You can even hear the commentary on line at the KPCC website after the show if you miss the commentary on the radio. The show also repeats on the air Sunday evening from 8-9PM.

Saturday evening, I will also be attending the Gala opening of the Gold Medal Show at the Museum, so I hope to see some of you there. You can contact the California Art Club through their website for tickets to this event. Of course my paintings will be there through the 18th of May which is the last day of the show.

And if you are interested in taking classes from me, I have a new 8 week watercolor class starting May 9th. Contact me for details.

Postings of new paintings

I was talking to a friend on Ham Radio today, and realized that I hadn't posted any new work to my website for years. Since she was interested in seeing one of my paintings, and I am not sure when I will be doing my website redesign, I decided to post these paintings here on my blog for now. These 3 paintings were each finished in the last few months. The oils are part of the show I am having at the Coffee Gallery, but the watercolor of the little girl and the cat are at Tirage Fine Art, which is located in Pasadena. All of these images are also available as archival
giclee prints made my me using archival pigmented inks on archival paper or special canvas. These prints are strictly limited in number and will be signed and numbered by me, the artist.

These three paintings are called, "Pet the Kitty" (watercolor), "Red Hot Ladies" (oil), and "In the Heart of LA: Echo Park Lotus with Fountains" (oil). I also have blank notecards with these images on them. At the moment, the only place you can buy the notecareds are by contacting me via email, or by visiting the Coffee Gallery in Altadena, where there is a rack with these cards set up.

Yay, got two paintings in the California Art Club Gold Medal Show

Yep, I just found out that the painting I finished last month, plus another older small painting of the Colorado Street bridge were accepted in the California Art Club Gold Medal show. This show is a pretty big deal, they have a catalog of the paintings, and it is held in April at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. This show has a national audience, not just local stuff.

I also got a bunch of my paintings formatted in Photoshop to be able to make greeting cards (blank inside), and have already sold a bunch, down at the Coffee Gallery in Altadena. This is the only place that has them so far.