New Watercolor Classes begin in March

A quick note that I will be starting up new watercolor classes in March. Let me know if you might want to sign up - email me with your telephone number and we can talk.

California Art Club Gold Medal Show coming up - plus art commentary

Time marches on, and it is getting closer to the opening of THIS year's California Art Club Gold Medal Show. This will take place at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, opening Saturday Evening, April 25th. Of course I am excited because I have a plein air painting in the show, and I am not even much known for plein air schtick. Click here to see the California Art Club Website information about this show - Pictures of the show should be posted at their site before the show opens.

Just for your information, last year I was privileged to write and deliver an art commentary about realism in art focused on the California Art Club and their show for KPCC. This station, found at 89.3FM is an Public Radio station located in Pasadena. I delivered my commentary on the show "Off Ramp" hosted by John Rabe, which focuses on arts and culture in Southern California. Click here to go to the Off-Ramp archive of this show.

THE FOLLOWING IS THE TEXT OF MY COMMENTARY DELIVERED ON "OFF RAMP" ON 4/26/08


COMMENTARY – REALISM IN ART (edited and checked against the broadcast)

When I started painting seriously about 20 years ago, unless you were "out there," you were nowhere. And realism was REALLY nowhere. But now the art world is starting to grow up and finally realizing that just being "out there" is not all there is.

HOST(John Rabe): Commentator and water colorist Donna Barnes-Roberts.

Art is joining music and dance, which grew up decades ago. We all understand now that there's jazz and classical and rap, and ballet and tap and square dancing, and there's an audience for quality of all kinds.

But ever since the invention of photography, realism in art seems to have lost its focus. It's as if, before the camera, everyone believed that the value of art was in making pictures of reality, and once you could take a picture yourself, who needed realistic art?!

It's taken more than a hundred years to realize that the difference between the snapshot and art is the eye and hand of the artist. But in the intervening years, a lot of knowledge and lore about realism has been mislaid. As a watercolor painter, I was luckier than some. I didn't go to art school, where teaching realism has been absent for decades ... although a few illustration departments kept us closet realists alive. One of my cousins refused to paint after her graduation, telling me, "All I ever learned from my degree was how to pick apart someone else's painting. I am not going to leave myself open to such humiliation." And I've had art school Graduates take classes from me because their college art teachers told them to "express themselves" without teaching them the mechanics of how to paint.

But things are changing. Many people are starting to realize that "traditional" art can be serious art. The California Art Club runs education programs for artists and collectors, and puts on exhibits of really fabulous works by contemporary realistic artists. There is one at the Pasadena Museum of California Art that starts this weekend, in which I have a couple of paintings. One is of the lotus and a heron at Echo Park, and the other a view of the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena. You'll know them when you see them because all the paintings in the show are realistic!

Realists are standing up and saying that they like paintings that are recognizable and sculptures that are enlightening ... but we just need to remember that the art world also needs the work that is "out there" too. Otherwise realists have not learned the lessons that the decades of humiliation should have taught us. Art is about passion. And passion is beyond reason.

For Off-Ramp, I'm Donna Barnes-Roberts.

HOST: Watercolorist Donna Barnes-Roberts teaches and paints in Altadena. The California Art Club Gold Medal show opens at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, Sunday, April 27th, and runs through May 18th.

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.