September Meeting

Administration Reports

Shirley Knollman opened the meeting with this quote from Andrew Wyeth:

“I dream a lot. I do more painting when I’m not painting. It’s in the subconscious.”

Mary Jane Noe (Membership) introduced one guest, Linda Simpson, a retired elementary art teacher who painted in oils for 40 years and now wants to try watercolors. She picked a great day to visit since she got some great bargains on art supplies from our annual art sale.

Carol Rekow (Treasurer) reported our current balance is $7,516.77. This amount will need to carry us through to the end of the year. It seems like quite a lot, but we still have many expenses that will come out of this total.

Sharon Woods Show

Kay Worz said 24 members have signed up for the Sharon Woods show. The opening reception is on Sunday, September 21, and the show runs through Sunday, September 28. Kay won’t be there to take down the show on September 29 and asked someone to take over this job. She also reminded the members that there are still spots open for sitting the show each day from 10:00 – 1:30 and 1:30 – 5:00.

Other Business

Shirley reminded us that elections for Treasurer and Membership Chair will be in November and she still needs recommendations or volunteers for the positions. The Membership Chair position has been divided into two positions, so you may just want to be the greeter during meetings to take care of introducing guests and making name tags for members.

Shirley asked about the Tom Lynch DVD that was checked out. It did not work on the next person’s DVD player, perhaps due to scratches or something on the DVD. Marilyn Bishop will take it home and try it on her player to see if she can get it to work.

Art Shows/Workshops

Sam Hollingsworth’s workshop at the Cincinnati Art Club will be January 10 and 11, 2009 The workshop will be about the artistic process, from developing resources to planning your painting and composition.

Deb Ward is teaching watercolor classes at Dunham Senior Center in Western Hills and all are welcome.

Kay Worz is part of a show at the Sharon Centre September 11 – 14. This is Kay’s animal artists group and they have painted miniatures for sale at very affordable prices. The reception is Sunday, September 13 from 1-4 pm.

The WAC Cultural Center in Mariemont is hosting “A Date with 8,” a group of 8 artists, including our own Wynne Bittlinger and Carolyn Hibbard. The reception is October 3 from 6:00 – 9:00 pm, and the show will be available for viewing from October 4 - 18 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm each day.

The Cincinnati Art Club will have their 40th annual Viewpoint juried show November 7 – 23. Entries must be postmarked by September 15. Dr. Julie Aronson, the juror this year, is from the Cincinnati Art Museum and her expertise is in traditional paintings.

The Evendale Cultural Arts Center is having a Fall Open House on September 6th from 11 am – 3:30 pm. Come by and check out all their offerings, from classes in Art History and Art Appreciation to Dance.

Stephanie Rayner’s printmaking workshop in Dayton, OH will offer 5 days for $475 with lodging at the Retreat Center in Dayton. Marilyn Bishop has signed up for this workshop, and you may want to travel with her to Dayton.

Critique Session

No paintings were brought in for critique today.

Guest Speakers

Joan Miley (Programs) introduced Megan Gresham from Maple Knoll Village. Megan distributed submission guidelines and information telling us how to get our artwork into a show at Maple Knoll. They are having their first art show from October 8 – November 7, with room for 40 more paintings! The deadline for submissions is September 24 and the paintings can be any size, any subject. 20% of the sale of your paintings will go to benefit Maple Knoll Communities Future Care Fund. If you’re interested in this show or any future shows, call Megan at 513-782-2462.

Joan introduced our next speaker, Howard Bell. Howard and his brother run Depot Square Frame & Art in Sharonville. He talked about what to do to get your paintings submitted into a show, from initial photographing your work and manipulating it through to copying it on a CD for submission. He had a sheet with the information on the back table for anyone interested in doing it yourself, or he said you can bring your artwork to Depot Square and they will do all the work for you, presenting you with a CD ready to mail off to any art show that accepts CDs of your work for submission for only $15.00.

Howard also had a price list for turning your paintings into giclees on various kinds of archival paper. We could see the paper first-hand after Howard’s talk, since he brought several samples of the papers he uses for his giclees. Anyone who is a member of GCWS gets a 10% discount. Contact Howard at Depot Square at 513-769-1139 for more information or to make an appointment to bring in your work.

Things Howard reminded us to do when photographing, copying our work:

Shoot your painting in a shaded area outdoors so you get no unevenness of lighting on the painting.

Use a tripod so you get no movement that causes blur in your photograph.

Shoot your painting without the mat and frame – just the artwork – for submission.

If you think your painting will be a good seller but you aren’t sure about the cost of creating giclees, let Howard photograph it and keep it on file. Later, if the original sells, you can have Howard create giclees using the photo on file.

You no longer have to make a run of 25 or 50 prints when you have your painting made into a giclee. You can have just 1 or 2 printed at a time, with the file kept for future runs.

Market your work as much as you can and in the best way you know how. If you don’t know much about websites, get together with friends and share the cost of having someone create a professional website for your work.

Next Meetings Scheduled

October: Lou Austerman will be our guest artist/speaker. Lou will give the main program and will also stay after for the paint-along, which is just $10 per person.

November: Nancy Neville will be our guest artist/speaker. Nancy will also stay after to lead a paint-along session.

December: Sandy Maudlin will bring us into winter by teaching us how to paint cardinals on watercolor paper. She will bring several drawings you can use if you don’t want to draw your own, or you can paint one of your favorite birds. Luncheon will be provided for us.

Annual Art Sale

After the program, we had our annual art sale. There were plenty of bargains, including books, paints, framing supplies, palettes, and much more on sale at wonderful prices. Several members brought in their old art magazines and gave them away – you can’t get a better bargain than that!

Everyone left happy and still had enough money left in their pockets for lunch on the way home!