Euclid Art Association's Amazing Start for the Season
What an amazing start to our new season on Monday, September 12, 2016. We had record breaking attendance − 44 members, plus 4 guests (two joined EAA) − to see our member’s demonstration by Dottie Geisert. We thank Dottie for her presentation, “The Portrait, how I see it. The approach, techniques & media.” In college, Dottie majored in Portraiture and you can tell that this is still one of her most favorite subjects to talk about.
Dottie stressed a key point.... “think shapes” not features. She said that shadow shapes help form the eye. Another tip....if your subject wears glasses, paint the eyes as if the glasses don’t exist and paint them in later. She noted that if there is a fast change of surface in your subject, you have a highlight. However, she finds the softness of reflective light more beautiful. Dottie briefly touched on color, a subject she studied for a year in college. She defines ‘value’ as the lightness or darkness and ‘intensity’ as brightness or dullness of a color. Tip....to change the intensity, add it’s compliment. She noticed that children had more green in their skin color. She pointed this out to us in a number of painting by the old masters.
Dottie encourages her students to learn by looking at portraits painted by the old masters, like da Vinci, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Seurat, Jean-Baptiste. She shared and reviewed several images with us and then discussed the various portraits she created over the years. Dottie left us with this thought “If you think shapes, you can paint and draw anything!” She concluded her presentation by doing a sketch using Joan Milligan as her model.
Looking ahead, the next Euclid Art Association monthly meeting is October 3, 2016 at 7:00pm at the East Shore United Methodist Church, 23002 Lake Shore Blvd., Euclid. Color specialist, Glenn Kraly from Euclid Blue Print and Supply in Euclid will do a presentation on “printing and digital options for your artwork and photography”. Euclid Blue is an Ohio corporation founded in 1991; some of the products and services they provide include color and black & white copies, posters/plotting (from your original or computer file), mounting, laminating and scanning...all at reasonable prices. And, of course, these very nice and helpful people handle most of our art association’s copying and printing needs.
Come out and join us at an artist presentation and for refreshments. There's a $3 donation that is suggested for guests. If you are interested in becoming a member there is an annual fee. For more information about the Euclid Art Association and to view members’ art, go to www.euclidart.com.
Rozenia Cunningham
Owner of Art it Yourself which is located at Shore Cultural Centre in Euclid. School Teacher, Professional Artist, Vice President of Euclid Art Association, and a Euclid Resident.