The Power of Color

Art Friends: Join me at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains, at acclaimed Arrowmont, nestled into the landscape by Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a week of wonderful watercolor painting. If you have never taken a class at Arrowmont, treat yourself to this wonderful experience.  The camaraderie, inspiring location, fantastic facilities and total immersion in learning and having fun is what Arrowmont is about. Contact me if you have any questions!
Put the “COLOR” in Your Watercolors
http://www.arrowmont.org/component/redevent/details/515?xref=514
This class helps you define or refine your own color sensibility. You will use your existing colors and discover which colors in your palette work well together. No tricky colors
to buy that you only use once! Every day we use new watercolor techniques — from better wash techniques to learning the best way to use frisket to mixed media additions — a touch of crayon or gouache, and so on. We begin in the classroom with still lifes, and then find color in nature as we explore the environment around Arrowmont and in the Smoky Mountains. All days will close with an in-depth critique of the work done that day. All levels.
COURSE FEE: $515
Cynthia M. Kukla is a studio artist who teaches watercolors at her university and in workshops throughout the United States, in Europe and Asia. Her paintings have been exhibited on four continents.
http://www.arrowmont.org

ArrOWMONT SChOOL OF ArTS ANd CrAFTS is a place for people who
seek meaningful and energizing art experiences. It is a place for people of all ability levels, ages and backgrounds. It is a place where ideas and skills, seeing and creating come together in amazing ways.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is a national art education center. The School offers weekend, one- and two-week workshops for the beginner to advanced artist, taught by national and international practicing studio artists and university faculty. Students work and learn in professionally equipped studios on a 14-acre residential campus in Gatlinburg, TN. A series of weekly classes are also offered for residents of the local community. Workshops and classes are offered in ceramics, fiber, metals/jewelry, painting, drawing, photography, warm glass, woodturning, woodworking, mixed media, books and paper.

Early registration deadline 10% OFF Workshop FEE February 1, 2014

Educational Assistance program Application deadline
March 1, 2014

Scholarship Application deadline

March 1, 2014 for most; some have a rolling deadline

This demo shows a finished watercolor on the left and the 

color layering techniques in-progress for the rose on the right.

Summer Rose

"Summer Rose" is currently on view on my solo exhibition "Near, Far and Farther" at the Danville Art League. The exhibition is featuring my travel watercolors I paint on-site.  "Summer Rose" began as a painting of a real rose which I began at the Southern Illinois Art Workshop.  Carol Garver of the Danville Art League was in attendance at the workshop and she invited me to have a solo exhibition at Danville.

I always have 'in-progress' paintings so students can see how I develop a painting. It is important for students to see the stages of a painting, that you don't finish a detailed, layered painting in one frantic session. Mostly, it is important to let a watercolor wash dry completely before adding another layer of paint.  Working on a second painting while the first one dries is a great strategy for getting more done and not picking away at a painting you should let rest!

You can see that in the August 'Watercolor Explorers' Club' workshop at the Ewing Manor in Bloomington, "Summer Rose" was not quite finished. After the workshop, in my own studio, I finished the painting.  Primarily, I emphasized the background, darkening and defining the leaves that surrounded the rose.  I also brought some of the pink tones (permanent rose) into all the petals to create optical harmony.

Two of my paintings being viewed at opening reception of
"High Bridge" at Korean Cultural Art Center of Chicago

A Tale of Two Exhibitions

This summer my paintings and mixed media drawings were included in two curated exhibitions. 

The first exhibition, "High Bridge" was co-curated by Kim Massey at the Korean Cultural Arts Center of Chicago which opened June 1.  Two of my large-scale paintings were selected and placed prominently in the exhibition space. It was a joy to see the entire show which included two of my former MFA students Sigrid Wonsil and Davida Schulman. Featured above are two paintings of mine and the opening reception.

"High Bridge" has real meaning-connecting among artists of different cultural and geographic backgrounds.  Interestingly, I took Sigrid Wonsil with me to Estonia where we were guests of the Estonia Printmakers Association when I gave a master class to the Academy of Art in Tallinn, Estonia during the "Mana Propria" international drawing exhibition.. Several years later, Sigrid took Kim with her as a fellow artist as guests of the Estonia Printmakers Association.  Sigrid was born in Austria, emigrating to the US as a child, Kim married an American who was overseas in Korea, so all three of us journeyed through artistic friendship to Estonia.  Many bridges indeed.

The second exhibition "Faces and Figures" in the Cincinnati area was curated by Danny Brown and featured thirteen artists. I had twelve paintings and mixed media drawings in the show, especially my latest Sphinx and Marilyn painting. I am pleased three works were large-scale drawings (similar to ones curated into Mana Propria) since I am mostly known for my paintings. Below are three views of this exhibition.

My Ostraka:History IV watercolor at
Faces and Figures exhibition

 Watercolors painted in Greece at
Faces and Figures exhibition

My Ostraka: History I drawing at Faces and Figures exhibition

www.kccoc.org/ Davida Schulmanestograph.ee/

Our May Watercolor Explorers' Club Event at Ewing Mansion, Bloomington, IL.

It was a great morning exploring a spring color triad.

How to make a rose bloom

My best-known rose paintings were done in graduate school and people have asked me to do a rose painting demo many times over the years. I start them at workshops and finish them at home or at other workshops.  I think it is very important for artists to see the stages in making a painting.  We can be in a hurry and want to make everything perfect all at once. 

These pictures, showing three stages helps you see how to develop a painting start to finish.  I cover pigments you should use and how to mix them and get started in my watercolor workshops.