Here are the entries for the group sketchbook exchange within artdc.org.  This month I concentrated on collage elements representing the upcoming holidays.  Which do you like?

I’ve just finished reading Artist’s Color Manual:  The Complete Guide to Working with Color by Simon Jennings and published in 2003 which carries a 5-star Amazon rating. This beautifully designed book is a labor of years of love and hours of research.  Jennings covers What is Color with information on paints and pigments with straight-forward science of mineral foundations as well as a buyer’s guide to materials.  There are sections on mixing and working with various color groups with first-hand interviews by practicing artists.  Of most use is a visually stimulating color index – a reference to over 450 colors in a variety of media.  That’s what I loved most about this compelling work (which I read straight through in 2 days) – the fact that Jennings has broken down the different applications of say, yellow ochre, in the various mediums – oils, acrylics, pastels, dry pencils, watercolors, etc.  

Here’s an except on Indian Yellow in history.  ”Along with Mummy Brown, the process of obtaining Indian Yellow bay be considered rather offensive.  it is reputed to have involved precipitating the urine of cows that had been force-fed with mango leaves.  Its manufacture, from just one village, was banned in the 1920s by the Indian government in an effort to protect the cows from such an unhealthy diet.  This bright, golden color is now replicated chemically, although it may lack the precise character of the original!  Indian Yellow was most successful for watercolor, and had substantial lightfast properties.  It is the bright yellow used in jewel-like Indian miniatures.”

Here’s an Amazon site review.

For those of us who actually want to learn something new, something you probably didn’t learn in undergrad. Excellent reference book for specific pigments and the results when mixed with others. For example, I forgot that when mixing Cadmium Red w/a blue results in a “brownish” violet hue. Instead using Alizeran Crimson creates a much more desirable violet. 

However, if you’re just starting out in painting or you’re looking for a sequence for a “curriculum” get the “New Artist’s Manual…”. It is basically this book and “Art Class” combined. Wish I had bought that one first.

We have a few items for sale due to a recent major studio reorganization (we obtained a large flat file unit and now all our drawing media has a color tray of its own!).  All items are new and in excellent condition from a non-smoking, non-pet household with the exception of one circular art bin brush tray which has some paint on the bottom tray.  

Easy delivery to any Alexandria Metro station on a cash purchase only.  A great gift for the artist in your life.  You can purchase one or all of any item – many can be collapsed to smaller storage units.  As items are sold, they will be deleted from this post so what you see on this post is what is available as of today.

I will also consider trades of paper, drawing materials, artwork, or art books.  Email shaunaleelange@gmail.com or call 703.960.0616.    

9 marker trays $5.00 each - holds 25 markers of various makers

12 marker or brush caddies - $5.00 a piece - each holds 96 pens/brushes

2 circular brush or marker caddies - $5.00 each - holds 48 brushes/markers

11 crayon or pastel holders (short) $3.00 each

Here are some photos I took today at lunch – empty spaces, empty easels, empty sinks and empty classrooms all art inspired.  Enjoy!  

I visited with the Interational Studio & Curatorial Program last night at Washington Project for the Arts and I learned quite a bit about curatorial practices both in the States and abroad.  Of most interest was curatorial programs available through Frieze as well as some of the more interesting collections being assembled in the ISCP’s modest spaces (one of an altered American flat that reads “Where is the change”).  The ISCP is an interesting program in that in operates on residencies.  You can learn how to apply by clicking here.    Here are some pics from last evening’s lecture followed by more ISCP information about the organization itself.

(Copied from www.iscp-nyc.org/f_about.html)

about iscp a visual arts residency unlike any other Like many visual arts residency programs in New York, the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) is a microcosm of the city’s cultural diversity: multi-national, multi-lingual and multi-faceted. Unlike others, however, ISCP makes a concerted effort to connect its artists and curators to the local art community, while connecting the local art community with contemporary art practice from all over the world.

While New York may well be the world’s epicenter of contemporary art practice and market, the glut of resources and opportunities, which attract the art immigrant, are precisely the factors, which can be alienating and frustrating. ISCP is a residency tailored to suit the practical needs of the visiting artist/curator by providing space in which to produce as well as addressing the magnitude of the world’s art capital. The program prides itself on providing an infrastructure, which accelerates integration and interaction with the host culture and in the course of its development, has become a catalyst for introduction, presentation, connection, exposure and dissemination. The dynamic of ISCP is a programming hybrid conceived to facilitate genuine exchange, specifically its Guest Critic Series and semi-annual Open Weekend Exhibitions. The Guest Critic Series enables one-on-one studio visits for dialogue and critical feedback with distinguished professionals from the New York and international art worlds. The Open Weekend Exhibitions attract not only professionals, but a wider audience of art enthusiasts. In addition, a continual flow of international art traffic passes through the program, making impromptu studio visits and meeting with the artists and curators. As a direct consequence of connections forged at ISCP, many of the over 500+ artists and curators who have participated in the program since its founding, are now represented by New York galleries and have been included in numerous group exhibitions and projects throughout the United States and abroad.  The raison d’être for an artist is to make art. The raison d’être for a curator is to communicate art. The paradigm fostered by ISCP enables these two inter-dependent professions to cohabit, cross-fertilize and interact, while both groups at the same time, inject our host culture with the vitality of the visual language they import to the United States.

Soroptimist International of Alexandria is hosting a dinner and guest speaker on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 6:30 PM at Belle Haven Country Club, Alexandria, Virginia. 

Miss Amanda Charlotte Downes MBE MVO, Social Secretary to Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the USA and “the ultimate party planner” is the scheduled keynote speaker.

Amanda Downes has been at her post since 1989 and has successfully planned thousands of events for six consecutive ambassadors. She grew up in Gloucestershire and dreamed of becoming a ballerina or performing on stage, but has instead become a formidable institution in Washington, a town where adeptly choreographing events and setting the scene are prized skills. 

Shauna Lee Lange Color Design Studios, a recognized leader in art advisory, color expertise and design services for metropolitan Washington DC since 2006, has been invited to attend the event as a first-time guest. 

The Washington DC Capitol Riverfront BID reccently hosted a Non-Profit Real Estate Seminar which brought together non-profits and brokers for a panel discussion on for sale and for lease office market opportunities in the Southeast District. 

Sandy Paul from Delta Associates presented information trends in the non-profit/association office market. Olivia Shay-Byrne from ReedSmith spoke about potential legislation that could lower the cost of leasing space in the District of Columbia and William Liggins from the DC Revenue Bond Program described tools available to assist financing an office relocation or purchase.

All three presentations are available on our website here.  Shauna Lee Lange Color Design Studios (formerly SLL Arts Advisory & Design Studios) is shown in attendance far left in a white suit jacket.  Lange has been seeking opportunities for the art community as a whole at the Riverfront and she is interested in the public art featured in the redesign planning process. 

British-born artist Yinka Shonibare, who grew up in Nigeria, will be the focus of a show at the National Museum of African Art, opening Nov. 10. Mr. Shonibare explores issues of race and class through figures clothed in European-style costumes made of African fabrics.

Here’s a few pictures of some highlights seen at today’s DC Big Flea Market.