March 26th,,,,,,,and yes, it was a month or so ago….Metropolitan Arts Council hosted a wonderful event with Frame Designs with a combo show of my newest work and a celebration around the publication of Rethinking Acrylics.

Love the ballons,,,,,Thank you ED!

This is Alan Etheridge, the Heart and Soul of MAC

It was a joyous event, full of many friends and artists.  Eli Warren, the photographer that took most of the photos for the book was there with his proud mom and girlfriend..he finally had the opportunity to celebrate our collaboration.

Kate Spigner, my Assistant Extrodinaire!

Just got back from a wirlwind tour of San Francisco, signing books and visiting my old hometown!  It is great to meet and talk with artists who have purchased the book and find it inspiring and intriquing,,,,,,,Often, they say, I never thought to do that with acrylic!  Yeah, that is want I wanted to happen.

I began my “book talks” with a story about how my day job with Golden Artist Colors has heavily influenced my painting style.  I thought that would be very interesting…..well, turns out,,,,,everybody wants to know more about the products, and how to do this, or how did you do that!  Again, bingo, that was the goal, and I put it over the goal post?  (That was to be a reference to football, and I think it is over, not under!!)

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Compass Books, San Francisco

Photo by Pamela Gerard

Compass Books in San Franciso had a great display of the books, and I was met with a warm welcome on a very wet, cold and rainy evening.

My Nickle Azo Yellow Banner

This is the revel of the Banner.  Always a wow factor at any gathering.  The banner takes one pigment, Nickel Azo Yellow, and mixes it with Golden products, Gels, Pastes, Mediums, GACs and several Custom Products.  My dear friend, photographer extraordinaire, Pamela Gerard, is playing my Vanna to the left.

The photo is taken by Jeremy Sutton, who has a fabulous studio in San Francisco.  He is a marvelous teacher and artist.  Visit the website for more information on his workshops, DVDs and artwork.

Another fun shot by Jeremy!  I have to give credit to the hair salon, Todd Inc. and especially Amberlee, who has fun when I sit in her chair.

Had two well attended and curious book-signings at Blick Art Materials in LA on Beverly Blvd….and at the Blick Art Materials on Van Ness in San Francisco.

In San Francisco, I had some time to catch up with one of my old artist friends, Francis Berry, Francis is a wonderful and fully commited artist, always doing interesting work.  He presented me with a wonderful bottle of  Eric Kent wine, graced with one of his images.

Just got back from the CHA show in Anaheim.  Wow, that was a long show.  I taught two workshops, one on “Acrylic Beeswax” and the other on “Printing with Ink jet Printers on Acrylic Skins”.  Both workshops were packed with enthusiastic students, artists, retailers and teachers.  It is really inspiring seeing the level of understanding growing each year around how to use gels and paints.  We had introduced the Digital Grounds last year, and most often, we had very quizzical looks when attempting to explain the acrylic skins, grounds and printing…….but not this year.  Everyone seemed to “get it” and begin to be sparked by their own ideas.  Yeah, and that is great!

Make sure you check out the new videos on making skins, Digital Grounds  on the Golden Website.  And while you are at it, the new Just Paint is up also.  I wrote an article with bunches of ideas for making acrylic skins.

The Real Patti on the left, Jamie Markle,from F&W Publications

I also survived the introduction of , what I call”Patti Play Pal”.  The Marketing Department at Golden,  (I love you all), but I think they just had way too much fun, creating this thing.  I just had to give myself a minute, and then say, oh well, this will be fun.  And it was, we took lots of pictures.  Current status, wrapped in layers of cardboard on her way to upstate New York.

Thanks to everyone who came and visited the booth!

so far, I have only come across a few mistakes in the book.  Until, there is a new printing,,,,,and certainly hoping that there will be one….I thought I would document the errors here.

Page 76.  The last half o the first paragraph is confusing, and actually wrong.  The carrier sheet refers to a piece of standard print paper, that you tape your acrylic skin, or aluminum foil, etc to, so that it creates a flat and stable surface, for the printer.  You want printer friendly “edge” that the printer reads and grabs easily.

Page. 142.  The photo of step 1( three fruits) is actually step 2.  The blending of the 1st photo, should be the second step.  It is very obvious, once you take a minute to look at it.

If you find other errors, please let me know.

Developed “trainings” for GOLDEN’s new products (OPEN and the Digital Grounds) and trained some thirty GOLDEN Working Artists with hands on workshops.

I attended, worked in the booth,  and helped plan eight major Tradeshows in,  Reno, NV,  Anaheim, CA,  Raleigh , NC, Chicago, Il, Dallas, TX, Pasadena, CA and Savannah, GA.

I taught twelve workshops.  The highlight was the week-long workshop at La Conner Art  Workshops in beautiful Sagkit Valley, north of Seattle Washington. My long time friend, Robyn Williams manages multiple artists and teachers with hospitality plus!

I did several presentations for sales staff (non painters) reaching about 80 professionals in all.

Attended a “working/planning” retreat with Marketing Department.  Highly successful!

Attended Swananona  Gathering , (a music camp) for Guitar Week, with family and friends  This was a joyous carefree week of singin’ and pickin.”

Performed with the Fine Art Ramblers, a seven member string band , all professional visual artists. This year we had seven public gigs and a fundraiser for the Reedy River!

Celebrated three canine birthdays and one feline and a  ninth wedding anniversary .

Gave six college lectures, and one workshop for Advanced Placement “budding” artists. RISDI with Mark Golden, Savannah College of Art, Davidson College, NC, UNC, Charlotte, NC.

Wrote an article for Just Paint , Golden’s free “chock full of info” newsletter.  (my first for this publication!)

Jumped into FACEBOOK.

Collaborated with two other wonderful female artists to create a support group around our creative output.

Was invited into the Southern Artistry.  Artists are nominated based on the quality of their work by state art agencies.

My husband and I built a deck for the back of my studio over Labor Day Weekend!

Wow, what a great year!  Your turn!

Patti

Well, it is time to welcome myself and friends to my blog.  I can remember when people were telling me about “blogging”, and now look where I am.  Hey, I even figured out FACEBOOK!

I have been thinking for months about what I should write.  I have read many other blogs, and am still wondering!  I have decided not to worry and let the topics arrive naturally.  Just as I approach painting, an idea, play with it, and let the process unfold.

I am anticipating questions on techniques in the book, and thought that the blog will be a great place to answer questions that come up on a repeat basis.

Also, music, dogs, acrylic, painting, yoga, books, and the usual daily things that we all think about.

One BIG promise, I will keep it SHORT!  And highly VISUAL!

Please check out the book: Rethinking Acrylic: Radical Solutions for Exploiting the World’s Most Versatile Medium at Amazon.com, and let me know what you think!

In the Studio