Hello Peoples!

We had a GREAT Midnight At Oasis art party Friday night.  There were snacks and tunes and everyone arting and having a BLAST!  All told there were nine of us that showed up.  I didn’t have the wherewithal to photograph everyone’s work before they leave.  I won’t make that mistake again because there truly were some beautiful and fun things produced that night.  Also had a nice chat with Virginia, an art therapist, who wanted to talk about how art keeps us sane in a frenetic world.  I recorded that and intend to release it as a podcast later this week.  In the mean time, you can watch the recording here:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/19751988

One thing the Midnight gathering definitely required me do is CLEAN UP!  I spent most of the week trying to get supplies put away and cobwebs swept away.  I did manage to get all of the sheet rock mud done on the display panels in the gallery.  I should be able to sand and primer them this week.  Then we’ll slap a couple coats of paint on the entire room and call it DONE!

This time of year we are ALL severely limited on fundage so we may be building with used pallets.  If you would like to help with that, you can go to artisticbiker.com and look for the DONATE button on the right side column and donate what you can.  If you can’t do that, please share this newsletter with everyone you know to help get the word out.  That helps more than you know.  Or better yet, Click Here to Join! artisticbiker.com/membership and help promote the arts in rural Oklahoma.

If you have any announcements you would like made in the newsletter or tweeted about incessantly, drop me a line and I’ll toot your horn for ya.  ;)  There were no announcements this week.

This week’s password: arting

The Classroom site is http://www.ustream.tv/channel/oasisgalleryok

Drawing Class: Practical application: Still Life – Tuesday night 6pm central.  This week, I’ll compose and sketch a still life.  I’ll tell you all the things I consider when choosing subjects and viewing angles.

Painting Class: Painting class is on hold until the wife and I can come up with a solid lesson plan I can be proud of.  Look for it to return sometime in February.

The past classes are moving into the Pay-per-view side of ustream and on artisticbiker.com as well. $2 lets you view them online at Ustream, $5 lets you download them at artisticbiker.com, and a $10/month membership gets you unlimited downloads from the site.

Click Here to Join! artisticbiker.com/membership

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Thank you

Overcoming white page syndrome.  White page syndrome is when you open a journal or canvas and stare at the blank page, afraid to mess it up.  You think that very first mark you make will be there forever and you spend WAY too much time stressing over how to start.  This is where many artists will start with a tonal underpainting.  You can watch video after video online of artists roughly painting the canvas one color.  Aside from setting the temperature and tone of the painting, and covering up any white areas that might be missed later in the details, this gives the artist something more than a blank page to start with.  Try splashing a bit of paint on your pages randomly.  I often splash a bit of coffee on mine.