On the 22nd of May, following our general members’ meeting at 7 PM, Lisa Ficarelli-Halpern will give a demonstration on painting a still life in oils using a technique referred to as Grisaille (French for ’in gray’). She will follow the Grisaille with the addition of applied colored glazes. She will provide a hand-out describing this old-master method, along with a supply list to do Grisaille painting using either oil or acrylics.
Lisa was trained in surface design as an undergraduate at Parsons School of Design, and earned her MFA in painting from New Jersey City University. She was an executive designer for the Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation for eight years. Her work has been widely exhibited in several one-artist exhibitions, and group juried shows in New York, New Jersey, and Chicago. She has been featured in Studio Visit magazine, Volume 10, Spring 2012. She has won numerous awards, including a 2006 Geraldine Dodge Fellowship. Lisa is currently represented by Artists’ House Gallery in Philadelphia, and teaches drawing at Brookdale Community College and New Jersey City University. Her website is www.lisaficarelli-halpern.com.
Come on Wednesday, the 22nd of May with your friends for a very interesting evening for a look at the Old Masters’ tricks of the trade.
June Demonstration
Watercolor with Treatment of Figures in an Urban Environment
Wednesday, June 26, 7PM
Award-winning artist Dorrie Rifkin, our artist for the June demonstration, considers herself lucky to live close to New York City. She says, “When I get to the city, I usually bring a camera or a sketch book. Running out of things to paint would mean that I am not doing much of anything with my life.” By “much” she refers to her designing the cover in 2011 for Grand Central Station’s Connections, which was an iconic painting of its interior, or designing the sets on NBC’s Prime Suspect TV series in 2011.
Her passion for her work has resulted in her being selected for the magazine Splash: 14 Light and Color, and Splash: 15 Creative Solutions, due to be published in Summer 2013 -14, and having been profiled in December 2010 Watercolor Magazine in the feature “Ones to Watch”.
Her technique involves opening her photographic images in Photoshop, then cropping and altering them to her liking. She determines which areas to emphasize; thus she creates a strong foundation before beginning to paint. She paints in stages, adding and removing parts for emphasis by dabbing water with a towel or a brush. She will then add the darks and reclaim the whites until, voila!, the painting is complete. Come on Wednesday, June 26th, at 7 PM to see Dorrie in action with this fun and easy method that you can use in your paintings.
The events are free or for a small donation and open to the public. The Ocean County Artists Guild is open from 1 to 4 pm, Tuesday through Sunday. For more information, call the OCAG at 732-270-3111
