June Newsletter

From the President:

We’ve had the Guild’s website for many years now and we owe a real debt of gratitude to Elaine Johnson for maintaining it for the past seven years. However, if you’ve been to the site lately you would have noticed that the links are not working and very little of the information is available. In layman’s language the site crashed a few weeks ago.

The Board held an emergency meeting on Monday the 7th to determine what to do about this issue. After discussing several options it was decided to authorize Elaine to investigate and choose a new web host and then to build a new site while retaining our current domain name. Elaine has asked Marty Simmons to help her and within a few weeks the new site should be ready.

In addition, to facilitate getting information out to our members and to have an increased internet presence, I have created a blog for the Guild. Those of you with computer access can check it out at http://visualartsguildmonstroseco.blogspot.com. It needs a little tweaking yet, but I’ll be posting information on it along with reminders of upcoming meetings and events. If you have a personal website let me know and I will link the blog to it, which might help drive internet traffic your way.

If you have mislaid your newsletter or deleted an email from me, you can check the blog or the website and get all the latest news. Sign up to become a follower or subscribe to the blog so you see the most recent entries more easily.

Main in Motion:

This year we are working with Around the Corner Art Gallery on three evenings throughout the summer June 24, July 22 and August 19. The three members demonstrating on the 24th are Toni Woodrum, Andrea LaPonsie and Kathy Carter.

We still have spots available for July 22 and August 19. I’ll have sheets for sign up at the June 28th meeting. Artists can have their work for sale at the event and we’ll also be selling guild decals and notecards.

With several of us working together and answering questions from the public this has the makings of a fun event and it’s great exposure for the guild.

June 28th Potluck:

Instead of our regular meeting on the 28th we’re having a potluck at our regular meeting site. Members are allowed to bring a guest, but because we have only about 30 chairs it would be helpful if you brought one or two folding chairs along with your dish for the meal.

The activities room opens out to a covered patio and we’ll be able to expand to the outdoors easily.

We’ll have paper plates, cups and plastic silverware for you.

Following the meal we’ll have a short business meeting for pertinent announcements and to take care of any decisions that can’t wait until the July meeting.


Fund Raising:

We had to reorder the Guild’s new decals because they were so popular and we sold out! The second batch has arrived and they are now for sale. Remember that Patrons who make a $50 or more donation or donation in kind will receive one free. For Guild members they are $3 a piece or 2 for $5. Check out one of the cars flashing these bright, colorful stickers when you come to Masterpiece Monday. If you don’t have one yet, you might want to get yours now.

Also, the images of our winning notecard entries are in Denver with the Office Depot printers as I write, and we hope to have a proof of our new cards within a week. More on that when the notecards are ready for sale.

The winners are: Kathy Carter, Sharon Marolf, Tommie Howerton and Nancy Shorter. The winner of the drawing/publicity painting for our show is Kathy Carter with Canyon Sunset. Congratulations to all of these members!!

And don’t forget the Wine and Cheese event August 27 at Around the Corner Art Gallery. More information to follow.

I’ve posted our current patrons on our new blog and at the bottom of this newsletter. We could use more patrons. Please support those businesses that have helped us and consider approaching a business you have a connection with to encourage it to become one of our patrons, too.

Show:

The prospectus is currently being proofread and should be available in mid July. At Masterpiece Monday on July 12, Leslie will have the labels ready and for those attending that day we’ll form an assembly line to get everything folded, labeled and stamped.

Please remember that we are experimenting with entering your work by category rather than by media. The 2D categories are: land/seascapes, portrait/figures, animals, flowers, still lifes, urban/rural scenes and abstracts. Sculptures are a separate category.

You can have up to a total of seven entries with no more than two entries in any category. Entries must be postmarked by Tuesday September 7.

The show dates are October 1, 2 and 3. The judge is Carl Purcell.


Masterpiece Mondays and Art Instruction Videos:

Masterpiece Mondays continue regularly throughout the summer. I realize that people are frequently gone for summer vacations, but we continue to have a great attendance and lots of FUN! Come join us if you are free on any Monday.

We show an art instruction video on the first Monday of the month around 11 AM. The video for July 5 is pastelist Richard McKinley in 3 Stages of a Successful Pastel Painting. Although the videos typically have demonstrations in one medium, the instruction given is usually beneficial in any media.

We are very fortunate to be able to show the video more than once. If you miss the first Monday or simply want to see the video again, please let me know. And, if you think of an artist you’d like to see in a video, please let me or one of the art instruction committee members know.

Just a reminder: if you are one of the last people at Meadowlark in the afternoon on Mondays, it would be appreciated if you’d stay and help clean up. And a big thank-you to those who help regularly!

Demonstrations, Upcoming Meetings and Tidbits:

We extend a heartfelt thanks to Mike Simpson for his informative demo at the May meeting on his equipment for various plein air scenarios.

July 26th will be a regular business meeting and our demonstrator will be Twyla Groswald on smoke painting. Since our meeting room opens up to the outdoors, if the weather cooperates some of us may be able to try it under Twyla’s tutelage.

Our August meeting will be the 23rd. Please note there are 5 Mondays in August and we meet on the 4th Monday. Our demonstrator will be David Delo of Delta doing pen and ink and watercolor wash.

We had a fair number of winners at both Edge of the Cedars show and Delta’s Blue Ribbon show recently. Congratulations to all of you!! We’ll run through the names at the June 28th potluck.

Please give me a call if I’ve missed something. So many people work behind the scenes each month to keep the Guild going strong and everyone’s efforts are appreciated. I don’t want to overlook anyone or anything that’s going on.

Reminders:

June 26/27: Pastel workshop on “Water” with Barbara Kendrick. Call Around the Corner Art Gallery for information, 249-4243.

July 10: Entry deadline for the Artist’s Alpine Holiday show through the Ouray County Arts Association. July 26 is the day individual work can be delivered. The show runs from July 30 to August 7. Artwork must be picked up on August 8. The judge is John Cogan. www.ourayarts.org.

July 30/31: The Story in the Landscape with acrylic artist John Cogan (Bess Sprankle’s nephew). Through Weehawken, so contact it for more information and to register. 318-0150.