Debbi Friedman’s Blog

“Spirit Stones”, colored Pencil and Graphite, 17.5″ x 13″

I am delighted and honored to have received the CPSA Great Explorations Award for Exceptional Achievement in the Explore This! 9 Exhibition for my drawing, Spirit Stones, shown above.  This is my first acceptance into this particular CPSA show, and I was stunned to receive news in the mail of the award.  There are fifty three wonderful pieces of artwork currently on-line from February 1 through January 31, 2013 in the show, which can be seen at the CPSA website link here.  All of the art must combine mainly colored pencil with any other media desired, and it’s interesting to see what other artists are doing in this regard.

For “Spirit Stones” I wanted to play around with arranging these stones  in a tall vase and convey some humor at their predicament.  Some appear happy, some perplexed or chagrined, to be suspended in a vase of water staring out at the viewer.

The Cast of Characters

There is also a review of the EXP!9 exhibition on Katherine Tyrell’s Making a Mark blog site.  Katherine writes about the top two awards (Eileen Sorg, CPSA, CPX having received the EXPY Award and the Prismacolor Best of Show Award for her wonderful piece, “Foiled Again”):

“I took a look at the artwork before reviewing the award winners and I have to say I wasn’t at all surprised by either of the two top awards as these were both pieces which prompted me to stop and look longer.  I think it’s also very interesting to see how big an impact can be achieved through the use of understated and almost monochromatic colour – particularly when there is a level of content to the artwork which goes beyond keen observation and impeccable technique.

It’s also worth noting that both pieces contained humour – and I’m always keen to applaud those who meet the challenge of including humour in a subtle way.”

“Spirit Stones” is the second drawing I’ve done with stones that have suggestions of facial parts on their surfaces.  The first drawing, “Stone Faced”, was done for the CPSA Silent Auction last summer in Covington, KY, in conjunction with the annual convention.

Stone Faced, Colored Pencil on Canson Mi-Tientes

I’ve been collecting all sorts of stones for years; sometimes I’m looking for certain colors or shapes, or struck by finding stones with lines encircling them.  I’m always on the lookout for stones with faces or mouths in them, and not all make it into my drawings.  The stone below was calling out for a face, and now resides in my studio with other found objects I’m fond of.

Currently my website is being redesigned, and I’m excited to have the new site go live.  I have approximately twenty drawings that aren’t on my current site, and the new format will display everything much better.  I’ll announce the new site when it’s ready, and as always, thanks for reading!

The new issue of “Practique des Arts” is out, and I can finally share both the piece I created as an exclusive for the magazine as well as the article.  Auburn Vessel, above, was completed last December after working on it for most of the fall.  It measures approximately 18 x 19 inches.  The article, below, shows many of the stages, so I won’t go into detail about the working process.  It is, unfortunately, difficult to read as is (font is too small) and a bit blurry when enlarged.  But it is in french, so unless you can read french, there’s not much lost.  And the stages are pretty self-explanatory.  If anyone has any questions, I’d be most happy to try and answer them.   There is also a link to the article on my website news page, which you can access here.  Thanks for reading!

Myself and Lynda Schumacher with our artwork

 Another CPSA Convention has come and gone and what a great one this was in Dallas.   So many artists who are good friends congregated for this annual event that, despite the 100+ heat, I think it’s safe to say all had an incredible time.  There was a fun member’s meeting with door prizes, a slide show of every piece that was entered into the competition, and a silent auction.  There are workshops, and an awards banquet.  This year I was so honored to receive an Award for Outstanding Achievement for my piece “Counterpoint in Green”, shown above on the left.  This photograph also features good friend Lynda Schumacher, CPSA (MI) and her piece “Canadian Cowgirl”.  In addition to receiving an award, I earned my signature status in the CPSA (given for being juried into three shows within ten years) and Lynda earned her five-year status.

Dianna Soisson with "Beyond All Boundries"

 I’m taking a moment to highlight several, but by no means all!, artist friends who had their work on display in Dallas.  Dianna had an incredibly powerful piece of a leaf floating down a waterfall (above).  Below is Kendra Bidwell-Ferreira’s delicate “Sea Foam”.  For those of you who live in the Boston area, you may have had a chance to see the two person show that Kendra and I had last March at the Wellesley Free Library.

Kendra with "Sea Foam" (top)

California artist and inventor Ester Roi (photo below) received an Award for Exceptional Merit for her piece “Social Network” (top).  Ester is such an inspiration and source of information to so many artists, always looking to break new ground with technique.

Ester Roi with "Social Network"

Perhaps one of the most memorable events was the Cowboy Boot shopping trip that several of us had been talking about since the San Jose convention of 2010.  Suffice it to say that we had a successful outing to Pink’s Cowboy Boot Store in Dallas.  We all left with a new pair of boots that seemed well suited to our personalities – for now! (Left to right, Kendra Bidwell Ferreira/Old Gringos, Dianna Soisson/Old Gringos, Lynda Schumacher/Old Gringos, Moi/Stetsons, Elizabeth Patterson, CPSA (CA) Ferrini’s).

Cowboy boot final choices!

On a final and silly note, here’s a photo of Lynda and me cooling off in the freezer section of Walmarts. . . .with their hilarious ice cream novelty packaging.  Just can’t let us gals go out anywhere without a commotion. . .   Thanks for reading!

Here is a post of my newest drawing, another “Balancing Act”. . . in stages.  I started out, as I mentioned in my last post, working with only Faber-Castell Polychromos on Canson Mi-Tientes peach-toned paper.  I have notated under the images which colors were used in that particular photo/stage (reading left to right, top to bottom).  I know there’s a big jump from the stages to the finished drawing, but after a while it’s just too tedious to continue working in this fashion.  Perhaps the stones are calling, and I want to start to do the more creative blending and drawing?   I’ve now started work on a smallish  drawing of some gorgeous, aqua-colored stones from Hawaii that someone gave to me.  I’m using a different approach for this drawing, working on white Bristol Board paper with Caran D’Ache Aquarelles and then dry layers of Prismacolors.

Tomorrow I’m off to Dallas to join other artists at the 19th Annual CPSA convention and exhibition.  My piece, Counterpoint in Green, was juried into the show, and I’m also excited to be receiving my CPSA Signature Status this year.  This is awarded to artists who have been juried into three shows within ten years.  I’ll post some photos from the convention when I get back.  Meanwhile it’s time to finish packing the coolest clothes I can find!

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been working on a little graphite drawing, and here it is.  It’s a very simple and  zen-like composition.  A black stone used in hot stone therapy that was given to me by a masseuse,  a small peacock feather, placed upside down atop the stone and some shadows are all that composes the drawing.  It’s small – maybe about 7″ x 7″.

I’m eager to move onto the next drawing in my rock series, and plan to try and incorporate water in the drawing.  Coincidentally, I’m just back from the 17th Annual Exhibition and Convention of the Colored Pencil Society of America, where I took a workshop with CPSA Artist Pat Averill on the power of water. . . entitled “Unleash the power of water in your drawings”.  Below are two photographs from the workshop: one of friends Dee Overly (left) and Mari Kaye Moehl (right) working on one of the four projects we tackled that day, and the other of workshop instructor Pat Averill.  I’m not sure that the workshop concepts will transfer to my drawing, but you never know!  We worked on the distortion of images in reflected water, drawing moving water (ie – surf), drawing water moving over rocks, and looking at wet sand to dry sand within the context of a seascape.

I am posting a photograph of the finished fish tank drawing “Shhhh”.  I may end up tweaking it a little, but basically it’s done.  It’s an unusual drawing for me, and it took longer than I had anticipated it taking.  I am eager to move on to something new!

I also have news to share, which is that my drawing, “Garden, Late Summer” was juried into the Colored Pencil Society of America’s 17th Annual International Exhibition, which will be taking place from July 9 – August 29, 2009 at the Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth, Georgia.  The show was juried by Graham C. Boettcher, who is the William Cary Hulsey Curator of American Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama.  Approximately 125 works were selected for inclusion in the show.  In addition, I will be receiving my “Signature Status” by having had my work juried into three shows within ten years.  Also receiving her signature status will be fellow artist, Lynda Schumacher from Michigan.  More information about the show can be found by going to the CPSA web site, www.cpsa.org.

I currently have artwork up in three shows in the Northeast:

• H2O – Artistic Interpretation of Water, Spring Bull Gallery, Newport, Rhode Island, through December 3rd
• Wellesley Society of Artists, Annual Juried Exhibition, Wellesley Free Library, Wellesley, MA, up through November 31st, and
• Allied Artists of America 95th Annual Juried Exhibition, the National Arts Club Galleries, Gramercy Park South, New York City, New York, November 14th through December 2nd.

My piece at the WSA’s exhibition, “Last Year’s Remnants” was awarded Third Place in the show.  Below is a photograph taken of the opening reception at the Spring Bull Gallery showing some of the work on the wall.  One of my pieces is in the middle of the photograph:  “Still-life with Broken Wings”.

I returned from the annual CPSA convention in Seattle last Sunday, which is held in conjunction with their juried International Exhibition. There was so much to do: I took an all-day workshop with John Smolko, attended the member’s meeting, awards banquet and opening reception and got to spend time with artists friends and made many new friends from across the country. Above are photographs of artist Lynda Schumacher and myself at the awards banquet, and me beside my artwork on display at the Seattle Convention Center. It was also great fun to explore the Seattle a bit; walking the many hills between Pikes Place Market, the Space Needle and Chinatown for starters!

Below are photographs from the morning phase of the John Smolko workshop. We worked using expressive line and scribbles. Everyone had a different letter of the alphabet to block out and develop using line and contrasting warm and cool colors. The “K” and “I” are Lynda’s and my letters respectively, and the entire wall of letters is the morning group’s work on display. It was so much fun to see how differently everyone approached such a simple assignment. It really allowed everyone’s distinct ways of making marks to shine through. In the afternoon session we applied our “new” use of line to an actual drawing, choosing an object from life, a portrait, or working from a reference photograph.

This final photograph was taken on the platform of the Monorail at the Space Needle, waiting for the train to arrive. I think the color contrasts are so amazing. When do you get to see these colors  juxtaposed outdoors in a cityscape?