Glenn Brill, Artist-Representative for Gamblin Artists’ Colors, will present a practical, hands-on educational presentation on Gamblin Oil Colors. This 90 minute presentation will cover all aspects of oil paints, mediums and varnishes, including: 

• Color Theory, Color Wheels and Color Mixing
• Navigating Color Space
• Mineral vs. Modern Pigments
• Understanding Color Names
• Oil Paint Manufacturing
• Professional Grade Oil Paint vs. Student Grade Oil Paint
• Mediums and Varnishes
• Indirect vs. Direct Painting Techniques
• Supports, Sizing and Grounds
• Studio Safety

The goal of the presentation is not only educate participants on oil paints but to provide information that will enable attendees to create their own personalized palette.   All attendees will receive FREE Gamblin Product & Literature Samples.All attending instructors will receive the Gamblin CD “Navigating Color Space”. 

About the Presenter   Glenn Brill is currently the Manager of Education for Gamblin Artist’s Oil Colors. He has presented over 100 educational presentations throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.  An Adjunct Professor at San Francisco State University, Glenn has also taught at California College of the Arts, San Francisco Art Institute and University of California. Glenn has been involved in art material product development and education for over 15 years.  He has worked for some of the premier art material companies as Director of Education, helping to develop and test oil and acrylic paints, brushes, canvas, paper, and drawing materials.  Glenn has been the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Visual Fellowships, Author of “Beyond the Brush” and co-author of “The Acrylic Handbook”. His artworks are in the permanent collections of the Archives of American Art, Brooklyn Museum, San Jose Museum and Phoenix Art Museum.  Glenn holds a BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts, an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and is a Tamarind Master Printer.  DATE:            Sunday, October 12 2008

PLACE:         Utrecht Art Supplies                     
                      1909 University Ave @ MLK                     (510) 649 - 0808                  

TIME:        2pm-3:30pm

RSVP:          Store08@utrecht.com

Linoleum block print by Alexis Babayan, based upon a sketch made at the Kroeber Hall Friday night life drawing session.  (For more of  my art, see: http://flickr.com/photos/babayan )

Life drawing from a nude model is a staple of many college drawing classes.  However, outside of drawing classes, it can be difficult to find the opportunity to draw from a model.  In the Bay Area, we are in luck: there are several private drawing groups where you can draw to your heart’s content in exchange for paying a portion of the model’s fee. 

The Bay Area Model’s Guild sponsors a figure drawing marathon (with multiple models posing at once) three times a year.  For dates, times, and cost of the next marathon, check out their website at: http://www.bayareamodelsguild.org (They also include booking information for those who wish to hire models for classes or private drawing or painting sessions.)

Other great (and more frequent) life drawing opportunites are the  drop-in life drawing groups that meet at Kroeber Hall on the UC Berkeley campus.  They meet at 6:30 on Friday nights and 10:30 on Saturday mornings.  You do not have to be a UC student to attend, and the fee is quite affordable. ($4 for the general public for a three hour drawing session.) There is a different model every week, sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, and they typically start with a series of 1 or 2 minute poses and end with 20 minute poses.  You have to agree to their code of conduct, which is common sense stuff: no photography, no painting with oils (many people are sensitive to the solvents, and the workshop is held in what is supposed to be a “dry media room” ) and  don’t enter the model’s space or otherwise bother them while they are posing.

If you know of other drop-in life drawing groups, or if you are founding one of your own, contact us and I will post the information in this space.

Recently, I came across a book on life drawing with a local connection: The Undressed Art: Why We Draw by Peter Steinhart. (c. 2005) It isn’t a how-to book: instead it is a book of essays about drawing- and it makes mention of many Bay Area groups, models, and artists, past and present.   The book has gotten mixed reviews, but I found it very interesting… it’s mainly a look into the obsession that compells us to draw.

Happy drawing,

Alexis Babayan

*note: There was an error in my initial posting on this subject: I said that the Kroeber Hall life drawing group was “sponsored” by the Bay Area Models Guild.  In fact, the Kroeber Hall Life Draw is an independent group, although they always work with Guild models.

5th Annual Self-Portrait Contest

Sponsored by Utrecht and Savannah College of Art and Design

Students in Grades 9-11 will be eligible to win a Grand Prize of a Full Scholarship to a Savannah College of Art and Design Summer Seminar, and a $300 Utrecht gift card.  Students in Grade 12 will be eligible to win a Grand Prize of a Featured Artist Profile on utrecht.com and a $500 Utrecht gift card.   Entries must be original work and must be created using at least one Utrecht branded product (paint, canvas, brushes, paper, etc.)

For more information, please follow this link: http://www.utrechtart.com/contest/index.cfm

Utrecht is introducing a new ArtSmart card promo.  If you purchase a $100 gift card, or place $100 credit on your existing Artsmart card, you get a FREE Utrecht brand item priced at $10 or less.  What can you get for your $10? 

Well… there are plenty of choices:

You have the choice of hundreds of Utrecht brand items throughout the store, but here is a sampling:

The ever-popular black hardbound 8.5 x 11″ Utrecht logo sketchbook (item# 48824 -$9.19)

 A set of 12 Utrecht Premium Fine Art Pencils (item# 47163 -on sale for $7.99)

A 5oz tube of Utrecht Artists’ Acrylics (Series 1 $7.19 or Series 2 $9.49)

Any of hundreds of Utrecht oil, acrylic, or watercolor brushes

Or, interested in papers by the sheet? Pick out 10 sheets of our new Utrecht Miliani fine pastel paper, currently on sale for 99 cents a sheet.

Our Back to School sale is still going on, through September 30th, and there are still lots of great bargains throughout the store.

Some of my favorites are in the paper section: 22×30″ sheets of American Masters for $1.49/sheet ( heavyweight cotton paper for drawing or printmaking) and 22×30″ sheets of Rives BFK for $2.99/sheet (a favorite cotton printmaking paper) and bargain watercolor papers (Utrecht “educators’ series” watercolor papers, 59 cents for a 18×24″ sheet and 89 cents for a 22×30″ sheet.) The 2 oz tubes of Utrecht acrylics and 37ml tubes of Utrecht oils are also on sale through September 30th.

Due to popular demand, we now stock 36 colors of Montana Gold  spray paint.  This is a high quality artist-grade aerosol paint, suitable for painting murals, painting on panels, or painting on three dimensional objects.  Montana Gold is a matte finish acrylic based aerosol.  It is very thick and opaque, and is much less likely to drip than other, more “watery” brands.  The cans take interchangeable caps for thicker or thinner lines. (We have five different sizes of caps available for purchase- just ask at the counter.) Please note that according to California state law, you must be over 18 and have a valid I.D. in order to purchase spray paint.