Meeting Recap 2/25/12: ZENTANGLES

Another meeting day has come and gone - and oh, what fun we had! It was a full-house at the Bear Canyon Senior Center this past weekend, where CPSA members got together again to share their joy of colored pencils and experiment with a new process, Zentangles!

We began with a brief meeting :

• President Jeff handed out a list of program ideas for upcoming 2012 meetings … AGAIN (he wants your feedback, so keep it coming - email President Jeff).
• There's still time to get your National CPSA entries in - submission deadline is March 31st, 2012.
• Reminder to anyone who hasn't paid their membership dies: YOU'RE PAST DUE! ;)
*Also - we are in the process of updating all email contacts, if you know of a member that's not getting our emails & blog updates - please let us know or have that member send their active email address to Treasurer Les.
• We continued discussing the fact the Bear Canyon Senior Center will have some renovation coming up, and what locations we'll changing to for several upcoming meetings:

*March: The Artist Studio at Hoffman Town Shopping Center
*April: Hispanic Arts Building, NM Farigrounds -- Masterworks exhibit space
*More details to be announced - check back here often for updates.

• The Orchid Society is sponsoring a flower art show at the ABQ Bio-Park this May (no entry fee!). For details contact President Jeff or Secretary Melinda.
• Member, Lin McKay, reminded everyone that the Masterworks Miniature entry deadline is coming up and there's still time to enter! (March 17th, 2012)
• Several members shared completed miniatures and other works in process as part of our "Show&Tell" portion of the meeting.
• MEMBER ACHIEVEMENTS:
•Shirley Levy had one of her pieces accepted into the CPSA National Show, Explore This!
•Rex Barron also had one of his pieces accepted in the CPSA National Explore This! show and earned himself CPX Signature Status for his third time being accepted. Additionally, Rex had two pieces accepted into the Masterworks Standard Fine Arts Show, in the Oil&Acrylic category.
•Audrey Minard had two of her pastel pieces accepted into the Masterworks Standard Fine Arts Show - her first time entering her large works!
Congratulations to all!

After a short break, Ann Jeffries gave a lovely presentation on Zentangles and shared several examples. Although Zentangles are traditionally done in black&white or pen&ink, Ann showed us how much fun could be had using colored pencil as a variation to this technique! Then we all got down to the business of fun & experimentation:

MEETING 2/25/12: Reminder

Dear CPSA - DC219 We're back on at Bear Canyon Senior Center this coming weekend, February 25th! In addition to our regular group-news and show&tell sessions, Ann Jeffries will be leading the Zentangles program we teased you with in early January, that had to be postponed due to cleaning at the center. A little reminder of what to expect:

Zentangles is the name given to a popular new linear technique which can be described as "extreme doodling." Zentangles are usually done with black ink but we will make them a little more interesting using our colored pencils. This method creates richly patterned images with just a few simple guidelines. Bring your sharpened pencils, a regular pencil, an eraser, and a few pieces of drawing paper. It will be fun, mistake-proof, and relaxing (after all, its "zen"tangles). If you want to find out more about this technique before the meeting there are many zentangle websites.

See you there!

MEETING 1/28/12: Sketchcrawl Recap

Just wanted to share with all of you that were there, or that may have missed out, some pics from our wonderful on-location meeting this past Saturday at the Rio Grande BIO Park.

Beginning with a brief meeting outside the Mediterranean Conservatory:

• President Jeff handed out a list of program ideas for upcoming 2012 meetings (he wants your feedback, so keep it coming - email Jeff).
• We also talked about the fact the Bear Canyon Senior Center will have some renovation coming up, so we need to be on the lookout for a new regular location for meetings (BCSC Renovation schedule needs to be confirmed).
• Rex mentioned a local art sales opportunity.
• New member Jean Thurow celebrated her first meeting with us by sharing a portfolio of her recent work.

Then members where set loose in the park for a group sketchcrawl:


After about an hour, members gather back together to look at each others work:


We are such a talented group:


And good looking too: