I’m excited to be offering two plein air painting workshops in May

Tags

barns, California, Environment, nature, spirit

These painting workshops will be held at stunning Sonoma County sites that are only accessible via the conservation groups that protect them from development, Pepperwood Preserve and Laufenburg Ranch. Painting in community, with guidance and support from an enthusiastic and practiced plein air painter, could be a great way to kick off your summer painting season or vacation time. You are welcome to join us for one or both sessions, whether you are an experienced painter or haven’t picked up a bush or pastel since childhood. Scientists, hikers, and students, painting and drawing deepen your powers of observation which translates to many disciplines.

Two Landscape Painting Workshops

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barns, bucolic, California, Calistoga, creeks, Environment, expressionist, hillsides, impressionist, inspiration, Mt. St. Helena, nature, orchards, realist, spirit, techniques, tonalist, wildflowers

Recording & Expressing “Spirit of Place”

Sunday, May 7, 2017, 9am – 3pm
Pepperwood Preserve
2130 Pepperwood Preserve Road
Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Meet at the Bechtel House
$45 per participant ($40 for members)
For ages 13 and up

Explore plein air painting with artist and Santa Rosa Junior College instructor Marsha Connell. Deepen your naturalist and artist observational skills. Express your responses to Pepperwood’s verdant and blossoming spring landscape. Open to beginning painters, who will learn basics of working in the field, and experienced painters, who may expand their repertoire and enjoy support for finding their own voice. Demonstrations will be given in oil and pastel,  but students may use any drawing or painting media of their choice.

Marsha’s approach to landscape painting conveys the spirit of place and evokes the mood of the inner landscape. Marsha has also taught at Sonoma State University and at a variety of other venues in the US, Mexico and France.

A suggested materials list will be sent upon registration.

Reserve your spot

Painting Iconic Rural Landscapes

Saturday May 13, 2017, 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM
Class level: All levels
Class Size: 6-15
$60 per person, $45 per Sonoma Land Trust member

Learn how to convey the spirit of place and embody the rhythms and forms of the landscape in this plein air painting workshop at Sonoma Land Trusts’ legendary Laufenburg Ranch near Calistoga. Beginning and longtime artists alike can benefit from Marsha’s expertise and extensive history of teaching, which brings out the joy of the creative process.

Enjoy a day in the bucolic setting of Laufenburg Ranch in Knight’s Valley. Create a record of your experience, which might include the magnificent 1883 barn, native oaks, old orchards, creek and hillsides, even Mt St Helena, by painting in the field. Explore gesture, shape, composition, light and shadow. Beginning artists: learn the basics of using painting materials and composing images. Experienced painters: expand your repertoire of painting techniques and visual approaches, realist, tonalist, impressionist, expressionist. Demonstrations will be given in oil and pastel, but you may use any drawing or painting media of your choice.

Materials Required: You will be able to do this with simple minimal supplies, for example, just black and white or three primary colors (red, yellow, blue) of oil or acrylic, and one brush, or a basic small set of pastels, or any materials you may already have.

Sign up here

3 Art Receptions for 3 Great Events

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artists, California, community, Environment, flowers, gallery, garden, inspiration, joy, nature, originals, reflections, spirit, weekends

Sunday, October 23, 2-5 pm, La Crema Estate at Saralee’s Vineyard

La Crema Estate at Saralee’s Vineyard, 3575 Slusser Road, Windsor, CA, is hosting an Artists’ Reception, welcoming collectors, aficionados and friends to view the Estate’s permanent collection of artwork, and a revolving exhibit changing seasonally, through our partnership with Healdsburg Center for the Arts. We are currently featuring fourteen large expressive landscape drawings and paintings by Marsha Connell. (Exhibit dates August 15-January 15) View and purchase the art online.

Our permanent collection highlights a diverse selection of local artists, including James Armstrong, Elaine Greenwood, Chris Henry, Cari Hernandez, Dusanka Kralj, Benjamin Owen, and Paula Strother.

We invite you to enjoy these fabulous artworks, and light hors d’oeuvres expertly paired with La Crema’s acclaimed wines, including selections only available at the Estate, in a panoramic vineyard setting.  

              RSVP appreciated: marsha@marshaconnell.com

Friday, October 21, 6-7:30 pm,  Sebastopol Center for the Arts

A Cabin Above a Lake began as a demo for AWS (Art Workshop of Western Sonoma County), just last month, inspired by small plein air paintings from our recent East Coast annual summer sojourn. As Helen Frankenthaler once said, ” I had the landscape in my arms when I painted it. I had the landscape in my mind and shoulder and wrist.” After revisiting it in my studio, I entered the painting in this juried exhibit, and am pleased that juror Sukey Bryan selected it, (along with about 56 other works from a pool of almost 700 entries).  Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 282 High Street. Exhibit dates: Oct 21 – Nov 27, 2016. I’d be pleased if you joined me at the Artists’ reception for YOUR LANDSCAPE.  

Saturday, October 22,  6 pm – 8 pm, History Museum of Sonoma County

Reception for  Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Altars. This exhibition brings together altars created by community members, festive artwork and three-dimensional sculpture associated with the Day of the Dead celebration. I am honored that Peter Perez requested that my painting, Thinking About Bonnard, from my Murder of Crows series, be included in his altar against violence.

Exhibit runs October 18 – November 27.

The reception in the History Museum of Sonoma County is concurrent with a reception in the adjacent Art Museum of Sonoma County, for Faith Ringgold: An American Artist featuring storyquilts, works on paper, tankas, soft sculpture, and original illustrations.

Exhibit runs October 23 – January 29.

Art Trails Open Studios – My Plein Air Suitcase

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artists, California, conversations, Environment, flowers, gallery, garden, home, inspiration, journeys, large works, map, mountain, nature, ocean, originals, small works, Sonoma county, studio, suitcase, weekends

It will be as easy as 1-2-3 to find my studio the next 2 weekends. It’s #123 on the Art Trails map. 10am-5pm. Come see what came out of my suitcase from my recent plein air painting journeys, West Coast to East, ocean to mountain, and back home in Sonoma county, and how it inspires studio work. Drawings, pastels, oils, watercolors. Small works to large. Hope to see you!

Here’s a great map of most of the artists in the Northeast Santa Rosa area participating in Art Trails. #123 is just about in the middle.

Landscape Painting at Pepperwood Preserve. May 15

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abstract sensibility, art, brushstrokes, California, colorist, demonstrate, en plein air, Expressionism, Impressionism, joy, landscapes, Marsha Connell, nature, observation, oils, painterly, painters, paintings, Pepperwood Preserve, Realism, Sonoma county, voice, watercolor, weekends, wildflowers, workshop

There are just a few spots left. Sign up by Thursday May 12 noon!
Landscape Painting: Observation and Expression. Sunday, May 15, 9am – 3pm
Only $45 per participant ($40 for members)!
Ages 13+
Explore plein air painting with me! Deepen your observational skills and express your responses to Pepperwood’s verdant and blossoming spring landscape. The continuing rains have gifted us with wildflower joy this year!
Beginning painters: learn basics of working in the field. Experienced painters: expand your repertoire with elements of realism, impressionism, expressionism, with support for finding your own voice. Demonstrations in oil but you may use any media.

STEM to STEAM

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art, artists, California, class, collaboration, drawing, journaling, landscapes, Marsha Connell, Mt. St. Helena, naturalist, nature, observation, paintings, Pepperwood Preserve, science, Sonoma county, STEAM

Go left to science, right for art

By Sandi Funke, Education Director

Posted on http://www.pepperwoodpreserve.org/2016/03/29/go-left-to-science-right-for-art/

March 29, 2016 Categories: Blog, Education 1

When I was a student in high school back in the *throat-clearing* 1980’s, our fully enclosed Midwestern high school had “wings.” All of the humanities and language classes were upstairs. Downstairs to the left there was a long winding hallway which housed the science classrooms. These halls always smelled a little funky and to me, they represented hands-on, relevant learning. Way at the other end of school were the hallways where the visual arts classes happened. I often craned my neck looking at the desktop easels to get a glimpse of what those classes were working on. I have always LOVED to draw, but in high school, drawing and painting weren’t “college prep” classes so I didn’t take many of them. I took so many science classes however, that they added up to 6 years of high school science.

What if things had been different?

STEM represents the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. STEM seeks to integrate these subjects while focusing on solving real-world problems in education and research. The STEM to STEAM movement, led by the Rhode Island School of Design, adds “Art and Design to the national agenda of STEM education and research in America. STEM + Art = STEAM”. The objective is to “foster the true innovation that comes with combining the mind of a scientist or technologist with that of an artist or designer.”

How would our world be different if artists and art were regularly included in scientific endeavors?

STEAM in our Own Backyard
Last year, Sonoma State University took the creative step of integrating authentic natural sounds with music and dance. With training from nationally known bioacoustics expert Dr. Bernie Krause, students from SSU recorded a diversity of sounds in the field at SSU’s Fairfield Osborne and Galbreath Wildlands Preserves. The recordings were given to composer Jesse Olsen Bay, who created an original composition. Choreographers Christine Cali and Kristen Daley and dance students used the original score to explore the sounds and create a dance performance. The collaboration was shared with the public last fall. Check it out here.

Art and Science Merge at Pepperwood
Collaboration is also central to the relationship between Santa Rosa Junior College visual artist and instructor Marsha Connell and biology instructor Shawn Brumbaugh. Marsha and Shawn discovered their common interests through co-teaching the Natural History of Pepperwood course, which certifies participants as UC California Naturalists. This course, which served as the pilot for the now state-wide program, emphasizes sketching, nature journaling, and practicing deep observation as fundamental skills for naturalists of all experience levels.

Marsha and Shawn will be presenting a Discover Nature lecture entitled The Synergy of Art and Science – Perspectives of Pepperwood on April 1^st, 2016. Through lush slides of artistic renderings of the environment and its inhabitants, they will discuss the relationship between art and science including the historical importance of sketching in documenting scientific inquiry. Click here for more info on the lecture.

Later in the season, you can deepen your own observational skills and express your responses to Pepperwood’s verdant and blossoming spring landscape through a Landscape Painting class with Marsha on May 15^th, 2016. Click here to learn more about this class.

Go Left to Science, Right for Art, April 1 Pepperwood Preserve

Tags

abstract sensibility, art, brushstrokes, California, colorist, drawing, landscapes, Marsha Connell, nature, oils, painterly, paintings, Pepperwood Preserve, Sonoma county, watercolor

DISCOVER NATURE
The Synergy of Art and Science:
Perspectives of Pepperwood
This Friday, April 1, 2016
6:30pm open house, 7pm lecture

Come with all your senses tuned in for a lecture and visual tour of Pepperwood’s 3,200 acre preserve that explores the synergy of art and science. Shawn Brumbaugh, Santa Rosa Junior College biology instructor joins artist and art instructor Marsha Connell on a painting and drawing journey observing and interpreting Pepperwood’s majestic landscapes. Our presenters will also discuss the historical importance of sketching in documenting scientific inquiry. Click here for more info.

Sandi Funke, Education Director at Pepperwood Preserve, wrote an excellent blog post about STEM to STEAM, and the valuable wholeness of the relationship between art and science. http://www.pepperwoodpreserve.org/2016/03/29/go-left-to-science-right-for-art/

Marsha Connell demonstrates painting at Pepperwood Preserve

MARSHA CONNELL’S ART EVENTS Late 2015-2016

Tags

art, California, drawing, gallery, landscapes, nature, paintings, Pepperwood Preserve, Sonoma county

MARSHA CONNELL’S
ART EVENTS:
Exhibits, Talks, Workshops
December 2015-October 2016

Questions, purchases or commissions, workshops: contact sponsoring organization or marshaconnell.wordpress.com/contact   or   marsha@marshaconnell.com

Now through December 31, 2015
History Museum of Sonoma County  – Gift Shop
A COLLECTION OF MY PAINTINGS, PRINTS AND CARDS
425 7th St, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Tuesday – Sunday, 11am-5pm

February 20, 2015-January 30, 2016
Sonoma West Medical Center
SONOMA LANDSCAPES: FOUR ARTISTS
501 Petaluma Avenue, Sebastopol, CA
Open 24 hours

November 20-January 16, 2016. Sonoma County Art Trails Gallery at Corrick’s and My Daughter the Framer www.corricks.com
SONOMA COUNTY ART TRAILS GROUP EXHIBIT “INSPIRED BY NATURE” co-sponsored by Pepperwood Preserve.
637 4th St, Santa Rosa, California (707) 546-2424

November 6 – January 3, 2016
The OCA Gallery at Occidental Center for the Arts occidentalcenterforthearts.org
ENERGY MATERIALIZED. Sculptures by Bruce Johnson and Riis Burwell. Abstract paintings juried by Healdsburg gallery owner Paul Mahder. (Honorable mention painting award.) Open F, Sa 11-4, Su 12:30-4:30, by appt and during events. 3850 Doris Murphy Ct., Occidental.

January 9-February 7, 2016
Sebastopol Center for the Arts http://sebarts.org
CALIFORNIA WATERMEDIA EXHIBIT
Juried By Christopher Schink (Merit award)
282 S. High Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472  707.829.4797
Hours: Tuesday – Friday 10am – 4pm / Saturday & Sunday 1 – 4pm

January 22 –March 14, 2016
Dutton-Goldfield Winery www.duttongoldfield.com
COAST AND COUNTRYSIDE: MARSHA CONNELL’S
PLEIN AIR LANDSCAPES OF SONOMA, MENDOCINO and MARIN
Artist’s reception Sunday January 24, 1 pm – 3 pm
3100 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472

Friday, April 1, 2016. 7 pm lecture. Open house 6:30 pm, Dwight Center
Pepperwood Preserve www.pepperwoodpreserve.org/
DISCOVER NATURE: THE SYNERGY OF ART AND SCIENCE Come with all your senses tuned for a lecture and visual tour of Pepperwood’s 3,200 acre preserve. Shawn Brumbaugh, Santa Rosa Junior College biology instructor joins artist Marsha Connell on a painting and drawing journey observing and interpreting Pepperwood’s majestic landscapes and discussing the historical importance of sketching to document scientific inquiry.

April 16–17, 2016
Mendocino Art Center www.mendocinoartcenter.org/
LIVELY PASTELS: A COLORFUL EXPLORATION
Instructor: Marsha Connell
Pastels are one of the purest forms of artists’ colors. We’ll explore energetic, “painterly” approaches to using these beautiful pigments while learning about pastel techniques and materials.

Sunday, May 15, 2016, 9 am – 3 pm
Pepperwood Preserve www.pepperwoodpreserve.org
LANDSCAPE PAINTING WORKSHOP: OBSERVATION AND EXPRESSION
Deepen observational skills and express your responses to Pepperwood’s blossoming spring landscape. Explore plein air painting with artist in residence Marsha Connell. Beginning painters learn basics of working in the field. Experienced painters expand your repertoire with support for finding your own voice. Demonstrations in oil but you may use any media.

Wednesday October 5, 1 pm – 2:45 pm
Artists Round Table www.artsoco.org
DEMONSTRATION: PASTEL INTO OIL
Santa Rosa Veterans Building, 3850 Maple Street.

October 8, 9, 15, 16
SONOMA COUNTY ART TRAILS OPEN STUDIOS
www.sonomacountyarttrails.org
My studio is also open year round by appointment.
Studio location: 2180 Beverly Way, Santa Rosa, 95404

 

Setting up that tasty pastel palette, some technical details

Tags

art, California, cards, Coastal, demonstrate, discussing, drawing, en plein air, Mendocino Art Center, October, open studios, paintings, pastel, Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, techniques, watercolor, weekends, workshop

There will be color hors d’oeuvres and tasty demos of pastel and watercolor at noon each day of my open studio (click for catalog page), Oct 10, 11, 17, 18. Click for map.

I’ve always loved an essay by Henry Miller in “Paint as You Like and Die Happy” about hungry painters discussing the juicy names of colors like hors d’oeuvres!

Here’s the container for my tasty new pastel palette. Good enough to eat?!
I researched many pastel boxes and easels ’til settling on this Heilman backpacking box. I might like a larger box, but not a heavier one. Then I made a switch from my trusty but weighty French easel to an old camera tripod, attaching a “quick release” gadget from the photo store (Glad I brought my filled pastel box and tripod along to work it out.), inserting the Heilman metal easel into the two pre-drilled holes in the opened pastel box. This, theoretically, lightened the potential load by 6 pounds. I attach my Bestbrella to the tripod legs. I can carry all into a deep backpack.

My new plein air pastel set up is a work in progress. It was a dramatic move to peel and break off chunks from my collections of many years, stored in several kinds of boxes, mostly Unison, Rembrandt, Nupastel, Sennelier, with additional samples from Terry Ludwig, Diane Townsend, Schmincke, and more. Sometimes I’ve bought pastels in sets, when they come in their own box, sometimes by the stick. Creating and recreating order after making each painting, light to dark, warm to cool, more or less, and cleaning the pastels to let their color shine through and speak with each other, is an intellectual, meditative and time-taking experience.

  I had my misgivings about the stability of this set-up. So far it held up well painting during Mendocino Open Plein Air, which was a week of extraordinarily calm and sunny coastal weather. http://www.mendocinoartcenter.org/pleinair.

The blue flag was for viewers to find the “celebrity artists”. I was the pastel specialist, a good motivation for setting a deadline to reorganize. And two weeks before I taught a Mendocino Art Center workshop “Lively Pastels”. I’ll teach this again April 16-17, 2016.

It’s harder to detach the box than to set up. Inside, I use a table and/or a studio easel and keep carrying pastel paintings outside to knock off the extra dust between layers.

• 

  Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino Open Paint Out – September 7-12, 2015

  mendocinoartcenter.org

  You might enjoy seeing more examples of pastel set-ups and conversation among artists here: Pastel Society of America
  Adrian Frankel Giuliani
  Yesterday at 1:22pm
  that would be Oct 3, 2015
   

A Tasty Palette: Sample My New Pastels and Oils at My Open Studio

Tags

art, California, Coastal, Corrick's, drawing, gallery, landscapes, Mendocino Art Center, nature, October, oils, open studios, painterly, pastel, Sonoma county, watercolor, weekends

Come sample the dishes that are emerging from my tasty new pastel palette!

MARSHA CONNELL
OPEN STUDIO and SALE #47
October 10-11, 17-18 10am-5pm

Sonoma County Art Trails

New plein air paintings in oil, pastel and watercolor from Northern CA and the Adirondacks

Also art from my collections will be available, some at special prices for my friends and collectors, as I make space for new work, as well as reduce inventory for a potential move. . . . no, we haven’t found just the right place yet and are still looking, especially in west Sonoma County.

This pastel, “Illumination”, painted last month while I was a “celebrity artist” at the Mendocino Open Paintout, can be seen when you visit  my studio.

This pastel, “Headlands West, 3”, can be seen when you visit the Art Trails exhibit at Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Notice the warm feelings of perfect summer days on the Pacific coast, compared with the cooler Adirondack oils below.

SONOMA COUNTY ART TRAILS PREVIEW EXHIBITION

at THE ART TRAILS GALLERY AT CORRICK’S
and MY DAUGHTER THE FRAMER
637 Fourth Street, Downtown Santa Rosa
Reception: Friday, October 2, 5-7pm
Presented by Corrick’s / My Daughter the Framer / Sebastopol Center for the Arts

Enjoy a celebration of creativity with the work of over 80 artists!
Preview here, then select your favorite studios to visit during
the Art Trails weekends, October 10, 11, 17, 18.

Exhibition Dates: Friday, October 2 – Saturday, November 14, 2015

These Adirondack oils, painted this June, sometimes under umbrellas in the rain (imagine that, my drought stricken West Coast friends) at the Publisher’s Invitational Paintout at Paul Smith’s College, can be seen at the Art Trails Gallery at Corricks.

 “Clearing”

“Vivid Darkening” “Rainy River”