Snapshots January 8, 2007

Guest Speaker:  Karen Weihs

TAG met on Monday, January 8, 2007, at Forest Lake Park in Columbia, S.C. 

Our guest speaker for January was Karen Weihs.  Karen is a native of Charleston, SC with a BFA from the University of Georgia.  She resides in Cashiers, NC where she teaches two workshops a year at her Skylight Farm.  She paints scenes that move her from inspiration found in the Carolinas.  Her palette continues to evolve.  She is always looking for ways to make one color play against another rather than being representative of what the eye thinks it sees. 

At this meeting, Karen talked about inspiration, what to paint for you, decisive decisions about painting and how to get into the moment with painting and taking actions toward being a good painter.  She discussed her palette choices and "warm" and "cool" colors and how she uses them in her work.  She also talked about  "problem solving" using paintings created by TAG artists who participated in the January workshop.

Karen is a painter by profession and is sometimes annoyed by acquaintances who want to talk about her "hobby".  One humorous moment was when Karen told how she recently sat next to a brain surgeon at a dinner party.  The surgeon told Karen that he was considering taking up painting when he retired from his real job.  Karen replied that she felt the same way - she was thinking about taking up brain surgery when she retired from painting! 

Visit Karen's website for more information about this talented artist and see examples of her work.  www.karenweihs.com

Members Share:  At November's meeting, paintings by the following artists in the Karen Weihs workshop were on display:  Stewart Aleshire, Rita Ruth Cockrell, Meg Gregory, Susan Hawfield, Karen Jamrose, Regina Moody, Blanche Quinn, Beverly Stidham, and Melinda Smith,   David Smith and Frank Nelson also shared paintings with membership. 

Photos courtesy of Jerry Bridgers

Frank presides over the meeting.	It was a packed house.	And everyone was interested in the topic.
Karen introduces the speaker.	Karen Weihs makes opening comments.	Karen discussed her warm and cool pigments.
Karen uses Stewart's painting to show examples of fat paint and problem solving.	Karen was very receptive to questions from the audience.	This artist used acrylics with Karen's techniques.
Karen's palette arrangement - primary on the left and secondary on the right.	Gayle shows Trannie some TAG books.	Meg thanked those who brought refreshements to the meeting.
New member Stacy took Frank's "ribbing" in stride!		Regina Moody discusses upcoming juried show.