Art Book of Contemporary Masters

by
Armand Cabrera

There is a sucker born every minute. The quote is attributed to PT Barnum although it has been disputed over the years. Another quote is a fool and their money are soon parted. Both quotes relate to the latest in a series of art books that have cropped up in the last few years asking artists to buy space in their pages.

http://mastersoftoday.com/mot/calls_xyz.htm

These books claim to represent master painters in some genre of painting.  For a fee of anywhere from 1000 to 4000 dollars you can be recognized as such a master. Forget about winning awards or having a successful track record of sales through galleries and shows. Now you can buy your master status. These books usually anchor the images with some quality painters to sell the rest of the books pages. Of course after they are printed no one would admit to paying for something that was given away for free to someone else so everyone will claim their spot was given to them.

I have made the list and receive one of these offers every three or four months, if not more. They of course want me to pay; I guess I’m not anchor material yet.  The good thing is they usually arrive as an email so no trees were directly harmed in the making of this scam.

I guess this new crop of artists don't realize that book publishers pay you to use your art not the other way around. And people wonder whats wrong with the  illustration art market these days.If your work has any value at all people will actually pay you to use it.

These books are nothing more than a new twist on the old vanity press publications, perpetrated to take advantage of large artistic egos attached to small talents. You know who you are… and now everyone else does too. You can hear them chuckling to themselves in the art section of Barnes and Nobles as they look up people they know when these books hit the shelves. 

More From Munnings Out in the Open

by
Armand Cabrera

These are some more images from the A.J.Munnings Show at the Sporting Museum and Library here in Middleburg,Virginia. There are almost 70 paintings in the show even though on the museum website they advertise the show as over fifty. Well worth the drive to see these paintings. The first four paintings are all in oil and the last two are watercolors.

Munnings in Middleburg VA

by
Armand Cabrera

I have written about sir Alfred Munnings before. If you are not familiar with this very talented artist I hope you will take the time to read my previous post here.
The National Sporting Library and Museum  in Middleburg Virginia is hosting an exhibition The Open-Air Works of Alfred Munnings. Over 50 Painting are on display April 21 -August 1 2013, it is free to the public and  the show is accompanied by a 136 page softcover catalog. If you are in driving distance of this show it is not to be missed. This is one of the largest displays of the artists work this side of the Atlantic.

Workshop Tips

By Armand Cabrera

I have been teaching workshops for 15 years now and have been taking workshops for over 20.  My teaching came from a need to share information with other artists that seemed to struggle with the mechanics of painting and the philosophy of professionalism. At my last workshop I heard horrible stories from my students about the lack of professionalism from some artists who are now teaching. I thought I would offer some tips for students on what to look out for when signing up for a workshop.

When I started teaching I made a vow to myself to never repeat the things I saw in some of the workshops I've taken from other artists.  As a student I vet my teachers and call them before I sign up and make sure they are providing a professional service for my money. I suggest you do the same and if you don’t get the answers you like spend your money elsewhere
.
There are a lot of people teaching now, some because of a bad economy and those people are probably not teaching for the right reasons.  If you are taking a workshop there are some things to look out for to make sure you have a good experience and don’t get taken advantage of.

A workshop should have a large well lit venue provided by the teacher or organization that will fit the students and their equipment comfortably. This goes for plein air workshops too. Bad weather is no excuse to not get a painting day in at your workshop. If the teacher or venue hasn't rented such a place for the week, even if they don’t use it, that should be a red flag to a student.

Number of students most people can comfortably teach 10 to 15 students more than that becomes a challenge and takes away from individual attention. If you only see an instructor once during your painting that is another red flag that the instructor is lazy or has too many people in the workshop.

In my workshops I come around to every student at least three times for each painting session. We usually work on two paintings a day. They see me at the start the middle and the finish of each painting so they can get complete guidance on their work.

I always ask if my instructors demo. If they don’t, I don’t take their classes. I don’t care how good they are as a painter; they are a lousy teacher if they can’t actually show you how they do something by doing it in front of students in a workshop setting. It’s another red flag and deal killer for me as a student.

Abusive teaching styles aren't acceptable either. If an instructor is too stupid to explain something without throwing a temper tantrum or being abusive then they should not teach. I have witnessed firsthand some abusive teaching tactics and didn't put up with them; you shouldn't either.

A workshop should be an enlightening experience that invigorates your painting. As a paying customer you have a right to demand a certain level of professionalism from a workshop and teacher. If we hold high standards we will insure we get everything we want.

Painting the Cherry Blossoms

by
Armand Cabrera


Wednesday I got up at 5 am to ride the Metro into DC to paint the Cherry blossoms. I don't go out every year to paint them and I was really looking forward to being there this year. I arrived just as the sun was coming up and hitting the tops of the trees at about 7:30 Am.

The blossoms are very ephemeral and when they start to bloom you only have a few days to capture them if things go well. The weather did not disappoint and it was a beautiful Spring day. Some years the weather is miserable, you never can tell. I have been there painting when it was in the 30's and some years like this year it broke 90.

With two thirds of the Washington monument covered in scaffolding I gave it a pass even though it is one of my favorite subjects on the Mall.

 I started and ended my day with the Jefferson Memorial. The Jefferson Memorial with its round shape, dome and columns is always a fun challenge for a two hour painting.

I painted the boathouse in between the two Memorial paintings. By the time I started the second painting it was standing room only in the more popular spots along the shore.

 I walked the tidal basin twice taking photos for large studio paintings. I finished my third painting by 2 pm,  packed up and headed for the metro before the rush hour mobs. All in all it was a good day and a lot of fun.