LCPS Special Event - FREE ZOOM MEETING JUNE 4TH AT 11am
STUDIO TO SUCCESS presented by Artwork Archive

Hello LCPS Members,

As a follow-up to our March member meeting on Business Planning for Artists, The LCPS board has teamed up with Artwork Archive to bring you a free ZOOM webinar event - Studio to Success presented by Annamieka Hopps.

I have used Artwork Archive for over a year and love it for tracking show deadlines and artwork placement, the professional presentation documents you can create when sharing your portfolio and the very helpful business reports. (I am not compensated in any way for sharing this event with you.)

I have attached more information on this event. The link to register is below. Even if you are unable to attend, you can register and receive the recorded event to watch when it works for your schedule.

Registration link for Wednesday June 4th at 11am Central Time:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6fGylE1rT8eXnvQhYr8u6A

AND they are offering an exclusive link to a 20% lifetime discount on Artwork Archive for Lake Country Pastel Society artists:

https://www.artworkarchive.com/lcps

About Annamieka

Annamieka Hopps is the Product Education Specialist at Artwork Archive, where she demonstrates how effective art business organization enhances creative practice for artists worldwide. As a working artist, muralist, and experienced arts educator, she understands Firsthand, that organization is essential for building sustainable creative careers. This perspective informs her educational webinars for nonprofit arts associations, showing how Artwork Archive's platform transforms administrative challenges into efficient systems. A natural mentor with an engaging presentation style, she has built a reputation for accessible guidance through her numerous online programs since 2017 and as host of The Art Friend Show episodes. Her presentations empower artists with practical knowledge that supports their long-term success while honoring their creative priorities.

Best Regards,

Wendy Peterson
President, Lake Country Pastel Society

May 15, THURSDAY – Lorenzo Chavez Live Demo
New Brighton Community Center room 224, 7pm – 9pm

Lorenzo, our workshop artist, will be giving a live demo of his work and technique. Please note that this is Thursday, not our usual Tuesday meeting day.

Lorenzo Chavez was born and raised in the southern most point of the Rockies in New Mexico. His first inspirations and foundation as a young artist were formed by the local landscape and the art history in New Mexico. Using pastel and oil mediums, his hope is to carry on the art traditions of American painters such as the Taos Society of Artists and the American Impressionists.

Lorenzo is a nationally known Fine Art instructor who has taught numerous workshops across the United States since 1993. Lorenzo is represented by many major fine art galleries and many private and corporate collections both nationally and internationally. Currently there are nine art books featuring his works of art around the world. You don’t want to miss this great opportunity!

July 8 Paint Out, Tuesday from 4pm – 7pm.

This coming July join us for our annual Paint Out, or you may call it our annual plein air event. We are planning our event just north of Forest Lake at Paradise Park. It is located in Chisago City. There is a beautiful lake, wonderful large trees, a beach, shelter, a children’s play area, and of course, bathrooms. You have many options to choose from for an outdoor scene. It will also be a great chance to learn from others about techniques and the process of preparation for outdoor painting itself. Directions are: (Think Taylor’s Falls) Take I-35 to County Road 8, and turn east driving past Wyoming to a street in Chisago City called Olde Towne Road. (Your GPS unit may refer to it as Benet Road.) Take a right turn to Stinson Ave., which is about a block, then you’ll see the sign for Paradise Park and a right turn into the parking lot. Hope to see you there.

Board meetings are held on the first Tuesday of every other month, beginning with January, from 5:30-7:00 via zoom.

Member meetings are the second Tuesday of the same month as the board meeting, from 7-9pm.

At our member meetings we feature guest speakers, demonstrations, materials and equipment information, critiques and exchanges of information and insight to further members' artistic development and our sense of community as a society.

Our meetings are held at the New Brighton Community Center, 400 10th St. NW, New Brighton, MN 55112, in Room 224.

Recap of the March 11 Presentation

Andy Sturdevant from Springboard for the Arts, gave a presentation on how to start your own business. He began with a brief history of his own artistic endeavors, which included working with pastels. He began with the question: Why would you turn your artistic work into a business? It would help to increase your income through sales, not grants. The other question posed was: Am I a hobbyist or professional and why? The difference is how one approaches losing money. As a professional you must create the mind set of making a profit. A professional thinks in terms of NOT losing money.

With the profit motive in mind, one has the option of choosing to be registered as an LLC (LIMITED LIABILITY CORPORATION) or DBA (DOING BUSINESS AS). Your first priority would be to determine a name for you business (and website or other social media platforms). You can do both a state wide search for any business that has that name already, and a national search. This will help you decide on the official name.

Once you have a name, you register first with the state and get a state ID number. Then use that information to acquire your federal ID, or EIN for tax purposes. A busi- ness planning document, or tax planning document helps you manage the business throughput the year. Most sales will require that you pay taxes, so using an e-com- merce website will help you manage those taxes. Cash sales get tricky and it is easier to manage the records using checks, credit cards or doing sales online. It is important to keep track of your monthly list of activities related to your business. It will help you (or whomever does your taxes) at the end of the year. Andy responded to all questions as the discussion continued through the presentation. In the end he handed out a form that was the beginning of a business planning sheet. He also mentioned the services that Springboard offered, all of which were free to artists. He was very encouraging about the whole project. He mentioned that having an email list of your buyers, or people interested in your work, was the best way to encourage future sales of your work.

Recap of the November 12 Presentation by Mandy Madsen

After her introduction, Mandy Madsen gave a brief description of her background and experience in the art of framing. She began her presentation by outlining the basic framing process. She noted that when she frames pastel works of art, she never turns the painting upside down in any of her steps involved. Mandy first described the Matt and how they are mounted inside the frame itself. The frame must have enough space for the matting and backboard of the painting. The Matt can be separated from the glass by spacers. Sometimes the painting is glued directly to the glass, which is called the French style of framing. This technique is used a lot in Museums to minimize the loss of pastel dust over the years. Otherwise, sometimes the bevel is reversed for a pastel painting, so that when dust does fall, it will be caught inside the Matt itself. The frame core is placed up against the Matt and then held in place by a shim. Not all artists want to use a Matt for their paintings. In this case, the spacers are attached to the glass prior to inserting the painting.

It is advisable to do some work on the frame before you begin to place the Matted painting into it. So Mandy always places her screw holes 1/3 of the way down from the top of the painting and drills them ahead of time. She will also measure the wire length ahead of time. Once the painting is secured in the frame, she will place the frame onto her brown backing paper, trace it, and cut the paper slightly larger than her sketched frame. Double stick tape is applied directly to the paper, inside the frame sketch lines. She uses acid-free tape. The frame is attached and the paper edges trimmed from the frame. Now the screws go in and the wire strung through the two hooks. There are three types of glass used, regular, museum glass (which is 95% no glare) and a third type, that is only 77% non-glare, but cheaper, just as effective. for the most part, and used by many artists.

Throughout the presentation she answered all questions, with some of the following comments:

• As a practice, she recommends using a Matt, though it was noted that the trend today was for people to not place a Matt around their large paintings
• The Matt and frame should contrast
• She never frames the painting upside down
• She does have a special glass cutter
• She resorts to Plexiglas once the frame sizes are 40" x 60" or larger

After the formal presentation she gave a demo at the back of the room on how to place the wire and wrap it onto the frame itself properly. Previously cut 8" x 10" double Matts were available for anyone who wanted them. Sample Matts, spacers, tools and frame corners were accessible to view and experiment with in the back of the room as well.

Recap of the October 1 Demo by Lyn Asselta

Lyn began by describing the image she was going to paint in her demo. It was called Kresge Point, along the shores of the Atlantic. It is one of her favorite and isolated points she enjoys going to for contemplation. She wanted to highlight the path that leads one out to Kresge point. The format she chose was to use the vertical position for highlighting the path and the point it leads one to. In the foreground was a lot of grass, but in her drawing, she chose to change that area into more rock formation, and explained how to make the path slightly different to reinforce her intent. As she did her under painting, she explained her process and why she chose the value she did. Then, on a whim, she decided to make the painting a nocturne scene. As she was working, she did answer people’s questions as they came up. It is important to know when to stop. For her, it is recognizing when you are slowing down and taking longer to make a decision. Some of the questions she answered were about the double film sticky paper she uses to set her paper onto a backing. (She uses mostly gator board and a sheet called grafhix.) If she makes small mistakes, she removes them by painting over them. For larger mistakes, there are several options: one can erase it altogether; or possibly turn it into gray by using a complimentary value; or re-balance it somehow so it does not stand out. Her demo was astounding and the final product was very different from the original image. Of course, the painting sold immediately when she was done. Afterwards, many people wandered around to look at the many samples of art work that were either in progress or completed by the workshop attendees.