Next PSST Meeting September 10, 9:00 am, 1414 Wirt Road, Houston

As we head back into meetings after our summer break, here's an uplifting and timely blog post by Rich Nelson on being part of an art group and the value of working from life. "One of my favorite things is having an artist’s group which meets regularly. While most of us spend a lot of time alone creating art, nearly everyone is a social creature too. We naturally benefit from being around others." Read the rest of Let's Work Together.

And a how-to from Marla Baggetta on how to make your own pastel tray for home.

"One of the most important factors to displaying art well is space. When displaying artwork I have found that it is important to give artwork room to breathe. It is also important to give the viewer room to step back," says Jason Horejs, owner of Xanadu Gallery in Santa Fe and writer of the Red Dot Blog. And what better title could a gallery owner give to his blog!

In his article Effective Art Display, Jason develops ideas about space, flow, and lighting. These all apply whether hanging paintings on your walls at home, holding an open studio tour, or most importantly in exhibiting. Click the link to read the full article. You could also subscribe to his blog.

How strong is your painting. You think it looks great, or you are having problems with it? Either way, the test is how it stands up as black and white.

Use any of these tools, and you will probably find your answer: Notan, value studies in charcoal or black markers, iphone's Value Viewer app, Gray Scale & Value Finder by The Color Wheel Company, Edgmon Art's red plastic viewer.

Contributors to the blog of Oil Painters of America write really good articles, whatever medium you use. Rich Nelson writes The Value of Value, with this little excerpt: 

• It’s quite a revelation. I will wager that nearly any painting that you love will look good in black and white. The values are like a great skeleton on which the painting hangs. And sadly the inverse is also true; when a painting isn’t rocking your world you’ll often find that it doesn’t hold up well in grayscale either.
  

Tap the link to read the full article and see examples. Worth the time.