I can't wait until Art Jam. My friend Tricia hosts the best art party. Once or twice a year artists and art lovers from the DC and Northern Virginia (and maybe a few Marylanders) come to her studio for the party. But you know what happens when artists get together? We tend to talk about art 90% of the time. We share ideas on workshops, technique, tools and materials, competitions, how to exhibit, how to sell and how to be represented. At Art Jam last year I even sold a painting, all while having a super time and meeting lots of other artists and buyers. Her studio was mobbed, like a party hosted by Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" Ok, I am exaggerating, but the party turns out lots of people. Fun, fun!
Friday, December 18, 2009
ART JAM
I can't wait until Art Jam. My friend Tricia hosts the best art party. Once or twice a year artists and art lovers from the DC and Northern Virginia (and maybe a few Marylanders) come to her studio for the party. But you know what happens when artists get together? We tend to talk about art 90% of the time. We share ideas on workshops, technique, tools and materials, competitions, how to exhibit, how to sell and how to be represented. At Art Jam last year I even sold a painting, all while having a super time and meeting lots of other artists and buyers. Her studio was mobbed, like a party hosted by Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" Ok, I am exaggerating, but the party turns out lots of people. Fun, fun!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Portrait Society VA & DC Holiday Party
Thanks to Petra Gerber for hosting this year's Portrait Society of America VA and DC Holiday Party. The food was superb and the company warm. With so many things to eat we were all stuffed. Petra made her famous German braided bread, beef and potato salad. There were many other things to eat including lots of dessert treats (the pecan brittle was to die for). We nibbled and talked late into the evening. Her Christmas decorations were beautiful and so were her watercolors, which she had throughout her house.
Unfortunately I didn't remember to take photos until the very end of the party, so I didn't get the full group.
It was a great time!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Truffles!!!!
I love art.....even food art! For years, I've wanted to learn how to make chocolate truffles. So, I took a course with a great instructor Meghan Ferry. The course was held at Fran's Bakery Supplies in Fairfax.
You definitely need the right equipment and top quality ingredients, but otherwise it's not hard. It takes two days to make truffles because of the cooling time and the fact that everything is done by hand one (okay sometimes two) at a time. There are definitely techniques to practice to get the truffles looking even better, but I think they look extremely professional on my first try. I definitely took my time finishing the truffles so they look their best! Here's what we made (from left to right):
Amaretto truffles: amaretto flavored ganauche filled chocolate shell, hand dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in crushed sliced almonds.
White chocolate cherry truffles: white chocolate with kirchweisser and dried cherry ganauche in white chocolate shell, hand dipped in white chocolate covered in croquant.
Dark chocolate truffles: hand rolled dark chocolate ganuache, dipped in dark chocolate and covered in chocolate sprinkles.
Grand marnier truffles: hand rolled grand marnier ganuache, doubled dipped in milk chocolate and drizzled with dark choc.
Marshmallow smores lollipops (back): toasted marshmallows, dipped in dark chocolate and covered in graham crackers.
Yummmmmm!!! There is a whole circle of pastry/chocolate artistans who go to the conferences and workshops and study with masters, just like us oil painters. I wonder if they have "cooking jams" like Tricia Ratliff's "artist jam"?!!! This might be a whole new artistic outlet for me. Next to conquer fondant and gumpaste flowers....a truly amazing art form.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
My Oil Painting Course Starts January 7, 2010
I will be teaching another oil painting course this winter at ArtSpace. The course begins January 7, 2010. This class will focus on how to begin and finish a painting. Starting with toning the canvas and drawing the subject, students move quickly into laying thick alla prima layers of light and shadow colors. This will be followed with refinements to value, color and drawing in a series of thick paint and thin glazes. Work will be done from your photos or a still life set-up. I also anticipate having a live model for two sessions to explore portraiture. Recommended for beginning and intermediate artists who want to improve the realistic appearance of their work. Adults and teens welcome. Separate model required. Materials list available upon registration.
Dates and Time: January 7 - March 4, 2010
Thursdays 7-10pm
Location: Classes will be held at ArtSpace Herndon, 750 Center Street, Herndon, VA 20170. (703)956-6590
Cost for 8 sessions is $187.
To Register email me at: info@vickiblum.com or contact ArtSpace Herndon at 703/956-6590
To Register email me at: info@vickiblum.com or contact ArtSpace Herndon at 703/956-6590
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Sherrie McGraw Workshop in Northern Virginia - April 2010
Exiting News. I contacted Sherrie McGraw http://www.sherriemcgraw.com/home.html about teaching a portrait and still life workshop (yes! both genres in one workshop) April 26 -29 (or even extended to the 30th) 2010. That is the week immediately following the Portrait Society of America Conference in Reston, VA. The workshop will be held in Northern Virginia, most likely in Herndon, about 3-5 miles away from Reston.
Here is some preliminary information: The class would be limited to 15 students (or less!). As stated above, the workshop may be 4 or 5 days depending on feedback I get from interested artists.
The 4-day workshop would cost $650 and the 5-day class would be $750. There would be a separate model fee.
I'm taking reservations for slots in the class. If interested in taking the course, please post a comment and let me know whether you would prefer a 4- or 5-day workshop. Also please indicate if you are interested in the portrait or still life option or both (i.e., split your time 50/50). The course will be based on feedback I receive.
I already have seven slots reserved!!!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Article in Connection Newspaper
This article was printed in local Connection Newspaper.
Portrait of an Artist
Once a law student, Vicki Blum is now at the head of the art class. Whether in her Clifton home or a classroom in Herndon or Lorton, Vicki Blum is making the world a brighter place. Using a contrasting palette of warm and cool oil paints, she finds a dab here and a swish there can make a world of difference. A painting teacher for only a short time, Blum divides her time between two of Fairfax County’s newest haven for artists: ArtSpace in Herndon and the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton."What a bonanza for this area," she said of her classrooms and the gallery space they provide for herself and her students. "It’s all really fantastic."The whole Northern Virginia area has an abundance of artistic talent, Blum said, from the artist groups in Great Falls where she got her start, to the Torpedo Factory where she took some early classes. Even in her Clifton backyard, Blum has helped the talent in her own community, helping to coordinate last year’s art show and in the planning of the town’s barn dances each fall for the past several years.BLUM started painting about 12 years ago, when she finished college classes and decided to re-engage in a favorite hobby. "I’ve loved to paint and draw since I was a kid, and I took a few classes in college, but after graduating law school, I realized I wasn’t happy," Blum said. She decided to do something just for her, and shortly thereafter she enrolled in a class at the Art League in Alexandria, better known as the Torpedo Factory. That was the end of her unhappiness. "I started taking one class and never looked back," she said.Soon, Blum was taking masters level courses, traveling for shows and classes and learning how to work through creative dry spells and difficult pieces."We had to do things over and over again and wipe it away and try it again," Blum said. "I became a much faster painter, I got comfortable using bolder strokes."She hopes her students are enjoying her classes as much as she is enjoying teaching them."When I decided to start, it was because folks asked me what they should do to fix their projects," she said. "It was so much fun. I loved looking at a project and saying, ‘OK, this is what you need to do,’ and seeing how the painting came together. I enjoyed the ability to show how not difficult it can be."THE CLASSES IN HERNDON, on Thursday evenings, are for beginning and intermediate painters and center on a particular topic. Blum brings in various objects for her students to paint and helps them when they ask for her advice. In Lorton, the classes are structured a little differently. Students, for the most part, bring in projects they’ve already been working on, and Blum gives advice and offers suggestions to help bring the pieces to completion. She’s especially fascinated with the environment at the Workhouse in Lorton. Some day, when Blum has free time between teaching classes and her full-time job as a mortgage banking lobbyist — she admits it’s been a "complex" job as of late — Blum would like to take a dance class at the Workhouse or branch out to paint landscapes."Every time I drive by the creek in Clifton, I’d like to jump out of my car, set up an easel and paint it," she said. "There’s one area in particular, where the creek bends with fallen trees, but I know people love to paint the General Store."She’d also like to do more portraits, where the strokes aren’t as daring and the real challenge is making the final product resemble the subject."Portraits are very intense and you have to take a concentrated approach," she said. "With a still life, there’s paint flying around. When you do a portrait, you can really enjoy the concept of putting colors down."IN THE MEANTIME, Blum will continue teaching at both facilities and enjoy living in Clifton with her husband, Dave, a lifelong Clifton resident, and their son, David, 7, a student at St. Leo the Great Catholic School in Fairfax.Blum muses that becoming a painter full time is a nice idea, but one of her former classmates and teachers, Kurt Schwarz, is convinced she could make the switch from part-time painter to full-time artist."She’s a very hard worker, very dedicated," said Schwarz, whom Blum met at the Torpedo Factory more than a decade ago. "She’s very talented with her color and her brush work. She’s developed a technique of teaching where she starts a painting in a bit of an earth tone background and makes it work. It’s a very individual style and I’m very proud of her."Schwarz said Blum could very well make a full-time living as an artist if she wanted to, a vote of confidence not many artists will ever hear.While Blum’s students would no doubt support her if she chose to paint full time, they would undoubtedly miss her optimism and sunny disposition."She is the definition of vitality," said Tricia Ratliff, a student in Blum’s Herndon class. "I really think for her, the world is a happy place."Ratliff likes the personal attention she gets from Blum’s classes and the help she’s received on her own projects."I haven’t been able to find a class like this anywhere," she said. "If you’re working on a project for a gallery exhibit, she coaches you to make the outcome more successful."Blum has become a fixture in the Northern Virginia art scene; she is the Maryland and Virginia ambassador to the Portrait Society of America and is currently working on their annual conference in Reston later this spring. She’s already hoping to be invited back to teach at both the ArtSpace in Herndon and the Workhouse in Lorton for the spring sessions."Teaching isn’t something I set out to do, but I really enjoy it," she said.
Portrait of an Artist
Once a law student, Vicki Blum is now at the head of the art class. Whether in her Clifton home or a classroom in Herndon or Lorton, Vicki Blum is making the world a brighter place. Using a contrasting palette of warm and cool oil paints, she finds a dab here and a swish there can make a world of difference. A painting teacher for only a short time, Blum divides her time between two of Fairfax County’s newest haven for artists: ArtSpace in Herndon and the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton."What a bonanza for this area," she said of her classrooms and the gallery space they provide for herself and her students. "It’s all really fantastic."The whole Northern Virginia area has an abundance of artistic talent, Blum said, from the artist groups in Great Falls where she got her start, to the Torpedo Factory where she took some early classes. Even in her Clifton backyard, Blum has helped the talent in her own community, helping to coordinate last year’s art show and in the planning of the town’s barn dances each fall for the past several years.BLUM started painting about 12 years ago, when she finished college classes and decided to re-engage in a favorite hobby. "I’ve loved to paint and draw since I was a kid, and I took a few classes in college, but after graduating law school, I realized I wasn’t happy," Blum said. She decided to do something just for her, and shortly thereafter she enrolled in a class at the Art League in Alexandria, better known as the Torpedo Factory. That was the end of her unhappiness. "I started taking one class and never looked back," she said.Soon, Blum was taking masters level courses, traveling for shows and classes and learning how to work through creative dry spells and difficult pieces."We had to do things over and over again and wipe it away and try it again," Blum said. "I became a much faster painter, I got comfortable using bolder strokes."She hopes her students are enjoying her classes as much as she is enjoying teaching them."When I decided to start, it was because folks asked me what they should do to fix their projects," she said. "It was so much fun. I loved looking at a project and saying, ‘OK, this is what you need to do,’ and seeing how the painting came together. I enjoyed the ability to show how not difficult it can be."THE CLASSES IN HERNDON, on Thursday evenings, are for beginning and intermediate painters and center on a particular topic. Blum brings in various objects for her students to paint and helps them when they ask for her advice. In Lorton, the classes are structured a little differently. Students, for the most part, bring in projects they’ve already been working on, and Blum gives advice and offers suggestions to help bring the pieces to completion. She’s especially fascinated with the environment at the Workhouse in Lorton. Some day, when Blum has free time between teaching classes and her full-time job as a mortgage banking lobbyist — she admits it’s been a "complex" job as of late — Blum would like to take a dance class at the Workhouse or branch out to paint landscapes."Every time I drive by the creek in Clifton, I’d like to jump out of my car, set up an easel and paint it," she said. "There’s one area in particular, where the creek bends with fallen trees, but I know people love to paint the General Store."She’d also like to do more portraits, where the strokes aren’t as daring and the real challenge is making the final product resemble the subject."Portraits are very intense and you have to take a concentrated approach," she said. "With a still life, there’s paint flying around. When you do a portrait, you can really enjoy the concept of putting colors down."IN THE MEANTIME, Blum will continue teaching at both facilities and enjoy living in Clifton with her husband, Dave, a lifelong Clifton resident, and their son, David, 7, a student at St. Leo the Great Catholic School in Fairfax.Blum muses that becoming a painter full time is a nice idea, but one of her former classmates and teachers, Kurt Schwarz, is convinced she could make the switch from part-time painter to full-time artist."She’s a very hard worker, very dedicated," said Schwarz, whom Blum met at the Torpedo Factory more than a decade ago. "She’s very talented with her color and her brush work. She’s developed a technique of teaching where she starts a painting in a bit of an earth tone background and makes it work. It’s a very individual style and I’m very proud of her."Schwarz said Blum could very well make a full-time living as an artist if she wanted to, a vote of confidence not many artists will ever hear.While Blum’s students would no doubt support her if she chose to paint full time, they would undoubtedly miss her optimism and sunny disposition."She is the definition of vitality," said Tricia Ratliff, a student in Blum’s Herndon class. "I really think for her, the world is a happy place."Ratliff likes the personal attention she gets from Blum’s classes and the help she’s received on her own projects."I haven’t been able to find a class like this anywhere," she said. "If you’re working on a project for a gallery exhibit, she coaches you to make the outcome more successful."Blum has become a fixture in the Northern Virginia art scene; she is the Maryland and Virginia ambassador to the Portrait Society of America and is currently working on their annual conference in Reston later this spring. She’s already hoping to be invited back to teach at both the ArtSpace in Herndon and the Workhouse in Lorton for the spring sessions."Teaching isn’t something I set out to do, but I really enjoy it," she said.
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