Featured Artist, Karen Frattali

This week's featured artist is Karen Frattali, WSA, BWS, PWCS. 

Karen Frattali teaching a workshop

Karen Frattali has decades of experience as a successful artist and popular art teacher. Karen teaches around the Middle Atlantic states for numerous art groups, competes in national competitions and is the past President of the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society. 

She has achieved signature status is several of the country’s watercolor organizations. A complete biography appears on her website: www.karenfrattali.com. 

Over the years she has been honored to participate in the juried events of the Philadelphia Watercolor Society, Baltimore Watercolor Society, Louisiana Watercolor Society, Lancaster County Nat’l Juried Show, Berks Art Alliance Nat’l Juried Show, Watercolor Society of Alabama, Georgia Watercolor Society, Kentucky Watercolor Society and others. 

During her tenure as art teacher, she has guided many artists to become accomplished painters themselves. 

Karen will be teaching a class on floral painting next week at my studio in Kennett Square! 

Karen Frattali

Summer classes at my studio in Kenett Square, Pennsylvania are going on now. As always, classes are every Thursday, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. Rain Date for each class is the next day -- Friday. New this year, we have our classes outdoors on the spacious patio! There are only a couple more classes left this summer, so be sure to sign up while it's still available. 

• Each artist will have their own table and patio umbrella. 
• Tables are 9 feet apart.
• Masks or face shields are required.
• Social Distancing will be enforced.
• Frequent hand washing and sanitizing will be encouraged. 

Guest teachers this year include Yvonne Mucci, Karen Berstler, and Karen Frattali. This is a special opportunity for art students to expand their knowledge and skills by studying with the region's most popular and respected art teachers. Class size is limited, so send me an email to reserve your space. See the full schedule in on the workshops page of my website. Each 3 hour class is $45 per person.

Etiquette for Online meetings, classes, webinars

There are a lot of web platforms that we artists can use to host online events like Board meetings, webinars, demonstrations, classes, and workshops. Zoom, Hangouts, Rooms, GoToMeetings, and Teams are the most popular, and are very easy to use. However, some people are still challenged by technology and have difficulty using it. I’d like to remind everyone that they need to practice using these platforms BEFORE they try to join a meeting or other event. I know it’s very frustrating when you are trying to access the event and you find out you can’t make your video or audio work, or you don’t know how to enlarge a screen, or even how to log in. If you think that’s frustrating, imagine how it feels for everyone else in the event who has to wait while you’re trying to figure it all out, or have to listen and watch while waiting as the host painfully tries to teach you how to solve your technical dilemmas. Everyone wants you to be able to attend the event, but don't expect the host or teacher to delay or even stop the event, just because one person hasn't learned how to use the platform. 

Here’s some simple little guidelines to follow:

·        Practice using the platform before the event.
·        Download any software that you need beforehand, create your user profile, and make sure you can log in.

•      Use an Ethernet cable instead of wifi to connect to the internet to ensure your best connection.

·        Learn how to enable your audio and video on the platform.
•     Learn how to adjust the volume on your device so you can hear other speakers. 
·        Learn how to enable your microphone and camera on your device (laptop, phone, etc) that you are using.
·        Learn how to send and receive messages on the platform.
·        Learn how to share attachments, documents, photos, screens, etc.

Besides learning how the platform works, you also need to practice some basic online etiquette.

1. ·        Mute your microphone when you are not speaking. Every time. No exceptions. Seriously! NO EXCEPTIONS! 
2. ·        Turn off your camera if you leave your seat, or if you need to do anything that will be visually distracting to the other participants.
3. ·        Don’t disrupt the host, teacher, leader, etc., by asking for technical help during the event. You should have practiced and figured it out beforehand. 
4. ·        Unless you are the host, teacher, leader, etc., don’t dominate the event. Don’t talk out of turn or interrupt. It’s just rude.
5. ·        Unless you are asked to do so, don’t talk about yourself excessively, take us on any video tours, introduce your family or pets to the group, etc. Online events usually have limited time constraints, and there may not be time for much personal chat that is unrelated to the event.  

All of these are relatively simple things to do. If you find you can’t do them, then get someone to come help you or don’t sign up for the online event. It’s really that simple. The host is not responsible for teaching you how to use the platform, nor are your fellow participants. Think of it this way: If you sign up for a class at your local community center, would you expect the teacher to come to your house and personally carry you to the class? No – you would get there yourself and expect the teacher to teach you after you’ve arrived and settled in your seat. Well, the same applies to these online platforms. You need to be able to get there, on time, and be able to do whatever is expected of you. 

All these same guidelines also apply to online meetings. If you plan on attending a meeting online, please learn how to do it before the meeting! Even more important, if you can’t fulfill your office in an organization because you are unable to learn how to participate in an online meeting, then PLEASE resign from that position. It’s not fair to the other members of the Board, nor to the organization, if you are repeatedly late or missing meetings, or if you’re constantly disrupting the meetings because you can’t learn how to turn on your microphone. If you can’t participate, then you shouldn’t be on the Board. You can find other ways to volunteer that better suit your skills.  

The use of virtual online platforms is not going to go away, it is only going to increase. It's bringing us closer together and it's allowing all of us to reach a broader audience by removing geographic restrictions. It’s not that hard to use an online platform, but they all require a little bit of practice. Fortunately, most of them offer basic services for free, and that means we can all practice on them as much as we need. 

Featured Artist Karen Berstler!

This week's featured artist is Karen Berstler, PWCS! Karen is an award winning watercolorist living in northern Delaware. She teaches painting and drawing at the Newark Art Alliance and other venues throughout the region.

Although well versed in many mediums and genres, Karen is best known for her stunning portraits and figurative paintings. She excels at capturing the likeness of her subjects and depicting the play of light and shadow on the human form.

She is a graduate of Kutztown University with a BFA in Painting and she is a Signature Member of the Philadelphia Watercolor Society.

Her Artist Statement:
"I believe that art can be thought provoking and yet still beautiful. I feel my purpose is to share the truths and insights that I learn through my continuous and insatiable curiosity and ultimately leave the space I occupy more beautiful than it was when I got here. I have always been fascinated with people and their personal stories and what makes us all tick as human beings. If I were a writer I would write about people. If I were a singer I would sing songs about people. I am a painter. So, I paint people. Often I paint images of children. I call them “kinetic portraits” because I like to use poses and compositions that are not contrived and almost candid. And with kids, motion is almost always involved. I want you to see as much of their genuine nature as possible. I also paint likenesses of women. They could be described as self-portraits though not in the literal sense. I take my personal experiences and try to convey what I have learned as 'truth' and show our collective human experience. I use color, body language and composition to help convey the emotion of these experiences. With each one my intention is to show you that what you are seeing, while my truth, is also a part of yourself, no matter how small a part or how temporary."

Karen Berstler will be teaching a class on drawing hands and painting skin tones this Thursday, July 23, at our studio in Kennett Square! 

Summer classes at my studio in Kenett Square, Pennsylvania start on July 9th. As always, classes are every Thursday for 7 weeks. 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. Rain Date for each class is the next day -- Friday. New this year, we will have our classes outdoors on the spacious patio!

• Each artist will have their own table and patio umbrella. 
• Tables are 9 feet apart.
• Masks or face shields are required.
• Social Distancing will be enforced.
• Frequent hand washing and sanitizing will be encouraged. 

Guest teachers this year include Yvonne Mucci, Karen Berstler, and Karen Frattali. This is a special opportunity for art students to expand their knowledge and skills by studying with the region's most popular and respected art teachers. Class size is limited, so send me an email to reserve your space. See the full schedule in on the workshops page of my website. Each 3 hour class is $45 per person.

Summer Watercolor Classes!

Summer watercolor classes started last week at my Kennett Square Studio! This year is slightly different, as all classes are being held outside on the spacious patio.

Each artist their own umbrella table to work at, and the tables are set up 9 feet apart to give everyone plenty of extra room. We are following "Restaurant Rules," meaning that masks may be removed as long as one remains seated and distant. Masks must be worn if someone wants to leave their seat.

Lots of shade, ice cold drinks, and a few fans plugged in made it comfortable to paint outside. A hand washing station is set up outside at the spigot, and hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes and cans of spray were placed at the entrance and in the bathroom.

Everyone enjoyed this week's lesson, in which we explored color theory as we painted a seascape from photos and changed up the colors.

Yvonne Mucci, BWS, will be the guest teacher for the next class! We accept reservations right up until each class starts. Send me an email if you want to join us, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, Thursday. Each class is $45 per person, per day. Sign up for one, two, or as many classes as you like, and only pay for a class after you arrive.

More Juried Show Acceptances!

I'm absolutely over the moon with joy to receive two letters of acceptance into juried exhibits this week! Good thing I ordered more shipping boxes!

Toes in the Water, 14x20 watercolor by Annie Strack

My painting "Toes in the Water" is juried into the Montana Watercolor Society 38th National Juried Exhibit. I will be framing it and shipping it off to the show in Montana for August.

Portrait of Chris, 20x14 Watercolor by Annie Strack

And this painting, "Portrait of Chris," is juried into the Alaska Watercolor Society 46th National Juried Exhibit.