Contemporary Realism

Contemporary Realism
Click to see the artist's website

11/21/14

Book Illustration

© Barbara Goodsitt

Over the years I have contributed illustrations to over 17 ESL (English as a Second Language)  workbooks, and text books published by the University of Michigan Press. This is the latest cover I did for an upcoming book.  I enjoyed doing freelance work after being away from it for a couple of years.

11/1/14

3 Day Colored Pencil Workshop in December

Registration is open for my 3 Day Colored Pencil Workshop with Ann Arbor Rec and Ed. 
Date and times are December 9 -11 from 9am to 12 noon.

You can register here online: 




10/25/14

Landscape

© Barbara Goodsitt

All done with this whimsical landscape. I broke many of my personal rules and had fun with many colors!

10/8/14

More work on the landscape

© Barbara Goodsitt


I am still working on this experimental landscape. Here is the current stage.

10/5/14

Ann Arbor Women Artists Exhibition at Community Television Network Studios

Ann Arbor Community Television Network interviewed Ann Arbor Women Artists Vickie Peterson-Michalak and me to mark the hanging our first art show at their studios in October. If you would like to hear the interview, click here for a link.  The interview starts 6:10 minutes into the podcast.

AAWA Exhibition Site Coordinator for CTN -Vickie Peterson-Michalak
& AAWA President Barb Goodsitt
Ann Arbor Community Television is located at
2805 S. Industrial Highway, Suite 200.

9/26/14

A New Landscape

I have a new landscape on my drawing board. My intention is to have fun, play with unusual colors, and keep it light and playful.


© Barbara Goodsitt

9/11/14

Ann Arbor Women Artists

This season is a busy time for me, teaching and serving as President of Ann Arbor Women Artists.

Ann Arbor Women Artists is a very active arts organization with a headquarters that houses studios, classes, programs, and social events. We offer our members exhibition opportunities at various places in Ann Arbor,  including all Sweetwaters Coffee Houses, Esquire Interiors (an interior design center), the NEW Center (offices for local nonprofit groups), The Women's Center, and the Community Television Network studios. We hold 2-3 juried art shows, artist's workshops and artist's demonstrations.  This group is now open to artists of all genders, but the tradition of being a women's group that nurtures women in the arts continues to be our mission.

We offer a Speakers Program which is a series of lectures by artists, curators and art educators. Here is our schedule for the upcoming season:

CLICK TO ENLARGE
Join us !



9/5/14

City Club Art Show

I will be showing my art with several other artists who specialize in colored pencil at the Ann Arbor City Club in September and October.




I was recently asked to write about my art for a local Colored Pencil Society Assoc. Newsletter. Here are some of my thoughts:

My favorite subjects for my colored pencil art are still lifes of produce and flowers. I love the beautiful colors and shapes of produce, and feel grateful for the plentiful bounty of food we have in our country.  There may be other subconscious reasons why I enjoy rendering produce. My husband and I became (mostly) vegetarian many years ago and we have a positive attitude towards fruits and veggies. Also, my late father became a vegetable farmer in his "retirement".   Sometimes I think he might be guiding me to draw vegetables.

I also enjoy drawing Mandalas which are guided by spiritual feelings. They are usually somewhat abstracted circular drawings with symbols, colors, and  patterns.  I combined these two favorite styles when I did a series of produce in circular glass bowls. I have those on my website and also on my Twitter page. I like to work with a circular overlapping stroke most of the time. I occasionally use watercolor pencils, solvents or the Icarus heated drawing board with my colored pencils.

8/28/14

Fall Colored Pencil Classes


I will be teaching Colored Pencil classes  with Washtenaw Community College's Communnity Enrichment Program.  All skill levels are welcome.  We will cover drawing techniques including tonal layering, transferring images, burnishing, using solvents and more!  Some mixed media work too.  Supply lists are available online.  To register online go to:  Washtenaw Community College Community Enrichment.

8/8/14

Floral Fireworks

 Barbara Goodsitt
Here is the finished floral piece that I was working on in July. 

7/16/14

Colored Pencil Floral Still Life

Here are some photos I snapped of floral a piece I am working on now.

I found some time between my new presidential duties with Ann Arbor Women Artists and teaching a workshop, to draw for enjoyment. I was using the technique of layering lighter colors over darker colors, and blending them in using a smooth overlapping oval stroke.   Rendering the distortion of the stems viewed through the water and glass, and the beautiful shapes and colors of the flowers make this an enjoyable project.

© Barbara Goodsitt

© Barbara Goodsitt

6/27/14

Colored Pencil Workshop - Summer of 2014

I just wrapped up teaching a two day work shop with Ann Arbor Continuing Education and Recreation. I usually teach weekly art classes. Compressing a series of lessons into two intense days worked out very well. It was a wonderful experience for all of us! 

My class consisted of a diverse group of students. Each one brought specific talents, ideas, and skills with them.  All seemed to get something out of the workshop.  I received some wonderful thank you emails from the class.  It made my heart swell to feel appreciated and to know that the students were excited about art, creativity, and felt that they had gained competence in their drawing ability. 


6/11/14

110 Degrees in the Shade!

We just returned from Arizona. This is the first time we traveled to the desert in June, a very warm month!   We enjoyed visiting Frank Lloyd Wright 's winter residence/school Taliesin West. We also visited the Arizona State Museum on the campus of the University of Arizona. The Native American pottery collection is outstanding. 

Spire Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright






Boomerang Jar by Hopi/Zuni Potter Les Namingha



Taliesin West 


Native American Pottery Collection 

at the Arizona State Museum


Another view from Taliesin West






5/21/14

Summer Workshop: Creative Drawing with Colored Pencil



Create beautiful art from the point of a pencil. In this two day workshop, you will explore the medium of colored pencil. Learn how to create realistic textures, values and effective compositions. I will demonstrate several techniques including underpaiting, using solvents, burnishing and more. Some drawing experience is helpful.


5/1/14

Progress


Working on deepening the colors and adding more contrast in the metal tray today in the studio.  Slowly making progress on this still life.

4/25/14

Wine glasses (WIP) and some news!

MY NEWS:  I am now President-Elect of the Ann Arbor Womens Artists Organization. It is one of the largest arts groups in Southeast Michigan. After serving on the board in one capacity or another for the past few years, I look forward to serving this group of very active artists over the next 2 years.


ART: I am working on a still life made up of glasses and strawberries on a metal tray. This is over half done. I need to work on the shine of the tray and render the fruit a bit more.  The wine glasses are coming along pretty well, but could use more polishing too. I am challenging myself to develop more complex still life compositions. I will post more of this piece as it nears completion.   I also want to explore a variety of textures and experiment with abstractions.
Thanks for reading….

© Barbara Goodsitt

© Barbara Goodsitt

© Barbara Goodsitt



4/15/14

VegFest and Daryl Hannah

Barb and Daryl Hannah

Check out Daryl Hannah's very cool blog 


This past weekend I attended VegFest Michigan. The headline speaker was Darryl Hannah, who spoke extemporaneously about the many reasons to be vegetarian and try to live a sustainable life style.  She is a very articulate and inspiring speaker.  It is beneficial to our bodies and the planet to eat less meat and consume less fossil fuels.  Ms. Hannah is living off the grid by using solar power and biofuels. Her philosophy is "Love Life".   Being as kind and compassionate as you can has its own reward. It is not easy for people to totally give up a way of eating that has been practiced for centuries by our families and culture, but science shows that better health does result from eating a plant based diet.

Michigan VegFest was attended by thousands of people right here in the heartland of America. More people are becoming aware of living a healthy, compassionate, and sustainable lifestyle. Each year our numbers grow and many corporations are changing to accommodate our wishes (and get our business). Change is happening from the grass roots level and I feel encouraged.

Link to dhlovelife.com






3/31/14

New Art Work

I had a lot of fun with this piece. It is a very stylized hydrangea drawing.
Prismacolor Pencils, Icarus drawing board, 18" x 24" on Stongehenge Paper

© Barbara Goodsitt

© Barbara Goodsitt
Here is a whimsical piece. This will be included in the display by the Michigan Chapter of the Colored Pencil Society of America  at the National Convention in Florida this summer.
Prismacolor Pencils, 6" x 12" on U-art sanded pastel paper

3/12/14

Exploring a Combination of Techniques with Colored Pencils

© Barbara Goodsitt

I am working on another piece that is carrying through on the theme of hydrangeas.  This is a detail photo of a work in progress (WIP). I combined several  drawing techniques such as making an  impressed line, sequential tonal layering, and using an Icarus heated drawing board. I felt influenced by asian art, creating a flat, more decorative style here. I  will post the final piece when it is finished.

Drawing bright, colorful flowers is fun considering the winter we have had in Michigan. Even though I have been busy teaching and doing some traveling, the record snowfall and cold has been affecting my mood.  I am really looking forward to spring this year. 

2/7/14

HONORABLE MENTION

Uppity Blue Hydrangea
©Barbara Goodsitt

My colored pencil piece Uppity Blue Hydrangea, received an Honorable Mention Award at the Ann Arbor Women Artists Winter Exhibition. This art show is on display until March 14th, 2014 at the Ypsilanti District Library on 5577 Whittaker Rd., Ypsilanti Township. The "lowly colored pencil" is slowly making its way up the ladder of respectability in the art world!  I am very encouraged by the wonderful praise from Ms. Young, and I may be doing a series of hydrangea pieces now!  There are many lovely paintings and some 3d work in this show too. If you live in the area, it is well worth stopping by to take a look.

2/3/14

Winter Abstract


© Barbara Goodsitt


We have had record cold and snowfall this winter. I have spent sometime indoors contemplating life and art.  I am working on this winter abstract colored pencil piece and plan to paint a larger version of it on canvas.

The winter makes me appreciate spring and summer so much more than if I hadn't survived this cold season. I believe you can treasure happy times in your life so much more after you have survived hard times. Here is a thoughtful quote that I recently came across:


“The Paradoxical Commandments"

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.

Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.” 
― Kent M. KeithThe Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student