Art Show: Michigan Colored Pencil 2025 and News

(left) Tropical Flora and Fauna    (right) Flowers with Shadow

Two of my colored pencil pieces with be included in the Michigan Colored Pencil 2025 Art Show at Livonia Civic Center Library, October 28 through November 30.  The reception will be held November 8. 2:00-4:00 PM

New Class with WCC Workforce and Community Development

My next class will begin on Monday, November 10, and run for six weeks. In this class you will use different mediums to render more complicated subject matter. Emphasis is placed heavily on developing your personal style, artistic creativity and proper execution. 

 Open Drawing Studio: Continuing techniques in Color at Washtenaw Community College

Recent Work

African Gray Parrot, colored pencil

 ©Barbara Goodsitt

Heartbreak of October 7, Mixed media

 ©Barbara Goodsitt

Underwater Garden, colored pencil

 ©Barbara Goodsitt

African Gray Parrot is based on a photograph taken at the Toledo Zoo and was finished in 2024.

Heartbreak of October 7 is a deeply emotional work created in the fall of 2024 for an event commemorating the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel. This piece expresses the horror and despair evoked by the violence of that day, as well as the ongoing suffering it has caused.

Underwater Garden, was developed intermittently over several years and reached completion earlier this year. The 

 

Award Winning Art for Northville Art House - FINE POINT: Juried Colored Pencil Exhibition

I was honored to be the juror for this exhibit at the Northville Art House.  All of the artwork in this show is beautiful. This show runs through the beginning of June. It is worth the drive. 

Award Winning Art

Click here for Larger images and more info

Award Winning ArtClick here for more information

Video of the Award Ceremony

Click on the picture to see the video

I was honored to be the juror for this exhibit at the Northville Art House.  All of the artwork in this show is beautiful. This show runs through the beginning of June. It is worth the drive.

Michigan Colored Pencil 2017

Love Birds (left)   Three Sunflowers (right)
© Barbara Goodsitt

I have two pieces that were selected for a juried exhibit, Michigan Colored Pencil 2017, at the Padzieski Gallery in the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, MI. The reception is Thursday, October 19 at 6 PM. The exhibit runs from Oct. 12 - Nov. 9. Both pieces are colored pencil and solvent. Love Birds was done on heavy acid free illustration board. Three Sunflowers was done on Stonehenge drawing paper

 I relish making art with vivid color.  Animals, flowers, landscapes, musical instruments, and food are my favorite subjects.  The process of creating and executing a piece is joyful and meditative.  Collectors who have my work  have  told me that looking at my work makes them happy.  That is a very rewarding thing to hear.

Plein Air Painting

County Farm Park

Argo Park

I am sharing some pastel work done in a Plein Air Workshop led by artist  Nora Venturelli.  Nora is an accomplished artist and University of Michigan Lecturer.  Nora conducts workshops in the US and Italy.  Her demonstrations and critiques are spot on. She lives and breathes the art spirit.

Working "En plein air " is a French phrase meaning open (in full) air.  I was given a portable french easel a few years ago.  I have had wonderful experiences every time I venture outdoors to paint. It is kind of magical to create art in nature.  You can lose yourself in the beauty of the scenery that surrounds you. My painting is more loose when I work outside.  I have a lot of work ahead of me to improve my technique with pastels, and oil painting in the future.  I continue to love working with colored pencils in the studio, but I look forward to growing as an artist by working en plein air.
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Paranormal Dinnerware - A work in Progress

© Barbara Goodsitt

Here is a work in progress inspired by Mr. Uri Geller. He is famous for bending spoons, but is also the mostly highly researched person with psychic abilities.  If you are interested, check out his website http://site.uri-geller.com and Facebook page. Uri is also a talented artist and was a friend and student of Salvador Dali.

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.

Blue Hydrangea in Progress

© Barbara Goodsit

© Barbara Goodsitt

© Barbara Goodsitt

Drawing this hydrangea is a comforting process. I hope to finish it this week. It is full of beautiful shapes, colors and the promise of perennial blooming! I read an interesting fact about hydrangeas: you can change the color of this flower if you adjust the pH of the soil.  Perhaps my next hydrangea drawing will  have a higher pH creating warmer colors ♥

New Work

I am posting some of the projects I have been working on for the past month or so.

1. I completed a painted violin for a University of Michigan Musical Society Fundraising Auction and documented the process along the way.
2. A mixed media piece I created from the violin sketches I made up when brainstorming.  
3. I also experimented with a stylized, almost abstracted piece that was accepted in the Great Lakes Small Works show 2013 at the Riverside Arts Center. 

STRING THEORY ©Barbara Goodsitt

BILTMORE'S TREE ©Barbara Goodsitt

New Colored Pencil Drawing Lesson

ⓒ Barbara Goodsitt

Here is one of the new lessons I will be including in my next colored pencil drawing class on Saturdays with Washtenaw Community College - Life Long Learning. This will be presented after students work on some basic exercises. This piece provides the opportunity to learn:

• tonal layering
• how to distinguish between foreground and background
• developing dark backgrounds
• working with odorless mineral spirits 
• using colorless blenders. 

ⓒ Barbara Goodsitt
(click on image to enlarge)

New Years

Life Drawing

ⓒ Barbara Goodsitt

Happy New Year! 

Best of luck to those out there who are trying to improve themselves.  Let us hope we always find new goals to work towards.

I will be joining a figure drawing group held with Ann Arbor Women Artists. This New Year also  finds me teaching more colored pencil drawing classes (see previous post) as well as developing a new course to help artists beak through "creative blocks" with creative exercises.

From My Perspective, Ann Kullberg

Ann Kullberg is an accomplished colored pencil artist who specializes in portraits. She has written several books and has a great educational website where she publishes an online magazine "From My Perspective". I was thrilled when she asked me to write a Profile article for this month's 'Member Profile'.

Here is a screenshot of that article. If you want to subscribe to the magazine or look at the colored pencil kits she offers, check out herwebsite http://annkullberg.com.