,Artist Demos are presented after our regular meetings at 1.00 p.m. on the 3d Monday of the month.  Note our new venue:  
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​Oak Hill Presbyterian Church, 14892 Peaceful Valley Road, Sonora

November, 2021

Bring your work for a critique by Michael Severin!  Michael is lifetime member and former president of the MLAA and is currently vice president.  He is a noted Mother Lode landscape artist.
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Past Demos

Jack Forkner

October, 2021.  Jack Forkner is a retired Air Force pilot  who began  developing and printing black and white images in 1970 while stationed in Japan. Photography became his lifetime hobby and he has always loved to master something new.  Over the years he specialized in aerial photography from a remote controlled aircraft and, later, from a drone which he built himself.  Later, he moved on to astro photography using a telescope.  Recently he has explored macro photography, capturing  unexpected images of tiny subjects, and on the effects of drops of liquid into water.  Jack illustrated his talk with some gorgeous and original photographs.  His audience, both photographers and fine artists, found his enthusiasm and creativity inspirational.

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"Zebras of the Serengeti"' by Andrea Morris

September 2021.  Andrea Morris is a member of the Aloft and the MLAA. . In this demo, Andrea focused on the thorny issue of backgrounds.Through a series of pre-painted canvases and onsite painting, she  showed us her process to build an integrated, finished work in which the colorful, loosely painted background supports the .finely detailed, realistically painted subject.  . 

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August 2021.  Our August meeting featured a perennial favorite demo artist and good friend of the MLAA, Heine Hartwig.  Over twenty of us watched as he completed a painting in an hour.  That included a running commentary on the hows and whys of the way he was mixing and applying paint to his blank canvas as it rapidly moved toward finished piece.  Heine also brought examples of his work and how they demonstrated some of the techniques of the old masters.

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By Judie Cain

July 2021.   Our first presenter following a year of Pandemic was Judie Cain, whose insightful and thoughtfully presented critiques are always popular. Painting from life as much as possible, or from her own reference photos, Ms. Cain strives to capture the light and mood of the moment using brush and/or palette knife.  She has taught her workshops, “Basic Nuts & Bolts of Oil Painting” and “Color Demystified” in the western states as well as other local venues,   Primarily an oil painter, Judie has begun also to use gouache, an opaque watercolor.
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 An award winning artist (Including 2011 Best of Show in the MLAA annual), Ms. Cain has been represented in galleries in Washington, Oregon, New Mexico and California, including Murphys, Sonora, Copperopolis and Carmel.  She has several works in print, Giclee and on home products and is collected world wide.  Judie lives in Murphys where she has a private, working, studio. 
 
For information about Judie Cain's paintings, gallery representation, classes, please go to www.cainart.com or call 209 559-3345 cell.  Email: cainart@goldrush.com 

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February 2020.  Well-known landscape artist Michael Severin provided a record audience of around 40 people with a concise, well organized demonstration of how to "key" a painting, value structure, and how to incorporate a color scheme. Michael is a Sonora resident and long-time MLAA member who is represented by the Petroglyphe Gallery in  Mokelumne Hill   .  You can find out more about Michael and his art at his website, www.michaelseverin.com .

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Still life with cat by Diana Boyd

January 2020.  Diana Boyd's direct, insightful critiques attracted a crowd . She forthrightly discussed both strengths and weaknesses of every work.  Diana Boyd has been active in our local art scene since she moved to Sonora in 1997. She served on the MLAA  board for many years.  After becoming a successful artist and painting demonstrator she began teaching oil painting in Tuolumne and Calaveras County in 2006 as well as judging numerous art shows thoughout the years. Her favorite subjects include figures, animals, and still life painted in a loose,semi abstract style.

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Heinie Hartwig

Susan Lea Hackett with her plein air gear

November 2019.  Watercolorist Jeannie Vodden uses pure staining transparent hues and a very limited palette in a glazing process to achieve exquisite, detailed paintings.  She demonstrated her extraordinary portrait techniques to a rapt group of artists at November's meeting and shared practical information on equipment and materials.

October 2019.  Heinie Hartwig's critique drew a crowd, as always. 
People who were emboldened to bring their artwork to the meeting enjoyed the guidance of a master painter.  Heinie uses a piece of glass laid over the artwork to paint his suggested changes. 




September  2019. Susan Lea Hackett lives in Strawberry, Tuolumne County.  She is a noted textile artist, painter and teacher, and is the force behind MLAA's very active plein air painting group. Susan's current passion is  painting in watercolor and pastel.  Her approach begins outdoors, with a detailed drawing, going on to carefully selected transparent watercolors, often finishing with opaque watercolor or pastel.  She finishes many of her paintings in her studio.  Susan's presentation focussed on the progression from sketch to finished painting, with mention of the equipment she's collected to meet the needs of the person painting out of doors.