Pigments Information

Pigments Through the Ages

http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/

One of the most valuable resources that I have discovered on the internet to aid in my egg tempera painting is the website "Pigments Through the Ages". This site is a very comprehensive look at artists' pigments, the history of their use, their manufacture, their properties, toxicity, etc. It even has an interactive page that allows the user to go to a pigment (through a color bar) and it will take you to that pigment's complete analysis pages. I suggest that anyone truly interested in painting should examine this website and those serious about their art should keep this bookmarked on their computer browser. After you examine the pages let me know what you think. I find it exciting and exhilarating to be able to examine artist pigments so carefully. I hope that you will feel the same.

A New Painting Approach

Painting with a Knife

As most of my readers know, the painting technique which I am most known for and my preferred way of creating art is with egg tempera. Once in a while I will do pen and ink drawings as finished art and occasionally I will paint in oils or do a pastel painting. I decided to really loosen up on a current painting by working in oils with a painting knife, exclusively. Not as a textural add-on but as a completed work. Being a stickler for glazing technique and a lot of detail, painting an impression of a scene with a knife in a highly textured style was new to me.

Back in June I had taken a seminar in preparing work for high end galleries. The instructor was Jason Horejs from the Xanadu Contemporary Fine Art Gallery in Phoenix, AZ. He had a wealth of helpful and interesting things to say about organizing on

e's work and preparing portfolios etc. but one of the most interesting thing

s that I felt he proposed was, as artists we should study and develop

work in different mediums and styles than we are comfortable with. Not necessarily to change our direction of work but to experience new and interesting ways to produce art. Than when we return to our regular art routine, we can bring new ideas to the table. Now I am preparing to get working on some new egg temperas and hope that experiencing different technique will bring new excitement to my egg tempera creations.

I am including a copy of my painting knife oil along with

an egg tempera so that you can see the difference between the styles with a similar subject. Let me know what you think.

New Egg Tempera Class in Madison, GA

I will be instructing a 6 week class in egg tempera technique beginning October 7th, 2010.

Lake Oconee Living Nominee

Hello friend

I have just found out that I have been nominated for "best artist" in the Lake Oconee region. What an honor! Here is the complete text to the email:

Dear Pete,

Congratulations!

You have been nominated for “Best Artist” in the Lake Oconee region. This means you are eligible to win a 2010 Readers’ Choice Best of Lake Oconee Award.

All nominees will be listed on our Website, and the contest will be publicized in our holiday issue. The magazine’s online poll will open on September 3, closing for the final tally on October 8. Lake Oconee Living plans to feature the Best of Lake Oconee in our winter issue, which comes out in January 2011. Be sure to cast your votes between September 3 – October 8 at www.LakeOconeeLivingMag.com.

To help you garner votes during this exciting competition, we’ve attached a flyer, which you may print to mail or post at your place of business. You may also be interested in advertising in our holiday issue to attract votes from our readers. For more information about advertising, please call Bob Hogan at 706.342.7440.

Good Luck!

Ramsey Nix, Editor

Lake Oconee Living Magazine

Egg Tempera Class for 2010

I am teaching a class in Egg Tempera beginning October 7 in Madison, Georgia. Here is the announcement.

A more detailed description plus materials list can be downloaded from my website at this url: http://www.petermuzyka.com/newshowsandclasses.html

Madison Artists Guild Workshop

Art Slideshow

Hi visitor

Here is a slideshow of my posted artwork. If you click on the show you will go to my online order website. Hope that you enjoy the views.

Thanks for stopping by

Pete

SLIDESHOW LINK

Developing a Mural for a Region

Atchison Kansas Hospital Mural

Last year I began a collaborative effort with a local graphic designer, Peg Harvard of Harvard Graphics, in developing a mural for the new lobby of the Atchison, Kansas Hospital.

They were looking for someone with a knowledge of graphics as well as good drawing skills to produce a mural design that would be etched into glass on 4 panels.

First we came up with

a rough idea of the mural layout

using a fluid motion left to right to convey the feeling of traveling through time.

Next we worked on a 4 panel pencil drawing depicting what we envisioned the mural to look like. Using each panel as a kind of time line from left to right, we included the prairies with bison and old time windmills, Lewis & Clark, the city hall building and farmlands in the back, Amelia Earhart, the aviation pioneer and her family home, a train representing the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe, a grain elevator and the Kansas crops of corn, wheat and sunflowers, as well as Kansas celebrity John Cameron Swayse.

After submitting the sketches, we waited several weeks until a committee began suggesting changes including

adding a conestoga wagon, taking out the Earhart home

and adding the original hospital, adding a clinic building and changing JCS to the Cray Diabetes Management Center founder.

After consulting with Peg who was the director on this project, I decided to continue the final art production work in egg tempera on 4 panels. That would give the mural the detail that was needed and could later be built upon in color. Each panel was scanned into my computer and we prepared the 4 panels as digital files for the glass etcher in Kansas.

Finally after approval the images were sent on disk as both negative and positive files for the etcher to use. And the result was an almost 3 dimensional piece of etched glass art thanks to the etcher who separated elements of the mural to be placed in front while the background was etched in the back of the glass.

Here you can see a couple detail image areas from the panel art and finally the actual glass etching in the lobby of the hospital in Atchison.

Visions of America Opening

New Show Opening in Union Point Georgia

After months of preparation my new show "Visions of America" has finally opened at the Point of Art Gallery in Union Point GA. Most of the folks who know and have collected my works over the years expect more works in egg tempera, primarily of old farmhouses, barns, etc. Well, long before I began painting in egg tempera (for about 30 years now), as well as concentrating on the Georgia farmlands and buildings, I painted mostly in oils and alkyds. And I usually painted nature scenes as well as portraits on commission including the late actor Jack Palance.

For this new show I decided to take a painting holiday to places that my wife Jewel and I had visited over the years. I used old photos and sketches I had done of the Tetons, Acadia National Park, Florida coast, my growing up place in Pennsylvania and, of course Georgia too as my inspiration for this current crop of paintings.

The reception proved that my peers and fans liked the looser oils painted with both brush and knife. Many questions were posed about why I now paint with oils but the truth is, I like switching between oils, egg tempera, pen and ink, pastel, charcoal. Both my mood and the subject matter dictates to me what medium I'll use. Over the years I've tried almost all available painting and drawing mediums and I like them all for different reasons. The egg tempera and pen and inks allow me to do great detail while the oils, pastel, charcoal help me to get more expressive. I painted the Anna Ruby Falls painting mostly with a pallet knife (I didn't have a painting knife available). What fun that was. I am currently working on a sister painting to it with Tulula Gorge as the main subject.

Well, anyway, I appreciate the fans of my work including constructive critical remarks, and I am always thrilled when I sell a painting. Sold 3 during the opening. The Point of Art Gallery owners, Anne Jenkins and Lee Nelson really know how to generate interest in their exhibiting artists work. Anne is an accomplished painter herself and whenever any art lover visits the Gallery, they are treated to a new show and Anne's great paintings. This is a great place to see art and get information on the Georgia Lake Country area.

Visions of America Show

New Art Show in Union Point Georgia

I have a new one-man show opening later this month at the Point of Art Gallery in Union Point Georgia just north of Lake Oconee. Here is the formal press release plus a teaser of the new show images in postcard form.

THE POINT OF ART GALLERY

604 Sibley Ave., PO Box 202, Union Point, GA 30669

Tel: (706) 486-6808 www.ThePointofArt.net

*********PRESS RELEASE*********

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Anne Jenkins, artist owner

Tel (706) 486 6808

Madison artist “Peter Muyzka’s Visions of America” Show at The Point of Art Gallery

The Point of Art Gallery & Studio in historic downtown Union Point proudly announces a one man exhibit and sale of art by a local Madison artist opening Thursday, 25 February. The show, Peter Muzyka’s Visions of America, is the result of months of painting and preparation by Muzyka.

"It's really exciting to host this show for Peter- he is an inspirational artist of immense talent." Jenkins said. "It’s an honor to show his latest body of work with such an intensely personal theme.”

Muzyka said he was born with a love of travel. When he was one month old, his mother took him across the country by bus from his birthplace in Fresno, California to Northeast Pennsylvania where he grew up. He lived on a farm during his early years and was raised to love the land.

“I have always had a deep appreciation and respect for nature.” Muzyka noted. “Whenever I could, I would travel to state and national parks. I would hike trails, fish streams and take photographs and sketch when possible.”

This series of paintings is different from Muzyka’s works of old farm buildings and farm landscapes, Jenkins said. It is a homage to the beauty and wonder he found in his travels. He has painted scenes of the foothills and mountains of the Grand Tetons to the coastal rocks and seashores of Maine, Georgia and Florida; waterfalls in Pennsylvania and Georgia, plus the Georgia and Florida marshlands.

Muzyka said this special show is dedicated to the wonder he has found in the country's natural landscape. It is a celebration of America's beauty.

The reception with Muzyka in attendance is open to the public and is from 6:00 - 8:00+ p.m. on Thursday, 25 February and the show will close Saturday, 3 April at 5:00 p.m. The gallery is at 604 Sibley Ave, Union Point. For more information, call (706) 486-6808 or go to www.ThePointofArt.net.