Archives of the Art Dog Blog from MacPherson's

Our Purchasing and Creative teams are gearing up for another fun-filled and educational Dealer Workshop. The event will be held at the Doubletree Hotel at the Berkeley Marina on Wednesday, June 11th and Thursday, June 12th. We’ll also have a handful of demos on Tuesday afternoon.

Think you’d like to join us? Click to request an invitation if you haven’t received one yet.

Hotel capacity is limited, so confirmed space will be decided on a first come, first served basis.

Gamblin Torrit Grey:  Recycled & Ready!

Torrit Grey is here! Gamblin’s Torrit Grey is FREE and ships with your regular orders during April and May, while supplies last. Just add item #GB992670 to your next Gamblin order. Take advantage of Spring Sale discounts on Gamblin, get some FREE Torrit Grey and let your painters know you’ve got it! We suggest ordering Torrit Grey in quantities of 12 or 24 at a time.

In celebration of Earth Day, each spring Gamblin’s Master Paintmakers recycle the pigments captured by our Torrit Air Filtration System into a limited edition color: Gamblin Torrit Grey. Torrit Grey reflects Gamblin’s shared commitment to sustainability. Every batch is unique, ranging from warm dove grey to cool, bluish grey.

Gamblin suggests promoting Torrit Grey as a buy-get item free to the customer when they purchase $25 or more of Gamblin products. You can get more images and copy for Torrit Grey at Gamblin’s retail Portal or on their Torrit Grey page. (Torrit Grey!)

New Videos from Gamblin Artists Colors

Since its  founding, Gamblin has been dedicated to helping artists select and master the materials that best suit their artistic intentions. It is in this spirit that they have produced two new video demonstrations, focusing on Oil Painting Mediums and Varnishing. These are extremely helpful and outstanding videos to share with your staff and your community of painters.

Making Painting your Own

Painting mediums offer a great deal more than simply extending oil colors. Mediums modify the working properties of oil color from the tube – from a fluid consistency for expressive mark making to a stiff paste for creating thick, crisp marks. Painting mediums also broaden the visual qualities of our colors – from increasing the transparency of paint layers, to creating a range of surface qualities, from high gloss to matte.  Choosing the appropriate painting medium can be an essential part of making oil painting your own. The new video demonstration below discusses the differences in working properties and drying rates of our mediums and walks painters through Gamblin’s updated Oil Painting Mediums Guide.

Gamvar | The Perfect Picture Varnish.

Gamblin recommends varnishing paintings unless you truly dislike the look. Unvarnished paintings are vulnerable to aging in ways that varnished paintings are not. With Gamvar Picture Varnish and/or Cold Wax Medium, painters can obtain the gloss or matte surface that is perfect for their work.  Both varnishes are formulated with Gamblin’s mild Gamsol, so they are virtually odorless and can be safely and easily removed with Gamsol. Gamblin’s updated video demonstration gives tips on varnish  application and discusses ways to customize surface quality.

An amazing bit of San Francisco psychedelic history surfaced recently with the 1967-ish photograph shown below of Jefferson Airplane in front of the Flax sign at their then iconic Kearny Street location. Craig Flax led the company’s investigation on a trail that included a recycled record store, a famous rock critic and finally Starship band members Jack Cassidy, Paul Kantner and Grace Slick.   They suggested that it was very likely shot by noted album cover photographer Jim Smircich. Read the entire fascinating story here.

Steve Steinberg’s legendary New York Central art store was the inspiration and subject of a recent poem in the New York Times. We are all wishing you the best Steve! Click here for the complete article.

On May 18th Golden’s CEO  Mark Golden will receive an honorary Doctorate from Colgate University. Mark is being acknowledged for his outstanding contribution to the arts and to the regional economy. He was selected by the Committee on Honorary Degrees, which is composed of Colgate trustees, faculty and students.  “Mark Golden’s commitment to Central New York, both as a business leader and an entrepreneur, makes him an ideal candidate for recognition from our university,” said Colgate University President Jeffrey Herbst.

Richard Frumess

R&F Handmade Paints announced this week that Darin Seim will succeed Richard Frumess as President of R&F. After 26 years as President and founder of R&F, Richard will move into an advisory position in the company as will James Haskin, current Vice President and partner.

Check out Gamblin’s new “glamour” video. It’s a terrific story!

The New York Times, Facebook and the Tribeca Tribune are reporting  sad news for Pearl Paint’s Manhattan and Paramus, NJ customers. According to recent articles they have put the Canal building up for sale and although “Clerks at the art supply store would not speak on the record, but said that they had been told to expect a round of layoffs next Thursday and that they had been told to sell everything in the store at 35 percent off.” This week the Tribeca Tribune  interviewed several of the 39 laid off employees who were surprised and devastated by the news. In a related Pearl Facebook post this week the company announced that their Paramus, NJ store was also closed. Read the article here.

Pearl Paint Canal Street

Crafts chain Michaels Stores Inc. announced that two separate eight-month-long security breaches at its Michaels and Aaron Bros stores last year may have exposed as many as 3 million customer credit and debit cards.

Michaels has also announced that April 28th will be the starting date for their new e-commerce capability.

Olaf Ginter who joined Molotow distribution of Germany earlier in the year to direct their national and international business has left the company.

NAMTA Art Materials World 2014 is Right Around the Corner!

Please take a moment while at the show to stop by GOLDEN’S booth #807 to say hello and see some new and exciting items. In addition to what you’ll see in the booth, GOLDEN will be holding two specific events for show attendees (detailed below), so be sure to check them out too!!

• QoR Watercolor Launch Celebration – Join us on Wednesday, April 30 at 3:00 pm in GOLDEN’S Booth #807 to celebrate the launch of QoR Watercolors. Satisfy the mid-afternoon munchies with a little something for the sweet tooth!

• On Thursday, May 1 from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm on the convention floor, Golden Artist Colors’ Marketing Director Dana Rice and Sales Director Bill Hartman will present ‘Unstoppable GOLDEN High Flow Acrylics,’ an educational, demonstrative session featuring new High Flow Acrylics! GOLDEN High Flow Acrylics is an exciting new paint line that works great in refillable tools, from brush to marker and fountain pen to airbrush and more. From fine line detail work to broad strokes, High Flow has an ink-like consistency that lends itself to a wide range of techniques and a wide range of artists. Join Bill and Dana for a fun and interactive experience using High Flow in a variety of refillable markers. In addition, they will share tools available to you for promoting High Flow. With appeal to a broad range of artists, including the professional ‘street art’ crowd, High Flow can serve as an entry product, bringing new customers to your store and increasing sales from existing customers.

Golden Artist Colors Supports Launch of QoR Watercolor

The First New Thing to Happen to Watercolor in 150 Years

Golden Artist Colors  has had the privilege and delight of collaborating with artists to make the highest quality professional Acrylic and Oil colors. Today that same collaborative process has produced a new, thoroughly modern Watercolor called QoR.

QoR’s exclusive binder provides more color in every brushstroke, while retaining the best qualities of traditional watercolors. QoR offers a strength, range and versatility unmatched in the history of watercolors. The unique formulation accentuates the luminosity and brilliance of each pigment even after drying, while providing the subtlety, transparency and flow of a great watercolor. QoR (pronounced ‘core’) is an allusion to color as the center of watercolor painting. QoR also comes from a technical acronym meaning Quality of Results.

Artists will be asking for QoR! Golden Artist Colors is committed to driving demand for QoR, starting with these initiatives:

Pre-Release

·       Full page teaser ad in Art Materials Retailer’s March NAMTA issue

·       Quarter page teaser ad in Plein Air Magazine’s April issue

·       Pre-Release Sampling to 100 prominent artists and workshop teachers

·       Sponsorship of Plein Air Conference watermedia track and QoR “Try It” even

Post-Release

·       May – Watercolor Magazine ad

·       June – Editorial in The Artists’ Magazine

·       July – Art Materials Retailer ad, Watercolor Magazine ad, F&W Email blast

·       August – Plein Air Magazine ad

·       September – Plein Air Today eNewsletter, F&W Email blast

·       October – The Artists’ Magazine ad

Here’s what some of the premier watercolor artists are saying about QoR:

“The colors are beautifully intense – they dissolve very well in water. They are wonderful for glazing/layering watercolors as they maintain their integrity with another color on top. I love the way they react when doing wet-in-wet watercolor – mixing and blending.  ….I love the way they keep their color/intensity as they dry. All in all, I think they are wonderful and will definitely buy them in the future.” – Barbara Sailor

“I was impressed with intensity of the colors. I tried them out on Wet Media Board, Hot Press Board, Stillman and Birn Extra Weight Paper… On hot press I was able to completely remove any color.”  – Dorrie Rifkin

YouTube Pebeo Channel 

Looking for Facebook content? Here is a list of Pebeo videos in English to inspire and instruct – featuring their unique Mixed Media and Fine Art products:

Description

Project 1 – Vitrail in English Click Here

Project 3 – Moon in English Click Here

Project 4 – Liquid Art Panel in English Click Here

Project 5 – Studio Acylics Auxiliairies in English Click Here

Project 6 – Studio Acrylics in English Click Here

Project 9 – Color Resin in English Click Here

Project 10 – Prisme in English Click Here

Project 11 – Accessories in English Click Here

Pebeo – Mixed Media: create a colorful tree with Resins, Fantasy and Vitrail colors. Click Here

Pebeo – Mixed Media: mixing Studio Acrylics, Vitrail et Fantasy colors on a 3D frame Click Here

Pebeo – Mixed Media: mix Crystal resin and Vitrail colors on a wooden canvas for dripping   Click Here