Timothy Botts Workshop
Silent Auction Winners!
"Color Power"

Notes from the Class....

1. Sonjia Amensen October 12, 2006

Before Tim Botts was booked to do the workshop I had heard about him from Nancy Montgomery and Sheryl Phipps. They had taken a workshop from him years ago and he had definitely left an impression on them. Nancy was so excited about this workshop that she was the first to sign up for it! I, as is normal for me, was hesitant at first. But not wanting to break my streak of attending all workshops offered since joining CAGCI, I signed up.

I really appreciated Tim’s relaxed and effortless style. One thing that left an impression on me was his questioning lettering style, color and layout choices when creating pieces in class. It was encouraging for me that a world renowned calligrapher struggles too. I was slow to get into the rhythm of painting to music, but found it to be relaxing and creative. He demonstrated using a tissue paper overlay to play with lettering layouts for our finished paintings. Another technique demonstrated by Tim was simple but effective. He added flourishes to the letter “S” in Ames (one of the three works he produced while the class looked on – much of the time in awe) and then used colored pencil, in a slightly darker shade, to overlay the gouache where the flourish crossed the lettering. I came away from this workshop with lots of ideas and a desire to push my comfort level in using color.

I want to express my thanks to Dot Prater for working with Laura on the workshop (having Tim do a workshop for us was Laura’s idea – kudos!) and doing all the coordination of the exhibit, book signing and lecture at CASA. She helped Tim hang the Proverbs exhibit and managed to stay sane all weekend. Deb Berger did a great job in designing the postcards used to advertise the workshop while Joan Gordon and Dot handled the mailing. Thanks to Nancy Montgomery, Ann Heimstra and Mary Lou Powers for helping me with the reception luncheon. Joan did an excellent job of handling the sales. Last but not least, Sheryl Phipps made a nameplate for each workshop participant that is a work of art! This wonderful weekend showed that the partnership between CASA and CAGCI worked for all of us!

2. Here are the tips that I grabbed from the workshop:

1. I'm switching to a larger brush for mixing color and loading the pen nib.

2. I'm scaling down my gouache palette and will no longer be afraid to "mingle " the colors in it. 3. I'm going to experiment with mixing white into my gouache colors. 4. If I'm stuck in a rut, I'm going to try painting to music to get the creative juices flowing. 5. I'm investing in more bamboo brushes. Loved them!

Cheryl Dyer

3. My thoughts on the workshop w/Timothy Botts:

This workshop was a wonderful introduction to CASA, Ames, CAGCI, calligraphy and Tim Botts. Since I am new to both calligraphy and CAGCI I was excited, but apprehensive about coming to this workshop.. Well, after the trauma of realizing that I couldn't even ASSEMBLE my new calligraphy pen, I quickly felt welcomed and blended right into this group.

I picked up many new ideas, and now feel excited about combining my watercolors and other media with calligraphy,.

Timothy Botts was a great teacher, entertaining and talented. What a gift this workshop was. Thanks for giving me this opportunity. I look forward to spreading the word about CAGCI and CASA here in the Des Moines area.

and after being with all of you cyclones last weekend, I just have one more thing to offer....."Go Hawkeyes"!

Karen

[Eds note. We are sorry, but A to Z will not give equal time to all schools. However, go Bulldogs.]

4. sent by Dot Prater

A huge thanks to all who helped with the Botts Weekend:

Laura Dolan: Workshop Chair: secured Tim Botts for the workshop, maintained class list, correspondence, newsletter publicity.

Deb Berger: postcard design for the Tim Botts Exhibit Opening.

Joan Gordon: bulk mail preparation, meal planner, gourmet soup chef for

class lunch, Reception, cashier, CASA classroom setup, Ames backup resource for the weekend's activities.

Sheryl Phipps: designed and lettered 23 name plates for tables, complete with gold leaf; CAGCI Treasurer for workshop and reception.

Sonjia Amensen : secured, prepared and served food for the reception. Nancy Montgomery: prepared and served food for the reception

Ann Heimstra and Mary Lou Powers: reception food servers

Tom Cameron: CAGCI web site manager; kept class up to date with workshop details.

Saturday Dinner Mates for the Botts: Mary Lou Powers, Joan McGrady Beach, Kay Johnson, Cris Birks, Dot and Steve Prater.

CASA helpers:

Steve Prater: Mopped the classroom floor; classroom set up, gallery and reception set up, Botts' dinner host Friday, Reception gallery sitter and greeter, Sunday gallery sitter and cashier, weekend co-host and chef for Tim and Nancy Botts.

Lee Anne Willson: Gallery Sitter and Cashier all day Saturday and half day

Sunday Steve Aitchison: set up for classroom, reception, and gallery. Chris Cowan: gallery preparation

Dot Prater: Botts Exhibit and Reception Chair and CASA Liaison: Publicity and news releases, bulk mailing, local postcard distribution, gallery set up, exhibit hanging, reception set up, classroom set up, group paper order, Botts' co-host for the weekend, class gopher.

5. Laura Dolan:

Friday night was quite exciting since there were so many people.  I arrived at 6:30 and found one of the last parking spots in the lot at CASA.  Dot and others did a good job of getting the word out to the community.  I was not as familiar with Tim's work and it was helpful to see the slides and hear his presentation to have a better understanding.

The workshop went well.  Tim really gave two full days to us.  Saturday he had us focus on black, white & gray.  It was a good reminder to start designs in black and white.  That way you can focus on the composition and then add color.  We also mixed color to match our background paper and then added the color to each others different background paper.  It was interesting to see how much the color changed depending on the background color.

On Sunday we started by painting to music.  It was great to see how each one of us saw the music in different ways and how the music effected us.  I was interested in the resist technique demo since I have not ever done it before.  Tim was able to give us each some final comments on our composition project.  I am always so motivated after these workshops to start some new projects and finish old ones.

Thanks – Laura Dolan

6.Sheryl Phipps

The workshop was great inspiration to me.  If made me start to look at calligraphy as more expressive than just writing the text.  I will start to use more color in my work, instead of just using ink and ivory paper.  I enjoyed seeing and creating colored backgrounds.  It was meaningful to see Tim's thought process and watch him ponder what the text was "saying" to me.

Sheryl Phipps

7. Nancy Montgomery

The Botts workshop was great. I loved to watch him create again after so many years, he was my very first workshop back in 1991

Nancy Montgomery

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Artwork completed by Tim Botts during the workshop was auctioned to the highest bidder! Select image to view detail.

Highest bid: $75! Congratulations Sonjia Amensen!

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Highest bid: $20! Congratulations Sonjia Amensen!

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