Demonstration features Nikki Basch-Davis, Bay Area figurative and plein air artist

Benicia plein air artist Nikki Basch-Davis will give a working demonstration on Wednesday, November 1 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Art Studio One in Gateway. The demonstration is sponsored by the Rossmoor Art Association (RAA).
 
Basch-Davis will show how to build a painting, focusing on subject matter, composition, value and color. Her presentation was scheduled for last April, but had to cancelled at the last moment.  
 
RAA demonstrations are a unique opportunity to watch an artist at work. The studio is equipped with cameras that project the artist’s every stroke on the canvas. There are also microphones that clearly project the artist’s explanations of her process.
 
Basch-Davis will demonstrate how having an emotional connection to your subject matter gives your painting mood and passion. She will also talk about placing objects to achieve the right balance, using darks and lights to add interest and drama, and letting your own personality dictate your palette.
 
She will create a painting during the demonstration, and she will have many examples of her work on display.
 
Basch-Davis began her art education in graphic design, studying first in Jerusalem and then in London. She discovered her passion for painting at London’s Royal College of Art. Her first paintings were in watercolor, but after about a decade, she changed paths and took her oil paints outside and became a plein air artist.
 
“Over the next 20 years,” she says, “my paintings became more and more about mood. I choose what I paint by my response to a scene’s mood and light. Capturing the scene on canvas makes me experience it more deeply than simply observing it.”
 
Basch-Davis’ subject matter is diverse, from figures to landscapes, all done with attention to composition, color and value. To learn more about the artist and to see her work, visit her Web site, www.nikibaschdavis.com.
 
All residents of Rossmoor are welcome to this free event. For more information please contact Marcy Wheeler, RAA program chair, at 925-787-9159.