Trial, Error, Error, Repeat

Yesterday was another day of website building.  There are some things with WordPress that drives me crazy, such as when I post the link to my website on Facebook, it doesn't have a thumbnail image on it, and I've tried all the tutorials to fix the problem, but it persists.

Inspite of that, my website is coming along, I am making progress with it.  I've imported past blog posts there, and for a while I'll be posting on both, but soon I'll be moving.  I hope that those who have followed me on blogger will come over to my wordpress site and follow me there as well.  It can be found at http://ArdentReflections.com.

In addition to the website work, I've been adding up the cost of doing business as an artist over the past year, comparing that to what I've made in sales, just to find out how much money I've made lost as an artist, I won't share details, but I will say that I can see where the term starving artist comes from.  I didn't expect profit over this year, but I did expect a smaller deficit than I saw.  Oh well, there were a lot of expenses that I won't have to repeat any time soon, like buying a canopy for art shows, tables for the canopy, a cart to move supplies with at art shows, etc.

Last but not least, I actually got a little painting done, I'm still not happy with the clouds in my sky, but I'm getting closer to what I want.  One thing I am figuring out with this sunset though, is that I have to stop in between colors and let things dry, otherwise my oranges, and purples mix into brown, and my yellows and blues mix into green.  Here are two photos, neither one seems to really be right in color, the first one comes closer but is brighter than the painting really is I think...oh well,  what can you expect from a cell phone?

During my next session I will bring the purple and then blue up further in up in the sky, and cover those strange finger like projections I called clouds, then I will try puttin in some less finger like clouds, I can see it in my mind now, when before I couldn't, so hopefully I'll be able to translate that onto the canvas.    Then I'll bring more color into the darker blue water, the lighter blue area is actually going to be covered with land, as is the horizon line, so that the bay comes between where the viewer "stands" and the other side of the bay.  I'm not really concerned about how much experimentation this is taking, I mean after all, this is how I've learned EVERYTHING I know about painting so far, by trying, messing up, and trying again, until I get I get it right.

Thank you for reading! If you liked what you see, please consider following this blog with Google Friend connect, or follow me on Google+, or if you prefer, you can follow by email and get notified each time the blog is updated. See the right hand column to follow in any of these ways! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

Fine Art America is the place to go for Prints of all my Paintings.

 

My etsy shop is the place to go to buy my originals and request commissioned work. A few select prints are available here as well!

Teaching a SLOW Student!

Have you ever tried to teach anyone something?  It can be difficult!  Its even more difficult if the student you are teaching is just NOT getting it, now imagine you are doing all that, WHILE you are trying to teach something you don't know!

That is the struggle of the self taught artist, trial, and error, and more error.

Lots of error.  I am trying to get the sky in a painting just right, that is how I am seeing it in my mind, it is taking a lot of error.

Here are some of my practice sheets where I practiced different techniques to try to get the results I wanted:

Real quality art there, right?

But its all part of learning without a teacher.

Eventually I moved back onto my canvas, and its not perfect yet, but I feel like I know what needs happen now, its just that the paint I already put down needs to dry before I can do more, otherwise my colors will mix and I will end up with a green sky.  I also keep reminding myself that it won't just be a sky, there will be land and a bridge, and water, the sky will end up being only a backdrop for everything else.  I keep telling myself that, but I want to get the sky perfect anyway. It is getting close to what I see in my head, and I think I'll be able to bring it around to that point in t the next painting session.

Thank you for reading! If you liked what you see, please consider following this blog with Google Friend connect, or follow me on Google+, or if you prefer, you can follow by email and get notified each time the blog is updated. See the right hand column to follow in any of these ways! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

Fine Art America is the place to go for Prints of all my Paintings.

 

My etsy shop is the place to go to buy my originals and request commissioned work. A few select prints are available here as well!

A Throwback on Thursday

What does an artist post on her blog when she hasn't had time for making art? Old Art!

Well, its not that old, I believe I did this one at some point in 2014, it might have 2013 though....  hmmm...

I haven't decided on a title for this abstract piece yet, in fact, I had forgotten all about it until I started looking through my mixed media sketch book. This was done with sharpies.  You probably recognize the similar style between this one and Inlets to Illusion, all of the pieces done in this style are intuitive, in that there isn't a set plan other than to do something different in each little section of the painting, just whatever feels right. The smaller ones, like this, that I can hold in my lap and work on, are quite relaxing, almost meditative to work on.  Inlets to Illusion wasn't as relaxing because it was too big to carry with me and work on when I had a minute, instead, I had to set aside time, pull out my easel, and dedicate myself to working on it. But this smaller piece just came with me to various places and I worked on it while I talked to people, while I waited at the doctors office, or whenever.  This picture of it is lower resolution than what I use for prints, I just used my scanner for this, I'll get better images and upload it to Fine Art America soon.   If anyone has a title idea, let me know!

Thank you for reading! If you liked what you see, please consider following this blog with Google Friend connect, or follow me on Google+, or if you prefer, you can follow by email and get notified each time the blog is updated. See the right hand column to follow in any of these ways! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!


Fine Art America is the place to go for Prints of all my Paintings.

 

My etsy shop is the place to go to buy my originals and request commissioned work. A few select prints are available here as well!

Finally Decent Photos!

Way back LAST YEAR or a week and half ago, however you look at it, I posted a cellphone photo of my painting, "Inlets to Illusion" and promised that I would soon have a quality photo of it to share.  Well, my setup for photographing my paintings is not ideal, I have to rely on outdoor weather to be just right, namely, it must be overcast over the entire sky, but not raining, not windy, etc.  So, I've been biding my time, waiting, and yesterday the weather was perfect for photography of fine art!

So finally I get to share with you not only my "Inlets to Illusion", but also the painting that I finished on Friday and posted cellphone photos of on Saturday.

First things first, here is "Inlets to Illusion", if you'd like to see it bigger, which I highly recommend to fully appreciate the optical art qualities, click on it, it will take you the website where I sell prints of my fine art paintings, but there is no obligation to buy just because you looked!

And now, for the impressionist and intuitive "No-Brush Painting" which I ended up titling "Sky Ablaze".

So that's all for today, Happy Sunday!

Thank you for reading! If you liked what you see, please consider following this blog with Google Friend connect, or follow me on Google+, or if you prefer, you can follow by email and get notified each time the blog is updated. See the right hand column to follow in any of these ways! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

Fine Art America is the place to go for Prints of all my Paintings.

 

My etsy shop is the place to go to buy my originals and request commissioned work. A few select prints are available here as well!

Artist's Life, Heaven or Hell?

Have you ever heard an artist describe creating art as hell?

Well, that certainly isn't how I think of it!  My satisfaction with my life has increased exponentially since giving myself permission to "be an artist".   In general I am happiest and most fulfilled when I am creating art.

So what did author Steven Pressfield mean when he said, "The artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell.”?

I'm not sure I agree with him about that, but I do see that not everything about being an artist is romantic, joyous, free, vibrant, carefree, and exciting. Especially if one really fully commits oneself to being an artist as a vocation.

Then, one finds that:

Sometimes, being an artist can be tedious, like when you set up a booth an art show and sit ALL DAY waiting for people to come by, and hopefully buy something.

Sometimes being an artist is melancholic, such as when a gallery owner says he likes your work, but doesn't have room for it, or worse yet, when he says it doesn't fit the style of his gallery (another way of saying he hates it.)

Sometimes being an artist is restricting, such as when a gallery owner tells you he will only accept landscapes, or animal paintings, or still lifes... or whatever.

Sometimes being an artist is dull, not so much while creating, but while taking care of all of the other tasks of marketing, showing, contacting galleries, keeping inventory of prints and supplies, etc.

Sometimes being an artist is worrisome, like when you look over your receipts for supplies and realize you spent 70 times more on equipment and supplies than what you made in sales over the past year.

But being an artist is not hell... its just that its not always heaven either.

Being an artist today, in this world, in this economy, is hard. Not that its ever been easy, but there have been times when it was easier than today.

You see, today not as many people in America own their own homes, instead they rent. When a person is in a rental, and they know they may have to move, they aren't as likely to invest in art. After all, that painting might look great over the mantel in this house, but the next house might not have the wall space for it.

People in America today have less disposable income than they had ten years ago before the housing market tumbled, and no matter how much a person likes art, when they are choosing between putting food on the table, and buying a painting, they buy food!

So, for an artist to have a chance at supporting themselves today, they often must look into other options aside from simply making great art for people's walls.

One thing that many of us artists do, is to look into having our art put on usable or useful items. Items like T-shirts, cups, or pillows.

I haven't taken full advantage of this alternate market so far, but I am beginning to. For example, much of my work can be ordered on throw pillows.

In addition, I've had some of art put on T-shirts, and Greeting Cards, and Notecards. I've also printed images of my paintings and put them in 1 inch bottle cap necklaces, and soon I will begin doing hand painting on wine glasses and candle holders. I may also have tote bags other items made available for order.

However, even if none of this took off, even if nobody ever bought a thing, I'd still be an artist, and being an artist would still be worth it. Because being an artist isn't about being in hell, and it isn't about being in heaven, it isn't about money or galleries or pillows or totebags or paintings on canvas.

Being an artist, is about seeing the world, in all its pain, sorrow, comfort, joy, loneliness and community, and reflecting those things in a way that is beautiful. Being an artist is about taking those feelings and emotions that are bottled inside and letting them pour forth into the created work. To be an artist is to let one's passion and, in fact one's very soul, be open and bare before the world for all to see.

As Van Gogh, the man I see as the world's greatest artist of all time, said, “I would rather die of passion than of boredom.”

To be an artist, is to be passionate.

And in the end, even if I didn't want to be an artist, I couldn't stop being one, if I put down my paints my artistic self will scream for expression until it finds another outlet.

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Thank you for reading! If you liked what you see, please consider following this blog with Google Friend connect, or follow me on Google+, or if you prefer, you can follow by email and get notified each time the blog is updated. See the right hand column to follow in any of these ways! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!


Fine Art America is the place to go for Prints of all my Paintings.

 

My etsy shop is the place to go to buy my originals and request commissioned work. A few select prints are available here as well!

Stretching Myself

One of my Index cards from the ICAD challenge.

Before I first started painting in June of 2012, on those index cards that seemed so innocuous but proved to be carriers of the deadly "art attack" virus, I had no idea how much I had missed art in my life.  You see, way back when, years ago, in Junior High School and some in High School, I took great joy in creating.  Drawing, using oil pastels, markers, colored pencils.  I didn't paint much back then, though I'm sure at some point I must have used paint a little, I really don't remember, but it certainly wasn't a medium that I used regularly... at any rate, at that time I really loved art.  For some reason, shortly after high school, I stopped. Perhaps it was because the responsibilities of adult life left little time for it, and little money for supplies.  Perhaps it was because of other issues I was dealing with that caused me to feel unworthy of something that would bring me joy.  Perhaps I just didn't get around to it.  For whatever reason though, art was no longer a part of my life.  Occasionally I would do crafts, make Christmas ornaments, crochet baby clothes, something like that, but drawing, or "painting" with colored pencils or pastels, was completely forgotten.

After starting the ICAD challenge though, I quickly realized I was hooked, not just on art, but in particular on painting.  It wasn't long before I wanted to move beyond the index cards and onto a canvas.  Since then, I've painted and painted and painted.  Having had no formal training, I have learned most of what I know by trial and error, often with many errors repeated again and again (when will I finally automatically paint background objects BEFORE foreground objects???).  I've watched a few how-to videos, and read a few books, but mostly I'm self taught... I've been learning to paint by PAINTING.  Eventually I might like to go for my BFA, but in the meantime I just continue to paint.


Recently, the gallery owner where my work is sometimes displayed suggested that I take part in a local juried show.  He felt that it would give me more exposure, and also give me a chance to see how my work compares with other local artists and to get feedback from more people.  I looked over the work I had, and felt that there were many things I had learned recently that didn't show in those pieces, so I decided to create three pieces specifically for the show, being mindful to apply everything I've learned up until now.  In other words, I wanted to really stretch myself to the limits of my current skills and abilities, so that I would be submitting the very best work I am currently capable of producing.

Here is the first piece as it took shape:

This first photo shows the work after my first painting session, I have no idea how much time I spent up until this point on it, but it was all one painting session.  I used three reference photos I had taken, but didn't copy directly from any of them, just used them to spark ideas and give a general outline of what was happening.

I decided to block in some general darks and lights in the background, so that when I added background trees gaps in them wouldn't show stark blue sky, because I've noticed in some of earlier paintings that sky showing through like that often makes the landscape look flat, or fake.

Then, here is the second in progress photo, a little more has changed at this point, one back ground tree has been added, and one more foreground tree.

Then I added the other background trees.  Notice that I made them lighter and less distinct than the ones in the foreground, I've been trying to learn to implement atmospheric perspective.

On to progress picture number 4, here I have lightened the trees in the background more, plus added some more foreground elements. I know that the picture looks very different in color here, but it hasn't changed.  All but the final two photos were taken with my phone, and it is very sensitive to changes in lighting.  The slightest difference in available light causes a whole different color cast over everything.

Next I simply added more detail in the foreground, such as some flowers on the bush in the lower right hand corner, and some more reflected light on the pond.

Then I thought I was done, so I took a good picture with my good camera, but afterward, I noticed that the sky above the background trees looked "dirty" because of all the times I'd painted over to obscure the trees a little more in trying to achieve the atmospheric perspective:

So I fixed the sky, and then took another picture with my good camera.  I printed several samples to compare the color to the original, and edited until it matched.  And here is the final result:

So there is the painting that will be my first entry into the juried show.  Because I am keeping it for the show, I can't offer it for sale yet, however prints of it are available on my Fine Art America page, and if the original doesn't sell during the show, it will be offered for sale afterward either in my local gallery, or in my Etsy shop.

Thank you for reading! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

I'm back, and I have a Lot of New Work!

I haven't been posting as regularly as I should, and there are many reasons for this.  One of them is that I've been very busy actually creating art, and therefore taking less time to blog about it.

I've made a lot of new pieces, and I've been showing them every chance I can, here I is my stuff at a local Art Walk in August (that's my hubby sitting on the chair feeding his face!):

I know this blog needs to made a little more interesting, so soon I will be doing some video postings about art.  

Here are some of my new pieces:

 

Thank you for reading! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

Walking Wine...

Just thought I'd pop in to share my latest work in progress.  The gallery owner requested wine related paintings for a "Wine Walk" that is coming up.  (For some reason I get a mental image of someone walking a bottle of wine on a leash like a dog...)

Anyway, here is my first of the paintings, it still needs a little touch up around the bottom of the bottle, and some color blending on the grapes, as well as needing to be photographed properly for prints... however, here is a quick snap shot of it.

Thank you for reading! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

New Painting, "Dusk On Puget Sound" progress

Well, my new painting titled, "Dusk on Puget Sound" is finished... well almost.  I actually still need to get a good, high quality photo of it, and then varnish it, along with a few others that I've finished lately.

I finished the actual painting tonight though, and took a quick snap-shot of it to share, I'm afraid the colors on the photo aren't quite accurate... when I get the good quality photo I will post that, but for now this is the best I could do.

Thank you for reading! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

Hmmm... Still Learning!

Since I've begun painting, I've always felt that landscapes were my weakness.  I've just never been very satisfied with them.  I was okay with it if I did an obviously abstracted landscape... one that was clearly not meant to look exactly real... but when it came to traditional landscapes... I just wasn't happy with my results.

Well, I think I may finally be breaking through that barrier.  I've been working on a landscape and I think I am quite happy with the results so far, so I thought I'd share the work-in-progress.  I think the real difference in this one is that I went through my photography and found reference photos to use, when before I just tried to "make up" a landscape in my mind.  I didn't try to copy any of my photos exactly, but I did use them to plan the general shape of the shoreline, hills beyond the water, and the color of sky and water.

Just goes to show you, I still have lots learn and never want to stop learning!

Here is what I have so far:

Thank you for reading! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

Gallery Acceptance, and What's on My Easel

Yesterday was a great day for me art-wise. I went to the post office to ship off a painting that sold, and while I was there I noticed a gallery in town that I'd never noticed before. This is probably because I rarely go to the shopping center near the post office, there is another down the street where I usually shop.

Anyway, I went into the gallery and started up a conversation with the woman there, who seemed very interested in seeing my work. Then the owner of the gallery came in, and he was also interested. So I gave them my website to view my portfolio, and also went home and gathered up some of my paintings to show them in person. I am very pleased to say that they will be displaying 5 of my paintings!

 I've also been making progress on my Peacock paintings that I started at the art walk. Here is what is on my easel right now:

I was thrilled about the gallery, and I still am, although the person in my life who should have been most encouraging was absolutely not encouraging at all, and in fact seemed very irritated that I had taken time out of my day to bring paintings down to the gallery.  Oh well, I guess some non-artistic people just don't get it, to me, getting my work in a gallery was far more important than the day's chores, or doing a load of laundry, or anything like that.

 
 Thank you for reading! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

 

Art Walk

Well today was the first public showing of my art.  I thought it went pretty good.  We had very uncooperative weather, and I'm sure it would have gone even better if it weren't for that.  As it was I sold 2 original paintings and 2 prints.  Plus handed out a lot of business cards.

I also got a considerable amount of work done on a new painting, because, in an effort to attract people into the building, I stood outside and painted, I was under a covered awning so the rain and hail didn't bother me, and it did attract a few people into the building.

Here are some photos from the event.

Remember the display boards I wrote about? The one's my good friend helped me build?  Well here is the medium sized one, the way it is build is like an A-frame, so I could use the other side as well, but with the setup in this particular building, it worked better to just use one side.

The same was true for the large display, showed here:

The small display we where able to use both sides on, but somehow I forgot to photograph that one.

My daughter displayed some of her paintings too, and she sold one:

I also displayed some of art in various other places around the room:

Here is the painting I worked on today, its far from finished, but still I made a lot of progress on it in one day.

My daughter and her best friend had fun playing and dancing for me, and I took lots of photos, but I cropped my daughter's friend out of the photos because I forgot to ask if it was okay to post them online:

Thank you for reading! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!