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.

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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!

Every Day in May #3

So its Day number 3 of the Every Day in May challenge, and today's topic is "Something that Represents Joy"

This was easy to think of.  I am trying to limit these EDiM sketches to 15 or 20 minutes most days, so that I still have time for my other art, after all, I know that the Gallery owner who shows my work wants me to come up with a painting that has something to do with wine... plus he said he'd like to see more small scale landscapes that he could sell for $100 or less.  (Basically that means 8x10 or smaller).

I also have an order for a pet portrait to get done... so I can't spend hours on these sketches.

Today's sketch took around 15 minutes, coloring included... and it shows, I mean its not straight, the form and perspective are a bit off, its too skinny proportionally... but anyway, here it is:

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:

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The Chrome Monster gets a New Name.

Once upon a time there was, living in the mind of an artist, an idea to paint a picture of one of the coolest cars in the history of American cars.  So this artist, although she had never attempted to paint anything shiny or reflective before, decided to paint a Chevy Bel Air from the mid 1950's, she ended up deciding on a 1956 since she had reference photos of that year available to her.

So this artist started off, and kept telling herself that she could figure out a way to paint all of that shiny red metal, and silvery, reflective chrome.  She had no idea how she was going to do it, but just started painting what she saw, carefully matching values and colors, though she changed a few things like the photographer's reflection in the bumper of the reference photo.

It was a difficult painting, and while working on it the artist bestowed on it the name of "Chrome Monster" as she realized just how much of that challenging, shiny surface the 1956 Chevy had.  In her head, as she painted, she kept reminding herself, "don't worry, paint what you see, the printer didn't have any metalic ink, and it managed to produce a picture of chrome, so can you.".

Finally, after many days, she stepped back and looked at the painting and realized that it was done.  She was so happy with the result that she no longer saw it as monster, and instead decided to name it the "Chrome King".

And here it is:

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Looking for a Gallery

I am really wanting to find a local gallery to represent my art, but so far have not had much luck.  I actually had one gallery owner look over my pieces, and actually say that he would put them in his gallery if I produced more animal art, which he said was one of the strongest selling.  So I went home and produced four of my best animal paintings, he looked at them and apologized, saying that he had filled the spot in the meantime while I was making those, and to check back in a few months. At first I was very irritated that I spent so much time preparing paintings specifically for him (see the paintings below) and he didn't end up putting them in his gallery  but then I realized that I thoroughly enjoyed doing them, and had learned that I had a knack for painting animals, which I didn't realize I had before that, so I really wasn't too upset.

Now though, the issue remains that I still don't have gallery representation.  I can keep trying to sell online, but honestly, a gallery is an artist's best bet for getting sales.  So, after the artwalk on April 13, I am going to start really pursuing that gallery representation.

   
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My Freedom Series

I'm sure if you've read the past several posts, you've noticed a lot of bald eagles in my sketchbook.  That is because I am working on a series of paintings I am calling my "Freedom Series".  I'm not sure how many I will paint in the series, but the first two are finished.

The first one I call Freedom's Hope, and its a bald eagle, symbol of Freedom for so many, looking up to the maker, continuing to hope in good times and in trials, as Americans have done since the birth of our nation.

And the next one I call "Freedom's Pride", it depicts a A bald Eagle, symbol of American freedom and pride, perched on a branch overlooking part of the beautiful Puget Sound.

While I haven't decided yet how many will be in this series, I do know that I'll do a few more, however, before I do I'm going to do a few pet portraits, in preparation for an upcoming art walk where I plan to advertise that service.

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