New shape paintings

I feel like I ended up at the wrong destination on the painting journey with these new works. I feel like I am illustrating instead of painting which would be a great predictable style if I got hired to do a children's book or similar work. But I would like my personal painting to be more unpredictable and process oriented. I wonder if you take an idea too far that you start turning in a circle? Or if you don't know how to proceed you choose a familiar path which would be a circle because it is a place that you have been before.



My son was asking a lot of questions about the blue dog: Is he lost? Is he lonely? or does he live in the wild? I hope he thinks he is lost but not really far from the right track.

Bright Warhol

As always the preschool artists surprise and delight me with their creations. I showed the children some of Andy Warhol's work and we read a great book for children written by Andy Warhol's nephew, James Warhola. I used the school's affiliate church's pastors as our "celebrity" faces. Fun results.

New Etsy Shop!

Check out my new shop on Etsy. I love shopping on Etsy!
I have been thinking about starting this for along time and decided to just jump in. I am nervous about having all the information covered so please visit the site and tell me how I can improve.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/carolhbarber
Thanks so much!

New Small Works

These are some new small paintings that I just completed: Garden of Delights, Flying Together, Caroline's Plot, and Prairie Celebration. I wanted to do some simple affordable work to sell, but they are not simple. It seems the smaller I paint the more intricate and detailed the work becomes, probably stemming from my love of small brushes. I emphasized rich textures over color in the last three which each measure 8" x 10".

Thomas Center Regional Juried Show

I was honored to have a piece in the juried show this year. Mine is the smaller painting on the right. It is an interesting show, the different judges always leave their mark and make the show unique each year.

Sunday's Celebration

Thank you Michael Woodman for these photos.

Sunday Celebration

Despite the downpours we really had a nice turnout for the reception today. It was such a pleasant time with friends, live soft music, wine and yummy cake. A dreamy afternoon, like a Nora Jones song which the guitarist did play. I forgot my camera so I am stealing an image Jeff Knee took of the show. Thank you to all for the well wishes, braving the rain and helping make the day a success.

Shaped by Time

You all are invited to
Melrose Bay Gallery, Shaped by Time,
art show with abstract artist, Ande Lister
Celebrating my 40th Birthday
with cake on Sunday, July 11, 3 to 6 pm
Show runs June 26 - July 31.

The One and Only Mona Lisa!

Well this project was a lot of fun and captured people's attention like no other this year. Toddling babies to grandparents were stopping to take a long look and point to each one. Lots of fun.

Show in July

This painting sold this week.







I have a couple of new paintings but I want to wait to show them in July at Melrose Bay Gallery. Hope that you can join us.

Flags for Memorial Day

Loved the flags my preschool artists painted to honor Memorial Day and study Jasper Johns. His flag painting sold this month at auction for 28.6 million.

Chair Auction

It case you missed it, here are some of the great chairs from the benefit this past weekend.

My Chair!

Musical Chairs event this Saturday from 6 to 9 pm at Ellie Blair's Studio.
I am very happy to have the chair completed. My mistake was thinking that it was going to be easy but I am pleased with the way that it came out. I am glad that I chose the monochromatic color scheme and it is not visible from the photos but it has touches of silver paint. It really goes well with the metal parts of the chair. I am excited to see how the other chairs are painted at the benefit. I hope that the auction is a great success for the worthy cause of the arts in elementary schools.

Musical Chairs Event

Click on the title to see details of this event benefitting the Arts in Public Schools. Thank You!

Preschoolers working like Jasper Johns

I had my preschool classes use charcoal and letter stencils to work like Jasper Johns. John's figure "8" is matted in orange. One of the artist's objectives was to create a rich and interesting surface. The preschoolers naturally do that, the teachers' attempts were much too clean and not as interesting. Their playfulness creates some really interesting designs too. A good lesson for graphic designers.

New Landscape

Here are some pictures of my latest landscape painting. It is fairly big measuring 48 in. across. I was concentrating on the surface texture in this one. I don't think it is going to fit in with my next show so I may try to hang it at Paddiwhack or at MT's Chop House for the Summer.
Speaking of the Summer, I have some definite art plans and that has helped me focus on what art needs to be done next. I need to focus and plan ahead more often. But I guess there needs to be times of too many ideas and wondering which way to go, then choosing one and completing it. I wanted to do a fund raiser art show for my fortieth birthday this Summer but I have settled on participating in a fund raiser to benefit the Arts in public schools. I will be painting a chair for a "Musical Chairs" night May 22nd. More to come as that develops. I will be having a birthday celebration by showing with abstract artist, Ande Lister at the Melrose Bay Art Gallery for the month of July. The show will be called Shaped by Time. It is going to be very cool, I can't wait to install it. The Harn store is also featuring four of my paintings. I am happy for this opportunity since wall space is very limited there.
I have been introducing the Modernist, Jasper Johns, to my preschool classes. I get so much enjoyment out of their creations. I'll post some of those soon.

Printing Scarves

Here is an option of printing directly on silk scarves. What do you think? I created the image from a photograph of one of my paintings. The printing process as opposed to painting keeps the silk soft.

Scarves

I'm going to keep working on this idea.

Fatal Flaw?

I tried painting on silk yesterday and I am happy with the way that they look. But I think they are too stiff to wear. They feel more like Gortex than silk. I am going to try soaking them in Fabric Softner, maybe dry clean? to get them soft. I am using acrylic paints and an acrylic fabric medium. I don't want to go the using dyes and a steamer route that makes for soft silk painting. I want to use the acrylics that I am familiar with. Maybe I should try painting on another material? I do enjoy them hanging from the light fixture in the sunlight though. Any ideas?

Art Walk

Hey facebook fans! I am showing for the ArtWalk this Friday night in the Sun City Center at SCORE. It is in conjunction with an Environmental Film Festival Downtown. Let me know you are a fan and I will give you an 8.00 discount on a 28.00 print. Hope to see you there!

Another one

I did one more late last night for the Open Air Arts event. I did this from a boat ride sketch that I did on Saturday. It is more illustrative rather than the painterly methods I was intending to explore. But it's fun and I can see doing this type of illustration for hire. I didn't put it in for the judging.

Open Air Arts Judging

This is the work that I have produced since last Wednesday for the Open Air Arts event in Melrose, FL. I have to choose just one of these for the judging and pick one category: either painting or mixed media. I am really happy with my experience. Having to produce so much so quickly made me experiment with my materials and use new methods of painting. Things that I want to explore further. It was like going to a workshop; really beneficial. I met some interesting people too. The closing gala will be so much fun to see all the work that they created. I feel it was all worth while. The only reason I want to win an award is to cover the supplies that I bought. It is really hard to choose just one. What do you think?