Open Air Arts

I made a slide show of my experience so far at the Open Air Arts event in Melrose, FL. I made an old fashion animated gif and do not know how to post it here. It is too late at night to figure out new tricks so please see my web page.
I am having fun on my plein air painting adventure but I am exhausted. I also fully intended to paint in my abstract style but I guess I am too close to the subject matter. Too close physically and mentally. For my abstracts I do a series of quick sketches and become removed from the subject matter before beginning a painting.

H*A*P*P*Y

What a contrast to last week, I am so happy with my new painting. When I got to this point, I used to think, "I have arrived everything will be easy now". But it is not like that. Art is ephemeral and hard to grasp. It could crash in failure at any time but for now I have success and I will enjoy the moment.












Check out this website. This makes me excited and inspired on many levels. I didn't have anything to do with this design: http://www.throwdownyourheart.com/

But I am helping with the graphics for our new web site at the gallery: http://melrosebayartgallery.com

Roses, Roses, Roses are bad

I want to post this to remind myself not to do this again. When I start without a compositional sketch and no clear idea I usually get this. I become too descriptive because I have vague shapes and I want to develop them into something clear. I want to be suggestive with art that is how you get to something meaningful and universal. I really need to have more than one painting going at one time. That helps me not to overwork the paintings and dwell on the failed ones.

On a positive note, the weather and spring flowers outside are beautiful. I think I will go take a walk and try to wash my brain from this.

I did successfully design a poster for Open Air Arts this week. It features one of Gary Borse's paintings which is gorgeous. I can't wait for Open Air Arts it so much fun to see what all of the different artists will produce.

Crossroads?

My new painting Out of the Swamp makes me feel content.
It seems for me there is two types of art that I can do. One is an abstract portrayal of nature that I like to do because I love to play with the colors and shapes. This work doesn't have a deep meaning, but it is really interesting visually. This work has brought me more recognition from the "art critics" such as getting into juried shows.
The other work has a subject matter that is largely developed from my imagination during the creative process. This work is fun because the unexpected happens. Many people that visit art fairs seem to really connect with this art. It is not for everyone, some only like realism. But the people that do like it are passionate about it and bring their own interpretations to it. But this work is somehow not serious enough for the art critics to accept and reward.
I am really happy to do either kind of art work. I did feel I needed to concentrate on abstract shapes and colors for a while to learn to craft a better painting. Now I am going to try to marry the two approaches and see what happens. Do other artists continually need to make these conscious choices? Or does their artwork progress and change on its own? It seems I am always getting stuck in these situations where I need to choose which way to go.

Out of the Swamp








Thanks Tim Malles for taking this photo of me painting at the Tioga art fair this past weekend. These cows weren't created from my imagination but derived from my sketches and photos.

High Key, Low key

I loved painting the abstract with the lighter pastel colors. It flowed from the beginning to end and was fun to paint. I call this High Key Tree, light colors on the value scale are called high key. Although this painting has too many dark values to truly be a high key painting. I had so much fun, that I decided to paint a match to it in low key colors, darker values. But this one has been a struggle from beginning to end. I have added a lot of light colors to it and I'm still working on it. I don't think I can hang this painting next to the other one as I had planned. The two styles of the paintings do not match. The next time I want to paint a diptych, I will paint on both paintings at the same time, as if they are one painting.
Just as these two paintings were to represent high and low so was the mood in the studio. Joy then struggle. Painting, just as life, is filled with triumphs and failures.

Black and White

The artists at the gallery really like the card I designed for next month's show at the Melrose Bay Gallery. I like it too. I am finding the black and white art by Sean Sexton and Michael Kemp so refreshing. I am tempted to try it myself. But the sketches I have been doing lately are breaking down what I see in the landscape into basic shapes. I know that I need basic shapes in order to paint. If I were to try black and white I believe I would need to describe the forms more with line.



Does anyone have inspirational black and white art to share?

I have been running across Van Gogh's drawings lately and find them just as fascinating as his paintings. He was a genius. Take a look at these links. They are not my favorite of his drawings but they give you a good idea. http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Drawing/1574/Starry-Night.html
http://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Drawing/867/Cypresses-with-Two-Women-in-the-Foreground.html

Design Class

I am teaching a design class using illustration methods of illustration as an adjunct at Santa Fe College. The first project uses cut paper and color to illustrate an emotion. I got this project from professor Rhonda Peyton and the idea to use a mundane object as the subject matter from Matthew Kelly from Central College. I enjoyed doing this project myself over the weekend as a class example and found using verbal lists to formulate ideas satisfying. The text for the class suggests using verbal lists and I want to try this with my paintings which is why I am posting it here.
I decided to use "haughty" and a chair. I looked up "haughty" in a dictionary and thesaurus. From that I determined I wanted to use shiny papers, "lordly" gold and eventually decided I wanted icy blue for the "cold shoulder" feeling. At first I was going to use black for the background to show sophistication but then I thought that it was too much black and not conveying the mood that I was after. I decided to use the icy blue that I thought about when doing the verbal map. After choosing the background color, I went on the computer and happened to see this image in a newspaper review of a show at the Harn. I was thrilled that my choice of background color was confirmed in this portrayal of the King of Hip-Hop. The artist was after the same "lordly" feeling and come up with the same background.
Kehinde Wiley's "Simon George I" is on display at the Harn Museum of Art.

Happy New Year

This year more than most, I am ready for a fresh start. There was a saying my girlfriend's Mom had when I was growing up, " bloom where you are planted". That's what I am thinking right now and being thankful for what I have.

Holiday Gala

I went to the gallery yesterday and it looked gorgeous. The most full and exciting I have seen it look in awhile. Seeing new work by Margaret Tolbert and Norman Jensen was inspiring and Gary Borse's large painting Rhapsody in Blue is a must see. Having the new fine crafts and new jewelry interspersed was very inviting and made me want to shop and shop. Like finding treasures. All are invited to come enjoy Melrose and the galleries this Saturday starting at 10 am and a special reception with music from 6 to 8 pm.

New Paintings

I haven't been posting lately, but I have been painting. I don't think I have hit on the combination of all of the elements that I am striving for in a painting. The task may be impossible but that's what keeps an artist's life interesting. I went on a quest to find more definite shapes and forms in my paintings. But now I miss some of the organic things that happen by chance due to the nature of wet paint. I was reminded that if I want paintings to build and evolve from beginning to end that the initial strokes or splashes of paint are very important. With a good beginning, contrast, color unity, shapes and composition can all be put on a path to success. I may not have my subject matter exactly in the right direction either. I started sketching trees for inspiration for abstract shape but now I have begun to make the trees into isolated icons. I do value the element of imagination in paintings and maybe more of a sense of space will give the mind a place to wander. I am interested in tackling the figure again also.

Complexity

I seem to be moving towards complexity through many shapes, abstraction and a sense of movement. I am wondering how imagination can become a factor again. Maybe have a series that is not in paint but drawing and collage and that would be more narrative.



Am I being influenced by my studio mate? He is not quite three but very inspiring.



























This is William's castle with a flag on top. I love it.

I thought it might be interesting for other artists to see which paintings sold this past weekend. I put a red square around the paintings that sold. Although you can never put much stock into what you think is going to sell. You have to just follow your muse and do the best work that you can.

New Painting

Life is crazy with all of the boys' activities and teaching a college class for the first time. The class is intensive and only half a semester. The class is so packed that I am behind now since I took a breather to paint. Oh well, it will mean less than adequate sleep but painting is good for my sanity. Looking forward to October 4 and 5 and the Thornebrook Art Festival. My work is being featured on the advertisements this year, great exposure.
I am happy with the direction of this painting. I want to work with the center and the purple bird more and some of the rectangles on the bottom. Some of the yellow areas has metallic gold paint, it is reminiscent of Klimt. Enjoy your weekend, the weather is gorgeous here today.

Summer's Almost Over

I don't know if the following link will work but it is a link to our photos from our trip out West this Summer. Link Photos

My boys had a fun filled Summer and I showed my art a lot. I showed in June with the glass artists, Sarah Hinds and Sky Campbell, and subsequently got a show with them at the Thomas Center Gallery. The show entitled Reflections Beyond Time and Space will be in the Fall of 2009. My painting,Festival Tree, was excepted into the juried exhibition at the Thomas Center in July. I was pleased because I have been rejected for the last four years after having three pieces accepted in 2003. The reception was a lot of fun with all of the women artists from Melrose Bay Gallery getting in. I'm glad to confirm that I keep good company.
I did the Art Walk downtown at the end of July. I feel like the general public like my narrative/symbolic image paintings and that artists and art critics like the more abstract paintings based on nature. I like it when I start with the abstract and it turns into something unexpected like "Leaving It Behind". I haven't done any good paintings of late. I think because I am not starting enough at one time. Hopefully I will get back on schedule soon. But since I am preparing to teach my first college class I don't know how soon. The text for the class is fabulous, Launching the Imagination. It almost covers everything you need to know about making any kind of art. It has me asking myself if I have enough reasons why I am creating what I do. Do I need more reasons for choosing acrylic paint and pine trees for abstract inspiration?

I also fell in love with the work of two new-to-me artists this Summer. Chris Natrop, www.chrisnatrop.com and Peter Doig. I love the paintings Doig was doing around 1990-91. So what do you think? Do I need to make my art and medium choice have more of a purpose?

Gallery Tour

Check out my Fruit Roll-Up "glass" vessel on the food table.
I hope if you are in the Melrose area that you can visit the gallery during the month of June. It will be open regular hours.
Melrose Bay Art Gallery
103 SR-26, PO Box 36 - Melrose, FL 32666
ph. (352) 475-3866 or 871-5633 (cell)
hours: Fri 3-7pm, Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 1-5pm (call on weekdays)

The gallery looks so pretty right now. I was blown away by how some of Sarah and Sky's color combinations matched the colors of the paintings.

Pine Tree Rhythm II

Thinned acrylics and oil patels. I love the soft look of this mixed media.

Showing with Glass

We decided to bring in the glass work of Sarah Hinds and Sky Campbell to show with my paintings for the June show. It is fascinating the similarities between these two pieces.I think because I start with the canvas very wet and fluid is the reason for the similarities to the glass work. I feel their work is in a class above mine but I think it is going to be a beautiful show. I am honored to be in this show.

New Abstract Work

I can't believe I didn't add to my blog the entire month of April. But miraculously, I was able to get some new work done. The key was starting them all at the same time. Whenever I do that, I seem to get more done and they turn out well. I started all of these from some quick sketches I did in March while floating along the river. I was fascinated by the trees growing right on the water's edge. At home I worked on the sketches by giving them more distinct shapes and lines. I got more and more comfortable laying down strokes. I want to continue the work I started here of layering the background shapes and foreground shapes in a back and forth manner.

Spring Paint Out

Bunny Hide and Seek

This was my piece for last week's Paint Out in Melrose, Florida. Any media is allowed in this paint out.

The week was exhausting especially since my husband was out of town and I was taking care of my children and working on my piece during the night. But the reception was exciting and fun. Now I am sorry it is all over. My mixed media got first prize in the garden category and was also purchased. So it was well worth the effort. I transfered color copies of pictures I took on to canvas and then worked on it with acrylics, paper and a little oil pastels. Then I sealed it with a UV protecting varnish. I choose this mixed media route because I thought it would be easier with my limited time. I couldn't work on site much because it is 4o minutes away and I also helped sit the gallery a few hours. But the process turned out to be laborious, especially to get the isolated pictures to come together as a whole.

Now what to do next?

American Idol Lessons

I have become hooked on the television show American Idol. It is the seventh season and this is the first I have watched it since the first season. I get a little obsessive about reality shows sometimes and limit myself. Anyway, I see a lot of comparisons to the mistakes that they are making and to the mistakes that I make as an emerging artists. Although I am over twenty years older than some of the singers, I still feel like I am a late blooming and emerging artists with great potential.
So some of the lessons. One of the contestant that got voted off, Katy Malloy, seemed to have so much talent but couldn't let herself go and sing with passion. Maybe she didn't know who she was yet and therefore could not express. Holds true for visual arts too, don't you think? Also the judge, Randy, told Amanda Overmyer, "to stick to her bag, Man'' not try a lot of different styles. I was recently told on different occasions that "my bag" was abstract expressionism. I never really connected with the art of the abstract expressionists but I looked them up again and was surprised how I related to their experience. The reference said that their work looked very haphazard but that actually much thought was put into it. That is how I felt about my painting "'Freedom Horse" which was successful. The judges on the show also tell the singers to be true to themselves but not boring. I think that is like visual art also, you can't just repeat yourself and do what you have done before. You have to work from passion and love. That is love for your subject, media or craft. On the show, David Cook, is doing well, but I feel he may get into trouble if he starts just trying to perform to excite the audience and doesn't work from a love of the music. Chikezie is also another singer on the show and last night he sounded like he was trying to present about three different music genres into one song. If you have the ability to sing country, rock and blues, you don't usually stick it all together in one song or album. In the visual world that would be bad design. I guess we all know that to have a solo exhibition, we need a consistent body of work. Right? Well I will keep watching a try to stick to "my bag". But I am distracted this week by my coops. Paint Out with time limitations and a pressure to perform.

Custom Frame

A buyer wanted this painting but the painting was not quite big enough and the small presentation frame was not visually heavy enough to place above her dark wood mantel. My husband custom made this wider canvas floater frame out of wood. I painted it to reflect some of the patterns in the painting. I think it turned out great. The painting looks so much more substantial now. I would now like to frame more paintings in the future but I can see it being a big expense and time waster, especially if buyers don't want the frame.

Tioga Art Festival

Click for a great slide show of the first annual Tioga art festival that was this past weekend. It was a great success with lots of interested attendees and wonderful local artists. The food, music and weather were also a pleasure. Way to go GFAA! Thanks Dan Dobson for the photos.



GFAA at Tioga

Our Primordial Tree

This is a large piece, 36 x 24. I was still working with the thick surface texture in this painting.

Finding Shapes

BEGINNING

MIDDLE
















FINAL

Unfortunately the last photo is not the best. I took it outside with a longer lens. The first two were taken inside by a window with a shorter lens and they show the texture better. I really like the thick texture of the paint surface, I am using lots of modeling paste.
I enjoyed working from a sketch, it was much better working from a loose fun sketch than a photograph. I felt free to change things and I was surprised when I revisited the place how different it was in real life. My memory had taken on a life of its own and become more real to me. But no longer represented reality.

Spring has sprung

I am playing and having fun. I can't decide if the painting is any good or not but when all of the Spring shrubs and trees start blooming I must react. We have lived here seven years and it still surprises me when we start having Winter and Spring at the same time.
I have decided to limit my internet and email time more. I think looking at so much great art everyday is making me want to tackle too much all at once. I want to do abstracts, collage, mixed media, serious, decorative, fun and dramatic work. I think I just need to stay with one thing for a little while before moving on. I am doing some sketches of the environment around me and thinking of shape and pattern. Doing shapes and patterns makes the sketches lots of fun. Where as trying to capture realistic light and shadow and correct size relationships seems like drudgery.

Not Abandonment Yet

Having a photo reference around just doesn't work for me, I get too tied to it and can't play or invent in the studio. My plan is to start several pieces at one time and add some collage elements. I am determined to play again, the dialogue with the work seems only to be open if I play.

Abandonment

I have given over fully to the controlled, detailed side and have seen the light. Abandonment shows confidence. Power lies in being able to loose it all at any moment and go for it. Not being put off when one doesn't succeed but have total faith in the next.

Now Showing

Paintings now showing at the Vam York Community Theater during the
run of the play, Blithe Spirit. Opening Night, January 25th through February 10th.
I am going to go hang out during the play on the 25th, hope to see you there.

Self Portrait

I can't believe I just did this painting. It seems I am working farther away from what I want to do with each study. I don't want to do portraits from photo references.
I don't think people that came into the gallery this weekend liked my new still life either. I think one of the problems is that it is an acrylic and I used the paint straight from the bottle. We have a lot of gorgeous oils in the gallery and this plastic paint just doesn't cut it unless I really watch the way I use it.

I can't believe that I keep forgetting all the lessons that I have learned and revert back to my old bad habits each time I try something new. So I wrote myself a list of do's and don'ts to hang on my easel.
Don'ts
Make outlines and fill in.
Make solid shapes and then break them apart, all space, no form.
Use acrylic paint straight from the tube of bottle.
Paint from a photo or become too tight too soon.
Do's
Use a sketch as a map not a template.
Paint a feeling or an idea.
Have Fun, paint it, fun in the process.
Use heavy modeling media or lots of fluid media, wet into wet or thick and sculpt it.
Let forms emerge, create shapes as I paint, wet drip, thick swash, scratch in a line, all through out the process.
Like life drawing: wouldn't fill in the outline of a figure then shade it in, emerges from light, heavy, thick and thin marks. Casual.

Back to the Still Life

I finally got to get back to my painting since the holidays are over and my sons are back to school. I feel like I have been holding my breath for a month and was nearly drowning by yesterday but now I can exhale. I am still excited about pattern, line and shape. I wanted this last still life to look like the objects were lost in a sea of pattern. I am anxious to try a human figure immersed in natural pattern this way. I have worked with this idea before but this will be a new approach. My graduate advisor was always saying that to the modernists the surrounding space was as important as the subject. For some reason, I interpreted that in my work as the space going through the subject and breaking it apart. But now when I look at some of Picasso's work around the time of The Girl in the Mirror, I finally get what she meant. Picasso outlines each section of negative space just as he does the subject shapes. They are all just as brightly colored and patterned. This makes for beautiful full compositions too. This painting is more Klimt inspired than Picasso. I will focus more on the negative spaces in the next painting.