I had a nice note while I was traveling. Lorrie Drennan nominated me for an art blogging award - the Arte y Pico Award. What is so nice about this concept is that it is a jury of one's peers essentially. And with so many fabulous artists in the blog world, its really a pleasure to be considered creative enough to receive a commendation like this. The info about the award and how to nominate other artists is farther below, but here are my Top Five favorites, based on their inspiring work and their blogging style. I could do so many more than five though.
And two more interesting blogs about art and the making of art: Uncle Paulie's World and ArtMaker.
FYI...The Origin of The Arte y Pico Award and Rules if you choose to accept.
You might be interested in the origin of the "Arte y Pico Award" The designer of the award puts it like this..."The Arte y Pico Award has arisen from the daily visits that I make to many blogs which nourish and enrich me with creativity. In them, I see dedication, creativity, care, comradeship, but mainly, ART, much art. I want to share this prize with all those bloggers that entertain and enrich me day to day. Doubtlessly, there are many and it will be hard to pick just a few."
The Rules:
1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award through creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.
2. Each award should have the name of the author with a link to their blog.
3. Award winners have to post the award with the name and link to the blog of the person who gave them the award.
4. Show these rules and the paragraph (above) explaining the awards origination.
24x36 oil on linen
Here we have the final event version. I will be making final adjustments and refining the painting, but I wanted to share with you the result of my 5+ hours of painting of the reception for William and Kate. I also set up my video camera and taped at intervals, so when I come back from vacation (which I very much need now) I will play with editing that and posting it to my site. I very much enjoyed this and hope the family will love the final painting. Stay tuned for photos of it in a few weeks.
10x8 oil on panel
Purchase info to come.
This painting rather turned out to be one of high contrast. I really pushed the darks. It reminds me of an artist Sherrill Cooper who does some really neat figurative work.
Tomorrow I'm heading for Houston to paint the wedding reception of a lovely young couple at the fabulous River Oaks Country Club. I'm excited to do another live event. Its very exhilarating, in a terrifying way. But once the band is playing and the crowd is humming, I really get into a groove. The guests are always so thrilled to see the work develop and what an honor it is for me and my work to be included in such an important day!
Ask me how it all works if you have a special event you'd like to have memorialized in your own impressionist painting.
After the quick trip to Houston, I'm off for one more family vacation before school starts, so the posts will be irregular again! I will visit Castle Gallery in Fort Wayne one of the days, but will just miss their summer show on Aug. 21.
Just think what fun I will have painting and posting when school starts and I have more time than I've had in years.
10x8 oil on panel
Accepted in the Small Works North America show at the Greenwich Workshop Gallery.
Too tired to write much about this. This week has been insane. My daughter's been at camp every afternoon and its down at Zilker park, so I've been in the car a lot. My dog had surgery yesterday and has been needing babying. Husband works insane hours. So much for my painting/posting daily. Well - I did sketch yesterday, literally on napkins in Starbucks, but was interrupted by the vet's call detailing all the trauma they were going to put my pup through.
12x12 oil on paper
nfs
This is my daughter relaxing in the backyard in her Easter dress. I made her get gussied up and pose for me one day last spring. This was so much fun to sketch. I felt so free. I am hoping some of this is carrying over into my gallery work, but today I rather struggled when I got out real canvas. Is it the idea that its more permanent the issue, or the actual texture?
12x12 oil on paper
nfs
Another quick study to loosen up and get things flowing. Interestingly, the paper canvas pulls the oil out of the paint pretty quickly, making the stroke "stick" fast which makes me get looser with my color and I do more just putting the paint on and leaving it alone and get a little bolder with color. So the paper, and the fact that I set my timer, are creating some fun results for me.
oil on paper canvas
On Friday, I read Harley Brown's article in International Artist regarding working inconsistently, and it really struck home. "Although I alluded to this before, I'm jotting down the subtleties that are really the underpinning of an artist with EVER DEVELOPING skills who draws and paints continuously. The confidence factor from working each day makes THE difference. I've talked with dancers and writers and musicians who say the same thing about how the previous day's work is important to each ensuing day. So goes the rhythm of confident strokes."
There pretty much is the philosophy behind the painting a day movement. And my "journal" here. I think that after one takes a break, there is this learning curve to starting again and a real loss of confidence. I've been so inconsistent this summer that when I do have time, I freeze up. So I decided I have to keep the paint brush wet, no matter how small or brief a work I do. It is my goal to post here daily, be it a pencil sketch on a napkin, a study, a small painting to sell or a gallery work. I hope you enjoy the journey along with me.
12x16 oil on panel
This is the "larger piece" I mentioned doing yesterday. I seriously thought it was going to be very bad but I just kept smearing paint on and pushing myself to continue and in the end, I really like the look of it. Its colorful but balanced, the brushwork looks spontaneous and fresh and I managed to capture the mood and tell a story too.
6x6 oil on panel
$100 +12 s/h - sold
This lady was too much to resist; dressed in her trench coat seeming to melt right into Gustave Caillebotte's Rainy Day.
Austin scenes are coming! I'm mulling things over and need to go downtown on a sketch crawl. Truth be told, I feel like I have artistic ADD. I stand in my studio looking through sketches and photos and have so many I want to do, but can't focus on one thing. My time is so very short right now, which probably increases my anxiety about working and completing things. My best work is completed in one sitting. I am really pleased with a larger painting I did today, though while I was working, I thought sure it was going to be a mess and have to be scraped. That is the reward for pushing through.
6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $12 s/h
This is inspired by my bat cruise last night on Lady Bird Lake downtown. Austin hosts the largest urban Mexican free-tail bat colony in North America during the summer months. This was the view looking up from our pontoon boat as the bats began their exodus from under Congress Ave. bridge.
I think I will celebrate Austin in my daily paintings. I will be your tour guide perhaps through central Texas! Stay tuned!
12x16 oil on panel
The Driskill really is a lovely old hotel. And its so very refreshing upon entering from the glaring heat outside. Its full of dark wood paneling, polished marble floors, and rather masculine, earthy colors which create an oasis of southern comfort in the midst of a bustling downtown. Every once in awhile I like to check to see if they have any special room rates...until then, I can go and sit in the lobby, walk the elegant corridors and pretend I am a cattle baron's daughter.
What am I going to do with this painting? I don't know yet. Send me an email if you are interested in it.
6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $12 s/h - sold
I've been working, but have been to lazy to post anything. I think the heat is making me pleasantly lethargic or comfortably numb. This little painting I did to try to loosen up after working on a larger painting yesterday. It reminds me of Ken Auster a lot. Must have had him on the mind!
6x6 oil on panel$100 + $12 s/h -
soldI've been thinking about NYC a lot this week as I made my plans for a September workshop with Ken Auster in the city. That should be a beautiful time to be there and Ken's work is so inspiring and fresh that I can't wait to learn from him.So - a carriage ride in Central Park today for your viewing pleasure.
6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $12 s/h - sold
I was up around 3 a.m. one night at the beach (thanks Dad!) and went outside to have a look at the moon which was a brilliant orangey-red and hanging low on the horizon. Looking to the north though I saw this hotel lit up with the glow of vapor lights.
I love night scenes. I should do more.
While I paint, my dog Macy sometimes hangs out in the studio on a pillow I have for her under my easel. Usually, though she is too busy laying on the couch in the front window watching for passersby to bark at. But today she was nearby and she was so cute and relaxed, that I quickly sketched her in on a board. Seriously, this took about 5 minutes and I am really pleased with it. Can you guess that she is a schnauzer? Best dog ever! :-)
6x6 oil on panelnfs
11x14 oil on panelThis painting will be available at Castle Gallery around July 18th. I am pretty pleased with this. I don't have much more to say about it than that. It was a great deal of fun to create.
7x5 oil on panel
nfs
This is my little girl and its so like her, that I just can't part with this painting. I've been bouncing all over the last couple of days with larger pieces of art patrons, the city and beach! I can't make up my mind what to paint while I have so much time. My daughter is in a day camp the next two weeks so hopefully I will have more to share with you all and a couple (at least) small works.
18x24 oil on canvas
purchase info to come
I worked on this over several days. I prefer to paint alla prima, but sometimes its just not possible. And once I had the figures painted, the rest was like, well, painting several small paintings. Some of them unknown and were from the gallery photos, some are from magazines, featuring some contemporary artists whom I admire. I hope if they recognize their work, they will appreciate it in the spirit it is intended.
Being an artist, I sometimes get access to those back rooms where art is stored and its a pretty neat place to visit! If you go to Austin Galleries though, there is no mystery. Its ALL out. But it could take you weeks to go through all the work. Its an amazing gallery.
8 1/2 x 6 1/2 oil on canvas paper
This is new... a quick sketch I did today to loosen up. I've actually been working on and off for three days on a larger piece and when I finished that today, I had just enough time to stretch my wings a little. Ta da!
Personally, I love working this way. The results are so impressionistic, so spontaneous and I'm generally very pleased with my results. Perhaps sketches like this come more from the gut. Maybe because I am not so serious about making it perfect. But I plan to do more of these quick studies both for the exercise and for planning larger paintings.
This was painted on a canvas-style paper - not mounted. As of this moment, I cannot decide if I will offer it for sale. Perhaps after I've lived with it, and used it to create my larger gallery painting.
acrylic on paper canvas
On this particular morning I decided to try a more complete painting of the beach. I figure if I can paint large paintings, on site, during a wedding reception, then I could paint a beach scene. Well, I think I could really, but the paint dried so darn fast! Its my normal complaint about acrylics. I was interested in trying the new ones coming out which have a longer "open" times and which can be wetted or spritzed to keep wet on the canvas even. But nothing, I think, can really compare to oil paints. The real, old fashioned ones. I've also tried the water miscible oils, but have not liked the results with those either.
