A Tale of Two Piggies

5x5 oil on panel
$75 + s/h

Well, you can guess what part intrigued me about this little scene. The light on her feet was so cool. I am not perfectly happy with this... I might go back into it tomorrow a little but its best to wait and see tomorrow. The goal of these small paintings is to be accurate but not detailed. To mass in. But the scale does not actually allow for real looseness of brushwork. If anything, it makes me tighten up. So its a trade off - blocked in and undefined, but still tight.
Oh, and I realized that my panel was not quite so small.

The Devils in the Details

5x5 oil on panel
$75 + s/h

This pleasant summer scene is my first small painting in quite awhile. And I started back really small, didn't I? Made me ignore details for sure! I need to get my studio cleaned up and order some supplies before long. My daughter is back to school today - started second grade. She had a great day and I was only a little teary to say good bye. Seven is a great age, btw.

I saw this woman reading on a lawn in Chicago - no doubt taking a break to enjoy the lovely weather. If we did this in Texas right now, we'd probably burst into flames. I'm always interested in what people are reading and I could just barely make out the title, "The Devil in the White City"... this is owing to a fabulous zoom lens. I highly recommend one for taking pictures of people. I saw many people out enjoying the weather like this. I can't wait until we can get back outdoors here again. A blazing 105 right now, but there appears to be a storm blowing in. Lets hope so!

Lazy Days of Summer

If I weren't so lazy, I might at least scan in a sketch I've done during my recent travels. Lots of people in the plane or airports looking drowsy. BUT.... there are only 4 more days until my daughter goes to school and then I can refocus myself! I can't wait for that, though I am sorry to send her away again every day (and to have the alarm wake me daily.)

I have so much in my brain that I am anxious to get started on - I've been stocking up ideas all summer. Storing them up because I've been too "lazy" to actually get my palette set up and work even when I had the time. When I made that lazy comment to my friend V....Vaughan, she said these very wise and enlightening things:

NEVER CALL IT LAZY!!!

An artist (which you ARE) is ALWAYS working…even when there is no paint on the palette, the composition meter is still running…and the color picker eyes are in a constant state of evaluating…

The WORST thing for an artist is to be A L O N E !!! You are nurturing your longevity and health by taking care of a family (and organizing teas with your friends...)

So there you have it. I've been evaluating and planning paintings for several months and am putting you on notice now that there will be more small works available here soon. And more gallery pieces heading out to my anxious brick and mortar representatives.

Moses Botkin Mothly Challenge

Another limited palette challenge! What a duesy (I know where that comes from now I think... we just visited Auburn, Ind. and the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg car museum.) Anyway - I painted a figure, of course. He is yellow. But I really actually like the painting a lot in spite of the yellow flesh. I used Indian Yellow with ivory black and tit. white. Indian Yellow is a really interesting yellow. Its on my palette all the time. It is transparent, can be very warm and bright, or makes a nice gray green when mixed with black as I discovered.
Today we are heading into Chicago for the last "leg" of our trip. A couple days being tourists in the city and visiting the Art Institute should get me good and inspired to begin work again.


Yellow Man
12x12 oil on panel
(c)2010 Robin Cheers



Rose in Yellow Solo
7x5 oil on panel
(c)2010 Elizabeth Blaylock



Sunny Back Light
5x7 oil on hardboard
(c)2010 Diana Moses Botkin




Grisaille in Yellow Ochre, Ivory Black & White
14x11 oil on panel
(c)2010 Vicki Ross



Behind This!
12x12 oil on canvas
(c)2010 Suzanne Berry



Waterlilly in Evening Pond
6x6 oil on panel
(c)2010 Jeanne Illenye

Portrait of Major

12x9 oil on panel - not for sale

This is our new dog. He came to us a few months ago and I wanted to paint a portrait of him for his former owner. I feel badly that circumstances led to his needing a new home, but I am awfully glad he is part of our family now. He is a really neat dog. (An Irish Terrier). I can't resist a bearded dog, truth be told.

I'm feeling guilty today because we are packing to go on vacation again and the dogs are getting suspicious. They are generally lazing about a lot anyway though since its gotten so very hot here, so maybe they won't miss us much.

Home Again

Back from a whirlwind trip to Boston and Woodstock, Vermont. Boston was fun to explore, though a bit rainy!



Woodstock is such a beautiful town and Wojtek, Studio 47 owner, is the loveliest host. The show was beautifully hung and the choice of artists meshed well. I met Maryanne Montone Tursi who paints beautiful landscapes and Gillian Tyler who creates a variety of impressionist scenes.



The opening went really well. The gallery is in an old mill, which was used at one time to grind linseed oil for paints! Its a gorgeous space right next to the stream and on the main street of Woodstock.



My wall o'art. Really cool to see it all hung together. A lot of hard work and thought went into it and I was really proud of the results.



Sunday we explored Quechee Village, the Simon Pearce glass studio, Quechee Gorge, some backroads, and downtown Woodstock before heading back to Boston and a way-too early
flight Monday morning.

Life & Times

12x9 oil on panel

Ask Studio 47 about this painting.

This is it! I believe I have shown most of the new pieces which are in Vermont for the group show. 15 new paintings have been sent there and my bag is packed and I'm flying to Boston tomorrow morning. I will spend the afternoon and night in Boston with a wonderful girlfriend from college. She will meet me there and go to the opening at the gallery with me on Saturday. I am really so excited to share this with such an old and dear friend. What a long way I've come from my drawing and design courses.
I'm excited to see Boston - I've never been. And excited to see Vermont. I bet its gorgeous. And excited about the opening and meeting the other artists and the gallery owner Wojtek. The space looks so beautiful online. Can't wait to see it in person.
Not sure I can blog while on the trip, but you can be sure I will when I get home!

The painting above is a scene from one of my favorite people watching places, Starbucks. I've noticed that more men than women read the newspaper. Personally, I don't read the paper because I am allergic to the inks. At least I used to be... found that out when I worked for a community paper in South Carolina and had to touch them all the time. I can't stand the way newsprint feels and it makes me itchy and sneezey. So, you won't really ever see me read a newspaper like this. I only get the first parts of stories, on the front/top page until "continued on B4" or something. I would not be a good partner for Trivial Pursuit.

Honorable Mention

10x12 oil on linen (mounted)

Ask Studio 47 about this painting.

I thought this was a fun scene. Its from the opening reception at the Salon International show in 2009. The painting with the award was by one of my favorite artists Diane Massey Dunbar. I believe it was at the Greenhouse Gallery that I saw one of her paintings of a grocery scene that was really so unique. She really captures some strange lighting in settings like the grocery or carnivals. Things I like to experiment with too. Speaking of, I have some images from the rodeo carnival I should look at again.

Restocking

12x9 oil on panel

Ask Studio 47 about this painting.

Another grocery scene. Another great frame from Glaser Frames. Today I shipped 3 more paintings to Vermont and can't believe its for the opening this weekend! I think I can finally relax now. And just think about what to wear.

Greens Keeper

8x6 oil on panel

Ask Studio 47 about this painting.

This subject began to intrigue me during a trip to Whole Foods with my daughter's Daisy troop. We had a little tour through the market and as I looked around, I just fell in love with the bright colors and contrasts in the grocery. There was something about the strange florescent lighting too. I've done several grocery store scenes for this show. Below I've included a photo with it framed. Its in a gorgeous handmade, hand-finished, 3 1/2" pale gold frame. Really beautiful!

Moses Botkin Monthly Challenge

This month's challenge was a yellow flower and blue vase. Though at the beginning I wasn't sure if it was that or just a yellow and blue limited palette. So I chose the flowers, and did it with only yellow, blue and white. I also aimed for the most intense colors I could get, pretty much straight out of the tube. I wish I had gone more abstracted though.

Once again, beautiful images created by my fellow painters. I can't believe the detail that Jeanne gets. I would go crazy! Suzanne's painting makes me feel like I am sitting at the edge of a pool, its so refreshing.


"Yellow Flower, Blue Vase"
6x6 oil on panel
© 2010 Robin Cheers

"Blue and Yellow"

12x9 oil on panel
© 2010 Vicki Ross

"Yellow Columbine"
6x4 oil on hardboard

© 2010 Diana Moses Botkin

"Yellow Lily on Spode Blue Italian Plate"
6x6 oil on panel
© 2010 Jeanne Illenye

"Amber Waves"
16x20 oil on canvas
© 2010 Suzanne Berry

About Juried Shows

I thought I'd continue with the theme...though I am late getting my Moses Botkin Challenge paintings posted!!

I used to look through the magazines for all the art contests and would send off my slides and entries and was rejected most of the time. I thought it was my work. Could have been. But it also could have been my show choices. I since have learned to pick and choose only those shows which will further my career owing to the size and location of the show, the awards juror, and the likely quality of the other work submitted.
I learned to avoid shows that were being juried by academics. No offense. And I focused on regional groups and national shows sponsored or held at galleries.

Its all part of the learning curve.

And now to this month's paintings!

Thank you!

I really can't thank you all enough for your kind notes about the last post. I really am not too upset - just surprised and it makes me wonder if I am missing something glaring in the painting? But mostly, I wanted to serve as a reminder that all art is subjective and people find beauty in different things. I love the painting. I loved creating it.
My husband is lukewarm on it. Too much green he says. Perhaps the jury panel thought so too. But my other entries were flawless. LOL

Yesterday afternoon, I had a nice surprise to see my name in print in American Art Collector. Castle Gallery in Indiana was one of the galleries featured to share what's hot in their gallery. They kindly mentioned my name and art as having an "enthusiastic following." Now that makes me proud.

I'm reminded of a Seinfeld episode where Jerry kept breaking even - he lost $20 and then later found $20 in a jacket or something. You win some, you lose some. And I am a big believer that over time, it all works out as its meant to.

Next... the Oil Painter's of American western region show. I've never been accepted in that!

Saturday Chores

18x24 oil on linen

Rejected! From the American Impressionist Society. I'm a bit bummed. None of my paintings were accepted this year. I submitted some of my best work - and I have to believe that regardless of being juried into the show or not. Its just a reminder that the appreciation of art is so subjective. What moves one person might be overlooked by another.

I watched an excellent dvd on the Impressionists* over vacation and none could better understand the angst of rejection than they. While they set their own course and struggled to earn even a humble living, they still wished for acceptance by the Salon and tried again and again.

And so must we all! Be true to thine self and paint on!

* The Impressionists - The Other French Revolution

Technology Gap

Now where is the slide show? -->
I swear, sometimes technology is just a waste of time.

Speaking of technology though, and time management; I thought I'd talk about my recent decision to drop off the Daily Painters Gallery.

It was a hard decision to choose not to appear on there any longer. I hadn't been posting small works specific for that audience in awhile and the volume of mail I would get about the works that were appearing was really time consuming. I also felt it perhaps wasn't fair for me to stay and not post regularly, when others could use that space to better advantage. I paint daily, pretty much, but not always something small for the DPG. I can spend about as much time painting a tiny painting as a larger one (remember, I don't paint LARGE) and I won't post something that I'm not completely proud of.

It is owing to my participation in that gallery that I have all you fans and followers. I hate to give that audience up. But I hope that my blog will continue to inspire, if not generate direct sales. I will continue to focus on works for galleries, but also post affordable small pieces, studies and sketches for sale direct from the blog or ETSY. That is another outlet I hope to put more effort into. Its woefully lacking now.

So stay tuned here. I've been getting my emails sorted out, finishing framing for my group show in Vermont (opening in 11 days!) and ordering/shopping for supplies. Back to work asap!

Show Time

Back home and gearing up for my three-person show at Studio 47. It looks like it will be such a wonderful grouping of artists - very complementary styles and subjects. I'm really excited and I'm really proud of the work I've created for this. It was nice to have a two-week break from it all, I can appreciate it so much more! And I am so anxious to get back to work.

I've posted a slideshow (on the right -->) of my paintings that will be available at that show. And I have a new photo album on Facebook with all the images and info. Opening night, July 24th. If you are in the neighborhood, stop in and say hi!

Please contact Studio 47 for more information on the paintings - 802-457-5180.

Beach Dunes Sketch

page from my sketchbook

This is just a little sketch I did from our back patio at the beach. This is our last day in FL at my parent's house. All my spoiling will come to an end and I have to go back to being a fully functioning adult/parent. :-)
But I miss my hubby and my dogs. And fish, and garden, and so on....so will be happy to get home. Until next year!

Beach Study - Sunset II

6x6 oil on panel

This is the same sunset as I posted previously, but a little later. I had loaded my palette with alizarin crimson and cad yellow medium and couldn't get the true bright red/orange that was happening on that higher cloud, but this is the general feel of it. The next time, for the beach scenes I used scarlet red. I usually use a cad red hue from Sennelier, but I need to get new supplies when I get home. Didn't have a tube of ultramarine blue to travel with either and had to borrow one from my mom. Good thing she is an artist also and has lots of goodies to play with here. She mostly does watercolors though.

Below I thought I'd share a painting that I did a hundred years ago! Feels like it at least. It hangs in my folks' house and is a large portrait of my mother holding my young nephew (he is now 19!) I wonder what it would look like if I painted it now?

Beach Study II - Sunset

6x6 oil on panel

We had such clouds and a fair amount of rain at the beach that we only had good sunsets twice during the week - but WOW - what sunsets they were. Just devastatingly beautiful!
What amazed me also was how long my paintings stayed wet. In Austin they dry overnight. Not here, what a difference the humidity makes. At home even the paint on my palette hardens overnight - which is very annoying and wasteful.

Beach Study

Beach week is over. I am in central Florida now with a nice rain falling. We actually had rather cloudy skies and rain at the beach as well, but its ok with me. I am not into burning in the blazing sun. Though the shadows and bright sunlight would have been preferable for the artist in me. I got some good sketching, and a few oil studies in.

The painting above was a study in values. It was an overcast sort of day and looking down beach it all seemed almost misty except for the bright beach umbrellas.


My little cigar box set up on my knees. Limited palette - but tried two different blues since my mom had brought them both.

No photo editing software here. I somehow allowed a virus on my husband's laptop too when I got on Facebook last week. Oops. Hopefully he will have that taken care of before he goes back to work! My daughter and I continue our vacation this week. Lucky us!

Happy Independence Day all!!