Curves II

It is amazing how a couple of slight changes could make such a huge difference in the quality of the image. I still do not profess to have great photography skills but this picture came out really well. The colors are really close. Once I have a tripod to use the hope is that the pictures will become crisper.

This piece is called "Curves II", acrylic on bristol board, 10"x13".

Sketching today went ok but no work was done on my artist statement. I have a feeling it is because I really don't want to do one. I want my work to speak for itself....haha I sound like every artist who ever lived! No matter, I will continue to work on it since it is an integral piece in the business of art. I read a great article that talked about the artist statement as well a number of other items to keep in mind when pursuing an art career. Hopefully, I can find it again. I'll add the link to it here and will also reread it since it deserves to be read again, in my opinion.

Well, that is all for now. The house needs to get cleaned up so we are ready for our holiday weekend adventures. Nothing big planned but lots of little things to do which will make it a busy weekend. With that said, I am going to give myself a mini vacation from my blog so next post will be on Tuesday. Happy Memorial Day to all!

Waiting on the Rain

Today was a super busy non-art related day so I was thrilled when I was able to fit in some quality studio time. I have begun a new acrylic painting that I am excited about. I am finding that I am starting to work larger which is pretty cool. This painting is 10"x13" and I am contemplating going larger. I have the supplies so might as well go for it.

So the day started out with dropping my favorite little artist off at school, job searching while I drank my coffee, took an on-line entrepreneur webinar, had lunch with a friend and then picked up my little artist from school. We then ran a couple of errands before heading home for some quality time in the art room.

Tomorrow, I am going to focus on sketching in the morning since it has been awhile. Also, I need to work on my artist statement. Currently, it is in draft form but I need to complete it between today and tomorrow. Once done I will post it here for you and hope that you will give me some feedback.

Well the rain has finally arrived after threatening to come the entire day. The flowers and trees will be happy especially after the scorcher we had yesterday.

Split

Here is today's piece, "Split", acrylic on bristol board, 13"x10".

The piece actually came out better than anticipated. There were a number of moments where I was just about to give up and start all over. Somedays are like that but normally if you work through the issues you get a piece that you like. If you are really lucky you may get a piece you love.

So I have received some feedback on the photos of my work. In case you couldn't tell, I take the pics myself and a photographer I am not. So today I tried a couple of different camera settings to see if that would make a difference, I think it does but I will leave it up to you to decide. But in any case, I am in need of a good photographer who can take pictures of my work. If you know of anyone send them my way but please keep in mind they need to offer a fair price since after all I am in "transition".

But until I find a good photographer, I will keep taking the pictures myself and posting them here for your enjoyment or amusement.

Stay cool on this super hot day and be sure to drink lots of water.

Purple Sky

Today was a great art day. I got so much accomplished in the studio. First, I was able to finish my acrylic painting called Purple Sky, 6"x7". For some reason the background looks more blue then purple but believe me it is purple.

My favorite little artist picked out the colors for this painting, however, the use of purple for the background was my idea. Sometimes, you pick out colors and then you find that they just don't gel. I do need to buy a new tube of purple. Yes, I know you can make your own purple out of blue and red, however, the color is more consistent from a tube. For whatever reason I tend not to mix colors, I almost never do it. Now that doesn't mean that I don't mix them together on the canvas or board but I don't normally pre-mix them. With acrylics I like to layer the colors in order to get a desired effect, then when the finished piece is glazed the piece appears to have added depth. For oils I like to blend them on the canvas or use the pallet knife directly on the canvas to create texture and dimension.

My other big undertaking today was to clean up my studio. I rearranged some of the furniture but mostly I purged. My little artist is quite prolific in her creation of art, add to that everything she does and brings home from school and that is a lot of paper. So I opted to keep a few key pieces that I hung up on the walls so she could look at them. Her reaction was awesome "You did this for me?? I love it!"

Part of me was going to try and impress on her that it is my studio and she is just a guest in it but since we both work in it together and she has her easel and drawing table set up in it, it really is our studio/art room.

The last art related item I did was to set up the board for tomorrow's piece which will probably take a few days to complete since it is a larger acrylic painting.

Well so long for now my friends and enjoy the new piece.

A Good Art Day

Today was a good art day. I picked up my pieces at the Greenpoint Gallery and met the curator. He gave me what I consider an awesome compliment on my pieces which just gave the day a lovely shine. I am looking forward to their next group show.

So today, I started a new acrylic piece which I am anxious to continue working on tomorrow. Life drawing at the Garrison Art Center (GAC) will have to wait for another week but that is ok.

The other interesting thing about today is the conversation I had with my favorite little artist. I was painting and she was working on her piece which I told her was mixed media...she uses paint and collage techniques :-) She loved the "fancy" term for her work.

Happy painting!

Happy Birthday Party

No art today since my favorite little artist and I threw a surprise party for her dad. It was a fun day filled with preparations and trying to keep it a secret. My little artist did a good job but being 4 her idea of a secret is not really secret. But it was fun all the same. I am looking forward to an art filled day tomorrow...maybe up to Garrison for a life drawing class and most definitely to Brooklyn to pick my paintings. I was hoping for a sale but maybe next time...

I love to paint!

What a wonderful, fun filled day! And best of all got to have some quality time with my favorite little artist both in and out of the studio.

I worked on my latest oil painting. It started out as a tree but has morphed into something else...not quite sure what though hahaha. Anyway, it is a fun experiment in forcing myself to use colors I normally wouldn't use. It is really interesting how tough it is not to use blue, which is one of my favorite colors. I am also not using red. The work is pink, brown, orange and a tan looking yellow. It is going to be interesting to see how it turns out. It is just about completed, probably about two more days of work and it should be done. However, the days won't be consecutive since the paint needs to dry a bit before I work on it some more. It is annoying when the colors get muddied.

The one thing I didn't do when I started was to take pictures through the entire painting process. It was fun when I did that with Universe Mother...Oh well, maybe next time.

Have a fantastic w/e!