There's Nothing Quite Like Art Friends

I love having artists as friends. For one thing we always have something to talk about and, for another, we understand each other pretty well. We are all addicted to art! This year I have already enjoyed two fun events with my art friends.

I am member of the Piedmont Outdoor Painting Society which is officially 11 years old, but I was painting with these guys before they gave their group a name. To prepare for this exhibit, we worked in our studios last year to paint larger paintings from some of our plein air work. On January 23 we attended the artists' reception for our show, From the Outside In.

We met for dinner beforehand and had a lot of good conversation and laughs.

POPS members Judy Meyler and Arlene Daniel

POPS members Kathy Phillips, Judy McGinn, Addren Doss

Me and Marsha Thrift, POPS members

This past weekend Hampton House Art and Framing held an opening reception for their annual Small Art Big Heart miniature exhibit, in conjunction with Dining with Friends. Both of these benefit Aids Care Services of Winston-Salem.

The art was great and included some 3-D items as well as paintings and drawings.

My painting on the left alongside a piece by my painting buddy, Arlene Daniel.

Lots of work on this wall was done by friends that I paint with.

 

 

Fun 3-D Dolls - sorry I don't know this artist but I love the work!

Both of these shows will be on display for a while longer.
For details on Small Art Big Heart visit Hampton House Art and Framing on Facebook.
For detail on From the Outside In visit the Alamance Arts Council website.

Focus for 2014

Sometimes we get so involved in doing what we do, that we forget to stop and asses what is really going on. This morning I awoke with the idea that I should spend some time reflecting on what happened this past year and what that means for my art during 2014.

I made some notes about what I want to focus on this year and what I would like to change. Then I reviewed which of my paintings sold well this past year. I was pleased to see that many of the ones I sold, where the ones I enjoyed painting the most!

Plein Air Landscape with Architecture

There was a clear truth - I paint a lot better from life than I do from a photo. My plein air landscapes sold, the studio ones did not. The studio paintings that sold were still life, painted from life not a photo. My best studio work done from photos is figurative because I really love to paint people in everyday situations and you just can't get them to stand still in the situation long enough to do much more that a quick sketch.

Still Life painted from Hydrangeas picked in my garden

Pastel done from photo

What does that mean for 2014?  I plan to make these choices based on what I now know:

• Paint outdoors as much as I can.
• Reread  Hawthorne on Painting by Mrs. Charles W. Hawthorne (Compiler).
• Focus on still life and figurative pieces in the studio.
• Stop over-working a painting when I lose focus by setting time limits and taking breaks. 
• Paint less and thinking more - step back and assessing often. 
•  

 Wish me luck and I wish you luck with your plans for 2014!!
 

Small Work to Big Painting

While some artists who paint outdoors consider their plein air pieces to be finished works of art, many others use these studies only as inspiration for larger pieces.

In the past I have rarely used a plein air study to create a larger painting but, because I am a member of a plein air group that is planning an exhibit of larger paintings done from small studies, I have been challenged to explore this further.

I chose a small painting, The Dairy, to begin with. I was fairly pleased with this painting, but I knew there were things I could improve upon.

Black and White Sketch

I did several black and white sketches to see if I wanted to make changes to the composition. I decided to move the buildings to the left a little and to increase the slope of the distant mountain to make it more interesting. I also lowered the trees behind the buildings, showing more of the mountain and allowing the tree on the right to appear larger and more dynamic.

Plein Air study with grid applied

Wrapping the plein air study with cellophane allowed me to draw a grid over it for easier transferring of the image to a larger canvas. Notice that the center point is to the right of the center. This is due to my decision to move the buildings a little to the left on the canvas. Before beginning to paint, I drew a corresponding grid onto the larger canvas with pencil. Using the grid as a visual guide, I lightly sketched the large shapes of the composition onto the canvas with vine charcoal.

18x24 painting blocked in

Using thin paint, I did a block-in of darks and lights using local color.  In the image above, I have also begun to add thicker paint to the dark and medium dark areas of the building on the left.

18x24 painting with more detail added.

My next step was to continue painting the darks and medium darks, adding the fence and other smaller shapes.  This is still a work in progress; the light values will be addressed next and then I will add smaller details in some key areas.

Three Chances to Support Local Art

This is a busy time of year for everyone – and it's the same for we artists. Local artists and craftsmen are busy preparing for events to entertain you and to offer unique gift choices. Art is a great way to support local artists and your local arts organizations. Here are three good choices: 

Art in the Village
Art in the Village is Associated Artists of Winston-Salem's all-member exhibit and fine art sale. It will be held at at 113 Reynolda Village in Winston-Salem, NC (in the former Casanova’s location or the historical “corn crib” near the Village Tavern).

Opening Reception will be held during Reynolda Village’s “Holiday Stroll” on Saturday, November 23, 2013 from 5-8 PM.  Show will be on display from Saturday, November 16 - Monday, December 23, 2013.

This painting, Belcastel, will be on display at the show in Reynolda Village.

 

Deck the Halls

Deck the Halls is the Sawtooth School for Visual Arts' largest fundraising event and generates proceeds that help support their organization's operations and arts-based programming. Beautifully displayed in their gallery and gift shop setting, Deck the Halls features a unique variety of work from Sawtooth faculty, students and regional artists. Deck the Halls will be open to the public from December 6 - December 21, 2013 with the Preview Night celebration to be held Thursday, December 5th.

I will be selling some of my pottery and clay ornaments.

 

Germanton Gallery's 21st Annual Miniature Art Show

This is one of the finest art shows in the area and beyond. The list of nationally known artists is impressive and the work is outstanding! All paintings will be 9" x 12" or smaller.

Opening reception will be held Friday, December 6 from 5 - 8 PM. During the reception, Germanton Winery will be offering wine tastings. Local wine is another great gift choice that supports local business!

The gallery will also be open Saturday, December 7 from 10 AM - 4 PM and Sunday, December 8 from 1 PM - 4 PM. Many artists will be on site over the weekend. The show will hang through January 1, 2014.

Gallery located on Germanton Road, 9 miles north of Winston-Salem, NC.

Green Tea will be one of my paintings at the Germanton Show.

Collage is a Big Hit!

I have been volunteering at the local Assisted Living Center for their art sessions on Tuesday afternoons. At first we worked in pastels and some people really loved this, but we wanted something that more people would enjoy - an idea popped into my head. I always loved to work with cut and torn paper and so I decided to give that a try. It's so much easier to do this now with glue sticks available - no messy dishes of glue or acrylic medium to deal with.

This past week we did a pot of flowers starting with a line drawing that I had drawn on the computer and printed out. To expedite the process, I cut leaf and flower shapes from colored tissue paper, textured paper and plain colored paper and gave each person the parts. Of course, as soon as they got engrossed in the process they were asking me to cut out special shapes and colors they needed to make their flower pot complete. I loved that! They were thinking about what they were doing and getting lost in the moment.

Everyone started with this drawing plus flower and leaf shapes cut from paper.

 The best results were the comments about how addictive and fun this activity was and the fact that people got totally lost in the process. They were so interested in what they were doing that they forgot their troubles for awhile. They were proud of their work too.

Here are some of the masterpieces:

Some had orange pots with plain stripes.

 People started adding
their own touches.

"I always wanted to be an artist"

Handles on the pot!

Petals dropping from the pot!

This one was done by the first guy
to have the courage to attend.

New Works at Hampton House Gallery

Yesterday I delivered two large pieces to Hampton House Art and Framing (Coliseum Drive, Winston-Salem, NC). I had just signed one of the, and the paint was still wet when I got Jackie's message asking me to switch out some artwork and bring some larger pieces.  Hanover Park Vineyard, the other one that I delivered to them, is an older piece. If you are in the area, stop in and take a look at the gallery - they just rehung things yesterday after taking down their "Summer Memories" Show.

The Porch at Ciener Garden  18x24 Oil

Hanover Park Vineyard 24 x36 Oil

No upcoming events for this weekend.

Next weekend I will be in Raleigh taking a workshop from Lori Putnam - getting excited about that! Friday, 11/1, Lori will be exhibiting her work at Nicole's Studio, Person St., Raleigh during First Friday Gallery Hop.

ARTSfest 2013

This coming Saturday, September 14, 2013, I will be setting up a booth to display and sell my paintings at the bi-annual ARTSfest in Winston-Salem, NC.

I haven't done an outdoor show in a long, long time so I am feeling kind of overwhelmed.

Today I got out tables, easels and some shelves that I plan to use when setting up my booth and arranged them in my driveway to see how it would fit into my space.  My neighbors are accustomed to my strange ways and don't even ask what I am doing.  Of course, now I have to find a way to disguise this stuff to make a good looking display, but at least I have the skeleton.

My findings, which will serve as my display "skeleton".

 

 

Along with larger, framed paintings, I will have many smaller pieces to sell, including some small, unframed studies for under $100. I try to keep these to standard sizes so a reasonably price ready made frame will work. Nothing worse than finding a nice piece of art at a good price, only to find the framing will triple what it costs before it makes it onto your wall!

Here are a few of the studies that I will be offering for sale:

David's Farm

The Artist's Garden

Tanglewood Stable

If you are in the area, come out to view the art and have some fun at ARTSfest.