Friday, December 27, 2013

Quick study at Asilomar (as promised)

Here is the painting study from my trip--rather poorly photographed still, but better than nothing--it was too cold and windy to spend long on it, but the rocks on the shore were gorgeous.  I'll have to go back someday and paint properly.



Sunday, December 15, 2013

Small Works, Principle Gallery

I've just gotten back from California. I spent a little over a week enjoying gorgeous scenery and lovely friends and family. It was cold and windy, so my plans to sit on the beach and paint were a bit waylaid, but I did get one little study done (I don't have a picture yet, would you believe, I forgot my camera?!) I got to see a fabulous exhibit of Anders Zorn at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco (if you're in the area, GO!) And I got to hug some redwoods. So all in all, it was a lovely trip. While I was frolicking on the West Coast, on the East Coast, Principle Gallery opened a lovely Small Works show which is full of paintings (treasures!) by painters with whom I'm so honored to show. I wish I could have made the opening. If you're in the DC area, be sure to stop in and see it! 

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

A new one






The first day of a new painting is always so terribly exciting. A blank canvas, the excitement of the imagined image still fresh in ones mind, the visual impression undiminished by over-familiarity, nothing yet set in stone: it's always one of my favorite days.


Saturday, November 9, 2013

Pictures and postcards

I realized I never posted finished images of my latest paintings (they were finished late in the waning evening light the day before open studios--their set ups needed to come down before the event--not that I left it until the last minute or anything).  So here are "Bunny, meet Chipmunk" which is heading to Principle Gallery for their December small works show, and "Whoops" which is going to hang out in my studio for a while longer before it finds a new home.  




Also, you guys, I just listed a bunch of new postcards and postcard collections on Etsy (left-overs from open studios). Just in time for the holidays, or, you know, any given Tuesday--who doesn't like receiving postcards?




Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Open Studios, before and after

Open Studios has come and gone. It's always so very much work preparing (see below, before and after pictures). But, more importantly, it's always so rewarding to share my work with people. I had some truly beautiful interactions with the public, and some truly touching reactions to my work. Now I'm very glad it's over and I can get back to normal studio life. So, until next year, my dears.


Before (it seemed less messy in sepia):



After:



Saturday, October 19, 2013

On the easel

Here are a few images to show what I've been working on: a Sebbie and a pair of toys squabbling. Both paintings are still in progress. I'm having fun. I have great plans for the next Sebbie painting as well, which is spurring me to work faster--no spoilers, but it *may* involve a fake mustache. 




Thursday, October 17, 2013

Monday, September 30, 2013

Saturday, September 21, 2013

"The Bird"



Here's the latest finished Sebbie piece:

Monday, September 2, 2013

Summer vacation

I just got back from a week visiting family in Wisconsin. I love Lake Michigan; it's so beautiful.




It's great to be back in the studio again, though. I'm trying to get as much painting in before next weekend when I'm excited to be heading to Chattanooga for the opening of Women Painting Women (R)evolution.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Catalogue

The catalogue for the upcoming show, Women Painting Women (R)evolution 2013 at Townsend Atelier is available online here.
I'm very excite for this show; I'm in the company of so many artists I admire.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Studio flowers...because I don't have a studio pet

It was dark and rainy today, which is not my favorite weather for functioning, really. I did a little study, though, anyway, of the flowers I have in a vase in the studio--they're bright and cheery and maybe compensate a little for the lack of sun in the sky. I decided to worry about color first and drawing second, which is the opposite of how I usually work--it's always good to mix it up a little. Here's the little study, oil on panel: 



Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Shows!

I'm happy to announce two of my paintings have been accepted into shows this week. The first, Medusa, will be headed to Townsend Atelier in Chattanooga to participate in their part of Women Painting Women: (R)evolution 2013, which is a national exhibition project that involves some amazing women painters and started here. It opens in September and I'm so thrilled and honored to be a part of it this year.



























The second is June Bug Portraits, which will head to Fredericksburg, TX for the 16th Annual American Women Artists National Juried Exhibition which opens November 1st. 




And here, just for fun, is a landscape that's been kicking around the studio for months and is finally done, so I thought I'd share:   


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

baby sebbie

Here's a quick post with pictures of the newest Sebbie I just started and a sky painting that's on the easel as well. Cheers!



Wednesday, July 17, 2013

pictures from the kiddie pool.


It's been hot in the studio, very hot. Put your head under the sink to cool off every half hour, hot. Consider the pros and cons of painting naked, hot. Consider putting in a kiddie pool, hot. After careful consideration, I opted for filling a paper soaking tray with ice water and soaking my feet in it between painting shifts--it works surprisingly well. Plus, I got the bonus of a good laugh when I caught sight of myself in the mirror, standing in a tray of water, pallet and brushes in one hand, glass of wine in the other--ridiculous. But I have been painting, despite the heat; I felt I'd been letting life interrupt my painting too much lately (ok, somethings can't be helped, root canals happen, pneumonia happens--but I get annoyed all the same), so I've made myself follow a schedule, and following it I have been.  Here are two pictures of works in progress, brought to this stage through blood, sweat and tears (ok, ok, mostly sweat really, and cold tea and wine). I'm having so much fun with the octopus and the snakes, I can't wait to see them finished!  




Wednesday, July 3, 2013

etching wonders

I've been taking a class in etching at Zea Mays printmaking studio (highly recommended, by the way, should anyone be looking for lovely people to learn printmaking with).  It's been really interesting, so much thinking about things the reverse of how I usually think (printing being a reverse image, and having to think about lights and darks almost as a negative when working with aquatint).  First I did a Sebbie, because I thought I'd start with a familiar subject.  First with black ink, and then with pretty browns and transparency.  

Sebbie and the white fox:









Then I decided to try and copy an etching by Luigi Marcon (a fabulous Italian printmaker whom you should definitely look up if you aren't familiar with his work).  I have to say my etching fell short of his, but it really gave me fabulous insight into the process.  This I also did in black and then warmer browns:

Landscape, after Luigi Marcon:









Don't worry, I've been painting up a storm as well, I'm just holding out on sharing pictures.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Beginnings are always fun.






I stared a new Sebbie painting today. It's alway so exciting starting a new painting: so many possibilities. I'm dithering whether to call this one "Sebbie and the friendly octopus" or "Sebbie and the friendly kraken"--both have lots of fun reasons to go with them.


In other news, if you're wondering why I haven't posted in a while, I was in France for a bit of a holiday. See below for a totally random sampling of pictures from the trip (Toulouse, Carcassonne, Albi, Lourdes, Alet les Bains--I'd do proper captions, but my computer illiteracy is kicking in for some reason tonight.)







Monday, May 13, 2013

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Beginners

I took a beginning figure sculpture workshop this past weekend. I've wanted to try my hand at it since I was learning to draw the figure at the Florence Academy years ago: somehow, it seemed that if only I could reach out and manipulate my drawing as one would clay, it would have been easier. I don't know about easier, but it was satisfying in a way drawing is not (for me). In the four hour workshop I felt (naturally) that I'd only begun to touch on the basics of what is figure sculpture, but, perhaps more importantly, I reaffirmed my respect and compassion for beginners. I regularly teach beginning painters, and while I often see them confronting the fear of trying something completely new and unknown, it's been awhile since I was the one in room full of strangers admitting I had no idea how to do what was asked of me. There is a bravery in trying. A bravery in risking failure. And while I truly believe art skills and techniques can be learned by almost everyone, I think, too often, we fail to acknowledge the courage it takes to try. Part of me (possibly a vain and silly part) is embarrassed by my beginning sculpture--it is not perfect--but I'm sharing it anyway, knowing I have to start somewhere, and in solidarity with so many beginners.

Figure sculpture study (#1):



Figure drawing from all those years ago:






And in other news, I received this beautiful catalogue from Lotton gallery in the mail today:




Friday, April 26, 2013

Sebbiekins




 Recent Sebbie paintings I haven't posted in completion (self explanatory, really):

Monday, April 22, 2013

Busyness

I've been very busy lately. I have, in my head, the deadline of May 1st for a fair amount of work (the actual deadlines are a bit later, but I want to be done early, and have wiggle room,) and, accordingly, I've been spending most of my time working on those pieces. My inspiration, however, has a bit of a short attention span, so I've been letting it wander to the occasional figure or flower study before dragging it back to the other. 

Here are the latest Sebbie paintings, still in progress. They've been an adventure for a couple reasons. One, they are being painted using the same set up, but from different angles and with different lighting--something I've never tried before. Two, both are requiring a fair amount of painting from memory. In the first one, in the actual set up, there is a little toy deer standing in front of Mr. Sebbie, so I've been doing a fair amount of bobbing and weaving to see what I need to see. In the second one, to get the lighting on the set up as I want, I can't see the colors on the painting properly. I'm sure I could play around with lightbulbs, screens, etc., but I haven't, so the result is that the painting I'm doing with the lighting correct on the set up is more in the manner of taking notes, and the real painting of the painting I'm doing when the light is completely wrong, using my notes, what I remember of the light impression, and the incorrectly lit objects as placement reference. It's kind of awesomely fun, and I'm excited to try some nocturnal landscapes using the same approach. So here they are, neither are finished yet, but you get the idea:

Sebbie:



Sebbie at the Shadow Puppet Theatre:


And here is the work my inspiration's attention span would rather I be working on. (I actually think it's more a matter of my inspiration being stubborn and immediately disliking, or pretending to dislike, anything it's told it has to do--it may take after the more adolescent aspects of my personality.) I would like to work on them more, as they are they're still rough studies, but they'll have to wait until the other work is done.  

I've always done standing or, occasionally, seated, nudes, reclining is new for me.




And some more ornithogalum, quick study: