Great news!

Just got a call that one of my paintings in the Worthington Art League Fall show won an award!!! YEAH!! I won't know details until the reception on Sunday. Made my day!

See my post: http://nartizt.blogspot.com/2009/09/waal-fall-show-at-anthem-insurance.html
for details and please attend the reception if you can!

Painting Class - Stone Fence - Post 3

I worked on my oil painting today. I feel it is done, but will see what my teacher thinks. We have this Monday off because he is traveling so I will begin a new painting in the meantime.

Student Show and Sale at Artist's Roost Gallery

Plein Air Saturday - Freeman Family farm

Today the group met at the Freeman Family farm. It was a cold drizzling day. I had to deliver artwork for the Anthem show in the middle of the morning, so I didn't plan on painting with the group today, but wanted to stop by. I got a new cellphone yesterday, and wanted to try out the cellphone camera to see if it would be a good substitute for my regular camera. I rarely print out my photos to be framed anyway, generally just viewing them online or to use as reference for my painting. Here's the pics. Now, I just need to learn to keep steady while the shutter is moving. A few of these were taken with the setting set for 'cloudy day'. You may notice a difference.

While I was taking photos, the rain started to pour down, so I didn't stay. Some of the group continued painting under their umbrellas! Dedication to their art!

Why I am Not a Full Time Artist

You know how people say, "why don't you work on your art full time and quit your day job?!!"....Well here's a perfect example why:

$100,000 a year being an artist.....
http://artstudiosecrets.com/2009/09/22/ponder-the-100000-rule/

Painting Class - Stone Fence - Post 2

Class Work week #2. Didn't get as much done as I hoped, but it's starting to show some interesting passages. I think I am going to leave the left fence line and bush as they are right now. I still have lots to do on the stone fence posts. The left top background looks pretty good too. There is much more to work on, but had to let some areas dry a bit!    Sorry for the glare in the photo!

Here is a progress view:

Please attend receptions if you are in the Columbus area!

I will be showing/selling two of my pastel paintings this coming Saturday, Sept 26th from 3-6pm at the Student Art Show and Sale at the Artist's Roost Gallery, 6390 Ulry Rd. Westerville (first drive south of Central College Rd on the east side of road - log cabin in the woods).  If you are in the area, please stop by for the reception!

The pastels shown in this exhibit are shown in my earlier blog posts. One is an analogous color study titled, "Analogous Apples" and the other is a painting of a mother and baby giraffe titled, "Stand Up Straight!"

Another pastel painting created during her workshop is "Apples with Spice Tea" which was chosen as one of the postcard images (click on image to see larger). This pastel will be part of the WAAL Fall Show at Anthem. That reception is Sunday October 4, from 2-4 at the Anthem Insurance building in Worthington (park in the back and enter the doors in the center of the building).

Painting Class - Stone Fence - Post 1

The photo above was taken on one of the plein air Saturday get-togethers at Everal Homestead.

Monday night was the first week for the new session of oil painting class. This time it will run until November 9th, so should give us plenty of time learn. My teacher is also part of my plein air group, so I also can get some help from him while working on Saturday mornings if needed.

I finally rationalized the cost of the class because I had already budgeted two short trips this year which would have included room/board in addition to instruction. Both of those workshops were canceled due to low enrollment and those were to be my vacations.... so I never went anywhere this year! The class is only 4 students, so we get lots of individual attention and I get to sleep in my own bed - you can't beat that!

I started out toning my board with a thin wash of Napthol Red Light, so it ended up a light pink. This should be a nice color for the underpainting since most of the scene is the compliment in greens. We work from a limited palette. My colors for this painting are Napthol Red light, Ultramarine Blue, Cad Yellow Light and white. We are learning to mix our own colors so that we have less to carry into the field when working en plein air.

This was just the first pass to get the large shapes established. I have shifted the main bush with the pink flowers to the right for a better composition. I see that I need to shift the horizon line of the back bushes down a bit to get it off the centerline.

I wasn't sure if it was more interesting for you to see it as I go, or whether its best to make one post later, but showing pics of all the steps along the way?

Plein Air Saturday - Alum Park

Low Head Dam and Sycamore Tree, 8 x10, pastels on suede mat board.

Today we met at the Alum Park in Westerville. Although the low head dam doesn't show in my photo, this was along Alum Creek and most of us painted a similar view. It was hard to get the effect of the water coming over the dam. I wanted to show more of the sky, so didn't paint most of the foliage. The sun is shining on my painting here so there are a couple bright spots from the sun. I love sycamore trees - wonderful bark patterns.

As always, you can click on the photo to see a larger view.

WAAL Fall Show At Anthem Insurance

Oil Painting - Apples

Here is another attempt at an apple painting for the WAAL Fall exhibit. The theme is 'applesauce'. I really liked the photo I took of this setup, as I loved the way the piece of cinnamon in the center of the photo showed the end view of the swirl.

I've worked on this painting a couple days and am very happy how it turned out. Below are some process shots, with the painting on the left and the photo on the right. It took many adjustment in colors and values, and I felt like I learned alot. I would really like to be a bit looser in style instead of trying to be so realistic, but that will come in time.

Cinnamon Stick Apple Tea, 8x10, oil on gessoed mat board.

Dragonfly Daycamp - Final Painting

'Path to the Pond', 8 x 10, oil on gessoed mat board

Here's the final of the painting from Dragonfly Daycamp at High Banks Metro Park. This was a very simple design to get me started into painting in oils in my new class. Way too many weeks in process, but most of that time, it sat waiting on me. If you look back several weeks on this blog, you will see several posts with the previous work on this painting.

Different Stroke Painting of the Week - Cupcake

"I'll take Devil's Food, Please", 6 x 8, oil on gessoed matboard.

This is my latest entry in Karin's DSDF challenge. I just had to paint the devil's food cupcake - YUM. Actually this was kinda hard to paint, especially the frosting!!

I've also been real busy painting another 'apple' painting, but this time in oils. Its going well, but need to let it dry some before I finish it. I have taken a couple 'in progress' shots, so will post them along with the final painting, hopefully tomorrow night. I'm taking a vacation day from work tomorrow to spend the day painting!

OH! And I finally finished the landscape oil from class, and will post that tomorrow also.

Plein Air Saturday - Coffman Homestead Visit #2

Coffman Barn, 9 x 12, soft pastels on maroon Colorfix sanded paper

Today, we returned to the Coffman Homestead Park in Dublin. I decided to paint one of the small barns. I didn't get the proportions quite right, but think my perspective is correct. What is hard to see is the interesting stone foundation on this barn. If you view my piece in person, its more evident than these photos.