Saturday Road Trip Zanesville

Today instead of painting, I went with my friend Barbara to the Zanesville Museum of Art, Zanesville Ohio to view the 68th Annual Ohio Exhibition. I've lived in Ohio all my life, and never heard of this annual exhibit, nor been to this museum. WOW. This is a very interesting place. There is a very wide range of exhibits here, most part of the permanent collection with some very historic pottery made in Ohio, some Master oil paintings,  and I was happy to see the Ohio Exhibit which included several of my fellow plein air painters. I am surprised my friends didn't mention that they were juried into this wonderful exhibit!

I will let you follow the links above to learn the details, but I thought this whole place was extremely well done. There are three floors of exhibit space. I took a few shots of the third floor area, shown below but there is lots more to see. I will definitely put this on my list of annual road trips. If you are looking for a nearby, quick road trip, give this place a try.

Studio Work - Abstract Landscape

Did this tonight to use up the paint on my palette from another project. Imaginary landscape painted using a palette knife.

Saturday Plein Air - Canal Winchester

Today we painted in the historic district of Canal Winchester. When I first set up, the sun was shining dramatically on the side of the school house and the edge of the shed on the granary. I took some photos because I knew the light would change quick.

I was working with pastels on PastelMat paper. I kept trying to get the rays of light just right, but the paper finally told me it wouldn't take anymore. After I came home, I sprayed a bit of fixative and did a little more refinements. There are parts of the painting I really like and others are just ok. I may chop this into a different shape.

Winchester View, 8.5 x 11.5, pastel

Here's some other views from the park:

Birthday Surprise!

Check out my travel blog to see the lovely surprise I received today!

http://nartizttravels.blogspot.com/2012/07/artwork-from-zion-trip-and-lovely.html

10,047 Visits and Not Being a Super Star

I happened to look at one of the gadgets on my blog today, which counts the number of page views and visits since I started the blog. Too bad I didn't look at it earlier in the week when it hit 10,000!! Today it is at 10,047 visits with 16,645 page views but I would lay odds, that most of that is ME (LOL) looking back at my own stuff or posting new things. I find it very interesting (and convenient) to have all my stuff easily accessible online.

I started this blog in 2006 when I was headed to San Diego on a business/leisure trip. I wanted the blog to be able to post pics of my big adventure on the west coast, so I wouldn't have to email boring photos to my friends. The blog has evolved into a journal, with mostly artwork along with a few other things that happened in my life along the way, that I'd like to document. It has brought some new long-distance 'web-friends' who found my blog and we enjoy commenting on each others' work. 

I know I don't have a large web presence, but this is enough for me. Some of the people I know (mostly non-artists) ask me why I don't quit my 'real job' and really get serious to become a full time artist. I love to work on my artwork, but I realize, it will only be a hobby to me. In the past, I was deeply involved in a different medium - workshops, lectures, demos, some traveling, some national awards, but I retreated from that in about 2004. It got to be too expensive to try to 'keep up' with the big shots and it took away from the fun of creating. As in that medium and now in the fine arts arena, I realize I don't have the drive, time, money, talent or personality to be a Super Star and I am fine with that.

I like to follow many of the leaders in the field by lurking on the blogs, Facebook or websites, but sometimes their personalities are as big as their giant heads. Although there is a small group who are very successful and haven't let the fame go to their heads. I have been fortunate to meet some of these gracious, lovely, nurturing artists who I feel have become my friends. This alone has been a wonderful way that my little blog has helped me connect with some great artists and make new friendships.

So anyway..... to those of you that contributed to that big 10,000 visit number, thanks for visiting my blog!

Revisited Artwork

I was digging around in my older piles of artwork recently and came across this sketch I did in 2009 when Karin Jurick had public challenges on her Different Strokes for Different Folks blog. (It appears that old URL is now a tattoo blog?).

When I pulled it out of the pile, I was delighted to see it. I like it a lot and thought you might enjoy seeing it again. Makes me realize I do enjoy sketching, but painting seems to be first priority for my free time.

'Diana' . This is pastel pencils on Canson Mi-Teintes paper.

Saturday Plein Air - Slate Run Metro Park

We painted at Slate Run Metro Park at the historic working farm today. It was a dull, overcast day, with sprinkles.

 I chose this scene with the hammock. I began with too much detail, and kept simplifying. The layers of paint are pretty thin, so I think I will let it dry a bit and try to finish this with stronger paint while trying to be deliberate with each brushstroke.

UPDATE:
I worked on this for an hour or so. I grew tired of messing with the slats of the fence. Too tedious for me...

Saturday Morning, 8x10, oil

Celebrating Worthington at the MAC

I was invited to participate in the Celebrating Worthington at the MAC exhibit. I entered my pastel, River Rocks. If you are in the area, do stop by and see the exhibit. The show will hang until August 19th, and the awards reception is on Thursday, August 9 6-8pm.

I ran over on my lunch hour to see the exhibit and took some pics with my cellphone camera. It is a very nice exhibit and I am proud to be an invited artist.

River Rocks, pastel

Michael Chesley Johnson original

I finally got around to framing the Michael Chesley Johnson oil painting I purchased from Michael in April. I watched Michael paint this view from the patio of the vacation home we rented for the retreat. This is 7"x10", Gamblin FastMatte oil paint on Arches Oil paper. I really like this painting and it brings back so many wonderful memories of that fantastic retreat!