Day 15 - The Blessing Within

 Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. 
The goal is to find it. -Buddha

"The Blessing Within", oil, 12"x12", click here for purchasing details

I love the sweet gentleness that this lady exudes.  She is here to remind you to find the blessing within all things, and above all, be gentle with yourself and others.

This painting was a little different for me as I experimented with my painting process... Normally I'll oil the surface of my panel before I start painting so I can paint wet into wet.  But today, I applied a light ground of burnt sienna, thinned with Gamsol (an odorless solvent) which dries much faster than the oil.  You can see a blush of the ground in the picture below.

That surface dried pretty quickly, leaving me with a much drier surface to paint on than I am used to.  

After I blocked the elephant and flowers in, I applied another wash of darker paint to the background, using the Gamsol again.  

After this mostly dried, I finished with thicker paint, leaving the background to pop through in areas.  (Finished painting at top of page) Painting on a dry surface is not as easy for me, but you can get different effects with a dry panel that you can't achieve with a wet panel..

The blending properties are very different, brush work  and brush strokes look very different and I found myself wiping out certain areas to take them back down to the original ground.  :)  

Day 9 of the 28 in 28 - Dreaming of Tea

 This here is another painting that is a bit outside of the box for me. It started out as an old painting that was just meh and had been sitting in my painting archives for a few years.  I recently did a purge of this archive - made some tactical decisions of what to keep, what to chuck and what to paint over - and thought this one would be a good one to paint over.  The bones were good (meaning the substrate) and the colors in the original painting could look cool poking through a new painting.  I designed the new image and dove in...

The image of an elephant dangling on the end of a red balloon spawns from the Red Balloon series I've been exploring.. I thought it would be interesting to suspend an elephant from a balloon to see what that would do visually.  I do really like tea and tea cups (ask my family.. I have a cup problem..) and also enjoy playing with scale. Suspend an elephant from a balloon over a cup of tea and add a lot of interesting palette knife texture to the background and it turns out you get... Enlightenment!

Well, maybe.  Enlightenment is trickier than that... However, I can say that I am pretty excited with the results.  I love the texture and as I said, the layers that poke through and the imagery is sufficiently compelling to keep me pondering and continues to pull my attention to observe. And, doing a bit of research into the symbolism of Tea, elephants and balloons, gelling it all together, it turns out that this painting could very well be about a powerful spiritual experience of wisdom, strength and a little bit of luck.  I'll take it. But you don't have to.  It may just be an elephant floating above a teacup.. Regardless, you will want to scroll down do check out all of the juicy, yummy texture and color..

Dreaming of Tea, Oil on panel, 16x20"
To purchase, click here

Day 3 of the 28 in 28 - Easier Together

 Whew.  The past few days have been a whirlwind of snow and lots more snow.  We got just about 2 feet over the last 48 hours. It stopped this afternoon and after arting in the morning, the rest of the day was pretty much about shoveling.  Everyone pitched in to help in this arduous work, but we got it done together.  Although my arms hurt a bit and I am wupped, I love times like this when family is forced to come out of our singular spaces to all get something accomplished.. even if it is just shoveling a crap ton of snow. :)  So, today's piece is called Easier Together.. I thought this little elephant and blackbird made a sweet pair, weathering the pink precipitation together, having a nice time because of it. ♥

"Easier Together", oil on panel, 8"x8", unframed
$165 To purchase, please click here

In addition to being a sweet metaphor, this little painting has some nice areas of texture and color.. 

See details below :)

Day 2 of the August 30 in 30

What a glorious way to start August.  I am so happy that I dove into this challenge and am doing it!  Today's painting is an example of some experimentation I have been doing with backgrounds and painting techniques.  I really enjoy artwork that has an atmospheric and moody tone to it and have begun playing with this idea..  "Elephriend" evolved from this sentiment.  I built this painting around colors and textures, painting the background first, which is opposite of how I often go about a painting.  I typically paint the focal points and subject of the painting, starting with the darks, and get all of the 'things' in the painting blocked in before I even touch the background.  But it was important to me that I pay special attention to the background in this painting.  After getting the feel I was looking for,  I then used the same colors from the background to paint the elephant, which helps to provide harmony and a sense of unity.  Of course, the elephant needed a friend, so I added a happy little corvidae, hitching a ride on her back. :)  I hope to experiment more with the methods I used here during this challenge, because, after all, that is part of what the 30 in 30 is all about... experimenting, playing, learning :)

Elephriend, 10"x10", oil on gessoboard, $225

To purchase, please click here

Don't forget to check out Russ's progress!  Yesterday's painting is beautiful... a peek into his latest trip to Maine.  You can find his work here: www.russellslocum.com

The making of a solo show

Last night I hung my solo exhibit, Spirit ○ Animal, at Art Plus Gallery. I have been actively preparing for this show the past 3 months and am a little in shock now that it is finally hung, perhaps similarly to when you are preparing for finals and you don't quite know what to do with yourself the day after you take the last test. I put a lot of work (literal blood and sweat... no tears) into the theme and creation of this show in an effort to weave some new ideas and mediums together with my love of animals and my life long interest in spiritual matters.

Over the past few months, I wanted to post more posts about the process of preparing for such a show.. the planning and designing, surface preparation, painting, frame design and building, finishing and preparing the work for sale... all this between being a mom and a gallery director! But, alas, I found myself so busy with painting and frame making (and momming and directing)  that I just didn't have a lot of time left over for blogging and telling y'all about what the heck I am doing.  If you are here, reading this now, I just want to thank you for taking the time to check this all out.  Below are just a few highlights from the past few months, and a little sneak peek at my freshly hung exhibit.  I am looking forward to sharing my work with everyone who makes to it the opening on May 11th, and, fyi, if you can't be there, the show runs through June 3rd.

Its great fun to take progress shots of my artwork as I complete it.  I don't always have a chance to look back on it right away, but going back through my pics later, I'm always grateful to find these painting 'diaries' to remind me  of what works and how I got there...

Telephant, oil, 12"x12", on display on APG

Below are just 3 of the about 50 works I have on display in Spirit ○ Animal...

Chickadee with Cherry Blossoms, 6"x6", oil, for sale at APG

Lost in Thought, 20"x20", oil and mixed media, for sale at APG

Nevermore, oil and mixed media, 12"x12", for sale at APG

You may also know that I make frames in addition to painting.... It isn't the most glamorous part of the job, and I find that only a few can really appreciate what goes into making frames... The past two weeks, I made close to 40 frames, which even I can't comprehend.  It takes a lot of math, staring at the wood, hundreds of cuts with a variety of saws, sanding till your arm is numb and plenty of loud music for me to make so many in such a short amount of time. Oh yeah, and the most important thing... the support of my husband.  (Yes, he brings me coffee and dinner, washes the dishes I don't have the energy to wash and makes sure I know he has my back...) I wish it was as easy as the pictures make it look, but all I will say is, IT'S NOT. :D   And the pictures skip Plenty of steps. But...this gives you a brief idea of the frame making process and the piles of wood I have to manipulate through it all. To be truthful though, I am not in this business because I like to do things the easy way.  Just the opposite actually, as the easy way is often thoroughly boring... 

And finally, after putting all of my paintings in their brand spanking new frames, and making them look all professional and what not, I get to hang them up in the gallery!  The absolute best part of the whole thing....

So, the show is hung, and I am most pleased with how it all came together.  A wonderful thing about intensely creating work... ideas build upon ideas... I have so many new things I want to explore from all I found in the past few months...There is so much more to come! Thanks for reading and looking and I hope to see you at the opening on May 11th!

Day 17 - Where Elephants Walk

Here is the final installment of this painting!  Today I went a bit outside my box and mixed it up a bit.... I am struggling to combine styles... to achieve a balance... Did I do it?  I don't know but I can tell you the work I did in the past few days has stretched my mind and knowledge of painting, maybe just a little, but enough to be inspiring!  Feel free to comment and give me your thoughts on the results!

Where Elephants Walk, acrylic and oil on panel, 20" x 20"
to purchase please click here

Day 15 - Where Elephants Walk

Today's painting is a continuation of some new techniques I have been developing through this 30 in 30 challenge.  Every time I have participated in the 30 in 30 I learn so many things... about technique...working habits, color mixing, how much my family supports me.... and much more...
On a serious note, elephants turn up in my consciousness rather often and I feel compelled to paint them from time to time.  I feel deeply saddened and angered about their treatment as show animals and about the stupidity and selfishness of the poachers who kill them for ivory.  This elephant is in response to the recent announcement that Ringling Bros. will be retiring their elephants early due to increased pressure and scrutiny of their cruel treatment.  I hope that some day, elephants will just be left to live their lives free from the dangers of man.

Well, also, this girl isn't finished yet.  The painting is 20"x 20", and I just really didn't want to rush it.  Believe it or not, painting stripes is time consuming... not to mention the design aspect of things.  So this entry will be a two part entry.  Tune in tomorrow for part deux!
Btw, thanks Marty Ressler for title idea...:)

11 - Zebra, Elephant, Bug

This is a painting I am entering into Berks Art Council's contest called "Fast Lane Art".  It is a cool contest that, if your artwork wins, they blow it up to the size of a billboard and display it somewhere along a major highway for awhile... Very awesome!  I designed this just yesterday... the image just popped into my head and from what I could tell, it was passable.... :)  Hope the judges think it will look good as a billboard!
There are several things going into this design.  One main thing is the combination of my Stripey paintings and my impressionistic realist paintings.  This is a first for me.  It was only possible to complete today, because I painted the Stripey portion mostly in acrylic paint, which dries fast.  After that, I took a break to eat lunch and to make sure it was dry, then went back up and painted the animals (the bug is very animal-like to me...) Any touch up the stripes needed I was able to achieve with oil since the rule is you can paint oil over acrylic, but not the other way around.  I am quite happy with the results and I think I will definitely be experimenting with this idea!

Zebra, Elephant, Bug, oil and acrylic, 7" x 20",
not for sale currently

One other thing worth mentioning is that the colors of the stripes are from the Pantone 2016 Spring Palette as seen below... just for fun....

Happy Pachy

If you have kids, you know they amass a collection of knick knacks, gadgets, toys and otherwise.... stuff.  A lot of it is fun to look at and, what else to do with it once they lose interest but... Paint it!  So this is where the inspiration for this painting came from.  This little elephant was a toy of my daughters as she is also an animal lover.  I always thought she looked happy, so, I titled this one, "Happy Pachy" (as in pachyderm.... get it?)  And the flowers, well, they are in full bloom on my amazing weeping cherry tree in my front yard.  This tree must be over 70 years old and is one of the most beautiful trees in all of St. Lawrence this time of year.  (I am biased...!)

Happy Pachy, 10"x10", oil on canvas

After thinking about painting an elephant I decided to look up information on them and came across this website, which is a little sad, but has made me think about doing some more paintings and donating proceeds of sales (if they sell!) to this organization.  Here is a link to their website if you are interested in checking that out.
 http://elephantsumbrella.org/