Spring Pop Up Show and Sale!

I am busily preparing for my Spring Pop Up Show that I am having with 2 of my painting buds, Russell Slocum and Keith Rentschler.  May 4th and 5th at the Warehouse Studios at 700 Lancaster Ave, Reading, PA.  Stay tuned for more details to come, but know that we will be showcasing 150+ paintings including new pieces as well as archived work, plus prints, cards and commissions specials.  Studio prices, many discounted.... Door prizes, free-with-purchase artwork and a lot more!:) 

Updating my Website

If you haven't been over to my website lately, go and take a look!  I have spent the last few days doing a complete overhaul.  Things aren't totally complete yet, but mostly.....  Click the link below... Thanks!

www.karenweberfineart.com

Lone Tree

One more landscape study for ya...  Again, I am enjoying playing with slightly thicker paint and trying to keep my colors pure. I love the shapes and color that landscapes afford!

Lone Tree, 6"x6", oil on panela

5 trees

If you are interested, read my previous post for my recent thoughts on Landscapes.  These little studies I am doing are helping me to see shapes and colors and design my compositions.  This is a line of trees that caught my fancy for their mis-matched shapes and their silhouette against the bright blue sky.

5 trees, 6"x6", oil on panel

Happy New Year!

As you may have guessed (If anyone is even following me anymore!) I am not a big social media person (yet...)  It is hard for me to find a block of time to sit down and upload pics and post them, etc.. BUT, I have been painting lots, and even selling some of my creations!  December was a great month for sales for me and I am looking forward to a great 2014!  I wanted to post some of my latest paintings which will be in the January/February show at the Gallery.  The opening is Friday, January 10th from 5-8 and all are welcome!  Enjoy!

Fields at rest, 14" x 18", oil on panel

Secrets behind the Gallery, 9" x 12", oil on panel

American Foursquare, 6" x 6", oil on panel

The Red Mansard, 10.5" x 10.5", oil on panel

White House in Fleetwood, 6" x 6", oil on panel

My Elsie, 8" x 8", oil on panel

Having a snack - sold!

I love the feeling when I get a phone call from the gallery and they tell me someone has purchased one of my paintings!  I never thought it would feel so good to know that someone likes my artwork and wants it hanging in their home! I got the message yesterday that I sold my painting Having a Snack which was hanging in the West Reading Tavern.  Thank you for the blessing!

Blue Moo

Today is my hubby's birthday, so, firstly, Happy Birthday, Kevin!

O.k., next.  This little guy has been done for awhile, and I honestly thought I posted it but apparently not.  He was a cow at the long horn cattle ranch, however, he doesn't have the horns, so I don't know what's going on with that.  But the way he was looking right at the camera, and the challenge of painting black fur is what drew me to painting him.  This is one of my little 6"x6" paintings and is already framed and ready to hang!

  

Blue Moo, 6"x6", oil on panel, $75

Quaint farm cottage

Yes, you read correctly.  Quaint...  Some times titles for paintings elude me and at others the painting names itself.  Just depends, I suppose.  This one, I couldn't really come up with anything.  So, Quaint farm cottage it is.  Anyhow, I painted this one using a very bright under painting to see how that would affect the final painting.  Kind of liked it.  Going to keep on experimenting with this for awhile, I think.  So, the first picture is the final painting and the second pic is the underpainting.  As you can see, there is definitely a difference.  Enjoy!

Quaint Farm Cottage,  9" x 12", oil on panel

Moo-net

I am always trying new things in my studio.  Sometimes they work out, others don't.  Dreama Tolle Perry is an artist I have been looking at recently and I have been trying to figure out her technique.  She uses almost all transparent oil colors and has a method in which she applies them onto the canvas that gives the paintings vibrancy and light.  That is what this cow painting is about.  There are things about the painting I like and others I am not necessarily pleased with, but all in all, good learning experience...  When I finished this little girl, I thought it kind of looked Monet-ish, hence the name, Moo-net..... I know... very cheeky, but what do you want?  Anyway, I also love using this online slide show maker to show the painting's progression... Hope you like!

Moonet, 9"x12", oil on panel, 2013

October Newsletter

My October Newsletter is out!  I am running a special deal on commissions this month (and into November)  If you ever thought about commissioning me to paint a pet portrait, now is a great time to do it.  Pet portraits make wonderful gifts!  Think ahead to surprise a loved one!

If you are not a subscriber, you can read my newsletter here... http://eepurl.com/GP1An

If you'd like to become a subscriber, click here... http://www.karenweberfineart.com/subscribe.html
I also always try to include tips about oil painting and information about upcoming art shows and events!
Thanks and enjoy this rainy day!

Unlikely pear, oil on canvas, 6"x6", $75.00

Little Big Horn slide show

Hopefully you can see this cool slide show I put together using an online slideshow maker called slideful.com...  I love it!!!  I will be making more of these, because it was sooooo easy to do!  Enjoy!  This is a short progression of the little cow I call Little Big Horn.  He was at the long horn cattle ranch I have talked about before.  Just a baby... But growing his horns in nicely  If the slideshow doesn't automatically change, hover over the picture and use the arrows to change slides.. Thanks for looking!

Pecking order

Yesterday was the Wine and Cheese Fundraiser... It was an elegant and fun afternoon with lots of guests, music, appetizers, wine, cheese and of course ART.  I thank everyone who came out as well as my hubby for all of his help.  I wouldn't be able to do all of the art that I do if it weren't for Kevin.
The painting of the 3 girls below was from a picture I took at Lake Tobias Wildlife park. As with most places, there was a mix of people walking around but, I guess because of the location, there were lots of Amish people who were tourists just like me.  They were as interesting to look at as the animals were! ( I know that sounds bad, but I mean it in the most respectful of ways, people. I know Amish people aren't animals...) Anyway, I thought I'd show the photo to demonstrate the artistic license that I took with the painting.  Sometimes part of a photo is just right but others parts don't work.  The girls tickled my fancy as two of them were barefoot, and they were just so pretty with their cotton dresses and matching hair.  The sunlight was pretty, glinting off their heads also.

Pecking Order, Oil on panel, approximately 8"x8" framed

$75.00 at my website

What happened to August?

Well, school has begun, the kids are off and I have literally done more work in the past 2 weeks in my studio than I did all summer long.  I haven't figured out how to add 5 hours to my day yet and when the kids are home from school, that's what I would need in order to be able to be painting on a regular basis!  So here we are and not one post in the whole month of August.  I apologize to my loyal followers (are you out there?) and promise to be better from now on.

Enough of that.  So it is September and I have been painting chickens.  They are in the new harvest show at Art Plus gallery, which incidentally is having an opening tonight.  And I painted a new one yesterday!  The chickens are residents at Lake Tobias Wildlife Park, which is out by Harrisburg.  I took lots of pics back in July when we went, and these guys stood out as the ones I wanted to paint first.  There is also this duck which I haven't painted yet, but will!  I also spent a good portion of last week finishing up the frames for these buggers.  Fun, but time consuming.  Also extremely budget friendly which is always a welcome thing! I will post a chicken a day for at least the next 10 days so, come back tomorrow for some more poultry pleasantries!
And now... Chicken (or possibly a rooster...) #1.... and this ones called, "Are you lookin' at me?"

Are you lookin' at me?, 6" x 6", oil on panel

Summer Roses

So, I have been painting.  I just haven't been doing a lot of posting.  We are getting ready to go on vacation, I am busy with my garden and summer stuff, and time just seems to get away from me.  Today, I made some collages of the rose paintings I have been working on for the past few weeks.  These paintings were done from photos I took of the beautiful rose bush that is in my back yard. It blooms perfusely (sp?) in spring for about 2 weeks and then its done until mid to end of summer.
The first 4 paintings are on 6"x6" panels.  I recently ordered these panels because I know of other artists who paint on panel and wouldn't paint on anything else.  They definitely take some getting used to as they react completely differently to the brush.  The paint has to be a different consistency as well, and after painting on several of these panels, I came to realize that you must also put medium down on it first and then paint wet into wet.  Geeze.  For those of you who use oil paint, I hope this makes sense.  For those of you who don't, you may choose to disregard all of this nonsense.  Regardless, I did come up with some nice rose paintings, and well, frankly, one or two I don't like as much.  But you can't love, love, love every single painting you make now then can you.

Summer rose collage.  Each painting is done on separate 6"x6" gessoed panels

2 summer roses.  Both are oil on canvas

Before the Harvest

I took a photo of these tomatoes in my garden... Last year!  I have had it in the back of my mind waiting to be painted, and finally felt ready to get it down on canvas last week!  Took almost a year, but that is what is great about reference photos.  You take them when you see them and then don't necessarily have to paint them right away.  It is a different way of working - Not from life, exactly and definitely not plein air.  But, I enjoy working from a photo.  I get to play around with the composition, lighting and values a lot more than when I am working from life.  At least that's how it works for me right now....  So, when I posted these in facebook, along with the gas pump and strawberries, someone thought they were pumpkins!  Interesting what happens when you look at a subject very close up.  They become abstracted a bit and sometimes hard to place.  I don't mind that.  My goal with this painting was actually to try to capture the many hues of green that were present in the tomatoes while also depicting form.  I guess I did that, seeing that pumpkins have quite a bit of form to them!

Before the Harvest, 10" x 10", oil on canvas

Antique Gas Pump

This painting is of an antique gas pump that sits behind the Art Plus Gallery in Reading, Pa.  I saw it the first time I parked out back and luckily had my camera in the car with me.  After I took pictures of it, I told one of the artists who was gallery sitting at the time, and she said... "yes, we have had many people offer to buy it from us, but it is not for sale!"  It is an attractive 'thing', I guess to many people.  Is it nostalgia? Or maybe the colors and rust...  Not sure what, but when I posted this painting along with the strawberries from last post and the Green tomatoes, and asked people which painting was their favorite... Guess what?   This one won!

Antique Gas Pump behind Art Plus Gallery,  6" x 6", oil on canvas

Collage of some of my recent paintings

This is pretty nice!  I went to a website called iPiccy and uploaded photos of some of my recent paintings.  This website allows you to create a collage with uploaded photos (for free!). It is nice to see my paintings side by side as it gives them continuity, and I can see my style, as it were.  These paintings were all created in late 2012 until present and most are oil, but the large, close up dog portraits are acrylic.