Day 3 of my Holiday Painting Spree - "Tuesday's Blackbird"

This happy little girl flew in with the wind yesterday... Amazingly, in this wild wind we had here, I saw flocks of black birds flying in synchronized plumes of ever changing shapes and lines of them huddled on high wires... Black birds must be sturdy little birds to withstand the extreme weather!

This painting is the last (for now) in this mini series of blackbirds I did in the past few days.  She is for sale (at 20% off) at my Daily Paintworks site and is ready to hang!  Take a peek below to see how this painting could look in your home. :)

Tuesday's Blackbird, oil on panel, ready to hang
To purchase, please click here

Day 2 of my Holiday Painting Spree - "That's What Friends are For"

Today's painting is 2nd in a series of 3 blackbirds I am working on.  As I said yesterday, I enjoy painting blackbirds. They are common, yet intelligent, simple yet pretty.  There are many varieties, and this one is just your common black bird coming to call. She looks like she might be visiting, just when you need her the most.. something friends do!

I used the same palette for the background as I did yesterday's painting, so if hung together, they would make a handsome pair.  See below for an idea of how to hang a pair of my small art.

That's What Friends are For, oil on panel, 6"x6", ready to hang
To purchase please click here

Day 1 of my Holiday Painting Spree!

As I said in my previous post, my little paintings are popular with my followers.  I can see why! In the art world, a trend has been emerging toward personal, intimate, and small-scale paintings.  Not to mention, small paintings fit in difficult to design places and are more affordable than larger artwork.  I love painting in all different sizes, but I especially enjoy painting on small panels. It allows me to focus in on my subjects and paint alla prima - all in one sitting. So, I plan on focusing my paintbrush on these little guys through out the rest of November and into December.  

Today's painting is titled, "The Sentry".  I painted a series of little blackbirds a while back and sold most of them... Black birds mean many things to many people.  To me they can be pretty little birds that aren't flashy, but make a statement all the same.  And some of the species of black birds (crows and ravens for two) are quite intelligent. This guy is a young crow, keeping watch for you...  And stripes are back! I enjoy using the stripe motif in my backgrounds as they allow me to use interesting color combinations that I otherwise might not put together.

Remember, all my paintings are 20% off through December 17th, including this one!

To purchase this painting, please visit my daily paintworks gallery here

The Sentry, oil on panel, 6"x6",
to purchase click here

Collecting Fine Art

Growing up, everyone I knew collected something.  Sports cards, matchbox cars, stamps, coins.

Me?  I have always loved rocks.  I can remember enjoying the hunt for a piece of fool’s gold, or a particularly beautiful piece of granite and the thrill of finding what looked like gems to me in the Rock Run creek that ran behind my parent’s house.

Common Blackbird 1, acrylic, 8"x8"
Private Collection

As an adult, everyone I know STILL collects something! It would seem that collecting is in our nature…  As Mark B. McKinley, Ed.D. noted in The Psychology of Collecting article in The National Psychologist “During the 1700s and 1800s there were aristocratic collectors, the landed gentry, who roamed the world in search of fossils, shells, zoological specimens, works of art and books. The collected artifacts were then kept in special rooms (“cabinets of curiosities”) for safekeeping and private viewing.”  Our motivations to collect are many – some people collect for investment, to preserve the past, or as a way of expanding their social lives.   Like me, some people simply enjoy the quest for the next piece to add to their collection. And still others find pleasure in classifying our world.  

Common Blackbird 2, acrylic, 8"x8"
Private Collection

Most of all, collecting can be fun and enriching. And in this respect arguably highest among collectibles is art. The value of having original fine art to enrich and personalize your life can not be overstated and building a fine art collection can be hugely rewarding.   If you are new to collecting, you may wonder where to begin?  Here are a few tips to get you started.

1. First and most importantly ask yourself, what do you like?   I will let you in on a secret:  You can start your art collection without really knowing anything at all about art.  If you LOVE a piece of art, than it is worth adding to your collection!    

2.  Relax.  There is no rush.  Part of the joy of any kind of collection, is the search for the perfect next piece.  Whether you are looking for a particular genre, work by a specific artist, or something that will look good in your living room, don’t feel you need to rush it.  When you find it you will know it. 

Tuesday's Blackbird , acrylic, 8"x8"
To purchase click here

3.  Spend some time looking at all of the options.  Start local, if you can.  Searching galleries, art fairs and the like give you the chance to see the art work in person (the best way to view art!) and to know the artist and/or the story behind the artwork.  This will only serve to add depth to and enrich your collection.  If you like the idea of buying art from the comfort of your own home, a few reputable sites to browse fine art include  Daily Paintworks (which I sell through), invaluable and Artfinder.  These types of sites have several benefits – the diversity of artwork to be found is practically limitless, you often can read a little about the artist and sometimes find out what went into the artwork. 

4. Know your budget.  Depending on what you can spend at the time, your search can be narrowed.  Limited edition prints are a great starting place as these tend to be less expensive if you want to own something by a well known artist.  But original fine art can be found by lesser known artists for under $200, so don’t forget to search in smaller, lesser known venues. 

 5.   Do your research.  Most artists, well known or not, have a website, facebook page, blog or somewhere you can find out more about them and their artwork.  Find their bio page to see a list of exhibitions they have been in, prizes won for their art, where else they sell and any press they may have.  This kind of information may be the determining factor between two pieces you love equally, but can only afford one of them.

Friday's Blackbird , acrylic, 8"x8"
Private Collection

There are other things you can consider when adding to your art collection which you will learn over time, but thinking about these few things will get you well on your way to a beautiful collection.!

If you want to delve even deeper into how to start an art collection, check out this article from the blog “In good Taste” -    ‘How to Start a Fine Art Collection’

Cheers, and happy collecting!

More on the psychology of collecting can be found here http://nationalpsychologist.com/2007/01/the-psychology-of-collecting/10904.html,

Moravska

Wow... June is zipping  by and I am just getting around to posting... I have been so busy painting commissions and with my new responsibilities at Art Plus Gallery that I seem to have no time to post anything!  I don't know how some people keep up with everything you should be doing as an artist in the 21st century.....
Anyway, this is one of my latest paintings.. It is a new one in my latest series of paintings that are more illustrative and narrative.  Although, if you were to ask me what this one is exactly about, I am not sure I could pin it down. At the time that I designed it, I was really thinking about the sad plight of elephants in our world... (and all creatures that are nearing extinction..)  I am just in dis-belief that in our lifetime, we could see a world without elephants.  But it is true.  It has already happened to the Western Black Rhino.  It is sad, terrible, lamentable and a clear testament to some of the worst qualities of human-kind, which is our tremendous disrespect and irreverence for the well being of our home.... Mother Earth.  While contemplating these very concepts, an image began to appear on the slate of my mind and this is how it developed as the painting you see below.  As I said above, I am not entirely sure of it's direct relationship to my thoughts, but, I am fine with that.  I hope you can find some kind of message that you can relate to....
I have entered this one into the 35th annual BAA juried exhibition... Keeping fingers crossed that it will make it in!

Moravska, oil on textured, 3/4" cradled panel, 24" x 30", nfs (yet)