Fair Daze

Begonias work in progress, 12x16 pastel, copyright 2012

It's fair week here in Preble County, and in rural places the county fair is still a big deal as the community comes together to show off the best of the best.  This year the Preble County Art Association became deeply involved in the fine arts display, and I am on that committee.  It means that I haven't had a lot of time for painting the past few weeks, though I finally got a chance yesterday.

Local artists have been taking turns doing demonstrations at the fair, and yesterday was my turn.  The art display is housed in the same building as the flowers, and it's turned out to be an excellent combination.  For my demo I chose to start painting a pot of begonias.  This is the result of a few hours of work, punctuated by greeting and chatting with visitors.  The leaves will need a bit of work - the lighting wasn't ideal - but I feel like it's a good start.  I'll have to finish it from memory though, as the flowers were cleared out at the end of the day.

I'll be back tomorrow for another demo, and possibly Friday night when a group of artists plan to get together to paint scenes from the fair.  The Art Association's September show will be "Scenes from the Preble County Fair", so I need to get to work.  I've taken a few reference photos, but working plein air in front of a crowd should be a good experience.

By the way, I entered three pieces in the fair, and two of them, Winter Reflections and Bank Barn in Early Spring placed second in the oil and pastel categories.

Valentine's Day flowers

Just a quick note today to let everyone know that I am having a Valentine's Day sale in my etsy shop.  For the next two weeks I will be offering my four 6x6 flower paintings at a 10% discount.  These are the perfect gift, they won't wilt and die or make you sneeze!   Here's the link to the shop section.

Unfortunately, I doubt that I can get them to anyone outside of the US by Valentine's Day, at least not using the postal service.  If you live outside of the US, you can contact me directly and we'll discuss other options, such as FedEx and UPS.

Pink Azaleas 6x6 oil, copyright 2011

Background drama

Zinnia with Bud Vase, 6x6 oil, copyright 2011

We've had several hard frosts this week, killing all my flowers with the exception of these little ones that I'm pretty sure are zinnias.  Zinnias are normally sensitive to harsh weather so I'm not sure how they've managed to hang on so long, but they offer a nice bright splash of color to what is becoming a rather dull landscape.  This composition came to me when I first picked them, but I ignored it and instead attempted to paint three of them in a clear glass jar.  That one wasn't working - and ended up getting wiped -  so I went with my original idea and found that I should have followed my instincts to begin with.

The flower and vase seemed to be working quite well at first, but somehow it still was a bit boring.  I turned to other artists to see how they handled still life and realized that the background made a huge difference.  At first this one was almost a solid pale blue, which is what I used for the set up in the studio.   But looking at the works of David Cheifetz in particular I realized that a dramatic backdrop can push the subjects forward and make them far more interesting.  I've been playing a bit with light and shadows, but seeing the difference in the before and after on this one (wish I'd taken photos!) really hit home - I will definitely keep it in mind for future reference.

It's funny though, the hardest part was know when to stop.  I kept seeing little things that needed to be corrected - a bit of white here, a splash of yellow there.  Hopefully my taking a photo will encourage me to stop messing with it.  The saying comes to mind, "It takes two people to make a painting: the artists to paint it, and another to stop him before he ruins it."  I think I stopped in time...

Miniature roses

Floating Miniature Roses 6x6 oil, copyright 2011

click to purchase this painting

On one of the last truly beautiful days of the season I picked the three best flowers off my miniature rose and set them floating in a little bowl.  Moving around to find the best shadows, I finally settled on the stone steps that go down into the bubbling spring we are fortunate to have in the front yard.  There is nothing quite like bright sunshine to make shadows and highlights and colors really pop, and that's what I decided to emphasize instead of trying to capture the details and the texture of the horn bowl and stone step.   

For some reason roses are always a struggle for me.  I'm not sure why, but the layers and layers of short, brightly colored petals give me fits.  It took a little bit of reworking, but I feel pretty good about these.  And I really feel like I've big improvements on capturing the shapes and shadows of rounded objects like the bowl.

Birthday azaleas

Pink Azaleas 6x6 oil, copyright 2011
click to purchase this painting

My husband often gets me flowers on my birthday and this year was no exception.  Typically they are cut flowers and it's always a race to paint them before they wither and die - usually a losing race.  But this year he bought me a little azalea bush so I was able to take my time.  I wish I could plant it outside and let it grow into a huge bush, but unfortunately the soils around here are too alkaline, so it will just have to take its chances inside.  It is sitting in my kitchen window above the sink, so hopefully that means I will remember to water it.  Plants in my house need to be quite drought tolerant.

I played with this one a little bit, curious to see how little I could detail I could go into and still have an easily recognized subject.  In the end I went back to the individual flowers for some touch up work, but mostly left the leaves as is.  For some reason I tend to shy away from using black, worried that it will dull the palette, but I'm getting used to the idea that a little bit here and there in the shadows really makes the highlights stand out.  

Sunflower II

Sunflower II 6x6 oil, copyright 2011
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My very first commission is finally complete.  I am fortunate that my friend has been so patient with me.  Things got rather hectic over the spring, and spilled over into summer, but I am learning to convince myself that sometimes it's okay to say no.  

I enjoyed these sunflowers, the petals are challenging but fun to paint.  This spring I planted a variety of them, and it looks like a few will be blooming soon - I even had one self seed, and it has about 5 blooms on it.  Can't wait to see what color they will be.  I've had a few people mention how beautiful fields of sunflowers are, so if anyone local spots one, please let me know where, I'd love paint it!

Sunflowers I is below, to compare.  I didn't want them to quite match - after all each flower is unique. 

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