Show off

I'll admit it, I have been neglecting my blog lately.  Short little blurbs on Facebook are just too tempting, and I wasn't sure how many people were actually reading the blog.  But I have been reassured that indeed I have an audience, so I will try to do better.

There are a few new things on my plate this summer.  After building up my skills on the 16x20 canvas board I gave a 24x24 gallery wrap canvas a try.  My original intention was use the small Connected study and go bigger, but as often happens, the painting went its own way and I just followed along.  It got rather dark at first but with some effort I was able to get it a bit lighter.  I am finding that if I hang a painting on the wall and turn off the brightest lights to imitate typical lighting situations in a house, it helps me to make a few adjustments.

Evening Storms Likely 24x24 oil, copyright 2013

Next month will be a bit hectic as I will be showing in two places at once.  The first is the Cozy Kup Cafe on US 35 in New Lebanon.  It's a coffee shop (obviously) that my husband stops in occasionally - I'm not a coffee drinker, but he brings home excellent chocolate chips cookies - and the owner Sarah is an art lover.  A fellow artist, Phil Erbaugh, suggested I stop in and see if she would be interested in showing my work.  She said yes, so now I have my first venue on my own!  I'm pretty excited about it, so if you are local, be sure and stop in for a cuppa joe and a painting during the month of July.

In addition to that, thanks to a last minute change of plans I will be participating in an invitational show at the Preble County Art Center in Eaton during July.  And the Preble County Fair is coming up at the end of the month.  Now how am I supposed to decide which paintings are going where?  And if only I had this problem more often!

Sale and clean up

Winter Reflections 6x6 oil, copyright 2011
SOLD!

Last year in the winter I painted a series of little 6x6 oils landscapes for practice and fun, including this one.  A few have sold and the rest have been decorating my studio walls.  Over the summer I decided to enter this one in the Preble County Fair on a whim - it looked the best in the gold frames I had.   It seems I chose wisely, as it won second place in the oil category.  Smaller pieces often get overlooked, so this was a pleasant surprise.  

Feeling rather confident about its reception - I received a number of compliments from fairgoers and my fellow artists - I then decided to hang it in the gallery at the Preble Fine Arts Center.  This week I went to pick up my pieces and was told that it had been sold to one of the those artists.  Having another artist purchase a painting is wonderful pat on the back, thank you Kathy!  Here is the original post on this painting.

Unfortunately work in the studio lately has been slow as life sometimes gets in the way of inspiration, so I took advantage of a temporary lull to clean my studio to see if that would help.  It did, and I have been working on a larger piece which is going very well and will post about soon.  It's amazing how much easier it is to work when you can tell your blues from your oranges.

Three shows in one post

Saturday was pretty hectic one for me as I ran about for two different shows in opposite directions.  The first was the annual show for the Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors.  It's the first time I've tried this one and it will be another day or two before I find out if my two pieces, Scout and the Pink Kimono and Remnants of an Early Morning Storm will be accepted.  A fellow artist told me that usually only about a third of entered pieces are accepted, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

The second show was the reception for the Annual Juried Art Exhibit at the Preble Fine Arts Center.  Three pieces are in the show, and one, Midsummer Barn, won second place in the pastel category.  Later the chair of the committee of the show told me that the judge really liked it, but gave it second because he didn't like the frame or matting.  Ouch.  That's something I hadn't really considered, but probably should pay more attention to.  I've been trying to frame my pastels without mats - it makes them look more like "paintings" - but this one had a bright white mat.  I'll guess I'll keep that in mind for future reference.

The third show in this post is the Pompeii Art Show at the Cincinnati Museum Center.  I received an email poster for this one, and of course had to post it.  Tickets are still available if you want to come and bid on my painting!

Life Drawing sketch

Bookworm Sketch 11x14 charcoal pencil, copyright 2011

This week I was happy to return to the Life Drawing session after a long absence.  It was a special session for me since my daughter agreed to sit as the model - her boots and long red hair were quite the crowd pleaser.  Unfortunately I discovered that I was rather rusty and that I had brought the wrong type of paper.  I started with a charcoal pencil, hoping to get lots of detail, but the tooth of the paper is too rough and I tried too hard to force it.  This was the best of the three sketches.  I may rework it a bit to fix some proportion issues, especially with the left arm.  One other sketch was in pastel.  Her enviable hair turned out well but the face definitely needs work.  I'll post that later if it turns out.  

FYI, next month the Preble County Fine Arts Center will be featuring A Year of Life Drawing, an exhibit of sketches, drawings, and perhaps a few paintings from artists who have participated in the Life Drawing sessions.  I will have a few pieces in the exhibit.  It will open on January 4, with a reception at 2pm on the 14th.

Fall art shows

Me Time 24x18 oil, copyright 2011

While my first attempt at a plein air painting didn't work out, the entry for Sacred Spaces did.  Having focused on small paintings and pastels lately, it's been awhile since I've painted anything this large.  I think the practice has paid off and I feel a lot more confident about setting up the compositions for my paintings.  A cup of tea and a good book, by the way, is one of my favorite ways to escape the craziness of life - it becomes my personal sacred space.  This show runs from September 6-30 at the Preble Fine Arts Center, with the reception on September 24.

In other news, I've entered three pieces in the Greenville Art Guild's annual show.  Two pastels, Meadow at Crown Point and Waiting for the Sun and one of my 6x6 oils, White Zinnia will be included.  The awards will be given on September 23 and the show runs from September 24 to October 1 at the Shawnee Prairie Preserve just outside of Greenville.

Winning Entry

SOLD

One last post about Desire, and then I will quit talking about it.  Maybe.  This weekend was the reception for the Annual Juried Art Exhibition at the Preble Fine Arts Center, during which the winners were announced.  For the second year in a row, I took first place in the pastel category, which makes me think I must be doing something right.  This win is particularly meaningful since the piece is for a friend, who will actually be visiting during the show, and will get to see her painting hanging in a gallery with a first place ribbon beside it!

Winter shows

Just a quick mention, a plug for myself and the Preble Fine Arts Center.  The current show at the Arts Center is the Starving Artists Invitational Show, now through the end of the month.  There are 13 artists total in this show, myself included.  There's a pretty good range of work, from ceramics to mixed media to painting and drawing and photography. Everyone is from the area and most are from Preble County.  The artists have agreed to donate an extra amount from the sale of one item to the Art Center, so it's a fundraiser as well.  Personally, I have three paintings and three pastels in the show.  For all the locals, a reception/ meet and greet will be held this Saturday from 2-4.

There are also a number of other shows coming up, and I will need to make some decisions about which ones to enter.  There's one in Kettering (a Dayton suburb) for example, that I've tried to get into several times without success.  Should I try again, or am I just wasting my time and money?  And there's also the Randolph County show which keeps getting better and bigger.  That one I will definitely be in, it's more a matter of choosing the right piece.  Perhaps I will avoid landscapes this year, since they seem to be the most popular subject, and maybe it will make me stand out in the crowd a bit.  We shall see....