Can this painting be saved?

An update post..... since I was here last I've shipped 10 paintings to the Signature Art Gallery in Tallahassee and I have 8 more boxed up and ready to ship to Macon Arts Alliance in GA. You have no idea what a relief it is to move some paintings around! Since leaving Gallery B brought many pieces back home, I needed to make room for new stuff. Thankfully, Macon Arts is having a special small works show in November so it's perfect timing. And the wonderful people at Signature wanted some new work for the holiday season. Yay all the way around and doing a happy dance. 💃

Shedding Light

16x20

The painting above is one of the new ones. I love playing with paint like this. It brings my two favorite things together - landscapes and abstracts. After painting that one I decided to try doing something a little different by toning the canvas yellow instead of red orange like the previous one.

so far so good.....

ugh!

now I really hate it....

maybe it's salvageable.

This is as far as I've gotten today so you'll have to stay tuned to see what happens to it. So far the only stage I like is the very first one. In the latest stage it's just starting to come together but boy, it's hard to get past the ugly stage sometimes. When you hit that point you have 3 choices - 1. trash it (gesso over it and try again)  2. grit your teeth and push on through. or 3. take a break, work on something else for a while and come back to it later.

I think I'll take door #3.

See you next time. Hopefully by then this will be resolved and I can share. 

The Coast is Near

This. When you're driving down A1A and you can't see the water but you feel it's presence - the way the sky goes on forever, the way the sun is hitting the palms, the way the breeze feels as it blows in from the ocean and brings you that salty scent. You can't see the waves but you can hear them pounding away and then retreating. 

The Coast is Near

Just a quick little post to share the newest painting. Sometimes you just wanna paint something familiar, bright, simple, and says Florida. This one fit the bill and was crazy fun to paint. And it's telling me that I need to get to the coast soon. 

If this piece brings you joy like it does for me, look for it here on my website.

I hope you're getting some beach time in this summer.

Peace,

C

Fresh Eyes

I'm working all the angles this week! I just finished a commission for a nest painting. I'm working on a landscape and I'm playing with layers on 5 small abstracts. If you paint, do you like to work on different things at the same time. It may seem unfocused to do that but for me it makes perfect sense. While layers are drying on the abstracts I can be working on the other two paintings. If I feel stuck with something on the landscape I can always switch to the nest and work on it for a while. When I go back to the other piece I feel like I have "fresh eyes" and can resolve whatever the problem was. 

This nest is 20x30 and heading to a customer in Virginia.

An abstracty landscape in progress. I'm not sure how much more I'll be doing to this one.

5 little abstracts in progress. I'm REALLY not sure how much more I'll be doing to these. They're still speaking to me. Do you listen to your paintings?

New Horse Fever and More

 

What a crazy year! I'm happy to say I'm fully vaccinated and ready for life to be "normal" again - whatever that means. I'm still painting, doing commissions, and working Gallery B so maybe normal will just mean wearing a mask less often. 

I've painted another horse. This time it's for the 20th anniversary of Horse Fever. It's called Home Sweet Home and it's part of the Giving Collection. It's one of 3 horses that will be going to a lucky raffle winner June 4th. The tickets are $100 and available at  Marion Cultural Alliance. The proceeds from the raffle benefit the arts in Marion County. Very cool! Is anyone surprised that I painted nests all over this horse? 

After painting the horse, me and my co-owner friends have also been incredibly busy doing a bit of a refresh in Gallery B. The walls have fresh paint and there's new carpet on the floor. We've also brought some new friends in to share our space. Welcome to The Graceful Gardener, Pen and Ink, and Grated & Cured. We've also added new artists to the gallery so if you're in the area you should definitely stop by.

New pretty space!

I have lots of new work to share so I'll just start with the three below. I also updated most of the pages here so click on a tab above to see more. My abstract work seems to be influencing my landscapes. I still love realism but these are fun too. I felt the need to loosen up and play more. I've also started adding colored pencil to the canvases - swirling round strokes layered between glazes of acrylic. 

Sparkle

8x8

The painting below was inspired by a tall stand of trees at a local park. It just sold at the Signature Gallery in Tallahassee to a lovely gentleman who called to tell me how much he appreciates my work. That call made my day! It's such an honor to have someone spend their hard earned money on something I created and then to have them call and tell me about it, well, that's just plain wonderful and I'm so grateful, not only to him but to the Signature and staff.

Soaring

36x18

SOLD

Relaxing

12x12

We have a long weekend coming up. I hope you find time to relax and also remember all the men and women who served our country and paid the ultimate price. 

Peace and love,

C

Finding Peace

I need some color, some lightness, some vibrancy. The last couple of weeks have been very hard. In fact this year has been hard. A lot has been going on in my life since 2018 began, starting with my father's death in February. Just a week after the funeral I had to begin the process of refinancing my house so I was rewarded with 2 months of banking hell. Then not long after the closing my mom ended up in the hospital because of an accident- thankfully she's ok now. And of course we have the national news..... 

In a previous post I talked about being included in the Professional Artist magazine article called Get Inspired by Darkness. In it I talked about my Silent Voices series and painting through the grief of being a mother of adoption loss. Well, because of that loss and knowing what it's like to have a child taken from me I'm having a particularly hard time with what's happening to migrant children right now. I don't know what those families have been through to get here but I do know what they're experiencing after they arrived and their children were taken away. I know the terror and grief. Hearing the audio, the cries of little ones was too much. I found myself sobbing for the babies who need to be back with their mothers. I'm doing what I can to help the cause but I also need to do something to keep myself from sliding down into despair. I've toyed with some ideas for a concept piece about the situation but it's not coming together yet.

So, now what I'm doing is painting light, color, and things that remind me of life such as the bird nests. I did the first Color Dance painting a little while ago and decided I needed to do more so recently I did #'s 2 and 3. And, I have to admit, I love fall color because it reminds me that this Florida summer heat won't last forever.  :)

Color Dance

16x16

Color Dance 2

16x8

Color Dance 3

16x8

Below is the newest nest painting. This one along with 3 others just made their way to my gallery rep in Tallahassee- Signature Art Gallery. I think this one is my favorite so far. I want to do more with that format when I get some new canvases.

In the Shadows

6x12

And here, a new one in progress. This is what I need right now- life affirming images and a process that keeps me going. Getting immersed in playing with gold leaf, squishing paint around, throwing splatters of golden yellow, these things will keep my spirits up and keep me going and sane in what seems like an insane world. 

One other thing helps this summer... playing with grandbabies and going to the beach. Ah... salt air!

If you paint, keep doing that. If you sing or play an instrument, please make more music. We need inspiration. If you have grandbabies, make a play date because we also need more smiles right now.

Til next time... check out the rest of the nest and landscape paintings at my website.

Peace

Something new and a coupon too

The last few weeks I've been focused on painting and shows so I decided to take a break and work on my Etsy shop. Sadly it's been neglected lately so it was time to get back to it and try something new. I just added a new section to the shop called Painting Project Singles. These are instant downloadable PDFs and they take you step by step through one painting.

To get the ball rolling I'm starting with projects from our book Creative Colored Pencil Workshop so if you have the book, you already have the first 2 projects. But for those who don't have the book, it's a great way to pick and choose which painting you want to do and you don't have to spend a lot to do it. I'll be doing some new projects in the future to add to the series so check in at the shop from time to time.

The first 2 projects focus on mixing colored pencil with other media. Above I'm combining them with oil pastel to paint a loose, impressionistic landscape. The project below is my froggy from Paynes Prairie. He's done with watercolor and colored pencil. I take you through each step with a full color photo and instructions. I also include a line drawing, the original source photo and materials list.

So check out the new listings and tell me what you think! Do you think it's a good idea? Do you have a particular subject you'd like to see in a step by step format like this? I'll be doing more landscapes for sure but I'm also thinking of doing some seasonal type things like pumpkins with gold leaf backgrounds for fall or maybe do one with a bird nest and eggs. You know how much I love painting those! I would love and appreciate your feedback so leave a comment if you're so inclined.

To introduce these 2 new projects I'm sharing a coupon for 50% off the Painting Project Singles that's good through May 31st.  Share with your friends and happy painting!

A new landscape painting step by step

Hi folks. I hope February is treating you well. I thought I'd share the step by step process from painting my newest landscape. This one is a diptych done on 2- 20x20 canvases so the final size is 40x20. I love texture so before I started painting I prepped the canvas with crumpled tissue paper (you can see a close up below). I just use the white stuff that you use in gift bags, wad it up into a ball, open it up and apply it to the canvas with either a matt acrylic medium or matt Mod Podge. If you try this, be sure to use the matt version, not the gloss. You get better adhesion with the acrylic paint this way. Paint a layer of the adhesive on the canvas. Apply the tissue and then do another layer of adhesive on top. After the tissue is dry I painted both canvases with red acrylic.

As you can see I stacked the canvases on my easel. Of course this is the best way to get continuity when doing multiple panels. I sketched the design first with a white pastel pencil and then started blocking in color.

Once I knew where the basic elements were I started loosely putting in the greens. I use a large brush and keep the strokes mostly open and separate. I don't want to cover up too much of the red because there's still lots of layering to do and I like to leave a bit of red peeking through over the whole painting for interest and consistency.

Here, I'm working my way down the canvases with yellows and greens, still keeping things loose.

I added some purple on the ground area under the trees. Once all of the canvas is covered I go back and begin putting in more color, building layers. The colors I used were permanent sap green, permanent green light, cad yellow deep, arylamide yellow light, orange, purple, cobalt blue and white.

This gives you a better idea of what the texture is like. You can also tell that I don't cover all the red.

I added some purples to the tree trunks and then started adding leaves to the foreground to cover bits of the trunks.

Last layers were adding light to the foreground and brightening up the sky. So, there ya have it. I called this one Dappled. Have you tried adding texture to your canvases? If you do, I'd love to know what you use and how you do it so please share in the comments!

What's up 2017?

Was there a January? I don't know. It's just a blur now. I know some amazing stuff happened like having some good sales from my oh so wonderful Signature Gallery. I can't even tell you just how much I love them! Thanks to them, I had to get busy painting some more - oh darn.

Paynes Prairie

20x20

The locals know this place. Sometimes on trips between Ocala and Gainesville I'll stop and walk out on the dock on 441 and take pictures. When I have more time I'll go into the park and climb the lookout tower for a different view.

Garage Apartment

12x24

Since starting this bird nest series I've been gifted numerous nests from friends. This one came from my neighbors garage. It really is this shape. It was high up in the rafters in a corner and it looked like the bird wanted to fill the entire beam. It included bits of white fuzz that looked like batting and some pieces of blue and pink yarn.

White Feather

6x6

I've also been given lots of feathers so I thought I'd play with those. This is the first one- starting small. I'm not sure yet where I'll be going with these so stay tuned....

So those are 3 of the 10 pieces heading up to the gallery in the next week.

Then.... I was contacted by the Macon Arts Alliance Gallery asking if I would send some work to them for their upcoming show in March. Yay! They specifically asked for nests and florals so....... 

These are 2 of the 9 pieces heading that way later this month. And in case you're wondering, no, I did not paint 19 paintings last month. I was busy but I do like to sleep too. Some of the work is inventory I already had here in the studio.

Cubby

8x8

This is a crazy little nest made from horse hair. My friend Jean brought a couple of these in to class one day. She said she can tell which of her horses sacrificed hair for the little bird by the color of the nest.

After the Blossom

18x18

This was actually done from a friend's photo. I don't usually work that way but she had some beautiful shots and she gave me permission to use them. I wanted to play with the combo of pink and gold. Gold, anyone surprised? 😁

So there ya have it. That was January. Unfortunately the first week of February kicked my butt. I was sick in bed with a rheumatoid arthritis flare up. Any other artists out there dealing with a chronic condition that likes to interfere with your life? I'd love to hear from you. How do you deal? Anyway, now I'm back to feeling human again and ready to go. It's time to get some work boxed up and out of here and then back to the easel. Next time I'll share the landscape diptych I'm working on. Would you believe it doesn't include gold leaf? 

So many paintings... so little time.

Hope everyone's good. I've been busy in the studio since the last post. Finished this nest....

And then painted this one..... sold another one.....

Then for a change of pace I started this landscape with a flowering tree. I wanted to play with some different colors and shapes. I've done a couple of other pieces similar to this one and love the blue-greens against the gold leaf.

From this angle you can see the texture and shine of the gold. I'm using metallic gold acrylic to drybrush gold along the edge of the leaf. It softens the edge and makes a good transition between the 2 areas. And it shows off the texture too. Love the texture!

So right after starting this landscape I found an old nest in a tree in my yard. I got on a step stool to get some shots of it to paint from. It was well seated in between the branches so it wasn't easy to take photos.

The next day I decided to see if I could get the nest out of the tree without damaging it. It was tricky but I did it with only losing a couple of little twigs. 

Of course, now I'm dying to paint the new nest!!! It's going to take some discipline to make myself finish the landscape first. If I don't, who knows when I'll get back to it. There are so many nest paintings I want to do- bigger, smaller, different angles, doing some with copper leaf instead of gold.... 

So many paintings- so little time. LOL

Beach week and bird's nests

Beach week was amazing!! What did I do? Nothing. I went from condo to beach and back again. I took walks, listened to the waves, read and slept. I guess those things are actually something but you know what I mean- nothing that was required of me, only what I felt like doing when I felt like doing it. To me there is nothing more peaceful and rejuvenating than being near water and listening to the sounds of nature. After I got back my husband got me a white noise machine for sleeping that includes the sound of the ocean- perfect! I might be back inland but when I go to sleep I can listen to waves crashing, feel the fan blowing and pretend I'm dozing on the porch of a beach cottage as I drift off to sleep. 

 I love how these ripples ended up looking in this photo. It might end up a painting at some point.

My son and his family came out to spend a day and he brought the big bubble stuff with him. I think I enjoyed that more than the girls did. All they cared about was sand and water. :)

So beach week is over and now I'm all refreshed, excited to paint again and back to the easel. The first thing I did was prep 3 canvases. I used the heavy body gesso as usual. After letting them dry overnight I coated them with red acrylic, mapped out my design and then applied gold leaf to all 3.

One was for a landscape, one for a floral and one for a nest but I couldn't decide which one I wanted to start with. My sister-in-law said I should do the one on top first so I did the landscape...

Daybreak

12x12 

Remember the nest painting I showed you last time? It's already sold and delivered! Now I'm working on the second canvas. I said I might do something different with the next nest painting as far as the texture goes but no, I just couldn't help myself. It isn't giving me as much of a problem as it was before so that's good.

I'm not too far from being done with this one. I should finish in another day or two and then I'll move on to the third canvas- the floral. I'm sure you'll see it in the next post. So, until then, I hope you're doing something artsy.