December Showings

I’m pleased to announce that 2 paintings are be part of exhibitions this winter. First, included in the Light Space Time online art gallery’s 2018 seascapes competition is the painting À la côte sud d’ Île Sainte-Marguerite, which was the subject of this post in July and was included in the competition’s Special Merit category for painting and other traditional media. Check it out: https://www.lightspacetime.art/seascapes-2018-art-exhibition-special-merit-painting-other-category.

Second is a new piece painted at the end of November for Trenton Artworks’ annual 10 x 10 Red Dot fundraiser event. (This is my first year participating.) Artists in the area are invited to create art on a 10″ x 10″ picture plane. Each piece sells at the event for $100, with proceeds being split between the artist and Artworks or, if the artist elects, 100% to Artworks. The oil painting I created for this event is called “Promising Day” and is based on photography from my travels in Oregon and Washington state in August. 

The opening reception was this past Saturday, December 8. I attended with fellow Principia art alumna and Tenacre cabinet painter Marissa Bunting. Now a few words about the name of the event: When any art sells, a red dot (sticker) is put next to the painting. Sensible enough. If any happy art collectors wish to take home their prizes before the end of the show, they can; the Artworks staff then hangs red paper plates, which are just bigger red dots, on the wall in place of the art.

Ironically, Marissa also painted coniferous trees against a cloudy blue sky for this event, and her painting also had “day” in the title. And–I kid you not–the show organizers put our paintings next to each other. What can I say? The Force is strong with this one.

Put on Your Sunday Clothes

Happy Sunday. After working months on the last painting I shared (À la côte sud d’ Île Sainte-Marguerite) & another one I haven’t posted yet, I desired to paint something quicker and less detailed. Sometimes doing a “quickie” after or during a longer painting gives new life or energy to the creative process. Granted, it took some hours, but it was done, to my satisfaction, over 2-3 evenings. I primarily painted with a palette knife. 

With a dress like that, if you don’t think of Hello, Dolly!, you must not have seen this musical. Note the added business card in her left hand.

In other news, I recently added some new little paintings to the Nature & Animal Art galleries; see whether you can spot them.

À la Côte d’Azur

À la Côte d’Azur = At the Azure Coast, more commonly known as the French Riviera. No, I am not enjoying the beach in a foreign land, but I did paint one such beach I did enjoy. This spot is on the southern coast of Île Sainte-Marguerite, which is essentially the title: À la côte sud d’ Île Sainte-Marguerite. The island about half a mile and a short boat ride across from Cannes of film festival fame. I visited both places in the summer of 2009 when I traveled to France on a short abroad program in college.

An intriguing tidbit: Île Sainte-Marguerite houses a fort and museum, Fort Royal; the historically elusive man in the iron mask made famous by literature and film was transferred from the Bastille in Paris to one of the cells here.

I worked on this painting in 2 stages; I started it in January (but had to pause–end stage 1),

 

Resumed it mid-April (and tried a different configuration for my studio space),

kept working on it in May,

finished it a few days before June,

and am posting about it in July. Go figure.

C’est fini!

Special Recognition: LST Animals 2018

This week, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery announced the results of its May 2018 “Animals” contest, and my oil painting, Bluesy Coda, was accepted in Special Recognition in the Paintings & Other Media category! (Special Recognition is a subcategory different from the overall Special Merit category.) More than 700 pieces of art were submitted. Be sure to browse the exhibit — there are many fine pictures.

Links

Animals 2018 Exhibition main page: www.lightspacetime.art/animals-art-exhibition-may-2018-2/

Painting & Other Media page: www.lightspacetime.art/animals-2018-art-exhibition-painting-other-media-category/

(Scroll down to find a puppy you might recognize. Artwork is arranged alphabetically by the artists’ surnames, so it’s near the top of the “Special Recognition Artists” section.)

LST’s Youtube page, which has video slideshows of all the exhibition categories: www.youtube.com/user/LightSpaceTime

Painting Progression: Beach House

Here is another beachy painting for your viewing pleasure. This was commissioned by a couple I know in Florida. 12 x 16″, oil. The lady had a magazine clipping of a painting she liked of a porch of a Floridian house, but the background was a thick palm grove. She thought it would be really neat to have a painting with a similar side view of a house but instead with a path to the beach. Something much brighter and more open, with sky. There were several other little ideas, too. That’s where I came in to play–toss everything together, jumble it around, and make it come out nice.

She named it The Promise. Although you can only see a little bit of the ocean now, the rest is there, waiting to be seen, and it will be glorious.

This time, instead of posting several separate images, I compiled them in one diagram. (Below. Click to enlarge.) I don’t know that making this was faster than editing and posting all the images individually, but it’s compact and won’t take as long to load. Feel free to let me know which you prefer in the comments below (1 image or many) so I can keep it in mind for the next progression.