Tag Archives: painting

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All About August

Just for fun, I reread posts from August 2014 to see some of what artistic things I did a year ago. Some highlights: finishing the Alice Moran (tugboat) painting (framed & delivered Sept. 2014), planning Pandagrams, and starting an illustration commission for Do You Have a Pebble in Your Pocket?

If you’d like to revisit those posts, too, just type a keyword such as “panda” in the search bar (top left, just under the colorful Racing Pajamas header). The results page shows several posts & pages; scroll down & click “older posts” (at the bottom of the list) to see more results.

Having looked a year back, you might wonder what new things I’m doing now. First off, I’m painting a series of shells in watercolor, and I’ll likely print a couple of them as notecards. (Previews peppered about this post.) Second, I’m celebrating that we’ve gained a blog subscriber this week–hooray! Third, I’ve been recruited to do art for a board game–fun! More on that next time.

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Plainly Plein Air

At this time a week ago, I was sitting by the edge of a pond, scribbling my way through a squiggly pastel drawing of a house in the woods. The occasion? My first plein air art competition. (For readers who know the Principia school area, I was about half a mile down the road at Longview Farm Park.)

A few hours later, I started and completed a little painting of a birdhouse. Since I had less than an hour and a half to do it, I challenged myself to capture my painting style during high school. (Click to enlarge.) To compare it to something I did paint in high school, click here.

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From the contest I learned and reconfirmed a few things (some of which apply to life at large, not just art):

  1. Take your time — you have more of it than you think. Like the old toy mender in Toy Story 2 says to the impatient, money-seeking owner of Al’s Toy Barn, “You can’t rush art.”
  2. Similarly, it’s better to work steadily on one thing and be happy with it than throw five things together in a slapdash run for the finish.
  3. If you’re going to paint outside, it’s so much easier to use an easel that actually has legs. (I have a tabletop easel.)
  4. (& 4B) As much as I love the outdoors, landscape art, and imagining environments for my stories, plein air painting isn’t my thing. At least not with a short deadline — I appreciate having ample opportunity to shape my drawings & paintings into detailed completion.
  5. Try new things & revisit the old — it’s good for you.
  6. Never, ever drive to run errands during lunch hour.
  7. Display your artwork next to the cookies. Then everyone will see it. 🙂

Artwork from the competition is on display (and for sale) at Longview Farm House through Monday, November 17, including during the Holiday Boutique on the 15th. If you’re in the area and want to check out the gallery, the address is 13525 Clayton Rd., Town & Country, MO, 63141.

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Pandas on Parade

Within a few weeks and without road bumps, expect to find the first pack of Pandagrams printed for purchase!

These black and white ink paintings feature panda pals engaged in potentially punny and otherwise adorable antics. Each set contains cards featuring 6 different illustrations. The première pack includes Pandaikon, Frying Panda, Baby Butterfly, and 3 more. Further details, such as the number of cards per pack, the inclusion of envelopes, and the possibility of purchasing single original illustrations to be determined.

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Panda Preview: Baby Butterfly (left), Pandaikon

To promote this panda-demic species, I will venture into the jungles and bamboo groves of digital marketing and social media further than ever before. Special thanks to a friend for suggesting some potential venues for these monochromatic mammals. Once things are underway, I will add links here for easy access should you wish to send them to others.

There will be at least 2 more packs of Pandagrams. Try guessing the other titles and offer suggestions below! (Yes, leaving comments can be fun!)

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Gallery & Goats

Good news from a budding artist-entrepreneur: I’ve just been approved to sell work on Artfinder.com. Artfinder is a gallery/sales hub that links fine artists with international customers including businesses and collectors. I think it will be a good venue for dispersing the nudes I’ve amassed from years of figure studies. Eventually I hope to design a sales gallery directly on Draws the Eventide, too.

Here is the link to my AF shop (also listed on my contact page):

http://www.artfinder.com/genevieve-bergeson (2023 update: I deleted my Artfinder account a few years ago due to lack of activity & sales. Link will no longer work.)

It also delights me to announce that the illustrations for Do You Have a Pebble in Your Pocket? have been digitized and therefore are truly finally complete. The author does not have set publishing plans, but meanwhile, enjoy this preview. (The left piece has now appeared in three main stages in this log: sketch, wash, and final painting.)

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Alice Moran Makes Port

Not-so-sticky greetings from the Tar Heel State! This past weekend, I delivered the finished painting of the Alice L. Moran to my great-uncle, framed it (in a frame he made), hung it, and rearranged the furniture in the room (so the Alice & the M. Moran are more viewable). My, is he pleased.

Again, as with the M. Moran, Uncle Joe (Joseph F. Hack) designed the Alice, and at the time (1966, I believe), she was the most powerful tug in the world. (The M. Moran is similar in that it was the most powerful in the Moran fleet when it was constructed.) The Alice was assembled in Japan, then sailed to England; she is still in service in South America but under a new name. Originally she had four engines (totalling 9600 bhp), but when she went south of the equator, two were cannibalized.

Uncle Joe shared that Admiral Moran (alias “the boss”) once confided that he did not know how he was going to crew the ship since she was so powerful; he thought perhaps a Dutch, Scandinavian, or German crew. Later, the Admiral’s son took over and hired a less-qualified Spanish crew for much less money. They took her on her maiden voyage from Japan to England. There, they tore up the dry dock because they didn’t know how to handle her. The lesson? Cheap isn’t always cheaper.

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Although Alice has seen her share of toils, troubles, and disassembly, she still makes for a lovely painting.