My New Painting Mantra

 

"This Magic Moment"     Oil Pastel and Gouache, 8x6" 

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This is truly one of those times when I wish I could show you the painting in person...because this is one of those times when the photograph just doesn't do justice.  The whole painting is much smoother than it looks here.  The scanner just seems to increase the contrast and make everything look too mottled.  Oh well... I'll try to get a better photo at a later time.

I have a new painting mantra.  The non-artist Watchers among us may not know this, but every painting goes thru some real ugly stages.  As a painter, you have to kind of get used to seeing those stages.  As I painted this one, I found myself using the mantra, "This is not the painting, this is not the painting..."  It really helped!  

This is the painting, but this photo is not really the painting :)  But I've been working hard at all the controls I can find in Photoshop Elements and Picasa, and I'm kind of over it for tonight.  I hope you will understand...

I am somewhat captivated by this image, and have painted it before, but just didn't show it to you.  I plan to use this one again, larger, perhaps in the form of cut and folded paper one day, when I learn how (see this post if you want to know what I'm talking about).

And thanks for Watching!

Blue Ridge Fine Arts Guild Exhibit, "Renaissance of the Family Farm"

"Hearts Wide Open," Acrylic, 12 x 12"

$425 framed (plus shipping)
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This painting is in a group show with the Blue Ridge Fine Arts Guild.  The show is at the Design Gallery in Burnsville, NC until August 31.  If you can get to the show, there are some amazing paintings there.  The opening was last night, and it was quite well attended.

The show is called the Renaissance of the Family Farm.  Twenty one artists are participating, and we were each challenged to visit local farms and paint something that spoke to the essence of the farm.

I owe a huge thanks to Kate and Kevin Lane of Homemade in Marshall for opening their farm and family to me!

Here's the painting framed:

Thanks for Watching!

Oil Pastel Version of "Long Hair" - 30 Paintings in January 2015

Oil Pastel, 7x5"

I'm repeating myself!  This is the Oil pastel version of the painting I did yesterday using Acrylics.  I am trying to rule-out/rule-in methods and materials I want to continue with, and one way to differentiate was to repeat this painting using the Oil Pastels.  I did sort of make it hard on myself by painting from the first painting rather than from the reference photo.  Since OP's give such different effects than Acrylics, I ended up having to make some Oil Pastel "moves" in order to find resolution to this painting--different than what it took in Acrylics.

I should have mentioned yesterday, I was happy with what I did with the painting because I used the reference photo only as a suggestion for composition and value.  The colors in these paintings are nothing like the reference photo, the setting is completely different (made up/abstracted) in the paintings.  I truly feel more satisfied as an artist when I feel I'm creating rather than copying a photo.  Maybe that's why yesterday's process was more satisfying than today's...

Everyone, please take care, try to get good sleep, and remember to uplift each other...

"Long Hair" Acrylic - 30 in January 2015

 Acrylic, 8x6"

Now I've done it!  I've gone and ruined any semblance of unity my end-of-the-30-in-30-Challenge collage was going to have.  Throwing Acrylics into the mix after all those Oil Pastels!  Wasn't it enough that I was using all different dimensions, let alone all different sizes?  Couldn't I have been smart like my good friend Carol, who is using not just all squares, but all squares of the same size????  I may not even be able to make a collage work, with all these different dimensions (it has happened before!). (btw, I think I said something similar about my friend Sharon's collage last year.  I missed her terribly during this 30 in 30.  She couldn't join us this time, because she was too busy running her own art gallery, the River Run Gallery and Fun Art Studio in Carrollton Kentucky).

Why did I do it?  Oh, yeah, remember my theme?  Artistic Freedom?  I had a yearning...for my acrylics...so I made space for them today...and opened up the Pandora's box of my heart.  Because as I have said before, what I really want to paint is people.  So, here I go...I hope!

Not putting this one up for sale, because I need it as a study.  Happy to show it to you, though...

This was my first time painting in Acrylics in two  months,  I realized, because I have spent the past two months with gouache, soft pastels, and oil pastels.  Acrylics and I need to get reacquainted.  It is not like riding a bicycle, at least not for me.

Thanks for being here, everyone, and hang in there 30 in 30ers...