The Group of Seven

I realized it has been quite awhile since my last blog post.  Once again I found myself kind of in an art block.  I decided to do some studying, a friend recommended I check out a Canadian group of artists from the early part of this century called the Group of Seven.  I was thrilled to have discovered their artwork, especially Tom Thomson.  I wound up ordering a number of books from Amazon about the group.  If you have time check them out online at:
http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/search/artist_work_e.jsp?iartistid=5427 or

http://www.tomthomson.org/profile_gallery.php?pageNum_rscollection=0&totalRows_rscollection=69&ArtistID=1
 I have done some small paintings for a show I am doing in August called Festival of Art in the Forest.  I will take a few pictures and if they look alright will post them next.

I live in an incredibly beautiful state and feel I should learn to do more Plein Air painting, but just can't seem to get a handle on it when outdoors.  So, along with a dear friend Wendy Dehart, http://wendydehart.com/, I have signed up for an oil painting Plein Air workshop in July with Richard McKinley :  http://www.mckinleystudio.com/ in LaConner Washington.  Hopefully I can sort out my hangups and learn to edit what I see outdoors.  I feel so overwhelmed with the landscape and can't seem to narrow down what I should focus on when out there.  Any suggestions would help!

New Flower Painting ( First Bloom )

The photo on the top is the finished piece and the more   accurate one for the color in the painting.

Thought I would take a picture of what I am working on right now.  I find it really helps to see the painting from this perspective.  It shows me where the painting still needs work or if the composition is working.  It's a rainy day here in Portland...surprise...rain in Portland!  I couldn't get the right light to take a good picture and was having trouble getting the color in the white flower to photograph more purple.  Some of the greens are really off also.  When I get the piece done I will try and set it up with better light.  The flower center isn't done and the bottom right needs more work. I really tried to get more texture and paint in my brush strokes.  I tried working with  Gamblins Galkyd Lite as a medioum and really liked that I could get the paint on thicker with a lot of brush marks showing.  Not really very visible in the photo.

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Bird Collages ( BOTH SOLD)

Two new Bird Collages.  I tried to get both pieces side by side on the post but wasn't successful. I really am having mixed feelings about continueing this series.  I suppose I feel they are too stylized and that's not the direction I want to take.  I have been at odds with my artwork for awhile now and have really been trying to figure out the direction I want to take.  I miss painting the flowers and have started a new flower painting to see if I should continue doing those.  I have a dear friend who paints landscapes and does plein air painting who has helped me in that direction, but I don't feel those attempts are worthy of a post yet.

Celebration of Creativity Show

This is picture of me taken by a friend on Friday night at the show "Celebration of Creativity".  I really don't like to have my picture taken, but I wanted to let everyone who reads my blog see what a  wonderful creative show it is.  The group that puts on the show do a remarkable job of displaying all the various forms of art together.   This is me standing by one of my paintings tiltled " Golden Hydrangea." 

"Cow" Girl Collage

This is what's on my easel right now.  It's another collage and oil piece.  I always find it interesting that when I begin a collage I never know what direction it will take.  If I start out with a preconceived idea, most of the time it never goes as planned.  That's what happened with this one.  The ear tags need work and need numbers, which are usually on the tags to identify the cow..  I was going to put diamond studs on the tags, but I felt it was getting too busy and corny. 

  I have been asked as to what I use to glue down my collage elements.  I have tried Goldens Gloss Medium, but found that "YES PASTE" for me works somewhat better. If I am collaging torn magazine parts, they don't wrinkle as much and I don't have to go over the pieces so much with a brayer to adhere them, which can rub some of the color off the magazine image.   When I frame the piece I  use the Goldens Gloss Medium on the collage parts as a varnish and will varnish the oil painting part with a varnish intended for oils and acrylics.  When I frame them I do not put glass on the finished framed piece.

Needs a title...any ideas?

Art on Display

Some place to see my art besides the blogispere; if your in the Portland area this weekend check out the show "Celebration of Creativity" in Beaverton Oregon.  The show runs from Thursday March 4th to Sunday March 7th.  I have seven paintings on display in this very well displayed art and fine crafts show.  I am proud to have made it into this juried show, which has been on going for 34 years.

http://www.celebrationofcreativity.com/Showcard2010web.pdf

I also have some recent art displayed at the Howden Gallery in Oregon City. If your in thr area stop in to see the woerks of 45 local artists and enjoy a glass of wine from the Kings raven Winery.

http://howdenart.com/

CROW (No More Mr Nice Guy)

I have started another crow painting.  I originally did part of the background with collage elements, but wasn't too happy with that, so I removed the collage parts from the canvas.  His feet aren't done, I find them the most difficult to render.  I think the upper half needs to be toned down and made greyer and the hint of a window frame made darker.  I really am not sure how this one works composition wise, since it  appears divided in half , which I know is a no-no..............hmmmmmmmmmm

I wasn't sure if I could post the two together, but it was successful.  The one on the right is the painting with the revisions done.  Thought it would help me see what else needs to be worked on.

CROWS IN A GROUP PAINTING (REACT )

This is the finished crow collage.  I decided to put a mat around the piece which I created with Bass Wood and painted with acrylic paint because I wanted the composition to be tight.  I had tried an earlier version where there was more space around the group of crows who are looking at something, but had to wipe that composition off.  I wanted the viewer to guess what the crows see.  I guess I personified them by including some words in the collage ," I'm not a size two", " Stop me if it's too much for your eyes" and the simple word "react".

Now for another problem.  I read a recipe online by another artist about a medium they use.  I decided to give it a try.  My palette of oil colors are mainly Graham Oils, which contain walnut oil.  The mediums recipe is 1 pt stand oil, 2 pts linseed oil, 1 pt turp.  The problem I am having is the painting will not dry.  It has been two weeks since I finished and it's still very wet.  I have to admit it's the first time I have used a medium  and I really like working with it.  I did try and us it sparingly into the oils; but perhaps the mixture of Linseed Oil with the walnut oil is the culprit.  Anyone out there have an idea if this is the cause of it taking so long to dry?

Crow Collage

This is the start of a new collage.  I started this with a different composition and wound up wiping the first start off.  With this new one I tried painting the entire piece in oils with a sidewalk and wasn't happy with that either, so I wpied that off and am now giving the painting a mixed media/ collage attempt.  Frustration still rules!

BIRD

This is a painting I started with my Thursday painters group.  As I stated in my last post I have been having problems lately trying to figure out what I want the final painting to look like.  I was again having problems with this piece and tried something different with the background.

Hydrangea-Summer Sonnet

http://topartistsdirectory.blogspot.com/

It's been awhile since my last post.  The coming holidays sort of get in the way of painting.  I had three paintings accepted into a show called "Birds of a Feather" which is in January at the Sixth Street gallery in Vancouver WA.  http://www.sixthstreetgallery.com/.  They are a co-op gallery, but also put on regular call to artists show.

The new floral painting is for a show in March, which I was juried into that would like up to 7 paintings for the show.  I had  a choice of showing the collage pieces or the flower series.  I haven't thought of a title for this one yet....any suggestions?  My Sister-in-Law, Joy suggested the title,"Summer Sonnet", after a poem she read recently, which I thought was a nice title.

So much for what I have been up to; my fellow Thursday Painters have been blogging also.  You have to check out Patty Ryans newest landscapes.   Patty does wonderful ink pourings where she somehow goes back into the pours and works on the pieces and winds up with terrific abstracts.  But, she recently  has done some new acrylic landsacpes that are loose and very painterly, a style of painting I wish I could do.

http://shialavati.blogspot.com/

Also,  please check out another one of my painting buddies; Wendy Smith's blog;

http://wendysmithoregon.blogspot.com/ Wendy does beautiful landscapes in oil and pastel of  Oregons incredible scenery.

Sun Flower-Color Inspiration

I was juried into a show in March and am allowed to show 7 works.  The show said I could show my collage work or the dried flower series.  I decided to show the flower series and thought I would try and do a few smaller pieces for the show since I already have a number of larger paintings done.   I want to try a few  12" x 12" size to see what kind of a composition I could work into the square formatt.  I tried two differnent shades of blue for this painting and still am not sure if this is the right one for the background.  My color palette was inspired by a book I have on the California group of painters know as the Society of Six; http://www.askart.com/askart/interest/society_of_six_1.aspx?id=35
 Anyone out there in cyber space have a comment on the blue background ? I sure would be appreciate some comment on the color and composition.

Sites to See

http://www.paintblog.ca/

http://artoutthere.blogspot.com/

http://makingamark.blogspot.com/

http://www.artistaday.com/

I thought I would posts some interesting art sites  Several of them feature an artists they have discovered online and talk about their work.  I find it a great way to discover new artists...something I spend too much time doing, but am thrilled when I find an artists work I just fall in love with.

The last site "artist a day"  is intesting if you are willing to put your art out there and perhaps have good critisism or maybe bad.  I haven't had the courage to send a picture of any of my work yet, but will let you know when I do. Have any of you done it yet???.

Audubon Society BIRD Show (SOLD)

If you happen to live in the Portland Oregon area, next Saturday and Sunday, the 21st and 22nd come see the Wild Arts Festival put on by the Audubon Society of Portland.  Artists were given small 6" x 6" gallery wrapped canvas to create any kind of bird art.  These are my two that I donanted to them.  The show opens at 10:00 am and the sale of the 6 x 6 begins at 11:00.  In addition to the donated art there will be many other artists and book authors with their displays. The list of writers and artists can be viewed on their website

http://www.audubonportland.org/

An Update to my recent post....I went to the show today Saturday the 21st and have to let anyone in the Portland area know how great a show it is.  I was thrilled that my two paintings sold right away, but I did have a dear friend who purchased one of them.( http://www.wendydehart.com/)

 Besides enjoying the wonderful art and fine craft at the show I was in awe of Ruby a live Turkey Vulture/ Buzzard that lives at the Adubon Society here in Portland.  She (Ruby) was at the show with her handler and I have to say she was spectacular in the most ugly way.  Her head was pink and so were her legs and talons.   My friend Dave was there with his super duper Canon Rebel camera and he shot some pictures of her for me.  As soon as I get them I will post her picture.  If the pictures inspire me I hope to attempt to paint some pictures of her.

Show Wins

My daughter took this picture with her cell phone so the image is rather blurry.  The paintings behind me are the two that won the awards at the Guild Show.  The "Bluebird "Collage on the right took Best of Show and the "Big Top Party "won "Best of Mixed Media.  I was a bit numb when the winners were announced and it wasn't until I went home that night and tried to sleep that it really sunk in that my paintings had won.  I remember laying there trying to sleep and thinking, now what I am going to paint next!

Sun Flower, Summers Close

I was recently accepted in a

juried art show that happens in

early March. I was thrilled to

be accepted as it's a difficult

show to get into. They want my

flower series or the collages, so

I started back into the dried

sunflowers paintings. I can

enter up to 8 pieces for the show.

I have been reading some articles

on marketing art and realize that

while I enjoy trying to paint

different subject matter and exploring

new ideas; what really matters is

having a consistent body of work.

Meaning, sticking to one subject such

as the flower series and creating about

a dozen paintings, in the same style,

and the same medium. I also need to spend more time trying

to photograph the paintings better. When I say time I really

should say stop being lazy and set up a tripod for the camera.

When I check the blog postings I realize how many are some

what out of focus.

Crow's Funny Face

This fellow is my favorite bird,

he seems to have such a funny

birdy expression on his face.

Crow Painting " Big Top Party" (WINNER!) (SOLD)

 I did a few changes on this. I felt I needed to work on the hanging lights and try and give them more of a glow...not easy to do and I don't feel I was totally successful. I entered this is the North Clackamas Guilds annual art show and this painting took "BEST of MIXED MEDIA". I was a lucky lady that night, see my post on the bluebird painting.

My Bird Collage...A Finch I think..

When my Thursday painting group meets I usually work on a collage. This is the first time I have tried do almost the entire collage with paper. The only part painted is the flower centers. All the paper I collage with come from magazines or newspapers. I glue the papers down with acrylic gloss medium and use a brayer to make sure the papers are adhered really well. When the piece is done I brush on a final coat to varnish the work. It always seems that I get some papers that lift and ripple ....not sure why. The hardest part of doing this collage was trying to establish some value differences. I would love some comments; do you feel I need more some value differences?

Big Top Party (SOLD)

Thought while I have figured out how to post again I would show the latest collage I am working on. Still needs some more work and I took the photo in my studio so it's not the best image. Most of the piece is painted in oil, but there are collage elements included.

Blue Bird Collage ( BEST OF SHOW)

I entered this painting in the North Clackamas Art Guilds 16th annual show and to my amazement the painting won "BEST OF SHOW". There were about 250 paintings in the show and many fine works of very talented artists. It's always a wonderful show that is well attended. The judge for the show was Melinda Thorsnes who is an artist from the Portland Oregon area. You can view her art work at http://www.melindathorsnes.com/index.html . The guilds website is http://ncartsguild.com where I have my artist statement and resume.

Some people have asked me if I feel the newspaper I use on the collages will last. This collage has newspaper from 1923, so I do feel it won't yellow or deteriorate any more, plus I varnish the whole piece which will protect the paper.

She Has Her Charms (SOLD)

I took some pictures of crows on the beach last year and recently came across them while searching for some collage ideas. I decided to try doing the piece similarly to the Pearl piece with collage and oil painting certain parts. It's spring here in Portland and I have a beautiful cherry tree to see out my studio window which inspired me to incorporate the blossoms and branch as the collaged element. I found a little blurb in a magazine which said "she's not the chicest, but she has her charms," which is hard to see in the photo, but I but the words near his beak, thus the title.

Flowers Again

Right after I finished doing the Cosmetic Series I felt compelled to go back to painting flowers. I saw these beautiful Canna Lilies at the Hughes Water Garden in Wilsonville Oregon. http://www.hugheswatergardens.com/ . It was an early evening when I was there and the light hitting the flowers was that beautiful glow just before the sun sets. I was drawn to their form and the complexity of the petals. I wonder what it is that as an artist certain subjects just speak to us and others don't. I look at a lot of art in books, go to Museums and read other artists blogs and am amazed at what others find interesting to paint. I always think how wonderful it must have been for those artists to find a particular subject interesting to paint and wish I could have seen what they saw in that object or scene to want to paint that subject.

Speaking of other artists; I have mentioned in previous posts that I paint with several artists on a Thursday afternoon. One of the artists also blogs and writes about her feelings as an artists. Besides admiring other artists work online, I really admire people who also have the gift for writing and expressing not only their feeling in paint , but also for words. Check out Patty's thoughts on her blog and her recent fern painting it's a beauty.http://shialavati.blogspot.com/

The Last One

This is the last in the cosmetic still-life setups. I am so anxious to get back to doing looser still-lifes and trying my artistic hand at doing some Plein Air work now that the weather is finally warming up here in Portland.

After I completed this painting I realized what an odd composition this is; first that there is an equal number of objects in the piece ( I was taught to use an unequal number of objects to balance a composition) second, that I have a division in the center that draws the eye in to the background.....what was I thinking; I guess I lost my sense of balance.

As much as I am tired of painting so tightly, I do feel I learned to see values better. Painting metal is a challenge, but the real challenge for me is the clear glass objects, in my opinion they are the really difficult ones to capture in value.

Since I don't get time to paint everyday I am having a hard time keeping my paints from forming a film on top of the pigments I have squeezed onto my palette. I don't like breaking through that film to get to the wet paint, which seems to always wind up on my brush and in the painting. I am trying some new ideas I have toyed around with and will post any success. In the meantime I would love any ideas or suggestions anyone has to help solve this problem.

One More

I haven't had a lot of painting time lately; but managed to finish two more of the cosmetic series. This one and the next post are the last in the series and will be featured in the Howden Gallery in Oregon City from May through July.

Pearl of Portland

Last February our Daughter had some errands to do, so she brought along her Dog Pearl. She parked her car on a very busy street in Portland. When she opened her car door her dog Pearl who was wearing a lovely pink dogie coat jumped out of the car and ran like a crazy little Pug dog that she is down that very busy street. Our daughter was pregnant with twins at the time and couldn't run as fast as her dog was traveling. So, Pearl went missing for 17 days. Our daughter and her Dad scoured all of Portland day after day searching for her beloved Pearl. Finally Pearl was spotted running across a street not too far from where she was lost. Missing her pretty pink coat, smelling like a cat and a few pounds lighter; since she can't talk we can only assume she was picked up by someone and being the crazy dog that she is performed another escape trick from that person. Last year I did a painting for my son's birthday and this Collage of Pearl is for my daughter as an early birthday gift.

First Cosmetic

This is the first painting I did several years ago of cosmetics. I did in a class I was taking with the Artist Larry Morace. http://www.larrymorace.com/ in San Francisco. We worked from a photo, but he made us turn our photo upside down. It was a good learning experience because it forced us to look at the negative shapes and to not concentrate on the objects in the setup or photo.

Polish #3

This was an attempt to do the painting with more of a monochromatic feel. I should have had my head examined in attempting to do the wall paper back ground. Took way too long to paint and it gets me farther away from the way I want to paint. The next post is more the way I was painting and need to get back to. But, first I need to complete the Cosmetic Series I started.

Soft Beige

This is another painting in the Cosmetic Series. The gallery I am in had a wonderful response to them and sold all but one. So, I thought I would attempt to do several more. Once again the camera showed me something I didn't see when I looked at the painting in my studio. I hadn't painted in the pale shadow to the right of the compact and realized the compact didn't look grounded. So I put in a light shadow, but when I saw my first attempt it looked to dark and the lines didn't appear straight enough; so I ruled in new lines and still they don't look straight in the photo, but looking at the painting in my studio the lines look straight. UGH!

Jennifer's Perfume #1

This was my first idea for the perfume bottles and probably the one I like the best. which one . Any opinions about the two paintings would be appreciated.

Jennifer's Perfume #2

I was asked to do a commission of some perfume bottles. I have been working on some ideas and have completed two for the commission. It always helps for me to take a photo of the completed piece because I always see something that might need some more work. When I look at the blue shadow, the first one seems to be too bright a blue and I know it's really not so intense. The camera picked it up as being more intense then it really is. I am posting another one with a different background and would welcome suggestions.

Twists and Turns,

It's been awhile since my last posting. I have been working on a cosmetic painting that is a commission, which is close to being done. We have had some incredible weather here in the Portland area. I have basically been house bound for close to a week since we keep getting more and more snow everyday. Usually this time of year is all about rain, rain, rain and more rain; so since I haven't been able to leave the house I have gotten some painting finished.

This is another painting in the flower series and I thought I would set a price for it online. If anyone is interested in purchasing the piece the price is $550. plus shipping. Shipping outside of the Portland area usually runs about $35. This is an original Oil, size 24"x24" on a 1 1/2" stretched canvas

More Cosmetics

A note to add to this previous post. I am thrilled to say that these have sold and I have also received a commission from this series. That should keep me busy after the holidays. I started another flower painting and my husband says I should stick to the cosmetics. But I enjoy painting the flowers more. I like the freedom of the flowers, the looseness of the paint going on the canvas. The flowers always seem to be dancing around which I when I step away from the canvas always surprises me. These are some additional paintings I did in the Cosmetic series. Last Friday night the gallery I show in (Howden's) had their winter open house and I was fortunate to sell one of the lipstick paintings to a lovely women and fellow artists from Wisconsin. My daughter just gave me a bag full of nail polish and lipstick to keep me busy for awhile. I would like to try a few more with the wallpaper background but I am in the middle of another dried flower painting and hope to get that done this week to start on the smaller paintings. Just never seems to be enough time to get all the paintings done that roam around in my head!

End Of Summer ( NFS )

This painting was created as a gift for my sons 40Th birthday. Egad.....saying my son is 40 sure makes me sound old. He lives in Los Angeles with his family and their living room has a blank spot for a painting. He asked me if I would do a painting to fill the spot. I thought an LA scene would appeal to my son . I had a photo of a street not far from their house I thought would be good to try working from. Well, I gave it my best shot but I felt it was turning out to be a failure. I was not happy with my attempts at all; I like to think there wasn't enough information in the photo for me to work from. So, still wanting to fill that space on his living room wall and hoping to send him a nice surprise for his birthday; I decided to work from my dried flowers and hopefully give it a masculine touch since I know a painting of flowers would not be his first choice. One part of the gift I felt good about was the frame. I had a beautiful old antique oak frame that I wanted put on the painting and I knew if he hated the painting he and his wife would at least like the frame.

"Been Chewing on it" ( SOLD )

One of my favorite art forms is collage. I haven't focused on it for awhile, but when I get together with my Thursday Painters Group, I try and do something different from my normal attempts at art.

I found this picture of the sheep in a magazine and decided to try doing a collage with it. I cut out the sheep and some trees from another magazine; pasted them pictures down on a piece of Gatorboard and then decided to paint on top of all that I had pasted down. The title came from a sentence I found in another magazine, which is located at the base of the trees.