Great Sales!

Everybody loves a sale! Especially on art supplies. We "starving artists" are always on the lookout for a good buy. Thought I would post a few recent really sweet finds. 

Enjoy and happy shopping. (All sales are for a limited time…)

And of course-Go Pats! (Sorry, I'm a dedicated Boston fan.)

Sennelier Open Stock Pastels On Sale at Dakota Art Pastels- ONLY 2.99 

Field Tripod at Judsons Art Outfitters  

If you don't get emails from Daniel Smith Art Supplies, sign up fast as I received an email with a code for 30% off your order. Their snail mail catalog is one of the best laid out catalogs, too. 

Jerry's Artarama has some great winter sales for any medium

Flip of a coin

Beach Dunes

All my wonderful artist friends know what I am talking about when I refer to the big discussion that ensues about whether you made it into the "Duxbury show" or not…Every year people either complain or are thrilled with the results and it becomes a big topic of conversation. I was lucky enough this year that the coin flipped in my favor. If you put it into percentages for the number of times I have entered and made it in, it's probably maybe 50%. I remember one year entering the show thinking I would have no issues making the cut with one particular painting. I even only entered one piece I was so confident. Well, you can guess the results. (Large buzzer sound-Baaah!) The only good thing that occurred that year, was I didn't let this thwart me and entered it into another show where that piece proceeded to win Best In Show.

The jurying process really is subjective, even historically. Just look at the Salon des Refusés of 1863 which included such notables as Cézanne, Pissarro, Manet and Whistler.

So the moral of the story is:
Never get disheartened if you don't make it into a show and Never get your ego up if you do.
-author me

I also read this quote recently and am making it my mantra not only for my art, but for my life-

Never compare your journey with someone else's. Your journey is your journey and not a competition.
-author unknown

White and Blue

Contact me to order prints via my website

I was awoken early this morning by the school systems "connect ed". I guess there is so much snow out there  (cmon-it's a dustin'!) that they implemented alternative bus routes for this morning. pfft. What, do we live in Virginia? Throw some chains on those big yellow suckers and toughen up! Can you tell I don't like to wake up to the sound of the telephone ringing first thing in the morning? I am so not a morning person.
You know, when I was a kid I walked 2 1/2 miles to my junior high (what they call middle school nowadays). Seriously, 2 1/2 miles. That was the cut off. And our walking route actually included walking through a cemetery. If I had to stay after for any activities, there were times I was walking through the dark through the cemetery…Scary! But, We were tough. I actually remember a blizzard that was not predicted to be as bad as it was, so they had to let us out early from school. Back in the day of dinosaurs they didn't have the sophisticated weather predicting resources our weather men have nowadays. Although, here in New England that sometimes does not seem to help. Anyhow… I was wearing a pair of loafers, not boots, since they hadn't predicted this Nor'easter and the wind was howling and the snow was coming down sideways and fast. I had to squint my eyes to stop the stinging of the piercing snow as I tried to see where I was going as I plodded through the deepening snow. It seemed to take forever to finally get home and my feet and hands were numb and my face bright red. When I finally fell through my kitchen door my mother turned, glanced at me and cheerily asked me why it took so long for me to get home. We were tough. No alternative bus route for me. No bus for me. We were tough. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah…I know. The alternative bus route is for our children's safety. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda. (wimps)
The picture above I actually took last year around this time when we did have a nice big storm that would have warranted an "alternative bus route". I am too grumpy to go out this morning and take photos this morning. Plus it's too dangerous out there.

Happy Christmahanakwanzika

Available at Expressions

I know that the next few days are going to be super fun busy so while I have the chance-

Happy Christmahanakwanzika to Everyone!

Silver Bell and Degas

Silver Bell- Available at Expressions

The ribbon was an interesting area to paint in this little piece. The red was opaque in parts and transparent in others with the green background reading through. The little glitter lines on the red ornament were fun to paint and translate how they were raised above the ornament. I accomplished that by the subtle shadows and highlights on those lines. And speaking of red...

A group of us artists went in to the MFA to see the Degas and the Nude
Exhibit the other day. We were guided through the show by Lili, from the MFA, who was a wealth of knowledge and fascinating tidbits. (And also a wealth of patience herding 16 exuberant artists throughout the show.) Along with our questions regarding process and history, one item that was noticed was the fact that so many women in the paintings had bright red hair. Well, we learned from Lili, a lot of the ladies of the evening back then, which we all know that Degas used as models, all dyed their hair red. There was some question as to whether they were forced by authorities or whether it was by choice. I am tempted to google search the answer, but I am afraid what will pop up. Plus, I don't want that in my search history…I can just imagine the headlines now if I am ever arrested for anything, (which I can assure my kids I won't be…) and the authorities find "red haired prostitutes and their history", in my search engine files on my computer. What was this lady doing in her spare time. Jeesh. ANYHOW…as a tribute to these redheaded women of the evening who posed for so many impressionist artists, I photo-shopped our groups hair. (Hope you don't mind, ladies, Tis the season for red anyway.)

Glitter Ornament

Here is my 2nd ornament painting and below is the tray that I made using prints I made of the originals. I should call the glitter ornament a Seurat ornament as I used the old pointillism method.

Both available at Expressions

Silver Ornament

I thought it would be fun to be festive and paint some holiday ornaments and ribbons. And during this busy time of year why not paint something not overly complex. Our lives are involved enough right now. So in my next few blogs will be the results. They were good, back to basics pieces that reviewed values, hard and soft edges and color. And were just plain fun to do. I loved this disco ball type ornament. It was complicated, yet simple. I do admit I started getting a little cross-eyed trying to keep my place as I was painting. I reminded myself not to draw every square, but to simplify. The paintings themselves are at Expressions, along with a holiday tray using the same images.

5"X7" Pastel available at:
Expressions

Mary's Landing

I was cleaning my studio last week and found this piece laying with some others. I painted it this summer when I had met Cecilia and Joan, wonderful artist friends, over at Mary's Landing and we had perfect painting weather. I kind of picked a bad spot, though, because as I progressed the sun was dropping down lower and lower and I was getting blinded. But I couldn't resist the way the sun was dappled on the water. I finally had to quit at one point, cause I kept seeing spots just like when someone shoots a flash camera. Lesson learned, but still had fun.

Smokin' Old Tractor-Don't ya love when that happens.

Sold

This painting was much more of a challenge than I expected. The hardest part was creating the effect of the smoke graying down the background areas, but still seeing the background through that smoke. I actually used no gray to create the effect, but varying colors which enabled me to "mute" the tones without dulling down the picture. I purposefully kept the foreground loose so your eye is drawn to the tightly rendered tractor and, of course, it's red color brings you right to it as a center of attention. So you don't get stuck in the center, the bright yellow flowers purposefully keep you moving around the picture. I wish I could have made it a scratch and sniff picture, though. The tractor kept breaking down as the farmer was plowing down the field right next to the house. Cough, cough. So he was there for quite sometime. Good subject!

I was lucky enough to receive an award at the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod's recent FPO juried show. And it sold, also. Don't ya just love when that happens!

Demo at Expressions

The Arts Walk last weekend in Scituate was real fun. Expressions was packed on Friday night with lots of visitors and then Saturday afternoon I did a demo at the shop. I worked on a man made paper. This paper has always been one of my favorites and this scene really allowed me to let the paper read through to keep an overall tone, but use heavier coverage in some areas, too.