Links

Over the past few days I have read some great articles related to the business of art and blogging and thought I would share them with you here.

First up, Holly from decor8 wrote a great post about getting paid for your work.  I was so glad to see this post as the misconception that creatives should not get paid for their work drives me nuts.  No, you can't "have" a painting.  No, you can't use my image and not pay for it.  No, "exposure" is not sufficient payment for articles or images.  Please click through and read the article, but Holly's point was that bloggers and creatives provide a service and we should be paid for it.  When artists or bloggers  get pulled into the exposure trap and work for free, it devalues all of us.

Second, last week I discovered the fantastic reddotblog.  Red dot is written by Xanadu Gallery owner Jason Horejs.  I'm going through all the posts, but there are two that I wanted to mention here.

This is the BEST article I've ever read about how to ship artwork.  Yes, it is so good I had to use all caps.  Jason goes through every step, including what tools and supplies you will need.  I've been desperately needing something like this and I'm so grateful to have this step by step guide.  If you ship artwork or are considering it, read this post.

The second article is a recent post about women in the art world.  Does discrimination still exist in the art world?  In my own experience, I have never felt discriminated against professionally, even though I do sign my name with my first initial and last name as mentioned in the article.  Personally, however, is another matter.  I am constantly fighting against the stereotype that my painting is a little hobby on the side.  None of the male artists I know ever have to deal with this.  Even if they have a day job, they are still considered by society to be serious artists.  A very thought provoking article and the comments are interesting as well.

 I had to share this post by Shauna over on Nubbytwiglet.  Do you look at Instagram, blogs or Pinterest and start thinking how your work/apartment/blog/whatever are horrible compared to everyone else?  I know I'm guilty on all counts.  Sometimes I have to step back and remember that Elle Decor isn't coming over to photograph my place, so it's okay if it does not look like a Pinterest photo shoot.  As Shauna and many of the commenters wrote, we are only seeing the best parts of everyone online and it is helpful to remember that.

Megan made the same point.  Just do your best and don't compare yourself to everyone else.

I found these posts very interesting and thought provoking and hope you do too.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Xo,
Frances

Saturday In The Park

I was going to add "but it wasn't the fourth of July" to the title, but thankfully I stopped myself.  This weekend was absolutely perfect and it seemed like everyone in the city came out of their homes and headed to the parks.

I spent some time in Madison Square Park and it was lovely.  The park was packed with people, flowers were blooming and there was a pretty good singer belting out Sinatra tunes.  Gotta love New York!

People were camped out all over the grass enjoying the sunshine.

The gardens were in full bloom.  There were gorgeous flowers everywhere.

The trees were in full bloom as well.  So pretty.

Love this beautiful fountain.  Of course I threw a penny in and made a wish.

Here is the Sinatra crooner.  He was actually quite a good singer and it is always nice to hear good music while relaxing in the park.

This is just part of the line of people waiting to get into Shake Shack. Crazy!!

Hope you enjoyed this look into a weather perfect Saturday in New York City.  It was beautiful!

Xo,
Frances

Varnishing Day

Mother Nature finally blessed us with a perfect spring day today.  No wind, no humidity or rain and a 64 degree temperature.  That means it was time to pull out the varnish and get to the paintings that have been sitting around all winter.  Luckily for me I have a terrace so I can work out there and then leave the paintings out to dry.  I brought the paintings and my supplies outside and got to work.

Varnishing sounds intimidating, but it is really quite easy.  Just lay some plastic or a drop cloth over your work surface and get a good brush.  That is all you need.  I use Gamblin Gamvar varnish.  It is easy to use, can be removed with mineral spirits and the smell doesn't make you feel like you want to pass out.  The Gamblin website has a short video of the process that is very helpful if you haven't varnished before and want to give it a try.

Once you get your supplies together, it is time to bring the paintings outside.  The first step:  clean the painting with an old T-shirt to get any dust off of the surface.  Then put the painting in a sunny spot to check for dust again.  If there is any left you will see it right away.  When there is stubborn dust that won't come off with the rag, roll a piece of blue painters tape into a circle and roll it over the painting.  Gregg taught me this trick when my landscape fell face down in the dirt.

When that step is completed it is time to apply the varnish.  I got this wide mouthed jar at The Container Store and it works great, but you can use a plastic cup in a pinch.  Just make sure you have a funnel to put the unused varnish back in the bottle.  

This is the painting after I completed the varnishing.  It is easiest to work in an assembly line and just get them all done at once since this project is so dependent on the weather.

I went over this painting with the blue tape and then varnished (notice my classy paint stained pants!)

I thought this painting was fine after dusting.  Good thing I put it in the sun because sure enough there was dust all over.

I use a large brush and apply one coat of varnish.  I follow the technique in the Gamblin video and it works great.

When you are finished, put the paintings upright to dry for a couple of hours.  You will have to check on them every twenty minutes or so the first hour to make sure nothing blowing around gets stuck on the wet surface.  In my case I also have to watch out for my very curious studio assistant.

One last caveat, make sure the painting you are varnishing is dry to the touch.  Gamblin recommends waiting three to six months before varnishing and I think that is a good rule of thumb, but I've done it at two months and did not have any problems.

If you have any questions about varnishing or cleaning paintings, leave me a comment.  I'll do my best to help.  (As usual, I didn't receive any comps from these companies.  I'm just a satisfied customer).

Happy Weekend!
Frances

Field Trip To The Metropolitan Museum Of Art

Over the winter my teacher, Gregg Kreutz, took us on a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I have a habit of going to the museum and looking at the same things all the time, so it was great to go and see art that I was unfamiliar with.  I took a ton of pictures, but I'll just show a few here.

Rembrandt

I love everything about this painting.  Rembrandt was the master of portraits and self portraits and we study his work often.

Woman With A Pink, Rembrandt

Somehow, Woman With A Pink was never on my radar, but since seeing it at the museum, I've become completely obsessed with it.  It is one of the most beautiful paintings I have ever seen.  According to the  Met Museum website a pink is a carnation, a symbol of love and marriage.

Here is a photo of one of my all time favorite paintings, Madame X, by John Singer Sargent.  Sargent's painting of Madame Virginie Gautreau created a scandal in when it was shown at the Paris Salon.  The strap of her gown was shown falling down her right shoulder.  It is hard to imagine today, but in 1884 people were shocked and scandalized by the painting.  Sargent eventually repainted the strap so it was shown securely on Madame Gautreau's shoulder.

The master of all things floral and still life, Henri Fantin-Latour.

I will do an in depth post about Fantin-Latour some time, but for now I will just say that he is an incredible inspiration to me and I've learned so much from studying his paintings.

I'll leave you with a group shot from our outing.  We had a great day and hope to do it again sometime.  

I've got many more photos to show you, so stay tuned!

Frances

New Paintings

I've been painting and I have some new works to share with you.  Last Saturday I finished up my pink roses.  I got this great bunch of roses for $5.99 at Trader Joe's and knew I had to paint them.

My still life set up

Still Life With Pink Roses

I painted these roses over an old canvas.  I am just about done using up or redoing the old paintings and will soon be finished with that project.   

Next up, I started this still life in my teacher's studio, but due to the timing of our new model starting, I was only able to work on it for two sessions. 

It still needed some work, so I spent today working on it and it is much improved.  As you can see in the photo above, the line of the front plane was not quite right (thank heavens for T-squares) and the right side of the vase was a bit off.  It is hard to see, but there was a small copper pot on the bottom left hand side.  It made the painting too heavy on the left so I took that out and then made the other adjustments.  

Blue and White Vase With Fruit

Here is the finished version.  The vase is now the right size and the front plane is fixed and lightened up. It was a bit dark before, but now I am very happy with it.  

I'm also working on a new portrait.  I intended to photograph the progress of the whole work, but in the heat of painting I forgot to take the photos.  I will put up some photos when it is finished, but here is the original block in.  

That is what I've finished up this week.  Next up:  finish the portrait, get some lilies for a still life and get outside for some plein air painting.  

Hope you enjoyed seeing these.

Xo,

Frances

Spring!

 Last week we finally had a spring day and everyone, people and animals alike, were enjoying the outdoors.  I went to check out an outdoor painting site.  The trees were not blooming enough for me to paint there, but I was able to get some great photos of the pond wildlife enjoying the gorgeous weather.

 All of the turtles seemed to be doing a mating dance.

This guy was enjoying the sun and didn't care that a few of us were there taking photos of him.  If you look at the top photo, you can see he was actually posing for us.  

This is the pond.  It's not exactly Monet's water garden, but considering it's in the middle of New York City, it's good enough.  I'm told that if we manage to have some warm and sunny days the water lilies  will multiply.  Can't wait for that!

Downed tree from Hurricane Sandy

The seven days after I took these photos we had horrible weather.   However,  yesterday spring seemed to make a return.  Here's hoping the good weather stays and we can get out and paint en plein air!

Shell Game: An Art Show By Molly Crabapple

Last Saturday evening I had the pleasure of attending the backers opening night of  Shell Game, Molly Crabapple's show about the world wide financial meltdown.  Molly funded the show with an incredibly successful kickstarter and I was thrilled to be able to support her in this artistic endeavor.  Not only did I think the project was a fantastic idea, but I'm happy to be able to support Molly because I've learned so much from her over the years.

I first discovered Molly through her articles in the now defunct Art Calendar (RIP) magazine.  She wrote about marketing yourself and your art in a way I'd never heard before.  Her articles focused on marketing yourself and getting your art out there rather than sitting around waiting to be discovered by an art gallery.  As many of us know, that probably will not happen and if you don't want to be a starving artist with your paintings piling up in your living room, you have to make your success happen.

The second reason I felt such a connection with Molly is because she was literally the first artist I'd seen featured in the magazines who was not working in some giant home studio or enormous downtown loft.  She was very open about creating her art work in her little Brooklyn apartment.  I had the feeling that if she could do it, so could I.

If you are in New York City, please stop by and see the show.  If you can't make it to the gallery, here are a few of the paintings  (These are thumbnails from Molly's web page.  We were asked not to take photos at the opening so please click over to her site to see the whole series).

I'll end this post now before I begin to sound like a creepy fangirl, but just want to say that if there is a project or artist on kickstarter that you admire, help them out.  It's a great thing to see art come to fruition.

Frances