What's Happening And A Blog Update

It was quite a busy week over here in NYCP land.  Many things on the to do list were accomplished which is always nice.

First up: the stars aligned and I was able to photograph some of the finished paintings.

Brass Teapot And A Glass Vase, 16x20, oil

The River, 18x24, oil

The Red Robe, 16x20, oil

Lady In Red, 16x20, oil

White Pitcher With Oranges, 12x16, oil

Peonies In A Blue And White Vase, 16x20, oil

Peonies In A Glass Vase, 16x20, oil

I'm very happy to be able to finally post these paintings for everyone to see.  I'm hoping to varnish them this morning and then in a few days they will be ready for hanging.

I've also started applying to another set of shows.  I'll let you know what happens (keeping my fingers crossed!).

Next up, I was able to frame a bunch of paintings that I had stacked up against the wall.  It still amazes me how different a painting looks in a beautiful frame.  Of course, I had some help from my assistant :)

I've been framed!!

I also wanted to let you guys know that I am making a small change to the blog.  I've been hurrying to get paintings done so that I can get them on the blog quickly to show everyone, but I realized that I can't continue to do postings that way.  This week I ended up reworking a few paintings that I thought were finished, but later realized that they were not.  My usual way of working is to "finish" a painting and then let it sit for a week or two.  By studying a painting when you are not actively working on it, it is much easier to see what needs to be corrected.  A good painting takes time to complete and the only thing rushing me were my own self imposed deadlines.

Going forward, I will post my in progress shots instead of waiting until everything is complete and I will post new photos of the reworked paintings as soon as I am positive that they are finally done.

This is getting long so I'll stop here.  As always, I thank all of you for reading my blog and following along on my adventures.

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!

New York City Wildlife

My blog name says I'm a painter, but I'm also a photographer.  In fact, I was taking photos long before I ever picked up a paint brush and one of my favorite subjects is New York City.  I have always loved everything about the city.  Every place that you look there is something or someone to photograph.  I started doing this as a child.  I remember taking a class trip to the top of the Empire State Building and taking photos with my little Kodak Instamatic camera with a flashbulb on top (yes, I just outed my age).  Speaking of which, last week I saw some kids on the subway trying to put film into a 35mm SLR.  They were looking at it like it was an ancient artifact!  Too funny.

Anyway, I was looking through photos today and realized that I have a lot of pictures of wildlife around the city.  When I think of NYC wildlife, I mostly picture cockroaches and rats running around the subway, but if you look around, there are many cute critters running and swimming around.

Turtles in Douglaston

Ducks and seagulls in Long Island City ( I know it is hard to spot the seagulls, but I love this shot with the UN and the Chrysler building in the background)

These guys were hanging out and watching me paint at the Abingdon Square Market

A pretty bird hiding in the trees at the pond in Douglaston

It is always fun to see animals in the city.  I'll be on the lookout for more.