Palette To Palette At The Art Guild Of Port Washington

This month there was a really fun show at The Art Guild.  The subject was food, so of course this was a show I was interested in.  If there is one thing I have, it's food paintings.  I submitted two and they were both chosen.

Wine And Fruit, 16x20, oil

Fruit In A Spode Bowl, 12x9, oil

There was a very nice reception and awards ceremony and I thought you might like to see some photos of this interesting show.

As you can see, there were lots of fruits and veggies, and why not?  Both have been used by artists for centuries.  Sometimes just for their beauty, other times as symbols for something else (fertility, farming, gods and goddesses, and marriage are just a few examples).

And... I'm very happy to say that my painting, Wine And Fruit, was awarded third place!  This made me so happy for a few reasons.  It's always nice to receive recognition for your work, and you may remember that this particular painting had me tearing my hair out for months.  Getting that wine decanter right took many, many tries.  At the reception, people kept asking me about the lace, figuring that was the hardest part of the painting.  As it turned out, it was one of the easiest!  The lace went in on one afternoons work, I did a few touch ups, and that was it.  The decanter is what took forever.
But I'm so glad I stuck with it.  Sometimes I see people give up on a painting and call it done just because they are sick to death of it.  I absolutely felt this way about the painting a few times, but the stubborn Taurus in me kept going.  I do think you have to be a bit of a perfectionist to be an artist.  Just like in any other endeavor, you have to push through the bad to get to the good.  I recently found out that Winston Churchill (who was also a painter) said "If you are going through hell, keep going".  Not that painting is hell, but you get his meaning.

Thanks to The Art Guild for a great reception and to juror Susan Goetz Zwirn.  Next up at The Art Guild, the 10x10 fundraiser.  I finished my painting yesterday and will give you the play by play in my next post.

What's Been Happening In The Studio

Hello Everyone,

I finally painted a little bit this week so I thought I'd update everyone on what is happening in the studio.  I only lasted an hour, so it's not much, but I was very happy to have a paint brush in my hand again.

I started this painting a few months ago.  Unfortunately, the photo of the original set up has vanished into the ether, but I used a heavy crimson fabric with gold detailing, along with a silver fruit bowl.  As you can see, the fabric is the main event in this painting.  That is not how I usually do my set ups, but I wanted to try something different and thought this would be a fun way to switch things up.

The top photo was the original block in.  The photo just above is the fourth week working on the painting.  The background is a mixture of alizarin crimson and red, with french ultramarine added for the dark shadows.  If you have ever painted with alizarin, you know that it is extremely transparent.  I spent quite a bit of time getting the coverage on the canvas that I wanted.  I think I painted the background four or five times before the color stopped fading into the canvas.  I also had to let it dry in between coats, so this whole thing took awhile, but it was worth it.

As you can see, I started painting in the gold pattern a little bit at a time.  That was painstaking work and I would have gone nuts if I tried to do it all at once.  I would do a little bit then move on to the pot or the grapes.

Things finally started progressing at a more rapid pace.  In addition to the fabric, there were a lot of grapes to do, as well as all the lemons.  Lemons are very difficult for me (second only to pears), so I would work on the fruit while taking breaks from the pattern.  I guess the theme of this painting was dealing with difficult subjects!

I finished the painting three nights before my surgery.  I was very happy to have it done.  I signed it the other day and as soon as a few weeks go by, I can varnish it.  I'll be very happy to have that done so those dry spots in the fabric will be gone.

I have also been working on another painting for the last few months.  This is one of those paintings where everything is technically correct, but something is just not right.  Eventually I will figure it out.
I worked on it a bit the other day, which was a lot of fun.

This is where I left off before the surgery.  I think the problem is something in the background.  I'm going to redo that and see how I feel about things.

When I went to the studio this week, I painted the blue pattern in on the fruit bowl.  That was all I could manage, but it's a start.

I, (meaning my long suffering husband) also rearranged things in the studio.  If you recall, I bought a kitchen cart for my palette, but ended up using it as a desk.  Since I have had a lot of free time lately, I was thinking about the best way to use the studio and I realized that my small taboret was not the best for the palette, so after switching some furniture around, I have a much more user friendly set up.

I may replace the palette with a large piece of glass, but I'm still pondering that.

I also had some good news.  Just a week after surgery, my painting Brass Teapot With Peaches, won third place in The Art Guild Of Port Washington members show!  I was so happy because I agonized over which painting to put in the show.  I'm so glad that I made a good choice.

Brass Teapot With Peaches, 12x16, oil

So that is what I have going on over here.  I'm happy to be back to blogging and I want to thank all of you for hanging in there with me.  I appreciate it more than I can say.

The American Artists Professional League's 85th Grand National Exhibition

A while ago I mentioned that I had a painting accepted into the American Artists Professional League's 85th Grand National Exhibition.  The exhibition is usually held at the Salmagundi Club, but since they are undergoing renovations, the exhibit was online this year.

On Saturday they had an awards ceremony as well as a portrait demo by Gregg Kreutz.

Gregg completed this painting in 1 hour and 15 minutes!  I was sitting there and I couldn't believe it.  I'm working on a portrait now and I'm about eight hours in and still need one more session.  I'm so glad I was able to see this because it really helped me with the painting I'm working on now.

After the demo and a musical performance, it was time for the awards ceremony.  I was lucky enough to win the Colonel George J. Morales Memorial Award, so it was a very exciting afternoon for me.

Sorry this photo is so dark.  I didn't have a chance to ask anyone to take a photo at the ceremony, so this was taken after while out celebrating.

It was a great afternoon.  Thanks to everyone at The American Artist Professional League.

Update:  I just realized I forgot to show you my painting!  Here it is.

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