Concert Of Color At The Chelsea Mansion

Last night was the opening reception for the Concert of Color exhibition.  My painting, Peonies In A Glass Vase, was one of the paintings selected for the exhibit.

Peonies In A Glass Vase, 16x20, oil

The house and grounds are beautiful.  I'm going to try to get back there and paint before it gets too cold.

Here are a few shots from the reception

We were able to take a look at some of the rooms on the first floor of this incredibly beautiful house.

You know I had my eye on this incredible vase

And finally, a photo of yours truly standing next to my painting.  Don't mind the pink cast over the picture.  Unfortunately there was a pink (???) spotlight right over my painting.

I'm so excited to be part of this exhibition.  It will be on view until October 24, 2013.  Now, it is back to painting my dahlias!

Paintings, Shows and Happenings

Hi Everyone.  I'm back from an unintended blogging break.  Hope all of you are doing well.  I did not mean to take a blogging vacation.  Things just got crazy here, but in a very good way.  First, my paintings have been accepted into three more shows!  I can't tell you how excited I am about this.  I've had paintings in shows before, but never on a regular basis, so this makes me really happy.  There is nothing like validation from your peers to make you feel good about what you are doing.

My painting, Peonies In A Blue And White Vase, was accepted into the American Artists Professional League's 85th Grand National Online Exhibition.   I won the Colonel George J. Morales Memorial Award for the painting as well.

Peonies In A Blue And White Vase

I will also have a painting in the Chelsea Mansion on Long Island (scroll down to the end of the page for exhibit info).  The mansion is having the exhibition in conjunction with the Nassau County (NY) Fall Concert Series.  The opening reception for this show is Thursday, October 17th, from 5-7pm and will run through October 24th.  My painting, Peonies In A Glass Vase, will be included in the show.  The mansion was built by Mr and Mrs. Benjamin Moore and is beautiful.  I'm so pleased that my painting will be shown there.

Peonies In A Glass Vase

The third show (!) that I will be in is taking place at the Huntington Arts Council on Long Island.  The peonies above as well as my still life, Brass Pot With A Glass Vase, will be shown from November 8 to December 16.  I have never had two paintings in a show before, so this is very exciting.

Brass Pot With A Glass Vase

In addition to the shows, I've done quite a bit of painting.  Unfortunately, last weeks painting ended up being a wipe out, but I did work on two others.

 

This painting was a two day quickie that I did years ago.  It was ok, but I've always felt that it could be better.  In fact, if I'm completely honest, I felt like it was mocking me (crazy, I know).  I finally decided to do something about it and I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

 I'm not sure if anyone other than me can see the changes, but I'm now very happy with it.  I put another coat of grey on the background and brought that color into the top of the bowl on the right.  Losing edges is very important in painting and now the top of the bowl is not so glaringly obvious.  I also softened the highlight on the left side of the bowl.

I then integrated the shadows on the lemons and pumped up the grapes.  The secret to doing grapes is to highlight one or two and leave the rest.  These are iphone photos from my studio, but in a week or so I can varnish the painting and take a proper photo of it.

I also began this still life, but in my painting haze, forgot to take a picture of the painting!  I'll get one tomorrow, but in the mean time, here is the set up.

So that is a quick recap of what has been going on here painting wise.  As always, thank you for following along on my art adventures.

Xo,
Frances

Studio Happenings And The Gallery North Figure Show Opening

Hello All,

It's been quite the week over here.  I finished two paintings this week, started life drawing again, joined an art history book seminar and spent a lot of time applying to shows.  The Gallery North show that I am participating in was so easy.  Entry was all online and it took about 10 minutes.  I loved the ease of it, but alas, not all art shows are created equal.  Some who are not up to date technologically can take quite a bit of time, but it is worth it in the end when you see your painting hanging in a show.  I've sent out four submissions, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get chosen for some of them.

Speaking of Gallery North, I not only attended the opening reception, but they also had an art panel for the artists to meet patrons of the gallery and discuss their work and answer questions.  Public speaking is not my favorite thing to do, but I'm so glad that I did this panel.  I loved listening to the other artists talk about their process and it was so nice to spend time with people who really wanted to hear about your art and discuss it with you.

The opening for the Art of the Figure show.  The opening set a gallery record for attendance!  People were spilling out to the front and back of the gallery.  Luckily, the weather was perfect.

My painting, Rochelle

At the opening

This is me again, only at the art panel.  Same photo op, different black dress :)

I must send out my thanks to Gallery North and their staff for putting on a wonderful show.  I'm so happy to be a part of it.

Day Trip: The North Fork

After reading about Habitually Chic's trip to the North Fork of Long Island, I was inspired to travel out there myself.  I had not been out there in many years.  Some of the area has really changed and is now catering to tourists, while other parts are just as I remember them.

We went all the way to Orient Point.  To get out there, you have to drive through many small towns and they are just lovely.  If you love Mid-Century Modern, get yourself out to Southold immediately.  There were three vintage stores on one block selling some great things.  I found a Syroco mirror (I am obsessed with them thanks to Pinterest) but it was too small.  I also did my usual hunting for some blue and white pieces but had no luck on that front.

Next we stopped in Greenport.  I had not been there for many years and the town has changed dramatically.  It now resembles the beach towns in every other waterfront community, and there were many more tourists there than I ever remember seeing.

The unfortunately named Deliverance.  Every one reading the sign had the same reaction "no thanks"!

Next we drove on to Orient Point.  I went there all the time as a child and had not been there in many years.  There was some beautiful scenery on the way.

See the egret?  There were egrets and ducks all over

Orient Point

Not sure what kind of bird left this footprint, but it must be pretty big.

The Connecticut ferry docking at Orient Point.  Welcome to New York.

Next stop, France!

The end

Then it was time for the long drive home.  Now, back to the sunflowers!

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