Where Have I Been?

I simply cannot believe that I have not entered anything in my blog since before the Edmonds Art Studio Tour in September.  Right after the tour we went on a cruise to France & Spain, so that is the reason I checked out for a little while.  However, where have I been since the middle of October.  Right here at home and painting.  I needed to paint fruit for a couple of shows I have currently going up at Artisan Framing in Mill Creek and FrameUp in Fremont.  The piece above is 36x36 (the largest pears I have every painted) and currently hanging at Artisan Framing.  If it doesn't sell there, it will be donated to the H'Arts Auction in February.  Since that is my plan, I am sure it will sell at Artisan Framing!  Then I will need to paint another 36x36 of pears.

I also needed to paint trees for a November/December show at Mukilteo Art & Frame.  I sold the ones I was going to use, so had to paint some new ones pronto!

Next I needed to do some hearts for C'est la Vie in January and February, and I got those done.  Then I needed to paint a 24x24 abstract landscape for a previous customer who wanted something specific.

Now I am done with all the things I needed to paint, and I can paint whatever I want to paint, and am very happy about that.  You should start seeing more frequent entries from me with new work very soon.

Edmonds Art Studio Tour

When I am supposed to be getting ready for the Edmonds Art Studio Tour, what do I do?  I start three new large paintings that I will have to find somewhere to put during the tour, because they will not be done.

Here are some of the new paintings you will see if you come to the Edmonds Art Studio Tour next Saturday and Sunday.  Go to www.edmondsartstudiotour.com for a map and information on participating artists.

New Painting

You can see this piece "Women Alone" 18x18 at the Edmonds Art Studio Tour next weekend.

Edmonds Art Studio Tour

I have no idea why the little white squares are all over this image.  I consider myself fortunate that I got the image on here at all!

Favorite

Sold my latest "favorite" yesterday.  I don't usually find it hard to let go of a painting, but I am going to miss this one.  Thank you Debbie.

Edmonds Art Studio Tour

The Studio Tour is going to be here in about a minute and I am really trying to get ready.  Every year I forget how much there is to do.   Since I have been on the studio tour committee since the beginning, I have been thinking about and working on plans ever since the last one.  Now it is time for the big show and I need to think about my own studio.


I have to select the pieces I will hang because I can't hang them all.  Then I have to hang them and label them both on the back and with a wall label.  Sometimes I just give up and put price stickers on them, but always hope hot to resort to that.  Furniture has to be moved out of the studio so that people can get in and move around to look at the paintings.  All the last minute paintings have to be finished, photographed, wired, and labeled.  I am tired just thinking about it!

At the last minute we move most of the furniture out of our family room to accommodate visiting artists.  This year the artists are Janis Graves and Nancy Thompson.  Nancy has shown in my studio since the beginning.  That was 7 years ago, and I can hardly believe it.  This will be Janis's second year in my studio.  They are both painters and do wonderful work.

Then the signs must be labeled with all the correct studio numbers and arrows and put in place on the Saturday morning of the studio.

When the studio tour is over, there is still much work to do.  We must put back everything that belongs in our family room first of all.  Then the gathering of information from other studios begins.  I collect all the names, addresses and e-mail addresses collected on the sign-in sheets and add them to the appropriate list for sending out brochures next year.  I also compile statistical information on attendance while doing this.

As you can see it is a lot of work.  You might ask, why do I do it?  I do it because I love the idea of the studio tour and I love talking about my art.  It is a labor of love.

Two New Figurative Paintings

I just finished these two new figurative pieces for the Edmonds Art Studio Tour.  The top one is 20x30 and called The Main Attraction.  The lower one is 18x18 and called Women Alone.  I actually finished up five new paintings in the last week, which is the most I have painted since I came home from the Burridge workshop a month ago.  I have been tied up with life and had no time for painting.

Sales!

Sold this painting last week.  Thank you Debbie!  I wonder if perhaps art sales are experiencing a turn around.  It has been two years since I have sold as many paintings as I have in the last two months.  One can only hope.  At first I thought the sales were only because I did some fruit paintings for a show at Local Color, but as you can see I have also sold some other work.  Local Color and I did real well on that fruit show by the way.

Something Totally Different

I have never painted anything else that looks remotely like this painting, which I painted last year.  Even the colors are different from my usual palette.  The reason I bring this up is that I sold it last week.  Thank you Lisa!

Burridge Workshop Photo

Gigi (the horse), me, Lilian and Bob Burridge

This was another benefit of the Burrridge Mentor Workshop -- horses.  Lilian lives in Abu Dhabi and is originally from South Africa.  She was just one of the interesting participants.  It was a great group.

Burridge Workshop Paintings

Here are a couple of the figurative paintings I finished at the Burridge workshop mentioned in the previous post.  I will post the landscapes and abstract pieces soon.

Burridge Mentor Workshop

I have just spent four days at Bob Burridge's studio for his mentor workshop.  Only seven artists attend, giving you each artist more time with Bob.  In addition, Kate Burridge showers you with good food and wine.  She provides breakfast, lunch and snacks, and the food is wonderful.  All this in a beautiful country setting in Arroyo Grande.

The workshop participants were from all over the map.  Margarita was from Hondurus, Lilian from United Arab Emirates (originally from South Africa), Kay from Alabama, Nancy from Texas, Phyllis from San Jose and Gina from LaQuinta.  Everyone was enthusiastic with a ready to learn attitude.

I worked on figurative pieces primarily, but also managed to complete a couple of abstract landscapes and several other abstracts.  It was a very productive workshop for me.  I have taken many workshops with Bob, primarily because his enthusiasm for his work inspires me to create.  He fires me up and my work loosens up.  I have been taking his workshops for about 15 years now.

I have been immersed in art for four days now and it is time to come back into the real world.  It is so nice to spend time with other artists talking primarily about art.  I always learn about new products to use, books to read and classes to take.  I think I can say that we all had a wonderful time.

Once I get my workshop paintings completed, mounted on board and photographed, I will be posting some of them for you to see what I have been doing the past few days.

Local Color Sales

I just sold this piece and 7 others to one customer at Local Color.  Nice sale!  If the buyer happens to be reading this, let me know who you are.  Several others from this show have sold as well.  I wish everything I paint would sell as well as fruit.  This show comes down August 2, but I will be selling the fruit paintings at FrameUp in Fremont in December.

While this show was hanging at Local Color, actors Will Ferrell and Zack (whose last name I can never remember) were there selling coffee for three hours as part of a promotion for their latest movie.  I was hoping a lot of new eyes would see my paintings.  However, there were thousands of people waiting to get in and so crowded that I am sure no one could see the paintings even if they tried!

New Figurative Piece

I am struggling with a new figurative series.  It seems like at least once a year I go off on a figurative tangent, and I can never get quite what I want.  This is the latest attempt, and I am not satisfied.

ArtSplash

This is one of the pieces I will be showing at ArtSplash, July 18-22 at ArtWorks.  This is the annual show put on by ArtistsConnect, an artists' support group that meets the fourth Saturday of each month at ArtWorks.  This show will include artists showing for the first time as well as experienced artists.  If you are interested in the show or in joining the group, check it out at www.artists-connect.com.

Kirkland Art Center

This piece was accepted into the Kirkland Art Center's member show.   I painted these cupboard doors last year, but for some reason I have been entering them in shows this year, and they have been getting accepted.  This is a cupboard door from our remodeled kitchen, plaster, acrylic and found objects.  It was a lot of fun to create.

Something New

This is something I just finished.  I continually return to the figure, but always a little different.  This was my first attempt to use acrylic ink, and I am working on a couple others with ink as well.

Artist's Garage Sale

I will be at the Artist's Garage Sale, which is at the Schack Center in Everett on this Saturday, June 16, from 9-4.  These and other paintings will be wildly discounted. I don't want to take anything home!

Local Color Reception

I will be showing my fruit paintings at Local Color, across from Pike Place Market, during June and July.  The reception will be from 6-8 p.m. on Saturday June 2.  Would love to see you there.  This piece is 12x12 and $225.

EAFA Members Show

This piece was awarded second place in the EAFA Members Show!  It is one of my kitchen cupboard doors with plaster, acrylic, graphite and a spooky face I picked up somewhere.

Edmonds Arts Festival Juried Show

This recent piece was accepted into the Edmonds Arts Festival Juried Show for 2012.

More New Work

These are part of the series I did while in Palm Springs.  I am still working on using more neutrals in my paintings and am liking the results.

Palm Springs

I don't like to advertise that I am out of town for a month, so now I will say I am back from a month in Palm Springs. I took the workshop with Gwen Fox mentioned in my last post, and then I painted like crazy for the remainder of my time there. It is fabulous to paint sitting beside the pool in the sunshine. It does however dry out my acrylic paint really fast!

Almost all the work I did in Palm Springs is abstract. I did paint some fruit for a show I am having at Local Color in June and July, but my heart really wanted to paint abstract. Some of these are posted above. I will add more later when I have more time.

Abstract Workshop

I spent the last five days in a Gwen Fox workshop. It was called "Abstracts that Glow". I knew when reading about Gwen that this was going to be something very different for me and that I was moving out of my comfort zone. Boy, was I right about that. I am an intuitive artist who rarely plans anything I am going to paint. I just go for it. Gwen started us out with thumbnail sketches and it took me about 30 thumbnails to find a design I wanted to paint. Since I attended the workshop to learn how Gwen works, I persevered and made thumbnails for each painting I did, but it was not easy to make myself do it. In the process I discovered that I really have a lot to learn about design.

Almost everything Gwen does to produce her paintings is different from what I do, but I really did learn some things about design, color and shape that I will be using in the future. Gwen was a delight to work with and always ready to critique your work and guide you into making the right decisions. I think you will see an improvement in the design of my abstracts as a result of this workshop. I also think it may have gotten my creative juices flowing again. We shall see!

I can't post any images from the workshop, as I haven't photographed the paintings yet. I will do that soon.

New Paintings

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have posted here. It just goes to show how little painting I have actually been doing. I haven't yet discovered the next big thing, so have returned to painting fruit! Those of you who have been wishing I would do that, here you go. I am working on an "all fruit" show for Local Color in a few months. The painting above is one of the first and I am currently working on a pineapple, with oranges, limes and lemons to come.