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.

Finally a New Painting

I painted a smaller version of this that I really liked. While I was (actually I still am) struggling to create something new and exciting, I decided to create a larger version. Unfortunately there are things I would like to change about it, but it has been accepted for the E.A.F.A. Abstract Show that is coming up soon. It will be at the Seattle Design Center January 10 - February 24. The reception will be on January 15 from 4:30-8:30 if you are interested. It is sure to be a good show.

New Pear Paintings

These are the two pear paintings I referred to in my last post. The one with three pears is the one that had been sitting in the closet half finished for three years. The other is one that I painted to use an old canvas that had a lot of texture on it, and I like the way it turned out.