SOLD! BEFORE SHOWING!

I placed this 6" X 6" acrylic painting in the Teacher-Student art show at the Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda, Florida to start being on display tomorrow night, Wednesday, March 20th from 7-8:30 pm, but it was sold to a Canadian couple who wanted to immediately take the "Red Eyed Frog" home!  So it won't be in tomorrow's show.  I will not be able to replace it with another piece because all the place cards having the painting's descriptions are done as well as the completed program printed up already.  However, the Art Center told me I can place a photograph of the "Red Eyed Frog" where it would have been and the sold sign will explain everything.

The painting won no recognition, no award, but it sold, and to me, the way it sold so quick, is
the greatest compliment an artist can receive.  I sold it for $75.  The art center gets a portion of the sale but that is standard.  With this happening, it makes me motivated to start selling artwork online!  

I still hope to see you all at the show tomorrow night.  My surprise painting I haven't revealed to you yet (because I never took a photo of it), will be in the show, and also the oil painting of "Little Lilly", which is a nearly all black and white portrait (there is some color in it now, since I posted it the other day).  

Yippee!  Or shall I say "Greeeeedduupppp"!!!  It leaped all the way to Canada!  The art center will provide me with the name and address of the new owners, to which I plan on sending them a hand written thank you note, as well as telling them of this blog so they can follow me!

I decided! (And consider this your invitation!)

On March 21st, from 7-8:30, is the art show at the Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda, Florida.   I asked my friends (and artists alike), which paintings should I put in the show?  I entered three but I'm only showing two because I want you all to be surprised on which one I picked for the third to show.  

Now remember, the frog is really small, it's only 6" X 6".  You'll really need to search for it.  I named it "Red Eyed Frog" since that's what it is. 

The girl with the captivating eyes I titled "Little Lilly".  (Pulled that name out of thin air.)  But I changed it a little.  You'll need to go to the show to see how I changed it.  It changes it just enough to make it more feminine.  I chose a black frame which has brown streaks in it which kind of matches the sweater curl under her chin.  

See you there!

(By the way, this is your invite...I always like to see familiar faces at art shows where I put artwork in the shows!)

"Greeedup?" Decisions for art show...

Below are my current choices for an art show.  

First, this Red-Eyed Tree Frog.  He's about six inches square done in acrylics.  Took me about four hours to do.  I like this one a lot. 

Next is this flamingo.  It is done in oils, of which took about fifteen minutes.  I painted it from a photograph I took at "Sunken Gardens".  

It's truly not fair to show this one at all because I'm not done with it yet, but it's an acrylic painting of a girl holding a coconut.  What I tried to do was get the drawing in real quick and then use my left over acrylics from the frog painting.  In about 15 minutes I got quite far!  Her skin tone isn't even in yet and she's wearing a sarong.  I believe the canvas is an 8 X 10.  I will complete this in no time.  (And show it done as well.

This tiny 3 X 3 painting was done in one class time, probably about two hours or so in oils.  I really like this one.  I was from a photo I took in Ecuador.

This unknown girl was done in record time but I'm not done with her yet, I was to add some color pink to her braided hair.  I'm not supposed to put this in a show because it isn't a photo I took, and came out of a magazine, but I know I've changed it enough that it doesn't pass for the original.  I always could put "NOT FOR SALE" on it.  (NFS)  

Or this one, which is two paintings made to look like one.

Missed Tuesday Morning Class...

Overslept.  For those of you who truly know me...know I'm allergic to mornings.  As much as I LOVE my teacher, I'm just not a morning person.   I could not get to sleep. Hey, it happens, I'm not going to beat myself up over it.  Try again next Tuesday morning.

My 3 all time favorite paintings

The little girl on the beach was done in oils.  The painting was about 24" by 36".  The sky took me all of fifteen minutes to paint.  The little girl took me three weeks.  I had to wait for layers of paint to dry.  Yellow seems to take forever.  (And I had to be careful not to mix the flesh with the cloth of the bathing suit.)  The ball took THREE days to paint.  Had to wait for colors to dry so they wouldn't bleed into one another, and it took me awhile to realize that a round object owns an oval shadow.  Makes no sense but it's true.

The oil painting of the  English Bulldog was my former dog "Cody".  I labored over this one.  I wanted to make it like you could pet him, and well I was more than please with the job I did on him, I feel like I can hear him panting!  

The lady on the bottom is a class demo in pastels.  From start to finish it took all of two hours.  The students picked out the photo I was to do, they wanted to see me struggle with doing teeth, and all the plays of light on the model's neck.  (It was from a photo of a cover girl ad.)  I truly had fun doing this portrait with about a dozen hopeful artists watching me, I know I truly helped them learn how to start, continue and finish a pastel portrait.  

I have other favorites, like the one I did of Whoopie Goldberg, the one I did of my Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier, and the one I did for the cover of the book I co-authored, but these three mean a lot to me.  

But I'm not done yet, I have a lot of artwork to do.  

I go back in the studio to work on Tuesday and Wednesday as my classes I take are then.  I take classes to keep up on things and to stay motivated because if I don't take class, laundry calls me, housework calls me, I get interrupted with phone calls, etc.  So, instead, I carve out three hours at the local Visual Art Center and take classes and that is MY time, for ME!!!  

And now you know...haha!  

More work to come.  Actually it's not work at all, it's what I live to do!

Portrait of young girl

Today in Diane Mannion's class, we did portraits.  Of course I was late.  I'm always late...but I made it to class.  Goal number one achieved!  

When I entered the class, the teacher was giving a portrait demo of a student who decided to pose.  I've done these kind of demos before so I didn't really miss anything.  What I like about Diane is she is so sharing of her knowledge.  I was taught a few different ways to approach a portrait in oils, but one thing I like about Diane is her choice of colors.  She simplifies things.  She was generous enough to give us different palette choices.  And I was looking for something new...NEW....and she came through for me.  

Class is from 9 am to noon.  I got there at 9:30, and she was giving the demo to about 10 am.  Then she brought out some sample faces from magazines.  A few struck my eye so I picked them up.  The one above being one of them.  What struck me was the lack of color, (but yet, still a hint of color), and her expression.  I liked her innocence.  

I mostly used ivory black and titanium white, but the eyes looked flat and lifeless, so I added in some ultramarine blue, and something told me I needed some more color...so I added some burnt sienna in the hair and in the sweater's turtleneck.  But it still looked dull, so I combined the burnt sienna and the ultramarine blue (which when combined can appear to be as dark as black, a beautiful black I may add.)  

I like the result.  It's not done by any margin, but for about two hours work, I'm pleased with the result.  

I may do her again, but larger and with more color, or perhaps add a ribbon in her braided hair...or show the braid more...perhaps add some blush, like an old time photo that has been tinted.  Don't know, but I do want to paint her again.  If I change it up enough, I can enter her in a show, but for right now, nope, I can't, it's too much like another artist's work, but if I change it up so it's very different from the original, fine...

Like it?  I do, that's all that matters...and I'm painting...I'm producing, and I will continue.  

One month to go...

My Dad, whom I adore, is visiting for the rest of this month of February 2013.  I am enjoying his visit!  When he leaves to go back up north where he lives, I plan on going full force with getting into my art.  I think when I read that Diane Mannion can disregard studio clutter, it hit home.  There's always an excuse, if it's not laundry, it's the phone ringing or housework, or I really need to do this or do that.  You know what?  I NEED TO DO MY ART.  I need to create.   I'm 56 years old.  When am I going to start doing what I want to do?  Housework is going to take a back seat as well as a few other things.  I NEED to follow my heart.  Too many YEARS have gone by without producing what I'm able to do. No more.  I'm so in tuned to feeling this, I already am going to art class twice a week even while my Dad is visiting.  Wish I lived closer to the art center, but I don't.  I also realized today at the mall when I was getting my hair done, that I need to walk the mall, there's plenty of benches to rest on if needed.  I need to do this for me.  Feels good...feels real good.  I'm starting to feel alive again.  This is me...no makeup.  My eyes look tired because I don't have good sleeping habits.  I haven't felt like my own person for a long, long time, far too long.  But I'm back...look out art world.  Look out.  I'm getting organized to put into shows, produce and SELL!