More Panel Prep

Often Repaired, 2009, Oil on Birch Panel, 6x12

Well, I was planning to get back to my usual chatty posts, today, however I ended up being out all day due to several meetings. And tomorrow I will be going to Syracuse for Ginger's 3 month check up at the diabetes clinic. She is doing well, although Doug and I are exhausted after finally realizing that chasing the right blood sugar number every day, every hour is a never ending race.

Today I am posting a photo of the 40x60 panel that I am in the middle of prepping. So lovely to be able to do this in my roomy new studio! I always had to spend a day moving everything around in the old studio in order to have enough space for a panel this size. This will be the last painting for the show, although I do still have two other larger paintings that are in progress right now. So close!

Now if I could only figure out what the heck to paint on the thing!


I'll be back on Wednesday with a good long post, 'k?

Thursday, Day 4

The Road, 2009, Oil on Birch Panel, 12x16

I did several more small underpaintings (on the left) yesterday.
Finished paintings stacked in front, panels to be prepped at the back (not sure I should be doing larger panels, but could use the "stretch" right now), and paintings in progress on the wall:
I am trying to be optimistic that all this work won't just end up in my storage space. Not much room left there!

Break on Through

Bright Afternoon, 2007, Oil on Panel, 48x60

Well, Doug left this morning with the large paintings I have been working on for the last week or so. And I am left with gaping holes, not to mention a big mess in my studio. I will spend today and tomorrow cleaning up and preparing panels for the next round of paintings. I have the flower show on deck, plus I need to have a few more paintings on hand. My inventory is at exactly zero right now.

I also really felt as if I made a breakthrough with this batch of paintings. There was a bit of urgency involved as the gallery in NYC wanted some new work quickly and I had to coordinate delivery with a day that Doug had to drive into the city rather than take the train. Most of the time, deadlines really help me along. I don't have as much time to think when I am inundated and that is generally a big plus for me. heh. Anyway, I was able to loosen up with this work because I literally had to just jump in and start them. And while it may not be so visible in the photographs (I should have taken some close up shots), these paintings have more of the painterliness that I have previously had trouble catching due to my fear of large scale panels. The other thing that really helped me here was to actually use my regular large sized brushes. Before, with the large scale paintings I kept trying to scale up on the brushes as well and was using 2, 3 and even 4 inch brushes. But I felt I had less control with those and they didn't have the same softness as my favorite sables have. So this time, even on the 48x60 painting, the largest brush I used this time was an Old Holland flat sable, size 24 (about 1 1/4" wide) with much better results.

And that painting (pictured above) is the "sort of" commission, you know, the one where I copy my previous self. I have painted this scene a number of times, which you can see below. The one on the bottom, Cadmium Yellow Field is the first one I did, in 2005 (and as I recall, at 16x20, that seemed HUGE to me then). I always intend to make significant changes in the colors, but somehow I keep coming back to the basic blue, yellow, and green combo. I have been varying the colors in the tress a bit though, so that's something!

I will post the rest of the large pieces over the next few days.

Just a Field, 2007, Oil on Panel, 9x12


June Field, 2007, Oil on Panel, 36x48


Cadmium Yellow Field, 2005, Oil on Panel, 16x20

One Fish, Two Fish

I meant to post yesterday, but some joker sent my husband a huge file and told him it was ok to open it. Well, it wasn't really. Our computers moved at a snail's pace for the rest of the day and so doing anything on them was impossible.

Anyway, the last few days have been so hectic. I know I always say that, but really, they have been. I am crazily trying to finish up a 48x60 panel in addition to three 24x36 panels so that Doug can deliver them to the gallery in Soho tomorrow. I still have to paint the edges, photograph them and put the hangers on. At least I am finished painting them. I was still doing that yesterday!

I would have spent all weekend working on them, but on Saturday I was in charge of running an art project at the Otsego Lake Festival, a local community event. I did this same event last year and while it was fun, it was also draining. I had thought maybe I'd bow out this year, but in a fit of insanity I said I would do it again, when the organizer asked me.

This year I decided to do fish prints on t-shirts, cloth or paper, using real, but dead (and gutted) fish. I used to include this activity in the events I put together in Utah and the whole painting a dead fish was always a popular project with the kids. Here, very few people who came by on Saturday had ever seen this done and so I think I cemented my reputation as a creative, if a bit kooky, artist in these parts. While last year my booth was busy, this time it was downright packed from start to finish. It was all I could do to keep up with rinsing brushes, wiping down the fish, hanging the prints up to dry and explaining the process to the participants. Luckily Doug came to help and my daughters and their friends were so helpful too and stayed with me nearly the entire afternoon. Even though I was utterly exhausted after being on my feet and feeling frantic for almost 6 hours, I have to say that it was a really satisfying day. The kids (and adults) who made prints seemed to really enjoy themselves and even the endless jokes by parents about the fish smell and fish for dinner were funny. Well, for the first few hours at least. Heh.

Now that my feet don't hurt anymore, I am feeling very happy about the whole thing and I suspect I will be doing it again next summer....

Happy Birthday

So the last bit of super duper good news that I have to tell about the opening at Salt Meadow Gallery concerns yet another awesome sale.

During the opening I spent quite a bit of time talking with a really nice woman named Drew. She is the lucky gal who came in just as I put a mini quiche in my mouth and even laughed at my silly joke about it. She and her husband own one of my paintings, and I met them at the opening last year as well. Drew was very complimentary about the colors in the work in this show and seemed to especially like this piece:


I didn't think much more about it, because, well, that's what happens at openings, you get a lot of admiration and compliments. Visitors are usually drawn to a few pieces in particular. And then they leave without buying the piece they so admired. And I totally understand this by the way. I love to talk to artists about their work also and sometimes just viewing a piece can have a profound effect on me, but for whatever reason, I don't feel like I need to have the piece. Sometimes I do, not certainly not always.

Anyway, I digress. A bit later in the evening, Glenn was talking to my husband. They seemed a bit louder than usual and Doug kept looking at me and laughing. I thought maybe I had something showing or spinach in my teeth, but then he left the room without saying anything. Glenn motioned me over, pointed to the beautiful glass vase next to the above painting and asked if I thought it looked good there, or something along those lines. I looked and could see, behind the vase, the label for the painting with a big, juicy red dot on it! Holy cow!!

After I finished swooning, Glenn gave me the scoop. Drew's husband had decided to buy the painting for her birthday, which is this Friday. He knew she liked it and she didn't know he bought it for her. Her husband then joined us and we chatted about it for a bit. Drew, who had been waiting upstairs to leave, came down to fetch her husband and Glenn immediately did a little hop to his left to block her view of the big red dot on the label, while we all chatted a bit more. As we said our goodbyes, Drew's husband gave me the high sign not to say anything about the painting, which was really cute. They left without her suspecting a thing. (at least I hope she didn't)

Besides the fact that I am extremely happy to have sold this piece, my biggest yet (48x60!), this was such a sweet gesture from a husband to his wife and I am honored that my work just so happened to be the gift.

Ick

Between the Two, 2007, Oil on Panel, 8x10

Now that I am feeling really energetic about getting back to work, we are having really hot and humid weather. Our old house has no air conditioning and with the exception of a few days or so each summer, it doesn't need it. Except for when it's actually those few days. Which it is right now. I keep trying to get into the studio early each morning, while it is still relatively cool, but since the kids are home that is a challenge.

On Monday I had to do an underpainting on a 48x60 panel for a sort of commission* and on the big panels especially, that can be pretty strenuous. I have to cover the whole thing with oil paint using a rag, and than wipe off most of it, again with a rag. And then I had to have the studio lights on. Ugh. I actually had sweat dripping down my arms from underneath my latex gloves.

But on Tuesday I did manage to make some real progress on two paintings. And today is another day, that hopefully won't be quite so hot. Well, it probably will, but if I were to actually get myself up and off the computer right this minute, I could get some painting in before I feel like having a nap from the heat.....

*A sort of commission is my version of a commission. A client tells me what they'd like and so far I have mostly been asked to do another piece similar to one that has already been sold. I do the painting and if they like it, they buy it (through the gallery, of course). If not, I add it to the inventory of one of my galleries, which I can do because it's a piece that I would normally paint anyway. But I must admit that hasn't happened yet-all of my sort of commissions have sold. Anyway, the big difference here is that there is no formal agreement in place nor is there a deposit taken. Those things give me way too much stress!

Back in Black (love that song)

Byzantine Blue Road, 2007, Oil on Panel, 36x48

Just wanted to say a quick hello. I returned home late last night and have a ton of stuff to do today. Doug did an excellent job of handling things while I was gone (it was a very busy weekend and the poor guy spent all day Saturday dropping off and delivering children-welcome to my world!), but he did miss a few things. Like laundry. Of course it's not hard to get behind on that around here as missing a day or two can really cause a backlog what with six people and all.

Anyway, I plan to make good on my new daily schedule (um, even though I have already kind of messed it up by sitting here this morning, reading through some blogs and putting up this post) so I need to work in my studio today and then have much to do get things back to normal around here. Heh.

I will post on Wednesday about my trip.

PS. The image above is of a painting that I really struggled with. The underpainting was really nice, but from then on I was afraid of it, mostly because of the size of the panel. I am still having a hard time with the larger sized panels. And the fear showed in the piece. At one point, neither Doug nor I thought it would be salvageable, however I kept plugging away at it and managed to wrestle it into submission. The gallery director accepted it and it is on its way to Multiple Impressions in NYC (Doug is driving into the city today and will deliver it for me).

Really Small Scale

Cool Waters, 2007, Oil on Panel, 3x5

The Lake, 2007, Oil on Panel, 4x6

When I began painting again a few years ago, I worked on very small panels. 3x3, 3x5, 5x7, maybe 6x8, but 8x10 was really pushing it. I did this for several reasons. I was experimenting and I didn't want to blow through all of my supplies too quickly. We were taking a real leap of faith by my attempt to paint and make some kind of career out of it and I felt I had to be very careful with the financial investment that was necessary. Mostly, though I was extremely intimidated by working on a larger scale. I was afraid to really let loose on a big panel and frankly I haven't completely gotten over that, although I have made much progress. And I think that even though I simplify my imagery, there is also a bit of a "noodler" in me and working at a small scale really lets me noodle a bit. I am too impatient to noodle extensively!

Now I am gradually working my way up in scale and 8x10 is the smallest size I do at this point. And wouldn't you know it, once I decided to not work small anymore and to not inventory panels smaller than 8x10, I was asked to participate in a miniatures group show at the local arts association. They asked for at least six paintings of the local lake, officially named Otsego Lake, but called Glimmerglass by most who live here. I don't paint the water too often, but I felt this was a good chance to do a few lake images, which are pretty popular around here. I didn't have any small panels on hand, but I was at Soho Artists Materials in the city in March and noticed that they had a whole table of tiny little cradled wood panels which I can only describe as really cute. Not one of my usual adjectives, but there you are. I bought some 3x5's and some 4x6's, but they had a whole range of, well, really cute sizes. I plan to go back and buy some more next time I am in the city. I really enjoyed working so small again, and while I was a bit flustered on the day that I painted a 3x5 AND a 36x48, I was exhilarated by it as well.

Pink Lake is one of the series, as well as the ones that I have posted today. I admit to being quite intrigued with the shape of the hills around the lake as well as the particular palette I used that week, which accounts for the similarities in each piece. I wish now that I had varied them a bit, but I can do another series again.

Doug and I will be going to the opening for the show tonight, which will be a nice social event, with many people we know in attendance.

Scale

June Field, 2007, Oil on Panel, 36x48

After the first color session.


After the second color session.

Normally when I work on larger scale paintings (bigger than 24x36, which is a size I do ok with) I am very uncomfortable. And not in a good, productive way. While I am excited about the challenge of the scale change, I also tend to tighten up and worry, which is usually reflected in the painting. The pieces haven't been horrible, none have ended up in the sand down pile or anything and I have even sold a few of them, but I haven't been exceptionally pleased with most of them either.

This time, because of a combination of factors I was much more relaxed when I began work on two large panels. I have finally gotten over the intimidation of the cost of a 36x48 sized panel ($140-yikes!) by continually reminding myself that it can always be sanded down and reused. A total pain in the neck but it can be done. And because I have been distracted in general, by a number of thing outside of the studio such as the kid's schedule, family stuff, how much work needs to be done on our house and property, money issues and even the hen that has gone broody (more on that another day), I was able to paint without getting myself all worked up beforehand. Sometimes not focusing on what I am doing really takes the pressure off and gets me into the groove before I can worry about getting there myself.

The first painting (on the left, in the second photo from top) painted itself. It's an image of a field down the road that I have painted a number of times (most recently here), but never at this scale, so that was a good challenge. Feeling high after finishing up that one I dove into the next one (on the right) and after the first layer ended up with a very loosely painted image. It was a lot of fun to paint and I was feeling rather invincible after the first piece so I convinced myself the second one was fab too. Then Doug came in to give his critique, which was fairly negative. After seriously considering winging my loaded brush at his head (just kidding, well kinda) I shook myself back into reality and realized he was pretty much right. Yesterday I struggled with the painting a bit more and it's closer now to working (on the right in third photo from top), I think.

And to confirm this recent pattern, I am also working on two 24x24 panels (see below) and nearly the exact same thing happened-the first one painted itself and I am struggling with the second one, the one I felt the most confidence in to begin with.

This experience is a very good example of the fine line that I must walk between self consciousness, overconfidence and humility. Too much, or not enough of any of those things and I am out on the porch with my palm sander, wearing a mask and sanding paint off a $140 chunk of wood.

Good 24x24


Bad 24x24, although there is still hope.