Harvest Festival Time

Crazy busy here all week, preparing to deliver paintings on Monday for a local show of my portraits at the Cooperstown Art Association, and also getting ready for the Beekman Boys Harvest Festival in Sharon Springs. I did the Harvest Festival last year and while normally I don't do these sorts of events, I am happy to be involved with this one as it is a great way to support our local economy, farmers and craftspeople. Unfortunately I might have had temporary amnesia when I signed up again because I forgot how much work it is to do so many small paintings all at once, not to mention when that coincides with a another deadline, a husband on a week long business trip plus kids that have to be driven around and fed. I think I am doing better than last year though, in that this time I was actually finished with the painting part of the paintings two days before the event, rather than one day. heh.

I will be pleased if I get even half of what I have to do, done today. I still have to paint the edges on about 10 of the small paintings put hangers and labels on all 37 of them, edit all the jpegs of them, document everything, finish packing up and load the car tonight. I also have to finish the color at least on one and a half more portraits for the show at the CAA (will have to finish the edges, etc on those on Saturday and Sunday evening after a long day at the festival, blech). But MOST importantly, I have a very much needed hair appointment midday. I plan to avoid the cameras this weekend again, but just in case I better cover up the grey.....

Anyway, I better go, wish me luck and let's hope the rain that is in the forecast for this weekend, takes a sharp left and avoids Sharon Springs!

The Sky is the Limit!

Flashy Little Bugger, 6"x9", Oil on Birch Panel, 2010

Each year our local arts org has an invitational small works show with a theme, this year it is "The Sky is the Limit". I have participated each time that I am invited because it's always a fun theme plus it's a great chance to stretch out and do something different.

At first I was thinking black paintings, with some random stars, lights, etc. but then one evening in the garden I was swatting bugs away and it occurred to me that I should use the bugs as subject matter. They qualified, what with all that flying in the sky and dive bombing me, hehe.
Flying In From New Guinea, 6"x9", Oil on Birch Panel, 2010

And actually, I have done some paintings of insects before. During the first year that I had started painting again, I was playing around with different imagery, having not conclusively decided to focus on landscapes. I did several bug paintings and one or two were kind of interesting but the rest were pretty dreary. I was still experimenting with the color of the underpaintings and how to get the glazes to work with the underpainting instead of against it. I also recall being unsure about how technically correct to get with the insects, I didn't want them to look like scientific illustrations yet I did feel that some accuracy was important. In general, I was still searching for the balance then, between accuracy and expression (actually that is an ongoing search) and insects were maybe not quite the place to explore that. In addition, my painting skills were just plain out rusty, so I gravitated back towards more simplistic subject matter in order to relearn my process and skills.
After looking through my jpegs, this seems to be the only bug painting that qualified for photography AND inclusion in the 2004 image folder. I believe it is painted on hardboard and is about 6 inches square. I guess the painting didn't qualify as one to keep either, because I can't find it anywhere!

Anyway, I am not so sure that all those issues are resolved concerning the bug paintings here although I think my painting skills have improved, and my color sense has certainly evolved too. But whatever! Mostly it was just a lot of FUN to paint these bugs! I would like to do more; for now though, they have been a lovely diversion for me before I settle down to prepare for an upcoming solo show.
I've Spotted You, 6"x9", Oil on Birch Panel, 2010

Anyway, after posting a few of these images on my Facebook page, I had a number of requests for more info, like prices and availability, so I am going to include all that here, even though I rarely post prices on this blog. I have six bug paintings (the firefly crashed and burned, unfortunately;)) and only four of them will be included in the show. I have not decided which ones yet, but if anyone is interested in ANY of the 6 paintings, I am going to support my local arts org here and they will be handling the sales for all of them.
Fluttering Moths, 6"x9", Oil on Birch Panel, 2010

So. Details.

Cooperstown Art Association
Exhibition Dates: June 11-July 9
Opening Reception: Friday, June 11 5-7pm
Each panel is 6"x9" and are priced at $225.
If you are interested in buying one please contact CAA AFTER Saturday, June 5th. I have to deliver them first!

And PS. I will post the last two here on Saturday, not quite finished with them, oops!

Regional Shows and Often Procrastination is Good

The Weight of Being, 2010, Oil on Panel, 20"x24"

So Chair Lady was accepted into the regional show at the Cooperstown Art Association and Doug and I went to the opening reception last night. We didn't stay too long because we had to get to our daughter's softball game but we had a nice time, talked to some friends and munched at the food table. Actually, I had exactly two things and they were both so spicy that I had a runny nose the rest of the evening. Awesome!

The work in the show was good but it became clear as we saw which artists won the prizes that I probably should have entered a landscape. Well, if I was intent on winning something. Heh. I do like to win, who doesn't? But I am still glad that I pushed the envelope a bit and entered something different. And a number of people mentioned that even though mine was a figurative painting, they still immediately recognized it as my work.

But the best part of yesterday (well besides watching my daughter play really well in her very first softball game!) was getting two large Black Paintings done. I spent most of Thursday SO not sure about what I was going to do with them, but finally that night I managed to eke out a few sketches of compositions that seemed like they might work. I still needed some time to settle in (procrastinate) on Friday morning but at about 1:30pm I stepped up to the easel and just whipped out the two paintings, it's like they just flowed right out of me. Love when that happens, that feeling is one of the things that makes being a painter chick so great.

Sure don't need a prize for that!

Winging it

Black Painting#92, 2010, Oil on Panel, 9"x6"

Today I am prepping two 36 inch square panels. I have decided to enter two Black Paintings in the upcoming National Juried Show at the Cooperstown Arts Association, that I mentioned last time. I spent way too much time yesterday obsessing about the size, format and image but finally I decided to just go ahead and settle on the two 36 inch square panels that I already have on hand. I have a few other large panels, but only one of each size and well, I keep thinking that I should enter two that are the same. I need SOME order here! Especially since I have NO CLUE as to what I will be painting on these panels! I tried making some sketches yesterday which only proved to me that the large, looming barn like structures that I keep seeing in my mind, will not work very well in a square format.

However, I am recalling that when I worked on the Black Paintings series in Vermont, I was not sure what the image would be until my hands were in the paint and maybe even well after that. So I am going to wing it here on these pieces, fully aware that I may end up entering a landscape after all. I have to finish the painting part by this Friday, so I can get them photographed and meet the deadline which is next Saturday.

We'll just have to see how that pressure thing works for me this time.

Chair Lady

Chair Lady, 2010, Oil on Panel, 40"x30"

Well, the people have spoken and so the Chair Lady has been entered into the juried show. Thanks so much to everyone who gave me their input, I really appreciate it. I was leaning towards entering the Chair Lady too but I became a bit mesmerized by all the color in the other painting once I tweaked it a little bit. I am a sucker for color, heh. Also I hadn't really planned to title it "Chair Lady" but it stuck after all that. Above is the final jpeg of the painting.

I should find out in a few days about whether I am in or not and either way I will attend the opening reception for the show this Friday. Always a good chance to chat with some friends and also to catch up with a few of the artists in in the area that I only see once in awhile.

And in case anyone is interested, this same organization also has a national juried show and the deadline is coming up on May 15. More info here if you are interested in participating. The Cooperstown Art Association is a GREAT local arts organization, very supportive of artists (they gave me a solo show when I was just starting out) and they do a number of community art events each year. And I can assure you that locals do not get special treatment here, I have been accepted only once out of about seven tries. I actually wasn't sure if I even should enter this year because one of the jurors is the owner of a gallery that represents me. However, I am going to anyway as I feel supporting the CAA (as well as all local arts organizations) is important and will just consider the 20 bucks as a donation. I will also enter different work than what I usually show with that gallery so that when I get turned down I can justify it by saying that it was because I hadn't entered my real work. ha

What's Goin' On?

House on Route 52, 2010, Oil on Panel, 18"x18"

OK, well, spring break is over (finally!) the kids are back in school and my days are my own again. And despite this last two week blip of constant interruptions here, I do feel like I am pretty much back on track. Doing a public to do list and charting my progress helped so I will be keeping that little trick in mind in case I go off the rails again. Um, train metaphors, anyone?????

Anyway, for awhile there it was feeling like I had NOTHING going on, which was kind of messing with my productivity. However, in the last few days I have been adding things up and it looks like things are picking up. Can't give a lot details yet on some things but this is what I have going on:

This week I am finishing up a portrait that I did about a year ago and never really resolved. I am planning to enter it in a regional competition at our local arts organization and the deadline is Saturday. Not really worried about NOT getting in, although it is certainly possible that I won't, but I just want to make sure and enter something since I missed the deadline for the last two years. I have decided to enter a portrait, a LARGE portrait (40x30) for purely egotistical reasons;in the past the paintings that I have entered have been small and rather quiet and this year I want a flashy entry for once. Heh.

Today I am packing up four paintings from the 'People You Know' series that I did in Vermont, and am shipping them off to one of my galleries. This gallery does very well with my landscapes and it will be interesting to see how these go over. They will be at The Harrison Gallery if anyone out there is in the area (Williamstown MA) and would like to see these paintings in person. Way better in real life if I do say so myself.....

I am just finishing up a bunch of paintings to send to Chrysalis Gallery in the Hamptons soon. The two that I sent last year have NOT sold but the owner said she is not giving up on me yet and will be giving me a good space on the wall this season for a whole grouping of paintings, which is really the best way to present my work. They seems to make more sense when seen in a grouping. She also prefers my more abstract color field type landscapes which are not really included in my current burn out on landscapes.

I have been invited to have a solo show at The Main Street Gallery in Groton, NY in September. This was the first gallery to give me a solo show back in 2005 just a few years after I had started painting again and it will great to be there again. I will be showing small scale landscapes in the back area and portraits in the main room, so YAYY! Pretty excited about that!

And I just heard yesterday that the proposal for an exhibition that an artist that I met at the Vermont Studio Center applied for has been accepted. I'll be learning more details in the next few days and will post about it soon. I will say however, that I am very, VERY excited about this because it involves me being able to show work from the Black Painting series that I worked on in Vermont.

Black painting #99, 2010, 9"x6" Oil on Panel
Sales have improved somewhat, two large paintings have sold in the last month or so; very happy they found their "people" and of course the surprise income is good too. This also makes me feel a bit more confident that not everything I paint will just be sitting around, gathering dust in my studio.

Also, I have a possible commission for a very large scale painting. Not confirmed yet, and I may be jinxing the whole thing by even mentioning it, but hey, I feel like living dangerously today, heh.

So there you go. Another step back to my previously busy self and it feels really good!

I'm A Loser, But I Don't Really Care Much

Steep Red Roof, 2008, Oil on Panel, 11x14

For the most part I have stopped entering competitions. However, I still usually enter two that are sponsored by our local arts organization. One of those is a national competition and the other is regional. The regional is usually a slam dunk for me, but the national hasn't been at all. I was accepted into it once a few years ago but haven't been since then. This year I entered Red Carol (you see, I did jinx myself by mentioning it!) and while I hoped entering something different would change my luck I can understand why it wasn't accepted. I don't think it's quite right, plus it really doesn't translate in a jpeg, a common problem with my work, unfortunately.

Then yesterday I received a rejection letter from The MacDowell Colony. I wasn't terribly surprised, I have heard it is very difficult to get into, but I did have my fingers crossed anyway. I have a thing now about doing residencies and that one would have been a good one for my resume. In a way though, while I am sure it would have been an incredible experience I am ok with not being accepted. Partly because it cements my feelings of not fitting in anywhere (heh )and I am very comfortable with that feeling, but also because it sounds like a very solitary sort of residency and part of what I enjoyed so much about the Vermont residency was the social aspect. I can be alone in my own studio here at home everyday if I want, I don't need to go somewhere else to do that. But despite that I will probably apply again, because I do think it would be valuable to do at some point. Plus I do have a bit of a competitive streak and I'd like to be accepted somewhere, at some point. Know what I mean?

And I did get accepted into the regional show at the local arts org. This year was funny and I wasn't so sure about it being a slam dunk. The judge was Julian Hatton (he lives about an hour away, which qualifies him as local) one of the visiting artists that I got to know while in Vermont. I think he liked my landscapes, although he only saw a few of them, but he was somewhat negative about the figures that I was working on at that point and he questioned whether doing still lifes would get me any recognition (if that was what I was going for). He was also the artist that I prattled on and on to about me, me, me and I was pretty sure I was pretty irritating to him by the time he left. Poor guy. Anyway, I am still a fan of his work, though I doubt he remembers mine and probably didn't recognize the style of the painting he accepted into the show. But he and his wife, Alison Berry, who was also a judge, should be at the opening this Friday so perhaps we'll chat then. If he doesn't seem to remember me I will just slink around the edges of the gallery trying to avoid him.

Very mature, I know.

Now I am off to paint the new studio. We have had a bit of a heat wave for the last few days and while the attic isn't all that hot, it sure is when one is moving around a lot, painting the walls. But today is much cooler so I am hoping to make some progress up there. Pictures coming soon!

I See Dead People

Heavenly, 2008, Oil on Panel, 8x10

Just a quick hello today. I am booked for the rest of the day with meetings, errands, picking up the kids, dropping them off etc. In between those things I have to fit in a quick visit to an opening reception here at the local arts organization where I have a few paintings in a show. I agreed to participate because the title "There is More Under the Water Than Fish" was pretty intriguing and I immediately thought that I could connect this subject with the figures I have been playing around with. Cause, you know, I immediately thought of dead people underwater. Heh. So in the last few weeks I have done four pieces for this show. They were fun but I can't say I am entirely happy with them, because I didn't quite get them to where I had hoped. However, Doug assured me that I would not embarrass myself by displaying them in public. How is that for a ringing endorsement? Well, I did enjoy doing them anyway.

Oh and these particular paintings were difficult to photograph so I feel that I must say yet again that they look so much better in person.

I've Dropped My Purse, 2008, Oil on Panel, 8x10