A Touch of Success - A Sale!

SOLD! The Color of The Wind, 9x12

One of the most wonderful art moments is when you get a sale. Sold is so special because it means that someone values and appreciates your original artwork. I was very pleased when someone wanted to go through my inventory of landscapes--yes please do! The review resulted in the sale of 2 paintings--a terrific success for me.

SOLD! Fall's Last Stand 8x10

I have come so far with regards to landscape and there is still so much that I want to do. I am proud of each of these landscapes. Making art is so much more than finding a spot to paint and painting (and it is never that easy). First you have to pack an art bag (a chore in and of itself), then you have to find a location to paint. Once a painting is complete it has to be signed, photographed, and varnished. Then the photos have to be taken and uploaded to the website. It is so much work but it also is incredibly fulfilling as each painting is a part of me and my emotions.

 My art friends call my paintings 'happy paintings' and they are a reflection of how I feel when I paint! I think it is my love of color and my expressive brushwork, but I do get 'Happy Paintings' comments often. It is more about color and brush stroke for me, perhaps a better adjectives include Expressive & Playful (or Sunny or Cheerful)?

Cheers to the sales and cheers to future success and artistic growth. Painting gives me great joy and I love the artist life. Two of my landscapes have sold but I have many more works available on my website.

https://greenhandleart.com/works

Rejection, it will make me stronger

5x7 inches - Lost Along The Way

SMALL WORKS SALE! 

There is a local show that I love entering in Fall, it is a nice show and works tend to sell (yes please). This year they had over 300 entries and yet I still had hopes that a few of my works would be exhibited. I have had several works in the show previously which sold and that is why I had great expectations. I have anxiously been awaiting word on this show and this morning, I got the results--not one work accepted! I will admit, that email was a little bit heartbreaking, I was very much looking forward to the show. So now I have to transition my thoughts and focus on moving forward with my art.

the 7" length is only as long as a hand

Yes, this is a small works show, and one issue that I think hindered my work is that the judges were unable to see (in a large image file)--how small the works really are. A close up picture (no hand) was used in the submission and I also included the frame size. With small works, the frame is large; framed these little 5x7 inch works would be 10 by 12 inches (that's a lot of frame). I feel strongly that the frame size hurt me in my entries. So, here I wanted to give a visual on the smallness of a 5x7 work -- the length of my hand, that is it! Tiny right?



What is next? Well, I have to work through my disappointment and move forward. I will offer my 6 small works at a discount (unframed) on my website. Please review my works below, one could be yours for a discounted price of $75 (unframed).

DISCOUNTED SMALL WORKS $75 each (unframed):

Lost Along The Way, 5x7  $75

Ellicott City Shop, 5x7 $75

Mexican Bakery, 5x7 $75

Gate on Main, 5x7 $75

Sunflower Crop, 7x5 $75

Touch of Pink, 7x5  $75

Here is the link to purchase my small works--I love them and hope that you do too!

https://greenhandleart.com/collections/97815

Art, I need thee!

Missing Art Sessions Hurts Just a Little

Seuss's Yellow Tree 7x5 a Quick Study

Last week I had to miss all of my art sessions as I had a house guest & it would have been hard to leave the house and my guest alone for long periods of time.

I did manage to paint a one hour quick painting (post picnic at the park). The Quick Study painting felt great, but I really missed my longer art sessions. This week I am ready now to get back to my art schedule, I really really missed my art.

It may be hard to understand why I missed my art sessions so much.

I actually enjoy having the art schedule (two days a week). It is MY time, time that I dedicate to art, and yes I do put my phone on vibrate because I consider the art sessions my (very important) time. The Art Session time is sacred to me, and I schedule appointments and phone calls and meetings around the art schedule.

Yes, sometimes, I just have to get out of the house! However, I find that no matter my mood (if sad or tired), once I get to the art studio, my spirits lift and I feel better! Also, I love the social interaction with my fellow artists. The artists are my friends and mentors and they let me ask questions, ask for recommendations on books and workshops and materials, and we talk about art events and workshops. Art is also (as I have written before) a meditative time for the artist---often once I pick up a brush, I focus in on my painting and lose myself in the moment.

All of these reasons are why I need to get back to art, why I am so ready to go back to art tomorrow! Art, I need thee!

Meditation and Harmony with Nature

fulfillment & joy in plein air painting

Recently I found a new and wonderful place to plein air paint. I have painted there twice and plan to paint there again a few more times this fall. When I am set up and painting at this new place I feel a calm peace take over my head and heart. I hear birds singing and often take a few minutes just to look at the beauty in nature that surrounds me in this peaceful setting---inhale exhale. Just stopping for a moment and taking in the visual scenery is comforting and relaxing, very much how I envision meditation.

I am happy with this little 8 x 10 from my meditative spot!

What I know about art is that making art is fulfilling and rewarding. It is also very challenging, I often feel that I am in or need to enroll in a college class to learn color mixing, analogous color, value scale, and anatomy (there are some wonderful community art centers which have helped me greatly). Only in this last year (after 7 years) I finally feel that I understand color to include color mixing, color harmony and value. My next focus will be learning more about landscape. I have been painting one landscape each week this spring and summer and I do quick study (1 hour small) landscapes. I recognize that I want to improve my control and brushwork with the landscapes-- toward this goal I did participate in a Paint Out this past June. The Paint Out forced me to know my plein air painting equipment and to determine painting locations -- focusing in on scenes I want to paint. I also have been reading about landscape painting--even with all of this focus and hard work, I have major landscape improvements that I want to make!

My friend Lynn took this pic of me--way over there under the umbrella!

And so, on Monday, I will return to my wonderful place once again to paint with nature. I have checked the weather, it should be partly sunny and 77 degrees, sounds perfect. I cannot wait to see what new colors are out there and I am looking forward to this harmonious art meditation.

Painting, Often A Solitary Sport

Everybody Gather 'round For Plein Air

A Meditative Happy Painting AM!

Many artists paint at home, alone, often in a room or if lucky in a studio. Artists are solitary creatures and yet with regards to plein air I've noticed that we like to have company. Why does it take another person for us to want to go out plein air painting? Is it more motivating and inspiring?

Without my "Let's go plein air" prompt,  my friend would not have taken her equipment and gone painting. Even though she has been wanting to paint and even though the weather is nice, she wouldn't have gone out. Perhaps because it is hard to justify "You (paint)" time. After all, there will always be dishes and laundry and it is hard to pause the chores to go painting.  Having a friend ask you to come out, makes it just a little easier to gather up your equipment and go!

Today my friend could not go painting with me, which was a bummer. And yes, it was harder for me to motivate to go out alone. And yet I knew the weather would be nice for August-cooler with low humidity. I had to get outside and paint, even if just for a little while. I chose a park near my house, I hadn't been there in awhile and I was glad I went! The flowers and shrubs are colorful overgrown delights, it was a good spiritual morning - birds singing, geese honking, bees buzzing. Ah nature!

Meditative Moment: Find the Yellow Bird!

Having a Plein Air Pal is something to think about and a reason why I try to email all of my friends before I go plein air painting--for more company and in the hopes of inspiring someone to join me. Many have said they want to join me, a few have shown up, all ask to be included in the next email when I go again.


My Advice: Share with your friends when you go plein air painting! It is easy to share information via email. Here are the details that I include:
Weather:
Day:
Time:
Location:
Directions:

In conclusion, it is easy to include others -- maybe it will be the motivation that you both need to get out and paint!

Take a Breath

Show Info Board at Studio

Arranging a Group Show

Setting up a group show is quite a bit of work! Two months before the show I set up a show information board for  sharing at the studio. Then I had to manage the calendar (reminders), emails and deadlines! So much work, so much management for the creative mind!

There is so much paperwork for a group show. I had to collect from EACH artist:

• Artist Bio
• Art JPEG (image)
• Art Inventory-Signed
• Art Waiver-Signed

Every Artist should have a Bio, you can find great samples online and on websites of artists you follow. Also every Artist should have business cards, these days there are no excuses. Go to VistaPrint or online--it's easy: insert an art image (yours), type in your name and your email, and your type of art--Oil Painter and there you have it. We have a stand at the venue with our business cards in it, you never know who will call you post show to inquire about your work.

Aside from Artist PR on our Social Media and Facebook pages, we also create postcards for each show. Here I used Vistaprint and I think the postcard looks fantastic-it is not ideal to have 15 images; however, I am a peer and could not choose just one (in fairness I added an image from each artist). Again, I had to solicit for images from artists and solicit for money to pay for the postcard.

You'd think that once all of our artwork was dropped off at the venue that I could rest. No... the work had to be curated (this venue did that for us and I am grateful for it). I also had to ensure that Artists were early to the art reception and that we had money for wine and volunteers to bring refreshments.

Fantastic venue & amazing show-so vibrant!

The Reward/The Reception:

I was still fretting by the time of the reception. The art was framed and hung with care and yet I fret? Well, I knew I still had to make a speech, in front of people at the reception! Oh my! I had outlined my thank yous, a few words about our work and history and a thank you to all attending the reception. Now that the reception and speech are over---now I can relax.

The PRIDE:

The show looks amazing, my favorite thing about the show is how vibrant it is, I love the colors!  I am proud to be among these fourteen talented artists - they are my art community, my art mentors and kindred spirits. The show is in Canton at The Village Theater for all of August. Be sure to check the venue hours, I encourage you to go!

Upcoming Shows & The Pressure to Finish Work

2 shows, much work to do

My Inspired By Day--look at all of the art being made! LOVE IT!

My art group has two upcoming shows and I definitely hear the lyrics "Under Pressure" as a weight upon us all. Our first show in August will consist of 3 completed framed works for each of us. Many are still working to finish these works, and most I would say have still to frame their works.

For the September show, there is even more pressure. We each have chosen an "Inspired By" pose and a model to be our "inspiration". We had to sign up for a date, show up early and set up the model and set the stage for our pose. I strongly feel that it is a good experience for the artist to have to work to set up the model, to choose the background colors, pose the model, select the clothing--it is much more difficult than you would imagine particularly with the addition of pattern and color. Once you set up your Inspired By, the other artists gather around and paint with you--each of us will have our own versions of each other's Inspired By! I've found these Inspired By poses to inspire all artists not just the artist setting up the pose.

This has been a motivating and rewarding experience. I find that artists are more likely to show up on Inspired By days and artists are working hard to finish their Inspired By works. Yes, there is stress to make a good painting and to finish a painting but there is also somehow a motivation to do so.

Many artists had successful lovely paintings of my Inspired By, and yet I struggled! Ack! I repainted my painting 4 times. The first three were terrible, the final fourth painting is good ---painting this over and over is not something I typically would do, but since it was my Inspired By I felt I had to get a good painting for the show.

I'd say that most artists are on board with the Inspired By show (there are some who are disliking the pressure to create). I would love to see this continue into an Inspired By 2, for us to continue to create Inspired By works from now through 2018. Here's what I am noticing--even artists who struggle to complete works have been pushed into blocking out more time to make art, into committing to have finished works done for the show. While not all artworks are coming out, we are dedicating and allotting more time to make art and I think that is a good thing. We artists should work more at our art, commit more to our art.  While some may not want to continue, I am preemptively voting for an Inspired By 2 and I am already thinking about my next model set up for Inspired By 2...


Here is a link to the Novi News Article about our Sept Show:
http://www.hometownlife.com/story/life/2017/07/19/group-art-exhibit-takes-shape-novi-painters-basement/469986001/