Tag Archives: Acrylic

Passion Flower – SOLD!!

Passion Flower

SOLD!!!  Wow, it sold in the first hour.  How about that??

Update:  I took the painting to be hung in the show.  There are some really good paintings in the show.  I’m really honored to be part of it.  I’ll keep you posted on how it does.

Passion Flower has been accepted into the 2011 Art League of Hilton Head’s National Juried Art Exhibition. !!!

A fellow artist shared an amazing photograph of passion flowers from her garden. I used it as inspiration for this painting. I have a show coming up May 1st, and think the flowers will be a great addition.  My goal for these? Paint 6 representational abstract flower paintings by the end of this month. For these, I like acrylics and texture and collage and lots of goodies on the canvas. Play time!

Goals, Schmoals and Flores Brilliantes

 

Flores Brilliantes

Flores Brilliantes

Just realized when updating the Passion Flower post that I had set a goal to create 6 representational abstract flower paintings by the end of the month.  Well, that fell by the wayside for many reasons.

The first is that I got discouraged.  I started with blue background and yellow daffodils.  But I tried to make them look too realistic.  Then I tried bigger flowers and less background.  It was a mess.  I painted over this canvas so many times, I finally had to carve out the flowers.  And now it has become one of my favorite paintings.  The colors are awesome, and the rhythm is so perfect, but photographing it has been somewhat of a failure. Still learning to use my camera.

I’m going to get back to just picking three colors, like I did with Passion Flower.  Then making them work, and calling it finished!  Time is money, as we all know.

The other distraction has been getting my art studio set up.  It’s really great, well-lit and inspiring.  So, now I’m back to work today, I promise.

The Power of Gifts

Early Success

What is so important about gifting? You may think it’s a cool way to get your feelings across, or perhaps you’re just doing what’s expected.  My opinion is that it’s not about you at all.  Here’s a story of what happened when one of my commissions was received as a gift.

Recently I did an acrylic painting of a fruit stand.  Pretty mundane, right?  But the man who commissioned it asked for a lot of things to be in it. He was giving it as a gift to his very successful realtor for the fine service she provided on the sale of his home.  He had remembered a story she told of growing up in Fredericksburg Virginia and having a profitable fruit stand with her shy sister. So he wanted her name, the place, the sister peeking out from behind the shack, and, of course, the fruit. Together we named it “Early Success” and agreed it was the perfect title.

He tells me that upon presentation of his beautifully wrapped gift, she was extremely touched and amazed that someone would acknowledge her in this way. but once she saw the details of the painting with her hometown’s name nestled in between the flower pots, and her name across the top of the fruit stand, she broke down with emotion. Then she saw her sister peeking out from behind the stand and saw herself doing business behind the fruit and flowers. It was a wonderful moment for both giver and receiver.

So, what’s the real power of this gift? …..ACKNOWLEDGMENT!……  He had actually listened to her and remembered her story. This painting was a way of acknowledging her “Early Success” as well as showing appreciation for who she is today. Every time she sees that painting she will be reminded of who she really is.

As artists, we worry about how “good” our painting is, both technically and aesthetically. Our real gift is that our work acknowledges others in a way nothing else can. A picture really can be worth more than those thousand words.

So I’m back in the studio every day with the joy of painting ever present in my life. If I’m happy, my paintings will show it and can bring you joy.  What about you?  What are your plans for your artistic endeavors in the new year?

Happy Holiday blessings and love to you all.

The Dancer

This figure has been drawn, painted, scratched and generally imprinted in my brain for many weeks, now. My friend Diana Prevot, a wonderful landscape artist, advised me to draw a figure so many times that I could do it in my sleep. She said that pretty soon it would become organic and take on a life of its own.

Finally I have a design for the minimalist painting for my architect friend in Minneapolis. His hi-rise condo is very structured and angular with concrete floors, visible duct work and lots of corners on the gorgeous furniture which he crafted himself. I wanted to give him two things: An oval rug for the living room, and a painting for his bedroom that had movement and curves.  He’ll get the painting.

What you see here is a small piece, but matted and framed is 16 x 20.  I am going to do several more of these with different backgrounds and different angles and posture, maybe superimpose some over the other to indicate movement.  This might become a series, who knows?  Enjoy!

Addendum:  I was playing around, trying learn the incredibly difficult Adobe PhotoShop Elements and thought these three versions looked pretty neat.  What do you think?

Used the "distort" feature which lets you decide on the wave action

Added a "diffuse glow" - love the darkness of this one

Added some ink lines for interest without distracting