General Chat July, 2011

Here it is. Finally summer and the July 4th holiday is upon us. I want to start off the month by wishing Cindy from DesertRambler a big
Happy Birthday


I also thought it might be fun to resume the Monthly Challenges. We had a lot of fun with them and learned a lot. Why not give it a try? Here's the link:

https://watersolubleoils.forumotion.com/t689-july-august-monthly-challenge-2011#8884

Thank you for the birthday wishes! What a nice surprise!

Yes, happy birthday Cindy. And for all our Canadian WSOers Happy Canada Day .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CINDY!! Have a great year!

Dayle

Helen and I found out yesterday that paintings we had submitted to a local juried exhibition have been accepted into the showing! We each submitted one 24" x 26" water mixable oil painting, framed and ready to hang.
A "jury of our peers" chose artwork for display in the Moncton City Hall Art Gallery. This is our first showing in Moncton.
Here's the City Hall home page: http://www.moncton.ca/Home.htm

The two paintings are:
(Alan) Sant'Allessio Terrace
http://helenalanspinney.wordpress.com/alans-works/alans-works-large-sized-paintings/

(Helen) Almost Home
http://helenalanspinney.wordpress.com/helens-works/helens-works-large-sized-paintings/

The exhibit runs from July 8th to August 31.
I'll post a photo or two on my blog once the exhibit begins.

I wish you both luck in your show. Both paintings are wonderful and deserve to be accepted in the show.

I love the whole composition of Helen's painting, the shadows of the trees, the gentle curve of the road leading home and the whole feeling of peacefulness and contentment. (I've all ready commented on yours previously so don't feel that I'm ignoring you. I love yours, too!)

Thanks Judy!

Helen and I were talking about painting last night, and the idea of always improving our painting skills. I told her about your constructive comments about Sant'Allessio Terrace, and how you had demonstrated that darkening the sky a bit would make the painting even stronger. So I did.
The finished painting is all that much better thanks to you!

I agree about Helen's Almost Home. The road, and the light through the trees gives it a very special feel. She also has mixed feelings about offering it for sale at the exhibit. Ah, we artists!

She is not alone. I have only sold one painting but lots of fine prints. I had people interested in the originals at my price, but I just get too attached to them to give them up. The one I did sell was of a very special subject that meant a great deal to that individual and she promised to take really good care of it.

Now that I have so many originals, I think that maybe I should be considering selling some of them. Unfortunately, I'm not doing the number of shows I used to do, so I don't have as much opportunity. Oh well...

These are wonderful paintings! Congratulations on getting accepted into the showing! They both are very well done.

On a personal level, Almost Home really speaks to me and gives me a feeling of rest and comfort. Though I really like how the colors used in Sant’Allessio Terrace portray the feeling in the city. I wish I could see the paintings up close more - I was hoping to be able to click on the image and get a larger image to view?

Cindy, I typically don't post large images of my paintings online. I have read about how they can be copied and printed, made into greeting cards, and so on. Some image sites actually permit people to reproduce any images they find there. I've adjusted the privacy settings on my image host account, so as to discourage that.

Here is Sant'Allessio Terrace, in a larger size image. It isn't a great photo, but will be easier to look at than the tiny photo on my blog. The original measures 24" by 36", and it is now framed. You can see snapshots on my blog that show how it progressed.

I will ask Helen if she is willing to allow a larger image to be visible on the net.

(I will take this image down soon, so it's a "Time-Limited Offer", ha ha)

Thank you, Alan. I understand now why you did it that way.

Now that it is bigger, I have a greater appreciation for the geometry of the painting. It's hard to explain (I've rewritten this line 3 times now ) but paintings with geometric designs in them appeal to me, and that is how this one affects me.

Does that make any sense?

Yes, I know what you mean. This one has some interesting perspective angles and other shapes and proportions. Hard to say what I "saw" when I took the original photo. Sometimes I only realize it later. In this one, I definitely noticed the light hitting the walls, the clothes being pastel coloured, and the overall shapes. Today, after spending so much time producing the study and the subsequent larger painting, I see more of the proportions and geometry, as you say.

As an update, the Sant'Allessio Terrace painting has just been purchased to reside in the City of Moncton Permanent Collection.

That's is terrific. I hope you got a good price for it. You put a lot of work and thought into it. Does the city keep it's paintings on display so others can see it and possible bring more business to you? I hope so.

Hi Thanks Judy. The City told me that they will put the red dot next to it to indicate that it's sold, and will keep it on display in the exhibit until the end of August. So that's ideal, as it can be seen as sold but still viewed. I am very pleased.

Congratulations! That's wonderful! Good luck with getting more business from it!

Thanks, Cindy. The local paper has printed an article about the show in today's edition, and it features a photo and very good interview with us.

Here is a link to it:

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/front/article/1423901

I believe it is accessible from anywhere, but not sure how long the link will be valid. I will scan the article from the print edition and post the pdf on our blog at some point

Excellent article, Alan. Thanks for sharing it. It was really fortunate that you two showed up when you did. Good publicity and fun learning about the artists.

Just checking in. I guess everyone is really busy these days. I'm getting ready for an art fair in my hometown this weekend, so I'm busy with all the last minute details.

I have been busy and remember now why I usually don't get to paint as much in summer! We have been going out on the weekends to a nearby lake with the in-laws, boating, tubing, and one son even tried wakeboarding! It takes the weekend time away from me that I usually like to use to paint since painting in the evening after work is not always feasible.

Weather here is improving, finally.

Best of luck with the art fair, Judy!!

I am recovering from the excitement of our Gallery show, and now into 'dreaming about painting when I am at work and not painting' mode.

We are looking into French easels and the smaller pochades and such.
I am impressed witht he look of James Coulter's Plein air system, (link below for those interested) but just wondering if it is worth the cash, when weather here in New Brunswick runs from steamy to frosty in a period of about 4 months... anyone here using an outdoor plein air system?
http://artboxandpanel.com/

Cindy,
It sounds like some good photo ops for future paintings.

Alan,

I got a wooden one with two draws for brushes and paints and one of them pulls out for a work surface. It is totally adjustable, but 14 pound empty. My son got me a small medium-sized wheeled luggage dolly for it. I use it in the studio also. This one was under $100 from Jerry's Arterama, I think.



Did you look in the Plein Air topic? There is a lot of input there from members

https://watersolubleoils.forumotion.com/t320p15-your-set-up-for-plein-air

judyfilarecki wrote:

Cindy,
It sounds like some good photo ops for future paintings.

When I take photos around here, I am finding that there is not much value-range in the image. We have brown hills (unless you include the Sierra Nevadas in the background) and brown fields. It's all brown and about the same value as the blue sky! Ugh! The only way for me to get value contrast in the scenery is to wait until late afternoon/evening and get some shadows to form in various parts of the hills.

Then, when I took the boys to a park on the Truckee River, it was all green and brown without any value contrast there either! The trees in the foreground along the edge of the river were the same value as the brown hills on the other side of the river. I am just not getting inspired by the mid-summer, daytime views around here right now! I wish I was experienced enough to do more "painterly painting" and exaggerate the colors based on how I feel when I am there and provide more interest to the scene!

Cindy, I find that early morning (before 9am) and evening to be the best time for lighting around here too. Midday summer sun just seems harsh, blasting everything with unflattering direct light, and casting very dark shadows. I always wonder about how plein air painters get to paint in the mid afternoon?
Around here, it would be time to wash brushes, and have a siesta ha ha.
Maybe they go for a more sheltered area with less direct sunlight.

Maybe I should take a hint from my amateur photography days and learn that midday is the worst time to photo OR paint!

Also, how do you get a boring scene to have some pizzazz? Am I expecting too much that a scene has to be absolutely amazing in order to be worthwhile to paint? Maybe I should just learn that everyday humdrum can be paint-worthy, too? I saw one of Alwyn Crawshaw's paintings where he painted the mud tracks on farm - and all that was in the painting was the sky, the mud, and the tracks with some water puddles!