Getting Back in the Groove!

After being the child care provider for my little granddaughter for the past 5 years, Miss Lily started Kindergarten! That has freed me up to make a heck of a lot more effort towards my art adventures.
Hooray! I will miss my daily dose of Lily Rain, but I still get to see her a lot as she lives right above my place.

A few years back I joined a facebook group called 29 Faces with Ayala Art. Currently there is a September Challenge to paint a face a day. I painted one yesterday but didn't get a chance to post it.
So here it is.... I love challenges because they help me to paint daily and explore mediums.

A Few More Days of Summer

Watercolor

One thing I wanted to experiment  with is painting on a DIY absorbent ground.

I had a book of watercolor paper that I didn't like the way it absorbed the paint, so I decided to paint the ground on it and see what happens. The ground is not as absorbent as paper of course, but I liked the way I could lift off the colors. I think I will paint all my 29 faces with this ground and see where it goes and what I learn about it. I am also trying to paint a bit more loosely.

Art Mingled with Friday

I consider my Fridays my day off. In addition to working in Local Colors of Utah art gallery as president and working on my art whenever I can, I tend my handicapped grandson Anthony 4 days a week, for 3 hours each day Monday - Thursday. Plus this month I have my 3 year old grand-daughter, Lily Rain during the weekdays. She lives in Portland OR with her mama and is here to visit.

Being an artist is nice because I am able to be flexible for my family and grandkids. 

So what am I doing today? Well next Friday I am participating in a fundraising event hosted by the Bradley Center at the South Towne Mall in Sandy, Utah. Today I am getting art ready for that event.

The Bradley Center supports children who have lost one or both parents. 30% of the sales go to the Bradley Center. Come see me next week!

Another particularly nice thing about today is that I am a featured artist on Jennifer Love's Blog!

Jenny is a good friend and has interviewed me and featured some of my art.

As she said we are kindred spirits, which I totally agree.:-)

I have been thinking of doing features on other artists and Jennifer has provided a great example of how to do it!

Also on my friday agenda is to paint a couple of paintings I have been working on. I hope to get them done for the show next week.

"Juggling Life" by Catherine Darling Hostetter

How is your friday going?

Daily Painting 3 - Disaster!

I was so discouraged with my painting yesterday that I didn't post it. I had a busy schedule with tending my grandson, taking my daughter to the airport, and going to an opening of a friend's show (more about that in a bit!).

For my painting subject I picked something that I thought would be fairly easy, a sheep. I have painted many sheep over the years and thought it would fit best in the amount of time I had to paint.

It is a watercolor, and I thought I would do a sussex sheep image that I had taken at the State Fair a few years back. I felt in a colorful mood so I started painting the sheepy's head in purple and windsor blue rather than shades of black and grey. I also thought a few flowers would be nice.

What I ended up with is a very pastel looking painting, and it was awful! It was time to go and tend my grandson, so I had to leave it. Painting something you don't feel good about is really a downer!

Thank goodness I had a reception for an artist friend of mine to go to! Jeff Clay is a wonderful photographer who really puts the art into his photographs. Here's his link:  Jeff Clay PhotoBlog

Jeff has recently returned from Cambodia, and he has photos from there that are featured in his show, along with international scenes as well as the amazing shots of New York, the beauty of southern Utah, and it's northern deserts.

Looking at good art always cheers me. Jeff had 75 images in his show! If you want to see it here is the info: Jeff Clay Exhibit

Ok, so back to my 3rd day of Daily Painting. I woke up this morning kind of blue... like my sheep. So I went to my desk and looked at it. Now if you are an artist, you know you can't keep your hands off the painting if something needs to be fixed. So I spent about 20 minutes with it and I think I can post it now.

It was a bit whimsical to start with but when I finished touching it up, it is now definitely whimsical!

I darkened some of the colors as it was pretty low on contrast. Then I scanned it in... On the computer you can often get a good idea of what needs to be fixed next. It was still too pastel. So I did a wash of a golden brown over the whole painting. I knew I needed a pretty wide brush so that I wouldn't wipe out the painting with a lot of small brushstrokes. I grabbed my trusty Sterling Edwards flat brush and painted a light wash over the painting. I love those brushes! It's a must have. Visit the link, Sterling also has a bunch of free painting demos too.

Ok, back to the painting. After the wash was dry, I lifted some of the white in the sheep and surprise! A halo also developed! So suddenly I had a title as well: Angel of the Morning.

Angel of the Morning

8" x 10" Watercolor on 140 lb. WC Paper

$100

Click on price to purchase. US shipping free

Contact me for international shipping costs.

Now on to the daily painting for today! What to paint? I am doing watercolor all this week, now for the subject matter...

Wild Ride Horse and Gecko Prints

                               A Wild Ride


One Wednesday afternoon, sunny, not too hot, a horse was wildly galloping down the street. On his back was something green, small, but not too small. I would like to say it was an alien but it wasn't. It was your basic gecko. I think it was a jockey the way it rode that horse. But then I began to wonder when the gecko steered the horse straight at me. Needless to say I was a litte alarmed. Not sure how the gecko felt about it. All I can say is it was a wild ride and I lived to tell about it!


I am now offering prints of my original paintings on Etsy.

Click here for my etsy shop

Arches Watercolor Paper Disappointment

A few months back I moved. Which means I was forced to go through and organize all my art supplies. This past week I needed to paint a watercolor to enter into the Utah Watercolor Society Spring Show. This year we have the amazing John Salminen to jury our show.

Determined to use some of the supplies I had in store, I found some Arches 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper. I haven't used Arches for several years now but my memory was soon refreshed as to the reason for that.

Starting the painting with the first couple of washes was fine, but then as I applied more layers of color, the paper acted very weird and the colors would not blend properly. Frustrated, I kept on going; I had a deadline to meet and no time to start another painting! If you have read my blog at all you may have gathered that I tend to procrastinate painting for shows til the last couple of days before it's due.

The painting ended up ok, but I wasn't pleased with the face of the girl. Painting skin tones can be delicate work, and this paper would not let me blend the colors as well as I wanted. *sigh*.

The title of this painting is "Then It Dawned On Her". Kind of a poetic tribute to why I will never buy Arches again. Yes...

NOW I remember why I switched to Fabriano WC paper.

Dreaming

This is a more whimsical painting titled "Dreaming". It is number 3 in a series of women paintings I am doing.

 My purpose in doing a series is to explore the topic and paint wherever the inspiration leads me.
There are many virtues that are embodied in women and often they begin with a dream.

This painting is 10" x 8" on gallery wrapped canvas. $250 plus $5 shipping in the US and is available for purchase. Contact me!

She Can Do It!

Today I put the finishing touches on this painting. It's second in a series called "The Virtuous Woman".
When I was thinking (out loud) of what to paint next in this series, my daughter suggested that I do something like the poster of  "We Can Do It".  It is an American wartime propaganda poster produced by J. Howard Miller in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric as an inspirational image to boost worker morale. (1)

One of the titles I considered for this painting was "Strong in so Many Ways", but my daughter vetoed it. That title does say in just a few words the idea behind this painting. But no go. My next thought was to just call it "She Can Do It". My daughter was asleep on the couch and couldn't gun it down, so there you have it.

"She Can Do It" is a tribute to the strength of today's woman.

This painting is 8" x10" x .75" on gallery wrapped canvas. $250 plus $5 shipping in US. To purchase it please contact me!

(1) Wikipedia

A New Series of Paintings

Today on my blog I am posting the first of a series. The series is called Virtuous Woman and it is inspired by all the women that I know that are multi-talented, smart, and wonderfully kind and good in so many ways.

Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. (Proverbs 31:10)

This first painting needed a title and as I thought and painted and painted and thought, a song soon began repeating itself in my mind. It was a song that was an anthem for women in the 1970's as women attempted to combat social and cultural inequalities. I was fresh out of high school back then and was able to witness that bit of history. Although my interpretation is a bit different, I think the song title lends itself to a perfect title for this painting.

How can I describe today's woman? Oh wait, that's why I am painting this series for! Each painting will be an exploration of the many facets in a woman's life. "I am Woman" is the opening statement. A woman and her world. I painted the world like a halo that crowns her head, symbolic for the angel that she is.

This is an 8" X 10" painting and is available for purchase, $250 plus $5 shipping in US. Contact me for info.

Enter To Win This Painting

“Flying Below Radar” illustrates how people (dogs are people too)  often think they are content to stay just below their full potential because it’s comfortable. What they don’t know is how amazing they are just to be flying!
(how's that for symbolism?)

On Friday, March 16th Local Colors is holding a reception for myself and two other artist; Cheryl Glenn - ceramics and Melody Johnson - collage. The theme of our show is "With a Whimisical View".

Along with the reception I wanted to do a little fund raiser for the gallery. I am donating a painting "Flying Below Radar" for a drawing.  You probably noticed that I said fund raiser. Well, my first thought was to sell raffle tickets for $5.00 each, but then one of our artists pointed out that raffles are a form of gambling and therefore illegal in Utah. Unless you are a non-profit organization. Which we aren't.

So I had to come up with another plan.

 So here it is... Imagine owning your very own personal 4"x6" print of "Flying Below Radar" that comes with the added bonus of  having YOUR NAME entered in the drawing for the original painting! All this for only $5.00!

The drawing is for a 16"x20" acrylic painting on 3/4"gallery wrapped canvas with sides painted, wired and ready to hang. Valued at $600.

There are two ways you can you can participate.

Go into the gallery between March 2nd thru March 16th

 and purchase this little print

of "Flying Below Radar"

1054 E. 2100 So.

Salt Lake City, UT

OR

You can purchase it right here through paypal!

Your print will be mailed to you upon receipt of payment. (I have a history of selling online since 2001 with a 100% positive feedback) No additional charges for shipping.

The drawing will be held on Friday, March 16th at 7:30 PM. If you are not present and you WIN, you will be notified on Saturday, March 17th. Shipping is free anywhere in the U.S.

Either way you choose to buy your print, your name will be entered into the drawing for

the original painting "Flying Below Radar".

DRAWING UPDATE:

Thanks to everyone that entered! Congratulations to Susan Daniels who won the painting.

 Please note that the colors of the original painting may vary from that shown on your monitor.

My Mini Studio

I have a mini studio, and a mini nursery, all in my mini bedroom. Or I should say it's not a very big bedroom but that didn't sound as good. I like mini.

I am becoming quite productive now that I can paint in my bedroom (see previous entry for why I paint in my bedroom instead of the studio).  I have a show opening on March 17th so I have to be productive if I want to have something to hang.

I have attached a couple of images so you can see what my mini studio looks like. Sorry they are not great pictures. On my desk I have two monitors because I am still planning on doing some illustrations in photoshop for an app I am making with my sons. It's a lot easier to work on two monitors when you are doing stuff like that. At least that's what my boys tell me. However, I have found that I quite like it for watching Netflix on one and working on a project on the other. Netflix also keeps me very entertained while I am painting too. But ocassionally I let Lily watch Barney on it while I paint. Sometimes it more important to keep the baby entertained so I CAN paint.

Missing in Action...

If you read my last entry, it was dated back in September. I have been missing in action from my blog and most things internet related! I mentioned previously that we were moving our gallery. It's a co-op gallery and we moved it into storage til our new space was available. Once in, we had to fix up the new gallery. We opened mid-November, ready or not. To make a long story short I have been spending my extra time working on things for the gallery thru January. Thanks to all our members we are now organized with all kinds of committees and we have a lovely gallery.

During February, I turned my attention to some painting and organizing my house. Since I started tending my baby grand-daughter Lily full time, I have not been able to get down to my studio much, even though it is in my basement. It's unfinished and kind of cool (not in an awesome way, just temperature-wise). Not a place for a freshly made baby.

Now I have reorganized my bedroom to accomodate a playpen and make my desk area more functional so that I can paint small paintings there. I have a highchair in there too. I am finally painting again, hooray! It's about time since Lily is now 9 months old. Where did the time go? Tomorrow I will take some pictures, for a small space it's pretty functional.

In March I am one of the featured artists at our gallery Local Colors, so for the next few weeks I will be posting some new pieces for my show. The image here is one from a series of dancing dogs that I am continuing. It's called 'A Dance With Dogs'. It's one of those small paintings I have been talking about. It's actually about 4" square, but it's in a wooden frame which I have painted, so the whole thing is 8" square.