Art4NF

Tomorrow I will have a painting up for silent auction at the Art4NF Art Show. I donated a painting, Glass Study, in support of NF Hope, run by the immensely talented and genuinely nice guy, Jeff Leibow (www.jeffleibow.com). If you've ever been to Las Vegas and seen Jersey Boys at the Palazzo, you've seen Jeff.

Jeff's daughter, Emma - a budding young artist, I might add - is the inspiration for NF Hope and for tomorrow's art show, herself living with Neurofibromatosis. I will gladly donate to anything Emma puts her stamp of approval on.

I look forward to seeing all the works on display both at the booths as well as up for auction. May even bid on an item or two, myself. If you're in the Las Vegas area, do stop by, enjoy the festivities and buy some art for Emma's cause! :o)

Glass Study - 6"x6" - oil on canvas

Framing Hope

Back in February, I was invited to participate in an upcoming charity auction for the Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas. I was happy to accept, both in support of a worthy cause, and also to challenge myself with the subject matter.  

Each participating artist was to choose from a selection of over 30 vintage prints, to create a painting/sculpture either incorporating the print itself or inspired by the print. I chose "inspired by", taking this print:

And turning it into this painting:

'A Place In the Sun'  -  30"x40"  -  oil on canvas  

The original print did not excite me so much as its potential for change. I wanted to focus on the large neon letters 'Sands: A Place In the Sun', but did not want to exclude the Rat Pack. You DO NOT exclude the Rat Pack. I worked up a compromise which suited me, to paint first the lower marquees with the names across the entire canvas, then do washes of deep blue over them until they became a ghostly background atop which sat the neon sign in all it's vivid glory.

I took liberties with the depiction of each bulb within the letters, using a stencil and oil paint pen to create them, followed by washes of cadmium yellow all around to give them added glow. If you have ever seen a neon sign up close, one of the first things you will notice is the imperfection of the light and color; some areas glow brighter than others, and some with stronger color. Each bulb is unique. There are always clusters of color that, from a distance, manage to even out, blending into the cohesive whole you see from the street. But, up close, the colors and intensity vary (see detail below). I like that about neon. I like the variety. It's as if it is being defiant, rebelling against it's creator's wishes to bend and mold it to their will. Neon's got moxie.

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If you're in the Las Vegas area on April 25th, stop by, have a glass of champagne and check out the work of 30 local artists (myself included) who had a little fun with some vintage images. Bid on a painting as well, if you like! It's for a worthy cause.

Dean Day Gallery Group Exhibition (new florals)

'Freesia I'  -  11"x14"  -  oil on canvas

'Freesia II'  -  11"x14"  -  oil on canvas  -  SOLD

 'Freesia III'  -  11"x14"  -  oil on canvas  -  SOLD

 'Glass & Floral IV'  -  12"x12"  -  oil on canvas  -  SOLD

On Saturday, March 23rd, Dean Day Gallery opened a group exhibition which featured some new works from yours truly (yes, I'm blushing). Normally, I have sent them paintings which combined glass and florals together, but I was champing at the bit to focus almost exclusively on florals and all of their beautiful details. Save for two paintings with glass in them, all the rest were straight floral. And it was lovely to do. 

I'm used to going crazy with detail, but the simplicity of the compositions was really soothing. My hope was that they would be well received by the gallery patrons. They were. Many sold that day and I was asked to paint more. ABSOLUTELY. (fist pump)

In the coming weeks, you'll be seeing more of these showing up in my Facebook gallery as well as here on my blog. I spent two straight days the other week photographing all manner of flowers, as many as I could get my hands on, so I have plenty of stock from which to choose. My cats are going nuts because I still have bouquets of the hardier bunches from the photo shoots tucked on high shelves around the house, and they really want to chew on them. Not gonna happen.

One unexpected delight from this first batch of paintings was freesia - they are way prettier up close than they are in bunches. Maybe, in bouquets, they get lost among all the thick stems and unopened buds. But, give them a place in the sun, a little space to open and shine, and the flower itself is incredibly beautiful. I look forward to exploring them more in future paintings.

Look for 6"x6" studies of these and other flowers in the near future. I may even do an ArtByte tutorial on them, as well. In the process of painting flowers so much last month, I discovered some new tricks for making the process much easier, faster, and more efficient. I think I might share some of what I learned.

Click here if you are interested in seeing available works at Dean Dean Gallery.

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5 Artists/1 Subject: Easter Challenge - Peeps

'OTP'  -  12"x4"  - oil on canvas

Pablo Villicana Lara  -  'Equality Peeps'  -  6"x6" -  watercolor on paper

 Geraud Staton  -  'A Fistful of Peeps'  -  11"x14"  -  oil on canvas

 Kathleen Ballard  -  'Happy Hour Peeps'  -  10"x10"  -  watercolor on paper

Chris Beck  -  'Little Bo Peeps'  -  6"x6"  -  watercolor on paper

To celebrate Easter, Pablo Villicana Lara, Geraud Staton, Kathleen Ballard, Chris Beck and I got together and did a Peeps Challenge - an annual thing, though I think this was the first time Geraud and Kathleen took part (I could be wrong about Kathleen). I LOVE their contributions. In fact, I was so smitten with Geraud's 'Fistful of Peeps' that I asked him if he'd mind swapping painting for painting with me. 'A Fistful of Dollars' is one of my all-time favorite movies. Fortunately, for me, Geraud is a comic book fan, and my wish was granted. Don't be hatin'.

I would like to take a moment to say how much I loved the unique contributions of each artist:

Kathleen's 'Happy Hour Peeps' is hilarious and her overhead composition among my favorite views of any subject. She really is an amazing talent. Also, I applaud her choice of drink.

Pablo chose a sweet and delightful way to show his support for marriage equality with 'Equality Peeps'. The most touching painting of the bunch. BRAVO, my brave friend. BRAVO!!!!

Chris' compositions and attention to detail never cease to impress. 'Little Bo Peeps' is no exception. As always, masterful execution of both color and form. And great title to boot!

Geraud is nothing if not inventive and he's not afraid to throw around some color. And you already know how much I love 'Fistful of Peeps'.

My own contribution probably needs a bit of explanation. If you are outside the comic book/cartoon world, it's not likely to make much sense. 'OTP' (One True Pairing) means, basically, your favorite pairing of fictional characters. Most often it is used to describe romantic pairings.

In my painting, I combined Razer/Aya from Green Lantern the Animated Series (shakes fist at Cartoon Network Execs), The Tick/Arthur from The Tick (SPOON!!), Batman/Robin (obviously), and Deadpool/Tacos (probably the most romantic pairing of them all).

Now on to scheming a summer-themed Challenge painting. This summer will mark the fifth year I've been doing Challenge paintings with other artists, the first being '4 Artists - 1 Subject' when I got together with Otto Lange, Neil Hollingsworth and M Collier back in July 2008, our first live post happening that September. Challenges have been a wonderful artistic palette cleanser ever since. I never want to stop.

(P.S. Thanks again to my fellow Challenge artists this go around for their patience and grace while I resolved my 'technical difficulties' in getting my image to them. Technology and I are often at odds.)

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New ArtBytes

I've got three new tutorials up on DailyPaintworks - a demo for metallic object painting, a demo for glass object painting, and an entry in a collaborative ArtByte on combating artist's block. 

ARTIST'S BLOCK

Carol Marine contacted me recently about contributing to a free informational ArtByte on creative blocks; I was happy to oblige. One of the ArtBytes I still have under construction is about the power of photography to inspire creativity and to counter creative lag. In that vein, it seemed like a completely natural segue to write a little bit about a few of my favorite methods, including photography, then pass this on to Carol. I am one of eight artists who shared their insights in this tutorial. Each artist has their own unique approach that I find to be very educational. Check it out when you get the chance: Collective Insight on Blocks*

GLASS OBJECTS

I have gotten a lot of requests over the years to teach, and among the most common requests is "How do you paint glass the way you do???" My new demo on glass painting covers all the basics. Obviously, the more detailed your glass object, the more complicated and time consuming your painting will be. But, I designed this tutorial to go over the most common issues very carefully so that it will cover a majority of glass subject paintings. 

Six pages and forty jpegs - it's a big'n. My intention in doing this in-depth tutorial is to break down any insecurities artists may have that inhibit them from attempting glass painting. And it's not just about the "what I do", but also the "why I do it", because the more you understand the reasons behind the choices made during the painting process, the more you'll understand the language of your subject matter.  And the more you understand the language of your subject matter, the less it intimidates you. You can view the ArtByte here: Demo: Glass*

METALLIC OBJECTS

As with glass, I hear a lot from people about my metallic object paintings. Most people say painting metal is one of their most difficult challenges. For me, it is one of the easiest and most fun. I can complete just about any metallic subject painting in three passes or less, no matter how detailed. When I share this with others, the universal reply is, "Impossible!" But, I'm serious. And because of these conversations, I've decided to offer a tutorial on my technique to show others that I am not full of &%$#: Demo: Metallic Objects*

(*You must log in to DailyPaintworks to view all ArtBytes)

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In case any of you are wondering, I paint metallic objects differently than I do glass objects. Some basic techniques overlap, but the foundation layers of each subject differ quite a bit. The more I do these tutorials, the more I realize how much I've learned over the years and over the (gasp! no wonder I'm blind!) hundreds of paintings I've completed. My next tutorials will be on, 1) teacups, and 2) troubleshooting with acrylic underpainting and retouch varnish. Again, different approaches from one another and from metallic and glass. 

Valentine's Challenge

'Playing with the Queen of Hearts' - 6"x6" - oil on canvas - Jelaine Faunce  

SOLD

'OXO' -  8"x10" - watercolor - Kathleen Ballard

'Heart Full of Hearts' - 8"x10" - watercolor - Pablo Villicana Lara

'Candy Love' - 6"x6" - oil on canvas - Geraud Staton

Another holiday, another challenge.  I was joined again by very talented artists Pablo Villicana Lara and Geraud Staton, and added a new challenger, the lovely Kathleen Ballard!

For this challenge, we stuck with the Valentine's Day theme and used Sweethearts as our main subject. I hadn't had them since childhood.  They are very tasty! Damnit. But, before I ate them all, I pulled a few from the box to create my painting, based (obviously) on Alice in Wonderland. I hadn't gotten enough of it with my very first Challenge painting back in 2008, titled 'Wonderland.' I decided to revisit it again, this time on canvas, and this time with candy that was not part of a global melamine recall (sigh).

Please click on the links provided above if you have questions for each of the participating artists regarding their challenge paintings.

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Glass Study

Glass Study  -  6"x6"  - oil on canvas - SOLD

This little beauty will be the subject of an ArtByte tutorial on how I paint glass objects. Hi, Karen!! I'm finally finishing your ArtByte! Only took me 7 months......

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