Emergency CPR – Creative Painting Rescue #2

First of all, I am delighted to report that another painting sold in the DPW auction!  Grapefruit 4289 is now sporting the sought after red dot!  See it in my Gallery (click here).  If interested, other auctions are at http://dailypaintworks.com/Account/MyAuctions and more are coming soon. 

The second painting rescue was from a beautiful hanging basket (thanks to GL in my art club).  Not sure how she knew that Gerber daisies are in my list of top five favorite plants or that pink/rose is one of my favorite colors.  Er, did we not have pink napkins and matching rose-colored centerpiece for brunch?  

Had to “phone a friend” and get advice from my art club on how to administer the CPR – they came to the rescue and helped me focus in on three very special Gerber’s, emphasizing that the top two were catching the light and the other one is holding up the “arrangement”.  Seems as though they are all jockeying for the “diva” position (the daisy’s not the art club gals).

Gerber Divas

I am in love with Williamsburg Persian Rose that an amazing artist / classmate turned me onto several weeks ago.  For you artists, it’s a warm permanent rose and seems so versatile.  I think that might be the allure of Grapefruit 4289 – yummy!

Time Flies

Well somehow a whole week has flown by and not much to show for it.  I’ve been trying to focus more on the “marketing” side, handing out business cards and such.  Need to find a way for the biz brain and art brain to co-exist so we can all have a good time!   I love my new business cards and a big fan of Vistaprint and you-know-who doing the design, prototyping and final prep work.   

Now about the painting - I started two a week ago, but I was not happy with either of them.  I guess it was just an "off" week.  Yesterday I finally got a chance to perform emergency CPR – Creative Painting Rescue – hoping you agree it worked! 

The one I'm posting today was for a DPW challenge (okay, I know late again). Goal is to create a painting which is mostly white using warm and cool tones, texture, brushstrokes, etc. just make sure that light (nearly white) is dominant.  At the art club brunch, I served these cuties in my flamboyant martini glasses.  In my head, shrimp are basically white, so I thought this would be perfect for the challenge.  The glasses are clear and have frosted stems.  How perfect is that?  Since I am addicted to “bold”, I could not help but put a swath of orange across the bottom.  Guess what, shrimp are rather orange / red and caused a lot more color than I expected.  Worked to cool everything down and despite everything, declaring “challenge met.”    

Shrimp Cocktail - Paint It White Challenge

This painting has been added to the DPW auction and will run through May 5^th 8:00 pm CST.

Fruity

My turn to host Art Club today - always interesting, fun and different!  We are a bit of a motley crew, bonded through painting.  Having this club keeps us connected to art even when our busy lives decide otherwise.

Here’s the painting from “yesterday”, oops lost another day somewhere.  Another thing I love is grapefruit, which probably explains why I’m not fond of oranges. It’s called Grapefruit 4289 because that’s the produce bar code number.  For some reason, I think that is rather clever on my part.  Oh well, naming the art is still a challenge for me – I guess that’s why there’s so much art out there called Object #1, Object #2, etc.  So perhaps I am a bit more creative (smile) . . . .  Let me know if you notice a new hot trend for naming still life’s by bar code!

A quirky thing about my new square plates, they do odd (er, I mean interesting) things to shadows (color, angles, etc.) - need to keep working on that aspect.

Grapefruit 4289 (and proud of it)

"Stuff" Update

The good news is I finally got to paint today!  Bad news is finding a new consulting job is taking way too much time!  Today’s painting is too wet to photo so tomorrow I’ll post the latest. 

I’ve been a bit bummed lately, a second painting developed the strange “blobs” which look like some sort of plague.   Imagine adult measles and you get the picture.  Painful.  The primary suspect is my favorite panel, so I contacted the vendor who has customer service nailed!  Short story: mailed measles painting #1 - they will “study” the situation and figure out what’s going on.  In between all their offers to pay for postage, reimburse me for the panels, yada, yada, the guy was nice enough to ask me for my website “just ‘cause he’s interested.”  Gotta love that.

Sunday is my turn to host the art club and I’m really looking forward to it. My challenge to them is to do one of the weekly Daily Paintworks challenges.   Art Photographer is on deck – the plan is to get them to sign up and post!   Hope they catch the DPW-bug that I have.

DPW Link: http://dailypaintworks.com/

My Current Auction: http://dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/124764  - hurry, ends 8:00 pm CST 4/20/13

Wonderful Day, Delightful Night

15 Minutes of "Lemon" Fame

Another Carol Marine exercise which I am learning to love.  Your artistic eye sees so much more and focuses on the shadows, the reflected light, the presence rather than the object itself.  I think they have a special painterly freedom and Warholesque which reminds me he's the one that coined the expression "15 minutes of fame."  Seems like the lemons are doing just that!  

15 Minutes of Lemon Fame

Pssst - reminder that the Wonderful Day, Delightful Night painting is on auction until Saturday evening.  Please forward to your friends and spread the word, this is the place to find original art at very reasonable prices.  http://dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/124764.  Thanks!

 

Psssst Auction Starts on Saturday

To my blog-insiders, here’s the painting that will be put up for auction on Saturday.  It is called Wonderful Day, Delightful Night because it reminds me of years past after a special candlelit dinner and that ever so special cup of espresso. The candle has burned down, the espresso awaits and the very satisfying feeling of contentment emerges, declaring it a wonderful day and delightful night!    If only I was 35 again and could stay up high on caffeine all night!

Wonderful Day, Delightful Night
Thanks to GB for this challenge, even though I misunderstood the concept of a "night" painting.

Feel free to forward this email and link to my blog so others can find their way to Daily Paintworks and the amazing art auctions.  I need your help in getting the word out there! 

Hoping to get a chance to paint tomorrow and definitely plan on attending the Diff4ent Strokes interactive painting demo on Saturday 4-13 at ArtSquare in Leesburg.  Open to the public.  http://www.loudounacademy.org/galleryindex.html#upevents

Logistics!

No time to paint today, but had to share this most ingenious mailing photo.  It was interesting and fun signing up for a mailing account, printing packing slips, creating postage labels, making up a temporary business card and finding wads of padding to safely send the first painting to its new owner.  Like a bird taking off from the nest for the first time!  For this particular customer, I offered one of my cool frames at cost so the box is much bigger than just mailing a teeny 6x6 panel in a padded envelope!  

Bungee Mail
Please Mr. Postman, take me. . . 

Today's plan is to start setting up auctions on Saturdays to run for a week.  This is the place to get the news about what's on deck.  

First Auction – We Have a Winner!

So very exciting when literally, in the last few minutes, my first auction received a bid.  Smart cookie waiting until the very end to swoop the deal!  Honestly, I have to say that they are one of my “collectors” so I get to learn the process for shipping, etc. with a known quantity.  Made my day and really helps provide the extra boost to do this in the first place.  We are both winners. Surprise and delight all rolled into one.  Didn't even know they were watching!

The following painting has been posted to last week’s challenge “The Plein Air Challenge.”  Plein Air means you brave the elements and go outside to paint.  Huh, really?  Those of us in Northern Virginia have been waiting for spring to arrive – already more than a few weeks late.  A couple of my daffodils started to open so I thought I would go get them and bring them inside to paint – a bit of cheating there!  It was just too cold, cloudy and gray last Saturday.  Now spring has arrived, yet I ended up painting them in the house anyway ‘cause I picked them all.  Grrrr. . .  Today it hit the low 80's - welcome to spring on the east coast!   

Double Lion Head Daffodils
 Since I was cheating anyway, the canvas tone is hot pink and I chose turquoise for the background, just because I love how it plays off the yellows.
Listed as PayPal buy it now, but for you insiders if not sold, will be added to the auction in a few weeks. 

Slacking Off

Despite not painting lately, lots accomplished in the last few days.  Helped “hang” the gallery for a local art show – a ton of work, but it turned out rather nicely.  Have not done this before and now have a much greater appreciation for those who make a living at it.   If you have a chance, stop by, DECADEnt 2013 All-Member Art Show, April 5-28 410 S. Maple Ave. Falls Church, VA – I have two paintings in the show (see Alice in Wonderland blogs).  Also ordered custom business cards – yet another “commitment” to my art journey. I'm astounded by the amount of free and nearly-free products available via the web.  Psssst, I’m not supposed to mention my awesome business-card-designer, but he has done an outstanding job once again! Sweet, huh?!!!

Painted my "first to bloom daffodils" today – will post next week. 

Meanwhile, here’s another painting I’m adding to the auction list in the near future.  Garlic four ways, inspired by the colors of spring and a day of incredible natural sunlight. 

One of my pet-peeves is poor grammar. . . what was I thinking with the last title?  It should be My Shadow and I.  This is a famous song, which maybe explains why our grammar is so challenging to learn.  Funny Lady (no pun intended, look it up).

Anyway, I’ve decided to glaze my next painting, so the first layer has to completely dry.  Since that one is not ready to post, here’s another that I plan to auction once I figure out how that whole process works.  BTW, I have one currently on auction (click here for “Tranquility”) if you’re interested in bidding or know someone who might be – as always, please forward this blog to your friends and encourage them to sign up for email updates! 

Wonderful Day, Delightful Night

A special evening by candlelight topped off with a great cup of espresso.  We have these beautiful tiny gold spoons that I thought went quite well with the brass candlestick and candle who's job is to show that the evening started long before the espresso!