Blog Experiment & The “Bling”

Trying out a little experiment connecting the blog to Daily Paintworks.  Essentially, it’s a test to see if I understand how things work “behind the scenes.”  Wish me luck. 

The Art Club challenge this month was to paint some Bling – That’s right, jewelry.  This is really hard and I had to over-complicate since I apparently think I have too much time on my hands these days.  So here it is, Bling Four Ways.  These are all actual pendants that I love and wear, especially those given to me as gifts.  I think the reason it is particularly hard, is even in its 3x3 square, the object is larger than real life (by a lot).  For some reason, painting actual size or smaller seems "natural", but painting small to bigger just begs me to go back and ask Alice in Wonderland, "How does that all work again?"  

Bling Four Ways

Oh - before I go, we had a great art club get together at a delightful home in Middleburg VA.  Amazing food and camaraderie.   The table was gorgeous and gifts (handmade pottery by hostess GL) are adorable.  A very talented artist in a variety of media!   As a special event, we all headed over to The National Sporting Library & Museum to see Sir Alfred J. Munnings’ exhibit Out in the Open.  Some wonderful paintings of landscapes, livestock and fox hunting.  It is on display through September 15, 2013 (free).  

Life is joy you make one moment at a time. . . 

Bidding War - What a Blast!

Whew - I just lived through my first bidding “war” and I cannot tell you how uplifting and jazzed I am about selling a painting that more than one person (okay, two to be exact) loved enough to go for it.  This is addicting!   Now Radish Club is off to sunny California.  Yay!

On Mother's Day I did a painting with my Mom in mind - she loves poppy flowers.  I chose this subject for my entry to last week's DPW Warm/Cool Challenge.  I know, late as usual.  Deciding what to paint takes way too much time!  

Warm/Cool Challenge
Poppy

This challenge is about making a painting more interesting/dynamic. In other words, a lot of this, a little of that – not the same amount of both. The focus is to practice this concept with warm and cool colors. Choosing one to be dominant and making sure it takes up more than half of the painting. The amount left should be the other temperature.  

Well, I learned a lot more about color temperature which is not quite as obvious as one might think.  Thank goodness for YouTube videos!  In this painting the warm colors (Cadmium Red Light, Cadmium Red Medium) take up most of the area where the cool colors (Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Green and White) were used for the center and the background.  Having the cool next to the warm helps to intensify the colors.  

For my artist friends, I used a photo from the Paint My Photo website where Photographers and Artists collaborate without copyright issues - an excellent resource for photos, especially when you're in a hurry!

Redheads for Tea

New painting in the DPW auction (through May 19).  Took quite a while to pull this one together but finally got the composition and values where I like them.  Okay, the background value is very close to the teapot, but I rather like it that way! Redheads sound so much better than strawberries, don't you think?

Redheads for Tea
(auction link)

Auctions ending today Sunday, 5/12:

Radish Club

 Mackerel Trio

Shrimp Cocktail Challenge

Psssst . . . I can’t post it just yet, but completed my Art Club challenge to Paint Some Bling (aka jewelry).  Another stretch goal for me, but I like the results and pretty sure my art pals will too.   Will post after our next meeting on May 19. Painting more often is great and does seem to be building confidence.  

Crazy Challenge ~ Mega Trouble!

Here’s the blown up version which I like much better (excuse the glare since the paint is still wet).  I guess it’s true that repainting a subject tends to make a better painting.  Maybe the size helps to slow things down.  This felt like it took  f-o-r-e-v-e-r !

HELP - Please email me with what this beast should be titled!!!

If I’m lucky enough to have this one for a while, I would rotate it every week – it has a different personality depending on how it is hung. 

Check this out.  Quarter turns - maybe I should invent something to launch this kind of abstract format into a new art medium???  Once a day, rotate 90 degrees. . . .    How fun, enjoy!

p.s. did you know you can click on the title in the email to get to the whole blog?  You can also click on "Johnna's Painting Blog" header and get there too.  From the blog, you can easily sign up for email blog notifications and go to my Daily Paintworks gallery.  From there you can check out the art, submit auction bids,  send email, etc.  

What a Great Weekend

Gerbera Divas

Nothing new to report on the weekend auctions, however, to my delight and surprise, the Gerbera Divas sold via PayPal.  Gotta love that, no commission, etc.  To wake up and see that news is downright inspiring.  I love the joy of painting and then enjoy others having it for their own – from my corporate days, a win-win!  Looking forward to delivering this one in person.  Here they are. . . and thanks again to my art club for coming to the rescue!

With much encouragement from my artist friends, I “blew up” the 6x6 Crazy Making Challenge to a 16 x 16 gallery wrapped canvas for the upcoming Falls Church Arts show called “Patterns” which will run from May 22 - June 19.  Will post a pic of that later this week (it's upside down drying - rather aerobic getting all four sides painted without messing something up).  I think it turned out way better than the small one.  For me, it is nearly an out-of-body-experience to go from tiny paintings to a huge one!  

Weekend Auctions

Mother's Day,  is next weekend - how about some original art, reasonably priced. If you see something of interest not in auction, send me a proposal via email. See email link in the Gallery. 

Two paintings are being added to the auction this weekend.  

Radish Club - I love everything about radishes - touch, taste, subtle highlights. . . and yes these have already been eaten!  Wouldn't Mom just love these? 

Mackerel Trio - Fun, exciting and more than a bit interesting painting fresh fish under high intensity lights.  Extra long canvas so the fish would fit!  You know, Father’s Day is right around the corner. . . . 

Crazy Challenge ~ Double Dare

Every week there's a new challenge in Daily Paintworks.  The intent is to truly stretch us in new and different ways.   This challenge from Carol Marine (aka January workshop artist) is called The Crazy Making Challenge.  She took this picture in San Francisco. There are mirrors all around a mannequin in a shop window . . .  which make an already complex dress all the more because you’re painting its many reflections. Crop it any way you want. 

Thank goodness for the "crop" option, even that seemed like a double-dare – way too challenging for me.  However, I made a pledge to try and do all the challenges so I finally found a way to give this one a go.  Glass is one thing, mirrors another and stripes, oh my!   Below is the original photo and my crop from the simplest, broadest section I could find.  Fun painting the folds and what i consider my first 6x6 DPW abstract painting.  

Carol Marine Photo

Crazy ~ Double Dare