Wine and Wags

Last March my art club meeting was at the 8 Chains North winery (Waterford, VA) that artist GB brought to life – a truly gifted interior designer!  It was also GB’s inspiration to create an art gallery wall where various artists are invited to show their work.  She proposed that our club be the featured “artist” this summer.  We all agreed and got busy - lucky for us, the monthly challenges since then have been “more paintings for the show!”

We’re calling it “Wine and Wags” since the owners are very dog friendly and encourage people to bring their pets to the wine tastings.  There must have been 15 dogs in the tasting room the day we were out there checking out the beautiful space. Small dogs, big dogs – all very well behaved.   If you need a place to host a reception, you should go take a look (link above).  If you need an amazing interior designer – leave a comment and I’ll put you in touch.

Here are my show entries – a little grape inspiration and a few puppies.  I loved painting the dogs – will have to do more of those!

Still Life with Grapes 9x12

On the Board 9x12
ref: Viacheslav photo PMP

Grapes on the Loose 6x6

Green Grapes 12x9
ref: Viacheslav photo PMP

The Barn Door 6x6

Shotgun Sailor 6x6

Fruit Titanic 10x10

At the Lake 8x10
ref: D.Currier PMP

 For the locals, I'll let you know when the gallery opening will be held -- planning early July.  The other art club members (GB, GL and GC) are hard at work too and have great paintings for the show.

Enjoy - life is joy we make one moment at a time,

Catching Up - She's Back

Hard to believe it’s been five months since my last blog!  All is good, but haven’t painted too much.   I did attend a weekend workshop with artist Robert Thoren in early February.  It was held at a studio in Purcellville which I am still raving about to anyone who will listen. A fantastic venue, wonderful space, and the most delightful owner-artist-hostess, Francie.  Great group of people and the perfect space-to-attendee-ratio.  Small pic of the painting I did there is below.  Also finally getting my workspace back to normal now that the painters (er, the other kind) finished several rooms as we’re planning to put the house on the market early next year. Have a to-do list a mile long, but who doesn’t!   

Besides the workshop, my art club is my mainstay – it always gets me going with the challenges. My turn to host was in January and my challenge was to paint something that started with the letter “K” (I’ll spare you the details on the overall lame challenge I came up with).  Kitchen Sink was indeed quite a challenge.  It is from another one of Viacheslav’s PaintMyPhoto entries.  Metal, water, soap bubbles – oh my!  Had a blast doing it.  

Kitchen Sink
6x6"Click Here to bid - starts Saturday 6/10/15

Thoren Workshop
16x20"

I am going to try and get back into the swing of things by challenging myself to blog weekly and paint a lot more often!  If you enjoyed this blog, please add your email to the list above (top right) to automatically receive new blog postings in your inbox. 

Already have a surprise in the works for next week – stay tuned. 

Enjoy - life is joy we make one moment at a time, 

Fiesta Fish

Trying a few new things to get back in the groove.  Painting fish is total fun because it just seems odd and lets you play around - I wanted to do something more angular / abstract, but these guys just wanted to get going - somewhere, anywhere.  .  .  .  right now it's 18 degrees and I am in Virginia -- the whole week it's been freezing, but I guess that's happening across the country right now.   

Brief history - The capelin is a small, silvery relative of salmon that forms large shoals in cold and Arctic waters and is a vital food source for sea birds and marine mammals.  The reference is from photographer, Viacheslav based in Russia, who has several amazing photos on PaintMyPhoto (a wonderful resource for artists). This painting takes a huge leap in playing with color - now it looks like they are headed to a Fiesta, I guess a really smart thing to do in this weather! I couldn't find the mileage between the inspiration and the inspired, but a direct flight would be almost 10 hours.  Art connecting the world.  

Fiesta Fish
Click Here to bid - starts Saturday 1/10/15

Last night one of my holiday auctions ended and it is still so exciting to find out who "won."  I didn't expect that the identities would be hidden from me, but that's how it works.  Once it gets down to the finish though, they have to know where to send the money and I have to know where to send the painting!  Very exciting to me and I hope so for the buyer as well.  It is triple-fantastic when it's a new buyer - I don't really care why that is, just know it makes me do the happy-dance (seriously).   So the painting below is off to sunny Texas, near Houston. Interestingly it's from another reference photo on PaintMyPhoto (Rodney Campbell).

Goldfinch Pose

Enjoy - life is joy we make one moment at a time,

Catching Up - Class Recap

What I seriously love about being an artist (despite being a former, rather structured, computer engineer) is all the rule-making and rule-breaking.  Egads, it's a free-for-all in the art world.  I haven't completed a full analysis, but it looks like half of the art instructors are insisting you HAVE to do it this WAY and the other half is saying do WHATEVER you WANT.  I guess the trick we finally figure out is pick-and-choose what we like and what feels natural (ish).  As a rule-based person, this is quite a challenge, but each class and workshop propels me through this particular vortex!

There also seems to be a little "mantra" that goes along with this cult - do something, then tell us what you learned.  So here's the recap from my recent class and the new things I learned:

• Block it in (largest object first, then middle, then "baby bear")
• Make an interesting mud for the background (huh, really?) fascinating concept this one - mud is made by mixing too many colors together, but this idea was to mix all the colors in the painting for the background as each object would be complementary to some part of the mud.  When objects are complementary, they pop out even more.  Go figure.
• Get extreme on the composition - zoom in!
• Fine-tune the focal point
• Then destroy the other edges to give it drama and interest (oh yeah, wild woman now!)  This one also loosens you up knowing that precision is not going to survive to the end -- can't wait to try more of this. 

Class paintings

Yellow Pom-poms in a crystal bowl (12"x12" canvas)

Abstract composition / zoom (9"x12" canvas)

            

Fruit Titanic (10"x10" canvas) 

You should have seen the size / shape of the bowl this was in - humongous!  I'm putting this one on sale at DailyPaintworks - let's see what happens.  I love it.  

And I painted some silly things -- okay the grammar police say NEVER start a sentence with the word AND, but I just had to do it now that I'm "breaking bad!" 

          

Stuffed dog, house and bird (5.5"x5.5" panel)

Stuffed dog, Embarrassed (5.5"x5.5")

This is what you get for a couple hundred bucks and a few weeks of training. . . . LOL.  I guess  being able to laugh at yourself, take risks, and be willing to fail, are all part of the adventure. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and being a part of the journey.

Enjoy - life is joy we make one moment at a time,

Happy New Year

The holiday art sale was a real boost - I was thoroughly delighted that four paintings sold.  Even better, I got to deliver them in person - it is always extraordinary when people connect through art.   I don't think it matters if they like the same things or not, but having it in common really does seem "out of the ordinary."  I learned that having one of my works become a part of the buyer's amazing collection is a pretty mind-blowing experience that I don't think really hit me until days later.  Another painting was purchased as a gift and is headed to Europe.  The giftee moved last summer literally across the street from where I lived in Germany several years ago.  That shared experience, and now this painting, shows me there are no boundaries. How does something like this happen with someone who also lived across the street from where I live now?  Extraordinary!  Art has truly become a personal journey as each chapter unfolds.  

Here are the paintings that sold.  I'm hoping that blogging and thinking about art will help get me motivated and "resolute" about the new year!   

Quatro 

Orange-Rageous

Delish!

The Star

Enjoy - life is joy we make one moment at a time,

Merry, Merry and Cha-Ching

A fellow artist put together their 2014 Most Viewed paintings on DPW.  What a great idea!  My ah-hah moment was to twist it up, exclude those already taken (this is about you not me), discount the price for holiday gift giving (not sayin' who should get the gift, if you know what I mean!), and put these gems on auction along with the added plus of a buy it now price that's especially low since we're all hurrying and need to get gifts in the mail asap! 

So here's my Most Viewed 2014 - all are 6x6 except the handsome fox which is an 8x10 and comes with a low profile floating frame.  I was sure that cutie pie would run off during a show west of Leesburg this year, but he insisted on coming home. 

All of these paintings are being offered at a 40% reduction (gallery commission that now THEY don't get, but YOU will!).  How great is that?  Please go here  for the latest list of auction/buy-it-now prices.  Another insider secret to my loyal blog readers - this is slow auction season, so if you have time to wait it out, you'll save a few bucks. 

Oh yeah, if you've read this far, Cha-Ching. . . Shipping is half-price! 

Click here for the Auction deals

p.s. DPW made me spread out the auctions so some start on Friday, then Saturday and Sunday.

Feel free to email me with any special requests - packaging, handling, etc. and I'll get back to you right away - see the email option at DPW under my gallery - here.  I'm planning to chill over the holidays so happy to accommodate any and all requests. Art is so much more fun than work!

As always, thank you so much for reading my blog!  

Happy Holidays and Enjoy - life is joy we make one moment at a time - all year long,

Johnna 

 

Undercover in Vienna Virgina - The Traveling Chicken

Hi all - I've been asked to provide a link to my Traveling Chicken blog entry and remove it from my blog.  So here you go - the lively Ms. Chick and her adventures while visiting with me.  Isn't she adorable?

Click here to see my journey

Final Post-Easton and More to Come

Finally, the post Easton Workshop painting tweaked a bit more.  Biggest change was the olive oil bottle and pushing it to green than blue (duh, it is olive oil!).  Also added more orange to the front left persimmon (my fav - glazing some bits) and dulled the light on the "perp" in the bowl to shift the focus to the front right persimmon - a Fuyu - who even knows what that is?  Lovely still life object - hot, luscious, plump. Google it if you must know - I do not, and okay with that  :D  I saw it in person and absolutely had to paint it!

Overall, I am thrilled with this piece - bought a frame and hung it in my home until there's a call for art or gallery that wants to show it, or someone who has to have it (email me).  What do you think?

Persimmons and Pears

Before Preview

I am loving the "bits" learned from the Easton workshop and know it is each artist's goal to knit those bits together into what you create as an individual.    One of my artist friends (GL she knows who she is), uses the term "bits" and I rather like it.  She is very creative, profound, and a phenomenal artist!

Lastly, leaping into deep space, I signed up for a class that starts next week with a young, crazy-cat so I can only imagine will have a few more bits!    SRLY, he graduated from art school in 2012!  Have no fear, bring it on!

More bits to come. . . .

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

 Enjoy - life is joy we make one moment at a time,

Post Workshop Mash Up - Dance On

Finally got the nerve to combine my recent workshop techniques with my regular painting (small, hard panels).  What a joy to go back to the familiar, but another challenge combining the two processes.  Amazing how every tweak makes for yet another challenge!  I have no idea when all this will become routine - although pretty much guessing NEVER!

I wanted this painting to be very loose and include the workshop instruction to go abstract.  It seems to have an "air" and looks ready to embrace the change of seasons.  Me not so much - I love summer, period.  I will admit, the changing seasons help me appreciate the summer even more (happy/sad face) . . . .

The workshop focused on creating a dark, muted, abstract "stage" in the background to make the star of the show stand out even more.  The workshop artist used color, contrast, sharp edges, soft edges, light vs. dark, thick vs. thin paint and every other striking combo to give the foreground diva her moment!   I hope the persimmon stands out as that was the goal.  

Before my time, but maybe this painting should be called Fred and Ginger. Two in lockstep - doesn't it look like they are dancing? One of Ginger's quotes was - "The most important thing in anyone's life is to be giving something". . .  Great advice - so here's my gift today.  

Persimmon and Pear
click here to bid

Enjoy - life is joy we make one moment at a time,

Thanks for stopping by. 

Johnna

Easton Workshop   

Somehow, another month has zoomed by and I don't have much to show for it, but I've learned a lot.  In early September, I attended Qiang Huang's workshop in Easton MD.  What a wonderful town!  It is on the eastern shore and specializes in great food, art/artists and quaint shopping.  I am still raving about the amazing food and had so much fun with my fellow artist who recently moved there (KR you know who you are!).   

This blog is kinda long, so I'm going to start with the end and work my way back to the start 'cause I want to show you what I'm learning.

Here's my first solo run with the workshop process after returning home.  It's a big thing for me to put together a set up as I believe it is an art form in itself.  I had one art teacher say she spent more time putting the setup together than actually painting it.  Uh, oh, probably more to learn there too.   This painting features two types of persimmons - regular "flat" ones and a stunning orange "long" one called a Fuyu.  Google it if you need more info - I just liked how orange and plump it looked.  Kinda makes the regular persimmons a bit bland though.  Bottle on the right was from our wonderful trip to Spain with an incredible olive oil.  Bought it for the bottle, but the oil is astounding.   Personally I can't believe I painted something with seven items in it!!!  Would love any and all comments. The technique is to have one highlighted item and blur the rest.  So in this one, the fat Fuyu is the highlight.  You decide, kinda complicated!

Pears and Persimmons

Okay back to the start of this adventure. . . . .

It's true that the ridiculously scary Chesapeake Bay bridge wasn't as bad as expected (as in expect THE absolute worst)!  You be the judge, here's how wiki describes it, "Because of its height, the narrowness of the spans (there are no hard shoulders), the low guardrails, and the frequency of high winds, it is known as one of the scariest bridges not only in the USA but in the world.^" Huh?  Seriously?  On top of that, I can't even begin to describe driving on the left-hand span facing oncoming traffic with NO barrier.  This is a little trick they use to manage the volume of traffic headed to the eastern shore.  Survived it twice and willing to do so again 'cause Easton is so wonderful ;-) 

Here's a pic of the beast.

Qiang has a five step "method" and complicated set ups, but it got me back into painting on canvas and working with a lot of different dimensions in the same painting.  On the second day, Qiang demoed his first stage then we would try it out on our own setups, then demoed stage 2 - we try - repeat to stage 5.  An excellent way to learn his method and wish we had more time to practice and get his personal guidance.  Here's his demo and my run at the process.  Hmmmm. . . . more to learn.

Qiang Huang - Easton Demo Day 2

My stab at it - Inspired, so hoping to paint more - maybe a combo of my former daily painting and this more complicated, yet intriguing venue!

Enjoy, life is joy we make one moment at a time,

Johnna