Two New Gallery Shows

Zoe

Bounty Basket

 These are pictures I've posted before but, although I didn't take very good photos of them (sorry, working on that), they are the ones in two shows in which I am participating at two local galleries: Green Shutters and Sun Gallery in Hayward, CA. Zoe (8X10) and Bounty Basket (12X16) are oils. The

Salmon Lily

Persimmon and Lac

 others are all acrylic. The lily is 9X12 and the Persimmon is 11X14, the others are 8X10. Here are the apologies: the squash picture as seen here is unfinished, I've fixed the shadow, really I have! And, the apple here is the watercolor version.

Autumn Squash

Autumn Apple

I just discovered I haven't photographed the acrylic version. Bummer. It has a warm brown background, less wishy-washy, definitely more contrast, lighter on the left and deeper on the right.
All these pictures finally got frames and the hanging hardware on them. Just in time to go into two new shows. It's been months, well, last year was the last time I entered a show. I've been try to build up a body of work so there is something to go when there is an opportunity. And the fact that much time is spent painting because I can't stop.
After all the prep work and delivering pictures and paperwork, today I have to do the mundane things. It's cloudy(foggy) so the yardwork gets done first.
Then I've got this great idea for a still life of some of my Indian pots and maybe a textile! Hmmm, let's see, if I drape it this way and the terracotta one from Grandma sits here, and the bowl... OOOPs, I have to prune the roses, no getting out of it.

Follow up from yesterday (Snoopy Dance)

Legacy, Thanks Mom 4X4 acrylic

Yee-haw! (left over from my Texas life) everything and body woke up fine this morning, including the printer! I'm a cookin'!

 Ah, now I'm back from computer concerns, this weekend was a plein air paint out at the Sunol Wilderness this Saturday. Since it's in my area, I've painted there before. It's a wonderful place, but you aren't allowed to park along the road that has the great views. You are welcome to hike there. Let me think...no thanks. Sometime, when I have a lighter rig. Well, when I'm lighter too, and in better shape. It can get really HOT there in the Summer, but amazingly, after several days in the 90's and above, suddenly it cooled off to the 70's. Alas, I couldn't make it that day, so I went there after church and a visit to the Apple Store geniuses, and ended up taking lots of pictures. Results to come.

The little picture above was a Challenge from Daily Paint Works to paint the tools of the trade. My mom was a painter (violinist, singer, pianist etc) and I have some of her old paints and things. Since they are in metal tubes and are well used they are more "picturesque" than the newer ones. One even has the old, faded price sticker on it. It was an interesting challenge to get the modeling of all those folds and creases, and the lettering. Ever heard of Pictor paint? This was probably purchased in Southeast Asia. It's still viable, though. Thanks Mom!

Off topic, I suppose.

Autumn Apple

You've heard the saying "bite the bullet"? Well, I did, a couple of them. In doing so I learned some things. First, it doesn't matter that my dear old faithful PowerBook G4 laptop can't hold on to it's DVD/CD's any more. Poor dear. One of the "bullets" was that I ordered the CD to upgrade to Snow Leopard finally. I usually wait until the next version comes out, I figger by then they've really got them bugs out. This time, however, there was NO WAY they would let me download it. Now in the olden days when I had an OS problem (usually cuzza sumthin' I did) I could just tote it on down to the Apple Store and them thar Geniuses could straighten things out fer me. Well, no wonder there hadn't been any updates to the OS for the last three years (yes, I did notice). They tell me it's a hardware thing. This poor little guy doesn't have the Intel thingy. No more updates. That's why those error messages would show up about "architecture." So that's a no go.

However, they did refund fully what I paid for it since I couldn't use it. Lovely people! But I was OK with the new AirPort Express I finally purchased! I had tried a borrowed one but it had an intermittent problem. Don't you just LOVE those: "But honey, it does it every time I drive it, I am NOT just hearing things!"

It's a PLOT by masculine machines.

You're just being negative.

I am Not!

Ladies, Please!

Anyway, now the AirPort Express is all installed and working beautifully with the broadband, and the wireless printer is working too. Now, re-configuring that was an experience I don't want to repeat. For some reason it claims to be all configured and the laptop and printer are having cheery little conversations until I go to print to test it. Who is Bonjour and why is he in my computer? When configuring, why do they never tell you at any point it's OK to unplug the USB now? Why, ultimately do I always have to have my printer listed twice in order to actually PRINT? Is it a Word/Excel thing?

Ultimately: when I get up in the morning, will this all still work after I wake it up?

The continuing saga of woman and machine: to be continued.

It's been decades but I'm trying oils again!

 This is a re-work of a canvas that was probably 30 years old. The still life had been sketched, but never finished. It was time to try it again. You know, they are right, oils are the best. Since I was raised in a "waste not, want not" household I am using up all painting supplies I can get open. This means I am using up the old turp. Stinky, so I set up in a really well ventilated area. I am having such a good time with this!

 This is an acrylic. It's from an artist's challenge blog. It was irresistible! To get myself to use a wider range of colors I had prepared this background and when I saw the pomegranate it had to be on this ground

 This is a watercolor, just to keep things even. It's really just a study, but it was an excellent exercise in trying to get smooth lines. I need more practice.
The arch at the bottom is something else I painted on the bottom of the same large shape.

Here is a "do-over" the watercolor version turned out to have a slit in the paper I didn't notice until I was nearly finished. So I did it again in acrylics. I should have scanned it, there is quite a bit of "flash" when you try to photograph acrylics.

Autumn is here!

As the trees start to turn, and the apples start to ripen, it's time to paint those things! I've thrown in an extra. It's a palette I rarely use, I remember an art teacher at the Academy of Art University who was working in pastel that time, he said to look at your pastels and see which ones are longest. Then make yourself use them because you are probably avoiding that part of the spectrum. Excellent advice. What a school!

Once more with feeling!

Lately I've painted a lot with which I was not too pleased. Don't worry, they are not going on line. The backs can be used to try again.
When things sometimes are not turning out as one has hoped there are a number of things to which one should resort. I start Spiritually. It's as basic as you can get, like "centering," it's the time to reaffirm Love. Then I might just paint a pear. This time I added an apple. They are about 8X8" watercolors. I layered them with color endlessly to build glazes. The background ended up so dark, for the signature, instead of painting it I removed paint. That felt better.
I'm going to offer these at about half price, $110.00 each, as a pair.
For sometime I've been wanting to take a drive up to Sonoma for a visit and some painting, but I have had trouble prying myself out of the house. It's an old habit from when I had to be here if I wasn't in the office or the grocery store. Part of that Spiritualizing of my thinking freed me from a "captive" thought. I painted the fish in the previous post, got the scheduled maintenance done on the car and headed out to the vineyards yesterday!
It was wonderful, nice cool breeze, bright sun, fresh air, all the good stuff. A perfect painting day. I sketched most of the day, but there were distractions. The plaza in Sonoma is a lovely place and truly the center of the town's activity. I relaxed and snapped pictures and sketched the ponds and enjoyed myself. Traffic can be more of a parking lot between there and my home, so I delayed going home quite a while.
Well, that was an extra good thing too. A farmers market (perfect for an agricultural area) etc. set up about 6PM on the drive in front of the old City Hall in the middle of the plaza. So...I got tomatoes and onions, then I sat down and enjoyed the live music. While I was just sitting there happy as a clam, a lady walked by who had just bought a big bouquet of flowers and she gave me one, right out of the blue! What a perfectly lovely gesture! Love is reflected in Love. This sweet gesture lingers as I look at this pretty salmon/magenta zinnia today.
A bit later I moseyed (well, waddled) back to the car (right at the plaza) and drove home. I missed the bad traffic and got home in good time. Dinner was some nuked leftovers, Nova, and some more painting. Heaven. I wish all of you the same.