Painting to Bloom!

Hydrangea- 22x30 watercolor on Arches 140lb Paper.  $2,500

 

   Im having a lot of fun painting florals for this upcoming show at the Inn at the 5th.  They have a celebration called Bloom every year and this year, my art will be featured at the First Friday Art Walk, 

May 6, 5:30-8:00.

   I have been fiddling with photo shoots of flowers for this series because I wanted a floral noir kind of look- mysterious dark background with deep shadows to play off the creamy whites of the flowers.  This hydrangea was so much fun because it captured some of the light inside the blossom, giving that warm glow.  In an attempt to capture that look with colors , I kept all the petals on the outside of the flower in cool blues and lavenders while every thing inside the petals is warm oranges and greens and greys.  I added colors to my palette for this project,  cobalt blue and mineral violet are the old standbys, but I added Verditer blue from Daniel Smith.  For the warm tones I used Gamboge Yellow and Azo yellow but added a yummy orange called Scarlet Pyrrol, and Cad Red Scarlett along with some Rose Madder Genuine.  

   Your colors become your friends.  You become familiar with the way they perform together.  Adding new ones can be risky.  How do you know they will "play nice" with your old friends and give you the effects you want?  I kept a strip of paper next to me and mixed the new colors with the old before I used them on my painting.  The test strip is a bit like training wheels- feels annoying and slows you down.  But disciplining yourself to throttle down and use it gives you your predictability back.  That way you dont have any ugly surprises on your painting.  I have a lot of bad color mixing stories that you dont have time for!  After having to literally scrub color off your painting in the sink, you become more careful the next time.  Lesson learned!

Surprised!

Every month I enter an online art contest called The Bold Brush Painting Contest.  I opened my email to find this notice that I won the Outstanding Watercolor award for February.  I'm honored they chose this painting I gave to my son for his office.  It is a sign up the McKenzie River that no longer works but has a lovely veil of rust due to our Oregon rain.  

Here are a few places my art will be featured locally:

April 1-  Pacific Rim Gallery, 160 E. Broadway, Eugene, OR.  First Friday Art Walk.  There will be several of my favorite florals and I will be painting a floral still life at the event.  5:30-8:30

April 9,10,11- Watercolor Society of Oregon Spring Conference, Silverton, OR  I have a painting hanging in this competition.  It's a double portrait of two snorkelers that always makes me giggle.  They are celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary, so it's entitled How Deep is Your Love.   I will let you know if I win any prizes.

May 6-  The Inn at the 5th, 5th St.  Eugene, Oregon. First Friday Art Walk.  Every year the 5th Street Public Market has a celebration called Bloom.  They will be featuring my watercolor paintings of white peonies, roses and light blue hydrangeas in a show called Flowers Noir.  Each subject is spotlighted to create dramatic shadows and softly glowing highlights.

Peonies, 22x30. Watercolor on Arches paper, $ 2,500.

Finish Well

        

           Dragon Dance 15x22  

    

Definition of insanity- Doing the same thing over and over yet expecting a different result.  

   Why would I start this painting over again after just finishing the first version?   Simple- I changed my mind about a few things.  Isn't that a girls perogative?

    First, I decided it was an image of such complex rendering, concentrated color and unique subject matter that it deserved to be bigger.  

    Second, I became intrigued with the notion that the watercolor could create more interesting smoke than I did.  I loved this element in the first painting but I thought of it too late and it was created over the top of other painting in the background painting.  While you can't see anything amiss in the smoke, it isn't as organically watercolory ( is that a word?!?!?) as in the second painting.  It may not seem as impactful of a change in the photos unless you zoom in or see them in person.  Yummy color fusion!

    Third, I wanted to take more time and have larger shapes so I could concentrate on creating a beautiful finish.  Finishing well is a worthy goal in life as well as in painting.  As I am connecting all the lines, smoothing out fields of color, eliminating unwanted brush strokes and properly forming the shapes of objects, I am trying to make the painting look resolved.  

   I can't help but be reminded as I'm working that this is also my goal in my life.  To live my faith in a loving God in a way that my kids and grandkids can someday say, " If that is what a Christian looks like then I want to be one too."  Can I be that kind, that loving, that determined to do what's right, especially when it's not convenient or fun?  I doubt it, not without His help and a little more humility on my part. Maybe doing something over again is the only way to get it truly right. Connecting the lines and removing the blemishes- who knew that art and life could sometimes overlap?

   Come see my show called, East West Fusion, where this painting as well as some others painted from photos I took while visiting China will be featured and on sale.  First Friday Art Walk, February 5, at the Pacific Rim Gallerry, 160 E. Broadway. 

Snow in the Forecast

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New York Snow- watercolor 22x30. $1,675.00

Pacific Rim Gallery 160 E. Broadway, Eugene, Oregon

   As soon as the weather starts to turn, I go on snow watch.  When I was a child, I loved the snow days.  My father would come to school and check us out early with some lame excuse and we would go sledding.  One of the benefits of living on a hill is that I don't drive in it.  That means that even a skiff of snow creates a full on snow day at my house- complete with snow men in the yard and movies on tv.  

  My fascination with urban subject matter is a great chance to make it snow.  This painting was created from images from another season and I adapted it to reflect my snowy fantasy.  If you look closely you will even find Christmas trees and holiday lights, which were not in the reference photos.  The glow of the headlights on the wet street was created by allowing yellow and orange pigment to run down through the dark ultra marine blue/ perylene maroon mixture that is the pavement.  Melting snow is piled in the gutters as the next flurries start to fly.  All the architure and perspective is the same and provides a real challenge for any artist to create that feeling of walking down this street surrounded by these beautiful old high rise buildings.  An art assignment worthy of any season.

   If you live in Eugene, you can see this painting- currently on display at Pacific Rim Gallery, 160 E. Broadway.  Open Fridays and Saturdays, 12-5. 

Paintings on my mind

Dragon Dance 15x22 watercolor on Arches paper $875.00

  

What do you think about in that moment before you pass from the waking world into sleep?  If you,re like me, you have a painting in your mind.  I see the photo in my imagination.  I'm working out composition, palette, what to leave out of the photo as I drift off to sleep.  For years I have carried this image in my phone of this girl in a parade in Oahu.  I snapped it because I was intrigued with the dragons head.  It is a beautiful piece of art in its own right.  After taking the picture I saw the image of the girl holding it up.

  I made many changes to the photo, leaving out a lot of colors and shapes behind her torso.  I also removed two other people standing near her.  I also extended the ribbons so they would drift across her body.  Last, I pumped up that powerful red color.

   Why did I wait years to paint this?  I had lots of themed shows I was composing and I knew I wanted to wait till I could work only on this painting.  Dreaming about it for so long allowed me to be very sure about the approach I took.  Taking extra time to plan also gives your skills time to develop.  Some images you desperately want to paint feel just technically out of your grasp.  Waiting lets you grow into the painting you have been dreaming of.  A little paper, a little colored water... The stuff dreams are made of.

First Friday Vistra Show

Joneile and the current reigning "Slug Queen" during First Friday Artwalk, Oct. 2, 2015

   Many thanks to my friends at Vistra Frame Gallery.  They hosted my current show called "Eugene in Color".  The show grew out of a desire to embrace the unique flavor that is downtown Eugene.  Diane and Pat took such  good care of me, bringing food and water to me as I painted an image of the iconic Fish Fountain in the park.  I met so many great people in the course  of the evening too.  Being the last stop on the tour was a fun way to end the night.  Our master of ceremonies was none other than the Slug queen.  If you are in the Eugene area, come see all the images in the show.

   

Taken for a Ride 15x22 Arches paper $750.00

Kesey Square (still in progress here but finished and hanging in Vistra Gallery).  22x30 Watercolor, $1650.00

   To purchase these works or see more, go to Vistra Frame and Art Gallery, 160 E. Broadway Eugene, Oregon.  Open 10:30-5:30 weekdays. 541-343-2353

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Taken for a Ride,  watercolor on Arches paper,  $ 750.00

They say you can never forget how to ride a bicycle.  If you haven't been riding for a while, you can just get back on and you won't miss a beat.  I'm hoping that also applies to blogging.  Maybe you have noticed that I haven't posted a new blog for almost a year.  I don't know why I quit writing about my art process- I just quit taking the time to put into words the inner struggle that produces my watercolors.

I've missed this, though and as I'm writing this I realize that including other people in this creative endeavor is important.  We all want people observing our lives so we can share experiences and compare notes!

There have been at least two major events this year that have impacted my art.  

I moved my studio to another room in my house.  That sounds so simple but it was an incredible journey.  For the month that I was actively moving, I could be seen at odd hours of the day or night, with a glazed look in my eyes, wandering the halls with random piles of art materials in my hands.  Muttering unintelligibly to myself, looking for storage!!!  My new studio is smaller but much better organized.  

The other big event was an opportunity to be involved in restoring 100 year old stencilling and murals out of state.  I lived at the job site for 5 weeks and I felt so honored to be able to help preserve such a beautiful piece of history.  Because the client requires tight security, I could not post pictures of the work I did or take any photos of the inside of the building.  I hope to do more work like this in the future.

I think there is a connection between riding a bike and blogging- I'm so happy to be blogging again and I feel an uncontrollable urge to put on a helmet.  What does that mean?

See this painting and more in the series, Eugene in Color, at Vistra Framing Gallery at 160 E. Broadway, Eugene, Oregon.  First Friday Artwalk,  October 2,  5:30-8:30