Doing Business

Lately I have been focusing a fair amount on the business side of things. I'm trying to keep balance between my day job, my painting, marketing and some personal life. As my friend Lee Ann would say, I'm a very busy woman!

So in preparation of the Summer Art Market, I have designed a postcard around this image. VistaPrint is a life saver.

I am also busy painting and framing 20 small 6x6 paintings so there will be a variety of price points available.

It's kind of fun to think that there are probably 200 other artists in this city, in the same mad rush to prepare for SAM. It will be a relief when it's here.

The Art of Schlepping

On a recent trip to Mexico, I decided against bringing all of my oil painting paraphenalia. All that schlepping and dealing with customs and all seemed counter to the idea of a relaxing vacatiion. The work I had intended on doing was mainly limited to gathering material for future paintings.

But I still wanted to paint, so I packed a small watercolor kit, a block of paper, 3 soft brush pens and 2 brushes. If I didn't even pull them out, I wouldn't have felt guilty about having brought it all along.

So I took my gear along with my sunscreen, to the pool. It was something fun and light and different for me, so when I finally pulled it all out, it just flowed. And since these were sketches, I allowed myself to just let go. And I loved it.

I have to thank Mary Byrom for inspiring me with her sketchbooks full of fresh and wonderful paintings.

Here are a few more from that trip.

The old town part of Cabo.

Along the Pacific

And Cabo Harbor.

Yes I Can Can(vas)

Cabo San Lucas, usually sunny and dry, was rainy and cool for most of my trip. So when the clouds finally parted, we were rewarded with this beautiful sunset.

Back to the canvas discussion...Just as soon as I pronouned canvas as my lesser preferred painting surface, I found myself with these nice little canvas boards for small sketches. So off I went. The painting came along nicely, but when it came time for the photo, I was reminded of why I don't like it. Light jumps and reflects in unpredictable ways when in any direct light. It took me several attempts to get this little guy's picture.

Surface Matters

I'm always curious about the types of surfaces people prefer. Some painters are purely canvas folks.I like canvas just fine, preferably with just a little tooth, and even better if it's mounted on something hard.But my very favorite is painting on board. For years, masonite has been my favorite thing to paint on. I like the way it feels..solid, not slick and slippery like that some of those prepared boards.And then more recently, several people I know have been painting on birch plywood. Hey, I'm game!

So off to Home Depot. BTW, I LOVE to go there, or any hardware store for that matter.So much great stuff, it's mind boggling. But back to my plywood. It comes in a 4'x8' piece and is the most fine grained of all the plywoods. The really great thing is that Home Depot will cut it up for you, and for free if you're nice. So I came home with 8 boards of various sizes. I am very excited to paint on it. But first I have to sand down those rough edges created by the cuts. Painting takes a lot of prep work before laying down that first brush stroke.

I just love the whole messy process.

Cold Feet

For me, getting out to paint in the cold is 99% a head game. I went out in the middle of a snow squall, convinced I would end up home with nothing to show for the trip. But there was a break in the clouds and I went for it. This little sketch was done along Lake Creek in Edwards. A little fine tuning and I'll call it good.

How do the rest of you get motivated when you know you'll be dealing with your least favorite conditions?  What helped me stay out there was setting a time limit, and cranking up the car radio to sing along to the oldies.

oh yes, and the other 1% -...warm boots.

Getting out in the winter

As much as I love all of the seasons, I'm not a big fan of painting out in the cold. My solution was to go someplace warm, so I spent a week in Palm Desert, painting palm trees and poolside scenes. The light was fading fast when I decided to grab my easel and dash out to the front porch and do this little piece.

As for my complaints about the cold, it's been a wonderfully warm March so far in Denver, but nature has her sense of humor and is suppose to drop a foot of heavy wet snow on us tomorrow. May be my last chance to paint snow this season, so I'm going to bundle up and get out there. brrr!

Patent Leather Pumps

7 x 9
Oil on masonite

This is a study to see how far I can push the color when the subject matter consists of two elements, one black and the other white. The large shape is of course, the black shoes. The shadow, although on a white cloth, is really part of the large shape. So I tried to tie them together. Patent leather has wonderful reflective qualities, so it allowed me to use more color.

I'd appreciate feedback on this piece, as well as the other paintings.

I'm off to the mountains, where the snow is falling like crazy this winter. Hopefully I can get outside to do some white on white plein air pieces.