Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Let Them Paint Cake!

Buttercream Dreams--9x12--Acrylic on Canvas-SOLD
Today's Painting
Mmm...Cake. I've had some very positive feedback about my colorful red velvet cake piece  that I painted earlier this year with the slower drying Golden Open Acrylic paints. This painting is part of a set for a commission.  For me, if I had to pick a favorite dessert, it's probably cake so this is certainly a painless  subject to research. Plus, I find it very energizing to paint graphically with bold shapes and unusual color pairings like many of the contemporary pop artists such as Wayne Thiebaud.  

Colorful Connections Turns 2!
Before I forget, I wanted to quickly celebrate my 200th posting or what is basically my two year blogging anniversary.  Woohoo--Very exciting--So many thanks to all my visitors, students, and followers.I can honestly say that blogging about my teaching and painting has changed my art career as I'm sure it has for many artists. So again, my sincere thanks!

Cherry Creek Arts Festival This Weekend-July 2, 3, & 4, 2011
I feel very lucky to be able to walk to one of the premium art fairs in the country each 4th of July weekend. I don't think I've ever missed a year.  Each year the festival receives over 2,000 applications so as an artist it's fascinating to see the 230 artists selected. Like many artists in the Denver area, it's one of my top art goals to be in this show. Until then, I'm happy to be a spectator and speaking of food, be sure to check out the free culinary demos--it's one of my favorite breaks between art ogling.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Rosy June Weekend

Ron's Roses-6x6-oil on canvas panel
Today's Painting
Last week, one of my watercolor student's who also loves painting florals brought in roses from his garden. I would have painted my own but, as I mentioned before, I do not have a viridian thumb.  My roses are blooming but with lots of critters which I hope to have under control soon. Anyway, I've been wanting to do a 6x6 rose oil study for sometime so this colorful bouquet was the perfect opportunity. Thanks Ron for sharing your garden! P.S. If you love roses like I do the Denver Rose Society Annual Rose Show is Sunday, August 14 at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

All Colorado Art Show 
Diane at The All Colorado Art Show--June 2011
On Saturday evening (after a very tasty meal at one of my favorite little Mexican restaurants--Chez Jose) I attended the opening reception and saw may friends and familiar faces including a few students. Here's my student Diane with her wonderful acrylic waterfall painting. For you adventurers out there, she told me this waterfall is somewhere just outside of beautiful Nederland, Colorado. Am looking forward to the juror's talk and gallery walk on Thurs. July 14. As an artist it's always a fascinating to hear first hand what a juror says about the art work he or she selected and why.

Call for Entry: Mini Masterpieces
Speaking of shows, if you are in the Denver area and you like to paint on an intimate scale (5x7 or less) check out the call for entry for Mountainside Miniatures. I went to the show last year and it's amazing what some artists can get into a small canvas. The show also offers over $1000 in cash and merchandise prizes.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The Fine Art of Travel

Mixed Media-24 x 30
Recently a student who had seen one of my larger mixed media  paintings asked if we could create a similar type of painting (i.e. mixed media collage) to pay homage to her trip to Italy this year. I thought this was a fantastic idea.

I've always loved bold graphic vintage travel posters (here are some examples from a poster website) so I thought we could combine the two looks onto a gallery wrap canvas. This is still a work in progress but we had so much fun creating it that I wanted to share it with everyone.

I love the idea of putting your travel memories (here we've included things like museum tickets, train tickets, a map, etc.) into a piece of art work kind of like a giant scrap book. My tip is to layout all your travel ephemera to get an idea of the size of canvas you'll need. I think bigger is better in this case to give you lots of room to work. In this painting, we also added rubber stamps of famous Italian landmarks as well as the individual names of all the cities she visited such as Rome and Venice. She also choose gorgeous warm colors that she associated with Italy--golds, plums, rusts, etc. 

We used acrylic paints for quick drying and easier glazing. I also love the look and feel of waxy encaustic paintings so some of the pieces of paper have been sealed with tinted acrylic gel (such as a matte heavy gel).  Here, I tinted the gel with a touch of metallic gold and some interference blue. And certainly you could cover the entire canvas surface with a tinted gel as well, which will also help seal and protect the surface. 

Before I go wanted to offer a quick congrats to another student who not only got into the All Colorado Art Show with two beautiful landscapes but it's his first show as well. If you're an artist who shows you know how exciting that first show can be--so way to go Dallas!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Garden of Secrets

Garden of Secrets-WC-22x30
All Colorado Art Show: June 25-August 10, 2011
I"m pleased to announce that my contemporary floral watercolor painting posted today--Garden of Secrets-- was just juried into the 28th Annual All Colorado Art Show at the Curtis Arts & Humanities Center in Greenwood Village, Colorado. The juror was Ms. Jill Desmond is a Modern and Contemporary Curatorial Assistant for the Denver Art Museum. She'll be doing a juror lecture about evolution figure painting, which should be very interesting, on Thursday, July 14, at 6:30P.

I painted this large full sheet 22 x 30 watercolor from sketches and photo references I took last summer at my nearby Washington Park, where each year they plant a wonderful garden, including these towering cana flowers.  The always lively garden is one of my favorite places to paint in the city--Just be sure to watch out for the sprinklers if you've got watercolor paper!

The show opens June 25, 2011 and runs through August 10, 2011. If you are in the area, please be sure to stop by the reception on Saturday, June 25 from 5P to 7P. And a quick congrats to my student Diane for also getting into the show!

Watercolor Landscape Book
This reminds me to mention a great watercolor book that I may not have mentioned before and that is the late William Condit's Transparent Watercolor which you can usually find on used on Amazon for less than $10.  Mr. Condit was an extremely talented Colorado watercolor painter and the book also features some of his watercolor mentors. Particularly if you enjoy watercolor landscapes, I think you'll love this gem.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Summer Art News

Denver Summer Art Market
Summer Art Market Report
First, a huge THANKS to my many friends and students who stopped by to visit me at the Summer Art Market over the weekend. It was great to see you all and hope you enjoyed the Market. Thank you to to all my collectors who made purchases--it was wonderful to meet you and I greatly appreciate your support. I'm thrilled to report that I sold some of my favorite paintings that I've posted this year.

My niece at the SAM--already a budding artist!
Festival Packing List: Tape, Tags, Scissors, and a Tabby!
I'm a little sunburn and am missing some of my big toe (thanks to the on site EMT crew who got me back on my on my feet just in time to man my booth) but otherwise it was fantastic! Note to self and other aspiring festival artists, do not set up your tent in flip flops! I just wish I had more time and opportunity to shop around myself. I've said it before, but I think the quality and variety of the SAM is amazing. Very motivating and inspiring as an artist! I was planning on just doing this one show this year, but I had such a good time I'm now considering the Boulder Fall Show on the Pearl Street Mall.  Well, better let the toe at least rest for a few days and then I'll think about that.

New DPW Gallery!
Looking for high quality daily paintings at affordable prices? I'm thrilled to announce that Daily Paintwork Auctions is live this week. Unlike eBay or Etsy, Daily Paintworks Auctions will focus only on fine art. I've sold some art in the past on eBay and Etsy but I'm looking forward to trying Daily Paintworks as my exclusive online sales outlet. Here's a link to the Scarlet Owl Studio DPW Gallery Page.  My plan is to post several of my unframed "bin work" at after festival pricing in the next few weeks so be looking for those.
Summer Painting Classes
Now that the Market is over, I'm back in the studio painting and teaching so if you are looking for relaxing summer art class please email me. For more info about my classes please click on the Art Classes link at the top of the page.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Getting Ready for Market Day



Summer Art Market: This Weekend!
Here I am at the Art Market a few years ago before I started blogging so I thought I'd post a preview. Several hours after this was taken I actually fainted from the dehydration (lesson learned) but I look fairly fresh here. And just seeing this photo reminds me how much fun it is to be at a festival (fainting aside). My other tip: Metal chairs get hot even in the shade. I now have a comfy red fabric director's chair. 

Just 2 more days until the Denver Summer Art Market this weekend so continuing to tag, frame, inventory, etc. I just checked out the WeatherChannel app on the iPad and, I don't want to jinx it, but it's looking pretty good this year--mostly 80s. (Much better than the chilly non-stop rain last year.)

Thankfully, my booth partner has already owns tent (yay) so I don't have to worry about that. One time at a festival I arrived to set up and my rented tent was no where in sight. Many phone calls later a booth arrived--around 11P. As you can guess, hanging art (and this is when I used to use a lot of glass) on an old step ladder with a flash light on a bumpy urban side street is not an ideal circumstance.

Finally, I'm posting a Denver Summer Art Market Coupon (Booth 80) for all my BlogReaders, students, etc. for 10% off any framed artwork. (Just print this out and redeem in my booth. Note this is just for my Scarlet Owl Studio not for any other artist at the show.) You'll find Booth 80 on the corner of 2nd and Sherman Street. I look forward to seeing you at the Market! As a bonus, for any new students, I'll also apply this coupon to your first lesson (offer expires 7/1/2011).

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Rhapsody in Blue

Today's Painting
A few weeks ago at the grocery store this iris and daffodil bouquet caught my eye. As I've mentioned before my studio cat, Dash, can merrily shred an enormous bouquet in under a minute so I tend not to buy many fresh flowers. But it had been so oddly rainy and cloudy here, that I just had to have some spring color in the studio. The vibrant violet blue/golden yellow color palette, which always reminds me of Provence, is one of my favorite floral color schemes.  
Floral Painting Books

If you like painting more organic and natural floral paintings as I usually do, I recommend checking out iconic painter  Charles Reid. . A well know workshop instructor and prolific author Mr. Reid has published several books (most only a few dollars used) on flower painting including: Painting Flowers in Watercolor and Flower Painting in Oil. I particularly enjoy his initial contour drawing approach to the subject matter. 
Get Ready to Sharpen Your Pencils!
Speaking of drawing, I saw that this Saturday, June 4, is Drawing Day 2011. If you go to the site, you'll find lots of interesting ways to share your drawing with the world online. Finally, quick welcome to all my new May and June students. I love painting in the summer with so warm light and colorful subject matter at hand and hope you will too!