Spring Sprang Sprung

Purple Tulips 8x8 oil on panel

Art Lovers Mark Your Calendars: Summer Art Market June 9-10, 2012

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be at the Summer Art Market (SAM) again this year on the June 9-10 weekend on 200 Grant in central Denver.  It’s my favorite art festival—I always meet so many great folks who really enjoy art. I’m in lucky booth number nine.

I believe SAM (which is celebrating its 20^th year) is one of the best quality art festivals in the region. The quality and prices for original fine art (no reproductions are allowed) can’t be beat in IMHO.  I’ve said it before but if you’re a savvy art shopper who hopes to discover talent this is the art festival for you. And for artists it offers a ton of inspiration and variety from regional artists.

Darn it Jim—I’m an Artist, Not a Mechanic

Nothing perks a studio up like a new easel. Several months ago I posted that I was planning to try a new counter balanced easel.  I’ve read many positive reviews and after some debate settled on this style. Unfortunately, while it was well packed, one of the supports was cracked (which could be glued) but another part just didn’t seem to work very well as you know these are not inexpensive easels. 

Now I'll admit I'm not terribly handy so I had a pretty handy neighbor trying troubleshoot it with me. But after several hours of assembly and then re-assembly we decided that it wasn’t meant to be. Long story short, that easel was returned to Jerry’s.  About a week ago though, spring serendipity brought a gently used Renaissance crank easel and I so far I love it.  The easel is super sturdy, the cranking is very smooth, and I love the warm wood tone.  If you’re ready for a larger easel I highly recommend this one.

Isn't that Pinteresting?

Study of Lemon and Mug oil on panel 8x8

Happy Spring everyone! Hope you're enjoying the same great spring weather at your studio. Here are just a few things that have been keeping me busy as spring approaches...

1. New much quieter, faster laptop. Loving my new HP Pavilion--but file transfer, keyboard adjustment, software learning, etc. has taken me a while thus my delay in posting. 
2. New plein air (outdoor) easel. Time to retire "Julian." After extensive online research, I chose the Coulter outdoor easel. I choose the "medium" size --which I'm hoping will be "just right." Looking forward to testing this in the park soon. Am also excited to have a good stable easy for demos, etc. I was planning to try at the Plein Air Convention in LV next month but when the Red Rocks hotel sold out I'm now on the fence. Also as a poker player--I might get distracted.
3. Have you been Pinning like me? Finally a social "experience" that's perfect for artists. More on that below. .
4. Enjoying the new art bytes on Daily Paintworks as well as the DP Pinterest Boards.  Be sure to check those out!
5. Hunting for my favorite brush cleaner and eco turp by Demco...So far can only find on Canadian sites that won't ship. If anyone knows a US site where I can order these please let me know. In the meantime, recommend the Winsor Newton Non Toxic Brush Cleaner--not the same but pretty good.
6. Practicing the basics--sometimes like to take a break from a more formal painting to really study all the subtle value and color changes in simple live still life like today's posting
7. Having a blast teaching lots of spring students (thanks all!) and enjoying being an art student myself in Kevin Weckbach's six month master oil class. Intense but highly enjoyable.

So it's kind of hard to avoid all the Pinterest hype. I've just started to "pin" on Pinterest--some of my Scarlet Owl Pinterest boards include My Favorite Art Books, My Favorite Masterpieces and Owls (of course!). Like many artists, I'm just starting to learn about Pinterest best practices, etc. In the meantime, I welcome the exposure so please feel free to "pin" any of my blog images. And if I don't post before Saturday--Happy St. Pat's to all!