Time For A Do Over

In Need of a Makeover

 Today I'm doing a do over of a painting I did a while back.

I love skyscapes, beautiful clouds and atmospherics,

so this was a practice painting of clouds.

I really like the clouds, the colors, the lights and shadows,

but I didn't like the little landscape part of the painting was there.

I liked the colors in the clouds and the highlights,

but I didn't like the tops of those trees at the bottom,

so,

today they had a makeover

This works better for me.

I added in some more negative sky,

then lightened up and changed the shape of some of the trees and

then gave then some warmer highlights.  

Now I've practiced twice.

Click here to go to my paintworks auction for this painting
When you get to that page, please scroll down and there are 3 paintings on my page that are currently on auctions.   

 

Trucking

Re Worked the Truck Drawing

I know,

my truck drawing was horrible!!

I almost didn't post it, but I did just for this purpose.

To try again and hopefully have a better result.

So today after listing paintings on my daily paintworks site,

and other miscellaneous social media stuff,

I took up the truck drawing again.

 This is the black and white photo of the truck.

I'm changing the whole composition

because the truck is the star.

It's black with plenty of vintage patina,

otherwise known as rust.

Here goes the drawing as I see it happening on my canvas.

    I'm much less embarrassed with this drawing.

It will be out in the middle of a field with weeds growing up around it.

This painting is scheduled for Day 2.

That first week, my theme for the week is 

"All Over The Place",

so there will be all sorts of subject matter.

Week 2 - Architecture week

Most of that will come from some fabulous photos I took while in 

St. Augustine, Savannah, and Charleston last winter.

Week 3 - Beach Week

not much explanation needed there.

Week 4 - Flower Week

You know my love for flowers is taken over here.  

The final two days are anything goes.

Tell your friends and neighbors,

The challenge is coming!!!

Getting Ready for 30 in 30

Preparation is Half the Battle

I'm in the preparation mode for the 30 paintings in 30 days

online art challenge in September by Leslie Saeta.

I did this in January and learned so much about painting,

about me,

on accomplishing a goal,

met so many great art friends,

and saw fabulous art every single day for an entire month,

I couldn't think of a down side,

so I'm at it again.

Only this time,

I'm doing a little more preparation besides getting a bunch of small panels and canvases ready.

Panels ready.

Some have been gessoed, some have been toned either with burnt sienna or gray.

Being a daily painter, usually means painting small.

And I did most days,

but I did do one 16" x 20" during the last challenge.

 Canvases, check!

This time however, I am doing a lot more planning and preparation.

First I downloaded about 50 photos of things I thought would make great art.

They are all in a file on my desktop.

Next I created a calendar for September and added my commitments for the month.

Busy Month!

Then I decided on themes for each week,

and next I plugged in the photos to use in those categories.

I took some of the photos I wanted to paint early and did some value drawings

and edited the photos in picasso and printed them in black and white as reference.

Autumn scene.

This is from a photo my daughter Kari took.

This is probably going to be a 16" x 20"

 

 Photos edited and printed to black and white for values.

Love the truck.

My drawing is pitiful and I'll have to work on that.

 This will be my first painting of the challenge.

This is a beautiful Jersey cow at last years Kentucky State Fair.

I taped the photo on the back of the panel it will be painted on.

Value drawing of the cow.

 

Truck looks like a 3 year old did it.

I know, I have to work on that.

When I paint the paintings, I will have my computer on my right with the color photo

and any drawings and the black and white photos on my left.

I haven't designated sizes to each painting yet,

I may let that be the spur of the moment decision, or not.

I'm also going to add dinner menus to my calendar so I don't have to think about 

what to fix for dinner all day.

My world goes much smoother and less expensive if I have a meal planner menu.

Since that works so well for meal planning,

that's why I decided to take that tack for planning my 30/30 attack.

The last time, I had to not only paint the paintings,

but,

do all the planning each day for the next day.

I'm trying to eliminate a little stress by planning now.

If I get into my studio and look at my calendar and whine,

"but I don't want to paint that truck today"

it's OK, I can plug in another painting,

but it's much easier with a workable plan.

Now, let's get down there and paint.

Oh wait,

It's not September 1st yet.

You're The Next Contestant

And The Winner Is. . .

During the most recent blog carnival about a day in the life of an artist,

I asked people to post on my blog and share on your facebook page

and I would be giving away my 7" x 5" study to one of you fabulous guys.

Here's the painting,

I haven't signed it yet,

but it will be when I send it out to 

Kimberly Jones Easterling of Charleston, SC.

Come on down,

you're the next winner of an original painting.

Email me with your address and I'll git'r in the mail to ya.

slgraves6@gmail.com

Thanks for playing Kimberly.

In case you missed it,
click HERE to watch the video of it being created.

    

Happy Day

Happy Day

This is a happy day!

I love the color in this painting

and the subject matter.

  This is the painting I use for most of my promotional material.

And it's your lucky day,

It's available.

6" x 6" water mixable oil on canvas panel.

$100 + $10 shipping

includes small easel

Growing - Painting - Eating

Another Thing I've Never Painted

I've been trying to get out of my artist malaise

by trying new things and incorporating them in my art.

I've never really painted still life before.

I've painted vases of flowers, but to me if it doesn't have several different types of items in it

it's not really still life.

We grow a lot of produce my husband sells at the farmer's market in Carrollton

so I have access to a variety of fruits and vegetables.

I tried some peppers a few weeks ago and they were horrible.

We have an abundance of them, so I thought I'd give it another go,

but first I thought I'd draw them first.

Drawing is one of the things I'm trying to improve on,

so I laid them out on the table in what I thought was an interesting arrangement

and then I drew them and then I painted them.

  I drew the peppers and added some broken lines for the shadows and tried to get some highlights

on the peppers and then some shading and highlights on the stems.

Then I painted them trying to get the colors and the shadows to look like the real ones

and the drawing.

I was pretty happy with the result.

Then, I was able to use the peppers in my salsa.

Leave me a comment about what you think and how I could have improved it.

I always struggle with the background color.

 How do you select a background color?

Do you use a complementary color or what?

I always tone my boards with a mix of burnt sienna and white

and then I used ultramarine blue and white for the background.

I don't mix it very well so it has a streaked look 

and I paint it on the bias.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Down For a Few Days

Gall Bladder Surgery

This morning I'll be having my gall bladder taken out.

You remember when I missed my own art show,

Well, I can blame that on my gall bladder.

We will be parting about noon today.

In case you didn't see this on my blog carnival

I'm adding it for today.

If you've ever wanted to know how to frame a painting,

here's how I do it.

Click Here to see my video.

Wish me luck!

I'll talk to you again once my gall bladder are no longer attached.

A Day in the Life

What is a Day in the Life of an Artist Like?

This is another in our blog carnival and at the end of the post is a list of other artists participating in the carnival.  You can visit them at your leisure.  There are giveaways along the way.

I will be giving away my 7" x 5" study in the post.
Be sure to click to see the progression of the painting.
Leave a comment on my blog and share my link on your fb page and you're entered.

I don't know that I have a normal day,

but this will give you a pretty good idea of what a "normal" day might look like.

I was getting entries ready for the Kentucky State Fair

so let's get started.

First off

you have to have the proper attire,

and these complete my ensemble of a UK t-shirt and blue jean capris.

Clothes make the woman.

I couldn't figure out how to show the wheels of my brain turning as I flipped through many possible photos I could use for my State Fair entries.

I decided on a swampy scene I took a photo of in Florida this past winter.

I've entered in two classes, a mini painting which I will do in a 4" x 4" format

 and another in a 16" x 20" on a stretched canvas.

 I've decided that I am going to spend more time in preparation for my paintings.

Here I'm drawing the scene, trying to get the composition I want.

 A little of the progress of the drawing.

The finished drawing.

I don't consider myself very good at drawing, but it is something I've worked on lately.

I'm happy with this.

Let's see if I can translate this composition into a good painting.

I've taken out several trees and a foot bridge from the actual photo.

 I'm going to do a 7" x 5" study of the drawing, again refining the process and

 getting the colors and values right.

This is how I attach my small panels to a dabble board.

Yep, that's just rolled masking tape.  I put the panel on a larger piece of masonite

so I can paint all the way to the edges, not touch it until I'm ready to remove it,

and I have something to do a quick practice stroke on if I need one.

I've used this method for years and have never had problems with the panel falling off 

unless I leave it on for several days.

Click here to view the video of the progression of the painting.

Before I start the small painting, I start priming larger canvases.  

I usually do several at once.

If I'm doing small ones I do a dozen or so at a time.

These will receive up to 6 coats of gesso before I begin the painting.

Starting with a fresh palette.

Those are paper towels around the edges with the paint on them.

Since I paint in acrylics, I can spray my palette with water and the paper towels absorb the excess ad keep the paints moist.
I spray it several time during a paint session.

When I'm done for the day, I spray everything, put the lid on and

live to paint another day.

 The beginning of the study

The completion of the study.

I'm happy with the colors.

Might make more separation in the distance foliage.

 I'm beginning my 4" x 4" painting.

It's on a panel.

I felt it would be easier for me to start small and then go large.

I'm using the same reference for both of these paintings.

They aren't competing against each other

and I really like the composition.

Here it is finished.
You can see I added more distance by painting another lighter bank of trees back there.
I also added more warmth by adding brighter yellow and light green in the foreground.

I took a break for lunch here.
I've really worked up an appetite!

 Now for the 3rd painting today,

I'm starting the 20" x 16" stretched canvas.

Here's the block in and . . .

 Here's the finished painting.
There's more reflections in this version and more oranges and yellows close to the water.

 Here's all 4 pieces I've completed today.

I know,

I'm an over-achiever.

I popped the 4" X " into this cute wooden shadow box frame.

Now to frame the big boy.

I made a little video of how I frame a painting,

so click to view the video here.

Now one last thing.

I'm entering one of my slate shingle yard art pieces,

and I needed to do a few finishing touches to it.

Can you see those holes about 2" from the top.

This slate hangs on a shepherds/mini flag hook in the yard,

for some pretty cool yard art.

 

I'm pretty beat.

But a day wouldn't be a day without this,

 During my little lunch break,

of course I had to go throw a load of clothes in to wash.

Well there you have it, friends.

That's pretty much what my days in the studio look like.

Here's the list of other artists blog posts.

Cindy Michaud	Jo MacKenzie	Christine Parker	Marla Laubisch
Joanne Grant	Kevin Larson	Cindy Williams	Sharon Graves
Sally Binard	Karen Johnston

"http://charleenmartinstudios.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-day-in-life-of-artist.html">Charleen Martin

Thanks for stopping by today.

An Artist Life

Quite The Day

 I'm doing a blog post later this week about a Day in the Life of an Artist.

It's part of another blog carnival similar to the one we did in showing off our studios.

I'm pretty excited about it and have worked on it pretty hard.

It's supposed to come out Thursday night at midnight.

But this post is about my day Monday.

 Here's my days work.

24 pints of Kosher dill spears and slices

and 24 1/2 pints of salsa.

 Here's the dill slices.

They have our home grown dill in each jar.

Salsa

Made with our tomatoes, peppers and onions.

Here's the spears.

I had it all done by 12:30 p.m.

There is something strangely comforting to know there is plenty of my own food in my pantry.

Next come peaches and pears, juice, jelly and whole to make.

Then on to rabbit barbecue,

tomato juice,

sauce,

diced.

Always work on this small farm.

Fun work, but work just the same.

All is safely gathered in.

Bank On It

Cold Hard ART?

This month CUB, Citizens Union Bank in LaGrange is turning itself into an art gallery.

Artists from the Arts Association of Oldham County have the opportunity to display up to two pieces of art there.  It's the bank just beyond Kroger.

 My Old Kentucky Barn

is one of my favorites.

It is a scene that can be seen anywhere across the Commonwealth.

It's an 18" X 24" framed acrylic on a stretched canvas.

$300

Winter Sunburst

is a fun winter scene that I'm especially fond of.

16" x 20" framed acrylic on a stretched canvas

$200

Both of these paintings are on display in the CUB Bank in LaGrange, KY

and can be purchased there through Gallery 104.

 

There is a reception there this Thursday night 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

 

I don't think I will be able to make it there,

but if you're in the area, you should check it out.

There will be lots of art and artists available.

 

A portion of all sales goes to the Association.

 

Thanks for stopping in today.

OK, So I missed my own art reception

That's Right Folks,

I missed my own art reception.

I hear it was great fun, was well attended, great food,

and

sold six paintings.

I, however was in the hospital having a fairly serious gall bladder attack.

My husband, Jim and my daughter Kari carried on for me.

Maybe I should miss all my receptions because as I said,

I sold six paintings.

I thank all of you who came so much,

I thank all you who bought my art very very much!!

I love what I do, but it's good to know someone else likes it too!

Prepared

was my first painting I did in the 30 in 30 project.

I hadn't painted in a while and was rather concerned I couldn't do it.

But, I picked up the brushes and as my backyard as my reference I painted this.

I was very happy with it and was glad when a collector of mine,

Patricia, wanted it.

It's a 10" x 8"  acrylic on a panel

Moonglow

was not part of my 30 in 30, but Shelley didn't care.

 She wanted it, so it now has a forever home with her.

It's a 6" x 6" acrylic on a canvas panel and was framed in a

wooden shadow box frame.

I like those frames because they can hang, stand or sit on an easel.

  First Saturday in May

also found its forever home with Susan Lunt.

She is from Utah and is living here serving in the Temple for 3 years

and she wanted something to remember Louisville by.

I painted this 6" x 6" acrylic on a canvas panel from a photograph I took

years ago before the great big remodeling job.

Of course the spire hasn't changed, but I had so much fun painting this.

I will show the other three that were purchased in my next post.

For now it's off to the Dr. and hopefully a good report on my gall bladder.

Again thank you so much for coming and checking out my show.

It will be up for the month of August at the Carroll County Library,

Carrollton, KY.