Little Folk Art Houston for It's a Small World show. SOLD

Click image to enlarge.
Medium: Oils on Canvas
Size: 5" x 5" x 1.5"



All sides are painted. This is the bottom view.

Although I applied more layers of paint and spent more time on this MiniScape than usual, Little Folk Art Houston is finally finished, and well ahead of the June 31st deadline. Waiting days for layers to dry wasn't an issue because I began so far in advance of the deadline and because its small size afforded me the space to work on other pieces too.

The building at the center left is the Elder Street Gallery and Artists Lofts space. Since I never found any good, recent photos of it, I don't know how well I captured it.

Artists will be notified of acceptance by July 18. Next I will re-read the entry details and ask the gallery any questions. I hope it is accepted! The It's a Small World show runs from September 19-October 4, 2009.

For more information about the show:
Elder Street Gallery
1101 Elder Street
Houston, Tx 77007
elderstreetgallery@gmail.com

Digital Still Life Apples SOLD

Click image to enlarge
Size: 8 x 8
Medium: Giclee
Type: Digital



This is an original, one of a kind, digital painting. That is, a painting drawn with a mouse and brush tool and painted on the computer. Drawing with a mouse lends a natural clumsiness which can produce interesting results. In this case, I liked the results. The scene is a still life of golden apples, inspired by artist Carol Marine's charming piece, Three Golden Apples.

A giclee is defined as: An image created, scanned, or imported as a digital file into the computer, and printed on a high-end ink jet printer. (I used my own) The inks used produce extremely true colors without a dot pattern.

As it happened, the eBay buyer is a resident of the ultra chic Harbor Club in downtown San Diego where, thanks to her several purchases of a painting and two giclee prints, I have now made two deliveries in the last week. Creating digital art isn't necessarily faster than traditional painting, but the materials are much less costly than canvas and oils.

Little Folk Art Houston is almost finished. I hope to show you the finished piece next week.

Update-Houston Elder Street Gallery It's a Small World

Click image to enlarge


My camera is back on the job and just in time for a visual progress report on the miniscape of Little Folk Art Houston, which will be my entry for the It's a Small World miniatures show at Houston's Elder Street Gallery. Still quite a long way to go before it's finished. Due to the specifications for true miniatures, I am adding more tiny details than I normally would for a miniscape.

Update-Elder Street Gallery Miniatures Show MiniScape

Making slow progress on the MiniScape for Elder Street Gallery Miniatures Show, It's a Small World. Life is full of interruptions lately which makes painting slower than usual. On the other hand the frequent breaks are welcome. My stamina for the little scapes has diminished since the last one I painted. (December's Folk Art San Diego, I think?) I would have posted a photographic progress report but I don't have my camera back yet. Oh yes, and the repair was $100.00. I told them if it needs repairs again I am switching to Kodak!

I found a wonderful little brush for MiniScapes this week. It's a 20/0 which is quite fine and works well for these tiny details. Too bad I didn't see this brush when I first started painting MiniScapes.

Houston Elder Street Gallery Miniatures Show Update

Size: 5" x 5"
sketches on paper

I thought it might be fun to post the progression of the MiniScape painting I am working on for the Elder Street Gallery Miniatures Show, It's a Small World, September 19, 2009. Since I still do not have my camera back from Canon, nor even the diagnosis (because it took until yesterday for it to arrive there) I will not be showing the actual painting yet. Instead I have a couple of sketches of an early pencil drawing and the final, colored sketch from which I am working.

Pencil sketch

I worked on the sketch for a couple weeks, looking at images of Houston and trying to understand its personality and style and how it is laid out. Although I like the sketch, I am not so certain about the painting thus far.

Final colored sketch

And I keep questioning whether I really want to put so much effort into it when in the end it may not be accepted by the jury nor even be considered a true miniature, with all the technical specifications and requirements.

Here is one of the primary satellite images of Houston from which I am working.

At least I have plenty of time before the June 30 deadline, which is worth a lot in itself.

Eclipse__Abstract Expressionism. SOLD

Click picture to enlarge. Click title for more views and information.
Size: 40 x 60 x 1.5
Medium: Oils on Canvas


As the song says, "the waiting is the hardest part". What a mystery abstract painting has become to me. It asks me to be spontaneous, to listen, to respond, to pay attention, to evaluate the unexpected, to make decisions, to be unafraid, to ponder, to be lead and to wait ...and wait...and wait...and wait.

Then at a certain moment the painting reveals itself to me and surprises me with the wonder of its own true soul, that which it was before I began and fills me with an awesome and indescribable joy.

I added the keywords "abstract Expressionism" next to the title because I read that it may help Google find the image.

trying to get a good photo of this painting was frustrating and I spent most of the day at it, until my camera broke and will need to be sent back to Canon AGAIN. If it requires replacement AGAIN, I think I will switch to Kodak.

Oh yes, and this painting used to be Loft #9.

Update - And Elder Street Gallery Call to Artists

No painting to post today. Monday I decided to paint over Loft #9. I am letting the painting set the pace, which is much too slow for me! As someone once said to me: "I want patience and I want it now!" That sounds like something I would say.

It requires restraint on my part not to jump ahead of the painting and impose something on it. The alternative is I wait to hear its side of the conversation. Right now it seems to have paused to consider what it will say next. I am politely waiting. Maybe by next week I will have something to post.

Meanwhile I have also been working on a miniscape for the Call to Artists from the Elder Street Gallery, Houston. The painting may be no larger than 5" x 5". Strictly speaking, a miniature is defined as having:

"* A high standard of draughtsmanship and composition.
* Mastery of miniature technique in chosen media and palette.
* No subject larger than life, portrait head no larger than 2" (5cm). In a top quality miniature every single detail is itself miniaturised, leading the eye down and down, so that with high magnification you may see the immaculate fineness of the brush strokes."

I researched the term "miniatures" in paintings. They are usually delicate, intricate and detailed pieces one might expect to see on a large scale. But they are tiny. So before starting this project I contacted the gallery to make sure folk art abstracts would even qualify and sent in a sample of my miniscapes. They said it seemed like a good idea.

Drops of LIght SOLD

Click image to enlarge. Click title for more views and information.
Size: 30 x 40 x 1.5
Medium: Oils
Painting Style: Abstract Expressionism

Painting is teaching me patience. Although I was eager to paint non-stop this week, I waited on the painting. Once I understood the direction, it took on a momentum and pulled me along. If I felt uncertain as to the next step I waited. Do I like waiting? No. I would rather keep painting. But it seems to be necessary in order to stay in touch with the painting. It becomes a sort of conversation between the canvas, the paint and the painter. I am gradually learning how important it is not to dominate that conversation. The process and outcome are quite unlike that of the piece that lies beneath it from two weeks ago, which I declined to post and into which I had pushed ahead because I wanted to paint. I was doing all the "talking" and the result was there was no conversation and it showed

Loft #9 - No longer available

Click painting to enlarge, click title for more views and information.
Size: 40" x 60" x 1.5"
Medium: Oils on Canvas.


The second 40 x 60 abstract is finally finished. In order to redeem it, it had to become another "Loft", the ninth in the series now! In part I think the trouble I have had with these last two pieces is that I have been distracted with the more administrative tasks of tax returns and the process of refinancing two properties. I am still working on the other painting I began last week by painting over the piece I didn't post. I am still not happy with it.

Update

Well, I did paint something for this week but I don't like it enough to post it. Nor is the piece I began next turning out very well. It is another 40 x 60. I found a lighter-weight version of this size, which solved one of the problems. It didn't solve the problems surrounding the larger dimensions though. So it didn't fit into my car, which of course I knew in advance. So it hung partly out of my trunk as I slowly made my way home along back-roads from Dick Blick Art.

Unfortunately, my excitement over painting another giant piece waned as the piece progressed. And once again I find myself in the unsettling place in the painting process of wondering whether the piece will be redeemable. I confess that I jumped ahead of the painting and imposed an idea onto it rather than waiting for the idea to emerge out of the first layer of paint, which usually works best for me with abstracts. The result is similar to a client's imposing ideas on the painting. It took until now for me to make that connection. To do it right involves waiting. I need to get much better at that.