Archive for February, 2012

Feb 29

Wish I’d Painted That

Was checking out the new paintings on the website of Robert Lange Studios when I saw this Tromp e-l’oeil painting and had to download the free wallpaper…

I love Tromp e-l-oeil paintings…even if I don’t know how to pronounce it properly…or even spell it correctly without using Spellcheck…..It’s a French word for deceive the eye. It’s an art technique using extremely realistic images to create the optical illusion that a 2-dimensional painting is really 3-dimensional. And that’s without even using special 3-d movie glasses!

Tromp e-l-oeil paintings have been around for a long time…this one called Escaping Criticism was painted by Pere Borrell de Caso in 1874.  He was a Spanish painter 1835-1910. I’ve been told that my paintings are close to Tromp e-l’oeil…so maybe someday I’ll try painting one….I always have paint brushes, forks, and knives laying around…..

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Posted in Inspiration, Painting

Feb 28

Mirror Image

I’ve been working on my painting titled Modern Art.

Notice that I dry brushed White on top of the Red painting in the background….hopefully, when I thinly glaze Red over it….it will glow. Thought the painting was going well….until….

Accidentally caught a glimpse of it in the mirror….and thought….Whoa! Something doesn’t look right….

The face on the left looks pretty good to me, but when I reversed it….you can definitely tell that there is something wrong with the eye on the far side of the face. One of your eyes is always stronger than the other…if you’re right handed, then I think it’s usually the right eye. Because one of your eyes is stronger…it screws around with the way you see things. That’s why the face on the left doesn’t look too bad….but you can definitely tell something is wrong when I reversed the photo.

Look at a painting in the mirror to see if there’s something wrong with the drawing. Turn it upside down to see if there’s something wrong with the composition.well….I guess it’s back to my studio to make some changes…..

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Posted in Painting, Tools of the Trade

Feb 27

Internet Versus Real Life

Okay, I admit it…I’m an internet junkie. I could probably spend my entire life just searching the web and feel like I’d actually lived my life. But something has happened….admittedly a very small something….which has changed my mind.  Remember the RED exhibit that I entered a painting in? Well, they posted all of the entries online…and they just doesn’t look the same….you can see them here.

The picture on the left is the jpeg that I sent them to post – it was a scan of the painting. The picture on the right is the one that they posted online…..the coat doesn’t even look red….

This was my favorite painting in the entire show…it’s called La Rouse (The Red Head) by Donna Talerico. It’s a very bold and colorful painting…not so much online. Really, I was surprised when I saw the photo of this one.

People are always telling me that the pictures on my website don’t do my paintings justice…and I really try hard to make sure the scans match the paintings. Well, the photos online of the Red Exhibit don’t do the entries justice either…..so, what I’m saying is go to art galleries and museums and see the paintings for yourself...it will be a more fulfilling experience.

I’d probably weep with joy if I ever saw a Casey Baugh painting in person….because they’re beautiful even on the web.

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Posted in Art Shows, Tools of the Trade

Feb 23

Leather

Haven’t been too thrilled with the way I painted the  leather jacket in Daughters of Revolution.…this is the BEFORE photo:

Originally I had painted it black, dry brushed over it with white and Cerulean Blue, let it dry, then glazed over it again with Black and Permanent Blue Violet. I’d done all the right things….but it just didn’t look right. Especially the folds – they just didn’t look natural.

Who says I don’t paint from life? I got out my old black leather jacket, put it on a dressmaker’s form, and stood it right next to my easel. That gave me a better idea of what black leather actually looks like.

This time I dry brushed Black onto the jacket and then dry brushed White right into it. Also changed the way the leather folded….painting folds in clothing is very difficult if you aren’t actually painting from life – I always tend to over exaggerate them if I’m just making them up. Notice that the gloves are now Red….they just got lost in the leather jacket when they were both painted Black. Also added Red hair thingies (what are those elastic things called?) and painted some Red on the guitar. I like the way it co-ordinates her outfit and adds a bright spot of color down the length of the painting.

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Posted in Painting, Tools of the Trade

Feb 21

Oops, I Really Screwed Up……

Yesterday I sent out 500 e/mails announcing the Opening Reception of my solo show at the Sharonville Art Center on March 3rd from 3-5pm. It was my very first time doing a mass e/mail campaign and my very first time using MailChimp.com to design and send an e/mail campaign. Mailchimp allows you to send up to 2000 e/mails for free each month…so it’s perfect for small businesses and non-profits (I qualify for both!! hehe) .

Unfortunately…the e/mail that I sent out to 500 people had the wrong date for the Opening Reception. Yep, I screwed up big time…..it seems like no matter how often I proof-read something…there are still typos on it. And to make matters worse…there were so many bounced e/mails that Mailchimp temporarily suspended my account so I couldn’t send out a corrected invitation. Eventually things got straightened out….

Here’s a tip for anyone who’s thinking of starting to send out newsletters, announcements, etc:

Even though people manually sign up to be on your e/mail list…for example: people sign up in my booth at art shows……you still have to double check by sending them an e/mail. That gives them a chance to opt out…and it gives you a chance to make sure the e/mail address is correct. People change their internet servers and e/mail addresses all the time. Once they have verified that they want to be on your mailing list…then you can put their e/mail address into a list on a company like Mailchimp. You should never have a bounced rate of more than 5%….mine was almost 20%. Heck, I could barely read most of the people’s handwriting..so it’s no wonder I typed them in wrong.

This is the corrected invite to my art opening……and once again the date is March 3rd.

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Posted in Tools of the Trade

Feb 20

Modern Art

Tom always used to ask me why can’t you ever finish a project the way you’d originally planned it? He doesn’t ask that anymore…seems even he has learned that Art has a mind of it’s own..it knows where it wants to go and it leads you there. Or maybe it’s just your subconscious mind telling you what changes need to be made to make the art better…

Decided to start this painting by first applying a layer of acrylic paint. Did this mainly because it takes Red paint so long to dry….I thought if I got the Red established first..then I could just apply thin layers of Red oil paints over it.

At this point I decided to use my friend, Judy Adam’s face as my reference photo. First of all, I think she’s beautiful…and secondly…I won’t commit copyright infringement by using the photo of a super model as reference. Remember the trouble Shepard Fairy got into when he used a famous photo of President Obama as the basis for his art?

Of all of the millions of photos that have been taken of Obama…how did the photographer recognize that this was one he had taken? His lawyer said it was an iconic pose…but I’m sure there are many many more out there that are similar.

This is day Two after I stared applying oils.

Notice that the face is starting to look more like Judy’s. The lower lip is smaller, the nose is a different shape, and there are wrinkles on the forehead. At this point I realized that the Red paint was going to be too flat…so I wiped it all off and repainted with a Red+White mixture. Hopefully when I glaze straight Red over it…it will have some dimension.

See what I mean about how…art is a process.

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Posted in Inspiration, Painting

Feb 16

Triangle Closet

On Valentine’s Day I started a new painting with lots of RED in it…it seemed appropriate. This particular painting is a continuation of my Cincinnati Art Museum series…..and the painting in the background is…..

Surprisingly the painting isn’t titled RED ….instead it’s called Triangle Closet. If you’ve never seen this painting..that’s probably because it’s up on the third floor in the Modern Art section…..personally…I don’t go up there very often. This was painted by Mary Heilmann who….to quote another website….is a part of the dynamic contemporary art scene. She was born in 1940 and studied literature, poetry, ceramics and sculpture at several colleges in California. She now lives and produces art in New York City. Apparently she’s internationally known……

And this photo was the inspiration for the model who will be standing in front of the painting. Meet Karla Derass of www.karlascloset.blogspot.com……she is a female fashion blogger who mixes vintage clothing with modern clothing from designers such as Versace. She’s a student at the Fashion Institute of Design and Marketing in Los Angeles, she blogs, she models, she goes to New York Fashion week, she styles photo shoots…..a very busy and successful person. Anyway…isn’t this pose inspiring???? Unfortunately, due to copyright infringement laws…I can’t just paint this photo….because I don’t own the rights to the photo. Damn Damn Damn.

This is my very crude Photoshop combination of Karla’s pose, supermodel Candice Swanpoel’s face, and a Chanel handbag. Candice is a Victoria Secret’s model. However, since it’s probably illegal to paint a supermodel’s face (except with make-up!)…I’m going to try and make the face look more like my friend Jen Painter.

Okay, so I didn’t take that photo either…..maybe I should just paint still lifes….I think it would be legal to paint fruit and veggies I’d bought from Kroger’s…right? This whole copyright and trademark thing gets really confusing. However, I was allowed to photograph Mary Heilmann’s painting because it was done in 1972 and the copyright laws regarding artwork didn’t go into affect until 1975.

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Posted in Inspiration, Painting, The Business of Art

Feb 15

Sweet Sarcasm

Monday I blogged about the RED exhibit at Pop Revolution Gallery in Mason…remember how I said that my painting looked at little sweet hanging in the gallery? And by sweet I meant not hip, not cool…maybe a little too Norman Rockwell-ish……

Okay, my painting isn’t quite that sweet….however, I do have that Norman Rockwell print hanging in my kitchen…so I definitely like this type of painting.

So what did my sweet husband give me for Valentine’s Day? After 26  years of marriage…apparently my sarcastic sense of humor has rubbed off on him. He gave me this card proclaiming my sweetness….and of course it’s a singing card…so in very funny voices it proclaims…..

Behold the sweetness is everywhere….sweet…. sweet… sweet… sweet….the heavens are full of your sweetness….sweet… sweet… sweet…Happy Valentine’s Day…you sweet thing…..

Okay, he got me with that one……..

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Posted in Art History, Inspiration

Feb 14

Daughters of Revolution

Yesterday I blogged about artist  Grant Wood and his painting titled Daughters of Revolution which is in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum.And today I’m going to show you my painting titled Daughters of Revolution….

It isn’t finished yet…and today I made some major changes to it….but it’s coming along nicely….at least, in my opinion! The whole painting within a painting within a painting thing is a little tricky…..

This is the painting which is on the wall in Grant Wood’s painting….it’s titled Washington Crossing The Delaware and was painted in 1851 by Emanuel Leutze. The problem is….Grant Wood painted it in shades of blackish green and his lights and he didn’t completely follow the composition of the original painting. Ans so I’m struggling doing a painting of his painting.

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Posted in Art History, Painting

Feb 13

Grant Wood

While you may not recognize the name of Grant Wood (American artist 1891-1042)….I’m sure you’ll recognize his most famous painting….

American Gothic is one of those paintings that’s become an ingrained part of American culture. There’s a Grant Wood museum in his hometown of Anamosa, Iowa which has two rooms devoted just to parodies of this very famous painting…..

The Muppets and American Gothic…can’t get much more American than that! I’ve even painted a parody of American Gothic on my ABC’s of Columbus, Ohio poster……

This was painted on the side of a building in Short North – one of the very hip and arty sections of Columbus. Instead of using Short North on the poster…I had to make it North Is Short…because there were too many things in Columbus starting with the letter S. I thought it was funny…

And why am I blogging about Grant Wood ? Well…..did you know that the Cincinnati Art Museum has one of his somewhat lesser know paintings? I didn’t realize it until I started researching for my Cincinnati Art Museum series of paintings…..

Daughters Of Revolution is one of those paintings that I always remember…but never really knew  who had painted it. Supposedly Grant Wood thought that he only painted one sarcastic painting…and that was American Gothic. However, I see plenty of sarcasm in this one…

Grant Wood traveled all through Europe visiting art museums and studying with important Masters of the time……but “after searching the art center of Europe, Grant had finally realized the best place to create art was right in his own back yard.” Click your heels together three times and say there’s no place like home……there’s no place like home….

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Posted in Art History, Inspiration

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