Melting ice – another snow painting

Here’s another in the series of four which has headed off to Auckland and been hung in the Cross Cut hair salon. The salon owner was apparently delighted, as the works are a bit different to what she’s been hanging lately. Glad to have made her day…

Snow paintings finished

Back here, I showed you work in progress on some snow paintings. The idea of painting the lights, colours and shadows that sit in and under snow came to me after seeing news reports about avalanches in the South Island here in NZ. The finished works are mutli-layered: blue, mauve, purple etc then transparent layers of white, more colour, more white, more colour, more white…

The four are now finished, strung, signed etc and off to a busy Auckland hair salon for a time. It’s all about keeping my work out there, making sure people see it and see my name. You can read what Alyson at ArtBizBlog says about getting your art of of the studio here.  

 Here’s the first of them, I’ll save the erst for later in the week when my art room is quiet. This one, titled “Glacial”, is 12×16″ on W&N deep edge canvas.

Getting back out there

I haven’t entered much lately, or applied for many exhibitions either really, compared with what I have done in the last year or three. I’m not sure why. Maybe I was tired, listening to too much recession talk and being a bit lazy. Today I decided it was time I got over myself and got back out there. So I have …

I have booked exhibition spaces, applied for art awards, put my name forward here and there. To keep track of all the due dates etc I have printed out a new timetable that’s now on my whiteboard directly above my work desk. No more excuses!

A whisper of grass

I have been working towards a couple of exhibitions, including the annual NZ Art Guild exhibition “Out of the Blue”, and have finally finished everything I need to get done. The last works will be in Monday’s courier. Yahoo!

This is the last work to be signed and made ready for hanging. It celebrates the wonderful warm colours of the land here in New Zealand as the first spring growth of grass pops through in the paddocks around us. It’s more about how I remember that time of year, and how it makes me feel, than about the actual look of the landscape. It is 10×10″ acrylic on gallery wrap canvas.

A whisper of grass

Looking back at older work

This is a work I did 3 or 4 years ago. I have been looking at it, thinking about some new work I need to do for March, and wondering if this is my kicking-off point. I still like this, so maybe, just maybe…

Why do I like it though? The vibrant colours, the drips, the sense of things hidden. Mmm, so maybe I have my kick-off point already!

New place to hang my work

For the last 10 days or so I have had painting on display with the local Patchwork & Quilting exhibition as part of the annual rhododendron festival. There’s been 30 to 50 people through a day; good numbers for a rural town of 1,000. I took my Mum to see the exhibition yesterday and while I was there I was approached by the owner of Red Rock, a 7 day a week cafe here in town.

Michelle has some art on sale already, but the only painting she has of Mt Egmont, our amazing mountain, is $500 — too much for the average passing tourist. The painting attracts a lot of attention though. She wondered if I could supply smaller, cheaper artwork featuring the mountain. Heck, yes – I love painting Mt Egmont. I’m going to start with some little acrylic 4×4s and them perhaps some 8×8s in oil.  

In the meantime, here are some of my reference photos for you to enjoy.

Exhibition all set up

Tonight, with Tony’s help, I set up my paintings in the Patchwork & Quilting Group’s exhibition which opens tomorrow. The women have some amazing quilts and hand knitting – beautifully crafted goods and really colourful. These women don’t buy into the idea that textile work has to be expensive; many of their materials are sourced from second hand clothing shops. Beautiful silks and cottons and velvets, all for a song.

I have displayed a variety of work, from small abstracts on 4×4 canvas at just $24 through to a couple of 15×50″ Tuscan landscapes in the $300+ range. You just never know who might be passing through Patea during the festival. It’s an incredibly busy time in Taranaki

Being prepared with lots of paintings!

The Taranaki Rhododendron Festival, and the Fringe Festival, are both coming up at the end of the month. The local Patchwork and Quilting group are holding a week long exhibition in the Hunter Shaw building in Patea in support of these garden extravaganzas. They have invited me to be the sole artist exhibiting amongst the textiles. Fantastic!

In early December I am due to start exhibiting again at the Albany Garden Centre in Auckland, just in time for their Christmas trade. And in early November I am contributing to a charity auction at the Gift of Art Gallery in Christchurch. You can visit their blog here. The NZ Art Guild is busy planning towards a major charity event to be held at the Bruce Mason Centre (Auckland) in February 2009, which I will be exhibiting at also. This is to raise funds for the Leukemia & Blood Foundation - a link to more detail is on the right hand side on the Guild’s website here.

On top of all that, I have booked an art showcase page on Etsy for November 2nd, which means my Etsy offerings will potentially be seen by up to 10,000 in one 24 hour period.

Why am I telling you all this? Because it explains why I am painting up a storm, painting like there is no tomorrow, like paint supplies are about to run out worldwide – and loving it LOL. My wall of 4×4 canvas is becoming less like a wall, and more like a wee room divider, day by day. It’s a good thing.

Economic recession? Doom and gloom? Financial ruin? Whatever! There are opportunities out there for those prepared to just keep on working, so that’s what l’m doing – and I would encourage others to do the same. We all create our own economic future every day; what have you done toward your future this weekend?

Painting the full moon

How did I manage a peaceful night’s sleep at full moon? Light dinner with a friend, two small gin and tonics, and sheer exhaustion   It felt good to almost sleep right through the night, despite the silvery light of the full moon pouring in through the bedroom curtains.

Despite that, I couldn’t help but delve into my moon images for a quick play round with colours and layouts. Here’s one of my current favorites. I think it appeals to me because it’s dark and moody without being drab, I always enjoy purples, and it has a sense of unreality about it. By the way; is ‘unreality’ a word? Probably not…but I hope you know what I mean.

I have been wanting to experiment with adding Golden Interference Fluid Acrylics to my other paints, and this might be a good time to haul them out and onto my art desk. The reason I hesitate a bit to use them is that someone I went through art school with used them extensively for some amazing works, but found when it came time to exhibit them that it was rare to find lighting that suited them. Without appropriate lighting she felt the that often the whole point of the works was lost.

I think in my case though, the interference colours will be an added extra, rather than the main focus of the work. I’d like to try them as a bit of highlighting on top of some really dark glazes; indigo, purple and Atelier Interactive’s Red Black. Their tube Red Black is an amazing colour; I use it a lot - from deep and dark, to just a hint of colour mixed with white or titan buff. For me it’s a very versatile colour, and one I hope they keep producing for a while yet.