Wine label submittal

I haven't posted for a while, as I've been working on a number of items: Commissioned paintings, a book cover, and this wine label. I submitted this label for a contest through Truro Vineyards for the Pilgrim Monument's 100 year anniversary in 2010. Unfortunately, I didn't win the contest, but it was interesting to paint the old monument. I enjoyed composing the image, with the fact in mind that the label would be small, so the detail needed to be kept to a minimum.

"The Pose" 28x20 Framed $500

"The Pose" is a painting of a River's Edge Ladies League member. I love her coral ensemble and wonderful floppy hat. Although she was at the driving range when I snapped this photo, I placed her on the golf course, perhaps hitting a fairway shot. I see her on the golf course all the time and finally was able to get a photo of her in her hat! Love this painting. See the painting in person at Awbrey Glen Golf Club in Bend.

Awbrey Glen Golf Club Show August-December 2009

It has been a busy summer so far this year! In spite of all the family activities while school's out, I've painted about 25 golfing-ladies watercolors in my "Wednesday Club" series. It has been such fun, and quite a learning curve. I have to admit, by the time I painted around 15 of them, the first attempts needed revamping. So to get ready for the show at Awbrey Glen Golf Club in Bend, Oregon (http://www.awbreyglen.com) this month, I continued to paint more until they were all at the level of quality I wanted them to be. I have around 11 in the show, most being 20x16 framed, and two being double that size. I have sold four paintings so far, before the show began. The paintings are unusual. I've searched the web for anything that comes close to this style and this subject matter. It seems that if you are searching for women and golf paintings, you get more about the uber-sexy images for men. My paintings are more like real-life, yet with a somewhat dreamy quality and a positive outlook on golf and it's role in our lives. The titles usually have double-meaning to some daily event, such as this painting, entitled "Having a Blast". Please go see my show at Awbrey Glen Golf Club (the restaurant is open to the public) and let me know what you think. The show will be hung this year from August to December. Prices are very reasonable, since we are all struggling to make ends meet. If you would like a painting of yourself golfing (or with friends), the prices will run from $150 unframed for the 15x11 to $250 unframed for the 20x16. You can also visit my website and see some of the images of the work posted there (but they are much more fun in person!) Hope to hear from you all!

Wednesday Club Golf Series 11x14 $150 (Unframed) Watercolor Sold

Here is the next in my golfing ladies series. I think I like the title, "Don't think about the Laundry". Because that kind of thought usually goes through my mind when I set up to drive off the tee box. This painting brings to mind the process of remember to do this, do that to my head, hands, shoulders, etc. before I let 'er rip (hopefully). The women behind might be saying, "Longest Drive is YOURS today, girl!" What do you think about that title? Let me know in the comments, below.

Wednesday Club Golf Series 11x14 $150 (Unframed) Watercolor

Here is a new golf painting of my ladies club series, which I've named Wednesday Club (series title, not painting title). During the blustery, cold Central Oregon days this winter, my studio was filled with photos of summer golf! As a result, I will have some new paintings to post here and on my website. This painting shows two friends standing by, rooting for the another's put to save par. We've all been there, haven't we?! (Usually the pressure gets to me and I whiff it. But we don't need to go into that!)

The worst part about these paintings is coming up with a title! I would like the titles for this series to revolve around friendship, support, and friendly competition of women in the league (not to mention fun fashion). I'm trying to come up with titles that are a play on words, using the game of golf or life situations we've all dealt with. Help! If any of you can post a comment on what you think the title for this painting should be, please do so! Just click on the "Post a Comment" button and add your thoughts.

Art Literacy, Seminar, and Golfing Gals Update

It's been a few days since I wrote. I've been busy with the Art-in-a-Box program for our elementary school. It's a wonderful program; teaching art literacy to our elementary school kids through a the PTA, using volunteer parents. I write the lessons and the projects, teach them to the volunteers, and they are able to teach, in turn, to the kiddos in their classrooms.

I've also been preparing materials and an outline for the seminar I'll be teaching at A6 Studios http://www.atelier6000.com here in Bend. The seminar is April 14, from 10-3 at Atelier 6000. There is still room for 4 people, if you are interested in learning about painting the figure/portraiture. You can sign up online, if you wish.

I'm also still working on refining the golfing gals series. As I write, a new painting is in process, drying for the night, on my drafting table. I'm concentrating more on details in the form and swinging a bit more towards the realism side rather than the abstraction side of the spectrum. I'll update with a photo as soon as it is finished.

Step-by-Step Portrait of Chelsea $360 11x15

Here is the beginning, middle, and end of a watercolor painting of Chelsea, one of my client's little dogs. You can view the step-by-step process:Step 1, above photo: After drawing out the dog (you can see the photo reference in the lower left), I began with a resist applied to all the areas that I wanted to remain white. This was mostly the top edge of the head, the reflections in the eyes, and little whiskers around the face. After the resist dried, I applied a light wash of cobalt blue in the shadows and a mixture of gamboge hue and quinacridone red in the warm areas. I then began to lay in the darks of the eyes, ears, nose and shadow areas with Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna and a touch of red. I concentrated on varying the color temperatures of the reflective blue light from the sky above and warm areas of fur around the cheeks and eyes. Step 2, above photo: Here, you can see that I intensified the values around the ears, eyes, and nose, while beginning to lay in general colors all around the face. I was careful to work around the dog's white spots on her ears, maintaining those markings with a cool white/grey. While laying in the strokes of paint, I kept to the direction of her hair, as it is very smooth.Step 3, above photo: Although there are many more steps than just three, this shows the progression of a painting thoughout the several layers of paint I apply. To finish the piece, I deepened all the values and added a wash to the background. Since she is a dark dog, I kept the value of the background light, but used the same colors as I did in her fur. This unifies the painting. I removed all the resist and softened the hard edges it created. After pulling out light hairs with a skinny brush and placing a few well-earned black whiskers, Chelsea was complete. And what a cutie she is. Thanks, Chelsea, for posing so beautifully.