Plein Air Painting

I attended Plein Air South's first annual event in May in Apalachicola. It was a wonderful 4 day event of artist presentations, demonstrations, instructions and outdoor painting. One day a lot of artists gathered at Mill Pond and painted shrimp boats. My friend Sylvia and I decided to set up our easels beside all those professional artists and do our own painting. I was able to complete my 8 X 10 in a few hours. When I got back home I used this study and painted my boats on a 30 X 24 canvas. I thoroughly enjoyed my entire PleinAir experience and can't wait to get out more often!

My Second Collector

I have now sold another painting to a second collector! I painted this painting while on the deck of my friend Pam's Beach House.   One of her guests, Debra, saw me painting this and said "i want to buy that one!" So I took it home and put on the final touches and framed it. Debra is happy with her purchase and I am ecstatic!

My First SALE!!

I sold my first painting!  Actually I sold four paintings, all to the same collector.  My first, and only, collector (so far) happens to be a good friend and a neighbor.  She has been asking to "see my artwork" for over two years.  I have put her off by telling her I was still learning, still practicing and "not good enough" for her to 'see' anything yet.

Then I went to Plein Air South in Apalachicola for a weeklong art event and there were several panel discussions on this very topic. The artist all talked about how they got started, and when they knew they were ready to show and sell their work.  It was so inspiring!  On my way home, I got a call from my neighbor friend and this time I said "Yes, you can see my artwork!" She came by the next morning and bought three pieces and then a few days later bought a fourth piece.  She hung them all as a group in her beach house and they really looked good. She invited me and some other friends over to her Beach House a few days later.  She showed them my art arrangement and they wanted me to paint something for them!  (I wish I had had some business cards!)  While we were there, one sweet lady bought an 8 x10 that I  was painting on out on the porch. It wasn't even finished yet! Another friend there asked to see some of my paintings (from my iPhone) and bought another plein air piece that I started earlier in the week and it too was not finished.

When I finish the two pieces that have been spoken for, I will officially have three collectors!! All in one week! God is so good!

I am on Cloud 9! I don't want this bubble to pop!

I guess I better order business cards!

This is a picture of my collector with her new paintings!

02/08/16

I am still recovering from my neck surgery and can't drive or work yet so I am spending a lot of time at home alone. My husband was very attentive for the first week or so, but he loves to hunt and it is still hunting season.  We never have spent so much time together and I do think we both need a break. So he has gone to his hunting camp and I am painting! Kind of a win-win for both of us! 

I can't get out and take pictures to paint so I have been looking through magazines for inspiration. I found a floral placed on a table in front of a window in the Pottery Barn magazine. I added a bowl of apples and decided to paint it. Hope you like it.  It reminds me of a warm spring day, so that is what I will title it.

01/31/16 21 Paintings Completed in 30 Days!

01/30/16 About Ken Auster

Today I learned that Ken Auster has died. I don't know why yet, but whatever it was from, he went as a young man. Probably early to mid 60 in age. Young in spirit too. I had the awesome pleasure of meeting him. Lanier and I were is Southern California a couple of years ago for me to attend a Heart Failure seminar. After class each day we would get in our rental car and ride around all over to see the area. I was able to hop out of the car to see art galleries while he would circle a few blocks and come back and pick me up. We did this for hours each day that we were there.

One day while riding around I saw a small sign that said "Auster Studio". I made Lanier stop in the middle of the road and let me out. I had followed Ken on Facebook and loved his painting style. I found his studio and walked in to discover Ken there at his desk working on his computer. He told me to come in and look around and I did. I was mesmerized. He had lots of  his "famous paintings" I had been seeing online hanging up and some laying on the floor against walls and stuff. We talked about them and he invited me to go upstairs into his actual studio and look around while he processed an order on his computer. I felt like I was in a sanctuary. His painting area was this large square surface piled with layers and layers of paint separated by wax paper. He had large caulking tubes for paint. His easel had a painting on it. He had started a painting of a street scene. He had a couch full of books and papers and sketches and stuff and covered with paint. There were surf boards in there. Posters on the wall. The place was packed with neat stuff. Ken's personal stuff. And there I was in the middle of all that all by myself and he was just downstairs. No one else was there. I was in Heaven. I looked at his books in the shelf rack on my way out. I felt like I better get out of there, like I had overstayed my welcome and started coming coming down the stairs. He met me at the bottom and we started talking about his work, how he started out with t-shirt designs and what he's doing now. He talked about his wife.  He talked a lot and I listened. He told me about online classes he was setting up, and took my name down. I bought his book and he signed it. I bought his DVD Intellect and Passion. He had run out of his other DVD or I would have bought it too. I thought about buying a painting but was too intimidated to ask his price. I wish I had bought one. He told me about The Pageant of The Masters and invited Lanier and I to come. The actual show had sold out, but he said we could go see all the art and artists and that he would be there. We went and it was the best art show I have ever attended. Lanier enjoyed it tremendously. We saw Ken there again and he remembered me and was so kind. He said he would keep in touch about his online class.

As soon as I got home, I watched his DVD. It was incredible! 

He taught me so much. "You paint what you know and use what you see as reference!"

You paint like a passion sandwich. First (the bread) you think about what you want to paint, you do your design, establish a focal, solve problems with composition, mix colors, all the intellectual stuff. Once all this is complete you move out of your head and paint with passion from your heart. (Meat of sandwich) Lastly (other slice of bread) you tweek your edges, add highlights, make corrections. 

When you think, you are rendering. When you paint, you are not thinking. Thanks for this Ken!

And now he is gone. So sad. So tragic. RIP Ken Auster. 

Day Twenty-Nine 01/29/16. Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

I love everything about pears! I love their shapes, their colors and the way they taste. They have so much variety to offer. I could paint these over and over again and never have two paintings alike! Sounds like a plan!