Sunday, May 31, 2015

INVITE AN ARTIST TO STAY OVER NIGHT





PHOTO


Karen Leffel Massengill is a dear friend and a fellow member of the Vero Beach Art Club. We work as co-chairs for the workshop committee which is planning the 2016 schedule. Karen has chosen Janet Rogers and Mary Garrish for our two instructors for our workshops.

We got together for a weekend of scouting out plein air spots with the appropriate rest rooms, pavillions and parking. There were four great options in Vero Beach for the instructor to choose from. Then we did the copying of contracts to be mailed out asap, rent the classrooms for next season and let the office know of our decisions. Done

Now we could relax and paint. I painted in my little studio and Karen opted for the lanai. Good friends can paint alone and check in on each other as time passes. She is so kind to me in that she willing shares her knowledge. I have taken workshops from her in the past but I have decided to drive all the way to Palm City to take her painting basics class. In addition, I mentioned that I joined Daily PaintWorks to create a painting a day.  All of this should put me onto the fast track to super sizing my artistic growth.

Karen demoed a photo of adobe houses with a ladder leaning against the wall. She blocked in the shapes and angles by taking measurements with the handle of her brush which gives proportion and perspective.
Karen #1

I find it difficult to do thumbnail value sketches but I can do direct to the canvas with measurements, blocking in main shapes and value. Karen demoed how to make a mother pile of paint which then is the basis for lighter/darker or warmer/cooler tones.
       
Karen #2
              
Karen #3
                   
The last two photos are my Adobe House interpretation. My first attempt lacked  color temperature changes so I tried to pump up the warm/cool contrast in the second one.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

DAILY PAINTING BY CAROL MARINE

 

by Carol Marine
Karen Leffel Massengill, my artist friend recommended I get and read Daily Painting, I did and loved it. I will make doing all the exercises my summer's homework. I am so close to painting what I feel is inside of me; my style, but still have so much to master.

Red Flowers by yours truly:)
I was so impressed with the forthright information given in Carol Marine's book that I recently joined Daily Paintworks her on line sales web site. First I improved the look and reader friendly function of my blog site, got a business FaceBook account, got a business PayPal account, work on my skill level using I Photo and then joined Dailypaintworks.com to show and sell my daily paintings.

I am still having technical difficulties with a few aspects but I will reread & watch You Tube videos until I achieve my goal. I have come a  long way with computer skills but the pc still manages to flummox me with involved procedures.


http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/mary-ellen-koser-5892/artwork

Saturday, May 16, 2015

I HAVE A FRAME SO NOW MAKE A PAINTING TO FILL IT!

It is a nice 24" x 28" simple gold frame in good condition so I need to fill it before it gets damaged in my cramped studio. My Beach Babes caught my fancy so I tried it over and over but it never developed so; "off with its head"!
Instead a vision of a mixed media drifted into my imagination. I covered the whole beach scene with gesso and began taping off black and red with gold designs. In China I picked up a newspaper thinking I could use it in some future mixed media painting.
Good News 1
Good News 2
Large sections of newspaper are hard to glue down smoothly and I felt the  design needed some softness so I added some origami papers that I had on hand. Should I add painted designs in the background, should I ditch the pink, too much white looked boring were some of my questions.
What was I thinking? This has been a difficult process and I'm not sure if it will be a success.
Next step is that I think there needs to be some linkage between the opposing black panels.
Good News 3

Good News 4
I added the neutral gray to focus the attention on the  Chinese newspaper articles. Just awful!
Adding the black to link the side panels did help but now I feel the right hand side newsprint to too detailed to relate to the left side of the painting. On the positive side it is just another problem to be solved, on the negative side; creating art shouldn't be this difficult.

Now I find it boring and too fragmented. To balance the left hand side red I felt some red on the right would be in order. Searching the internet images I found a red tomb tower which proceeded to meticulously trace. I am trying for an old document over laid on the newspaper print.
Good News 5
This is no where near completion and I am really struggling. Not so happy with my comment; "Oh, just another problem to be solved". In frustration I ripped off the newspaper page and will attempt to draw a Chinese handmaid that I found in a brochure I brought home. I will use red to balance the red found on the left side of the collage.  Oh, I added some red color to the flower to give it more punch.


If, per chance, you never see the final product you will know that it died a slow agonizing demise.
http://www.verobeachartclub.org/index.php
Artist Gallery 
koserme@gmail.com
                                                                                         



Saturday, May 9, 2015

ARTIST GUILD GALLERY "CINCO de MAYO" EXHIBIT

                                                                 


GOOD FORTUNE

     It was a busy week last week; I took my seven abstracts over to the Emerson Foyer Gallery and delivered my 5 x 5" gallery wrap to the Artist Guild Gallery. Every couple of years the AGG puts the call out to artists to enter one or more works of art into their special show lasting the month of May. Anything goes as long as it is presented on a 5 x 5 gallery wrap format.

     I went with an Asian theme because I visited China in September of 2014. While traveling I picked up a Chinese newspaper and some coins. On the right hand side I placed the newspaper clipping covering it with matte gel medium. The left hand side has a red square ( representing good luck) with a lacy rice paper over lay. The square was to repeat the shape of the whole canvas and the left was painted with a glossy gel medium to give contrast to the right side.The coin was applied last with the gold painted strip balancing out the metallic bronze color of the coin.

I enjoyed doing this piece and the idea came to me as I was falling asleep.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

EMERSON FOYER GALLERY EXHIBIT

Art Deco
Gold Illusions
Let me brag a little bit.

I have seven abstract paintings hanging in an art show at the Emerson Foyer Gallery. (1590 27th Ave., Vero Beach) Three other Vero Beach Art Club members; Rita Sprague, Doris Hill and Pat deRobertis share the wall space with me.

I would be tickled pink if someone were to stop by and see my visual rendering of my inner imagination.

Entrada

Yellow Flowers
A Single Red Rose
Confluence of Color
Last but not least Splash of Color, this one was listed on Allposters.com to be purchased as a poster.
Splash of Color