ART ON THE ISLAND 3D ART SHOW

Singing Russian Peasant 

Most of my artistic time is spent painting on paper or canvas but I will make an exception to enter a piece in the Art on the Island 3D Art Show. The Vero Beach Art Club is sponsoring a brand new venue on Marsh Island on February 13-14, 2015 and I want to be part of it. In fact all 2D club members are welcome to think outside the box to create 3 dimensional art work.

Russian Peasant Doll

I have painted large 23 inch gourds before and sold this Russian Peasant Doll at Art by the Sea.   The first three photos are  examples of my past adventures and to the right is my Russian Nesting Doll.

First the gourd is cleaned, sanded and uneven spots are filled in with  dry wall  paste which is dried over night. More sanding with at least two coats of gesso to produce a good painting surface. Without the white gesso base the colors turn out dull and muddy looking.
Now this does not scream gorgeous but wait until I spend hours of painting bold color details onto it. Wish me luck at the ART on the ISAND  Art Show!

 

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MY ART STUDIO IS MORPHING

Paint Peg Board 

     Here is a DIY paint organizing system that I found on Pinterest "Art Studios".  In the past kept my paints in a box or drawers in my studio which was really inefficient. It took too much time to find the color I wanted while I was in the zone painting and I did not realize how many tubes I had of any one color. Now I see what I have and I see what I have too much of. 

      Presently the acrylics and watercolors are divided into warm and cool colors but my next goal is to subdivide the colors into warm vs cool within each color. I am trying to understand color theory better by discerning a warm red vs a cool red, etc. Slowly I am beginning to understand where all the mud came from; I did not realize that toning down a warm red with a cool blue equals mud whereas toning down the same warm red with a warm blue would work.

     I wrote a long time ago about my windmill easel and finally I have the time to really use it. The drip method and turning my paintings around at all angles is part of my process so this  invention makes it easier. I thought about buying it for years then finally swallowed my trepidation about making such a big purchase for little ol' me. 

     It takes up a lot of space in my small bedroom studio but I'm glad I splurged.

Windmill Easel

A SMALL CREATIVE SIDE TRACT

 Every little girl loves to play dress up!

      Each morning I peruse Pinterest as part of my cup of coffee and relaxing in PJ's  routine. I saw a darling idea for my little 4 year old granddaughter; costume aprons.
How brilliant is that?
She can whip on an Anna costume from Disney's Frozen and dance to the music for her family's viewing delight.

ANNA

     First I had to research what Anna looked like so off to Google. Next to the fabric store where I found a pattern for the costumes but I was not going for anything that elaborate or expensive. The pattern gave me the picture I needed to buy the look alike fabric but I was not about to pay nearly $20 dollars for that, I returned it to the pattern display when I got what I needed. My shopping cart in tow, walking up and down the isles looking for the cheapest fabrics that are just the right colors and sparkle. Found it all; what a good grandmother am I.

When I got home I laid the fabric out on the kitchen counter and began guessing where to cut and where to sew. I enjoy making things without a pattern. Anna's dress had beautiful flower details on it so I pulled out an old stencil pattern book and cut out the pattern with cuticle scissors then  stenciled the flowers onto the bottom of the dress. 

If you ask me I think it is stinking cute. 

I also bought material for Elsa and I am off and running on that costume apron.

DONE!

ELSA

TWO STEPS FORWARD

OLD FLORIDA

     Yea Team, two steps forward toward my goal of seriously marketing my art work. Step one; Via Vista Print I ordered  business cards using the above picture which I think represents my style of realism. The painting is titled "Old Florida" and it sold at the 2012 Under the Oaks Art Show.

GERANIUMS

The other painting that I was considering for my business card was "Geraniums" which is in a private collection in Vero Beach. Somehow I thought the Old Florida made a better looking business card.





StepTwo;The first Friday of each month is Art Gallery Stroll in the 14th Avenue Art District of Vero Beach. Every now and then I join a friend or two and roam from gallery to gallery garnering ideas and visiting with people.  These strolls are good for the artistic soul.
There is one gallery in particular that I enjoy; Artist Guild Gallery, which is a cooperative gallery of about 20 artists. My goal was to finish being president of the Art Club and then devote time to being an artist. Brave little soul that I am, I asked for an application to apply to be a full member of the Artist Guild Gallery. After I fill out the application I will present 3 paintings that represent my style of art work which we all know is quite varied. Thought I would show an abstract,  a realistic one and a mixed media work.

Wish me luck and I will report back the results.  If they say no thank you to me I know that I stepped up to the plate, gave it my best shot and that I have the right to fail with honor.

Eclectic Artist Web Site to be announced in September of 2015

     This September I will be introducing my Web Site on the Vero Beach Art Club Artists Gallery web page which is available to all club members.

The web site address is : www.artistsgallery.us

     The categories of my art work fall into many genre; abstract, realism, impressionistic, abstract expressionism, mixed media, whimsical, large gourd doll 3D art, and thus the name Eclectic Artist. If you read far enough back in my blog articles I had previously used the title, "The Painter Within" as my blog name but I did not feel it represented the variety within my art work. I feel the name "Eclectic Artist" will better encompass my wide range of subjects/styles and cover any paths I choose to follow in the future.

     I have been painting, going to open studios, watching art videos and trying to maintain completing a painting a day. That's pretty good for adhering to the goals I had set for my self but I did make one change and that was to lighten up on the daily painting into just do some painting each day. A finished painting a day put too much pressure on my schedule and I was not enjoying the process.

     I have also been busy finishing paintings that I started a long time ago plus matting and framing art work so they are ready for sale. I had forgotten how much time it takes to complete a final product so that counts as working on my art.

Here are two of my latest creations:

CITY LIFE

Once again the dichotomy of my work shows up.
I like it that way!

BITTERSWEET

Return of the Prodigal Artist.

My last post was 9/29/12 because I volunteered my time to be the President of the Vero Beach Art Club. Here is my final newsletter message:

2012-2014 term as President and I am still standing!
     I want to express my appreciation to each of you that helped me through the last two years! I used to tell my students;
 " It takes more than one person to get me through the day" and that was so true with this venture.  In every way that I could think of I tried to express the Art Club's gratitude to each volunteer because you were part of the team that made it happen. I tried to deal with each issue as it came along but mainly I wanted to make the Club a kinder gentler place for all members to feel welcomed.
      I would like to acknowledge the hard work done by every prior President of the Vero Beach Art Club; each one was a building block for our future.  Though the improvements may have been subtle or bold they made it easier for the new President to serve the Art Club.  As time passes we do not remember which President did what but they were there and I salute you. 
It was not always fun and it took a lot of time but I never regretted serving the Art Club as an Officer on the Board of Directors. As always I have gained so much more than I have given and I am an enriched person because of my term as President. 

OK, now what; well I reinvent myself of course. 

My intent is to spend as much time I did as President on my art work. Finally I am seeing my style more clearly; I am a colorist, a painterly to abstracted expressionist. As I read my weekly Empty Easel newsletter I am researching how to go about this venture. It is my intent to do the following: 1. Make dairly art 2. Meditation 3. go to open studio 4 get back to blogging 4. take workshops  5. watch an art video daily 6 paint, paint paint.  There, I said it publically so now I must keep my word to myself. 

I'm back and I know what I want to be when I grow up so "watch me grow". 

A Creative Adventure Completed

In the spring of 2012 I bought a tin can of mystery objects from  MysteryBuild.com.  It just  seemed like it would be fun and I enjoy inventing somethin' out of nothin'.

The challenge was to create a scene that would depict a movie of my choice. That was my first hurdle; what  movie to pick?  An idea flashed into my mind at my most creative problem solving time; the quiet time just before I  fall asleep.

If I could only bottle that space/ time for when I really need it!

I posted a few photo clues in past blogs but did not want to give away the movie theme so I said no more about the matter. The Mystery Build is now on line for all to view and vote on, so I can now reveal the creation that I am so proud of.

Movie Choice: The Bird Cage.

Stage One: The building STUFF:

The only plan I had was to build a stage with the characters from the film dancing off stage to the song;.... "We are family....all my sisters and me". If only I knew how to add sound to this.

Starina

                                                                                                                                   
                                         

                                                                                

The Final Product.

It took hours and hours to do this but I truly enjoyed the adventure.