Breaking the Rules

In progress 8x10 fused glass

4x4 Juicy Pear fused glass

When it comes to life, I don't break too many rules.  However, with art I seem to go out of my way to break every hard and fast rule out there, especially with glass.  Sometimes this is due to my own rebellious nature and I want to see for myself what will happen even if the "experts" advise otherwise.  For example, most glass artists are told never to open the kiln until it is at room temperature.  I break this rule A LOT.  Most of the time I do it with test pieces or experimental things and I don't want to waste any more time than necessary waiting for it to cool.  I don't mind if test pieces aren't properly annealed since they are just for my own learning, so I fling open the lid and enjoy the heat warming up my studio.  Sometimes, I over fire things in my kiln because it is old and doesn't have a pyrometer.  Unless I sit with my eye glued to the peephole, it's hard to judge when it will be ready.  Again, I use this kiln for my test pieces and experiments, relying on my other kiln with the confusing digital controller to pay attention for me.  Today was one of those fun days where I had some really cool results from my lack of attention.  I'm going to actually try to repeat the same mistake deliberately to see if I get consistent results, and if so, I will share the outcome, but suffice it to say, it's something I haven't seen out there in the fused glass community so it could have been a one time fluke.

Here are some of my works in progress from February.  I'm saving my pennies to buy a bigger kiln.  I'm limited in sizes under 8x10 for now.  Many of the pieces I did in Jan and Feb were based off of a painting I did in oil.  It was easier for me to try to achieve the painterly look by using a subject that was easy for me.

I promised to post some of my piles of tears, and the piles have grown.  I meant to actually finish some of them before posting the piles, but I keep moving on to new projects.  Likely these will languish in my studio for some time........

one of many of my piles of tears

For those of you that are wondering if I will ever paint again, the answer is yes (I'm even taking a one day workshop in a couple weeks) but I  never anticipated this winter would run into March and still be in the negative digits.  My paint is in my barn studio and the cool temps are not conducive to good paintings and it takes forever for them to warm up to proper consistency.  For now, I'm quite content "painting" with glass and breaking all kinds of rules in my studio.   Speaking of breaking.  This piece befuddled me.  It shouldn't have broken.  I can't figure out what happened.  Anyway, it was a test piece for a larger one of my studio.  I'm happy with where it was going so I will definitely be doing a larger version.  I've been experimenting with a lot of different techniques and materials but I plan on doing some series as soon as I get my glass order. I'm liking the printmaking look of the one below so I plan on playing around with that a bit more, but my main goal is to achieve a look in glass that I do in oil painting.

I am applying for summer art shows and will be at all of my usual haunts and hopefully some new ones .  Expect to see some very different work this year, and a few surprises too ;)

Day 2

6x6 oil on panel click HERE to buy $50

I must admit that I am quite out of practice with my painting and I had a heck of a time with these apples.  I'm looking forward to getting back in the groove again painting everyday, maybe even twice a day :)

Art in the Round

Oil on 78 vinyl record Click HERE to bid

8x10 oil on panel Click HERE to bid

Last night at our challenge group we decided on 2 challenges for next month, one of them is just using the theme "Green", to be interpreted any way you want.  The other was simply because I have 3 boxes of old 78 vinyl records sitting in the barn taking up space, so you guessed it, painting on the record.   Today I primed several with spray acrylic primer.  When dry I'll sand them and then paint, but I also wanted to see if I could paint straight on the record since it has grooves for a bit of tooth.  It is a very nice surface to paint on, the oils don't get sucked into the board like canvas or gessoboard.  I'm not quite sure how to deal with the hole in the middle yet, in this case, perhaps a worm in the apple?  or clock workings?  Either way, it's pretty darn cool, and for sale.  Bidding starts at $1

I also finished my painting from yesterday.

Leapin Lizards it's a Leap Year Painting Giveaway

6x6 oil on panel Click here to bid

I keep meaning to post about my February giveaway....so since I remembered today, here it is!  I am so grateful for all my faithful followers and fans.  Your comments and support are what keep me going every day.  When I'm lucky enough to have a sale, I am so delighted when I learn it was one of my new good friends!  So at the end of February I will be giving away ANY one of my available daily paintings (anything I have that doesn't have a bid or has sold) (that is 6x6 in size) by Noon February 29-leap day!) to one lucky follower or fan.

All you have to do is go to my Daily Paintworks Gallery (click the lovely scrolling slideshow to the right) and tell me which of ALL of my paintings, sold or unsold, is your favorite and comment below, and I will add you to the drawing!   You can earn an additional chance just by "liking" my facebook page-see the link to the right for A Time For Art.....If you are already a fan of my Facebook Page, you are automatically entered.   Thanks again so much for your comments and support....sometimes I forget to reply back or respond but I truly appreciate all of your kind words and the time you take to read mine.  

Apples with Fred

6x6 oil on panel Bid starts at $20

click HERE to bid

Today I had a studio visitor, a fellow Findlay artist who has done mainly pencil drawings and would like to try his hand at painting.  I did the usual demo of  a value study with burnt umber, and then the one color per stroke, with an apple.  Here is my effort for the day.  Although I didn't quite get the apple and values correct, I kind of like the feel of this apple...kind of glows....

Here is Fred, he is a member of our local monthly challenge group and last month he brought an amazing portrait replica he drew after the artist Vermeer.  He has an incredible ability and talent to capture portraits in graphite, this photo does not do his work justice, but here is a pic of him with it from last months' challenge.   I shamefully forgot to take a photo of his painting today, but I'll get it next time.

Painterly Pear

6x6 oil on panel click here to bid

I gave myself a little break today on the tough compositions, I may try one later on but I had a visiter in the studio today! Erika is a new daily painter, she started at the first of this year and came over to paint with me today. I showed her some of the little tricks I've learned at workshops or on my own since I've been painting everyday. I'll post one at the end of my daily rant. Actually this post is going to be chock full of little tidbits so buckle up and enjoy the ride!

So Erika mentioned that she wants to try to not blend as much and wasn't sure how to do it, so I showed her the exercise that helped break me of the habit, it's also one of the dpw weekly challenges, the one color per stroke challenge. . It's an exercise I go back to alot when I feel like I've been noodling around too much with my paintings. I'm going to try it with the spoon and eggs and see if it helps. (and no I don't own stock in dpw, nor am I trying to suck up to the Marine's, I have just learned a lot from doing the weekly challenges. for real.)

First tip, I had a blogger ask me if I lined up my paintings so I could see my progress, so I thought I'd post a pic of my wall of fame :) It's full, no room for new ones so I better get on the ball selling them. I actually put these shelves up myself ladies! no man required, he was busy watching football. I bought moulding at Menards, the kind that has ridges so it holds the little dears very nicely and if I have to put one in front of the other, they stay separate and don't stick. I screwed the l brackets to the boards first, then screwed them to the wall. I left lots of space thinking I might paint larger someday, who was I kidding? (word of warning: If you use your signifigant other's cordless screwdriver and forget to return it to it's proper spot, you MIGHT be in a bit of trouble when he goes to use it and it's not there)

Second tip, here is a pic of my easel and jury rigged still life setup. I had been sitting for the past week but it was really hurting my back, so I decided to stand. I had to get my still life up higher, note the tote with cardboard on top. I am still in search of an adjustable height table that is affordable but for now, this works just fine. I bought the white display thingy at Hobby Lobby for $5, the light at Menards for a couple bucks (actually I might have stolen it from my fiance's garage, but that's neither here nor there, he hasn't noticed yet) I have lovely North light compliments of the prior owners who built their barn like all barns are built so the west to east wind blows through to keep the animals cool. Also, not shown in the pic, but also available at menards is the "fatigue" mat? not sure if that's the name but it's a thick rubber mat to keep your legs from getting tired while standing. (you might also find them in your husband's garage, but again, just don't get caught)

Ok, enough about me, here is a pic of Erika with her pear. Feel free to visit her blog,(remember when you all just started your blog and how excited you were everytime you saw a new follower?( Ok, I'll be straight with you, I still get excited ;) But she's new, so give her a hand up......




FINAL USEFUL TIP One of the tips I learned from Carol at the workshop and I forgot to share with all my blog followers so Ill share it now, but it's only useful if you have an iphone (although there are similar apps for other smartphones.) There's an app called Value Viewer. It's $5, but it's invaluable! Basically, you take a picture of what you're painting with your phone and it breaks it down into three values so you can make sure your compostion "works" in terms of balancing value. Usually you should have a large amount of one value, a small amount of another, and just a smidge of the third. I use the app on almost every composition and I have a feeling it will be especially good for plein air and landscapes where it's a bit harder to judge value. Here's a pic on my phone of it in use. This is the pear I painted today.

That's all for today, hope I haven't bored you to tears, I would have saved some tips for tomorrow but I would have forgotten by then.

Trapped!

6x6 oil on panel click here to bid.

The last of the oranges for this week (I think! I'm kind of in a nice little comfort zone now, I hate the idea of starting something new :) This little orange is trapped under a square glass, it was very difficult to paint it so it looked like it was inside....

Cezanne I am not!

6x6 oil on panel $50 click here to buy

Once in awhile its fun to try a "master copy" a painting from one of the art masters. Cezanne is one of my favorite painters so I attempted one of his simplest still lives. A lot can be learned by doing these exercises, mostly that I have a lot to learn!

Cherry Trio

5x7 oil on canvas board $50

To purchase click here: http://atimeforart.com

I've been very neglectful in my posting this summer and I'm going to force myself to get back on track. I've been getting ready for an outdoor sho at the end of the month so I've been working on several larger paintings. Yesterday I decided I needed to step away from those and do a small one so I felt like I accomplished something.

More from the PKR workshop and Catching up!

I'm posting more of my examples from the PKR workshop mostly because I am still catching up around the house and I would like to do the Daily Paintworks challenges today but the rain is keeping me inside....I know when other artists go to workshops I like to see what they've done, so here they are! I really liked the exercise with the lemon on purple....it is 6x6 and the challenge was to do it in under 30 strokes....I think I did it in about 25, but it was fun!