Exhibit Montmartre

8x8 oil on panel

Ask dk Gallery about this painting

I am packing again. This makes 3 out of 4 weekends I will be out of town this month. Its a little crazy! This weekend is a Girl Scouts camping trip and should be a lot of fun. Our weather is just beautiful now in central Texas.

Summer Hours

What to share? What to talk about? Well, I am painting some. Trying to work a little larger mostly. So those take more time. Its nice to live with things a little while too so I can be sure they are right before sending them out. 

We're enjoying our summer vacation. But its not all play - well - with painting it really is (or should be).
I've teamed up with V....Vaughan to lead some sketching workshops on Saturdays in June. If you are nearby do come and join us. We can talk about and teach what YOU like about sketching for painting purposes. Either  making preliminary paint sketches or value studies or mapping out your composition. You can work out many things with sketches before starting on your canvas.

Join us at Joel's Coffee House in Austin. We get amped up on delicious gourmet chocolates, excellent coffees and teas or frozen drinks first and then work for a few hours.
 

On Saturday, June 15 and June 22 we'll do it again! You can join us with your sketch supplies, or USE OURS! We will each do a short demo. Cost is $20

 

On its way to Carmel this week is this fun painting featuring a rather stern man painted by Cezanne - "Antoine Dominique Sauveur Aubert, The Artist's Uncle, as a monk" 1866 (from The Met)

 Hoodies

18x20 oil on linen

Ask Edward Montgomery Fine Art about this painting.

Contemporary Spaces

12x8 oil on panel

Ask Castle Gallery about this painting.

I have a lot of paintings available in the six galleries that represent me and it dawned on me that I should use my blog as a way to bring some attention back to those pieces while I am working on new works. I'm working on my First Impressions series and planning a summer exhibit of 20-30 of those in NC.

A note about the galleries I work with. They are owned and run by lovely people. If you see a painting you admire online and its available in a gallery, don't hesitate to contact them. They will be very happy to talk with you about the work. Many will work with you financially and can offer payment plans if its an investment piece [not that my works are so expensive yet ;-)]. They offer guarantees if you aren't happy with a piece, even if you do not live nearby. I have had buyers contact and purchase from my galleries out of state and had very good experiences. I've done it myself when I've bought other artist's work. So I encourage you to follow up with me or my galleries if you see something you love. Don't let it get away!

Corridor of Art

18x14 oil on linen

Available soon at Tidewater Gallery.

My poor friends. Everywhere we go, they might be subject to posing for me and end up in a painting. This is my dear friend Tess, who attends lots of arty things with me. Here we were at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio. The collection is quite nice and part of the museum space is in the founder's beautiful early 1900's Spanish Colonial home.

Masters Exhibit

12x12 oil on panel

Available at Loretta Goodwin Gallery

I sent this and 5 other new works to the gallery for their Fall Open House which is today. I wish I could be there. This week has been chock full - culminating with a Girl Scout campout this weekend. I'm excited that our weather is turning cooler so it will be a lovely weekend in Zilker Park.

I've added the new paintings to my Loretta Goodwin page - linked over there on the right - if you want to see all the new pieces. I find the blog easier to update with all my gallery works so people can see what's currently available. My website is a disappointment at the moment.

A Day with Degas

12x12 oil on panel

Available next month at Loretta Goodwin Gallery.

Feeling a little, I don't know, ennui? Maybe I just like that word. Anyway, I turned to something contemplative today. I am pleased with the looseness, the variety of color and brush stoke I worked in here. Its not perfect, but my goal isn't realism, right? I was listening to a Dan McCaw interview this morning on Artists Helping Artists and he talked about painting "past the likeness" and other ideas for expressing your individuality. His book is wonderful, by the way.

This photo is too light, the painting is a little more muted and a shade more cozy than this appears - but when I try to adjust the photo, the red becomes too vibrant.

The scene might be one of my favorite rooms in The Met. Full of Degas' paintings and his beautiful little dancer proudly taking center stage. When you enter it from the main gallery, its really quite striking.

A Closer Look

16x16 oil on panel

This painting was accepted into the Salon International show in San Antonio. The show runs from April 1-22. I think this is my third year in a row to have work included. I submitted more than one entry, but never seem to get multiple pieces accepted. We're never satisfied are we? LOL

Honorable Mention

10x12 oil on linen (mounted)

Ask Studio 47 about this painting.

I thought this was a fun scene. Its from the opening reception at the Salon International show in 2009. The painting with the award was by one of my favorite artists Diane Massey Dunbar. I believe it was at the Greenhouse Gallery that I saw one of her paintings of a grocery scene that was really so unique. She really captures some strange lighting in settings like the grocery or carnivals. Things I like to experiment with too. Speaking of, I have some images from the rodeo carnival I should look at again.

Touring The Met

18x14 oil on linen

So here is the same corner of the Met - painted a bit more true to life. The paintings are by Toulouse-Lautrec. A portrait and a nude before the mirror. I think I posted this on my Facebook page when it was in progress "on my easel". I really like the depth that the second figure adds to the scene.
This will be available in Vermont next month.

Arrested by Art

16x20 oil on linen

My final version. Comments were about half and half on the floor... but I felt like it needed to be darker. It is true to my initial "wow" reaction to the scene. A very kind follower gave me the info on the painting too. It is "Black & White" by Franz Kline. Part of his decade+ long series of them... so who knows where this one falls in the line.

As a side note, I would own this piece or such like it. I love abstract art - the action paintings or the color fields. Its so expressive, duh. I think also that its is actually difficult to create and something so very far from what I do that I would rather own it, than representational works. I can DO those... I can't do this. Probably has to do with being too miserly with paint. And too much of a perfectionista.

TOMORROW - Moses Botkin Monthly Challenge paintings!!

Black & White

16x20 oil on linen

Ok - Ben (hubby) came in and said this looked like the guy was under arrest. So, I am not sure this is the best pose. But I loved the art ...

Let me back up (sorry, its late). I took my daughter to the Blanton Museum of Art today downtown - its part of UT. Nice building, fairly recently built. They have an exhibit of Matisse prints right now. The painting depicted above, part of their permanent collection, I cannot find on the Blanton website. In fact, I am really annoyed that they have so little of their collection online.
So, if you can identify the art, let me know. Else I will go down again next week and get the details on it.



Anna enjoys abstract expressionist work. It is her favorite to create and to look at (and she is quite talented, if I do say so myself. Isn't she wonderful?). We didn't spend long in the Matisse exhibit, but went upstairs to the American and Contemporary galleries where she did a little sketching. I sketched a bit in the Matisse exhibit. And have a painting to share with you from that tomorrow.

We had a lovely day and I came home with some good ideas. And I remembered to use more paint and to loosen up. But... back to the painting I created... does it look like he is ready to have his rights read? Should I have made the floor dark as it is in real life?

Boating Party

11x14 oil on panel

Ask Edward Montgomery Fine Art about this painting.

I sent some new works to California last week. This painting, featuring Manet's "Boating" was among them. The scene is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art - I wish I had weekly access to it. What amazing work - and architecture - to inspire there.

I'm still working away on gallery paintings but holding back sharing the show pieces until closer to the opening in July. Since I am not painting small "daily painter" works with any regularity, I've decided to drop off the Daily Painter's Gallery. It was a hard decision - I've been with them since I began blogging in 2006! If you find my work on there on occasion and want to follow me regularly, sign up!

Sketcher

10x10 oil on panel

This painting will be available at Tidewater Gallery next week.

This feels somehow "different" from my usual work. But I like the muted palette and the almost silhouetted man sketching the statue before him. It feels very quiet. I could use some quiet. You have no idea.

Admiring Monet

18x18 oil on linen

This will be available in Carmel at Edward Montgomery Fine Art in a week or so.

Closer Look

12x9 oil on panel

This painting is going to Edward Montgomery Fine Art in Carmel next week.

I wanted to really punch up the lights on this to create a spotlight feel. The woman is in one of the halls in the Met.

I wish I was better at naming paintings... I am sure someone clever could come up with something fun to play off the heads or something. Give me your best shot.

Contemporary Gallery

12x8 oil on panel
Available

I am packing up for my trip to NYC! I am excited to get into some cooler weather for one thing. I have things all planned out; painting the West Village, a lengthy visit to the Met, some time in Central Park, maybe a ferry ride, lots of sketching, and kicking back in some good wine bars. Any recommendations for food/drink in the city?
:-)

I'm meeting up with Phil Levine and some other artists. I am undecided about taking my laptop, so don't yet know if I will post during the weekend. We'll see how my packing goes.

Kinky

12x9 oil on panel

This hip young lady is looking at a Picasso painting called "Bathers in a Forest" at the MOMA. The bathers are kinked and angled and the girl's stance seemed to echo that as she stepped in close to examine his work.

I thought I'd show a close up of some of my brushwork on this one. You can click below for an enlarged version. Today felt really good - once I got started. (late)
Purchase info will follow next week.


Kinky - detail

Gallery Walk - 30 Minute Study

12x9 oil on paper

Purchase This Painting

I had a goal today to paint two paintings. I did that, but I should have been more specific and told myself two good paintings. I really enjoyed painting them, but I am not sure ultimately that they turned out well. I will have to let them sit facing the wall for a day or two before I decide what they need. What is really disappointing is that I was very energized last night when I decided on what I'd paint. The 12 hour delay getting to it must have been the trouble. So today I have a 30 minute study.

Lessons from the Masters

24x18 oil on linen - sold

I'm not sure this is the best photo but I sure enjoyed painting this scene and I'm very pleased with my work. The artist is copying Berthe Morisot's painting, "The Mother & Sister of the Artist." I did another painting of a similar view a month ago. And you will probably see more. I've been painting a series from the National Gallery of Art. Its a great deal of fun to paint the architectural space and all the people interacting with the art.

Wyeth Country

8x10 oil on panel
Sold

This is a commission I did for a collector in NY (Hi D.S.!) The painting is a gift for her mother's birthday. They are from Wyeth country and this painting is a favorite of hers. Mine too.