Oil Painting of New Orleans Streetcar in the Garden District...

The streetcar is finally finished. I worked on it yesterday and today. This one is 40x30" and I really love it! In person, in this view, the streetcar looks like it is coming out of the painting straight into your living room.

I don't know about everyone else, but every now and then I look around and think, "You know, I really am an artist now." For years, when someone would call me an artist I would say, "I just dabble" or "I'm just artsy". So it was a big step when I finally would say that "Yes, I am an artist." And I still have trouble believing it.

I have attended lots of art shows and talked to lots of other artists over the last couple of years and I have found that (with one exception, and I speak of Bob Tompkins) no matter how big an artist gets they still are insecure about their work in some way. It truly amazes me to talk to someone that I think is way on down the road to success and hear them say that they were really worried about this, or that they feel out of place compared to this or that artist, or something to that effect. Once I realized that everyone else had doubts, too, it made me know that I may never feel like I have "made it". And that's probably a good thing. You never need to feel like you don't need to keep learning, trying to get better or improving yourself...expecially in this job.

I tried unsuccessfully, to find the author of this quote, as it is one of my favorites. If anyone knows the author, please let me know and I will give credit where credit is due. But for now...

"Simply to be and artist is to have achieved success."

Wine and Culinary festival art...

What a week! I feel like I have been run over by a truck! But all is well! If we can just make it through today with flying colors we will be home free. Someone close to me is having out-patient surgery today so everyone say a prayer.

Yesterday afternoon I rushed home after the completion of the Junior Auxilliary project that I had chaired and put the final tweaks on the artwork for the Southern Breeze Wine and Culinary Festival painting that I mentioned in an earlier post. So this is the final project unless I get home from the doctor today and find that they want to change something. I hope they don't, because this puppy needs to dry! They need it ASAP so they can shoot it to start using it. Also this afternoon when I get home I will have to dig up my bio sheet. They asked for it so that they can include it on their web page. In previous posts I had mentioned their page and they have updated it and are still working on it so check it out.

I am really happy with the painting. It is based on a photo and painting I did of a plate of food being readied for the grill at my dad's house in Colorado. We added the shrimp and all the background stuff. The tents are the specific shape of tent they use at the SB W&CF and the glass is the specific one they use, with a hint of their logo showing. The first time I sent the painting image to them to see how they liked it, they noticed there were only men in the background. So Voila! the guy by the tent pole there had an overnight gender change and now we are in mixed company. I'm glad they caught that!

Last night I attended three gallery openings with some friends and our daughters and we had a blast! I can't wait to get back in there and paint! There is a streetcar calling my name!

But for now, off to the hospital...

Link not working...

Ok, folks. For some reason the link for the festival that I put in will not work. But if you google Southern Breeze Wine and Culinary Festival or type in www.coastalwinetour.com you can get there. Sorry.

Wine and Culinary Painting!

I have some news that is very exciting to me, but first let's talk about my absence from the easel. I had one of my "day job" jobs (cabinet glazing) come up last week and I had to do it since that is still my most steady source of grocery money. So, though I have been croaking to get back to my streetcar painting, I had to put it off for just a bit. It has, however, paid off. I lived with the painting "as is" for a while and I know some little tweaks already that will be such an improvement. So, SOON I will hit it again and it will be better than ever!

But on to the news. I got in my email inbox the other day an invitaion to submit a sketch for the Southern Breeze Wine and Culinary Festival that takes place in several cities along the Gulf Coast. There are four different 3-day events that I know of; one in Biloxi, Mobile, Orange Beach, and Northwest Florida. They were looking for an artist to design the artwork for their festival merchandise and printed event literature. I have always wanted to do one of these and yesterday I found out I am going to get to do this one! But, as with all projects, they need it yesterday! So I will be off to work on this plus the other major issues I have going on this week! I was out of town yesterday (when I got the news) delivering fresh paintings as promised to my gallery in Oxford MS. I had planned to take some to Hattiesburg today, but that will have to wait till next week. Tomorrow and Thursday I will be embroiled in a 2-day Jr. Auxilliary project that I am chairperson for. Friday is taken as well. So I may not get to finish this project till over the weekend, but when it's done, you'll see it here!

I'm off to create......

New Orleans streetcar in the Garden District...

For those of you who are following this saga, I have heard from the owner of the other streetcar and he is pleased with the result. I was so glad to hear from him, you just sort of stop breathing and wonder, until you can hear the final verdict. We will just have to wait for it to finish drying and I will send it on to him.

I am embarking on my second streetcar commission now. These are two progress photos. The first one is the drawing and the beginning of the block-in of the sky.

The second one is living proof that I am a bad girl. I am (according to every good artist I know) supposed to block in and get some color on the whole canvas before I finish the detail work on anything in the painting. As you can see in this second photo I did not follow that rule on this one. As they say, rules are made to be broken and this one was. I love this painting and the way it is headed. It is one of those that is just falling onto the canvas. The great artists that I admire (in this style of work, not in other styles necessarily) are able to put two or three strokes on a canvas and represent an entire treetop. The idea is to put the paint on once and leave it. As Brian Simon says, "Let the paint be paint". I tend to fuss with it too much sometimes. This one is starting to get some of the bold strokes that I aspire to. And in talking with the owner, we agreed that the focus needs to be the streetcar, the trees next and then the houses sort of a hint of mood in the background. We want to see that we are going through the Garden District and are not down on Canal Street, but we don't want to see the doorknob on every house.

I am glad this one is going to someone that I like a lot and is nearby, because I may want to visit it. People ask me if I have a hard time letting go of my paintings and normally the answer is no because that is what I paint them for...to go to other places. But every now and then, one of them makes me wish I had more walls.

Foyer Gallery...

Yesterday I finished my two tropical bird commissions. They are similar (yet different) to one I did in the fall that was purchased by a friend of mine. He hung it in his office at work and got two commissions for me.

I chose to post the photo of my "foyer gallery" because of Karin Jurick's comment on her blog today. She was talking about how she enjoyed looking at her work that she had gotten ready for her upcoming show. She said looking at it all framed and varnished gave her a feeling of pride and accomplishment. I had said the exact same thing to my family last night about how I loved it when the foyer was full of new work and I could go by there and see all that I had done. It brings a spark of life to our home that would not be there otherwise. Plus, I get to "visit with" each piece a little bit before I send it out into the world.

Do I have a fun job or what?

Jackson MS Landmarks

This is a trio of 10 x 20" paintings that feature three landmark buldings in the Jackson downtown area. One evening I was downtown and was lucky enough to catch a beautiful light on these icons. I have done one large painting of a scene in which you can see all three in one shot (really cool vantage point) Somehow I let it get away without photoing it! It sold very quickly after reaching the gallery and I had always intended on doing more of this subject matter, but you know how it goes. Better late than never, huh?

On another note to my artist friends...in cleaning out my studio I came across a funny little comic strip that I have adapted from its original form(pertaining to a freelance project) and applied it to the struggling artist. This is not for widespread publication, because I'm sure there are copyright issues with the producers of the "Cathy" comic strip...

Pricing my Painting

Do I charge for how long it really took me...how long it should have taken me...or how long I think someone else will think it should have taken me???

Do I charge for the five hours I sat there staring at the canvas in an unproductive stupor...or charge for the hour it took to actually get most of it on there?

Do I charge for the three versions I wiped off or the one that actually remains?

Do I count the tweaking time?

The staring at it wondering what needs tweaking time?

Do I add in the thinking about it when I should have been sleeping time?

What about the two hours I spent admiring the finished product during which time I made six crucial changes that took one second each to implement?

Do I charge just for the cost of the canvas and paint... or the time it took to comparison shop, order, uncrate, stack, organize, and prime it?

Oh, let's don't forget about the time it took to obtain the photo that I painted it from as I stood on the street corner waiting for the lighting to be right and then when it finally was glowing in the late afternoon sun four cars parked in front of it.

You know...There's a reason artists are starving.

Geraniums on the steps...

I finished this one yesterday, but did not photo it until morning. It's the same thing that happened to me today...by the time I was finished painting it was too gloomy and overcast to take the picture. This one is 24x30. I used some principles from Carol Marine's workshop in trying to establish a center of interest. I loved this shot, but the interest in the photo was divided equally between all the flowers on the steps. So I used several tricks to try to get your eye to move through the painting and return to the pink geraniums. One, they are more detailed than the others; and two, they are the only pink ones. I'm not sure if my tricks were successful or not, I have to live with it a while and keep looking at it when my brain is not expecting it.

Cool stuff to see tomorro!...I painted my three landmarks! I used a pallette knife almost totally and I really like them.

Friday and the weekend...

I did not hear from my client with the okay to start on my next streetcar commission...How funny to have two streetcars at the same time! So I decided to be naughty (I actually have two smaller paintings of parrots that I should probably start on) and just work on something that I wanted to do, not needed to do. So I did three small (10x20 is pretty small for me) sketches for a set that I have been wanting to do. It is of three landmark buildings here in Jackson. I did a larger paiting that had all three in it and it sold almost immediately, so I have been wanting to do something similar yet different ever since then. So I got the drawings on canvas ready to start on and then I did a block-in of a scene from my trip to Santa Fe in September. A block-in, by my definition, is where you put your basic background colors on the canvas in the spots where they go and pretty much get the canvas filled up with something, even if it is not going to stay that way in the final version. In this block-in I have left out only the spots where some of the flowers are going to be. (why I am not quite sure) So those are the blue holes you see. I have added some of the more detailed stuff, also...stuff that would not normally be in a basic block-in. I am still trying to find my way back to the painting style that I want to end up with. When I take a long break such as I have recently done, it takes a while to get back to where you want to be. In my case, I want to paint loose, colorful dramatic paintings where you are moved by the breathtaking play of lights and shadows. Not too much to ask is it?

On another note, this is what we woke up to on Saturday morning...(Not your typical Mississippi morning let me tell you!) I just wanted to share this since it is SO unusual. We have lived in our house for 17 1/2 years and I can count on one hand the times it has snowed enough to get any coverage at all. This was really beautiful, even though it was not but a dusting and did not cover everything. The woods were beautiful and it was still snowing pretty hard. Of course, it was all gone before lunchtime.

And finally another shot that is too cute not to share. These are my three assistants...

When we did the remodel we put a new little bench thing in front of our dining room window, which is right by the computer armoire. The intent was to make it wide enough that they would all three be able to lay there together. It has only been in the last two days that they have decided they can all three fit.

I'm off to paint!

New Orleans streetcar painting nearing completion...

It is a struggle when you get back into painting after being away for a while. And to have the pressure of making someone else happy makes it that much more intense. I went through phases with this one of thinking I was going to "chuck it" (get it, CS?) and just start over and thinking there were parts that I liked too much to do that. On this next photo (poorly lit and shiny) you can barely see the changes probably, though I did labor over them. I finally got so outdone that I actually started another painting and put this one aside.








I got up this morning and actually finished this painting first before I returned to my "streetcar named perspire" I am just a ball of laughs today! Anyway, I enjoyed doing this one and started to feel like I was not painting with my feet as I did yesterday. The title of this one is "Bar Code" It is 18x36 and will list in the gallery for $675

I finally got back to the streetcar and felt much more in control. I went back to the advice of a friend and talented artist, Julie McCartney, who says to stand back and look at your painting and work on the thing that needs work the most. Then after working that area stand back and see where you need to go next. It is a valuable lesson to remember epecially if you are like me and tend to want to work one section to perfection before moving on. So I started with the windows on the front and was able to put 2 of my "people" in there as silhouettes. I have a feeling that is not what the owner intended, but it seemed to me that when I tried to find a place to insert all three folks it just was too distracting.

This now looks like a painting of a streetcar with the correct amount of emphasis (or lack of emphasis) on other things. The person getting off of the streetcar is the important one in this saga anyway and the white dress she is wearing is one that she wore when she went out to dinner with friends a while back, so it is "historically correct". I am hoping that feature will make up for the "shadiness" of the other two cohorts. Below is a detail of this portion of the painting.

Seeing as how this is a very loose rendition of this person in keeping with the looseness of the painting I was very pleased with the likeness and recognizability of her. In person it is better than this photo, of course. And to answer the question why is she getting off the streetcar and leaving her friends? Well, she is meeting another friend for dinner and they will all meet up later for a trip to Pat O's.

I will just wait now for the owner to give his ok and then I will sign it. I wait till I am totally through with a painting before I sign it. When I do sign it it is great fun! A real feeling of accomplishement.