Enchanting by Kay Wyne

Enchanting

36" x 36" Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas

Contemporary Floral Landscape Painting

Enchanting is one of those paintings that went through many stages.  I used a large, heavy duty gallery wrap canvas, therefore the sides of the canvas (about 2 1/2") are also painted.  In my mind, I separated the painting in three parts:  sky/background, mid-ground, and foreground.  All three areas of the canvas had to be different sizes...I didn't want three equal parts.  I wanted the horizon to melt into the sky and recede.  The mid-ground needed to have someone color, but not as much as the foreground.  I used the palette knife and impasto on the florals to create texture and interest.  This painting is hanging at Dutch Art Gallery in Dallas, TX.  Thanks for looking at this blog...Kay

oil landscapes, water and trees by BECKY JOY

I didn't post much this last week, but honest I was busy. There are several shows with deadlines in Jan. I had to finish some pieces to submit to the shows.  I don't want to post those that I submitted. Some of the shows require that the pieces have never been shown anywhere. Now I don't know if that means my website, the internet or FB, but I'll play it safe, just in case someone is out there checking on  postings.

I've been working really hard lately and have been taking an online workshop from Camille Przewodek. The prerequisite to taking the online workshop is that you had to be in a previous color bootcamp workshop. Anyway, I did that last spring. Each week, I would go out and do at least two plein airs, then email the starts to the paintings, the end results and a photo of the site. Camille said she was trying to get me to a new level. I really felt good about the workshop. Not everything was successful, but then I tried things that I had trouble with and knew I would learn from.  I felt like I really learned a lot, but need to take a break and get back to business for a while. I am definitely going to take another workshop from her. Her approach to painting really resonated with me.

This painting is an 18x24 studio painting that I worked on yesterday and today. I was happy with the results. I'll live with it for a while and see what I think.

This was my last plein air that I painted in the workshop. After talking to Camille, I lightened the hill in the background and grayed the greens of the background trees and simplified. I have a tendency to start picking at the colors in the background, breaking up the large shapes. Overall, I was pleased with this one. The other two are in the garbage. I wasn't excited about what I was painting and it showed. She told me to stick to painting what I was "jazzed" about. I know that, what was I thinking? Or was I?

Just a couple of more days with big paintings, then I'll paint some small ones.

Talk to you all later.

Becky Joy

beckyjoy@beckyjoy.com
www.beckyjoy.com
www.beckyjoy.com/blog

Palette knife sky #27 by BECKY JOY

This 6x6 oil sunset is #27. I have placed this on ebay with a starting bid of $95. To bid click here. As with all my small daily paintings this one comes with a free wrought iron display easel, so framing is optional.

I've been working all day on commissioned pieces that have stacked up, a good thing. Sunsets are the themes of the bigger paintings with two to go. I've also been working at nights on the new website. Understanding some of the computer language is challenging for me, but I know I can do it. Years ago I did build my own website using frontpage, so I know I can do it again using wordpress. Ya just gotta read the directions. I'm more of a "hands-on"person . I have to force myself to take it slow and read all the directions in order. UHG!

Talk to you all tomorrow.
Becky
beckyjoy@cox.net

Lavender painting by Niki Gulley

“Summertime Bouquets” ©2010 Niki Gulley

20” x 30” acrylic on canvas

My husband and I have an uncanny sense of timing when it comes to the weather. We got married during a hurricane on the coast of Florida, we unknowingly planned our European workshop during the spewing of ash in Iceland, we’ve participated in art shows with 70 mph microbursts that destroyed 50 artist tents, and of course we chose to come home to Dallas after two months on the road during the hottest week of summer. With average temperatures around 103°, it wasn’t quite the home-coming I had in mind.

Making the best of it, I immersed myself in my air-conditioned studio and painted happier places – fantasizing about somewhere cooler, where plants grow profusely rather than wilting and withering in boiling temperatures and a beautiful location completely free of concrete. I remembered the gorgeous, aromatic lavender fields we’d seen in Europe a few years before at this exact time of year and through my painting I was transported back. I hope you experience that same bliss looking at “Summertime Bouquets.”

If you’re in the Chicago area this weekend, you can see “Summertime Bouquets” along with my other recent paintings at my booth #355 at the Gold Coast Art Show. For more information on the show, visit amdurproductions.com/f-goldcoast-public.html.

E-mail me at Niki@NikiGulley.com for more information

Or, visit my website at NikiGulley.com.