Layers of Summer - A Monochromatic Still Life

One of my students brought me a purple Mason jar and asked me to use it in a still life painting. I had never seen a purple mason jar before and I don’t work in purple very often so it was intriguing for me to use it. My first thought was to look at the complimentary color of yellow on the color wheel to set up the still life. So I thought about yellow pears but it did not seem delicate enough. So in order to keep the transparent sense of glass I decided to stay with a monochromatic choice and put some plums along with the jar. Then the addition of a white cloth or doily with the jar would help the purple colors to really stand out and create a crisp summer feeling to the painting. (And notice that the lace has summer daisies embroidered into it…wink.) Layering the colors creates depth in the still life elements. There are several wonderful cool colors used; blues, red violet, magenta, and dioxazine purple.

Summer is such a joyful time and this painting is a reminder of the lightheartedness of the season.

Sweet Summer Plums - 11 x 14 Acrylic painting by Tracy - UPDATE: this painting won an award at the NAA Fall Members Show “Best in Excellence of Craft”

Beach Vibes - Commissioned

A word about artist commissions: I like taking orders for commissions, but honestly, some can stress me out a bit. Trying to create what someone else has in their mind can be a daunting task. There have been times when I finish a commissioned painting and the client that ordered it is thrilled and all is good. But then there are times when someone looks at the painting with a scrunched face and says, “oh, okay, um…..” and you know it isn’t what they were expecting. I find that the people that give you creative license to create something for a space almost always like what you create for them. It is the ones that are so specific about what they want that end up being disappointed. The reason being is that you cannot, no matter how you try, get inside someone else’s mind to see what they see. I do the best to decipher what they are describing but it isn’t always as clear as they think it is.

If you are planning to have an artist create a painting for you, here is my advice:

1. Do some research. Check out different artists and really look at what they have done in the past. Make sure you choose an artist that has a style close to what you want to have painted. If you want a freestyle impressionistic painting, it wouldn’t make sense to ask a Realism artist to translate your commission.

2. Gather some reference photos, either pictures of paintings that are similar to what you want or actual photos of the subject you would like painted. for example, a few different angles or poses for a pet portrait or some different perspectives of a particular landscape (more sky, less sky, cloudy, sun and shadows).

3. Size matters. Some artists don’t like to paint small, some don’t like to paint large, so as you research notice what size paintings a particular artist generally paints. You know what size that you want, so make sure the artist can accommodate the size you are interested in.

4. Don’t be too stringent. I know that you may have something in your mind, but don’t be so specific that you take away the artists creative license. I can usually see the lack of joy in a painting, when the artist didn’t feel good about painting it. Allow the artist to do what they do best, since you chose them for your project, there must be something that you like about what they do.

   Again, these are a few things to keep in mind when commissioning an artist for a painting that will help to keep both the creator and the client happy at the end of the process.

Beach Vibes - Acrylic on Canvas - a commissioned painting for a Florida client

Epic Fail - Mount Washington NH

Hi All - Generally artist’s post on social media what their latest beautiful work is, or what recently sold. All good news right? Well that isn’t actually all that takes place in the studio. Honestly, sometimes there are epic fails as well. There are paintings that get started and no matter what you do they just won’t come together the way you had envisioned before you began. They either get set aside to come back to later, completely abandoned into a dark corner of the studio, or sometimes painted over. Not everything makes it to the screen for show and tell.

This was the case for a large painting that I worked on for my own wall. I wanted a landscape that spoke of New Hampshire, something that was in organic colors that would be considered neutral in most homes. I decided to paint Mount Washington because my husband is enamored with this New Hampshire landmark. I spent quite a few days working on a 36 x 48 canvas and in the end decided to paint over it. It was a fail as far as a painting goes, but it was a learning lesson and painting anything is never a waste of time. :)

The Shop is Open

Finally I took a leap of faith and added a shop to my website! It was time to have a place where ALL of my artwork could be displayed and available for purchase. The shop includes my original paintings, my line of greeting and note cards, and fine art prints of my artwork that can be framed by you, as well as my children’s book “Your Favorite Color”. (Watch for some other fun goodies in the future.)

I’m excited to see how this new endeavor goes. Please visit my SHOP page and let me know if there is anything that you think I could do better or if there is something you would like to see me offer in it.

Moving...

6 months ago I began packing to move. My husband and I sold our house and moved only 6 miles away but a lifetime of possessions. I gave up my gallery and studio and my home of 25 years to downsize. It has turned out to be a good thing but it took a long time to get organized and re-established. I finally have my new studio set up and have begun to paint again. Here is the first painting I did in my new studio, titled “Ball Jar”

Blue Period

I didn’t realize it as I was painting but the last paintings I have accomplished have all been in a blue hue. There was Blue Bottles, Ribbons and Glass, Still Life with Lace, Chemistry, and Turquoise Still Life. In addition I painted a few beach scenes too. I guess I have been going through my blue period like Picasso did lol. Thankfully I haven’t felt blue emotionally, just as a choice of color. So here is my latest “blue” painting titled Turquoise Still Life. It can be seen in person at the Newburyport Art Assoc Fall Juried Show, October 22 - November 20.

Hampton Beach

Early in the beach season in New England there are days that feel like the middle of summer and the next day it will be like the end of winter. The day I visited Hampton Beach and painted this scene it was an in-between day. It was cloudy and cool but if the sun had come out in full it would have been a nice day to sit on the beach. There were many grey clouds but the sun peeked through now and then, and the seaweed all over the beach made the visit feel even more cool and gloomy. I sat on the beach anyway but not as a sun worshipper. 11 x 14 Acrylic on canvas

Your Favorite Color - Children's Book

I have always felt the desire to publish a children’s book. Even when I was a child I would write short stories and then create drawings with crayons to go along with the stories. But life goes on as it does and I never seemed to have the time to think about it or concentrate time on it. And then came Covid 19. During my time of isolation I gave myself permission to just play with art. Instead of meeting deadlines, teaching students and creating intricate still life realism paintings, I just played with color and with other mediums. And during this time my grand daughter and I came up with a concept that would translate into a children’s book, so we wrote out the story and I illustrated simple drawings to fill the pages. Our children’s book is titled Your Favorite Color and it is a simple, bright book about color. It features two young girls conversing about colors. It is a concept that can be understood by children of all ages, without being overly wordy or complicated. Our book is available in my Etsy shop.

Coffee at Panera

I was sitting in Panera having coffee with two friends and kept glancing back at the bagels. There was such a great variety (the vanilla cherry are just delicious) and with their bumps and toppings I couldn’t resist. Once the time to leave came, I went to the counter and ordered a half dozen to take home. I know its odd but everything is about painting for me. I bought the bagels not because I wanted to eat them but because I wanted to paint them. I can’t come home from a store or a flea market or a restaurant without something that I want to use in a painting. It’s amazing how being an artist makes me so aware of everything in a different way. Although, honestly, eating my still life subjects is a bonus of buying food for painting. So before I ate them, I arranged the bagels in a basket with a dish towel and this was the result.

Contemplating Christmas - Realism Painting

It’s amazing how lovely common things become if one only knows how to look at them. Louisa May Alcott

I love this quote, it speaks specifically to why I paint what I paint. I really like things and find beauty in them; the way light bounces off of glass, the glow of a candle flame or the draping of fabric becomes intriguing to me. If fact, just today i looked out the window and some wet wood caught my eye. It was wet from an earlier rain storm making the grain lines rich and pronounced. I ran outside and took a photo for future reference. A little observation reveals that common things often have uncommon appeal. :)

New Illustration for a New Baby

I recently went to a baby shower and wanted to bring a handmade gift along with my purchased one. I didn’t have time to bang out a painting so I sat down and worked up an illustration from a teddy bear that I had. I matted it and put it in a frame and it looked perfect. The baby was to be named Teddy, but here is my teddy…

Christmas in July

Vintage ornaments are perfect specimens for my kind of still life. They have shine, reflection, texture and color! So once again I created a grouping of these beautiful bobbles. Since I painted this in the middle of summer it had to be Christmas in July.

This painting is 9 x 12 acrylic on panel.

Fireworks - Ready for the 4th

This painting is a cross between mixed media and realism. I used texture paste to create the background on the canvas. There is a lot of texture there. Then Layered paint by dragging the colors over the texture. I ended with metallic copper and gold on the top. After I painted the flag I used the metallic copper to help highlight the red stripes of the flag and to create the bursts of fireworks. Ready for the 4th of July!

Childhood

I’m a Still Life Artist for the most part. But now and then I enjoy stepping outside the box of my comfort and playing around with something different. It had been a while since I worked on a figurative or portrait subject and because I have access to the cutest models ever, I decided it was time.

This is one of my grand daughter’s. I loved the way her mother tied her hair in triple hair ties.

This painting is part of my collection called “Childhood”.

Belle Belle 12 x 12 Acrylic on Panel