Ballerina in Black

As a follow up to my last blog, I finished up one of the two ballerinas I was working on!  The grand plan was to create one ballerina in white and one in black, so I started on the ballerina in black and had a fabulous time with her.  While I did a hybrid of brush and palette knife with my last ballerina, I decided this time to attempt this one completely using palette knife.

For those of you unfamiliar with palette knife, it is the metal tool all the way on the right in the picture above.  Whereas brushes are made of bristles and create smoother, flatter texture generally, palette knife is made of metal (and sometimes plastic), and is sans bristles.  It allows you to scoop up more paint off of your palette and generally results in looser, more expressive strokes on the canvas and creates a lot of texture.  The only downside is that the paintings stay wet for a long, long time.  When I finish a painting with a brush, I avoid touching it for a couple weeks but I don't worry about it too much.  That said, with palette knife, it's critical to move the painting to a place where nobody will encounter it or touch it for quite some time!

Ballerina in Black is a 24"x36" oil on linen.  What do you think of the palette knife technique?!  Let me know! I'd love to hear from you.

Hope you enjoy and are having a very happy Monday so far!

Ballerinas in Process

Happy Monday!  This past week was a little rough as I came down with the flu!  I had no idea you could get the flu in the summer but apparently you can.  Oof!  Well, I'm feeling better, which means back to work.  I had such a good time painting my ballerina, that I decided to try to paint a couple more!  I sketched them out, although I think I am going to change up the ballerina on the right...I don't like that her foot isn't totally showing and I'm not sure she's zoomed in enough like the ballerina on the left.  Right now, the plan is to make ballerina's outfit on the left dark, and on the right white.  We'll see how it goes and if that holds true in the end.  As an artist, sometimes you go in with one plan and end up with something totally different!

Off to the ballet (in my mind, that is)!  Hope you are having a spectacular day!

Vacation!

Every year, my family and I go to Sunset Beach in North Carolina for a week at the beach.  We have been going as a family for about ten years now, and it has a special place in my heart because it is where I got engaged and also where I won my very first painting contest.

This week of vacation is also the source of my parents family Christmas card, which is always at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville restaurant down in Myrtle Beach.  We take the 45 minute drive down to watch the fireworks, walk around the shops, and snap the yearly shot.  My husband and I are on the left, parents in the middle, and brother and sister-in-law on the right.  This year, my sister-in-law's sister (middle right) joined us as well, which was a fun addition.

It's always inspiring to go down to the beach, since I can see God's handiwork in a new light.  Check out this rainbow!!!  I've never seen a full rainbow, and if you see in the upper right hand corner, you can see a faint double rainbow.  Amazing!

Finally, here's a (slightly blurry) shot of the Calabash Creamery, our favorite ice cream shop at the beach.  The ice cream is amazing and worth the line that typically loops all the way around the shop!

Okay so back to painting!  Check out my most recent piece, a shot of a ballerina in mid-leap.  I got the inspiration for this piece after I visited the Kennedy Center to see the ballet.  I find it amazing how beautiful and graceful these ballerinas are all while knowing the dedication, strength, and hard work they had to put in to look so lovely.  Enjoy!

Hopefully you just had a great vacation or are about to have one!  Either way, have a happy Monday (one day late!)!

Hairspray...An Artist's Windex

Anyone who's seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding knows what I'm talking about for the title of this post.  Gus, patriarch of the family, believes that everything from wounds to cars can be fixed with the power of Windex.  So when I ended up getting ultramarine blue paint on my beloved lemon yellow wing back chair, I just about cried (although I think my husband cheered...haha!).  What do I do?!  Well, after a quick google search, I discovered quite a few people mention using hairspray.  Okay, I'll try anything, I thought.  And guess what?  Hairspray is an artist's best friend.  Check out the steps below to get oil paint out!

The culprit, wet corner of painting

The victim, yellow wing back chair

Step 1: Take a dry, white rag and blot any excess paint off (if stain is still wet).  Do not smear around, simply blot, and when rag is saturated, move to a clean part and blot again, until rag no longer picks up paint when blotting.

See the blue spots?  That's from blotting, then moving to a clean spot until no more paint is picked up from the blotting process

Step 2: Spray hairspray onto clean part of rag, or directly onto paint spot

Step 3: Rub clean part of rag (with hairspray on it), over paint spot.  Similar to Step 1, but in this case, you can rub instead of blot.  This step can take awhile, be patient and rub in different directions to really pick up the paint.  If you see the paint begin to spread around, stop, and go back to Step 1.  When rag is saturated with paint, move to a clean section of rag and repeat.  Be liberal with the hairspray, but try to keep it in a concentrated area around the spot.  Each time you move to a clean section of the rag, apply more hairspray.

Step 4: Slowly but surely, the paint will disappear, and you will end up with nothing but a wet hairspray spot.  If you are dealing with clothes, stick them straight into the washing machine.  If you are dealing with something that can't be laundered, dampen spot with water (unless dealing with a material that water stains, such as silk).

Step 5:  Blow dry until hairspray spot is gone!  If you find that the area is tacky from the hairspray, wet again and repeat Step 5.

Voila!  No more stain!!!!!!!!!!  I can't believe it!

Okay, so what if the stain is dry?!  I tried this on a dry carpet spot that fell victim to orange paint, and I can say that the results are similar!  You may have to work at it a little more, and you may not be able to get every ounce of stain out, but never fear, you can make it better at the very least!

Happy painting...brush in one hand, hairspray in the other!

Derby Day!

Derby Day, 24"x48" oil on canvas

I went out of the box and tried something different...horses!  I've never painted a horse before, but after seeing several wonderfully talented artists do their rendition of horses, I figured I would give it a shot.  It was a fabulous way to break the mold from doing cityscapes.  Like most pieces in general, it required a lot of concentration and it had its challenges, but it was a ton of fun!  Since the horses were in motion, racing down the track, I had to blur the background and their legs, something I hadn't done before.  Thankfully, the technique is surprisingly similar to the way I paint water, so it came naturally!

While I wish I was also congratulating California Chrome in this blog post on the Triple Crown, I will say that I am so impressed by his two victories and overcoming the odds!  

Hope your Monday is going great and that you have a day of victory!

New Work and Inspiration!

A couple weeks ago, I taught a class of fourth graders at a local elementary school where one of my best friends teaches.  While I don't typically teach classes, I had a really good time flexing those muscles and ended up being inspired by these kids!  Being that it was the end of the year, I tried to keep it light on the lecturing so we could get to the actual painting.  I taught about three kinds of painting: Abstract, impressionism, and realism, and then the kids got a chance to practice one of those for themselves.

Last night, my friend Natrisha came over with a bunch of thank you cards from the kids, and one of them even gave me their piece that they created, which had me totally floored on the day I taught.  You can see it in the picture above, it's an abstract sunrise.  How cool is that?!  I love the geometric shapes and his use of color...this kind of brilliance belongs in a gallery!  Aren't kids so creative?!  Nothing else hampering their creative spirit, no fear, nothing holding them back!!!

Cottage on the East End, oil on linen, 12"x36"

As for me, this is my latest piece, a fun Cayman cottage that I did using both brush strokes and palette knife.  Palette knife is a lot of fun, as they are basically just dull knives in different shapes and are designed to pick up a lot of paint.  It forces you to paint more quickly and less meticulously than with a brush, so the appearance is more about the color impact and less about detail, although do not be fooled, you can get plenty of gorgeous detail.  My inspiration to begin painting, Howard Behrens, was a palette knife artist.

Lastly, in my spare time this past week, I started a project as a gift for my mom.  While I can't divulge what it is quite yet, it involves sewing and cutting fabric.  I'm no seamstress, so while this is already considered a challenge, it's even more so when your dog decides to lay on the fabric.  Look how unfazed she remains as I attempt to make cuts.  The end result?  A dog shaped pattern as I finally just had to cut around her.  I'd move her, but she's just so cute!!!!

Hope you all have a GREAT fourth of July week and enjoy some awesome fireworks!

Art Scam

About once per year, I get an email regarding a classic art scam.   The other day, I was thinking about how it's been about a year since one of these emails has come across my inbox, and wouldn't you know, the next morning, I wake up to one waiting for me.

While many of you coming across this are not artists, I think it's important to make mention of this in my weekly blog in case anyone is googling an email address and is curious about whether or not someone is legitimately interested in their work or if it truly is just a scam.

They often go by different names, but in this case, his name was Barry Dominican (Ha!  What a name.  Hi, I'm Bob American.  What, my name doesn't sound real?!) and his email is from a legit gmail address, mrbdominican1@gmail.com.  The email goes as follows:

Hi,My name is Barry Dominican.  

I lived and worked in Hawaii for 21years.I'm in the process of moving to Germany 

to expand my business field.  

I just bought a house there and I'm interested in collecting some artworks for some spaces within my house to make it unique and beautiful.  

Can I have a few images of your recent works?  

I won't mind having your website so as to explore more into your works.I look forward to hearing back from you soonest.

Regards.

Notice the good, but not great English and how generic his email is?  Also, note that he's moving...another classic red flag.  Of course, just to weed him out, I oblige him, and give him info about the pieces he is interested in (usually whatever couple of titles he chooses to grab off of your website, attempting to seem even more legit).  And then, it comes out:


Glad to hear back from you and thanks for the details.  
The price is okay by me and I'm interested in the immediate purhcase.
Could you send me your full name as you want it written on a check and
your mailing information so that I can have my company cut out a check to you.
You don't have to worry about shipment, my Mover will handle it.
I hope this goes well with you.
Till I hear again from you.
Regards.


Two big red flags.  Number one, he wants to send a check.  Classic, classic red flag! They often will overpay, and ask for a refund for the overpayment.  Meanwhile, you're transferring money to their untraceable account and the check he sends you bounces.   Number two, they have a mover pick up your stuff.  Obviously, they don't want you to have any info on them besides an untraceable email account, routing number, and fake name.  The movers never come, and you are scammed out of your money.

If you are reading this, do not give out your contact info!

So what do you do if you get an email like this?  You can always just delete it, but if you aren't sure, first, explain that you only accept PayPal or some other method of secure payment.  Second, explain that you do your own shipping and that you need his physical address.  Whether you choose to explain that it's because you smell a rat is your choice!  Either way, I haven't heard back from the usually quick responding Barry in over 24 hours.  I'm shocked!  Kiddddiiiiing.

Anyway, again, I realize that this isn't necessarily relevant to everyone reading, but thought it was really important to put this guy's contact info out into the world so other artists do not get duped and end up losing out on their hard earned money.  Not to mention how incredibly disappointing it is to think that someone wants your work and then actually doesn't.  Talk about getting upset and temporarily raising the blood pressure!  I know I need to stop and pray for these guys, although my human instincts sometimes take over, wanting to find them and wring their necks instead.  Serenity now!  Ha!

Hope your weekend went swimmingly (I say that as a pun as I got to go to the pool TWICE this weekend!), and that your Monday is filled with ethical, kind, and well-meaning people (aka, no art scammers!).

Until next week!