An Award! (times two!)

My good friend Irina Rekhviashvili awarded me this "Sunshine Award". Irina created and posts to several blogs with truly amazing content. Take a look at her "profile page" and her "My Blogs" list.

I learned (DUH) that another good blogger friend Liz Pearson (Art With Liz) had presented me the Sunshine Award as well! I feel really dumb to have not acknowledged her kindness.  But, maybe, that's because of my male gender! :-)

This is my first (and second) blogers award! Part of the honor and duties is to "pass it forward" to 12 other bloggers.  A probliem is, I don't know if I know 12 bloggers that haven't already received this Sunshine Award!  :-)

Check back once in a while as I add names to the list of blogger recipients!

An Artist In Venice Italy

An Artist In Venice Italy   16x20   Oil on canvas panel

I have a good start, I believe. This much was done in about four or five hours. I need to let the paint set up a bit then work on the arttist, building details and especially the water.

This is from a photo but for the life of me I don't know where it came from - aside from the internet.

 February 27th - Ready to call this "done". I'll put this painting aside then look at it in a few days. the figure to the far left bothers me.

Anuka - A Work In Progress

Anuka    16x20   Canvas panel

A Work In Progress.  I started this painting around 10 AM this morning I got this far by 2 PM.this afternoon.  Then I had to stop for the day. 

I have the foundation done pretty well (I think), now I need to make my darks darker (DUH?)  and just get the painting DONE!  The photo of my painting shows the painting a little lighter than the painting and there is some glare on the right side. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!  :-)

I saw the photo of Anuka in a blog with gorgeous photographs taken in Georgia "Between Caucasus and the Black Sea". The photographer,Jemal Kasradze, is the uncle of Irina one of my "blogger" friends. Irina also makes some of the photographs in "Uncle Jemal's" blog.  :-)  You should take a look at both blogs ,they're really good.

I worked on this piece today (Feb 25th)  but I still have more work to do. Obviously!  I was able to darken her hair and I'm relatively "happy" with that. BUT, her face looks like one of the characters from The Munsters TV program!  Make it DARK DARK DARK There, I've said it and I know it!  But, dang, why are darks so hard for me? :-) 

Fiddly dee, tomorrow's another day!

 February 27th - worked on this painting some more. I'm beginning to like her eyes more. The photo doesn't represent her hair well - it's much darker in the painting.

Young Artist - Finished

Young Artist   18x24   Oil on canvas board

I'm trying to have the figure back lighted (back lit?) and it's proving difficult for me.  The photo picks up brush strokes more than I'd like, but . . . 

I still have some work to do - obviously. I thought that I would post this "work in progress" since I hadn't posted anything in quite a while.

After some adjustments. :-)  Feb 20, 2010

Her eye and arm need some work.  duh

After some adjustments. :-)  Feb 24, 2010

I'm calling this one DONE!

My @#$%^ digital camera is repaired!

I sent my @#$%^ digital camera to Georgia for repairs and it came back as good as new! AND the camera has agreed to focus for me! (I think that it missed me)

The company is:

V-Photo of Atlanta, Inc

4300 Red Rock Point

Suwanee, GA 30024

Their email is vps6950@bellsouth.com and the website is http://vphotoatlanta.com

They had the camera back to me way before their "ten day" turnaround. And I can't tell by looking at the case that they worked on it. But the LCD viewfinder works and the pictures are in focus (when I don't wiggle).

I recommend this company to anybody that needs their camera repaired. They're good people who gave me a written estimate before I sent the camera to them.

SHUROK - a friend's friend

Shurok  9x12  Oil on Masonite

This kitty named Shurok was the friend of one of my "blog friends". Shurok died not long ago and it has saddened me that my "blog friend" is so sad.

I made this painting without permission and I hope that my friend will not be offended.

I always make a painting when somebody or a pet in my family died. It has helped me help myself grieve and remember.

Maybe this little painting might bring back some happy memories.

Taking A Break - a work in progress

Taking A Break  18x24  Oil on Masonite

A WORK IN (not much) PROGRESS!

I started this a week or two ago then did a "manly thing" and hurt my leg so I couldn't get around for a while.  I'm making this from a photo I took at the Bentonville, AR Public Library Cafe. The lady in the photo is Melissa (my wife) and I'm the chunky blob on the right side.  I'm not EVEN TRYING to make a likeness, just  a reasonable-looking couple relaxing with an espressso.

I've putzed around with this for a couple of days now and it's beginning to shape up, but . . . .

If I were a carpenter I'd use a bigger hammer. Maybe I should use a bigger brush!   :-)  

At The Flea Market

At The Flea Market  18x24  Oil on Masonite

I did a smaller version a few months ago but I wasn't very happy with it.  The jury is still out whether I entirely like this version.  

The "backpack" lady's hand needs some work, I see and those guys on the right aren't quite right.

Gripe gripe gripe!

House of China - Eureka Springs, AR

House of China 16.5x24  Oil on panel

From several photos taken last summer in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  Beautiful little town with many, many turn of the century homes and buildings.  A real fun tourist stop!

The House of China sells asian things. I'm not a shopper, so I don't know what to call the things in the store. But my daughter and my wife sure did enjoy buying a few things!

No news is good news.

We had another January 2 day snowfall last week that dumped 4-5 (or more) inches of snow at our house. How deep depends on where you measure. In our flat front yard the snow is about 4 inches deep. The snow is around 12 inches where the wind has blown the snow into drifts - around trees, shrubs & the corners of buildings.  We're getting "warm" temps (mid 30sF) in the day time so the snow melts but then the temps droop into low 20sF during the nighttime and the melted stuff freezes.  Traveling on our country roads is risky business!  We haven't been driving for almost a week.

I hurt my leg two weeks ago by trying to move a 50 gal barrel full of frozen rain water into a sunny spot. The barrel had other ideas and the barrel clipped my right leg.  I had to go to the emergency room to have it looked at. Nothing broken - just a HUGE bruise & swelling on my right thigh.  I'm able to exercises now to "rehab" my legs.  I think that my @#$%^ camera told the barrel to "get" me.

I have no photos of the paintings I've done or am working on. My @#$%^ camera is in Georgia at a camera hospital having the LCD viewfinder Iand I, hope, it's focus attitude) repaired. I dropped my camera just right so that the viewfinder was broken. The camera thinks that I did it on purpose. Maybe YES, mayber NO. I'll never tell. I'm not sure when I'll get the @#$%^ camera back.  I was surprised that it was less expensive to fix it than to buy another camera.

Enough blah blah blah.

Bummer - my @#$% camera is broken

Those of you who have read some of my postings know that my @#$% digital camera and I agreed to disagree about the reality of FOCUS.  Two days ago I dropped the @#$% camera and only the left side the display displays anything. The right side is just . . . . . BLANK.  I suppose it's karma or some digital camera revenge thing getting back at me for talking smack about it.

I'll make some phone calls or use the internet to see if the @#$% thing can be repaired. I'm guessing that buying another camera will be "less expensive" than repairs.

Totally bummed!

Bowl of Fruit with Copper Pot

Bowl of Fruit with Copper Pot   20x24  Oil on canvas panel

This was the subject of my posting a "work in progress" for a few days. I'm calling this one DONE!

Many, many thanks to my blogger friend "Carolina" for her critiques, advice,  support and most of all her honest observations. Her input has helped me with several projects and I consider her my best friend in blogger-land.  Check out her blog at http://loquemegustaaquiyahora.blogspot.com/.

Railroad Crossing At Smith RIdge Road

Railroad Crossing At Smith Ridge Road  12x16  Oils on Masonite

This is a railroad crossing Smith Ridge Road about a mile from my house near Avoca, Arkansas. Smith Ridge Road isn't the main road now, it's been bypassed by Smith Ridge Cutoff. Smith Ridge Cutoff is blacktop and the "road" isn't.

Right now, January 9, 2010 both roads are iced over but we're due to "warm up" into the 30s soon. I HOPE!

Melissa in a Blue Mumu

Melissa in a Blue Mumu  12x18  Oils on Masonite

I've been working and working and working on this one. Getting the folds of the fabric in the beautiful blue mumu has been tough for me.

AND since the beautiful lady is Melissa, it's doubly difficult. True to my limited talent as a portrait painter, I've missed her likeness by a LONG mile.  :-(

But I'll keep on keeping on and sooner or later I'll figure it out!

Silver pot with bowl of fruit

Silver pot with bowl of fruit  12x16  Oil on cavas panel

I originally did this painting in 1994 and I didn't like it much then and I liked it even less in the last few days! :-)   Sooooo, I did a "do-over" and am liking it more now.  I'm not completely satisfied - yet - but . . . .

I'm pretty sure that I'm not done with this one. 

Still Life - work in progress January 6, 2010 UPDATE

The photo of the still life subject on our kitchen table

My sketch on masonite with tinted gesso

WORK IN PROGRESS - 1/2/10 Afternoon.  I have some darks and lights blocked in and I'm beginning to put in color to remind me where things are supposed to be.  The bottom left hasn't been painted - yet. Thats the gesso.

The @#$%^ camera refused to focus for me. I suppose that Mars should be in alignment with some star.

WORK IN PROGRESS - 1/3/10 Morning: I worked on the table cloth and touched up the back ground a bit. Haven't worked on the fruit or the copper pot - yet. The fruit and the copper pot are my afternoon tasks. It snowed last night and is still coming down a little bit. Really dry stuff - can't make a decent snowball so no snowman. Take a look at my studio blog for a couple of photos.

WORK IN PROGRESS - 1/3/10 Afternoon. Almost done? I need to (want to?) "tweak" this a bit.  I think that: a) the bowl needs shading on the left side b) the copper pot needs more "copper" c) the bowl lip (shape) looks goofy and d) the top-most red apple (nearest the pot) has a goofy shape as well. I'm going to leave it alone the rest of today

WORK IN PROGRESS - 1/4/10 Morning. I (think) that I made the copper pot more "coppery", smoothed out the edge of the upper red apple. made the lip of the bowl less "goofy" and touched up here & there. I want to shade the white bowl with a glaze, but I need to let the paint dry another day or two. I tried a glaze this morning & it just "shmeared" everything.  I'm going to call this one "done" after I put some glazing here & there. Time to start on something else.

 WORK IN PROGRESS - 1/6/10 Mid-day..I tried to make the copper pot reflections "stonger" or more pronounced. (Thanks Carolina!)  The highlights are not as bright in this photo as I think that they are in the painting.  I also put a light gray glaze on the left side of the bowl and touched up the highlights on the fruit. I am working on two other paintings, by the way.  I did "move on", sort of. :-)

A Bowl of Fruit with Copper Pot - a still life "work in progress".  The support is 1/8 inch Masonite with tinted gesso.  I'm not sure what the tint color is, I put some left over acrylic paints into the gesso and stirred it up.  Sort of a dirty, dusty rose?

I'm going to try to remember to take photos as I progress with the painting.  I don't do many still life paintings but decided that what I have been doing was getting boring. So, a new year and a new painting outlook.

I seem to have a problem with the blog posting editor - I arrange the photos and text in the "compose" mode but the published post looks different. Go figure.

Woman Near Green House

 

Woman Near Green House  16x20  Oil on canvas panel

Updated Photo 1/2/10  - The photo of the "new" painting is on the left, the "old" painting is on the right.  I tried to improve the rendering of the woman's hands and face.  The darker photo is just digital bloggerization; I didn't change anything about the house in the painting. Honest!

For a person who tries to avoid GREEEEEN, I sure went through a LOT of green in this painting.  I picked this out of some public domain photos on the internet cause it seemed like I needed to make a painting.

It's hard to believe, but this will be my last posting in 2009! Tomorrow is 2010. That number seems cumbersome to me but I'll need to get used to it.

I'll probably make some adjustments to this painting after a while and before I sign it. I guess it will be finished when it's finished.

Happy New Year!

NOW WHAT? - revisited

I'm not sure what happened to some of my photos in my "Avocaken" blog postings, but some disappeared and some did not. I have reposted many of the photos of my art but can't find some others due to a hard drive disaster a few months ago. Although I thougt that I was making regular backups, i found out that I was kidding myself.

ANYWAY. . . . . I'm reposting what I have and removing the "debris" left from the vanished photos. The missing photos' frame have an imbedded link to photo-land in the blog-sphere that I like to remove. Ya can't have what isn't there anymore, I guess!

I'm building another blog showing how my art studio was built. Melissa and I put in a lot of time and effort into the building of the studio and the result is WONDERFUL. In the middle of the construction I got sick and had to stop doing physical things and "take it easy". So it took us longer than we hoped to complete the project. See my new blog at http://kensartstudio.blogspot.com/

Bon Fire on the Beach

Bon Fire on the Beach 11x14 Oil on Masonite Panel

I had to stop "messing" with this painting. I don't know that I'm happy with it - yet but I'm going to let it rest then take a look at it in a couple of weeks/months. Some paintings seem to just jump out of my brush onto the canvas but this one . . . grrrrr Perhaps it wasn't meant to be?

I finally figured out why my post formatting was being weird?!?! There's a SETTING to use the "new" editor or the "OLD" editor. I chose the OLD EDITOR and badda-bing, badda-boom I'm a happy dude. It probably doesn't matter, though. YA THINK??????? DUHHHHH!!!!!!!! But I'm grinnin'!

:-)

Couple on a park path

Couple on a park path  16x20  Oil on canvas panel

Updated image 3/31/2010

This painting is a composite of a couple of photos that I've seen - the couple was at a county fair near Seattle. The path is a different take on one of my previous posts - House on Smith Ridge Cutoff.  Instead of a country road, I made a park path.

This was painted on one of my homemade canvas over masonite panels. I'll put some "how to" directions in my studio blog when my studio blog is ready for this.  :-)

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas . . . .

Merry Christmas - Our house December 25, 2009 7:00 AM - 18 F

It started snowing last night - dry, blowing stuff. If you look closely you can see the snow stuck to the wall near our front door.  The temperature now (8:20 AM) is 18 F and the wind is still blowing the dry snow in swirls. It's beautiful as long as you look at it from a warm room. The accumulation is only an inch or two except where the wind has piled the snow. The ONLY reason that I went out was to find our morning newspaper - almost buried in the snow drifts.

 

Look closely & you can see the "fairie dust" (blowing snow) from our back door. The sun is coming up just above my studio.

My First Watercolor Picture

My First Watercolor Picture 8x11 watercolors on "watercolor paper"

For my birthday this month, my brother & his family gave me a wooden chest full of art supplies. The chest has 12 colors each of watercolors, acrylics, oils, pastels, oil pastels and colored pencils. It's sort of overwhelming, as the only medium I'm "comfortable" with is oil paints. I'm going to give all of them a try using this same photo.  The art chest also came with two 8x10 "canvas panels" and a pad of "watercolor paper".  So, I can stop when the paper and panels are used up. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

This is my first try at painting with watercolors since I was in public school 'way back in the 50-60's. About the only thing I learned was that I needed a BIG bowl of water. The rest of what the art teacher tried to tell me is dis-remembered.  For this painting I worked from a photo (of course) that I found somewhere on the WWW.

I learned a bunch from this first painting- first of all, there isn't a real WHITE paint in watercolors. WHAT? I need to plan ahead and use a potion called Frisket (WHAT?) to cover up the areas that I want to be white or not colored with the paint I'm using at the time. I need to think and that's going to be a problem. :-) WHAT? I thought that watercolor paints came in little cakes, not in tubes! WHAT?

Ken B.

PS the chest came with one really dinky eraser. I'm going need one of those gigantic electric power erasers, I think. Maybe if I can put an eraser in my electric drill . . . . .

NOW WHAT?

Apparently SOME of my posted blog photos are un-posted today! Not all of 'em just some of 'em. Strange!  If I click on the images that ARE visible, I get a message that the photo is not on the server.  If I click on the "frame" of a "missing" photo, the photo is displayed.  I'll wait a day or two or three then see if I need to put Humpty Dumpty together again.  Sigh!

:-)

I'll have some work to do if I need to re-post some of the photos. Finding them on my hard drive will be a problem! Maybe I'll start filing my photos in a more manageable way?  NAH!  I can't remember filing systems.

Santa must have determined that I wasn't a good boy this year and instead of a lump of coal, he hid some of my blog photos.  Bah humbug!

I'm reloading the "missing" photographs in my blog. I may not do them all, but I'll start at the most recent then work to the oldest - MAYBE. It's mighty cumbersome but . . . .

End of the Year Challenge - Different Strokes From Different Folks

End of the Year Challenge - Different Strokes From Different Folks   9 3/4 x 11   Oil on panel

This challenge is hosted by Karin Jurick on her Different Strokes From DIfferent Folks blog.  Artists that chose to participate emailed a photo of themselves to Karin. When Karin had all of the photos, she randomly emailed a photo to an artist. So, most of us don't know much if anything about the subject of the portraits we would paint.

I really did enjoy making the painting of this lady - I don't know her name or anything about her yet.  To understand what I'm saying, go to the Different Strokes From Different Folks blog and see what other artitsts have done. You can also go to You Tube to see the photos and the painting.

I'm having a problem with this BLOG posting software interface so I'm not sure how this will look!  It appears one way in "compose" then another way after it's "published".  :-| That being said, my next whine is that I had to make HUNDREDS (no kidding) of photographs before 1) the color was close, 2) the glare from the shiny surface was gone and 3) the photo was in FOCUS!

My Studio - Displaying paintings on pegboard panels

If you follow my blog, you might have seen my pegboard panels that I made to display my paintings in my studio - see photo to the left. (My pegboard is 1/8 inch thick by the way.) I was having problems with hanging my paintings on the pegboard - first I made my own hooks out of wire then I tried pegboard hooks from the hardware store. Neither "solution" work well. The paintings would go crooked or worse, fall to the floor because the hooks themselves weren't secured well. The store-bought hooks that I could buy locally were also too big - they held the painting too far from the pegboard inviting swing & sway and then . . . . "OOOOOOPS!".

I found a VERY good solution for my situation at Grand & Benedicts The product is called a "pin_up hook", their part number is 009-333 and the hooks cost 15 cents each. The pin-up hooks have two pegboard hooks that hold the hook really well in the pegboard. I use two of the hooks on larger paintings so that the paintings don't tilt on me or fall to the floor.

My display panels are like large pages of a picture book and when the "page" is turned the paintings don't fall!

Grand & Benedicts also has all sorts of other kinds of pegboard hooks on this page.

This review and testimonial is unsolicited and my own private opinion!

Click on the pin-up hook image (below) to see the Grand & Bendecits product page.

Fall 2009 Rogers Art Guild Exhibit

Me with my 5 entries in the Fall 2009 Rogers Art Guild Exhibit. We had 63 entries for the exhibit that ran from October 29th until November 11th. The dancers paintings are 24x30 to give you an idea of size.

One painting was sold from the exhibit - not mine!

This image was scanned from a hard copy photo and my scanner seems to be getting as old as me - lots of lines and s-l-o-w. :-) BUT it (and I) stll works! Sort of.

Good Spot For The Parade

Good Spot For The Parade 16 1/2 x 20 3/8 Oil on canvas panel

Nov 24 2009 - updated the photo. FINI! DONE!

Nov 20 2009 - updated the photo after "touching up" the painting a little bit. I feel that it STILL needs SOMETHING! I have no clue what. :-)

This started out as a painting of a woman sitting on a sunny park bench reading her book. B-O-R-I-N-G. SO, I sat her down between two benches in an aluminum lawn chair and gave her a warm coat and a lap blanket . Because the parade is taking place in Arkansas, the graffiti on the wall is "localized" a bit. (My apologies to all Arkansans and graffiti artists.)

The strange panel size comes from recycling scraps of Masonite and pieces of wood. I glued the Masonite to the pine wood frame. I "squared" it up with my table saw when the glue was dry. I probably did it backwards, but that's how I usually do things, so why change now? :-)

At last the painting is in focus in the photograph. I told my camera that I wasn't really taking a photo so it relaxed and let things happen. woo hoo.

Weekend Shoppers

Weekend Shoppers 11x14 Oil on Canvas panel

This appears to be a family (tourists?) out shopping on Main Street in Eureka Springs AR. This was in the summer on one of the hotter days we had a few months ago. I'm guess that this is Mom and Dad out with their daughter. I go to look at and photograph the people - Melissa likes to go into the shops. This works out really well for us both.

I had problems with lighting this painting for the photo. I keep getting glare this is the best of many. I'll try again today to see if I can make a digital photo with a smart camera. The camera is smarter than the operator, that's for sure! :-)

Eureka Springs has many natural mineral springs. Two web sites where you can read more about it are: http://www.eurekasprings.com/ and http://www.eurekasprings.org/

We always stop at Bubba's BBQ - really! :-) Good BBQ and real people work there.

This is pointed on one of my home made Masonite panels covered with canvas. These panels have the look of canvas without the "bounce" of stretched canvas. The Masonite is reinforced with 3/4 inch square pieces of pine glued in place. I use better quality carpenter's glue clamped to the frame while the canvas is glued (and back stapled) to the Masonite with rabbit skin glue then I apply 3 or 4 coats of tinted Gesso. Presently my panels are "only" 3/4 inch thick. I'll make some thicker "gallery" panels later. I'll explain it mo bettah if anybody who is interested reads this far and lets me know with a comment.

All The News

$75.00 plus shipping

All The News 9 3/4x11 Oil on Canvas panel

I saw all of these newspaper "boxes" lined up at the NW Arkansas Community College campus and thought it was remarkable that there is so much printed material available. Much of it is free! I'm NOT a student, by the way. I probably should be but I'm not. :-)

The support for this painting is on one of my experiments with Masonite panels. The Masonite is glued to a pine frame and that assembly is covered with canvas. I DO like the look and feel of canvas, I just don't like the "give" of open-backed stretched canvas. I make these braced Masonite panels (no warping), wrap them with canvas, do the gesso thing then make my paintings. A happy camper! The odd size of this panel (9 3/4x11) is a result of using a left over piece of Masonite to test my panel-making method. Maybe a subject for a separate posting.

These panels would be good if a person likes "gallery wrapped" supports. Personally, I prefer putting my paintings in frames - which I usually make myself.

PS - The "box" at the far left (by the tree) is a trash bin! What does that mean? :-)

Seashore #1

Seashore #1 18x25 Oil on canvas

I'm not sure why I chose to make this painting! First of all, I guess, is that it has NO GREEN (worth mentioning). Most landscape paintings are very green with plants that are green. The digital photo colors are a little off, but . . . at least it's in focus!

The title implies that this is the first of several. or at least more than one. You've been warned. I'll be quiet now.

Odds & Ends Nov 9 2009

Earlier in this blog I asked how artists who use gesso dealt with the "lumps and globs" that form over time in acrylic gesso. I heard about storing the container upside down - not good as the lumps still formed. I also heard about straining the gesso through cheese cloth - the gesso I use is too thick to strain through cheese cloth.

Carolina (http://loquemegustaaquiyahora.blogspot.com/) suggested using plastic food covering film (Glad Wrap or similar) on the surface of the gesso inside the container. IT WORKS! I cut a circular piece of plastic film using the lid of the container as a pattern and put it on the surface of the gesso. I've been using the same container of gesso for several weeks and NO LUMPS! I need to use gloves to handle the film, but that's OK. I also had to replace the plastic film because I let it dry out and the gesso on the film caked up and was making chips of gesso.

THANK YOU CAROLINA! You rock! (But you already knew that.) :-)

Now if someone can tell me a "safe" way to transport paintings to and from art shows. . . . . .

Airport Travelers - DSFDF Challenge 52-54

Airport Travelers 9x12 Oil on masonite

This is my version of Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks (DSFDF) challenge 52-54. Periodically (two or three weeks) Karin posts a photograph on the DSFDF blog for artists to make their art then send a photo of their art back to Karin who posts it on the DSFDF blog. It's worth a look to see how different people make different art from the same subject matter.

City Rooftops - DSFDF Challenge

City Rooftops 12x17 Oil on canvas

This is my version of Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks (DSFDF) challenge. I didn't submit this to her blog as the deadline for submissions was several days ago. Now there's another challenge - maybe I'll have the time to participate in the new challenge.

It's really an education to see all of the "entries" to Karin's challenges. She posts a photograph on her blog then artists submit their version / vision of the photo. Take a look at the blog at http://differentstrokesfromdifferentfolks.blogspot.com/

House on Smith Ridge Rd

House on Smith Ridge Rd 18x24 Oil on Masonite

Nov 9, 2009 - updated the photo. I (tried to) added more fall colors into the trees and leaves on the road. Also put more shadow here & there. The photo appears lighter than the painting. Go figger!

This is an (apparently) abandonded house on Smith Ridge Road, properly called County Road 80) not far from my home. Smith Ridge Road is not often used anymore as there now is a paved road called Smith Ridge Turn Off.

But Smith Ridge Road is (for a transplanted city guy) very pretty with trees hanging over the dirt road. The road is very muddy after a rain and very dusty until it rains. Take your pick!

What's Happening?

I HAVE been painting, I just haven't gotten any to a point where I want to publish a photo for the world to see.

Friday, October 17th, our Art Guild participated in the Rogers (Arkansas) Third Friday Artwalk. From April until October historical downtown Rogers stores and shops stay open until 8 PM. There's musical entertainment, crafts vendors on the sidewalk and etc. Our guild was assigned the first floor of a vacant store and we put out our work hoping people would come in and maybe buy something. 10% of all our sales goes into our "scholarship fund" to be awarded to two Rogers' high school students. ANYWAYYYYYYY, only a few people came in and only a few very small items were purchased. I'm thinking that most people came in to get out of the cold for a few minutes. We raffle a painting for a dollar a ticket and it did so poorly that we're going to try again next week. The temperature dropped into the 40s with a brisk wind and people either stayed home or went home if they were at the Third Friday event.

October 29th through November 11th is our Guild Fall Exhibit and Sale which will be located in the Rogers Public Library. We'll be selling our raffle tickets and 10% of proceeds go to the scholarship fund. Maybe we'll do better in two weeks than we did in one stormy night. :-) We even have a reception where people can meet the artists and enjoy (I hope) some light snacks.

This week I've been making some picture frames for a friend in the Art Guild. The frames aren't perfect by any measure, but they look good, they're substantial and by golly they're pretty inexpensive! I have learned that I want to buy a power hand sander!

How do other artists transport several (some 20x30) from home to show and back home? I stacked them up in the back of our Subaru with blankets in between. But a couple of paintings still got scuffed. HOW DO YOU DO IT? HELP!!!!

Farmer Reading His Newspaper

Farmer Reading His Newspaper 24x30 Oil on Masonite

Updated photo Nov 1 2009

A hard working man relaxing with his newspaper before his day begins, after the morning chores have been done or at the end of the day.

I think that I'm going to stop right here before I mess it up (more?). I was thinking about the left foreground - seems too smooth & bare. BUT I dislike making grass, gardens & such. I even thought about putting in his pooch but thought that was too cliche.

Dancers

Dancers 24x30 Oil on Masonite

I wanted to call this Flamenco Dancers, but it seems more ballet than Flalmenco. But what do I know? This is the third of my series of dancers - Flamenco or otherwise. I like the colorful costumes and the power suggested in the dancers' poses.

Red Colombine

Red Colombine 20x24 Oil on canvas board.

I did this from a photograph my cousins took on a cruise to Alaska.

I don't do florals very often - I struggle with them. Maybe because I don't know anything about the subject? I am NOT a gardner!

Besides, Red Colombine should be the name of a baseball outfielder!

Mason Jar

Mason Jar 18x25 Oil on canvas

I have seen other paintings of mason jars and wondered if I could do it as well. Well, I tried with this painting. The photo isn't the best but at least you can get the general idea of the piece.

I made the stretchers, stretched the canvas and have made the frame - all from scratch. It was (kinda - sorta) fun little project. The unusual size (18x25) was made to fit a picture frame from a thrift shop. That frame fell apart - literally so I made my own frame. I make most of my frames now.

I really LIKE masonite!

This is one of many reasons that I like to use masonite rather than canvas or other "soft" painting supports. Lots of people don't like masonite for their good reasons. But when something heavy fell on this finished piece (it was framed and signed) and poked a hole in it all I had to do was use my table saw and cut off six inches. Granted, I was lucky that the hole was in a place where I could do that.

The "new" piece measures 12x24

The "old" piece measured 12x30

"THE HOLE" The hole measures about 6 inches by 3 inches.

The hole sort of looks cool in a photograph. A big bird flying by? Note the smudged signature! Oh well! What the - - - - ?