Shurok - Painting #2

S O L D

Shurok - painting #2  12x16  Oil on canvas panel

I made a 9x12 painting of Shurok after he died not long ago and sent the painting to his "mother" who is one of my "blog friends".

I liked the composition and the kitty (and his mom) well enough that I wanted a painting of Shurok for myself, so I made the painting - again. It helps me feel better!

I made this canvas panel as well. It's a piece of masonite with a pine "frame" and gallery-wrapped with 100% cotton duck. I'm not sure that I am comfortable not framing my paintings in the traditional sense. I just need to make sure that the sides are painted to match the main painting.

Sometimes you feel like a NUT, sometimes you don't! :-)

Hex Nuts   9x12   Oil on canvas panel

I did this today in a few hours just because I felt like doing it.  I saw a picture while surfing public domain photographs for cherry blossoms. Why a photo of a hex-nut was shown amongst the cherry blossom photos is . . . . . . . .

I used Gamblin's Silver "metals" oil paint mixed with white & Gamblin's Portland Grays (light, medium and deep) for highlights. It looks really "different" when the light hits it just right and the silver shines. It doesn't photograph well, but the silver sheen is there. I made the canvas panel - covering a 9x12 piece of Masonite with 100% cotton duck canvas.

Art Shows Dilemma

I belong to two art "clubs" in the area (NW Arkansas) and both are having a judged art show about the same time. :-)

Show "A" allows 3 submission.. Up to 2 of the 3 might be chosen to be displayed in the show for judging and one possible award. I have to choose 3 paintings to submit for show "A".

Show "B" allows from 1 - 5 entries per artist. All entries will be displayed and judged for awards. I have to choose 5 paintings to submit for show "B"

After much agonizing and going back and forth I've made a "list" of 10 that I'll be choosing from - see the images below.

Please take a look at the ten paintings then tell me which 3 for show "A" and which 5 for show "B" - any painting can't be in both shows!   :-(

#1 - RR Crossing On Smith Ridge Road

#2 - Two Dollars An Hour

#3 - Last Bus to Zurich

#4 - Flamenco Dancer with Red Fan

#5 - A Couple on a Park Path

#6 - Farmer Reading His Newspaper

#7 - Lady With Yellow Scarf

#8 - Harvest Time - Gleaner #1

#9 - After The Ice Storm

#10 - Cupcakes

Which three (3) would you choose to be in the juried (to be entered) show?

Which five (5) would you choose to be in the other art show?

Leave a comment with your "votes"!  Thanks for looking.  :-)

An award - times three!

Another sunshine award!  An avalanche of 3 Sunshine Awards within a week! I need some real sunshine and some warm sun. This Sunshine came to me from Millie whose blog is http://millienguyen6.blogspot.com/   Millie makes AMAZING watercolor art. I work in oil paints and tried watercolors not long ago. After the first watercolor painting I put the watercolors into a drawer! :-)

The rules for accepting the award are:

- Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they received this award.
- Link to the person from whom you received this award.

Some have already received a "Sunshine Award" but they're getting another!  :-)

My first 6 are:

 1. Carolina Alzamora 

 2. Tony Kucera  

3. Irina Rekhviashvili  

  

4. Pilar B de Sala    

5. Sylviane Le Cann 

 6. Jill Polsby   

Some of my art in Picasa

I played with Picasa today and made some photo albums of some of my paintings. You can see them at http://picasaweb.google.com/Avocaken - I hope!

Please let me know by leaving a comment (below) if you have problems seeing the three (3) albums!

My art guild (Rogers Art Guild) is in the initial phase of building our website and i'm hoping that the individual artist's galleries will hopefully be made more simple using Picasa.  We'll see!

Uncle Jemal

Uncle Jemal   12x16  Oils on canvas panel

"Uncle Jenal's" name is Jemal Kasradze a gifted photographer living in Tbilisi, Georgia, a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Mr Jemal;s blog is one where I can spend hours looking at his photographs. Beautiful.

The photo for my painting is taken from his blog ID photo. His niece, Irina, is one of my good blogger frineds.

As usual lately, I need to put this painting down and get back to it later.

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.