Sophia, 1/20/2013

Sophia, 6"x6" Oil on hardboard panel

Blondie, 1/19/2013

Blondie, 6"x6" oil on hardboard panel

Satsuma - mini!

Satsuma, 2"x2" oil on itty bitty canvas

$25 plus $5 shipping

To purchase contact me - aldisdl@hotmail.com

So cute. I love miniatures. Its a challenge, but so much fun! I was teaching today so I was not able to get to my doggie series...a tiny orange will have to do... tomorrow, though, is another day! 

Spring is in the Air - Jonquils

Jonquils (Aka Daffodils) 8"x8" Oil on Canvas.
$125 plus $10 shipping (USA)
to Purchase contact me: aldisdl@hotmail.com

A taste of spring, I can feel it in the air. Or at least, I think I can feel it. The days are staying lighter longer, and isn't Daylight Savings coming up this weekend? Spring Forward! Though losing that extra hour of sleep isn't quite that enticing.

11/11/11 - 2 of 30 - Red Floral Still Life

Oil on Canvas Board, 8"x10"/$40 plus $5 shipping (US)

30 Paintings in 30 Days, A personal Challenge

For three years while I lived in Seattle I had the opportunity to participate in The Forgotten Works Challenge, where up to 50 Artists created 30 pieces of art on 8"x10" canvasboard panels, in a limited time frame of 30 days. The event is still going on, and now I hear they have up to 100 artists!

Alas, I cannot participate in the Seattle event, as I am now living in Moscow, ID. However, I love the idea of the 30 day Challenge, so in honor of the event in Seattle, I will post one 8"x10" painting a day, from today (November 10th, 2011) and end on December 9th, 2011.

Each painting is available for sale at $40. Unframed, though I will include a gummed eyelet to hang the piece as is. $5 Shipping. Just click the Paypal button under the artwork image to purchase.

Each piece will be signed and dated on the back, carefully wrapped and shipped to you as soon as the paint dries (two days, approx).

For updates please follow my blog, or "like" my Facebook Page - Dreaming Lotus Studios, or follow me on Twitter - aldisdl.

I will post the first painting at 4:30pm Pacific Time. Stay Posted!

Direct Painting, Sessions 6, 7 & 8

Each painting took approximately 2.5 hours. I'll probably re-visit a couple in the future. What a great class. I recommend anyone who wants to improve their painting (or drawing) to take Barbara Fugate's classes, either at Gage Academy (www.gageacademy.org) in Seattle or in West Seattle. (www.fromlife.blogs.com)

Emotive Color - 24"x24" Oil on canvas

Bright Color - 24"x24" Oil on Canvas

Neutral Color - 24"x 30", Oil on Canvas

Direct Painting - Sessions 4 & 5

Session 4 - Oil on Stretched Canvas - 22"x22"
2 hours

Our goal in Session 4 was the concept of deep space - foreground, middle ground, background. Manipulating paint - thinly in the background, thicker in the foreground. We were encouraged to use a toned canvas in a bright color - I chose an intense, hot pink, allowing it to show through in spots.

Session 4 - Detail

Session 5 - Oil on Stretched Canvas -21"x30"
2 hours

Our Challenge in Session 5 was shallow or flat space. Looking at various artists, we used a toned ground (this time, blue) and tried to maintain similar value throughout the painting. A way to think about it would be - If I took a black and white picture, there would be little to no contrast, mostly greys in a similar range. Another way to flatten space is the use of a consistent pattern.

Session 5 - Detail

Direct Painting #3 - The Gestural Line Painting

Session 3 - Oil on Canvas, 24"x18"
Approx 2 hours

This weeks' challenge was to build up our painting using gestural line/markmaking -"The Painted Gesture" - Gesture is about HOW things are, about movement, energy, life!" Could pick a monochromatic, analogous or complementary palette. I chose a Complementary Palette of Orange/Blue. Artists we looked at: Oskar Kokoshka, Susan Rothenberg, Toulouse Lautrec, Berthe Morisot, Zacher and Auerbach.

Painting Detail

My palette - 18"x 24"piece of 1/4" plexi with a piece of cardboard taped underneath. I also use a dry erase marker to mark the name of the hues. It helps me remember the color mixes.

Direct Painting Class with Barbara Fugate, Session 1 & 2

Session 2 - Oil on Canvas 28"x20"
Approx 2.5 hours

The Challenge in this painting was to work with line/contour line. We initially stained the canvas using paint, dipping our rags in mineral spirits. The focus was to get the big shapes of light & dark, positive and negative down first. We each chose a color scheme - I picked a Secondary Triadic of Green/Orange/Violet. The next step was to use line, of varying weight, color (intensity, value) to emphasize and activate the forms. Barbara showed us artwork by Matisse, Max Beckmann, Gauguin, Oskar Kokoshka, Alice Neel and others.

Session 2, Detail 1

Session 2, Detail 2

Session 1 - Oil on Canvas, 24"x24"
Approx 2h

In our first Direct Painting class we were challenged to simplify the forms we saw into simple, big shapes of light and shadow. We each picked a complementary color scheme - mine was Red/Green. We also had to try to find a Figure-Ground relationship - by adding greens into the figure I incorporated colors from the background into the main figure. We looked at the San Francisco Bay Area Painters (Joan Brown, Terry St. John, Paul Wonner), Leland Bell & Elmer Bishoff.

Session 1, Detail

The Forgotten Works Challenge #10 Starts

This past Saturday I picked up my 30 (8x10) panels for the Forgotten Works Challenge. This is the 10th year that Charles Holzey has done it, and my third year participating. The premise - you have exactly 30 days to finish 30 pieces of art - painting, drawing, printmaking, collage... whatever your muse. The Challenge is to finish and to hand in 30 pieces at the end of the 30 days.

The show will be held during the First Thursday Art Walk on Pioneer Square at the Tashiro Kaplan building in downtown Seattle. All pieces sell for $40, for an original piece of art!

The cool part of this is to see the final display. 52 artists entered this year, each will submit 30 pieces... that's 1560 pieces! And it's all at random - so we are not grouped in anyway, which is very democratic.

Stay tuned for upcoming work... Maybe I'll complete the 30 this year. I always turn in 30, but not all are up to par.

MetroCard Painting

Well, it's last minute, the paint is dry, I'll mail it out tomorrow. I just couldn't resist trying my hand at painting ATC size - rather, NYC MetroCard size. It's for a show in NYC - opens next week. Check out the website. And they have an event page on FaceBook.
www.singlefare.blogspot.com

Sweet Tooth

12x16 Oils on canvas. Again, a mask painting. I just love my masks. I can paint them over and over again. This time I put a Javanese Batik in the background. In retrospect, it was more of a challenge than I expected. But the overall result is alright. I still have to work over the mask and the fortune cookies.
This piece now has me thinking that I would like to do eleven more - same format - and publish a calendar. Now all I have to do is paint, paint, paint.

Tres Amigos -1st Pass

This painting is approximately 6"x 8" on MDF panel. The subject are three animal vases I found in Bali, Indonesia. I really wanted to do a grouping of them together! It was a challenging subject because the greens are very close in color, and not an easy color to re-create! It feels a little unfinished up close, so a second (or even third) pass is still an option.