Two sold from Snow Day series

RainyDay-Exsalonce

Two large-scale watercolors now part of the Tony Odisho collection

So, how cool is this? The fabulous Tony Odisho, owner of Exsalonce Salon and Spa in Chicago as well as Tony Odisho Extensions and Ostia Hair Products (who also happens to be my hairdresser!) called me a couple weeks ago for a favor. He asked if he could borrow a couple of paintings as staging for a one-day photo shoot at his newly redesigned and expanded salon. I brought him over a couple paintings that he thought would work well, and they did, and the photos turned out fantastic! Even better - he liked the paintings in the salon so much that he ended up buying them! Yay! Thank you Tony!

Above, Tony Odisho, owner of Exsalonce Salon and Spa, standing in front of "Rainy Day" in the salon.

Masa Irises at Exsaonce Salon and Spa

By Rochelle / Landscapes / Materials / Paintings / Portraits from photos / Watercolor / Watercolors - 02/14/2013
Fetching-sm1

Snow day

A walk through a nearby Chicago park during the snow with my friend Roger and his dog O'Hare spurred this new series, which feels like a fun new direction in my work.

Featured above is "Fetching". Below are a few paintings in the series. This series is currently being shown at The Leigh Gallery and at the Andersonville Galleria in Chicago.

[nggallery id=38]

By Rochelle / Landscapes / Paintings - 01/11/2013
PR-outside

Now showing at Pizza Rustica, Chicago

Big announcement! My first 1-woman show has now officially begun. Juliana Montebello-Roman and Chef Stefano Roman invited me to show my work at their beautiful and delicious Italian restaurant - Pizza Rustica. The restaurant is located at 3908 North Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60613 (just 3 blocks north of Wrigley Field, one block south of the Irving Park "L").

The show will run for a couple months - no end date set yet. But if you are interested in viewing please stop by for something to eat and to have a browse. The food is truly amazing - rustic northern Italian cuisine including amazing pizza, fresh pasta and to-die-for sandwiches - Stefano is truly an artist.

We are having an open reception on Sunday, January 20 from 1-3pm which will include a craft beer tasting hosted by one of their vendors. I hope you will stop by, either for the reception or some other time during the run of the show!

Juliana met me yesterday morning and was a fabulous partner - couldn't have done it without her! - in helping me get the show hung. Below are photos of the finished product.

[nggallery id=37]

 

Added 1/12/12 - Read the interview with Juliana Montebello-Roman in the Examiner - great write up!!

 

Art show / By Rochelle / Landscapes / Materials / OIl paint / Oil paintings / Paintings / Portraits from photos / R&F Pigment Sticks / Watercolor / wood board - 12/21/2012
FC-2

My friends at Felines & Canines

Last month I wrote a post when I completed a series of pet portraits I planned on donating to my friends at Felines & Canines. I wanted to give them something to help decorate their soon-to-be-completed, totally renovated, new and improved pet shelter. Well - the long year of construction is finished - and now they have a totally gorgeous, warm and happy, no-kill shelter for cats and dogs. They moved in this week. They took an old house and made it into a state of the art, clean and friendly place where they can house 2-3x the pets they could before. Not to mention prior to the move they took in only cats - but now with all the extra space they have become a cats and dogs shelter. They are an amazing team and truly wonderful people. I can't say enough about them. If you are a pet lover, you must stop by. Adopt a pet, donate to a very worthy cause, donate some of your time, or just stop by to say hello. You will be as impressed with them as I am.

The photo above was taken yesterday - only a day after they moved in. They are posed in front of my donation - featured in their fabulous new adoption room. Abby Smith and her partner Kelly Thompson run this amazing place and Marie-Clare Balabanian pictured at left is one of the many dedicated and warm-hearted staff members who take such excellent care of these pets. The lovely canine front and center is Knuckles - Abby and Kelly's dog and a favorite at the shelter. Knuckles is featured in one of the portraits, upper right.

Congrats, my friends, on the fabulous new place, and the beginning of a new era for Felines & Canines!

Pictured above, from left: Marie-Clare Balabanian, Knuckles Thompson-Smith, Kelly Thompson and Abby Smith

To get a better view of the portraits, click the thumbnails below.

[nggallery id=34]

Pet Portraits / Watercolor / Watercolors - 12/21/2012
Haas-01a

My work hanging in Florida

Thank you to Chuck and Mary Haas for supporting my burgeoning art career. They purchased from me when I was just getting started a couple years ago. Following is a photo of the work  framed and hanging in their Florida home - I think it looks fabulous!

 

Landscapes / prints - 12/10/2012
RW-Award_of_Excellence_IWS2012-e1352467602397

Just won an IWS Award of Excellence for my painting, "And then I lost it"

Big news - last night I was honored by winning an "Award of Excellence" at the Illinois Watercolor Society's Annual Member Show for my painting "And then I lost it" (shown below)! I am over the moon thrilled about this. My first award since taking up painting again 2 years ago.

I walked into the exhibition last night with my best friend Robin, took a look around and thought to myself - oh man, I don't have a chance. There were so many truly amazing paintings on display last night, by some incredibly talented artists. This show is really something to see - and I figured no way was I going to win anything.... but then I did!

The judge was Marilynn Derwenskus, NWS, IWS - I was told that my painting was chosen for the story it told, for the risks I took in the composition and for the "glow" I was able to achieve in the execution. Super thrilling for me to get such high praise from a nationally respected artist and judge.

The painting, "And then I lost it" is one of a series I've been developing from discarded vintage photos found in junk shops and antique stores, which I'm calling the Discarded Series. The resource photo I used for this painting was of a little girl, circa 1930s, standing on a hillside with a white dress blowing in the wind. I added the cliff in front of her and the kite, to tell a story of innocence lost.

If you are interested in seeing a truly wonderful show, it runs through December 5 at The Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 West 31st Street, Oak Brook, IL.

Art competition / Art show / Awards / By Rochelle / Collage paper / Discarded series / Materials / Paintings / Watercolor - 11/09/2012
Mono-03-sm

Monoprints in oil

A fun side product of this new technique I learned from instructor Lisa Pressman at her recent workshop (written about in the previous post) are a series of monoprints.

Using the R&F Pigment Sticks, draw on the surface of you painting, throw a piece of paper over it and use a rubber roller over the back - when you pull it up you have a monoprint. Or conversely, draw on the paper, throw it on your painting and roll the back and transfer your drawing to the painting surface. You can work back into the monoprint while it's wet or wait till it dries and continue drawing.

Love the fresh and free abstract quality of this by-product of the painting process. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

[nggallery id=35]

By Rochelle / Materials / Monoprints / OIl paint / Oil paintings / R&F Pigment Sticks - 11/06/2012
Bouquet-sm

Experimenting with Pigment Sticks

I recently took a painting workshop called "Experimenting with Pigment Sticks", with instructor Lisa Pressman at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point Wisconsin. I had a blast. Met some really great people including Lisa who was not only a great instructor but very inspiring as an artist and a person as well. And she got me painting in oil which is something I've not done since my art school days, yonks ago. I came away from the 3 day workshop with 11 paintings - in varying stages of "done-ness", and I haven't stopped since.

R&F Pigment Sticks are kind of like big oil paint crayons, except they're mixed with oil, beeswax and linseed oil which makes them really creamy in texture and incredibly versatile as a tool. Lisa taught us numerous ways to use this medium - drawing with them (kind of like drawing with lipstick), mixing them with different solvents, adding glaze like you would a traditional oil painting, and even mixing them with cold wax medium to give infinite possibilities for creating texture. Scrape, scratch, push, pull, smear, wipe, layer, escavate... let me tell you, I am hooked.

Following are some samples of finished works.

[nggallery id=36]

 

By Rochelle / Landscapes / OIl paint / Oil paintings / R&F Pigment Sticks - 11/06/2012
RO

Sign up for the mailing list.

©2024 Rochelle Weiner Carr Fine Art, All Rights Reserved