I am very excited to report that I have sold 5 originals this month. Three to my good friends who have just moved in together (their first art purchase together) and a 4th and 5th are a commissioned portraits. I can't post the portraits yet as they are both surprise gifts, but the three paintings my friends purchased are below.
What a treat! I've always loved painting portraits and this season kept me really busy! Here are a few of the finished commissioned works.
All I need to create a portrait is a good photo of the subject. In focus and with good lighting.
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I've just returned from a week long workshop with Karlyn Holman in Washburn Wisconsin. This is the 4th year in a row I've attended a workshop with her. Karlyn is such an inspiring person - she's created a wonderful life for herself in the arts. She is a great artist, she teaches in her studio and in workshops all over the world, she has a thriving business in an idyllic small town - she really is a wonder.
The first class I took with Karlyn a few years ago opened my eyes. Her success has inspired me change my life and pursue fine art as a career - something I never really believed was a feasible goal until I met Karlyn. Thank you, Karlyn - you are my inspiration!
Each year, Karlyn has new techniques to teach and new directions to take us. Each year I come away with inspiration to feed my studio time, incorporating the new ideas I've learned into my own work.
Below are my finished pieces derived from the lessons we worked on last week.
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"Sordid" - encaustic on 10" x 10" cradled board, $250.00
As another branch of my "Discarded" series, I have been incorporating antique photography into encaustic works.
I have a fascination with antique photography. It's sad and intriguing to find old family snaps and formal shots for sale at junk shops and antique stores. I can spend ages sifting through these crumbling old pages from someone else's life. I like the idea of giving them a new life by putting them into art pieces. I find these images so inspiring - precisely because I don't actually know the people in them. It affords each image the potential of infinite stories.
My newest iteration of this series is incorporating these images into encaustic works. Encaustic is painting with melted wax, and you can do image transfers, collage and carving into the wax to build your image. I used the image transfer method to create this series.
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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.
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