ill fated wild card...redone

I worked some more on the ill fated rose painting that was anticipated for a wild card donation to ArtSquare.  It was so ugly and poorly painted that I didn't deliver it.  Instead I spent an hour and 1/2 today on the damn thing and repainted it twice (three times total).  Anyway, this is now a $300 painting if measured by the time committed to it..And its still not done for my taste, but its getting there. I re-learned some interesting lessons.  Start darker, start brighter, use violet and blue for the shadows (sometime really saturated) and use trans red oxide (that was a new color I never thought I'd use on a rose).  Anyway, not sure where this is bound...back of the studio in a pile?  

Snow day = studio day

What can I say it snowed so I stayed in and painted all day.  Here is my second painting of the barn near Berryville.  While I might tinker with the contrast of the roof - seems too white.. I think this is pretty much done.  While under the light I really liked it, but there is something off about it in regular light.  Tried to use a limited palette of ultramarine, aliz crim and cad yellow light, but I  didn't quite stick to it.  Had to introduce some radiant blue, trans red oxide and purple.  I just couldn's mix those colors I've grown accustomed to.  Another 8 x 8 this time on Raymar Panel (thanks to a friend).  

Farm Near Berryville

In October we went apple and pumpkin picking.  I took photos of this beautiful barn from many angles.  This is one in a series I plan to do of the barn.  They are 8x8 which is my preferred landscape size because you can say so much with so little (so few strokes).   In any case, I started this in a miniature landscape workshop I taught back in October.  This is my demonstration painting.  I had to finish it at home in the studio because it was no where near done in the 45 minute demo time.  I wish now I had taken a photo of it in its demo state, but I didn't.

I've had a lot of requests to hold the workshop again and my dear friend is considering allowing me to  use her most spectacular barn (most would consider it a house, with beautiful kitchen, living room and exercise room)-a favorite painting location among my painter friends.  So, if anyone is interested let me know.  The space will be limited due to the configuration of the living space in the barn. My guess is 8 people max and will run abuut 5 hours.  Email me if interested:  info@vickiblum.com.

Wild Cards

Crazy Fun!  I participated in a fundraising event for Artsquare, a great art center in Leesburg, VA.  They asked artists to paint small works on playing cards and donate them to raise funds to support the center and school.   I thought I would do  two, but ended up doing 7 (one which I didn't deliver becuase it was awful).  The rest were of acceptable quality and were so much fun to paint that I just couldn't stop painting them.  I did 2 yesterday and 5 this morning before 10 am.    I delivered them to Artsquare and all but one sold in under an hour, which makes me feel good professionally but also it raised $ for the art center   Here are my paintings.  I did them in pairs.  Because the paintings are so small, my vision was to paint them in pairs so they could be presented with a nice wide mat as a diptych.  Of course none sold in pairs.