Mixed Media, PanPastels and Zinnias

 There is a farmer not too far from my house growing zinnias!  You can pick your own at $4 for a dozen!  So beautiful, so I just had to pick a couple of dozen.  I brought them back to my studio to study and make drawings.

I just finished participating in PASTEL LIVE so I decided to try my hand at my pastels again.  Debora Stewart gave an interesting demo using acrylic paint, charcoal and pastels painting flowers in an abstract way.  So, with my zinnias as inspiration, I tried my hand at it.  What fun!!  Watch my progress below. 

So pretty!

   

Blind Contour drawings of the flowers.

 

Using Golden Fluid Acrylics, I created some washes on matboard.

Working from my drawings, I used charcoal and created a composition.  Then I brushed a coat of clear gesso on top of everything.  This will darken the charcoal and set the ground for the pastels.

Making drawings from the flowers

  

I thought I would try a new twist with Debora's technique.  I love gelli plate printing and using stencils as well as PanPastels.  So I thought why not combine the two.  I added a layer of thin blue PanPastel to the background around the flowers.  Then using one of Elizabeth St. Hilaire's wonderful stencils, I pounced pastel into the background before I started working the flowers.

Adding blues to the background

Pouncing the PanPastel through the stencil

Makes an interesting effect in the background.

After working the flowers. 
Now deciding if I am finished with it.

Close up.

What do you think?  Am I finished?  Did I create a new technique?

Let me know what you think via my website:

RhettsStudio.com

Afternoon Walk in Pacific Grove

Painting "en plein air" on location  - it was cold!

   

The original plein air painting created in PG

I am enjoying doing a commission painting working from a small plein air painting I painted along the Pacific Grove coast a few years ago.  These nice folks bought a note card of the painting at a bookstore that sells my art note cards.  They liked the painting on the card and asked me to do a larger painting for them.  The storms in California have made it difficult to get to my studio until today, but I finally got a start on the under painting.  I will post my progress as it goes.

Step 1 prep the canvas with red paint
and draw the composition

 

Blocking in some of the background color

DAY 1
I like working on a red background sometimes,
especially when there is a lot of green in the painting.
The red background will 
sparkle through in a few places, adding interest. 

Here I have started to block in the focal point tree shapes.  

             Hopefully, I will be able to work on the painting again tomorrow!

Exploring Gouache

Half Dome - almost finished - gouache - 3” x 4” - on gelli print

I have been having fun exploring with gouache.  Gouache is basically opaque water color.  Sometimes I add white gouache to water color to make it opaque.  Why do I like it?  It dries with a flat finish, can be painted on archival mat board or illustration board without putting a gesso coat first and is water soluble.  My brushes can be washed with water (I use distilled water).  One thing that is somewhat frustrating is that the colors do not dry the same as when they are put down on the paper.  Light colors dry darker and dark colors dry lighter.  It is more difficult to get darks, but I am learning. See the finished painting below.

Gelli plate printing is lots of fun so I was wondering if the two could be combined.  In this video you can see that I took a print and glued it to mat board.  Then using a photo I took in Yosemite, I began to paint on top of the gelli print.  I wanted the print background to show through here and there which you can see in the next video.

So this is a time-lapse video (my very first one) of my process.  I made a goal to complete this small painting in just 30 minutes, so it is a quick study.  That made it necessary to keep the brushwork loose and simple.

Finished painting

  Below is the photo reference I used.

Crow Show

 Crows are fascinating birds and sooooo smart.  They really catch my imagination and I love painting them!

The Sparrow Art Gallery in Sacramento is reviving the tradition of hosting a show on crows. I am pleased to have a painting in this show.  It is a mixed media work entitled  "Six Rowdy Crows".  I painted 6 paintings on water color paper, cut them up and glued them to a canvas which I had painted with mixed media.

The Sparrow Art Gallery is located inside the ARTHOUSE on R Street, first floor in Sacramento.  1021 R Street.   phone: 916-382-4894. 

The show runs March 10 through April 6, 2018.
Open Tues-Fri 10 am - 6 pm
Saturdays 10 am - 4 pm and Sundays 11 am - 4 pm

2018 Open Studio

Haggin Museum Visit

I had the opportunity to visit the Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA yesterday.  The museum has been newly renovated and is just beautiful!  Here are some photos I took of some of the rooms and a couple of my favorite paintings... so many from which to choose!  

The blue wall is spectacular!  It really shows off these beautiful paintings.

Here is the painting on the left on the blue wall above.  "Banks of the Saone, near Chatillon"  about 1901  by Jan Monchablon  French, 1854 - 1904
That pink skirt just plain sparkles and draws attention!

Another of my favorites is by George Inness 1825 - 1894 
called "Old Homestead"  c. 1877


If you get a chance to go to this museum, I highly recommend it!
First Saturdays in each month are free admission too!

I am warming up my paint brushes!

 

2017 Artists Open Studio - A Great Two Days!

 I want to thank Henrietta Sparkman for hosting us in her studio/yard.  She is such a lovely lady and so generous with her time.  Sharing the studio tour with us was Carol David, Chloe Fonda, and Corrine Robson who all make wonderful art!

It was a wonderful weekend!  The weather was near perfect and I met so many nice folks.  Everyone had an interesting story to share.

And a grateful thank you to Vickie Ellis, Diane Woods and Linda MacDannald for all their help!  We could not have had this event without them! 

Here is my display on the fence!
I had to be so careful of Henrietta's newly planted garden!  I sold several of these paintings!

Carmel Mission Note Cards on DPW Gallery Store

 I just added this set of note  cards to my 
Daily Paintworks Gallery Store.  All painted at the Carmel Mission in Carmel, CA.

This is one of my all time favorite places to paint.  There are so many scenes, this place could keep me painting for a life time.  Lovely gardens, sculpture, old adobe buildings, fountains, and so much more.   

If you have not been there I hope you can get to go sometime. 

You can view these paintings on my website as well at:  www.RhettsStudio.com

5 Paintings in Monterey County Show!

I was delighted to learn today that one of my 5 paintings which had been juried into the Art Council of Monterey County's "Celebrating Artist of Monterey County" show has won an Honorable Mention!  We enjoyed the reception for the artists at the government office buildings.
The show is beautifully hung and 3 of my paintings are displayed right under the sign!

All paintings are for sale and the show will be up for one year in the Government Center Administration Building,  168 W. Alisal, Salinas, CA.  

"Carmel Mission Sanctuary"
pastels

I saw this lady walking down the aisle at Carmel Mission one rainy day.  She had a very large umbrella which she was using as a cane.  I was captivated by the warm glow in the mission and the refections on the well worn tile.  

Salinas Valley Lettuce Farm  -  oil,  9 x 12

< Also accepted to this show

Harvesting Radicchio   oil  12" x 16"

It is interesting to see these hard workers in the lettuce fields. 

Monterey Rec Trail  oil  20" x 16"

Above the Salinas Valley   oil   12" x 16"


See more work on my website:  www.RhettsStudio.com

I painted the trail along the beach in Monterey standing in a parking lot.  The eucalyptus trees are so beautiful along this path.  

23rd Fine Arts Festival Nov. 18 & 19th 2016

I am delighted to have been accepted to 

the San Joaquin Potters Guild's

23rd Fine Arts Festival   

Fri. Nov. 18th  4 pm-8 pm  and  Sat. Nov. 19th  10 am - 4 pm

Spanos Community Center at St. Basil's Greek Orthodox Church

920 W. March Lane, Stockton, CA

This event is free to the public.

www.sanjoaquinpottersguild.org 

I will have paintings, note cards, paper cranes and earrings for sale.

Come get some unique and fine art gifts.   

Kitty Portraits

Painting one of my favorite animals -  CATS

 

Orange Kitten   6" x 6"  oil on gessoboard

  
 I have always had cats in my life as long as I can remember.  They are the best friends in the world!  They cuddle with you and love you as long as you are good to them.  So I decided it was time to do some kitty portraits.  I have been working from a calendar given to me from Friends of Turlock Animal Shelter.  This is a great group that helps find homes for cats and dogs.  

Here are my first 6 portraits.  You might notice that I enjoy painting orange kitties!  Carrying on my exploration of ORANGE.

 

Orange Kitty with Blue Eyes   6" x 6"  oil on gessoboard

Paintings are $125 framed and $95 without a frame.   $40 from the sale of each painting will be donated to this dedicated group.


Send me a really good, close-up photo of your cat and I will consider doing a portrait of YOUR loving kitty.   

 

Little Cutie   6" x 6"  oil on gessoboard

Lucinda   6" x 6"  oil on gessoboard

Susie   6" x 6"  oil on gessoboard

Blue-eyed Beauty   6" x 6"  oil on gessoboard

What a sweetheart!



















"Lucinda" seemed like a good name for this pretty cat with green eyes. 
SOLD!  THIS PAINTING SOLD AT THE MONTEREY COUNTY ARTISTS OPEN STUDIO TOUR!  GONE TO A GOOD HOME!















And this little sweetie looked like a "Susie" to me! 

















This handsome cat looks a lot like my own cat  Lacy.  I have yet to paint Lacy, but that is on my list of things to do... soon!














Check out my website at: www.RhettsStudio.com