Samantha, life study, monochrome oil with Torrit Grey

At the Portrait Artists of Arizona open studio yesterday our model Samantha held a STANDING pose all day! In order to try out some methods that I'll be incorporating into future workshops, I came with an oil-primed linen panel, already primed opaquely with Gamblin's Portland Gray Medium (PGM). Materials were white, black PGM, and Torrit Grey.

At each step, the toned ground offers the option to cover up mistakes, either by lifting marks out with mineral spirits or just painting over them with another coat of PGM, which will match the background perfectly.

Apologies! I posted the incorrect dates ---Just scheduled: Workshop November 15-19 Birmingham AL, hosted by Portraits Inc

Please contact: workshops@portraitsinc.net  to register.

This workshop is open to all artists - please contact me if you have any questions about whether this is the right workshop for you!

Janet Napolitano, Preliminary Study, oil 20 x 16

This small study is one of several I am doing to prepare for next month's opening of "Women Making Faces", an exhibition of the Chandler Center for the Arts's Vision Gallery.

Janet Napolitano is one of three subjects I've selected for my entry into this inaugural event, showcasing the work of ten women portrait artists who live in Arizona.

The show opens with an reception from 7-9 pm on August 14, 2015 and will run through October 24, 2015, with an Artists' Meet and Greet, along with live painting demonstrations from 7- 9 pm on September 18 - stay tuned for more details!!

Tumbling Roses, oil on linen, 18 x 14

With this still life, I decided to experiment with non-lighting- diffuse, non directional light. I thi8nk this makes for a more difficult approach since it doesn't allow for strong light and shadow patterns to created form and design. The plus side is that the light and colors are so soft, they seem to melt into the atmosphere.

Dori and Rachel Double Charcoal Portrait from Life

This morning we were in for such a treat - our open studio coordinator, artist Dorothy Ray, arranged for two models, a mother and daughter, to sit at the Mountain Artists' Guild in Prescott.

I wish I could remember what kind of paper I used - some type of pastel paper that's been in my closet for way too many years- mainly because I don't like the surface and would never buy it again, sigh. But I did like the color:)

Dori and Rachel, charcoal on something, 16 x 20.

Harley Brown: American Artist oil study, 20 x 16 - accepted into the OPA Western Regional Competition, August 7 - September 7, 2015

Harley Brown has been one of my closest mentors and has also become a very dear friend since I first studied with him over twenty years ago. I am really honored to be included in this Oil Painters of America competition, and wish I could attend! 

Wild Horse Gallery
802 Lincoln Avenue
Steamboat Springs, CO 80477
(970) 879-5515

Painting Luann, Mountain Artists' Guild, Open studio

It is always a delight to find out what our wonderful model artist coordinator, Dorothy Ray, has  lined up:)

This morning, Luann...I thought I had more canvases here, but the only one I did have was a Fredrix panel, but too absorbent for my tastes. I found that I couldn't get the surface covered with enough slickness to really let me move the paint the way I wanted to... so here's the thing: you dance with the one who brung ya, right?

Portrait Society of America 2015: Opening Night Face-off

At 5:00 pm on Thursday night, fifteen artists gathered to paint 5 models before a packed crowd in the Grand Ballroom at the Hyatt in Buckhead, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. Both artists and models draw numbers so no one knows in advance where he or she will paint nor whom will be modeling - it is such fun, and in my group were Kate Stone and Carol Arnold, both spectacular painters. The finished demonstrations are auctioned during the weekend, with the proceeds going toward the scholarships the PSA offers each year. Here are several photos showing the process - time flying until the final bell rings at 7:30 and the event is concluded. You can see all the paintings here, on Matt Innis's excellent blog, "Underpaintings"

Above, an overview of one end of the ballroom. All of the painting stations were set up in the center, so that conference attendees could move around the perimeter to watch each artist's progress.

Here are some of the steps:

Above, part way through painting our model, Sarah. You can see artist Katherine Stone painting next to me. Carol Arnold was on Kate's left. I used for the first time the Natural Pigments's Artefex oil-primed linen panel, with thanks to George O' Hanlon who graciously donated the panel. It's a beautiful panel, and I will look forward to using more of them.

Above, artists painting the model in red. And below, my artist friend Annette Goings must have been saying something funny as she took these pics:)

 Below, my finished portrait of Sarah. Oil. 20 x 16.

Below, showing artists my brand new fabulous NewWave grey palette, complete with a thumb gasket to prevent aching hands while holding the palette. It's a beaut,and best of all I got to keep it - thank you Kyle!

Jaime's Lemons, oil 6x9, for The Portrait Society of America's Mystery Sale, Friday May 1, 2015

One of the wildest and most fun highlights of the Portrait Society of America's Annual Art of the Portrait Event is the 6x9 Mystery Sale - more than 200 small panels, unsigned on the front, are donated by the PSA Faculty and invited artists, where all are both unveiled and sold in a matter of 30 very, very short minutes. Only after the panels are purchased (each at a fixed price of $250) is the buyer allowed to take the panel, turn it over and find the name of the artist who painted the panel. So much fun!

Here is the panel I donated,  fresh lemons painted from life, picked from my niece and nephew's yard.

Promoting your work in the 21st Century: Self-publishing - presented at the 2015 Portrait Society of America, Atlanta, GA

As part of a panel discussing various approaches to promoting your work in the Twenty-first Century, I joined teammates Scott Jones (Legacy Gallery) and David Gluck and Kate Stone (artists and bloggers, Painting Stuff to Look Like Stuff) and addressed the concept of self-publishing for artists.

Rather than try to guess at how many handouts to bring, or to see people frantically trying to write down the notes from powerpoint slides, I'm just sharing the info here so it can be read at your convenience.

To simplify, I focused on three basic tiers to publishing art books:

1. Self-publishing, Print-on-demand (POD);
2. Self-publishing, short run (up through about 5,000 copies); and
3. Big publishing clearinghouses (e.g., North Light Books,Watson-Guptill).

_________________________________________________________________________________


The following table highlights the basic differences between self published POD and short-run:

Courtesy Amy Strickland, Matter Deep Publishing

_________________________________________________________________________________

Considerations in Self- Publishing

 •Template flexibility

•Hard/soft cover/digital options

•Cost/Pricing/mark-ups/profitability

•Editing

•Design assistance

•ISBN

•Marketing

•Distribution

…all of which should be driven by your book’s purpose.

________________________________________________________________________________

Some examples of Print-on-demand publishers

•MyPublisher

•Blurb

•Lulu

•Shutterfly

•Createspace

•LightningSource

•MagCloud (now part of blurb)

….and more being added every day :)

_________________________________________________________________________________

Why stop with books?

Zazzle

RedBubble

FineArtAmerica

CafePress

FinerWorks

_________________________________________________________________________________

Oh. And if you want to hire some help with your soon-to-be-published book?
Don't call me. You already know what I know.

Contact Carly Stickland at Matter Deep Publishing. contact@matterdeeppublishing.com 

Bob Anderson, life study, 16 x 12

From Friday's Open Studio at the Prescott Mountain Artists' Guild. Bob is one of the best models at the MAG - he works at Prescott's Palace Bar (on the infamous Whiskey Row) and has fabulous western costumes he wears daily. He was authentic right down to his boots and spurs, but I would never have enough time to paint the whole look in a three hour session!

Brushwork detail, William Whitaker: American Artist

Having received the most gracious email from artist Donna Colleran, whose beautiful portrait also won an ward last week, I'm posting some additional details as requested. I particularly enjoy the process of just putting the paint on the surface and then leaving it alone. Sometimes very hard to resist smoothing it all out, sigh.

Portrait Artists of Arizona's Fifth Annual Juried Exhibition and Sale, March 28 - April 24

On Saturday night, the Scottsdale Artists' School hosted the opening reception for the PAOA's Fifth Annual Juried Exhibition. Together, more than thirty artists were represented, showing over 50 original portraits, all of which will hang through April 23, 2015.

With thanks to Judge Nancy Chaboun, the Scottsdale Artists' School and the Portrait Artists of Arizona, I was completely thrilled to be awarded Best of Show for my portrait, "William Whitaker: American Artist".

The exhibit is free and open to the public during the Scottsdale Artists' School's regular hours Monday through Saturday.

Here are just a few pics from the show:

Above: Portrait artist Chris Saper with two her entries, a self portrait and "William Whitaker: American Artist", which took the Best of Show award

Above: Jim Garrison with his portrait of  a firefighter

Above: artist Rosalie Vaccaro with her triptych 

Above: Jean Hildebrant's portrait

Above: my portrait of NY artist Oscar Peterson

Above: Patti Georgas being hospitable!

 Above: Legacy Gallery's Scott Jones and thinking about thinking about our upcoming presentation. We will need to think about that some more.

  A gorgeous Phoenix evening for outdoor Awards Ceremony.

I don't have much more in the way of pics but the PAOA website link at the top of this blog, and also on the links at the right will take you to more photos.

"Our Great Hope", Contemporary Children’s Portraits April 9 - May 23, 2015 Portraits Inc, NYC Gallery - Opening Reception Thursday, April 9th 6 - 8 pm

The newly opened Portraits Inc Gallery on Manhattan's Upper East Side is hosting an exhibit showcasing a number of its portrait artists, featuring children's portraits. Curator Michael Gormley continues to dazzle NYC patrons with his selections, hosting events that are both elegant and cozy in the gorgeous new digs at 6 E 92nd St.

I am really thrilled that he selected four of my portraits for the exhibit, shown below.

Above: "Mary in Blue", oil, 12 x 12

Above, "Max", oil 20 x 16

                                                           Above, "Grace" oil, 12 x 9

Above, "Sam", oil, 20 x 16

The portraits are on exhibit through May 23rd, and I hope you'll stop in if you are in the area!

Jaren, Freedom 58 Project, Oil, 16 x 20

Some months ago I was contacted by Bob Swenson, director of the Freedom 58 Project , which is working to raise awareness of the fact that there are some 30 million slaves in the world today, and 2 million children annually trafficked in the sex trade, a $32 Billion criminal enterprise that is rapidly growing and threatens to become worse each year. Women and children, some of whom are as young as 6 years old, constitute the majority of victims.

Freedom 58 has invited a number of portrait artists to paint images of those who have been rescued from sex-trafficking to create traveling exhibits. The art exhibits are dedicated to raising awareness about modern day slavery and other forms of violent oppression, and they are a component of the Justice Movement strategy to mobilize university students, faculty and communities in this endeavor. The exhibits are designed to be displayed at various venues such as schools, libraries, museums, churches and numerous events.  

Artists of various disciplines donate a portrait (or their interpretation) of people who were formerly enslaved and/or oppressed from actual case stories supplied by participating organizations. The secondary purpose of the exhibits are to drive people to the web site Freedom58project.com for more information, resources and opportunities for action.

My subject, Jaren, is a young woman who was rescued from slavery in the far east. 

If you would like more information or, as an artist, would like to volunteer to paint for the Project, please follow the contact information on the website or reach out to Bob Swenson at fsland@gmail.com.

...and what about those female self-portraits?

“The third in a series where we explore the female self-portrait in contemporary realism.

When we show our self-portraits, one of the more common questions is why we’re so serious.

If we’ve spent the better part of the month staring at ourselves in the mirror, trying to perfect a likeness on a face so familiar you don’t even know WHAT it truly looks like anymore, the answer should be obvious. But, the general public…and the people who know and love you…want to see you smiling and happy like you are in your Facebook party posts. That’s how they know you. Not as an intense art professional perfecting their craft.”

And so begins the Portrait Society of America's Cecilia Beaux Forum blog post I read this morning. And brings me to this just-fresh-off-the-easel self-portrait, and wondering if I should just start out 2015 with angst and guilt, you know, just to save time having to apologize through the rest of the year.

As I've grown older I find that I have become more private, not less, despite, or maybe because of, the ubiquity of the share-it-all social media influence. I have more flaws than I can count, and no, I do not want to bare them in my self-portrait. I have no issue with artists who do, it’s just that I'm not one of them. I enjoy and respect all portraits that carry sincerity, discipline and skill, and in no way would diminish another painter’s choice about what to show.

If you take the time to get to know me, you will be able to discover some of my numerous flaws all on your own, and I am more than willing to share. And that is the part that I wish to keep personal. In a self-portrait, we each get to choose which of our personae we want to show. Sometimes that is the best part of what we keep in our hearts, sometimes it’s how we’d like to be perceived by others, sometimes demanding that others see us naked. Your painting, your choice. Here is mine.