One Stroke At A Time

EAST: East Austin Studio Tour 2011

2011-11-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

Happy News!

I'll be participating in the East Austin Studio Tour this year. My paintings will be at the Real Gallery, #46 on the Tour. Please stop by and see the exhibit if you're out and about. The Real Gallery will also be open during the week: Monday - Thursday from 2:30 to 5:30.

The Italy Paintings!!!

2011-11-07T11:47:00.000-08:00

Here are the paintings I did in Italy at the Carver/Stats workshop... at least, the three that made the cut. I also did some black and white studies but threw all of them away except one and someone in the workshop accidentally picked it up. We were timed on all the paintings we did, these are 1 1/2 hour studies. We also did one exercise where we had to pick a spot do a 10 minute study, turn 25 degrees and do another, etc. until we had made a complete turn. Will post those later.

Ciao,
Ann

The first is a view of the vineyards and service road right below the Villa we stayed at. The second is a painting of one of the outbuildings at the Villa. All of the buildings had the most wonderful copper gutters with incredible details on them. Very Etruscan looking. The last is of one of the main streets in Certaldo Alto, one of the hill villages closest to the Villa.

News!!!

2011-10-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

Hello

As usual, I've been bad about posting. I do have news though...

Three paintings were juried into the Plein Air Austin Members show which runs from Oct. 2 to Nov 19 at the Corridor of Arts downtown Austin. Please visit if you can as there's some really great art. You'll be glad you did...

While I have been working on paintings in the studio, I did not do too much plein air painting this summer as it was just too d... hot. Then I went to Italy for the Jill Carver/Katherine Stats workshop. Words cannot express how much fun that was. I am so grateful I got to go as it has been on my dream list of things to do for years. Here's a photo of our Austin group on the last evening in Certaldo, Tuscany.

From L to R: Nancy Kirk, Nina Brodsky, me, Suzanne Stewart, Deborah Thomas and Ruthie Ford

When I returned to Austin, I discovered the day of the reception that all three of my paintings had been juried into the Wimberley Valley Art League Members show. A great honor as there are only 26 works in the show. When the DH and I got to the reception, I discovered I had gotten second-place award. Well, knock me over, y'all...

Me with my painting "Riverwalk Pigeons" which placed second in the show.

This past week, was the Scot Christensen and Quang Ho Reception and Demo at the Insight Gallery in Frederickburg, TX. This exhibit is well worth the drive to see! Twelve of us went to the show and the demo and also did a little painting on the side. Here's a photo of us after the leaving the reception.

Yes, it's all the usual suspects...
Front Row, L to R: Nancy Kirk, Sandra Farrell, Suzanne Stewart, Kay Morris, Deborah Thomas
Standing, L to R: Camille Olsen, Me, Karen Wilkerson, Ellen Willis

Not seen is Belinda Aber-Haddock as she was taking the photo!

My last post was about the Austin Visual Arts Association exhibit where both of my paintings were juried in. Here's a photo of me with the paintings: Wide Urban Spaces 1 and 2.

AVAA Show-Bucking the Texas Myth

2011-08-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

I'm very excited to announce that I'll have two paintings in the upcoming AVAA show, "Bucking the Texas Myth." The first painting is one I posted last month and renamed "Wide Urban Spaces 2." The second is also an urban scene. I'll post an image of it tomorrow.

The show will be held at the Austin Art Space at 7739 Northcross Dr. here in Austin. The opening reception is this Saturday, August 13th from 6:30 to 8:30. If you're in town, please do come by and say hello.

El Mercado at Sunrise

2011-07-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

I love painting urban scenes of my favorite city, Austin, TX. Especially at those quiet times of the day like very early in the morning. Today's posting is one I did this past Spring. It's the back of El Mercado Restaurant on 17th and Guadalupe. Catching the early morning light in combination with the street lighting really intrigued me.

El Mercado at Sunrise, 6 x 8 Oil on panel

I Art Congress, May 14th

2011-05-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hello

This past Thursday was the fourth I Art Congress at the Real Gallery. Unfortunately, all the venues on the list to tour experienced little traffic. Still, we had a very good time. Here I am with my good friend, Bonnie Orr, a local screenwriter and producer. Thanks to my fellow exhibiter, Greta Olivas, for allowing me use of the photo. Oh, BTW, those are not my paintings, mine were on the other side of those panels :-)

Some Still Lifes and Exhibit News

2011-05-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hello:

I will have paintings at two venues this week. The first is "I Art Congress" this Thursday evening from 6 to 9 pm at 912 E Congress and the second is the opening for the AVAA's Members Show this Saturday at Austin ArtSpace. Please come by, if you can, and say hello.

Now for the Fun Stuff! Two recently done still life paintings.

The first is a small painting of some stacked bowls that I painted at my friend, Nancy Kirk's home. We both painted the same setup and it's so interesting to see how our individual styles come through.

Bowled Over 6 x 6" Oil (Sold)

Her husband has put together a set up for lighting still lifes such as this. It was perfect and made setting up this little still life very easy.

A small study of some flowers I found on one of my walks with our dog, Priss.
Still Life 1 8 x 6 Oil (Sold)

I love doing small works like this. There's such a looseness of how the paint was laid on -- a lot of fun.

It's Wednesday already!

2011-05-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

Good Morning:

I thought that today I'd post some studio and plein air studies I've done over the past several weeks. Since my mission for the summer is to paint en plein air as much as possible and trees, I thought I post a study I did of a Levitan painting. If you're not familar with Levitan, he was a Russian Post Impressionist and a wonderful painter. Please look him up. This is a section of one of his paintings:

A Bit of Levitan
Oil 10 x 8

Here's a study I did at Barton Springs Pool when I was painting with a few of the Wildcats Painters. Barton Springs is a lovely, spring fed pool located in Zilker Park here in Austin. I'm very pleased with the way I captured the transparency of the water and the shadows of the life guard station. Two other things I'm working on this summer...

Lifeguard at Barton Springs Pool
Oil 10x8

This last plein air study is from last week, when some of the Wildcats, the Brights and I met at the Park at Central Market North and painted. The Park is really very lovely with a walking trail, lovely trees and a pond. This whole complex used to be part of the State Mental Hospital (sorry, I don't know it's official name) and you can see some buildings in the background that still remain. (BTW, it's still in use.)

The Pond at Central Market North
Oil 6x8

Jill Carver Workshop - March 18-20, 2011

2011-04-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hello All:

I recently attended Jill Carver's Workshop in Wimberley, TX (sponsored by the Wimberley Artist League) and it was a fabulous experience. Several of my painting buddies have asked me to post my studies so here they are (disclaimer: these are not finished paintings but studies done for different exercises Jill assigned).

First Day
We painted at the Sabino Ranch which is owned by Bill and MF Johnson. They originally own and operated Camp Longhorn which my husband attended as a young boy. Their property in Wimberley is just beautiful and borders the "Blue Hole" section of Cypress Creek. Our mission of the day was to do four value studies: One set done while it was cloudy; a black/white study and a color study of the same view and then one set done when it was sunny - again a black/white and a color study of the same view. We were also divided into two groups: Group A had an infinite number of values to use and Group B had 5. Lucky me as I was in Group A. Soon after we started the clouds went away so only the "Sunny" set was done. Here are my examples:

Jill also took a photo of the view we painted and showed all three images in iPhoto set to black and white so we could see if our values were the same all the through.

Day 2
More of the same but this time we went to Deborah Elliot's fabulous ranch. She and her partner have wonderful hilltop views where you can see for miles. Jill painted a demo of an oak tree. We painted in the afternoon. I did a color study of a cedar tree on the property. It's slightly mangled as it got caught in the lock of the trunk of my car. The trees folage is very splochy -- my summer project is TREES...

Day 3
Back at Sabino Ranch with more black and white studies for me.

The first painting is more successful than the second. The values are truer to the view I painted. The second looked more like a nocturne before I painted into it but the tree is still a little too dark.

Two Views of the Hillcountry

2011-04-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

Yikes, it's mid-April and I haven't posted the finished painting of "Twight on N. Lamar." I think I have this problem of photographing work just about solved and, once it is, I won't have this excuse for not posting anymore. Of course, I have others to use but soon, not this one :-D.

Instead, I'll post two paintings I did two weeks ago at my friend and fellow painter, Suzanne Stewart's ranch out near Hamilton Pool (outside of Austin). Her beautiful home sits on a big hill and so one gets a bird's eye view of the surrounding country side--just beautiful. Here are the two small studies I did that morning:

View from Suzanne's House 6 x 8 Oil

Alamo Village at the Reimer's Ranch 6 x 8 Oil

Sunset on N. Lamar

2011-03-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of finishing this painting for the next I Art Congress show at Real Gallery. Since it's been such a long time since I've posted (the usual excuse: paint or blog and then I had a bit of bad luck - broken finger on right hand and then a few weeks later, I tripped over a parking curb in the dark and broke my right collarbone), it's embarrassing. I'm fine now and am back at the easel.

Sunset on North Lamar was painted from a photo I took on my way to paint with Noel Robbins. The sunset that evening was so beautiful I had to paint it.

"Sunset on North Lamar" 8 x 10 Oil

Paris Cafe

2010-09-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

I did painted this Parisian street scene over the summer. I love Paris and if I can't be there, I'll create paintings of that wonderful city. This cafe is actually the one featured in the movie "Amelie," the one she worked at.

Rainlily Farm/Nocturne

2010-09-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

Last Spring, my family and a friend went to a Cuban Pig Roast at Rainlily Farm that was sponsored by Slow Food Austin. Rainlily Farm is an urban organic farm within the city of Austin. The owners, not only farm organically, but have a landscaping design business and also run Farmhouse Delivery which sells their produce and produce from other Community Sponsored Agriculture or CSAs here in the Austin area to it's members. The food and atmosphere that night were wonderful--a lovely Spring moonlit evening to remember. I painted this from a photo I took of my son while we were waiting for our car at the end of the evening.

Rainlily Farm/Nocturne
Oil

PAA Exhibits

2010-09-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hello:
Well, this is my first post in "quite" a long time and I apologize for taking such a long break from blogging. As I've said before I don't have a lot of free time so when the decision is paint or blog, I will be painting. Having said that I've promised my fellow artist friend, Regina Calton Burchett, that I will start blogging more--thank, you Regina, you are a true friend.

So what have I been up to. Well, this year Plein Air Austin has had two juried exhibits and I've managed to plein air paint enough that I had paintings to exhibit. The present one, which opens September 18th, will be held at the Bass Auditorium on the University of Texas at Austin campus. I will have two paintings in this.

Evening on the Guadalupe, 8 x 10 Oil:

Summertime in Austin, 6 x 8 Oil

Earlier this summer, we had a show at the Forsyth Gallery in College Station, TX. The gallery is very new and nicely equipped and the folks there are fantastic. Thank you again, Forsyth Gallery. Also exhibited two painting:

Long Shadows, 6.5 x 12 Oil

Oak Tree at WildFlower Center

More blogging and paintings later, I promise ;-D
Thank you
Ann

East Austin Studio Tour 2009

2009-11-13T10:25:00.000-08:00

Please come by and see my paintings at
the Real Gallery
located in
The East Village Lofts 1200 E. 11th St. Ausitn, TX 78702
I look forward to seeing you there.
Ann

EAST 2009 Annual East Austin Studio Tour www.eastaustinstudiotour.com
Saturday 14th November-Sunday 15th November &
Saturday 21st November-Sunday 22nd November
10 am-5 pm each day

As usual I'm way behind on posting (sigh). I hope to not only put photos up of the Ian Roberts Plein Air Workshop but also some snaps of my paintings for E.A.S.T. or East Austin Studio Tour at the Real Gallery.

Many thanks for looking at my blog,
Ann

Buda Fine Arts, Part 2

2009-11-04T08:08:00.000-08:00

So, why haven't I been posting lately after I swore I would do so... Well, there was the Buda Fine Arts Festival where my friend and fellow artist, Nancy Kirk, and I shared a booth. As always, I learned a lot. I also sold a few paintings and met some wonderful people including Kathleen Ash, a glass artist, and Laura Krouse, a jewelry maker.

Then there was the week long plein air workshop given by Ian Roberts. I'll post some photos later. All I can say is it was fabulous. If you ever get a chance to take one of his workshops, you should.

Buda Fine Arts Festival

2009-09-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

From Elizabeth's Garden

Oil

11 x 14

Hola Everyone:

Today's is post shows two recent paintngs. I apologize for not posting lately but I've been getting ready for the Buda Fine Arts Festival in Buda, TX which will take place from Oct 3-4, 2009. My friend and follow artist, Nancy Kirk and I will have a booth there at the Festival. This Still-Life will go into the auction which will take place Friday night on Oct. 2nd. Wish me luck on a big sale!

Last Rays
Pastel

5 x 7

I did this pastel while visting my friend, Regina Burchett. Nancy Kirk and I went to Regina's a couple of weekends ago to see her fabulous studio. We both came away with an extreme case of studio envy ;-). This, too, will go into our booth at the Festival.

Please do plan to drop by. It should be a fun event and you'll get to see lots of good art...

Buda Fine Arts Festival in Buda, TX

We will be in Booth 12

Oct. 3-4, 2009, Sat. & Sun. 10am-6pm

Festival Admission is free

Thanks for looking at my paintings.

Ann

Another pastel

2009-08-20T06:14:00.001-07:00

Cafe
Pastel
5 x 7

Bonjour:

This scene reminds me of a Paris cafe found on the Boulevard du Montparnasse. A small cafe where one can rest, have an expresso and watch the world go by. I love doing these small pastels and capturing a slice of time and place. This painting is also being featured as the Painting of the Week on Polly Jackson's painting blog. Thanks, Polly!

Merci,
Ann

It's good to be back

2009-08-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

Bridge at Mendoza Park, Austin, TX
5x7
Pastel

Hello Everybody:

It's so good to be back posting again. I have lots of paintings to show as I've been painting instead of blogging. The painting I'm posting today is a pastel of the pedestrian bridge at Mendoza Park here in Austin. It was done for a challenge sent out by Polly Jackson on her Paint Paint Paint blog. I'm also donating it to the annual auction benefiting the Arc of the Capital Area which will take place on Thursday, Oct. 15 at the Hilton, Austin, Downtown.

Best,
Ann

2009-04-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Regina Burchett I'm doing more pastels these days and am having such a good time with them. This is first in a series of passion flowers. They come in several different shapes, sizes and colors -- who knew!

2009-04-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

Hello:
This is the last painting I did in Jennifer's Figurative Painting class. The model, Erin, held four 30 minute poses (same position) for us. I feel like I really learned a lot about painting from a live model. Really enjoyed the class.

2009-04-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hello

Well the exhibit at the Austin Museum of Art went really well. Lots of people showed up and there was a lot of very good feedback on everyone's entries. As well, five pieces were sold but, not mine this time.

Today's posting are the figurative oil sketches I did in Jennifer Balkan's figurative workshop that went for five Mondays. The first two Mondays, we did 5, 10 and 15 minute gestures with a live model in a light, dark and mid-tone value.
Two of the 5 minute poses using a light and dark--using capturing shapes and values here.
Two of the 10 minute gesture poses, this time adding a third mid-tone value to suggest the curve of the body.
Color! Adding yellow and purples to the skin tones here to get the shadows (previously just used red/green/yellow) to these 15 minute gesture poses
Again, using the same palette as above but longer poses--30 minutes this time.

The last night of the workshop, we did one painting from a model. This will be the next post. All in all, I really learned a lot about painting skin. Doing these quick gesture oil sketches from a model were fun and energizing. Now comes the really fun part of taking all this information and translating it into my work.

2009-03-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

Hello:

Finally, time to post. I apologize for not posting but there's been quite a lot going on lately. I shared a booth at the Zilker Garden Festival with two painter friends, Sally Fraser and Regina Calton Burchett this past week. It was a lovely, albeit windy, weekend and the gardens looked lovely.

This coming Thursday, April 2nd, will be a group exhibit at the Austin Museum of Art, downtown. If you're in town please come. I'll have two paintings in the exhibit.

Later this week I'll post some oil sketches done in Jennifer Balkan's figurative painting class that I just finished. Jennifer's a wonderful teacher and I learned a lot from her.

Sadly, no posting today

2009-03-06T06:54:00.000-08:00

Hello,

I didn't have time to photograph my painting so there's no post today. Be sure to check back next week as I will have it done on Monday.

Thanks,
Ann

Lost in Thought

2009-03-05T05:57:00.001-08:00

8 x 10
Acrylic

Another figurative painting done about two months ago. My acrylic paintings are very different from my oils. This one was done before "The Art of Conversation," my first posting, and is much tighter. I find it's much harder for me to be loose in this medium than with oils. Oils have such a creamy consistency and, because of the drying time, are easier to "push" around. Golden has come out with the "Open" acrylic series which has a longer drying time. I've ordered some and am really looking forward to trying them out.

This painting, along with another that I'll post tomorrow, will be in a group exhibit at the Comerica Building, downtown Austin. My cohorts in the exhibit are part of a group that went to France last summer to do a workshop with Ian Roberts. His assistant dubbed us the "Wildcats" and the name stuck. As soon as we returned home, we formed a group to paint and exhibit together. What fun!

Two Figurative Paintings

2009-03-04T11:15:00.000-08:00

Waiting
6 x 8
Oil

This is a very bad photograph of this painting and brought to light some changes I need to make. The blue in her coat should not be there. It doesn't show in normal daylight but under photographic lights -- well, it must go. I'll glaze over it in a dulled down purple. On the whole, I'm very satisfied with the way it came out. (I will re-shoot this once it's fixed!)

Here's Looking at You
8 x 10
Oil

I painted this several weeks ago. I loved the backlighting on this and how this person engages the viewer. I've been working small as I tend to put in too much detail and get very tight in my painting style when working in a larger format. I wanted to get the expression (in loose brushstrokes) not a likeness.

These two paintings will be entered into a one night, group show at AMOA downtown on April 2, 6:00-8:00. There will be a reception so please come if you can.

The Art of Conversation

2009-03-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

8 x 10
Acrylic

I've always been drawn to figurative works of art and this is my latest. I love to watch people interacting with one another and then try to catch those impressions on canvas. It's now hanging in an group exhibition at the South Congress St. location of Texas French Breads. If you're in Austin, TX please go by and see it.

This is my first posting. Now, that I've gotten my feet wet, so to speak, I'll post more examples of my work later on. Please check back.
Thanks,
Ann