Grapes II.... Complete!

I actually finished this painting about a month ago, but kept putting off the inevitable scanning process. I spent the entire morning today scanning it in, then brought it outside to spray it. The frames arrived a couple of days ago, and it kills me a little to have them just sitting there in the box without the paintings in them.

This is the 2nd painting of grapes that I created, both being 15" x 30". I ordered identical frames for them because, while not technically a diptych, they do look nice side by side. I'll be sure to get a picture of them together after I attach the frames.

Also spending today getting ready for the Lititz Art Show this weekend. It's such a shame that there aren't any stores around here that offer the Hahnemuhle (I can actually spell that now without having to look it up somewhere!) Sugar Cane paper I'm using, nor the inks for my Epson. That means I always have to order those and of course, it takes at least a few days for them to get here. No such luck running a quick errand for emergency supplies!

What a productive weekend!

I started my Saturday morning FINALLY making use of some of the packing supplies I've been hoarding since we moved (old sheets, towels, pieces of fabric, bubble wrap, paper wrap, huge plastic bags, the vinyl tablecloth from this post) and making a few Art Bags. I created them for transportation but they can (and will) be used for storage as well. Now that I'm doing 4 (or 5? I forget) art festivals this summer, I know my paintings and frames are going to take a beating in transport. And I hate that. I'm not going to buy a chinsy frame in case it might get damaged in transport, but when you spend a lot of money on a nice frame, you're constantly fretting over the fact that every time you go drive over a bump in the road, it might get hurt! Yikes!

Previously, I would wrap my art in bubble wrap and then some sort of fabric, but when packing up at the end of a show, you just want to hurry up and get everything taken down and loaded up and head home. And when it's raining you're trying to do it even faster. Bubble wrap just gets thrown around, a blanket or towel wrapped sloppily around the painting and then maybe an exposed corner sticking out by the time you've got them all loaded into the car. Not good.

For my transporting bags, I cut a section of vinyl tablecloth that would fit around the whole painting with enough room for a flap to hang down over the top, to protect it from rain and water. On the inside is a pocket of sorts, with padding in the front to protect the painting or glass. I sewed up the sides by hand because I wanted to roll them up and then use a very large stitch around the seams to try and keep it closed. I was able to make 3 small bags from one tablecloth and some shoe laces are currently keeping them shut. In the future I might add velco, but I am currently investigating other more ecofriendly options.

Next to my art bag in the picture above, is one of my small tulip tree studies. I finally got those all framed up, too. (Now they just need to have their bags made!)

I also finished up the green grapes in my 2nd grapes painting and on Sunday I gave the purple ones a 2nd coat. They'll need a few more, and I didn't finish that painting last week like I wanted, but I did get those other things out of the way that aren't a big deal but were definitely time consuming and on my "to do" list.

Since I probably won't continue to offer small prints (5"x7") as standard sizes at art shows (but will create them upon custom request), I printed, matted, and framed some small prints, too. I've got a lot of 5" x 7" frames around that are just sitting there empty, begging to be filled with some art. I framed one small one in a bright blue picture frame and was happy with the result, so I might paint some of the other frames I've got laying around here in bright colors and put a print in them. It will be great to bring them to shows this summer and see people's reactions to them- buying something already framed is obviously one less step for anyone to have to do, so people might like that! (I would!)


Since I'm almost done with my grapes painting, it's time to figure out what's next. And.... I currently have no idea. Or too many ideas? Tropical flowers are my favorite things to paint, but I like to highlight local things too. I've got a canvas that is 24" x 36" and this picture of passion flowers is just the right proportions for it. I'm not sure if this will be what I paint next, as I'm getting a little tired of looking at green and purple.

And lastly, I finally listed a print of the first grapes into my Etsy store.... Took long enough!


Let's hope that my next blog post is a picture of the finished 2nd grapes painting!!

Flowers in the Concrete

I've been a busy bee!

In this picture, you can see how I've completely taken over and trashed the dining area of the apartment. (This is what happens when you don't have an actual art studio!!) But the good thing about having everything in the main area of the house is that it does force me to see it every single day, and also makes me want to hurry up and finish so I can clean up the mess :)

(But I'm actually hoping to keep this momentum going and not give myself enough of a break to clean up. We'll see how that goes...)


I'm working on the 2nd grape painting, but I'm not a fan of repetition so it's already boring me. Don't get me wrong, I think when it's done it will be nice, and I look forward to having a series. But my mind is already racing with ideas for new paintings, which doesn't help at all with the repetition.

So to alleviate some of this boredom/repetition, I've also started small paintings of the tulip poplar flowers. I had those three photos (see previous blog entry), and I like each of them- so I thought I'd do some small studies before tackling a larger size painting, which I eventually intend to do. Plus I have no small paintings, and I want to get into the habit of working smaller than 16"x20" on occasion because smaller pieces take so much less time to complete. The great thing about working on 3 at a time like this is that I can work on a section of one, put it down, work on a section of the others, and so on. By the time I've worked on all 3 of them, the first is already dry and ready for more.

THIS MEANS HOURS AND HOURS OF NON-STOP PAINTING.

I feel like I'm back in college!!!


Here is the progress so far. They're still a hideous mess for the most part, but I've printed out my reference photos and put a layer or two of paint on some of the leaves, and about 3 or 4 coats of paint on the backgrounds of these. I can see in the daylight today that the backgrounds still need more work.

From the Vineyard, With Love.

This painting is yet to be named, but it's finished! It might get a little bit of tweaking later on tonight, but it's just going to be a couple of tiny adjustments. It's acrylic on canvas, 15" x 30".

I took photos of grapes last year in the summer while visiting the Chicago Botanic Garden with the intention of doing a painting of grapes, but I've decided to do a series and already have another canvas sketched out (this same size) ready for another grape painting. Last year I decided to branch out from my usual subject matter (tropical things) and work more on something that can be enjoyed universally, since the mid-atlantic area isn't so much on tropical.

This painting was also a BIG challenge because I've never had to paint shadows like this before. In my photography class in college, we learned to take pictures outside on an overcast day to avoid harsh shadows, so that's what I always did. I didn't have that luxury at the Botanic Garden since there was only one day we could fit it into our schedule. Shadows are funny, because you're sitting in front of the canvas painting them and they just look like sharply contrasting weird blobby shapes that don't make any sense (especially when you haven't colored in all of the things around them). But then you walk across the room and take it all in after you've been working on the painting for 4+ hours from 6 inches away, and it all comes together and ends up making sense.

I am pleased. And this one only took about a month and a half- and that even includes a 2 week hiatus during the holidays.