OPA in AZ

The National Oil Painters of America has a yearly members only competition. Then they exhibit this competition at an art gallery. This year it is in SCOTTSDALE at the Legacy Gallery on Main and Scottsdale Road! Woo Hoo!!! I have already been twice. The show runs until May 24th so hurry up and go see it.
This one won some award but I forgot what it was. All of the art is for sale. This one is the most expensive one that sold. It was $4000. For a 24x36 I think it is a fair market price. But most of the sold paintings were under $1500. This recession is really hitting artists hard.

This one is painted by my kids favorite dude, Dan Gerhartz. We go and meet him every year at his spring show. This is a 24x36 and he wants $13,000.
Michael Mao. Very brushy up close. Beautiful. I'm thinking of doing a series of white paintings.
This is a good example of a bad photo. This painting in person just glows.
I love realism. The name of this one is Plain and Peanut M and M's. How cute.
Robert Coombs.
I really want to paint a cow. I think they are so cute.
Again, way better in person. It really inspires me. I think I'll paint one like this of one of my girls in our woods in Iowa. Does anyway have a long satin dress they want to loan me? I won't ruin it with mud and branches- honest.
I love peonies.
$20,000. For reals? I mean, this is a REALLY beautiful painting and all but $20,000?

This one is probably my favorite painting of the show. I am so going to paint this. Can you just see Married Girl in her wedding dress holding her bouquet?

Well, these are some of the highlights of the show. But there is a lot more to see at the Legacy Gallery. Go. Now. If you can't get there in time, or if you have no gas in your car, or you don't want to get out of your pajamas, you can click on this link and look online. Have fun!

I Got This Idea...

I was cruising through the internet, looking for cool portrait painters and I came across this guy. His name is Phillip deLaszlo. He replaced John Singer Sargent as the portrait painter to the rich and famous. This beautiful painting caught my eye and I wanted to paint it real bad. But I didn't have a bride to paint. Then, the very next day, I received a wedding invitation in the mail. It was fate I tell you...FATE. Then, I ran into the girl's mother at a volleyball game. More fate!
Here's the conversation,

me: Hello mother of the bride, can I paint a portrait of your daughter for a wedding present?

Mother : Uh..What? Are you kidding me? Heck yes!

me: I know your daughter is away at school, but will she be in town soon?

Mother: Yes, she will be in town this weekend.

me: can I shoot her this Saturday?

Mother: Actually, meet us at the bridal salon where she will be trying on her dress and veil.

me: Oh my gosh, that is so perfect!

(or something like that)

Totally perfect timing. Totally perfect model. Beautiful family. Lucky me.
I'm sorry for the blurry photos but I was too tired and lazy to go get my tripod. Her eyelashes are actually longer than this but I was so jealous of them I made them shorter. Not really. Shorter looked a little softer.
Oh, I wish I took a better photo. Her hands really look real. I even painted little blue veins and everything.
Her veil was so much fun. I seriously giggled when I was painting it. My friend is so sweet, she has wanted a painting from me for so long and I haven't done it. I am really blessed that this came out so well and she was so happy. Oh, and the bride was pretty happy, too.
I even painted the frame. I have never painted a frame before, it was a good experience. Okay, no it wasn't, it was a nightmare. Let's just say that I learned how not to do it. I even learned how to use paint stripper.

Pay no attention to my fingers, I was in a hurry.

Anyway, all in all, I had a really good time. They displayed the painting at the reception and a lot of people were really impressed. That made my year!

p.s. If you read this post, please leave a compliment, I mean comment!

(Not So) Self Taught Artists

I am largely teaching myself how to make art. I would say painting, but painting is easy and I went to a few classes on how to do that. (Thanks, Sarah) What I am trying to learn now is not taught in college. It is taught in ateliers of classical artists all around the globe. Unfortunately for me, I can't go to an atelier because I have a serious life to lead right here in my own little town raising sweet munchkins. And there are no classical artists or art schools here. Wha? Huh? I know, really! Phoenix is the 6th largest city in the country and you would think someone with classical training would move here, but NOooooo.

So, my education is limited to what I find on the internet and practice on my own at home. I am amazed at what I am learning and would like to show you some of the artists I have found who think are doing what I am doing. Maybe there is hope for me yet!

All the art on this post is from the lovely, talented artist Kate Stone . She is amazing and is only 23 years old. She started exhibiting and winning awards in 2006. And on her website she doesn't list any formal training so I think she didn't go to school. Actually, she is married to art instructor, David Gluck, who teaches at the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto. I think she went there. Dangit, I was hoping that I could do this without going to an atelier!

Although, Canada in the summer would be nice...

She was born in America but lives in Canada. She is storming the portrait scene up there and was even featured in a tv show called "Star Portraits". She got to paint Debbie Travis.

Sweet. I'd love to draw like that, but I don't have the first clue how to do it. What paper is that? I only know about sketch books and pencil. I don't think that is pencil.

Some people say, "Why don't you go to ASU?" If I were to go to a university, I would be told not to paint like this. I would be told to "paint what I feel". Well, I "feel" like painting what I "see". Then adding a little juice to it. Isn't this painting delicious? It just glows. Kate got it right. Atelier training is the way to go.

Look at those HANDS! For Pete's sake woman! Bring your husband and move here and teach me how to do that! The real estate prices are incredible. I will personally find you a house. And the weather is much better than freezing cold Canada.

Old kids, cookies and stitches

I have been goofing off.

Married Girl turned 21. I know, it's very very wrong. But, you either get older or you die and I would hate for her to die .. so I guess I will have to live with her getting older. Anyway, she LUURRVVES Christie Repasy and wanted me to buy a print from her but I is broke.... and cheap. So I just painted her one myself. It's not perfect, but it cost me only about 10 dollars and my daughter LLUUURRVVVES it because I made it just for her. And I had fun, it only took me 8 hours. If you want a painting like this one, go to Christie Repasy's website and order one. She has tons to choose from and they are all beautiful.

Then Peeka decided we need to make more cookies. We have a really good cookie recipe. It is so perfect that the only thing you could do is make them bigger. Bigger is good...mmmmm. Unless the bigger parts are on my body and they are jiggly and I can't zip my jeans. Then, bigger is bad. (Pay no attention to my dirty pan.)
Saturday night I was getting ready for a church meeting to see an apostle and I heard this blood curdling scream. Yup, sure enough, blood and guts were everywhere. Well, not guts, but I couldn't go to my meeting and I spent the entire evening in the urgent care getting stitches on my baby Fifi. Then, yesterday when I went to the dr.'s to take out the stitches, Fifi fought so much she ripped her skin back open and I had to take her to the plastic surgeon's office and get him to fix it. He is so sweet. He did his very best with a screaming, squirming, fighting three year old. When we were on our way out he said, "Give it a year to heal and we will see about that scar." YIKES! Poor baby.

Needless to say I have been a little busy.

Finger Painting

I just stumbled across an award winning artist named Mary Jane Q. Cross.

She was an established commission portrait painter when a Pharmaceutical side effect left her with tremors over the right side of her body. (I smell lawsuit here!)

Anyway, you can't keep a good painter down! She started to use her fingers to paint and look at her results!

She doesn't have the time to do commissions anymore but she is storming the competitions with her fresh style. She is scooping up awards, too.

She reminds me of "Pre-Raphaelites meet 50's homemaking magazine covers".

I love how her lighting is bright and strong. She has a lot of back lit paintings.

Like this one...Mmmm I can feel the sun on my face right now. This one won a $5000 award at the American Oil Painters Society competition 2009.

She has been painting WAYYYyyy longer than I have. Like 40 years longer. But still. I think I could paint as good as her some day. Or not...

Mary Jane uses water soluble oil paints as they are less toxic and she puts on a barrier lotion on her hands before she paints.

Liz Lemon Swindle told me she uses her fingers to blend. I think I will try it sometime. It looks fun.

What an inspiration Mary Jane is to me! If life gives you tremors, make art. Or something like that. If she can paint with that difficulty, then I can paint with 8 kids! Sometimes they give me tremors. You can go to her website here.http://www.maryjaneqcross.com/home

Don't try this at home!

I mean it. It will make you jiggle and wobble. It tastes like the stuff from See's candy store but much cheaper and easier on your teeth. You could find yourself eating the whole recipe -so if you make this you must have a plan in place for it's immediate removal. Like, take it to a friend you would like to see get fat. Like April. So here goes the recipe.

Toffee Butter Crunch with Almonds

1 cup coarsely chopped almonds
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds

Sprinkle the coarsely chopped nuts on a greased 13x9x2- inch pan. Butter the sides of a heavy 2-quart sauce pan. In it melt the 1 cup butter. Add sugar, water, and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat to 290 degrees (soft crack stage), stirring frequently (mixture should boil gently over entire surface). Watch carefully after 280. Remove from heat. Immediately turn into prepared pan. Wait 2 to 3 minutes and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. When the chocolate is melted, spread over the toffee. Sprinkle 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds over the chocolate. Chill til firm and break into pieces. Wrap it in a cute bag and take it to my house. Your thighs will thank you.

Perfect

It's over. Our perfect summer is over. The summer was absolutely wonderful. The weather was amazing. It averaged 74 degrees. The land was beautiful and peaceful. It looked and felt like we were in the English countryside. Now I know why I never run into people who have moved to Arizona from Iowa. The local Iowans would tell me that Arizona is a dry heat. Yeah, I guess it is, but dry comes with a price...like no trees, grass, and ponds.

Goodbye, creek that ran through our farm.

Gone are the rolling hills with horses running freely through the meadows.

This was the view across the street from our church building. Just gorgeous.

No more fishing. Not like we ever caught anything, anyway.

Goodbye obscenely large front yard. Okay, it is really a field of soybeans - just beyond that row of trees, but it was still beautiful. And large.

Goodbye wonderful walks in the woods. Out in Iowa they don't call the woods "woods". They call it timber. I thought "timber" was what you yelled after you cut down a tree.

We will miss you, scenic park and pond. Is this not the most beautiful place you have ever seen? Unless, you have been to England ...then you saw it there.

This is the road home. Back to reality, dry dirt desert, hectic schedules, competition, money worries, and 112 degree HEAT! I love the country. We had the most wonderful, perfect summer.