I’ve been practicing my acrylic skills this summer, first with small paintings on watercolor paper, and lately the 8x10, 11x14 and 12x16 sizes. I have slowed down a bit and pay attention to the stages of the painting. I think carefully about decisions. Hopefully I will be ready for the fall season of tea parties and my front porch show at The Artisan’s Guild on October 29th. It is all good fun!
Country painters have a wonderful life…
I’ve been having fun with recycled unsanded wood panels. My contractor saves wood scraps and cuts them the sizes I use. I love the texture, lines and knots in the wood.
This painting is an example. One of my favorite landscape situations are
Country painters love to learn……
The studio tour was a huge success for me. A good crowd came on Saturday. Lots of sales! Sunday was calmer, with fewer guests but a more relaxed day with old friends. It was excellent in every way. I hope the tour includes me again next year.
This week I’m working on some commissions and trying to catch up so I can get back to my experiments with palettes, my summer project. I’ve worked through three tetradic palettes and now I’m using my favorite long time palette of cadmium red light, ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow light, Payne’s gray and titanium white. In the winter I substitute yellow ochre for the cadmium yellow. This is a no risk palette. You cannot mix a bad color combination with this palette.
Country painters love to experiment…..
This week I’ve been preparing for the studio tour on this Saturday and Sunday 10 AM - 5 PM. A shout out with kudos for Deb and Wes Lindbergh, who did all the hard work for this
event.
Due to a resurgence of Covid, I will be wearing a mask on both days. I urge you to wear one too. My studio assistant won’t be joining us due to a Covid infection. So sad! My sister will lend a hand, so please do come. I will keep the studio sanitized during both days.
I’ll be serving hot dogs, potato salad, Cole slaw, fresh fruit, and chocolate bark. We will enjoy a cup of tea or soft drinks. I know it is hot, but my studio is air conditioned. If you want to avoid the afternoon showers, come morning through lunch time.
I’ll have lots of paintings to show in sizes from 4x6 inches to 40x60 inches. Don’t forget my free art gallery too. Ya’ll come!
Country painters love their friends!
For the last 20 years or so I have focused my work on agricultural land in Florida, Alabama and on occasion, North Carolina. I taught painting at the folk school in NC for a few years, and my daughter went to college in Alabama, so I had good painting time there as well.
I grew up around agriculture, farming and ranching. My daddy’s best friends were farm and ranch men. I tagged along with him and studied the fields, woods, and pastures with great interest. We had horses and a cow or two out here. I would say farming and ranching is in my blood. I know a lot of farmers and I am a great admirer of them. They put in long days of hard labor and they are true environmentalists. They manage their land with great skill and protect the wildlife who live on their land. Many of them have invasive plants removed regularly, so that their lands are truly primal Florida, the Florida I grew up in. They are naturalists and have great knowledge of the rhythms of land.
Many Florida painters focus on the coast, beaches, boats, tourist towns, and what most people think of Florida. Few tourists understand that the real Florida is something else entirely. Kudos to our farmers and ranchers.
Life is wonderful for country painters.......
Long time painters are hot wired to paint every day or often. I produce hundreds of paintings every year. My methods change throughout the years, due to interest and health, but the habit of painting every day stays with me.
At one time I only painted out doors. That lasted about ten years. I began to see that my technical skills declined considerably. I realized that plein air painting by itself was not the answer. I also learned that outdoor observation was far more important to my knowledge of the natural world.
Now I spend most of the year painting in my studio, paired with a lot of time walking and observing the natural world from my trails. I do most of my studies at my design table on 4x6 watercolor paper, and paint in the studio two or three days a week. I paint out on the trails in the winter months, when it is cool and pleasant.
It doesn’t matter what method I use as long as I am working every day and learning as I go.
Country painters have a wonderful life…..
I’ve been in the art business for many long years. One of the common denominators for successful artists is relentless effort on all fronts. You cannot hide in your studio and succeed. You have to keep painting and marketing whether the market is good or poor.
Many artists only work at marketing or funding initiatives when they are selling well. I think the time to market is when you are not. If your sales are flat, invest in your communication, use your mailing list and social networks to get word out about yourself when sales are slow. Don’t give up. Diversify your painting techniques and subjects to reach a wider audience. Take on commission work if your work is appropriate and change your sizes and price points to include a wider collector base.
Make friends with non-artists. Too many artists spend all of their social time with other artists. Too many artists invest their resources in contests and marketing that appeal to artists, not collectors. Artists are fun to know, but collectors and friends help you pay the bills and remain solvent. Most of the people I spend time with are collectors and friends. They add diversity to my life and new ideas. If you are not selling, find new outlets. Learn new techniques. Keep your work fresh and new. Don’t be afraid of change.
Country painters have a wonderful life……
My contractor is through with the upgrade to my studio. Now it is my turn to put it all together again. Re-do has been harder than taking everything out. There are more decisions to make now. I am being more discriminating about what I place where. I have left out a few pieces of furniture that were really unneeded. There are a few pieces I can’t find, like my tea kettle. I’m sure it is there somewhere in all the piles of things.
I think I can finish it up tomorrow, then I’ll sweep the floors and pick up the actual studio room where I paint and make paper. My plan is to begin painting in my studio again on Saturday morning. I am very excited to see the old place looking so grand. I am to pick up a donated antique chandelier on Sunday afternoon for the big room. The chandelier I bought for the little alcove room looks fabulous. The joint has never looked so good. I recommend that all painters have their studio painted gray. The paintings look so good against the walls now. Next week the studio will be available for tea parties again. Schedule one for yourself with friends.
Country painters are so lucky…
As you all know I am a keen student of upland nature and science. I saw this part of an article from the Science Daily web site:
The Paleozoic era culminated 251.9 million years ago in the most severe mass extinction recorded in the geologic record. Known as the "great dying," this event saw the loss of up to 96% of all marine species and around 70% of terrestrial species, including plants and insects.
The rate of present-day global warming rivals that experienced during the "great dying," but its signature varies regionally, with some areas of the planet experiencing rapid change while other areas remain relatively unaffected. The future effects of climate change on ecosystems will likely be severe. Thus, understanding global patterns of environmental change at the end of the Paleozoic can provide important insights as we navigate rapid climate change today.
It made me sad to read this as I know we are headed for dark times, unless world leaders begin to take climate change seriously. Science is real, not an inconvenience to corporate, developers, and big business interests. Sadly, it is my grandchildren who will suffer from our neglect of Mother Earth. It seems like we are going backwards toward fascism now.
Country painters love our planet......
