Another Frohsin inspired experiment...

Still playing around with sketches loosely based on Kim Frohsin's work (see previous posts).  While she does single figures, I thought it might be fun to have several together, kinda like Degas' dancers... except these are skinny dippers... Reminds me of some summer nights years ago.

"Under Wraps"

I finished the 6' x 6' commission.  The couple that commissioned the painting stopped by and love it!  Phew!  Its always a relief when that happens.  I asked them if I could post the photo below of the painting in process and they agreed.  This was a fun challenge - they wanted the double portrait, but wanted it abstracted so it wasn't so "in your face."  They have a beautiful new waterfront home in Florida, and these colors will brighten their walls.

I took the painting into the UPS Store yesterday to ship... did I detect a slight groan when I walked in the door?  I have shipped several times with them in the past though, and they've done a good job.  Keeping my fingers crossed that this one gets to Florida safely.

Now, on to the next project!  A 4' x 5' double commission.  Almost seems small!  ; )

Plein Air

On  a chilly but sunny day last week the plein air painters' group I had invited out to Crosswinds arrived.  It was great fun to have painters all over the front yard painting different scenes.  We had a great time and plan to do it again.

Two new galleries!

I'm excited to have joined two new galleries.  Blu-Sail Gallery in Morehead City is displaying my large 4' x 5' painting "Belle."  They are a fun gallery with a nice space.  Mark and Lynn are doing many creative approaches to art classes and have brightened the downtown Morehead City scene.

The Village Gallery in Oriental has just opened a beautiful new space.  I was pleased to be able to hang  a collection of 10 pieces there.  It looks great to have a body of work in one space, nicely lighted and displayed.  They have a selective body of interesting work in the gallery.

Stop by either or both to take a look!  I also have work on display in Beaufort at Handscapes Gallery and the Mattie King Davis Gallery on the Beaufort Historic Site.   In New Bern my work is found at New Bern Artworks and the Craven County Arts Council & Gallery.

Here's a close-up of part of the painting of Belle that is at Blu-Sail:

Rainy day studies

While we experience the first outer bands of Hurricane Sandy (the brunt of which is, thankfully, bypassing us) I decided to play around with watercolors.  Wet rainy days have that effect on me... I decided to start out exploring some of the ideas I got from Kate Worm's wonderful workshop, then I moved on to new ones.  Kate introduced me to the art of Kim Frohsin, a California-based artist.  I love her work.  I just ordered a couple of her books - so the bigger seated figure study in the photo below is inspired by one of her paintings.  I had ordered some Ampersand Aquabord (yes, it's spelled that way) to try.  It is loads of fun!  Here are some of the studies I've done today and over the last few days...

Six by Six

I'm working on a large 6' x 6' commission - its going to be an abstracted double portrait, but with the faces very subtle in the texture.  Here's a shot from a few weeks ago when I was first starting - using acrylic mediums and scraping, dripping, pouring, etc. to get a variety of textures.  This is a big challenge, I'm working on the faces now (and have been for awhile) but nothing to post on those yet ; )

Craven Arts Fest

Had a great time at the Craven Arts Fest in New Bern last week-end.  It was indoors at the Civic Center so it was an easier set-up, and the booth looked great.   Sales were good and nice energy in the crowd... People seemed to enjoy the painting demo's I did of volunteers with the festival.