My new promo - win a FREE painting!

Free Painting Offer!

Join our studio group or introduce your friends & enter a drawing to win a free painting - what could be better!?

One of my summer goals is to increase the size of my email list. Are you a member? Do you have friends who might be interested? I need your introductions!

So, for each friend referral who is willing to sign up for my email list, I will enter your name into a drawing for a free painting. (If you are not yet a member, please apply the same guidelines to yourself!) The free painting is not just any painting, its your commission of a floral done in watercolor. For the winner, the painting will be post card size, and you choose the flower! I will complete it and mail it to you, ready to frame.

In order to be properly entered into the drawing, please do the following:
1. Obtain the permission of your friend(s) (this is very important, because I don't want to violate your friend's trust or begin sending information to them unexpectedly!)
2. Email me the names and email addresses of the friends you are submitting. Be sure to include your own name so I know who sent the addresses! my email address -- studio_upstairs@hotmail.com
In the subject line include - Friends!
3. I will send an email to your friend, verifying they agree to be added.
4. Your friend will receive a small gift for being added. (A small set of notecards)
5. Your name goes into the drawing which will be held on July 15.
6. The winner will be notified and decide what flower I should paint.
7. Within a week or so, your painting will arrive!

Your name can be entered multiple times, depending on the number of friends who sign up for our group.

I hope you will have some fun with this and participate by sending me introductions! It seems like a win-win-win situation!

The road less traveled

Road at Wood's Edge, 6x8" Oil on canvas
©2009, Helen Read
SOLD

Another small-ish study. This one is done in oil and on stretched canvas. I'm enjoying what I'm learning about shape, color and value. Hope you find these as intriguing as I do!

A New Auction - Hollyhocks in Bloom.

Hollyhocks in Bloom, 8x8" Oil on Canvas deep wrapped canvas, painted around sides - framing is optional ©2008, Helen Read 

Another small landscape study:

Meadow, 6x8" Oil pastel on paper

The kind of landscapes that intrigue me!

Morning Light - Landscape study - 6 x 8" oil pastel on paper
 

 

I've been hinting that I'd like to return to landscape as a subject matter. I continue to find myself intrigued with the idea of landscape as a way to express some basic elements of art: value, color, space, shape. But they also lend themselves to an emotional expression.

What I find interesting about the small study above is that it has a very clear abstract value skeleton, I guess I would say. Just the lights and darks, minus color, are interesting and bold.
They, in themselves, create a rather interesting shape within the space. The variance of value from dark on the right to light on the left, give a sense of depth and space beyond. Then, the play of color is also interesting - fairly close to a complementary (yellow/violet) color scheme which begins to dissolve in the darker right side into a more narrow scheme of green and violet.

Trying to balance all these ideas and pull off an interesting finish is the challenge that intrigues me. When all is said and done, it creates a piece of work that demands a second look ... and perhaps a longer gaze.

When you look at the small study - none of the colors are very actual. I have used colors that do not really appear in the natural world as I've used them - and yet ... they harmonize and create understanding. That's what I like about this idea of landscape painting and why I want to pursue it. It borders on abstraction - and yet, it isn't.

One of the masters of this kind of work - an American artist that I can never quite get enough of seeing - is Wolf Kahn. I encourage you to check out his work. He is an amazing artist with a long history of work through the 20th century (and still working) - and an extraordinary life story as well!

Floral - abstracted

Peony, 8x8" oil on canvas,  

 

SOLD

On one of the few sunny days we have had this spring, I took a macro photo of a lovely white/pink peony in our neighborhood. When I began to look at it, it really lent itself to an abstracted view. I love the lines and shapes, and the soft colors found within the white were so intriguing. So, this is my rendition - showing the lovely abstraction that so much of nature contains.

Time for an auction!

Whimsical, Funky Cat - 8x8" Acrylic on Canvas
(deep wrapped, painted around sides) beginning bid - 
SOLD
Auction Results! - This painting is moving to North Carolina!

Ok, I know, its been awhile since I posted last. School is finally out - and I am slowly recuperating from the crazy, busy last days of the school year. Seriously - it takes a bit of time for teachers to just get back into real life! While I haven't posted in a week or so - which I hate not doing - I have been painting. I hope to have that new painting ready to show you here in a couple days. I've also been working at getting a computer update accomplished (the one I've been using for 4+ years is on its final breath). And, I've been thinking and planning some new promotions and ideas for some fun here with my Studio Friends. (If you haven't signed up - now is the time! See the spot to the right side of my blog and type in your email address... voila! you are done!) The little cat painting you see above was finished last year - and I'm putting it out there for auction! Its funky and fun ... done in an expressionistic style. If you are looking for something a little quirky for a small space, maybe this is it! It would also make a great addition to a child's room! 

From Deep in the Heart of Texas - skyscape

Approaching Front, 6x6" Oil on canvas (2009)

The final version. As you can see, the foreground has been given some definition - and a small amount of background is suggested. The main idea is the drama in the sky. This is the type of terrain and dramatic skies I witnessed so often where I grew up, deep in the heart of Texas! Beautiful.

 

Skyscape - nearly done!

above:

Sky is deepened and given more color, foreground is still undeveloped.

Earliest version:

above:
Sky is given its basic values and some color, foreground is very roughly estimated.

This begins some work I find intriguing - and I hope is the beginning of more work in this genre. Its kinda like a landscape, though doesn't focus much on land. Rather the sky is the main idea!

Having grown up in the Heart of Texas, (in the country) - the expansive vistas were a very formative part of my visual memory, vocabulary, and expression. The expanse of land played an important part - to this day, I place a high value on the idea of place and physical connection to the land. And the colors and abstractions that played across the skies on a nightly basis was so very elemental to my visual formation!

So, the idea of skyscapes has been in my imagination and on my mind for quite some time. This is a small rendition, but I imagine large paintings - where you almost feel as if its right there before you in its larger form.

Experimentation.....

Bouquet in Blue, approx 5x7" acrylic on paper

A small experiment here. This is a rough water color paper - 400#. I started by staining the surface with blues and purples - acrylic - and then began the painting. I used metallic gold acrylic paint in many places, along with the colors of greens/purples/and blues. The style is rather sketchy and impressionistic. Hope you like what came out of it!

Some old favorites:

Daisies in Cobalt - 18 x 20" Oil on canvas (2004)

This painting came from a profusion of daisies growing in my garden - I love their fresh color, texture, and the shape of the bunch of them as they ended up in the bottle. There is no flower that speaks of summer (to me) more than daisies do! This one was one of those paintings that almost paints itself ... it just happened right throughout - and I didn't have to wrestle with what to do to make it happen! Sometimes, but certainly not always, it just falls together that way!

As to other work in my studio - things have been extremely busy here at the end of May and the end of our semester. Because of that - although I have finished and/or been at work on a commission and several other paintings this month - I have nothing new on the easel at the moment. I should have something new to post this week! Until then ... I'm putting forth some old favorites!

Landscape - finished.

Small landscape study - 5x5" oil on canvas  

You've been watching the progress on this - and I've mentioned that I'm exploring landscapes again with ethereal lighting, misty vistas, etc. This is a small study - trying to get lighting and a sense of atmosphere. This doesn't represent an actual place, but rather a sense of place.

 

In celebration of spring time!

Crabapples in bloom, 9x12" Oil pastel on paper

I'm posting an older painting since my travels and commission have kept me busy - but with nothing finished and new to show this week. This one is completely appropriate though! The spring is absolutely bursting with blooms in my area - and the crab apples are especially beautiful this year; their aroma just permeates the neighborhood. I was thinking, as I walked this week - if eye has not seen, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared (in our heavenly home) for those who love him - it must, in fact, be breathtakingly magnificent, because I can't imagine anything more lovely than spring bursting with life and beauty and sunshine and warmth at the end of the long siege of winter! Spring embodies, to me, the very essence of who God is. His attributes are found in all the seasons, but spring shouts it most loudly!

This week's commission

Lemons in Bloom on Blue - 10" Painted Bowl
(acrylic on wood)

My silence this week does not mean I haven't been working! Here is a commission I am working to finish. This will be a retirement gift. Besides this - I have several paintings I've been working on, and I'm preparing to make a trip to Arkansas for my son's graduation from college.... just lots going on!

I'll be posting more soon! And starting a new Studio Friends contest.