Happy New Year! 2020 is coming and so is a GIVE-AWAY!

Scarlet Taninger Minipainting -  3x3" oil on canvas w/it's display easel
©2019  Helen Read

What a great way to start the new year and the new decade! 

A GIVE AWAY!  

This little painting and its easel will be given to someone somewhere in a random drawing!  

For the last several years, I've sent these little mini paintings as free gifts all over the country.  I can't think of a better way to start the new year! 

What do you have to do to enter?  

It's easy!   Join my list of friends and you'll get an email in the first week of January with all the details about how to enter!  

When you are part of my list, you'll get a colorful, fun email each month filled with things like: 

• The latest art from my studio & process photos and videos
• News that is fun to share 
• Discounts from time to time  
• Free downloadable art 
• And friend to friend conversation  

To join,  you can text the word Helen to 22828  or 

You can hit the button below.

(Don't worry... Your email is safe - I use a secure email service and it is never shared.  And, you won't be inundated with email from me... you'll only hear from me once a month, with an occasional special message.) 

Join me!!  You can never have too many friends!  

Yes! Let's be friends!

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Coming Soon!! Another Give Away Contest

Every few months, I give away - completely free - a small painting and it's easel.  

In January, I'll be giving away another small painting!  

Maybe you'd like to enter the contest... Maybe YOU will be my next winner!

In early January, my newsletter will be sent with all the information about how to enter.  No strings attached! If your name is randomly picked, then I'll get your address, wrap this little painting up and send it off!  

I've sent quite a few of them around the country in the last several years.  

Here's how you can join my email list! 

Text the word HELEN to 22828 

or 

Hit the button below.

Yes! Sign me up!

For Email Newsletters you can trust.

You'll get an email each month from me with all kinds of fun things, 

including a free art download to print and enjoy every month. 

I love to stay in touch!  This is a great way to do that.... Let's be friends!! 

Colored Pencil Creation

From a few years ago...  A demo done for my drawing students.

This little drawing shows the strengths of colored pencil and the beautiful results that they can achieve. 

This is small - done with prismacolor pencils on black drawing paper. 

The challenge was in the plastic wrapper... but careful attention to the values and subtle changes in color give a sense of 3 dimensions.  

As I post this - my classes are embarking on their colored pencil drawings!  It's a lot to learn, but I think they will create some beautiful work! 

Step into Fall Color!

How does an artist prepare for a painting? 

Reference Picture

Well, there are several ways. First there are sketches and value studies... particularly for a larger work, this is an important (indispensable first step). 

I loved the twisted tree - so sculptural - and the mysterious path that leads away from the tree. 
A sketch of the general shape - and some of the main values was a first step.
(A closer view below)

Then, reducing the values to just 3 helps to see how the values connect and hold the composition together. 

This is the beginning of determining how the artist can draw the viewers eye through the painting.

 

 Then, color.  

Color schemes?  Color harmonies and how to mix and portray that color...

Planning color is important.  A wild array of colors - even though they might be seen in nature - need some taming!  In the first iteration, I used oil pastels to consider some color combinations. 

And after that, I used acrylic paint to work with those same color combinations and how to lay down the color in strokes.  (You can see the color is a bit more vivid in acrylic, so which way will I go when it comes to using oil??)

And below, the first strokes on a larger  (24x20") canvas.  

This is general placement of the main element.  I toned the canvas with rose and have washed in the twisted tree and some general landmarks with a thinned down cadmium red.  

These are the steps of preparation.  I'm still identifying the color combinations and exactly how I want to lay in the strokes.    Will it look just like the reference picture?  No... and that's fine - after all, I already have the photo of it! Now I want to interpret that sense of being there - the beauty of the fall colors - the invitation to walk further on - the sense of peace within that moment.

 _______________
Oh, hey - are you a creative person - an artist - or - someone just stepping into their creative purpose!?
Well, join me!   I send out emails on a regular basis to those who would love some creative inspiration and who enjoy getting tips and demos!   Its so much better to have friends on the journey with us.... so, join us!!
Click the button to get added ~ then start looking for inspiration to come into your inbox!  

Yes! I want inspiration!

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A November Featured Painting

Three Long Necked Pears,  8x10" oil on canvas 

©Helen Read

Fall harvest, beautiful colors!   This painting ~ a very classical still life ~ speaks the language of fall!
 Ready to be framed and to bring beautiful color and a sense of cozy autumn scents into your home!

The perfect gift for yourself or someone you know!

Visit my website to see this and more possibilities!  

A free downloadable watercolor

Field of Flowers 

©Helen Read - watercolor on paper 

Every month, I send out a fun, colorful note to my friends...  I love to stay in touch!   You'll get to see some of my newest work, be offered some discounts, get to participate in give away contests, and download free art.  All of this right in your inbox!  How convenient! 

I'd love to add you to my list.  The little watercolor painting you see above is the coming month's downloadable art.  Don't worry, your info will never be shared.

All you need to do is text the word HELEN to 22828 

or 

hit the button below!  

Let's be Friends! 

Sign Me Up!

For Email Marketing you can trust.

Into the Woods

Sometimes, just a simple daily activity can be inspiring - and for the creative spirit, some sort of response is required. 
                  It could be a moment in time - to stand and look and to remark on the beauty.
                  It could be poem written or a song composed that defines the feeling
                  It could be a painting that captures a moment in time and a sense of being there.  

Last weekend, it was a beautiful day - fall colors just starting to turn their glorious colors.  Warm sunshine.  Perhaps it is one of our last warm days until 2020!   It was the perfect afternoon to take a walk into the woods. 

The colors were striking.   The shadows provided rich contrast.  At the end of the summer, there is a chaotic wildness to the forest.  Growth and over growth.  Deep recesses where light does not reach.  And a calmness interrupted by the scurrying of squirrels, or the flutter of birds preparing for winter's rest. 

This quick water color sketch is meant to capture the feeling of the moment - the depth of shadow - the mystery that lies beyond - the warmth of sunshine that creates invitation.  It was quickly caught without great attention to perfection.  The water and the pigment wandering a little beyond their boundaries to blend and run and leave behind their signature;  a type of beautiful chaos that defines the landscape at this time of year.  

Sage Hen Reservoir

Sage Hen Reservoir,  24x20" oil on canvas
©2019  Helen Read 

Sage Hen Reservoir, captures the clear light of high elevations. The colors are intense and there is a sparkle in the bright mountain light. We arrived at this lovely lake after a lengthy drive through a dusty, barren high desert climb. Then, a dense evergreen forest with this bright blue gem nestled between it's branches. Truly magical!  

Please visit my website to see this and other landscape paintings! 

Do you love gifts?

Well, I love to give gifts! 

Every month, I give away my artwork...  Yep - it's free!  
It's a free download that my friends can download and print for their own enjoyment.  

There really isn't any "catch" - it's just a gift.  

When you get my once-a-month news note - the download is right there.  

Oh, and also, I often have a contest for a free painting that I mail to you snail-mail (see the post below), there are discounts that last a month and of course, news from my side of the easel, too!    So.... why wouldn't you join me? 
It's good to have friends!

Its so easy to sign up!  There are 2 ways:

Text the word  HELEN to 22828

 or 

Click the button below. That's all there is to it!  

Yes! Let's be Friends!

For Email Marketing you can trust.

October is nearly here!! A GIVE AWAY contest is coming!

Oriole Chick, 3x3" oil on canvas, with wooden easel

For the past few years,  I've been giving away mini paintings! 
No strings attached - just a free gift to the lucky winner! 

This month this little painting will be given to someone who enters... and it could be you!  

My little paintings have landed all over the United States and
I'd love to send one to you!  

It's easy to enter.  I send a fun little note to my friends once a month, and all the details will be in that note.  You can get it right in your inbox.  Also included are great discounts that only last a month, and a downloadable painting that you can print and enjoy! 

It's super easy - and fun for all!   

There are 2 ways you can join my group of friends:

You can text the word HELEN to 22828  

or 

you can sign up with the button below.  

In the first week or so of October, you'll get an email note from me that has news and an inside look at what's happening on my side of the easel as well as the other fun things I've already mentioned.  

Let's be Friends!  

Yes! Let's be Friends!

For Email Marketing you can trust.

Love beautiful color? Creative Expression? Artsy Friends?

Yes, Friends!!  
My next news note is coming out in the next week - and there is always lots of great stuff (free stuff, even) included!!  Special offers, free gifts, give aways, peeks at new work, and good conversations. 

Please join us!  We love you already! 

You can text the word HELEN to 22828 or hit the button below to be added. 

(Don't worry!  Your info is never ever shared - and I use a secure email server!

Who likes spam?  I know I don't!  
And you won't be overflowing with email from me either! 
I send a note once a month!)  

You can never have too many friends! ☺

Yes! Let's be friends!

For Email Marketing you can trust.

Songs of Summer

Summer's Song,  10x10" Oil on gessoboard 

© Helen Read 

Sold

Summer has many versions of song.  Sometimes, its the sounds of the summer birds in the sunshine or crickets in the night.  It might have base tones of frogs or the quite lap of water's edge.  But sometimes it isn't sound at all, its bright beautiful color.  It's the subtle change of color from sunlight to shadow. 
It is also the smell of warm earth or a gentle rain.  It's the dancing shapes of shadows on a sunlit path. 
Summer's song fills the senses. 

This impressionistic depiction of summer captures the warmth of bright light, the colors of prolific blooms, and the dance of shadows.  Abundance against a backdrop of evergreens.  Truly, I love summer!

Summer Garden Abundance - in progress

 A new painting just started!  After a visit to a beautiful garden area - and a number of photos taken of the multicolored pots of flowers in full bloom - I was inspired to get to work in my studio.  

I've started on 8x8" gesso board - using very light transparents to show the general shapes and placement of the composition. 

 

Adding in, now, some of the darker values to show more about shapes and shadows. 

 

Beginning to sculpt shapes with values behind and around the lighter shapes of the foreground 

 

Adding in local colors and finding some values within them.  

This painting is obviously still progressing.  A finished photo will come next....  But the process is always interesting to see how a painting starts and how it progresses. 

Summer Sunset

Evening Embers, 10x 8" oil on linen panel

©Helen Read 

Please visit my website to see this and other beautiful landscape paintings!

I have so many wonderful memories of summer sunsets, having grown up in the rural southwest!  Almost every evening huge, expansive skies that are painted with colors of rose, yellow, purple, blue ... sometimes even a streak of green!  Such beauty!  And a quietness as evening settles into the land.  This painting evokes that sense of evening approaching, while just the sounds of a distant bird call or the croak of a frog or the buzz of insects can be heard.  For me, I also think of the smells of sage and the earth - a dusty, dry smell of that region.  

If sunsets bring back lovely, home-like memories - this painting may be just the warm reminder of the beauty of evening for your home!  It comes with framing options -  unframed, or framed in a simple contemporary frame of solid wood - either in Black or Cherry. The frame is 3/4" from the front view and 1 3/8" on the sides.