Show: Gallery 1261 Contemporary Realism

Gallery 1261 in Denver, CO has arranged an impressive roster of artists for their upcoming Contemporary Realism show. Many of these artists are my longtime art heroes, so I am just thrilled to be included in the show.

The opening is this Friday!

 
Participating Artists:
Gregory Block, Scott Fraser, Mikel Glass, Robert C. Jackson, Andrea T. Kemp, Lucong, Alyssa Monks, Heather Neill, Kate Sammons, Daniel Sprick, Jeff Uffelman, Henrik Aarrestad Uldalen, Sadie Valeri, Anthony Waichulis

Painting: "I Rely on My Illusions"

“I Rely on My illusions” 11 x 14 inches, oil on panel

What at first glance could be a simple arrangement of a seashell and a floral spray, reveals upon a closer look to be damaged objects, tattered and chipped. However, the inherent structural beauty required to sustain life resonates with the sense of life departed, yet celebrated.

The Vanitas theme exhorts us to focus on the brevity of earthly life, and we delight in the details of the insignificant and ephemeral. The attention given to these torn and damaged objects is an exploration of our own humanity: Insignificant, brief, and yet somehow important.

The plant fragments are Luneria, known for their seed pods which remind us of the moon, or silver dollar coins. They are are the seed pods of a eucalyptus plant, stripped of their brown husks to reveal the silver transparent petals which protect the seeds.

This painting will be included in

Susan Powell Fine Art’s Annual Still Life Invitational 

April 6 - May 6, 2012

679 Boston Post Road Madison, Connecticut 06443
203-318-0616

The show has become a focal point for painters and collectors of still life, and I am thrilled to be participating again.

Back Study of Eric

Back Study of Eric
14 x 17 inches, graphite on paperThis drawing was done over 4 sessions with the model, about 20 hours. It was a great opportunity to study the forms of the upper back.

OPEN STUDIO

My studio will be open to the public for Mission Open Studios, April 16th and 17th.
Since I teach a painting class on Saturday, my open hours will be limited to:

Saturday April 16th, 4pm-6pm
Sunday April 17th, 11am-6pm

Please enter around the corner at 2111 Mission St, where there will be a doorman to open the building for you. Once inside there will be a map to all the open studios in the building.

Download a map of all the Mission open studios
My studio is part of the “Blue Studios” marked on the map at 16th and Mission.

Arcadia Small Works Show

Last week I flew to NYC to attend the Arcadia Small Works show. It was a whirlwind 2 days, wedged between my teaching and studio commitments here in SF, and even though New York managed to be sweltering and steamy even in late September this year, I'm so glad I went!

I can't find a list of all the artists represented on the show, but here are several of them: Daniel Sprick, Brad Kunkle, Jeremy Lipking, Nancy Depew, Malcom Liepke, Daniel Adel, Michael Kline, Julio Reyes, Natalie Featherston, Robert Liberace, Joseph Todorovich, Kerry Brooks, Cesar Santader, and many more I'm missing I am sure....

I am lucky enough that one of my best and oldest friends, Kyra, has a fabulous studio flat in Brooklyn and she graciously lets me crash on her pull-out whenever I need a NYC fix, which is a couple times a year. I am also lucky that many old friends have ended up in Brooklyn, so I had a wonderful group of friendly faces to meet me at the door of the show.

My fabulous co-founders of Women Painting Women, Diane and Alia

12 of us have rented a house and are painting for a week in Charleston, SC,

and 4 of the 12 of us  were at the show:

Alia El-Bermani, Alexandra Tyng, me, and Diane Feissel

I feel so amazed and blessed that my impulse last year to create the WPW blog has connected me to such an amazing network of women artists. I look forward to meeting even more of them in person next month in Charleston, SC at Robert Lange's Women Painting Women show!

And thank you Garth Herrick for taking so many great photos and documenting the evening.

Women Painting Women SHOW at Robert Lang

Women Painting Women
Robert Lange Studios
http://www.robertlangestudios.com/
November 2010
2 Queen Street
Charleston, SC 29401
Opening Nov 5, 5:30-8:30 pm

Last year I started a blog called WomenPaintingWomen.com where I highlight the work of  living, realist women painters who use the female subject in their paintings.

Amazingly the blog became much more than I had ever imagined, and I soon invited my artist friends Diane Feissel and Alia El-Bermani to help me manage the flood of incredible artists who were being nominated for the site.

We now have almost 300 artists represented, we have started a FaceBook page for fans of WPW, and we are planning ways to expand the concept to find new ways to support and highlight the work of contemporary women artists.

Earlier this year I was contacted by the Robert Lange Gallery in Charleston, SC, who decided to organize a juried exhibition inspired by the theme of my blog. As you can imagine I was thrilled, and even more so when my piece "Mary with Silver Dish" was accepted into the show.

The exhibition will showcase the work of almost 50 women artists. I will be at the November 5th opening at Robert Lange, I hope you can join us, 5:30-8:30pm.

The list of all participants is on the gallery's blog.

There is also a writeup on the show in the Charleston City Paper

In addition, Alia, Diane and I have organized with several artist friends to rent a beach house together on Sullivan's Island, just off of Charleston, to coincide with the show. A dozen of us will be painting together in the beautiful landscape for the week of November 5-12. I'll be blogging the trip near-daily I am sure, so you can follow along with our adventures. These are the 12 women who will be painting at Sullivan's Island:

Alexandra Tyng - Narberth, PA

Catherine Prescott - Harrisburg, PA

Cindy Procious - Chattanooga, TN

Diane Feissel - Philadelphia, PA

Linda Tracey Brandon - Phoenix, AZ

Lisa Gloria - Aurora, IL

Mia Bergeron - Chattanooga, TN

Rachel Constantine - Philadelphia, PA

Sadie Valeri - San Francisco, CA

Stefani Tewes - Laguna Beach, CA

Katherine Stone - Toronto, Ontario

Alia El-Bermani - Cary, NC

It's an incredible group of artists and I am sure we will all be inspired by one another!

I am amazed and touched by how my initial idea has sparked a growing movement, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Women Painting Women will continue to evolve.

Finally, in a serendipitous twist, M Gallery where I show my work in Florida has recently moved to Charleston, and my ARC award-winning painting "Bottle Collection" will be on display, including others soon. I'm excited I'll be able to visit M Gallery's new location in person when I visit Charleston in November!

M Gallery
http://www.mgalleryoffineart.com/
11 Broad Street
Charleston, SC

Women Painting Women

Robert Lange Studios

http://www.robertlangestudios.com/

November 2010

2 Queen Street

Charleston, SC 29401

Opening Nov 5, 5:30-8:30 pm

Open Studio: October 9/10

I'll be participating in this year's Artspan Open Studios for the weekend of October 9/10, so please come check out the studio, see some artwork, and learn more about my classes!

I'll actually be teaching classes that weekend, so my studio will only be open to the public for these limited hours:

Saturday October 9: 3pm-6pm
Sunday October 10: 4pm-6pm

Mission and 17th Streets

For a map to the studio building, see my profile on ArtSpan here

Webcast Recap

Yesterday I did my first Webcast studio tour and demo, this is me standing in front of the camera, ready for my close-up!

UPDATE: Watch the Webcast again!

The webcast was recorded, so you can still click here to register and watch the whole thing, including a drawing demo, a color-mixing demo, and lots of great questions and answers.

The webcast went great and I really enjoyed myself. We had visitors from around the world, including as far away as Finland and Australia. The audience asked really good questions and kept me talking. I felt like I just skimmed over so many great topics, so I'm hoping to do a whole day-long workshop webcast in the future.
 

 

Here is my handsome camera guy, my husband Nowell, who turned a corner of my studio into a professional broadcasting suite for the day, complete with mixing board and a backup boom mic mounted on the camera, just in case my fancy rented wireless lapel mic didn't work (it worked great, though!).

A closer look at the sound and video setup. We had a brief moment of freeze-screen, but other than that we sailed through without any major technical hiccups. Phew!

My studio looked so spiffy I had to take some photos.

Above is my little still life painting corner where I spend most my time.

Webcast viewers got a look at my most recent painting which will be shipped to Arcadia Gallery in New York for the Sept 23 Small Works show.

We talked about what paints, panels, and brushes I use, and I did a little demo showing how I mix up cool and warm strings of neutral colors on my palette.

For more info you can click here to see all my blog posts about Materials

My still life shelf is at the left, my model stand is in the middle. To the right I have screens arranged as a changing room for my models.

Lady Victoire is looking happy.

The studio doors and a couple recent paintings on easels.

Thanks everyone who was able to register and attend, it was a huge success and I look forward to doing it again!

 

UPDATE: Watch the Webcast again!

The webcast was recorded, so you can still click here to register and watch the whole thing, including a drawing demo, a color-mixing demo, and lots of great questions and answers.

"The Wave"

"The Wave"
9 x 12 inches, oil on panel

The objects I arrange in a still life often seem to imply relationships, and the "wave" shape of the overarching waxed paper in this piece suggests to me a peaceful embrace of the two companions below.

The handle of the silver creamer is sculpted like a stylized curl of wave as well, so its obvious partner was one of my favorite seashells. I also always look for a new challenge when I set up a still life, and in this one I was excited to try to capture the various whites in the composition: the creamy white of the shell, the sharper blue white of the waxed paper, and the slightly yellowed chipped white paint of the shelf below.

It is these differences, and the small instances of color in the reflections, which make a monochromatic painting feel "in color" instead of just flat grays. I mix all of my neutral tones from a full-spectrum palette, and I never use any black paint, which dulls the colors. So what at first glance may look like grey, always has a subtle tilt towards a color.

In this way, these two companions beneath their arch of paper, capture a small moment in time.

Show: Susan Powell Fine Art

My painting "Seashell's Dream" is showing at Susan Powell Fine Art's "Summer in Connecticut" show, July 29 - August 22, 2010

Susan Powell Fine Art
203.318.0616 | Cell: 203.434.2925
679 Boston Post Road, Madison, CT
susanpowellfineart@gmail.com

I'll also have paintings included in these two upcoming shows:

Arcadia Fine Art, "Small Works"
September 23 - October 13, 2010
51 Greene Street, New York, NY

Robert Lang Gallery, "Women Painting Women"
November 2010
2 Queen Street, Charleston, SC

First Place Award for Still Life at the Art Renewal Center Salon

My painting Bottle Collection has been awarded First Prize in the Still Life category at this year's International ARC Salon.

I have been poring over the annual catalog of this competition for years. Last year to have my work included in the Top 100 was a dream come true. This year's recognition is beyond my wildest expectations.

See my First Prize Still Life listing on the Art Renewal Center website

See all blog posts about the making of this painting

"Bottle Collection"
18 x 24 inches
oil on panel

M Gallery Show Opening

I just got home from Florida, where I attended my show opening Friday night at M Gallery in Sarasota. This is me and Nowell outside the gallery on opening night.

These are my 6 paintings hung for the show, all together representing nine months of full-time painting. It was a treat for me to see them framed and hung as a group.

For more information about the collection visit my page on the M Gallery website.

The evening was truly enjoyable and the turnout was high for this sunny First Friday (after several unusually rainy months in Florida). The gallery estimated they had 500-600 visitors!

UPDATE: My fellow exhibitor Michael Lynn Adams has written up a nice post about our opening on his blog, click here to visit it.

I'll be back in Sarasota to teach my Still Life Painting workshop March 22-26. The workshop is filling up but there are still a few spaces available! For more information about the workshop please visit my Teaching Page.

Sterling Boat: FINAL

Sterling Boat

oil on panel, 9 x 12 inches

See the previous post about this painting here

Finally finished! It ended up taking about 16 sessions over the course of a month, for a total of 68 hours, including the initial contour drawing. Thanks to everyone who has followed along the last few weeks as I posted all the stages of this painting, it been an interesting experiment to document the process so closely.

Here's a slideshow of all the stages of this painting:

Click slideshow to see it larger in Picasa

This painting will be in my March show at M Gallery in Sarasota, Florida. The show will coincide with my painting workshop, March 22-26, also hosted by M Gallery.

I've just added Still Life Painting classes to my San Francisco teaching schedule. I'm thinking about offering a drawing course for absolute beginners later in 2010, if this is something you'd be interested in please email me.

Finally, my new studio is coming together and I'm looking forward to posting photos soon, stay tuned!

Sign up for my mailing list to be notified when I post photos of the new studio, new artwork, and upcoming art classes.

Perez Fine Art Gallery Online Exhibition

My painting Wrapped Silver Goblet is now showing in an online exhibit at Perez Gallery for the month of December. It's beautuful collection of work and I'm proud to be shown in this group!

Click here to see the Perez Gallery Winter Exhibit

You can even vote for your favorite painting ;)

STUDIO Gallery - The 'Tiny' Show

I have a new painting showing in STUDIO Gallery's annual 'Tiny' show -

From the gallery's announcement -

Let's get small! tiny is the place to pick up a little something for your own collection--or an outstanding gift--all while supporting local artists. And with work on display from 135 artists, you're bound to find that perfect something. Everything is under 7" x 7" and, best of all, under $400, with loads of pieces under $200. We'll have hundreds of pieces on display in the gallery, with new work added every day. (And as an added bonus, we'll be hanging some larger pieces we just couldn't resist from some of the gallery's most popular artists.)

I forgot to take a photo before I dropped off the new piece, so you'll just have to visit the show to see it.

Also, my painting 'Silver Globe Pitcher' will be on display at the gallery as well.

tiny
small pieces under $400
Nov 4th - Dec 23rd
reception: Sunday, Nov 8th, 2 - 6 pm
6th Anniversary Party: Sunday, Dec 6th, 2 - 6 pm

STUDIO Gallery
1815 Polk Street (between Washington & Jackson)
San Francisco, CA 94109
415.931.3130

More about the show here -

STUDIO Gallery web site

Open Studio Recap

My Open Studio was a lot of fun this weekend!

I met a lot of wonderful people and had fun talking art all day with fellow artists, art lovers, and neighbors. I even met a Florence Academy-trained classical realist who lives right around the corner.

Saw some old friends and new, past students, current teachers of various disciplines, and generally hung out and discussed everything from Classical Realism to the neighborhood lore about the crazy parties thrown in my courtyard in the 60's.

On top of that, I sold several pieces! So a big success all around.

Plus, my little studio is all clean and spiffy and I'm exited to get back to work on the next batch of paintings.....

Wrapped Silver Goblet: FINAL

 

Wrapped Silver Goblet

11 x 14 inches

oil on panel
(see previous blog posts about this painting)

This painting will be showing at the Open Studios Exhibition at the SomArts gallery here in San Francisco October 3- 29. Come see the exhibit at one of these two events:

Private Preview Gala, Saturday, October 3, 2009 (ticketed event)
Exhibition Opening Reception, Sunday, October 4, 2009 (free event)

More info at ArtSpan.org

See a higher quality version here

I'll be teaching two workshops on still life painting in summer 2010, one here in the San Francisco Bay Area and one in Florida. Details to follow soon!

Artspan Open Studios 2009

My studio will be open to the public October 17 and 18, 11am to 6pm as part of Artspan's San Francisco Open Studios.

Come see several of my paintings from my Wax Paper series, plus plein air oil sketches from my month at the Hudson River Fellowship, as well as many paintings and drawings, all framed and ready to hang.

My studio is near the corner of Carl and Cole Streets, accessible by the N-Judah line. There will be large signs posted on the corner that weekend directing you to my studio door.

My studio is also listed in the official Open Studios guide.

Saturday, October 3, 6-10pm

Private Preview Gala, SOMArts Gallery (tickets)

My newest painting, Wrapped Silver Goblet, will be on display, along with a first glimpse of over 400 artworks by San Francisco artists.

Sunday, October 4, 4-7pm

Opening Reception, SOMArts Gallery (a free event)

More details at ArtSpan.org

Perez Fine Art

I've been invited to show my work at Perez Fine Art online galleries for painting and drawing, I'm honored to show alongside such a wonderful group of artists. Perez Gallery also posted a really nice welcome to me on their blog. Please click over and take a look at all the beautiful work!

SHOW: Landscapes at STUDIO Gallery

A few of the landscape sketches I created this past month at the Hudson River Fellowship will be on display at STUDIO Gallery in San Francisco August 12 - September 6.

The opening is Sunday, August 16, 2pm-6pm.

STUDIO Gallery is on Polk St at Washington.

Oil Painters of America Juried Exhibition

My painting Silver Globe Pitcher has been accepted into this year's Oil Painters of America 2009 Western Regional Juried Exhibition!

The show will be held at Howard/Mandville Gallery in Kirkland, Washington, August 8 through August 30, 2009.