Ebay here I come!!!

Well I finally took the plunge, yes, I posted my first painting for sale on Ebay. If any one is interested in bidding on my painting, Sunday Morning (pictured below), CLICK HERE.

Breakthrough

Sunday Morning, Acrylic, 5x7

click here to bid

This is the first painting that I have done all summer that I am satisfied with. It was based of a photograph that I took last week. In fact, the day that I took the picture I said to myself, "why haven't I done this sooner". It was last Saturday morning, I woke up, grabbed a cup of coffee and drove around Geauga county taking pictures of all the spots that I have driven by saying, "that would make a great painting". I also ran across many garage sales, so I stopped by and found some great things to paint, hats, silver pitchers, a small guitar. I figured after I finished painting them I could bring them into school for my students to use.

Speaking of school, I stopped by yesterday and the floor was being laid for the new artroom. It is such a big room, with 7 windows, so I have plenty of light. It is really exciting.

White House

acrylic on board, 5x7

After having such a frustrating time painting I decided to change my subject matter. I have always been attracted to small, simple buildings. I have photographed many of them over the past couple years and thought that I would try painting from the photos. This is my first attempt. I can't say that I am thrilled with the entire painting, but there are elements that I really like. I have not done a landscape for quite some time now, so it's not bad. What I do know it what I need to work on, so, for that reason alone this has been a successful venture.

I found this image on the Internet and it expresses just how I am feeling. I have spent the entire morning painting and nothing, and I mean nothing, has came out right.

I started working on small 5x7 Masonite panels to work quickly and practice, learn, and grow in my painting. I just didn't know how frustrating it would be. I have a couple newer paintings, that I have not posted, they turned out OK, but to tell you the truth, I am not thrilled with any recent paintings that I have done, they are all just OK.

Well, today I decided to try painting some flowers, something that has always been pretty successful for me. First, I could not, for the life of me, mix the right colors. I even resorted to scouring through my box of old paints to see if I had anything close to what I needed. Then it just compiled from there. I couldn't get the values down right. I then decided to change the color, bad idea. After about an hour I knew it was a loss, but for some reason I just kept on trying to revive the work, to no avail.

I have been looking at many blogs by "daily painters" and one thing that I have noticed is that the work has gotten consistently better and better. When you go back and look in the archives at the work that the artists made compared to what they are producing now, it is quite amazing. I guess this is what I am hoping to achieve for myself, as sense of improvement. So, I will keep poking along. Tomorrow the kids are going with their fathers for a family picnic, so I will try again.

The Boys of Summer

We are huge baseball fans!! Tonight Cliff Lee will be the starting pitcher for the American League in the 2008 All Star Game. We are soooo excited. My son and daughter play ball all summer long. There is nothing more enjoyable then a hot summer day, watching my kids play their hearts out. We also follow the Cleveland Indians religiously. We try and get to a couple of games a year. But, tonight it will be a lot of fun watching Cliff Lee and Grady Sizemore play with the kids by my side.

Here is another kitchen painting.

Went to the art supply store and got 9 more Ampersand panels. My hope to be able to fill the blank supports soon.

Summertime

Things have been busy around here. I am trying to finish the final designs for the stained glass windows and also refurbish the station of the cross that are currently hanging in the church. The new church is looking wonderful. The dedication is September 14th, so everyone is working quickly to get finished.

On top of all of this, I just found out that one of the grants that I applied for last school year has come through. So, in addition to having a brand new art room in September, I will also have a shiny, new ceramic kiln with all the supplies. It is really going to be an incredible school year. But for now, I am enjoying the summer with the kids and granddaughter, lots of baseball/softball, gardening and painting!!!

I started working on small, masonite panels, painting for about 1-2 hours a day. I can say that the "daily painting" practice has hit me, but to tell you the truth its more like a "every other day or so painting" practice. But, it feels great to paint after being away from it for a while.