Blue Fish

I have had fun this week. I seem to have turned to intense color while our outside world is so white. Spring is just around the corner and I am feeling it. This still life was lots of fun to do. I have had these little fish on my desk and window sill for years. I bought them intending to give them to my grandkids and ended up keeping them myself. They (the fish AND the grandkids) always cheer me up. while painting this one, I finally found a use for thalo blue. I was always so leery of using it because it is so intense but I needed a turquoise for some of the highlights and accidentally found out that it makes a perfect turquoise. I took artistic license with the color of the shadow and really like the turquoise instead of the grey that showed in the photo.

I was unsure what color to paint the window frame but after looking at my color wheel decided that an orangy hue would reflect the orange in the fish. I think it worked out well. Here is a close up of my fish. Hope this one cheers you up like it did me.

The painting is 16x20 on canvas using a variety of brands of acrylic. Now that I see it on line, I see that the opening of the jar is a bit wonky. I will be more careful on the next one. I want to do a series of the blue glass. I have a collection of jars and vases to choose from.
Thanks for looking.

Foot in the Door photos

Here it is the painting of my cat Bear hanging in the MIA! See him in the middle?  I think that dinosaur wants to eat him for a snack. This is a once in my lifetime opportunity. I am not sure what will be happening 10 years from now. ;-) The entry list topped at 4900. All the art took up 3 galleries and two big walls in the atrium. It was huge! Dan and I took two hours just to go around the space once. There was soooo much to look at. Finding Bear was like "Find Waldo" Dan was the searcher and he went from wall to wall to wall and was getting frustrated that he could not find my painting. There is a search function on computers set up in the galleries but the volunteers had not had time to get all of the art put into the data base and my name did not come up.
We took lots and lots of photos of the art and of the people viewing. Here is a link to the official photos taken on the opening night. The reception looks like it would have been fun. But knowing the parking around the MIA we would have parked downtown and walked to the museum! So Sunday early was the best time to get there. We parked in the ramp and got the first spot. Sweet.

This is my wall. I am right in the middle of things. Bear is right above my head. Up one.

Checking out the top row. Stiff neck time.

View of one of three tables full of three dimensional art.

 

This is Michelle Kaisersatt's vase. I took it up to the show for her. Usually Michelle works much larger. Her vases a meant to be funerary urns. They are beautiful and natural. Michelle carves the surface with natural designs that are so appropriate.  Michelle and her husband went to the opening night so I got a first hand report about it from her.

And finally a photo of Dan's Valentine's gift. It was a last minute inspiration and I did not get a chance to take a photo before we put it in the frame behind glass. 

14x16 watercolor of a North Western locomotive. I put this image together from two different photos on the internet. One for the engine and one for the back ground.  Dan had just bought this engine for his train layout in the back garage. He was very proud of the acquisition and I just knew that he would like a portrait of it. He has it hanging in the garage right over the train. A fun project.

Thanks for reading.  Until next time.

New painting and image from the Foot in the Door Show

Finished this 16x20 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas. It is taken from a photo like all the paintings I have done this winter. This is the final painting for my up coming show in March. Next project is to get a few of the paintings I want to hang in the show framed.

I am open for another title for this painting. Because I am just a painter not a word smith. ;-)

View of one of the walls at the Foot in the Door Exhibit. Taken from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts face book page.

Before they started to hang the entries.

I can't imagine even giving each artist's contribution a second or two of attention. What a riot! Dan and I are going up on Sunday to see the exhibit. Hope we can find Bear in there somewhere.

Foot in the door at MIA

New Experiences make the winter doldrums go away.

This is "Bear." The  painting I  submited to the "Foot in the Door" exhibit. We decided that he would be easy to spot on a huge wall of art. His eyes should be like a spotlight.

On Saturday, Dan and I went to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to drop off my submission to an invitation to all Minnesota artists to display one small piece of art at the Foot in the Door exhibit. The FITD happens only once every 10 years. The curator of the show is a box that is one cubic foot square. If the piece of art cannot fit into the box it is eliminated. That is the only qualification for the art. You see the curator in the photo above.

I heard today that there were 4000 submissions and that on Sunday they had to turn away people who were still coming at 2:30 in the afternoon. The lines were 3 hours long and those people in line would not be able to make closing time at the museum. Amazing!

When we got there on Saturday about 11:30, we only had an hour wait. The people watching was fun. There was such a mix of ages and styles. It was fun looking at everyone's pieces. The whole process was very organized. By the time we got to submit my painting and Michelle's vase, it only took one minute and we were out of there. We thought things would go quicker but the line snaked around three times. We thought we would have some time to wander around the museum but the hour cut into the day's schedule and we had to boogie out of there. There is always lots to do when we get to the cities. ;-)

We will try to go up for the opening on Thursday, Feb. 19th. It should be quite a celebration with 4000 exhibit. But it might be easier to go on Saturday the 21st so we can get close enough to take photos. The last time they did this in 2000 there were 1700 submissions. Now I can put on my resume that I have exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Impressive!--right?!