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?!

More new paintings

I have photos of some of the paintings I have been working on this winter. Adding them to the blog today. It is cold cold cold outside now. I really want to start painting plein aire but just do not have the fortitude to work in such cold weather. Some time before all the snow goes, I will get out to do a snow scene probably from the front seat of the truck. And now that this is in the blog I will have to follow through. Right?!! ;-)

The following painting is a water color done on very rough paper.  I did not like working on the paper. It was soft and very absorbent. It just gave me problems. I will try it again but not any time soon.

Succulent In the Sun

This on is another watercolor but this time done on watercolor canvas. This, too, had a whole new feel to it and new ways to get paint on the canvas and leave it where I wanted it. You need a really light hand with the canvas. I really like how the apples turned out they are quite "watercolor-esque" (my word). I have been experimenting with some different surfaces. Haven't found one I like best yet.

 The photo I used for these three paintings are from my trip to Italy in 2005. While I am painting I am reliving being there, feeling the sun and how sore my calves were from climbing up and down the hills. The apples were part of our sack lunch that we brought from the villa that day. BTW what is Italian for apple?

Italian Apples on Old Windowsill

Finally this one is one of my favorite memories from Italy. The city that we were staying in had an old town that was very picturesque. I have lots more photos to use for paintings. This scene touched me -- such a modern little tyke's scooter in the ancient doorway.  Can't you just see the little boy who will be coming back to his little trike after his nap?  I need a good descriptive title for this one. 

Old and New--Young and Old---Shiney and Crusty????

Now on to the next scene from Italy. It is in the ugly stage so I am stalling starting on it.....

Until next time.

Another finished

In my last post,  I mentioned that I would have the latest landscape finished and ready to show you. I was skeptical about that because when I went home at the end of a long day, I was really conflicted about the painting. I had a serious problem (I thought) with the lower right hand corner. After a break from it, I came back with fresh eyes and ready to make the finishing touches. Two hours later this is how it turned out. I changed some of the rocks in the lower right so that they were not so uniform. (left brain taking over--a rock is a rock is a rock thinking) Brightened up the back ground and the middle ground boulders. The painting now looks like I wanted it. Low back-lit sun shine glancing across the top of the waterfall and lighting up the rocks. I will gaze at it for a bit. Come up to it with fresh eyes again and see if there are any changes that need to be made. So far I think I can call this one finished.

Italian Waterfall--acrylic on canvas, 24"X18"---painted from my photo taken on site in Italy using the composition and idea of low sun shine on the falls. The photo was dark and colors lifeless so I used my artistic license to change the colors. I remember being so surprised that there was a wild area like this in Italy. When I thought of Italy it was always of the towns, cities and cultivated fields of grapevines, never of a wild park with streams like we find in our own ravines. Silly me---

****************************************************************************

Here is another painting for the show that I completed while I was blogless--From a fun photo I found on wet canvas of a back lit scene that I am drawn to. This one flowed pretty quickly from my brush. The blue in the shadows on the sun stream is too bright in the photo. They are more blue grey in real life and therefore more realistic.

Sun Stream--acrylic on canvas, 20"X16"

I am getting closer to my goal for paintings to hang in the Landkamer Building show space. I want to have another chrome piece done by March and at least one or two more landscapes.  I have been trying to decide what to call the show. Since the two styles of paintings, chrome and landscapes, are so different, I am thinking of a title like--Of Two Minds, Split Personality, Two Sides of an Artist----or-----something similar.

All for now.

Moved to a new blog home

Some of you have heard about my issues with passwords. Thus I am now writing my blog under another title and name. I think this one will be easier for people to find in the future since it has my name in the title. I do want people to know me, Margie Larson, as an artist. So the new blog begins with a copy of the last entry in my old blog. As time goes on I plan to move some photos of my paintings that I produced earlier this year, so that I can have them all in one place. The old blog will sit and not be added too. Here is the old address.

Lately I have been working trying to increase the number of paintings I will have to put into my show at the Landkamer Building which starts in March. Here is one that I have been working on. I have changed it considerably but like to let you know how my creative process moves. I did start with a photo of the falls that I took in Italy. It has changed considerably since the photo I used to paint from was not really that good. It was dark and I really wanted to show the way the low sun lit the small pond and rocks surrounding the little fall. I also wanted to work with water to see what I could do with it. I will take another photo tomorrow morning to show what has changed. About the only thing I have not changed is the composition.

I took today off from the studio -- feeling confused on how to finish the painting without over working it. Also it is probably the worst day of the year weather wisethere is a blizzard going on out there. Our garbage can has blown into the neighbors yard and I have not gone out to rescue it. It is way to cold! It feels good to just cocoon for a change. And then too, I had time to make the decision to move my blog to a new address.

All for now--on to making supper and more cocooning.