New Freeway Painting

This morning I finished up this 40x40" acrylic of the freeway overpass. I drive this frontage road frequently and love the light hitting the structure. I challenged myself to have a pretty minimal composition. The emphasis on the overpass was what I hoped to focus on. The less you have in the piece, the more you have to create interest without relying on the details provided by the subject. Color, contrasts and paint application instead. I used painter's tape here and there, but really am not trying to make precision a part of the work...the impression is what I am after...I start really loose with the painting rather than a careful drawing.

BIG Freeway Painting

60x48"acrylic

This large freeway was fun to paint..I was attracted to that cast shadow. I got the stretcher bars from a yard sale with one of those cheesy decor paintings on it. I stretched a new canvas and really had fun working this large for the first time in many years. I used to love to do large abstract paintings that would take over your whole field of vision. This was not the same since I did have a subject, but I did enjoy playing with paint on a large surface.

Glendale City Arts Council Show

Where did this year go? I guess my facebook posting took over for a while and haven't caught up here. I enjoy reading the long and well thought out blogs of so many artists that I must support this medium! Please forgive me dear Blogspot! Lots has happened so far: I participated in the City of Glendale (AZ) Fine Arts Council exhibit. It was the 50th year they have been at it. You can certainly tell by the smooth and efficient way this show is run. The entry prospectus is very easy to use and contains all the labels to attach, the cards for acceptance notification and the details about the show. Everyone delivers the work and they hang it all for a showing. Then the declined work is picked up and the show continues until the ending reception. This is such an encouraging way to run the show where all have a chance to exhibit. A few years ago I talked an artist into entering. He was new to Arizona and was disappointed that his work did not get in. We joked about the thick skin it takes to be an artist. Later he called to say his work sold anyway! What a nice end to that tale.

This year I was delighted that my biggest entry sold for a good price. Yippee! It is the 30x40 acrylic "Salt River" that was featured in Art Collector magazine.

Painting the Freeway

Been painting the desert in the area called Dreamy Draw...that bit of the 51 Freeway appealed to me the other day. I am getting the itch to paint some more freeways. This little bit of one edged its way into my desert scene.

Randy Higbee Gallery 6" Squared Exhibit

I just sent this little 6x6 inch painting off to the Randy Higbee Gallery's 6" Squared Exhibition. It had 1200 entrees so I am glad to have been in the accepted batch.

Bella Figura

One of my figure drawing group pals and I had a two person show celebrating the "Bella Figura" (beautiful figure). It was an Italian themed reception since Robert Roselli is an Italian chef as well as an artist. We had a delicious reception. The show was a group effort by my friends at the Arizona Artists Guild. Tess and Mark were especially hard working for our show. Josie encouraged Robert and I to have the show. It was a lot of fun to see the paintings of the figure I have done the past year or so all together. It was fun to celebrate with so many friends.

Haunted Art!

Here is a fun bit of news. I did a painting for a new show "Cursed" that will be on the Bio station. It airs starting October 4th. I am not sure when the painting will be on. My painting is in an episode with a haunted house. The painting mysteriously falls on someone and they end up being hurt! I haven't seen the show yet but here is the painting I did for it.