The Latest Portrait

This is the latest commissioned portrait that I did last week. Doing a portrait with lots of teeth and squinty eyes is hard to do and probably not my favorite pose but my client was very happy with it. And I have another portrait I am going to start on next week!

This weekend I actually DON'T have to spend time at BSU to work on an oil painting for class, so I have some free time. So after I catch up with home chores and clean my messy house, I might actually be able to start an art project of my own.

Crazy Busy

My schedule has been CRAZY busy lately! But crazy in a good way because I'm actually making some money! I just finished a commissioned portrait that is due next week. I can't post the finished portrait yet because it is supposed to be a surprise birthday present.

Now I have to spend as much time as I can tomorrow on my BSU class oil painting because it is due Tuesday. This teacher likes to see us sweat!

I was so pooped last night after the wonderful "Alley Cats" concert, I slept until noon the next morning. Hey, I'm an artist--I can do that.

Doo-Wap Music and Art Sales!

I felt like blogging tonight because I just got back from the Nampa Civic Center where I had an art exhibit and heard a free concert of wonderful 50's and 60's rock & roll from an a capella performance group called The Alley Cats. They were awesome! It's been a long time since I enjoyed a concert as much as this one. There is something very special about that classic vintage rock and roll. The Alley Cats gave more than just a great concert, they were very funny and really did a lot to get the audience involved. And because I was one of the featured artists at the show, I got not just one but two complimentary tickets. We like freebies!

Oh, and even though the art exhibit was only for a couple of hours, I did actually sell some of my artwork.

I took some of the money I made in my art sales and bought two The Alley Cats CD's. Love that D00-Wap Music! Since they axed all the radio stations in this area that used to play golden oldies rock and roll, I figured I had to do something.

I also talked to the guys in the group after the show and had them autograph my CD's. They are all so young. I tried not to think about the fact that I'm old enough to be their mother.

At The Hop With The Alley Cats

This coming Saturday, October 16th at 6:00 p.m. at the Nampa Civic Center, I will be participating in a special art exhibit. My Fine Arts Studio will be having a special art show called "Savor the Arts" that will coincide with a special musical performance called "At the Hop with the Alley Cats." The Alley Cats is an a capella doo-wop group that performs 50's type music. I was a little kid during the 50's, so this kind of music makes me feel young again.

I will have my animal and landscape prints on display. Also on exhibit will be some graphite pencil portrait prints of 1950's movie stars. Prints can be purchased right there at the show.

My Latest "Beast" Portrait

"Vincent"

I thought I would post my latest Beauty and the Beast portrait. "Vincent" is It 11 X 14 in size was done with colored pencil & Turpenoid. I am going through a stage where I am obsessed with Vincent's face. I am fascinated with the structure and features because his face is part human and part lion. When I look at this portrait, I imagine Vincent is asking me, "And how long have you had this obsession with Beauty & The Beast?"

New Portrait Commission

Last week I got a portrait commission! I was so excited. So now I have the portrait I'm doing for my college literature teacher and this one as well. I can't remember the last time I had two portrait commissions at the same time. I hope this is a sign of the economy getting stronger. I know that for my art business, people seem to be a little more willing to spend money than they were last year or the year before that.

This new portrait has a deadline and has to be completed in a couple of weeks. I have already started on it and it won't take much longer to finish. Since it is a graphite pencil portrait, I can do it fairly quickly. It is the full color portraits that take the longest.

I also taught a workshop at the Vine Arts Studio on Beginning Portraits in pencil. I was very happy to have this opportunity because the last Vine Arts workshop in September got cancelled. No one signed up! That is always disappointing.

It was nice not to have so much homework to do this weekend as I had last weekend. I was able to get a lot more of my own projects completed.

Art Show, Art Lessons and a War Poem

Saturday I hung 15 of my paintings/drawings at St. Luke's Hospital in Eagle. I also gave an art lesson that morning to a fellow class mate from my oil painting class. She was having trouble with tones and values in painting class, so I had her do a black & white & gray tone scale in pencil to help her see the many different variations of tone that there is. She said it really helped her and we are going to have another lesson in two weeks. I am gearing the lessons to what we are doing in oil painting class.

Well, as it turns out I only have one person who wants to take some art lessons in October. So that is what I'm going to do. My goal is to have several people in one class instead of just having one-on-one private lessons, but so far, it hasn't worked out like that. I'll keep trying.

I got bombarded with homework this weekend. Most of it was from my literature class. I spent most of Sunday working on a visual presentation for a poem called "Apostrophe to War." What was cool about it is that I turned it into an art project, experimenting with negative and positive shapes by pasting various photos and newspaper clippings onto a poster board that is on a carousel you can spin around. I call it the War Carousel. I used some fantastic photo references. My dad was a WW2 vet, so I had access to some actual newspapers and magazines from WW2 that use to be his. Then my husband has lots of books with actual WW2 photos.