Van Gogh Up Close

There is a show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art right now through May 6 that I would so love to see. It's called Van Gogh Up Close. And if you haven't seen this interview on Charlie Rose, you will also want to see the show after watching that video.

There was one painting of his that caught my attention. Perhaps because I had never seen it before. I posted it on my Inspirational Paintings board on Pinterest and it appears others like it too because several people repinned it shortly afterwards. I just loved the light he created in this piece, and the greens are spectacular.

When I first started painting with a palette knife, I created what I call my Mini Masters series which were inspired by famous painter's works. I think you can learn a lot by trying to recreate a great piece of artwork that you admire. Van Gogh was a frequent subject of mine. These are a few of the pieces I created based on his works:

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Sculpture class at the Museum Fine Arts, Boston

This past Sunday, Polo and I took a one day figure sculpture class at the MFA in Boston. It was a rainy day and perfect to be inside learning a new skill. While there was a learning curve,  I did find many similarities with painting with a knife and I sculpted most of the time using just a simple butter knife. In contrast to drawing from a model, the teacher reminded us that when you are sculpting a 3D figure, you need to CONSTANTLY keep moving around to get a view from all sides. This was a hard thing to remember to do, but of course made sense.

Here are a couple of views of my sculpture in progress. We had a live model to work from which I hadn't done in awhile and was great.

Here is Polo working on his masterpiece:

Because the class was held at the museum, a bonus was to be able to walk around and view their amazing collection after class was over. I had yet to see the new wing of the museum so this was an unexpected treat. Here are a few shots inside and out. 

I didn't take any photos inside the magnificent new Sargent room but saw many of my mini masters in their full size glory including the Boit Daughters, Mrs Fiske Warren and her daughter Rachel, and Mrs. Charles E Inches. I did love that they have the wall papered in that room to evoke the period of his works. 

What a wonderfully exhausting day of art!

A flurry of flowers

They say April showers bring May flowers. We just got a ton of rain last night so it seems to be a good time to share a flurry of flowers. These are each only about 3" by 3".

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$15 as card

Below you can see how I painted them all together on one sheet of 12" by 16" canvas.

 

Here they are after I cropped them and turned them into cards. All but one of these was sold at the show.

And as always, I have to include some chunky delicious close ups...

Happy spring everyone!

Race Point, Provincetown

Race Point, Provincetown

12" x 36" by 2"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord
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I painted this while working at the Artists Studio and Gallery at Patriot Place this weekend. This photo below helps to show the scale of this painting, an unusual size for me but really fun to work on. I started using the iPad to display my reference photo while painting. I LOVE IT. the colors so much more brilliant than a print out and I could zoom in on certain parts of the photo as I was painting. So awesome!!

Provincetown at sunset

Provincetown at Sunset

9" x 12" by 3/4"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled artist board
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I took this photo of Ptown at sunset and I really loved the glow of the buildings and sky. I painted more texture and waves in the water at first, then I thought it was getting too fussy so I scraped it off. I liked what was left so I let it be. Interesting how that those accidents can happen sometimes.

While I didn't use an underpainting this time, I did sketch the buildings in with an orange/red color and left some of it show through.The birds were a last addition to help to draw you into the scene.

More Ptown to come...

Santa Barbara-a new commission

 

Botanical Gardens, Santa Barbara

11" x 14" x 1.5"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled board

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This beautiful scene was sent to me as a commission piece. I tried something a little different for me this time before I started in on it. I painted an underpainting wash in acrylic with an orangy-red color. I was hoping that it would help unify the painting and also keep it from feeling too chilly. Although I think I covered up most of it, you can see little hints of the orange peeking through in these chunky delicious close ups...

When I emailed my commissioner a photo of the finished painting, he wrote "Ann...I...LOVE...IT!! You nailed it!  I dig the texture and colors. Takes me right back there. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Now-isn't that just the greatest compliment ever?

Happy Easter

Mini Renoir
After "Girls Putting Flowers On Their Hats"

2" by 3"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas

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I wish for everyone a wonderful Easter weekend.

Watercolor postcards

When I go on vacation, I sometimes paint these mini watercolor postcards and mail them to friends and family in lieu of a traditional picture postcard. My two sisters have the biggest collection of them and I when I go to visit, I look at them again and it's fun reminder of the trip. It's also interesting to see what can happen to them in the mail!