Saturday, June 30, 2018

June Challenge, a Modern Take on a Famous Old Image

The challenge for June was to do a modern version of a well-known old artwork. I chose Mona Lisa.


Mona the Millennial

The one thing I always noticed about Mona Lisa besides her smile is the fact that she has no eyebrows. In reading the book about Leonardo da Vinci, I learned that she once had eyebrows, but they went away, possibly in a bungled cleaning of the painting. I decided to make her a modern woman with mascara, lipstick, and eyebrows. Even though she's taking a selfie, she isn't making that pouty-pucker-kissy face the young girls do on Facebook.

Carmen



o.k. so I have a fascination with tattoos.  I don't want one but I am amazed at the amount of body art that people have now.  They have so many things tattooed on them with so many meanings.  Tattoos used to be for sailors and bad boys.  When people expressed themselves they did it through clothes, cloth, and uniforms.
This Matisse portrait "The Rumanian Blouse" brought up so many questions to me.  Is national identity gone and personal identity in?  Is it because so many clothes are mass produced people want something to speak for them?  If Matisse were painting today his portrait may be titled "Rumanian nude with tattoos",




donnavinesart.etsy.com
donnavinesart.blogspot.com

~~~~

The painting I have chosen to make MORE modern is a classic that is not so old. And I have used it before because it is one of my favorites. This time I wanted to try doing a copy that used geometric forms. It really is not as abstract as I thought I would make it originally. So, back to the drawing board. I did a mixed-media with fabric, paper and paint. The medium changed the color of the fabric, so the colors are not as fresh looking as I had hoped. I will definitely have to "squint, squint, squint" as Donna would say and try to do a truly abstract painting that captures the colors in the center of the flower better. But that will be for later.


My collage


Georgia O'Keefe
Sunflower, New Mexico I, 1935

Fay Picardi


Vitruvian Man

Leonardo DaVinci 

1490



Vitruvian Man

Homer Simpson

2018


My apologies to Leonardo

Carol Schiff



--------------------------------------------
Kathy Garvey
I was away for all of June without access to my paints and supplies but I had planned to do a remake of either Whistler's Mother or Grant Wood's famous couple in American Gothic.

Whistler's Mother, or as titled by him...
Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1
Whistlers Mother high res.jpg
ArtistJames McNeill Whistler
Year1871
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions144.3 cm × 162.4 cm (56.8 in × 63.9 in)
LocationMusée d'OrsayParis
I managed to create a last minute version of Whistler's Mother using Illustrator and Photoshop. It doesn't do his masterpiece justice, but she is updated enough to have moved out of her rocking chair and replaced the classic wall sketch with the modern requisite "family rules." She represents the modern "Mom" in her leisure wear, clunky jewelry, and bare feet as she checks out her Ipad. 


And while I didn't manage to create an updated Grant Wood, I wanted to share what my sister Liz Printz painted on a rock (of all things) with Grant Wood's masterpiece. I got such a kick out of it,  and it was a coincidence that it was so in tune with our challenge this month! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks, Liz!

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Daily Paintings, Small Oil Paintings, Animal and Bird Paintings

I was looking at some of my images and was really surprised to see how many bird and animal paintings I have done.  I thought today would be a good day to post a few of my old time favorites.

Great Blue Heron
250 + shipping


Just Ducky
99 + shipping
  
SOLD


SOLD


SOLD


SOLD
It is always interesting and educational to review the painting journey that you have been on.  I like to line up older paintings, chronologically, which helps me to see the improvements I have made and the ones I would like to make in the future.  Always an interesting exercise.

Have a painterly day and thanks for visiting!


www.CarolSchiffStudio.blogspot.com

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Cardinal, Original Oil on Panel, Bird Painting

I don't have a thing to say about this painting, except that I squeezed this in while busy with a lot of other exciting things. I finished a huge illustration job, then published my children's book, Dibble the Dragon. Now I am working on illustrations for someone else's children's book. I'm also spending time traveling, gardening and studying Italian. Life is good. La Dolce Vita!

Carmen

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Floral Landscape, Daily Painting, Small Oil Painting "Summer Wildflowers", 6x8" Oil on Panel

One of my guilty pleasures, when I am in the Blue Ridge Mountains, is my morning walk, which inspired this painting.


purchase here

 You would have to live a summer or two in Florida, to understand how much I enjoy walking in mid 70's temps in the middle of summer.  

detail

 Of course, I also admire the songbirds and gorgeous, towering, hardwood trees.  It's not really a guilty pleasure, as it is hard work walking 4 miles when at least half of it is up the side of a mountain.




Here's hoping you have a wonderful day.

Carol Schiff

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Riley and Friend, 9x12 Oil on Canvas


This little guy just turned 10, but we all remember him as he was in this painting, when his best buddy was a horse. He is still quite the character, and tomorrow I am going across the state to see him. He gives some very impressive hugs, and never fails to make me laugh.

Carmen

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

A Pattern Not Made From Art, by Carmen Beecher

 You don't need a piece of art to create a pattern in Adobe Capture. It can also be done from a picture of four women being silly. Click on the pattern, you'll see us in there.



Carmen, Denette, Donna, Mary

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Life is Just a Long Road Trip!!



Ready to Roam
original block print, signed & numbered
matted to 8 x 10

Two of my current fav adventures are camping in our little airstream and making art.  When I can combine the two it's nirvana.  I made several sketches of our "Flying Pig II" trying to simplify it.  Then I transferred the drawing to a rubber block and began to carve out what I did not want to print.
Several tries later I came up with a piece that satisfied me.  Matted, it fits easily into a standard 8 x 10 frame and is perfect for anyone who loves the call of the open road.


 This small jewell is priced at only $15.00 so I can spread some love while they last.  It will arrive in the mat ready to frame. Shipping and handling adds another $5.00 to the total price.  You can read my story about using this art to make new friends here.

Want one of your own or one to gift? Email me at: art@cindymichaud.com
I'll ship one out and invoice you through PayPal.  Let's spread some art love this summer.

Safe Travels,
Cindy Michaud

p.s. if you have a camper name or favorite camp motto (i.e. home is where you park it....) let me know and I will be happy to add it lengthwise to the left side.

Saturday, June 2, 2018

Another pattern, another Adobe Application





These patterns, are based on a sketch from my sketchbook (top picture). The two patterns above were produced in Adobe Illustrator.
It has a story:
One day I was out in my back yard. It's a magical place with a lot of life... birds, rabbits, raccoons and opossums.... and especially bug life: dragonflies, bees, and flies.

All of a sudden, I was surrounded by hundreds of buzzing bees. They seemed to like to dive bomb my head! They never landed or bit me. I was amazed at the phenomenon. My creative brain kicked in and I imagined they were aliens from another planet and were buzzing me to check me out. (Who knows how big aliens are!?) I ran inside and made this sketch so I would remember the day!
So these patterns were based on the rocket bees I saw that day! What could you see?
JT

Friday, June 1, 2018

Challenge for May, Creating a Pattern from a Piece of Art

Kathy Garvey taught us how to create patterns from our paintings in Adobe Capture, and it was quite kaleidoscopic. It's a different kind of challenge.

This is the pattern I created:


Below is the original painting, a watercolor called "Cosmos (sold)."



 Carmen Beecher


This was a really interesting challenge.  Here is my pattern with the original painting.  I would never have guessed I could make this pattern from this painting.  It was fun to play with.





donnavinesart.etsy.com
donnavinesart.blogspot.com


This was a sketch from one of my sketchbooks. So here goes with Adobe Capture.
I could see how these could be adapted to patterns on cloth.
Here is the pattern derived from the sketch, above.
Jean Thomas
Ozworks22@cfl.rr.com



I love making patterns so I was quite happy when the group agreed to give this challenge a try. Below are my patterns for this blog entry all created using a watercolor done on our recent trip to Silver Spring. The top image is of patterns created with Adobe Capture, a free and quite wonderful application available for your phone of Ipad. The second example is from Adobe Illustrator. I frequently use it or Adobe Photoshop for my patterns that I then print to fabric at Spoonflower.com. While Capture is fun and quick, it is limited to just a few kaleidoscope type options. The other two tools offer endless design possibilities. (Click on any image to enlarge it.)


Kathy Garvey



Here Comes Another One (or two or more)



Not one of the techies in the group, I nonetheless gave Adobe Capture a try. Got a bit carried away. There are thousands of possibilities with just one photo. Here are two of my designs based on Kathy's extraordinary leaves and Denette's incredible painting. Lucky me.

 Try zooming in on the designs. I love how intricate they are. 
  Design 1




Design 2
Fay Picardi

Ballard Park, Original Oil on Canvas

  I had not painted outside in two years, so this was quite a challenge. It was one of those paintings I had to improve upon in the studio. ...