Sweet Orange Blossoms, 8x10 Oil on Canvas, Fruit Painting by Carmen Beecher

Have you ever walked through an orange grove when the trees are in bloom? It is the sweetest smell, rivaling any flower known for having a perfumed aroma. Nowadays I see the groves giving in to condos and housing developments, and it's a shame, because trees and fruit are much healthier than concrete block and pavement. I remember walking through orange groves as a kid and running into these fancy-looking spiders hanging between trees in their webs. It's a Spiney Orb Weaver spider, and it looks worse than it is.

Carmen

March Challenge, Upside-Down Artwork

This month our challenge was to produce a piece of art by drawing or painting from a photo that is upside down. It's a great exercise for improving our drawing skills; it makes us draw what we see instead of what we think we see.

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 This was a scene from North Captiva Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida.  Drawing the house upside down proved to be surprisingly accurate. 

Carmen

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For this challenge, I decided to use a photo of a fat little female baby cardinal that my daughter took in her yard several winters ago. And it really was a challenge for me. I don't usually draw with a pencil on my watercolor paper first, much less upside down. Below is my process, progress and result. Click on the image to enlarge it. 

Kathy Garvey  

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I really enjoyed this challenge.  Painting upside down forces you to really see what you are painting.  I choose a figure from a Gauguin painting because I love his paintings and I thought it would be a good challenge for me.  It was.


This is how she looked while she was still upside down.  Looks pretty close, hmmm?

This is her right side up.  Now what has to be corrected. I can see she is not leaning enough, that her blouse is too big, her hand should be more defined. The question is should I stay right side up or flip it again?

Siesta Donna Vines after Paul Gauguin

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Angry Bird

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This little guy is my upside down painting for this month's challenge.  I'm not sure why he is so 

angry, but I think it has something to do with the fact that he may have come back to North Carolina, just a little too early.  I think he is seriously thinking about turning around and heading back to Florida, because he is caught in a spring snow storm, here in the Blue Ridge Mts. 

 He is also my first painting, since I left my Florida home to live here in the mountains around Asheville.  I may be following him back to Florida if it doesn't warm up here soon!

He is 5x7" on oil and looking for a home, preferably in one of the more southern, warmer spots of the world.  Leave me a comment if you have to have him.

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Carol Schiff

March Challenge: Draw or paint something upside down!
This is a challenge I frequently give my drawing students. It really helps one look at shapes, not identify "objects." I had not tried it in a while and it is a great exercise in patience, too! The original is a line drawing by Matisse. Mine is not too bad except for the left eye is woefully out of place!
Maybe I should do it again!

The original is on right... Yes, I need more practice!

Jean Thomas


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Below is a photograph of my Great-great-great-grandmother's childhood home in Virgi. She lived there with my Great-great-great grandfather.. She was a Dressler and this picture was taken at the Dressler family re-union several years ago. I feel as if I could move right back into this home. It even has a spinning wheel. I wanted to try to draw it for this exercise, even though I am not much for sketching. I was trying to make it a values study as well. You can see I didn't succeed at that, but I did get a reasonable  drawing of the cabin.

Italian Girl With Flowers, 11x14 Oil on Canvas, after Sorolla by Carmen Beecher

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I've had no time for painting this week, so I am posting a throwback to 2008, when our painting group, Pieces of Eight, decided to copy Impressionist masters as a learning exercise. I love Sorolla, so I copied one of my favorites, with the above result. Below is the original by Sorolla.

I also copied John Singer Sargent, the master portrait artist. The best thing I've ever done is team up with seven women with the same passion for painting that I have. It has been such an enriching experience in so many ways, and I have learned so much.

I'm working on a huge project that is going to take months, and I'll tell you all about it when it's done.

Carmen

Silver Sandals, 20x24 Oil on Canvas by Carmen Beecher

NFS

I painted this a few years ago, when my daughter was getting ready for my sister's wedding. Painting a mural and having Thanksgiving has made my painting time negligible, so I went to the past for this one. What a jolly good time we had at the wedding, which was in beautiful Middleburg, Virginia.

Speaking of Middleburg, they have a wonderful annual Shakespeare festival, "Shakespeare in the Burg," and next year's date is April 2-3. Click here for details:

http://shakespeareintheburg.com/

Carmen

Mountain Path, 10x8 Oil on Panel Daily Painting Landscape

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This path was right on top of a mountain in a remote area on the other side of Mt. Rainier. Cloud cover was hanging over the mountain. My nephew spends every spare moment in these mountains, so he took us to places tourists don't see. 

I can't explain the glowing purple that I see in the mountains. Maybe it doesn't look that way on your monitor; however, if you click on the link that says "Click to Purchase" it goes to Etsy and the colors look right. Same image file, different colors. Weird.

Carmen

Clouds in Landscape, 24x18 Original Oil Painting by Carmen Beecher

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This is the finished painting from the demo I did for the Pieces of 8. We all painted clouds that day, and it was a lot of fun. I am on a cloud kick right now; they are as varied as waves in the ocean. Their colors, shapes, values and textures change constantly.

Carmen

Cloud Demonstration

Florida Vista, 8x6 Oil Landscape on Canvas by Carmen Beecher

I've been practicing painting clouds lately, and this started out as a beach scene with fluffy clouds; then Donna loaned me this photo that is just so Florida to me and I changed my painting completely. I love these grassy vistas dotted with a few palm trees. Florida is not just Daytona, Miami Beach and theme parks. A vast amount of Florida looks just like this.

Carmen

Sunshine and Shadow, 24x20 OIl Painting on Canvas by Carmen Beecher

When you are as productive as the Pieces of 8, you may find yourself with a large inventory-- especially if you are a Daily Painter like Carol Schiff and me. What to do? Have a big holiday sale, that's what. The painting above is a large direct copy of a Winslow Homer painting; however, I will have many small daily paintings, as shown below. There will be so many pieces of original art of all kinds, at deep discounts, skillfully made by the creative women of the Pieces of 8.

This year the sale will be at a new location: Ralph's Art Supply on Highland Avenue in the Eau Gallie Arts District, Dec 5th, 3 to 8:30, and Dec 6th, 10 to 4.

Save the Date! Here are more of my paintings in the sale:






Tiny Dancer, left

Black Swan, below

Yellow Plumerias, below right

Three Pelicans, 8x6 Oil on Panel, Wildlife Painting by Carmen Beecher

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Here is my other pelican painting, a new take on my last post. I wanted to inject more color and vibration, getting away from all the cool, calm blues in the first painting. 

Carmen

Green Swamp, 6x8 Oil Painting on Canvas by Carmen Beecher

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Kathy and I hiked down the Swamp Trail at Silver Springs State Park and crossed a boardwalk through this dramatic-looking cypress swamp. It was a rainy day, but the sun made a brief appearance, causing this dappled light on the green stuff floating on top of the water. One expects a dinosaur to rise out of the murk at any moment.

Carmen

The Kayakers Making Progress by Carmen Beecher

Oil, 16x20

When I get a minute to myself, I will finish this painting and put the steps together as a slide show. This has been an impossibly busy time for me, what with appointmentsPenWomenLuncheonpaintingdemoPiecesof8meetingMothersDayhousechoresetc! It all runs together.

A perfect Mother's Day gift would be: drop me in a shady spot by the river with my painting equipment and come back in three hours. So, for our May 12 Pieces of 8 Challenge, that's what we are going to do. And with only four tubes of paint. This will be followed by lunch and a nap. Plein air painting is exhausting in a very good way.

Rooftop Flowers, 8x10 Floral Oil Painting by Carmen Beecher

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This is the finished product from Monday's group session. I can't seem to stop painting San Miguel--it is like being there again, but without the Margaritas. 

I watched Jesus, the yard man, training bougainvillea up the wall, and the one in front of our villa had a trunk the size of a large tree. In the courtyard Jesus kept them tamed by nailing fishing line between two nails and weaving them in and out. I once asked a gardener how to best grow bougainvillea and he said, "With neglect." It's true. Put one in a vacant lot and see what happens.

In the Courtyard

Tiny Dancer, 8x10 Original OIl Painting by Carmen Beecher

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While in San Miguel de Allende I got to witness a big Aztec festival, with scores of people in bright costumes and huge feather headdresses. They were dancing in the streets, celebrating their conversion to Christianity. So many people dancing in unison, wearing bright colors and glittering outfits presented quite a wonderful sight, but this little girl was my favorite, trying to keep up with the grownups.

Here are some of the adults in their costumes. I was so lucky to be town that day!

Yellow Roses, 8x6 Original Floral Oil Painting by Carmen Beecher

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Wouldn't this be a romantic Valentine's Day gift? Flowers and candy are nice, but they don't last. Diamonds and oil paintings are forever.

I painted this twice. I was not satisfied with it the first time, but I learned a few things from my mistakes. The second time I was able to get what I wanted, and did it much faster.

Sultry, 6x8 Oil Painting by Carmen Beecher

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This all started with a tube of gold paint from Ralph's Art Supply in Melbourne. Gold suggests "exotic" so I painted this and invented her costume and jewelry. This was so much fun that I am going to do some more of these. 

Carmen Beecher

Annual Holiday Sale December 7th!

Gift Shopping at its finest! December 7th, 9 to 4


The Pieces of Eight sale will be bigger than ever this year! As an event within an event, my husband made birdhouses for each of us and we each decorated ours, without anyone seeing the others. On Sunday we had a big reveal, and I am so thrilled with the creativity shown by every member. These birdhouses are amazing!

There will be deep discounts on paintings like my Coconut Palm, above left; painted furniture; handmade jewelry and many more lovely gift items. Here's my birdhouse and my jewelry:

Posted by Carmen Beecher

Dragonflower, 20x20 Oil Painting by Carmen Beecher

I have posted so many small paintings in my blog and my Etsy shop, and I suddenly got the urge to paint something big and flowery. I have taken lots of pictures of my Cereus blooms, which are supposed to ultimately become Dragonfruit, but mine fall short of that achievement.

I like the glow of light coming through the flowers. I got the background by mixing Pthalo Green and Alizarin Crimson, and I like the intensity of that, but I seem to wear Pthalo Green for days. It seems to have mysterious properties enabling it to jump all over me and my clothes.

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City Girl, 9x12 Oil Painting by Carmen Beecher

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I was Riding the Ducks when I spotted this young girl, striding with great purpose down the sidewalk in Seattle. I love the whole scene: the perky girl, the hanging plant, the reflection in the door. Too bad you couldn't see the Duck. Oh, perhaps I should explain. The Ducks are amphibious landing vehicles from World War II, and they have been redone for the enjoyment of tourists.

We got on board in the city, went a few blocks and over a bridge to the water and promptly drove in. It was a hoot. Our guide and driver, Flip Dover, was absolutely hilarious--both educational and entertaining.

Cathedral Rock, 20x20 Oil on Canvas

I love Sedona, Arizona, and I especially love this spot. The river is so beautiful, and Cathedral Rock towers majestically over it. We had a week's worth of adventures in Sedona, and there are many more trails that we didn't see. I believe we need more of Sedona. No wonder they talk about vortexes there. It's really an other-worldly, magical place.

PURCHASE

posted by Carmen Beecher

More Collage Demo

Femme Fatale

As Donna said, we both talked about collage at the Cape Canaveral Pen Women meeting. There are so many kinds of collage, and I was taught by Derek Gores, so it's very different from Donna's style. Her way has no rules, and mine has Derek's rules. In actuality, it can be anything the artist wants to do, but certain things I learned from Derek stuck, and I like the effect I get. For instance, he says, "Don't use the thing for the thing." Don't use a picture of lips for the lips, for example. 

Below is a partially completed collage of a tree frog that I used to show the process. I sketch my subject then draw over it with a Sharpie so that I don't lose my drawing while slapping paper and glue around. One thing I like is the fact that the paper wrinkles don't matter. I like anything in which wrinkles don't matter. In fact, they add interest and character. Learn to love the wrinkles. 

posted by Carmen