JANUARY CHALLENGE - ABSTRACTION

Our January Challenge "Abstraction" entries from Cindy, Donna, Carmen, Carol, Jean, Kathy, Mary, Denette and Fay are below. Such a variety of expression...read all about it! (Click on any image to enlarge it.)

ABSTRACTION is really a complicated art form...practically you have to know how to draw and compose a realistic piece before you can successfully de-construct it into an abstract form.  The years of hearing folks declare "my five year old could paint that" lead me to believe it was a matter of slinging paint Jackson Pollack-style.  Not so fast....!  I've never taken the time to study the process carefully but now and then I "dabble" in abstraction as a way to learn more about what does NOT work.  Lately I have been playing with abstraction in tones of white.  Here's a small sampling of what I had come up with:

Cindy Michaud

contact me at: art@cindymichaud.com

eh? not bad...but then again....I'll keep trying!  I do think this is a more difficult genre than most folks think.

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Abstract Art is much harder than it looks and appeals to different people for different reasons.  I really love abstraction for it's use of color.  Sometimes as an artist and as an art lover I just want to see color.  Color can be very powerful, color evokes lots of emotion, lots of memories so it can represent anything to the person looking at it. 
This painting is an abstract interpretation of a marsh scene using just color.  The real joy of abstract is it can be one thing to the artist and quite another to the onlooker. 

The Marsh

 Donna Vines

https://donnavinesart.etsy.com

https://donnavinesart.blogspot.com

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Greenleaf, 4"x4.5 "

This is my favorite abstract I've ever done. It is poured acrylic on wood, and it's tiny and shiny.

Carmen Beecher

https://www.carmensart.etsy.com

https://carmenbeecher.blogspot.com/

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Point of View
sold
Oil on Panel

I like the color, composition, and texture in this piece.

Carol Schiff
www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com
www.CarolSchiffStudio.blogspot.com

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The challenge of abstraction got me thinking about all of the ways we are pulled by electronic media. I have a love/no love relationship with digital media. For example, I love the Adobe programs and admire that they were developed by human beings and creative thinkers. Illustrator is my favorite. I created the artwork above using it. This was an exercise in repetition, pattern and rhythm. Also, it represents how you can get overwhelmed by all the parts if you open the box. Enjoy!

 Jean Thomas

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I enjoy an occasional abstraction! Some people say all my designs are abstract since I don't ever paint anything in a realistic manner. But, to me, an abstract has no easily identifiable representation and is open to anyone's interpretation. The above was created in Illustrator and then taken into Photoshop. I call it "Signals from Another Planet" but you might see something else.

Kathy Garvey

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Several years ago I took a watercolor workshop with John Salminen. I thought it would include his wonderful street scenes, but it was all about abstract. It was fascinating and involved. Later I played with simplifying his methods, but always remembering his advice. This is a fairly recent painting I call "Warm Abstract."

Mary Warnick

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This is as close as I get to abstraction! Red by Denette Schweikert

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I am so impressed by the creativity of my colleagues in this challenge that I hesitate to post my own. In the collage below, I am following up on my November value study of the Appalachian Mountains.  As you can see, this one uses geometric shapes to represent the mountains. You will have to use your imagination to make these mountains recede into the distance. The colors are not just right, but the papers were at the ready. In any case, it is fun seeing how my sketch translates into triangles, etc. 

Fay Picardi

Pieces of 8 Challenge #6 - Nourish

Our challenge this month is "Nourish".   Enjoy!

This painting nourishes my soul.

Poured Paint with metallics

6x8"

Carol Schiff

www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com

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I always think of nature in the context of "nourish" for so many reasons.  In addition to the fact that the nature does an amazing job of providing nourishment to the animals, plants and humans that live here, just being outdoors does a lot to re-nourish people emotionally.  So for "nourish" I painted the start of one of my favorite hikes up to Rich Mountain in western NC.

The Golden Hour

17 x 11, oil on canvas, framed

art@cindymichaud.com

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A little nourishment for the body and the soul.  I was in a pure color frame of mind so I decided to pay homage to one of my favorites, Cezanne, a master of color.

Pears ala Cezanne

Donnavinesart.Etsy.com
Donnavinesart.blogspot.com


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 Most everyone in my home town made a living from the citrus industry, including my grandmother. Oranges and blossoms not only nourished everyone in the obvious way, but also provided a means of supporting their families.

 

Orange Blossoms, 6x8

Carmensart.etsy.com

Carmenbeecher.blogspot.com

Carmenbeecher.com

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I find that going for a walk with my camera nourishes my creativity. Sometimes I'll find something I've never noticed before like this simple little flower growing profusely in the drainage ditches near my house. I picked a few and took several photos. I looked it up when I got home and found it's called "rhexia."  By studying the photos and the plant itself I was able to build the colors and the plant parts in Adobe Illustrator. By making each item a symbol, I can then just drag the items where I want them to try to create an image I like. I'm still struggling with making something out of this one because I'm not crazy about the color combination - red and green with purple! But when I need inspiration, a walk is what works for me and my camera makes me really focus. (Click on an image to enlarge it.)

Studies of Rhexia
by Kathy Garvey

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Pears Florentine

Paper Collage

7 x 9

Pears have always been my favorite fruit. I love their taste, their shape and their color. I even delight in saying the French word poire,which is the perfect sound for them. Cindy Michaud's extensive collection of what I call pear portraits was my inspiration for this work. 

The collage is made from my collection of Florentine wrapping papers from a tiny, well hidden but well stocked paper store in the heart of the hustle and bustle of Florence. 

Fay Picardi

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

Countdown to The Big Sale

The Wetlands

Can you tell we're excited about our sale on December 7th? It is always fun, and this year we have so many more things to offer. We will have decorative birdhouses and outdoor birdhouses, painted furniture, jewelry, and a collection of fine art at affordable prices. We just lose our minds and slash prices at this time of year, as our repeat customers will tell you. We promise refreshments and repartee.

The address is 3532 Samuel Place, Melbourne (map is at right), and the hours are 9 to 4. Watch for the signs along the road.

Posted by Carmen

Holiday Sale....Just Around the Corner! by Carol Schiff

Now that we have all stuffed ourselves with turkey and pumpkin pie, we are all thinking C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S !!  The pieces (that's what we like to call ourselves) are seriously thinking about our Holiday Art Sale that will be here faster than you can say "Ho Ho Ho".  In fact, it is next weekend, December 7th, but more about that later.

If you follow this blog, you know we all did birdhouses to sell this year, so I wanted to show you my effort.

As you can see, I already have a tenant, so sorry all you little homeless birds!  Thanks to Carmen's husband, Hap, who hand made ALL of our birdhouses.  He also laid out the rule that we had to keep our finished houses under wrap and have a grand reveal.....which was the perfect excuse for a grand party at Cindy's house a few weeks ago.  I can tell you, we have some very cool birdhouses!

For all you readers who don't happen to live in Melbourne, FL, we are happy to take orders and ship out, so if you must have this, or any of the other houses, just send us a comment with your email and we will get back to you.

We have some other new items at our sale this year.  We have been very busy and always try to come up with something new and unusual.  I wanted to give you a sneak peek of the table I painted.  It looks a little grey in these images, but it is actually painted in white, lavender and dusky purple.

I found this beautiful antique side table and painted it in dusky purple chalk paint.  Then, I got creative....painting white and lavender to bring out the wonderful carving.  I kept thinking about the beautiful Victorian houses in San Francisco and how their details are highlighted in several colors of paint.  Below is a close up of the table top, all safely sealed under three coats of varnish.

It was so much fun, I had to paint a matching chair!

We have many more exciting and unique items waiting for our sale along with wonderful art from our members at even more wonderful prices!  If you are in Central Florida on December 7th.....come on over.  Just drive to Melbourne, and follow the map on this blog to my house.  We will be easy to find with lots of signs up the last mile or two.  It's such a popular event, that even Google Earth came a few years ago

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Hope to see you there!  Come early!!

PS:  Did I mention refreshments??

  

www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com

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

KILLER HOLIDAY SALE COMING UP

If you live in or around Melbourne, Florida, you don't want to miss  PIECES OF EIGHT ANNUAL HOLIDAY SALE AND ALL AROUND GOOD TIME!   The last time we had a sale, it was so much fun.....even Google Earth showed up!!

Yes, that's us out there in the drive way having a great time.  We are 9 talented ladies with a lot to offer including, poetry,scarfs, pillows, earrings,  original paintings, cards, pottery, and much more.  Each year we do a group project to fund our annual trip to the mountains.  Last time we published a cook book featuring recipes we tested on our trip and artwork from each of us.  It was such a hit we had to re-order several times and still get requests for copies.  

We put our heads together to come up with the perfect product to offer this year.  Eventually we settled on hand crafted earrings.  We have been working together the entire year on this project and did we have fun!

Just to make it even more unusal....WE PACKAGED THEM INDIVIDUALLY allowing you to 
MIX or MATCH designs.

Don't forget to REGISTER for the FREE GIFT BASKET and enjoy yourself with refreshments.

I want to show you just a few of the paintings I will have at my table.....at a very special, one day only SALE PRICE.

Thistle Love
8x10"

Hunkered Down
6x8"

Cindy Grows Tomatoes
6x8"

Did I mention the date???  
Saturday, December 8th

321.604.1647

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PIECES OF 8

Carmen Beecher
Carol Schiff
Cindy Michaud
Denette Schweikert
Donna Vines
Fay Picard
Kathy Garvey
Phillis Holland
Mary Warnick
(YES THERE ARE 9 OF US.....IT'S A LONG STORY!)

Memories of 2011

Going to mountains with my painting buddies,
Wading by streams with our shoes nice and muddy,
Whether in Fall or in Winter or Spring,
These are a few of my favorite things...

As you can see, we never go into the wild without plenty of provisions. This is the trip that recharges our batteries every year, and this year there will be a Spring trip too, thanks to our new friend Mary Jo in South Carolina.

posted by Carmen