Abandoned

Even though a lot of the country is still in the throes of winter this is officially the first week of Spring! When I think of spring I think of abundance and the overflowing of all things beautiful overrunning the deadness of winter.
I saw this truck abandoned by a barn in N. Carolina during a spring trip a few years ago.  I could not help but wonder at how many winters this truck sat there only to be nearly covered in new growth each spring.  How many more cycles would it take to completely cover this once loved red truck?

Abandoned

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My paintings on the runway??

Several  months ago, I was contacted by an Israeli fashion designer, Assaf Pelleg.  He was designing his 2017 Spring/Summer Line, and wanted to use one of my paintings in his work.  I agreed to work with him, and we found two of my artworks that were of interest to him.

For several months, I heard nothing!  Then, suddenly, an email with the completed designs.

I am thrilled with the results!  

This is the fun part of what I do.  I sometimes struggle for days, over a specific artwork.  Just this week, I have worked on a piece for 3 days, and scrapped it this morning!  Then there are the boring hours after hours of internet work.  Taking photos, editing them, posting them.  Sometimes it seems the reward, is not enough to justify the effort. 

 But then, one day, a painting effortlessly falls off my brush, or a student sends me his power point presentation about how he was influenced by my art, or someone on the other side of the world, likes my work enough to place it in his collection.

That is the payoff!

Thanks for reading my blog today!

Carol Schiff

www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com

www.CarolSchiffStudio.blogspot.com

Photo Collage of a Beautiful Location

by Kathy Garvey

Valkaria Gardens Buddha

I like to collage favorite photos of a location in Photoshop.  I recently took a little tour through Valkaria Gardens in South Brevard.  The place is full of gorgeous bromeliads, orchids, succulents, palms and pots! They have pots! If nothing else, go for the pots!

Well, they also have some incredible large Buddha statues! The one shown at left stands over 8 feet tall!

I took lots of photos. Here are just a few to give you an idea of how beautiful the place is. Drop by with your camera for a treat.

Directions: 8205 Babcock St SE, Palm Bay, FL 32909
Head south on Babcock and keep going past the intersection of Malabar and Babcock. You'll soon pass over the interstate. Several miles further south you will see the gardens on your left.
They have a website: Valkaria Gardens

My favorite Buddha - over 8 ft. tall

Caterpillar Plant

Bat Flower!

Floral Still Life, Flower Painting, Daily Painting, Small Oil Painting, "Roadside Treasure"

When I go on my daily walk, up and down the country roads, I marvel at the gorgeous wildflowers and weeds (?) I find.  It was on these walks, that I discovered the lovely daylilies I planted in Florida, grow wild in the mountains.

So that is the inspiration for this painting, as I gathered these blooms from the ditches and easements along the country roads.

I plopped them in a favorite piece of pottery and started painting.

purchase here 

This piece is 9x12x.75"

Thanks for reading my blog today.

Carol Schiff

www.CarolSchiffStudio.etsy.com
www.CarolSchiffStudio.blogspot.com

A little coffee a little cream

I love painting landscapes but set ups are so much fun.  I am pretty lazy about them though.  I usually fuss around forever trying to set something up and am never happy.  It is so much better if someone just says paint this!
I painted this at an Elio workshop.  He always has several pieces in a set up and I usually pick a few things or an area I like and paint that.  For me the simpler the better.  At the time this seemed a simple set up but the creamer has a difficult shape and position.  Also the creamer and mug were white so all of the color had to come from the background and table cloth.  I used as much shadowing as possible to keep it interesting.  It turned out to be one of my favorite pieces.

 

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A little more crow

In keeping with this months challenge I also did a collage featuring crows.  I used Van Gogh's "Wheatfield with crows" as an inspiration for two reasons. First so many people know it and secondly I have always been fascinated with the way you can paint a squiggly line in the sky and it is suddenly a bird.  Everyone who sees it knows it is a bird, yet it is just a V shaped line.
I decided to try Wheatfield as a collage.  I used a lot of busy papers because that is Van Gogh to me.  Motion, movement, color.  The birds are not black but are musical notes and written or printed paper.  They fly through the air carrying messages of song, love, hope.

Wheatfield with Crows after Van Gogh
Notice the busyness of the paper.

All of the crows have a musical or written message on them.

The original is below the collage. Notice that the colors are transposed.

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Pieces of Eight Art Challenge - The Raven

This month's challenge is for everyone to paint a black bird without using any black paint. I never really thought about how many black birds there are--blackbirds, ravens, grackles, crows--but I called this challenge The Raven because I simply like the way he quoth "Nevermore." However, any black bird will get the job done. Here is mine:

Sold

I used French Ultramarine and Alizarin Crimson for my blacks, with a touch of Burnt Sienna now and then. This bird was in bright sunlight that caught the beautiful colors on top of his body and tail.

Carmen

https://carmenbeecher.com

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Kathy Garvey

I've been working on the crow challenge, a lot! But not so much with paint. Here's my favorite - showing the original photo (taken by my brother Pat when we visited the Everglades several years ago) and the final after a little trip through Photoshop. I'll post some of the others at a later time.

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For our Raven challenge this month I did two pieces.  My first piece was a collage and that will be posted on Saturday.  At the last minute I decided to do an oil.  I haven't done any real painting in quite a while and  thought it was about time. So...here is my first attempt to jump back into oils.
 My crow is little abstract, a little bluer then I would have liked but that is because I forgot to bring a rich purple with me but that's o.k.  The whole point is to get in there again and just do. He is also a little undone and that is o.k. too.  I would rather he be undone than overworked. 
He does have a dilemma though.  That is a peanut M&M in his beak.  It is dissolving oh so slowly but what happens when he gets to the peanut?

oh oh



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Fay Picardi

Although I don't know how to tell the male Raven from the female, I have decided that my raven is definitely a female, mainly because she has such beautiful colors and she sparkles. I am happy with her, but I am not crazy about her background. I tried to use yellow-bright green as they are opposite colors on the color chart but I really didn't have the right materials on hand. So I am calling the collage Nothing to Crow About because I chose to do a raven instead of a crow and I am not so happy about her background. 

Nothing to Crow About  by Fay Picardi



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For this little portrait of a Florida anhinga, I used purple and dark green for my blacks.

Mary Warnick