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Painting During the Age of Covid-19

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This has to be the most bizarre and frightening time most of us have ever lived through!  I hope you are all staying safe and healthy.  I live in Bergen County NJ, just northwest of NYC.  We were one of the first hotspots in the country after Washington state and we have yet to hit our peak. Aside from worrying about getting groceries and missing my adult children, staying home is not much of a hardship for us.  One silver lining is that I have been painting a lot more often.  And I have been spending at least half of my painting sessions experimenting and trying new things.  I participated in a 5 day painting challenge a few weeks ago. The idea was to do a 20 minute painting every day for five days and to post it to the Art + Work + Living Facebook group .  I challenged myself to do a knife painting every day.  Up till now I have done very few knife paintings and I am very intimidated by them.  I did snap a pic at 20 minutes into each session to post to the challenge, but I continu
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Exhibiting and Selling Your Artwork in Public Venues

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I have been so busy these past few months..happily painting and exhibiting!  I was in two exhibits in November and December and sold four paintings.  Now I am preparing for a solo show at the Paramus Public Library in Paramus, NJ. in February, and at the Westwood Public Library in Westwood, NJ. in March and April.  In my area almost all the public libraries have exhibition areas for local artists. The quality of the spaces is varied and some take commissions while others don't.  Some even advertise your show and some allow you to have a reception. There are also opportunities in coffee shops, restaurants, theaters, hospitals, and even banks. I urge anyone who has yet to exhibit their work to get out there and do it! I know it can be scary at first, but if you have a body of work, go check out your local public spaces and commercial establishments.  Once you start exhibiting you will gain confidence and incentive to keep on painting! "Snow on the Meadow" SOLD &q
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Plein Air Landscape Workshop with T.J. Cunningham

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At the end of July I attended a Plein Air Landscape Workshop with T. J. Cunningham at the Landgrove Inn in Landgrove, Vermont.  It was fabulous!  I had a great time with a lot of really nice people, a wonderful instructor, beautiful scenery, and great food in a very comfortable and accommodating inn.  Vermont is beautiful, green and has loads of barns and dirt roads.  There is truly a painting around every corner.  Landgrove is in southern Vermont so the ride from North Jersey was an easy 4 hours.  The Landgrove Inn is lovely and a little rustic.  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all included and are served in the Inn's restaurant, which is open to the public for dinner.  The food was very good and they have a full bar that is available to guests at any time. T.J. beginning a demo at a farm down the road from the Inn. T.J. Cunningham is a young artist who has already established himself as a top contemporary landscape artist.  He is also an excellent teacher.  Each day sta
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ART FAIRS

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I was away for most of the summer and truly had no time to post.  We sailed from the Chesapeake to Maine and spent 2 months on the boat.  I had intended to paint while on this trip but either we were travelling or sight seeing or taking care of provisioning or laundry.  The few times I had a chance to paint I just wanted to do nothing.  But I am back now and will try to post more often.  And Paint! My set-up for the "Art in the Park" art fair The week after I got back I exhibited my work at "Art in the Park", an outdoor art fair in a neighboring town.  I love doing this particular event.  It is free to exhibit and since you are not juried in there is a variety of artists from beginners to professionals.  They do have jurors who award prizes at the end.  I didn't win anything but I sold two paintings and had a great day. Chinese Lanterns 12" x 16" Sold Menemsha  11" x 14" Sold What I find so intrig
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How To Keep Your Oil Paints From Drying Out

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I have been reading a lot of posts, comments, and questions on social media about how to save your paints from one session to the next.  This is especially important for those of us who don't paint everyday. Putting unused paint in the freezer works very well for me, but how to do it easily and conveniently is another matter entirely.  I have tried scraping my paints off my palette and placing them on palette paper and then folding the paper in half and putting it in a ziploc bag.  It worked, but I always lost a lot of paint in the process and it took time to take it off my palette and then put it back on before the next session.  I have tried numerous palette keepers on the market, all with the same issue. Palette Garage Then I bought a palette garage.  You can get them at  palettegarage.com . I would clip the plastic paint tray to my glass palette in the studio and stacked them on my strada easel for plein air painting, (go to their FAQs & Hints). When I was done I woul
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Tangier Island, VA

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      Tangier Island, VA., located in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, will most likely be gone in the next twenty years.  Climate change and sea erosion have doomed this truly unique place, displacing a people and wiping out a culture that has been there for over four centuries.  The entire island is less than 740 acres, with barely 83 habitable.  It is only 4 feet above sea level at its highest point, and that is changing rapidly.  The only way to get on or off the island is by boat or plane.  There are approximately 450 residents, most of whom can trace their lineage back to the 1700's.  Primarily watermen, crab and oysters, are their bread and butter.     "Tangier Island #1", Oil on Panel, 11"x 14" "Tangier Island #2", Oil on Panel, 9"x 12"  We visited the island this past September and it made a lasting impression on me. The roads are very narrow and most people get around on golf carts, bicycles, motorcycles, boats, or foo
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More Roses

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"Red-Yellow Roses", Oil on Panel, 12"x 16" I am a little behind in posting.  I finished this one few weeks ago.  "Roses with Lemons", Oil on Panel, 11'x 14"  Then I did another painting from the same setup and included the vase and the tabletop.   "One Perfect Rose", Oil on Panel, 6"x 8" And lastly I painted the perfect single red rose my valentine brought me on Valentine's Day. Roses look very complicated and can be very intimidating.  But the trick is not to see the petals as petals but as shapes.  I start by putting in just a few large shapes.  Shadowed areas first and then go into each of those shapes and break them into smaller and smaller shapes with varying degrees of shadow.  Then add the shapes in the light.  I use cadmium red light , cadmium red medium, cadmium red deep, alizarin crimson, and ultramarine blue.
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