Opening Party

And a good time was had by all.....

The Oklahoma Friendly National Show had their Opening Party last night and what a fine party it was! I feel very fortunate in being juried in to this prestigious show. I had a great time visiting with some old friends and making some new ones.

One person I would like to thank regarding the show/party other than my husband who is always very helpful and supportive is Maggie Stiefvater who writes a wonderful blog called http://greywarenart.blogspot.com/ . In one part of her blog yesterday she wrote about how you should be your own best cheerleader. Thanks, Maggie. I got thrown out twice - just kidding.

It does help to be your own best friend.

Pastel - Forever Wild

Forever Wild

This pastel started out as a demo for one of the art associations here in Oklahoma City. It was more of how I frame my pastels so the details were not added until later. This 20" x 16" painting is now showing at 50 Penn Place Gallery.

I would like this to be a reminder that all living things born on this planet will always be what they were born to be.

Enchantment - Oil on panel....on panel..

Delivery time.

Oklahoma Friendly National Juried Show. Nice show. Nice people. I'm excited.

I had a bit of stress after being accepted however, because I had not thought about a frame. Hmmm...what to do. I spent a lot of time looking at frames. This type of painting does not lend itself to traditional frames. This, I tell myself is a perfect example of not planning ahead.

A painting of this style should be on a gallery wrap canvas or a panel. "But wait", I say to myself "it is on a panel". But alas, it is only a 3/4" cradled panel......not very classy looking for a show like this. I needed something to really make this painting stand out. So what I did find was a new player in town called Art FX Panels out of Michigan. I'll tell more about these wonderful people in a later post.

This is how I decided to finish it off. The painting itself is on a cradled panel 12" x 16" x 3/4". I put that on the Art FX Panel which is 16" x 20" x 2". I don't know how it will place in the show, but it bumped my creativity process up a notch.

Iguana

Just finished framing this fellow today, and I think he likes his new home. At least I'm not gonna be the one to chase him out.

This is pastel on Kitty Wallis sanded pastel paper. It's a great paper and it really will grab all the different colors you want to throw at it. What fun!

Choosing the right frame sometimes can be very challenging because the frame can make a painting look very good or very bad. My first thought was silver. I tried a nice pretty antiqued silver - looked okay. Blended well with the colors in the painting picking up the cool colors. The only problem was that instead of a Iguana I had a Chameleon and it didn't show up at all!

I needed something to make this big boy jump off the paper - figuratively speaking, that is. At last my framer said well, I do have this nice piece of molding leftover that might work. Perfect! Right colors, right look, and right price.

So, never give up, that perfect frame is waiting for your painting. I've been looking for this one for nearly a year.

Iguana is 14" x 10.5" framed under Anti-Reflective glass with this beautifully detailed frame that is approximately 4" wide. Priced at $249.00, plus shipping

Blog Review

In case any of you haven't had a chance to visit the Bold Strokes for Art blog yet, you've missed out on viewing some wonderful art.

This dynamic trio have put together some really great colloraborative paintings. It's amazing how they each can do their own thing and "poof" it all comes together. Take a look. http://www.boldstrokesforart.blogspot.com/

Book Review

Margaret Kessler presents things in a very progressive language to profit the advance painter as well as the beginner. She will give you the motivatition to explore the potential of your palette, to bring atmosphere, emotion and harmony to your work. One of my favorite books!

If you work your way thru this book and using each of the different exercises, it's bound to make you a better painter.

Invite A Friend

One of the best and most constructive ways to paint is to get together with a friend - or more. I do this several times a week. As a matter of fact, I'm waiting for a friend right now.

While we paint we're also gonna review a painting instruction book that is in my aStore. I'm not going to tell you which one it is right now, but I'll have the results later today.