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.

The Last Perfume

Yay - more bottles!

Oil on panel 12" x 12" x 3/4" in some of the brightest colors I could come up with.

It's been fun to step outside the box and get some creative juices flowing. I pulled out a lot of my books that I have purchased over the years. I've missed these old friends but I believe my paintings have lost out the most.

Therefore......I have decided to become an Amazon Associate. You can see a banner with a list of books across the top of my blog. Clicking on this will take you to a wonderful book store called Art For The Soul

Spin The Bottle - Oil on Canvas

I have a new passion. Painting bottles. Painting vases. Painting jugs. Painting glass. Painting anything that has sparkles, reflections, shadows, bright colors and about any subject that remotely resembles jewels. I'm pretty sure that it has something to do with being female and liking all things that sparkle.

One of the galleries I show at will be having a an artist's reception tomorrow evening and I will have four bottle paintings on display. Wish me luck!