Stand On Your Head

Looking at a painting from a different vantage point helps you to see mistakes in composition and value.  I don't literally stand on my head, but sometimes I turn the painting upside down.  One of my favorite artist/authors is Lori McKnee and this article describes the advantages of doing that.  Turning the painting upside down allows you to see the composition differently.  Turning your head to the side can sometimes do the same thing.  Can you still see the focal point?  How does your eye enter the composition and move around?

Here's a work-in-progress, from a series of city scenes.  I can see the negative shapes of the sky better when it's turned upside down as well as how the composition is working.

My favorite method, though, of checking on how I'm doing is taking photos and looking at them on my computer screen.  I suddenly see mistakes in drawing or in value a lot better by looking at a photo.  Some artists use a mirror to do the same thing.  I don't really stand on my head (I never could do that!).  Do you use these methods to assess your progress?

Learning From Ann Kullberg

I browse the internet often, looking at other artists' work.  I learn a lot.  One of my favorite colored pencil artists is Ann Kullberg.  Her website offers workshops and gallery images.  She is a master artist, particularly of portraits.  I have several of her books, but the one I look at the most is Colored Pencil Portraits, Step By Step.  One idea I learned from this book is to push values.  

                                                    The Listener  by Ann Kullberg

This is a great example of one of her colored pencil portraits.  She left the top portion of the pants stark white against a dark background.  The contrast gives it punch!  When I look at my own work as well as the work of others, what catches my eye (no matter the subject or medium) is strong value contrast.

I started a painting with this in mind, using back lighting to create strong value contrast.  I've left some of the street and sidewalk white.  The bushes in the middle will be the darkest value.  I'll post this painting again, and hopefully what I'm learning from Ann Kullberg will show.  Do you learn from other artists?

Three Art Galleries I Love

I just got back from Seattle (that's why I didn't post last week), visiting my kids and grandkids.  Great time, terrible weather.  But my daughter and I managed to drive out of the city to Edmonds.  This is such a darling little place.  Cute shops and lovely art galleries.  This time, we went to two galleries:  Semantics and Cole.  We visited Semantics last summer for a colored pencil exhibit.

                                                                   Semantics Gallery

                                                                    Cole Gallery

This time we included Cole gallery because Eileen Sorg has a special exhibit of her colored pencil works.  I'm blown away by the talent of these artists!  Excited, too, because she's offering a workshop in October.  Gotta try to go to that.

We also went to the Women Painters Of Washington exhibit, "Encounters".  I'm envious of this group and wish there was something similar where I live.  Their gallery is located in downtown Seattle.  There were various mediums, just one colored pencil piece.  I'm always thrilled to see other colored pencil work up close.

Have you been to any exhibits lately?

What's So Great About Blogging?

 I really didn't want to write a blog, because I thought I'd run out of things to write about.  It has happened a couple of times, but for the most part I do come up with ideas.  Blogs are easy to set up. You can even write your post ahead of time & set to publish whenever you want at a later date.  There are templates to choose from for the design, colors, fonts, you name it.  It's actually fun.  After I got the hang of it, I added widgets.  I just created a new banner - what do you think? 

 Blogs help artists reach beyond the canvas or the computer screen and make contact with other people all across the world.  Blogs provide any creative-minded individual the opportunity to share their work with the world. Blogging, combined with social media and online art communities offers artists a unique opportunity for self-promotion, expanded viewership, and ultimately, contacts with buyers.  Although galleries are still important, most folks realize that the internet is where it's at.  Blogs allow artists to show works-in-progress. You can receive feedback and criticism before the work is finalized, make changes, and contemplate new ideas and suggestions.  Blogging can help bring the world to your art, and your art to the world.

You're already reading blogs...do you write one?

                                  Two Cherries, 3 x 3 on miniature easel Buy this on Daily Paintworks

How Do You Sign Your Name?

 I've seen a few paintings that don't have any signature at all.  The last time a Monet exhibit was in St. Louis, I learned that the family signed for him.  I thought those signatures looked too perfect (they were a stamp)!  When I began doing my colored pencil work and framing them for the gallery I signed my whole name:

                           
                                                  Three In A Jar 6 x 6 Buy this painting on Etsy

Lately, I've been playing around with my signature.  I looked at a lot of other artists - wow, what an array of styles!  Initials only, last name only, first name only, you name it (sorry for that).  I thought about a qr code:

                                                 
How cool would that be?  But I finally decided on using my initials:

                                                 Blue Butterfly 8 x 8 Buy this painting on Etsy

How do you sign your name?

Your Website: An Important Art Tool

The first thing I did when I jumped into my art career was get a website.  Lucky for me, my daughter the computer genius made my website.  We narrowed down what sort of pages I wanted.  I set my goal for the website, which is to display my work.  Some folks sell their artwork on their website and give information about their technique (not me).

If your goal is to display your work, you ought to have these five pages:

•  A home page: this page gives an overview of the website and lets visitors know what’s in store for them. You can include news items such as upcoming exhibitions.

• A bio page: toot your horn!  Talk about collections your work is in, awards you've received, your solo and group shows, and other “credentials”.

• An artist statement page:  the artist statement can be a stand-alone page, or can be included as a section of the "About the Artist" page. The decision is yours, and will depend on how much focus you want to bring to the statement.

• A contact page: this page lists all of the means of contacting you. 

• A gallery page: there are as many ways of presenting artworks on the web as there are website designers. In general, the gallery page will contain thumbnail images of your artwork. 

If you have a website, take a fresh look with some of these ideas in mind.  If not, consider getting one!

 Meanwhile, check out my new piece available on Etsy.

                                        Grape Reflection 8 x 10 colored pencil all rights reserved
                                        by Susie Tenzer   BUY THIS PAINTING

Best Free Art Exhibit Spaces You Haven't Thought Of

I just installed ten of my colored pencil art paintings at a local library, the St. Louis county library Daniel Boone Branch. for the month of April.  They were super nice and I love how my art looks among the book shelves!  The Greater St. Louis Artist Association has many opportunities for juried members to display their work in a variety of venues.

Call your local library to find out whether or not you can display your art - sometimes there is a waiting list, but they're very happy to have your work.

Last year I had an exhibit of my work at a local nursing home, Brooking Park.  This was also for one month.  The residents enjoyed seeing original art.  Many visitors came through the show as well as staff members - all potential buyers!  I was able to leave business cards and information about my custom house portraits.

I displayed my paintings in a local coffee shop for a month.  Unfortunately this one wasn't satisfactory for me - the owner took my paintings off the walls to put up another artist's work without telling me.  My paintings were sitting on a back shelf with the coffee for two weeks.  Ugh.  I still think this is a great idea, though.  I'm looking for a little restaurant or cafe next time.

I just heard an idea about showing art in a home - creating a private exhibit - on the Artists Helping Artists radio show with Leslie Saeta.  Sounds like fun, maybe wine and cheese?

So...think outside your art exhibit box...

Sold!

                                             ACEO  "Two Cherries"  Susie Tenzer on Etsy

Underpainting: Get Your Glow On

I love using an underpainting. Sometimes I use a yellow wash of colored pencil before layering other colors.  Here's an example of a recent painting of green apples which I began with yellow:

Apple Juice, 11 x 12 

See how the yellow shines through the layers of color to create a glow?  I've used this method with other colors as well.  If I'm not sure whether or not it will work (or look good after a lot of layers) I use a scrap piece of paper to work out the order of the colors.  I write down the names of each color so I'll remember what I did in case I stop and come back to it the next day.  Give it a try, I think you'll like this technique.

I want to thank the folks at the Greater St. Louis Art Association for having me present a workshop this past week.  It was a pleasure to speak to his talented group of artists.  I gave them my top tips for selling online as well as some of my favorite colored pencil techniques.  If you're in the St. Louis area check out their juried Art Fair at Queeny Park, March 30 - April 1

Blue Butterfly And Other Things

I went to the Missouri botanical garden's butterfly house last week because it's March Morpho month.  They had 3000 blue Morpho butterflies!  It really was spectacular, they were everywhere.  I had a hard time taking photos of them - none wanted to land for the perfect shot.  I did manage to get enough photos to begin a new painting filled with shadow, light and bold color:

Busy month, actually.  I'm getting ready to give a workshop on colored pencil technique to the Greater St. Louis Art Association this week.  I'm getting some pieces ready to hang at the Daniel Boone Library in Ellisville, MO. for the month of April.  One of my favorite paintings, Dancing Peppers was accepted into the Art St. Louis exhibit "Food Glorious Food":

I don't want to forget to show you my dining room!

 It's finished and I love it.  Don't mind the paint cans.

Painting Inside And Outside The House

I spent the weekend painting inside and outside the house.  I saw this lovely dining room on Houzz:

So I decided to do it in my dining room.  Wood Icing Gallery, where I sell my colored pencil paintings, also sells wood refinishing products.  I decided to use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  Everything I've heard about it is true, I didn't sand or prime (I did wipe it down, but that just took a minute).  I did the first coat in about an hour.

I'm on to the second coat today, then the wax.  I'll show you the finished dining room next week.

I also did a house portrait, a lovely home with spring plantings.  I enjoy doing these house portraits!  If you're interested in having one done of your house or a special place (maybe the church where you were married or the your childhood school), you can order one here:

                                Custom House Portrait 5 x 7 $170 8 x 10 $250 But It On Etsy

Selling Art Online Is An Art

     I spent the whole day Saturday creating my first power point presentation.  It didn't take very long to put together, but I lingered looking at the various ways I could make things flash and zoom.  The fonts!  The clip art!  I'm giving a presentation to the Greater St. Louis Art Association later this month.  I'll be talking about my colored pencil process and how I sell art online.  I have an hour to fill, so I thought I'd talk for 30 minutes about  colored pencil technique and use the rest of my time for art marketing.
     When I think about all the internet sites I've shown my paintings this past year, I'm amazed.  A year ago I didn't even know what Pinterest was (was Pinterest around a year ago?).  I'm going to encourage the audience to consider, if they haven't, the importance of having a website.  I have a terrific website created lovingly by my computer savvy daughter.  It has the main ingredients: home page, bio, artist statement, contact and link information.  She added a page for me about commissions.  We tweak it from time to time.
    I thought about calling my presentation, "Twelve Ways To Sell Art In 2012."  I have an Etsy Shop where I sell original paintings, prints and note cards.  I also have a shop on DailyPaintWorks where I can set up affordable auctions.  It's sort of like Ebay except it's all original art.  I'll tell them all I know (listen to me, now I'm a know-it-all) about social media, since I have a Facebook page, Twitter account, Flickr page, StumbleUpon page and - oh yeah - a Pinterest account!  If anyone wants to know about my newsletter, I'll tell them I use Mad Mimi.  (if you'd like to sign up for my free monthly newsletter, you can do it from this blog - upper right hand corner, just takes a minute).   I'll tell them about my blog and all the nice people I've met.  I think that's only nine ways I'm selling my art online, but it's still a lot.

Original mini canvas painting, 3" x 3" colored pencil by Susie Tenzer Buy it on Etsy $25

When Creating Art Sometimes You Have To Just Walk Away

I learned this from golf:  when you're in the middle of a swing and it just doesn't feel right, stop and start over.  It's hard to do.  Recently I posted a painting with two ducks and some fish  that I spent three weeks working on.  Last week, though, I stepped back from my drafting board to check the tonal values and I knew it was time to quit. One of the ducks looked stiff to me.  The water wasn't showing any movement.  I couldn't get the fish to disappear underneath the water.  I realized I'd used the more textured side of the Stonehenge paper. So, even though I invested three weeks of my precious art life in this painting, I'm glad I quit.  I learned I love the smooth side of Stonehenge because of the way it takes color.  I was trying to change the photo too much and it just didn't work for me. I just finished a new painting and I love the reflection of the grapes in the silver bowl.

Grape Reflection by Susie Tenzer, 8" x 10" colored pencil (all rights reserved)  Buy this painting

I'm participating in a blog hop this week.  What's that?  It's a fun activity where you can visit a lot of wonderful blogs.  Click on the Blog Love Therapy below & start hopping!  See you in a couple of weeks, I'll be out of town visiting my adorable grandkids.

Playing With Paintings And Children

Ahhh...the sound of silence.  I love my grandchildren, don't get me wrong, but after a week of preschoolers, I'm happy about my silent house.  My two grandsons from Seattle visited over the Martin Luther King holiday (no school) and when they returned home, it snowed (no school again).  My daughter turned her house into a mini art studio!  They painted on the glass patio doors and made cookie crayons.  So adorable!  I think they had a great time playing with art.
Meanwhile, I'm playing with my own painting.  Awhile back I took a lot of photos of ducks and koi fish at the Missouri Botanical Garden, so I had one enlarged.  I usually try to take excellent photos and pretty much draw what I see.  This time, though, I'm changing things around because the photo is awful and I think I can do better.  I cropped it so it will be 10" X 10".  I'm kind of into the square format lately.  I want the water to be grayish blue (not yucky green).  I'll make one bright orange fish as the focal point.  The two ducks are Mallards, but I'm making them male (mating season) so they have more color.  I found some nice reference photos online so I can get the colors right.

                                        I'm using my photo (above).  Here's my drawing (below)

                                             

I tend to work all around the paper, doing some background, then some of the focal point, adjusting values along the way.  So far, I've done a bit of the upper left corner of the water, with some of the orange fish.  I've laid in some blueish green for the Mallard's distinctive head.  Back and forth it goes.  What's your process?  I'm off to check my inbox, maybe there are more photos of my grandkids playing with art...

Do You Have Cyber Friends?

I have different kinds of friends.  Friends that are acquaintances, like my book club friends.  Friends that are work related, like my artist friends.  Hinda is a friend that I've had forever, who would do anything for me.  We're so close we don't even remember how we met.  Now I have a new category, "cyber" friend.  Last week I was looking at my Etsy shop and I popped in on a discussion thread of a promotional team that I'm on.  I was shocked to see everyone was talking about a team member whose husband had just died.  I don't know any of these people but it was very sad.  One lady proposed we collect money to send her a food gift.  She created a gift account in PayPal and after a couple of days there was almost $200!  The woman whose husband died was so appreciative.  Janice has become my cyber friend.  We've actually been friends for 48 years!  I got her name when I was 12 as a pen pal in elementary school and we've been corresponding ever since.  She lives in England.  We just started emailing and she checks my FaceBook page to see what's new.  I sent her a photo of my latest work-in-progress:

 
This one is fun!  I love to do glass.  I set up the props and took the photo (a lot of photos).  Hopefully I'll finish it in a week or so.  I plan to enter this one in a competition.  To all my friends, cyber or not, have a very happy healthy New Year!

Top Five Food Blogs

I have a new found love of food.  I didn't always love food.  For many years, due to a chronic illness, I had to limit salt.  My cooking was bland, my food life was blah.  Now that I'm able to eat normally, I'm becoming a bit adventurous.  Have you noticed that I paint a lot of food?  I love the colors, shapes and textures of food.

Here's one of my food photos, a set up for a new painting.

Here's the painting, "Two Scoops".  I'll be posting this painting and more small works on Etsy

 I recently discovered the world of food blogs.  Some of these blogs have the most amazing photos of food you'll ever see!  Here are my top five favorite food blogs:
1.  Smitten Kitchen  Written in an easy, breezy style by Deb Perelman, this food blog is about classic comfort food.  No fancy food ingredients, here!  Just good food & amazing photos.
2.  101 Cookbooks  This one is by Heidi Swenson.  She features wholesome, vegetarian recipes along with fabulous photos.  The food reflects her world travels.  I want to try the Baked Quinoa Patties.
3.  Seven Spoons  This blog has lovely photos and great writing by Tara O'Grady.  She makes each recipe look and sound delicious!
4. TasteSpotting  Talk about beautiful photos!  Folks submit food photos, you click on the photo and are taken to the recipe.  You can search by various categories.
5.  Foodgawker  This is the same idea as TasteSpotting.  I could spend hours looking at these photos and I've tried several of the recipes.  There's a "gawkerverse": dwellinggawker, weddinggawker and  craftgawker.

Do you look at food blogs?  Any favorites?