Summer's In Full Swing

Busy summer, actually.  My new grandson Eli (5 grandkids, now!) was born a couple of weeks ago.  My husband and I went to Seattle to help his brothers and parents.  We also took a few days off and went to Whistler.

I was glad I mustered the courage to take the ski lift - what fantastic views!

Back home, I was thrilled to find out I had won third place in the annual Colored Pencil Magazine competiton.

"Maryland Plaza", 11 x 14 

click here to purchase

I've been focusing on cityscapes & I'm gradually building a nice body of work.  I'm working on Duralar, a brand of frosted acetate film.  Several layers of pencil on the front and more on the back give it rich, saturated color.  Here's what I'm working on now:

This one is of a restaurant in a south St. Louis neighborhood.  I caught a waitress writing on the chalkboard outside, plus the fabulous light.  No title yet, but maybe "The Daily Special".  Any other ideas?

Procrastinate Tomorrow

I saw that motto recently, it doesn't describe me at all, I just like it.  Actually, I'm a doer.  I make lists & check them off.  Today I checked off two new paintings and started another.  I ordered new business cards, became a member of the Pencil Art Society and started painting my dining room table black (it's dark cherry).

This is my dining room/studio.  I was using a drafting table, but when I started getting shoulder pain, I switched to my dining room table so I could draw on a flat surface.  That's the buffet, converted into a computer desk.  And yes, those are golf clubs, an important part of my studio.  The painting on the wall was done by my husband's uncle, by the way.

My two new cityscape paintings are for sale here and here.

"Restaurant On Main" 5" x 7" $130 (unframed)

"Little Hills" 11" x 14" $300 (unframed)

 So, are you a doer or a procrastinator?

My New Art Studio

I'm exhausted.  My husband & I had two of our grandkids stay this past weekend while their parents went out of town.  What a whirlwind!  So I'm having a quiet (ahhhh, no commotion, just silence) day.  Last week, before the grandkids came, I painted my dining room white.  It was a pale yellow, but I got tired of it.  So, while I was paintng, a thought occurred.  This room has such great light - I rarely use it - this would make a wonderful art studio!  I had all of my art stuff in a spare bedroom, an office/studio type set-up.  But I actually thought I'd love to be in this room every day since the bedroom is small & has a tiny window.  Here's the dining room before:

Here's my new studio:

I love it!  I'm still getting organized.  I'm going to take down the chandelier - I keep bumping my head on it since there's no dining room table!  The large painting was done by my husband's uncle, an artist.  Maybe this is a bit unconventional, but I think I'll be glad to get lots of use out of this room.  Here's what I'm working on right now, one of my new landscapes:

Have you repurposed a room?

I'm In A Mood

It's been one of those weekends.  My husband and I have been talking about some business decisions and I'm exhausted.  You know how when you're in one of those moods you just think about the same thing over and over?  Anyway, this book that I ordered arrived!  I've already read most of it..  I'm starting to feel better!

 

I've been thinking (over and over) that while my colored pencil paintings are good they're lacking in emotion. Watercolor and mixed media artist Gerald Brommer gets right to the point:

An artist who makes pictures that look good but express nothing is like a writer whose words sound good but have no meaning.

Cheers to emotion!  Meanwhile, here's my latest work-in-progress:

Any thoughts about how to communicate through art?

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?

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

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

Art Galleries Are More Than A Place To Sell Art

My colored pencil art is sold at Wood Icing Gallery.  Hard to believe I've been there a year!  I remember when I first went in to show my work to the gallery owner, Heather Haymart.  I threw about 15 pieces into a folder, headed out to the gallery.  I spread them out on a table, not sure whether or not they were good enough.  The art around me in the gallery was high caliber - many of the artists are juried members of various organizations.  Happily, Heather liked my paintings and I began my lovely association with her gallery.  I work every Wednesday and it's a pleasure.  I get to draw all day and talk to nice folks who come in to look at art.

The gallery also sells wood refinishing products, including Wood Icing and Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  I love the camaraderie among the artists.  We sometimes come together as a group for discussions about art and art marketing.  Every one is supportive and friendly.  I've heard about artist egos, but none of that here!  If you're in St. Louis, come visit me at the gallery.  I'll be drawing and we can chat!

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...