Painting Together

Sunflower Radiance 

The end of summer brings a new season of possibilities. For me, it is a new season of painting ideas, opportunities, classes, and a CHALLENGE! Before I tell you more specifics, I want to tell you about the 'Sips and Strokes' class I had recently.

I was referred by a friend to the event planner at Eagles Landing Country Club.  We set up for 30 people to paint sunflowers.  It was a learning curve for me as I had not done a painting class for so many before.  I painted a few practice pieces and took some pictures along the way.

These became the basis of a handout I created for the class that included my contact information.

Sunflower  Radiance           Elaine  Ford

http://creativeinspirationsbyelaine.blogspot.com

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/elaine-ford

Facebook   Elaine Ford Art

marela54@gmail.com     706-537-1564

I made a pattern of the sunflower on tag board and with the help of my daughter, Katie, sketched the sunflower shape onto thirty 11x14 canvases. Thank you, Katie for all of your help!  I controlled the painting environment by only 'serving' the red and sap green on their paper plate paint pallet to begin.  This forced them to mix their brown with the red and green to paint the background color and center of the sunflower first. Painting leaves and then the petals came next.  I had both a warm and a cool yellow along with some thickening medium to create the texture.  As you can see from the pictures below, good times and successful paintings were created that night!

My next painting class will be at The French Market and Tavern in Locust Grove on Tuesday October 6.  We plan to paint roosters and hope that many will come out for this Corks and Canvas event.  Ladies, bring a group of girlfriends or make it a fun and special date night! More information is available at events@frenchmarkettavern.com 

Now, on to other happenings!  My friend and talented pallet knife mentor, Leslie Saeta is holding her September 2015 Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge!  I have taken two workshops with Leslie and began a painting challenge with her two years ago.  The challenge is just that for the artist; it's an encouragement to paint more and the opportunity to share both on Leslie's blog and my own! See http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com to see all of the artwork posted each day.

For this challenge, I want to paint a series of different things as I plan for my own upcoming events.  My first series will be several roosters in hopes of some ideas for my painting class.  Let me know if you would like to schedule an event or charity fund raiser. I hope you join me each day in September as I dig down deep for some fresh paintings, inspirations, and conversations with you!

Love and Home Grown Tomatoes

I have to confess. I stole this title.  The Community Gardens of Henry County is hosting an event by this name tomorrow at Heritage Park in McDonough. The purpose of the event is to raise funds so that their community gardening initiative can continue as well as enable them to provide locally grown vegetables from their Helping Harvests Gardens to food pantries and other non-profits who help feed the needy in Henry County.  I plan to attend the event and have some of my paintings available for sale. I also plan to indulge in one of their luscious tomato sandwiches.  I hope they have an abundance of napkins!

I did a series of tomato paintings back in September of 2014, but as I am ready to offer them again, I thought I would repost them in my blog.  Painting a series is a challenging, rewarding, and profitable exercise.  It gives you a chance for a do-over without the stigma of 'failing'.  For instance, I tried a  new orange paint rather than mixing my own, and found out I could make the tomatoes really pop!  I have tried different backgrounds and groupings and came up with multiple ideas that worked. Working on a 6"x6" gesso board with a palette knife gives me the quick, impressionistic look that I love. I will apply these 'tried and true' as well as 'tried and failed' ideas on other paintings that I do.

'Big Boy'    6"x6"      Oil on Gessoboard  

'Summer Trio'   6"x6"      Oil on Gessoboard   

'Hanging Together"  6"x6"      Oil on Gessoboard  

'Fresh Pick'   6"x6"      Oil on Gessoboard  

Have you ever tried to paint a series?  What worked well for you?  What problems did you have?  What did you learn?  Was there a particular size or color palette that worked for you?  What subjects would you suggest?  I would love to have your ideas and comments. Maybe this will begin some further discussions on this blog and new ideas for all of us.  I'm thinking of doing another series, this time with Mason jars.  Stay tuned....

As always, you can find more of my art for your viewing pleasure and purchase at Elaine Ford Gallery of Original Fine Art.  You can also find me on  Facebook at Elaine Ford Art or email me at marela54@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Pretty in Purple

A Sweet friend and fellow artist, Sandy Abouda, took a picture of some pansies recently and we both set out for the challenge of painting them with a palette knife.  It was a lesson in patience and practice!  Purples are a difficult color for me, even though it is a favorite!

Waiting in Line

My drawing skills were put to the test on this painting, the third in the series from Leslie Saeta's palette knife workshop.  I actually ended up graphing the picture that had been printed and then transferring the grid to my board.  It makes complicated compositions a lot easier!

I desperately wanted to use some Phthalo Green in this painting and I think it turned out wonderfully well. It is a great color to mix with blues for the water.

A Box of Chocolates

This is the second in a series of paintings done at Leslie Saeta's workshop in Atlanta earlier in March.
We all retained a red bow, but made the color of the box and background our own.  One of the other artists said mine looked like a wonderful "Box of Chocolates".  I liked the name.  I am still amazed that such odd blocks of color up close, make for such a 3 dimensional look from a distance!

Juiciness

still life,oil on gessoboard,6x6,price $50

I had the great joy of attending Leslie Saeta's Palette Knife workshop in Atlanta  a few weeks ago.  Three whole days of painting, learning, and enjoying new friends was exhilarating!
This is my painting from Day 1. I loved mixing the colors!

Grinch Hands

What fun I had painting these!  I made 5 to sell at our Holiday Arts Festival held on McDonough Square each November. The Grinch always makes a grand entrance to take pictures with the kids, so I thought it would be a great addition to make a photo mat for those cute photos! It is painted on suede mat board and the circle was cut out by the gentleman that does my matting and framing.  I hope the Grinch does not carry you away this Christmas!