September Challenge Day 5

Enchanting Atlanta

This is an example of my ADD, obsessions, and the thrill of my artwork.  So, here are some of the connections.  I had 'splatter painted' acrylics before, so I thought it would work with watercolor.  My youngest daughter now works in downtown Atlanta so I scoured the internet for pictures of the Atlanta skyline. Her office group may want to do a group painting class, so I thought the 30/30 challenge would be a great time to work on another series.  Read: Forget roosters! I drew a pattern on paper, cut it out and drew the outline on the watercolor paper I  had created. It was a pain to cut the heavy watercolor paper, but Voilà!  It worked!  

September Challenge Day 4

Hey, Mister!  12x12  Acrylic

Feathers are rather fun with a palette knife!  This is an example of why I like to paint with a palette knife.  The more you 'let go' and try NOT to try so hard, the better the painting is.  My photograph has a bit of reflection on it, but it gave a chance to show some of the strokes of my palette knife.
Well, I feel as if I am finished with my series of roosters.  Tell me what is worth crowing about and which one is your favorite.

September Challenge Day 3

'Sassy'    Acrylic  6x6

This just proves that we work well in our own comfort zone.  For my rooster series, I went back to my palette knife and a tried and true favorite color - Prussian Blue.  He crows! This fella was a lot of fun to work on.  I have one more rooster planned, let me know which one in the series you like best!

You can see my collection of art work at  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/elaine-ford-5747/artwork.  Enjoy!

September Challenge Day 2

Same Bird  Different Day

Acrylic on Canvas  11x14

This bird survived to live another day. Literally.  I wanted to paint a series of roosters for this paint challenge, but when I tried to work on him, work on him, work on him yesterday, it was just not happening.  Some days are like that. So after contacting my good friend,Sandy Abouda, (see http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/sandy-abouda-5043) who suggested I try a yellow background, I set once again to repainting this proud fella.  He worked out well enough for me to post. 

Let me know which rooster in the series is your favorite!

September Challenge Day 1

Hood Street House

This was a plein air painting done under the instruction of Levi Myers at the Hood Street Art Center here in McDonough.  My learning curve was very steep as this was done with brushes instead of my favored palette knife and my canvas was at eye level to try and capture the correct angles and proportions.  

Although my painting is less than perfect, my knowledge of painting en plain air is greater.  I do feel I found the serenity and gentle quietness of this sweet Southern home.

Hood Street House   Oil on board   8'x7"  Available at Elaine Ford Gallery Daily Paintworks

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!