Allentown rewind

The Allentown Arts Festival has come and gone for another year. No awards for me this time, but I knew there was NO way I could top last year. Two picture perfect weather days and winning first place...kinda hard to top that!
Setting up Friday night was unreal- gale force winds and rain so hard that I thought the tent would blow away! We we so lucky...just as we got the tent set up to where we could stand inside, the storm hit. Lots of people got drenched, and Bob got wet going outside to secure things, but all in all, it could have been a lot worse.
Saturday started slow, with the clouds and weather forcasts scaring people away, but as the day wore on, the sun came out and so did the people. Sunday was the best day. Sunny and not too warm...perfect. Considering gas prices and all, sales were good for me. No originals sold, but I did sell 2 large framed motorcycle Giclees, plus a number of prints and notecard sets.
For us, the best part of doing the artshows are simply being out and away from the daily grind. No cooking, cleaning, yard work...you name it. The people watching is fun, too. I'm sure we all wish we could sell more work, but in this economy, I was quite happy to make as much as I did.
I would love to hear from other artists and their experiences with Allentown, or other outdoor shows.

Busy spring...

Every year I forget how busy Spring can be! I guess for avid gardeners such as myself, this is THE time of year for us! I've been really busy planting this year. I'm planting more vegetables than ever- if I cuts down my grocery store trips...Yay!
Now that my large motorcycle painting is done, it's been time to concentrate on smaller paintings. This tulip was growing in my front flower bed- surrounded by evergreens and other plants, or else it would have been devoured by deer! These little flower studies are fun. If I wasn't such a computer simpleton, I would have added another tulip painting I've done on the blog, but I'm not sure how! More to learn!
I've done a number of smaller paintings that I hope will help to boost sales this year. I have no idea what effect this stellar economy will have on sales at the outdoor shows this year. I will "report" on the shows...the sales, the crowds, etc. Would love to hear from other artists as well.

Ready to ride!

Wow....is it really done? Artists always have a hard time knowing when to stop. There is no magic genie that comes out and tells you..."yes, it's done, now stop!" What I do now is to let it "mellow" for a while- which for me means to set it aside in my studio and just look at it, for a while, every now and then. I've caught so many mistakes that way! Sometimes just catching it out of the corner of my eye, and then a light bulb moment comes and you just know why a section of your painting has proved troublesome. Sometimes the value needs adjustment, sometimes those troublesome areas need to be shadowed off to make them less prominent. This painting will mellow for a while, and any adjustments I make will be minor ones. When I started this painting, it was freezing out and there was a lot of snow on the ground. Now, the trees are leafing out and the daffodils, hyacinths, and my blue poppies are blooming. It's been a looooong ride!!
Next project? I have no idea right now. And it's fun. I love to browse through my reference material to see what inspires....

Nearing the end!

The finish line is in sight! Now comes more and more fine detail work, all the while adjusting values now that more areas are completed. With Payne's Gray drying 40% lighter than when it's wet, it requires more layering to get just the right value level. This is fun for me- not all artists enjoy such labor intensive detail work, but I certainly do. I'm especially enjoying painting the tree reflections right now-nice to see some green! Our flowers are beginning to bloom, and we've had great weather this week, so the green leaves are coming. With the better weather, it's going to take a lot of discipline to work as hard as I need to to get this painting completed! Allentown is the second weekend in June, so that deadline sure helps. I'm hoping for the same fabulous weather we had last year...fingers crossed!

Getting deeper...

I'm beginning to see some actual progress here! I've put in more tree reflections, and the addition of more dark colors gives the chrome more punch. Even with a tight drawing like this one, I have a lot of freedom with colors and such. This motorcycle has fabulous airbrush art- from the Renaissance Festival where we got the bike, and the airbrush art ads some nice, unexpected colors to the painting. This type of painting is a lot of fun for me. It does take FOREVER, but I enjoy spending time in my studio so much, and a painting of this type requires just that.

It's all in the details....

Details, details! The image is beginning to take shape. The addition of more and more darks really ramps up the chrome effects. I always find it funny in these paintings to find myself in them! My reflection is in the center of the light itself, in the small curved center. And I'll find other areas in the painting where I spot myself, either my hair color, my clothing, etc.
I'm looking to get this painting completed in the next several weeks...hopefully!

Must be spring...

I've been working on the numerous tree reflections- our trees here are barely beginning to bud! I love Maimerblu's sap green- that's my standard "go to" green. I've used that with Windsor Lemon and some deep blues for depth and shade. And here and there I'm filling in more darks and middle value reflections. Payne's Grey is my standard dark chrome reflection color. It is slowly, slowly, coming together.
The tree shapes are fun to do. I don't need to be as exacting there as I do with the engine and body parts of the bike. Guess it's "back to work" time!