Green Eyed Painter

Artwork at City Hall

2009-03-28T11:05:00.005-04:00

I filled the showcase in the lobby of our City Hall with my "plein-air" work. The board in the lower left explains that "plein-air" is a French term and usually refers to painting outdoors. I also gave an explanation of where each of the paintings was painted. I also hung two larger painting in the loby area.

Sage Landscape, an oil and beewax on panel, painted 2007-9.

Georgie's Look, a watercolor batik on rice paper, painted in 2008

Photographing My Art

2009-03-24T13:11:00.005-04:00

John and I are working on photographing my work so that I can be made into giclee prints. John bought a new Sony A350 camera (14mp) to do the job. Next we had to figure out the lighting. This is a NON-professional way to light the work. With the 500w bulbs, it would only be safe to leave them on for a very short time. We got 2 umbrellas from Cord Camera and rigged up 2 GE Photofloods, 2 tripods and clip on lights.

We are still experimenting with the best exposure. When I went to use Photoshop in my new MacBook I found out that I needed Photoshop 6, so that delayed us while I got a free trial. We'll be back at it today, when John gets home. (I'm off school because of spring break!)

The Painting Studio

2009-03-23T16:03:00.007-04:00

There is an approximately 10x10 space in my basement that has become my painting studio. With lots of lighting and a ventilation system...here are the 4 wall of my basement painting studio.
This is the painting area. In the background is a wall made from birch panel (unfinished) that I can hang work on for storage, and to see paintings from a distance.

My pallet is an old window that I painted white on the opposite side. Lots of brushes, wax paste, and an old jar with a brush cleaner inside. Natural Turpenoid for a hand cleaner.

To the right of the painting area are two huge storage shelves that my mother-in-law found on Craigs List. They also serve as a place to prop up work for storage and for seeing from a distance. They are very valuable storage space for finished work and blank panels and canvases etc...
Behind the painting area is my sewing machine and two unfinished landscape quilts. (There is a brown fabric peeking out from under the top quilt.) This is a pretty small area for sewing. When I work on the quilts, I'll move everything to my upstairs studio that has a big work space for sewing or painting watercolors.
These two shelves serve as a wall separating my studio from the rest of the basement. Lots of toxic stuff, tools, sketchbooks, music, etc...

Here it is from a distance...cozy...just enough room to work.