Owner: Pastel & Paint: Lesly Finn's Art URL:http://leslyfinnsart.blogspot.com Join Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:44:36 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: This is my blog about making art. Here you can see work in progress, view finished artworks, find art news, art talk, demonstrations and links to other artists. Site statistics:Click here
new acrylic finished ..... 2007-07-04 22:03:00 and here it is ..... please feel free to fire away!Untitled acrylic on canvas (24" x 36")Technorati Tags Art, Weblog, Blog, acrylic, Painting,
new acrylic .... next stage 2007-07-03 20:16:00 OK, here goes. Been working on this all morning and I think its almost what I want. Just not sure whether more definition is needed on the centre persimmon. Also wondering whether or not to do some more 'panels' of colour glazes from top to bottom.So ... I hope that people will give me their considered opinion ....Technorati Tags Art, Weblog, Blog, acrylic, Painting,
Weekend Workshop with Ben Ho 2007-07-17 00:11:00 Thirteen eager beavers gathered on Saturday at 9 am for the first day of a painting workshop with Auckland artist Ben Ho. It was bitterly cold and, as the venue was being held in the old Customs House in Oamaru (home of the North Otago Art Society), numerous electric fires were put into operation .... with disastrous results as the fuses kept blowing! But undaunted we soldiered on with the help of many layers of clothing and warm scarves!The workshop was really intended for oil painters but there were about three of us who followed along using our acrylic paints. The format was that we all worked from the same photograph (or hymn sheet!) with landscape as the subject on Day One and portraiture on Day Two. Each day comprising a mixture of demonstrations by Ben followed by periods of 'putting into practice' by us.It was great to watch a fine artist like Ben demonstrating the stages that he works through for his paintings. and also explaining what colours he was using and what effects Read more:Weekend
, Workshop
A Rewarding Friday 13th! 2007-07-15 23:12:00 On Friday
evening we attended the opening bash for the 13th Biennial Oamaru Licensing Trust Art Awards 2007. These awards have three categories: Open Art Awards, China Painting Awards (both of which are open to any artist resident in the South Island) and Local Art Awards (open only to artists from North Otago). This year 84 paintings were selected by the jury from well over 100 entries and the standard of work is high overall. The evening was attended by artists, invited members of the public and local dignitaries, and was a very jolly affair with more than enough wine and nibbles to go round!Final judging had been undertaken by invited Auckland artist, Ben Ho and, although I was not one of the main winners, I was delighted to receive a Merit award for my painting "Past Performance"!13th Biennial Oamaru Licensing Trust Art Awards Exhibition14 July - 12 August 2007Forrester Gallery, OamaruOpen Daily 10.30 - 4.30
Pastel workshop 2007-07-19 15:21:00 On Wednesday I acted as tutor for a pastel workshop for our local art group, which was held in the next village in St John's Church Hall, Waikaouti. We had eight attendees in the morning and seven in the afternoon, none had used pastel very often and for several it was a completely new experience.I started off just talking generally about soft pastels, papers and methods of working, and giving them a few tips from my own experience. Next the class were invited to choose from a selection of A4 size photocopies to work from .... these included a variety of subjects such as figures, flowers, fruit, etc, or they could choose to work from their own reference if they liked. Each was given two quarter sheets of Colorfix Pastel
paper, one cream colour and the other terracotta - one to be used in the morning and one in the afternoon.The emphasis was very much on individuals 'doing their own thing' and experimenting with the medium. Participants were encouraged to try out some of the pastels
Next piece on the easel 2007-07-23 00:13:00 Another painting started today ... again using acrylic on canvas. This is just the first 'rough in' stage, and is a stage I really enjoy doing. Am hoping to retain some of this freshness as I work on it further. Its certainly a cheerful subject to try mid-winter when the temperature outside is around 9C ......!Technorati Tags Art, Weblog, Blog, acrylic, Painting, Read more:piece
Caught napping! 2007-07-23 00:07:00 Just could not resist taking this photograph ..... John, Ollie and Pru having an after-lunch snooze yesterday! Read more:Caught
Hot gossip (28" x 24") 2007-07-29 16:05:00 This has not been going wonderfully well and I am undecided regarding its future ..... to sign and varnish? OR to obliterate the whole thing and start something else! But I thought I would post regardless so that its progression can be compared with the underpainting (see previous post). Right now I am absolutely sick of battling with acrylic paint!Technorati Tags Art, Weblog, Blog, acrylic, Painting,
Ed Labadie workshop ..... 2007-08-05 15:59:00 Have got my name down for another week-end workshop ..... this time on painting Abstracts with Ed Labadie. And I am really excited ..... ! Take a look at his work and you will understand WHY.Have also decided to do some more to Hot Gossip painting ... its really getting on my nerves still sitting there on my easel!!!!
from the heart .... Leah Hager Cohen 2007-08-07 20:18:00 Writers are artists, that much we know. But what is it that makes one person's words meaningful to another? Then again what is it that makes one person's painting resonate with another?Today I found a beautifully written blog called Love as a Found Object by American writer Leah Hager Cohen
. What is it about? Well, in her own words:"This blog is inspired by my mother, who was found to have ovarian cancer in April 2006 at age sixty-two. She has seen me for a writer my whole life, ever since I could make up stories and dictate them to her. In many ways, it is because of her that I am a writer. "I find reading Leah's posts is like reading a succession of short stories .... each one paints a little picture in my mind's eye and I am almost there with her and her family. It is neither morbid nor sentimental and, as a 62 year-old mother of grown-up children and a grandma myself, it definitely touches my heart. Leah Hager Cohen's author website can be found at www.leahhagercohen.com.
it's a blog's life! 2007-08-13 17:47:00 I haven't been paying much attention to my stats lately .... so its come as a bit of a shock to see that visitor numbers to this site have been falling a bit of late. I have to say that when I first started this blog 20 months ago I followed all the advice for promoting it to get it noticed and I watched over my visitor stats avidly! Since then I have become less inclined to put in the same amount of time .... constant promotional effort is required and life is just too short!Of course, if a blog meets a lot of people's requirements then it will gather an audience and climb the popularity charts virtually unaided, .... but such blogs are few and far between and obviously this is not one of them! Happily though, my other blog Art Blogs 4 U is doing far better! And there are now 117 artists listed and linked, many of whom have provided short bios about themselves plus images of their art for current and future postings. It is very gratifying that this little venture is providing a smal
destructive tendencies 2007-08-29 22:16:00 Once again I find myself uninspired and lacking direction, and the week is half over already. But with creativity playing 'hard to get' I have let my destructive tendencies loose and obliterated several paintings that I'm less than happy with. So now seven canvases, in a gorgeous shade of brick red, await the Phoenix of artistic interpretation to rise!I stayed my hand on this one, however, as I still quite like it .... well, I think I do! It's had a broad swipe of the red but its ultimate fate is yet to be decided ......... what do you think?Far horizons (Acrylic, 12 x 12 ins)Technorati Tags Art, Weblog, Blog, acrylic, Painting,
selling affordable art! 2007-08-28 17:24:00 2007 has been a lean old year for sales so far but I was very excited and pleased to hear that one of my paintings has sold on AFFORDABLE ART . It is not the money involved that pleases so much as the knowledge that someone has liked one of my paintings enough to want to own it!Beginnings (Acrylic on canvas)AFFORDABLE ART is an online gallery based locally which promotes work by New Zealand artists, and I have been showing there for about a year .... I am told that sales have picked up there recently, which is encouraging as art sales have been depressed in this part of the country for some time now.It is certainly a wee bit daunting when I study my sales records since starting to paint in 2000 (with the exception of 2007 all the following sales occurred in local and national exhibitions, together with a small local gallery):2000 sales = 12001 sales = 42002 sales = 52003 sales = 32004 sales = 122005 sales = 72006 sales = 42007 sales = 1 (so far!)The figures show that 2004 was certainly Read more:selling
my cats ........ 2007-08-27 17:42:00 Pru and Ollie... are brother and sister ... are ten years old... are wonderful house guards... have thrilling adventures (which we humans could well do without!)... insist on being side by side on my lap... call very loudly on moonlit nights... still play a wild game of 'tag'... bring wonderful (!) presents of dead rabbits and skinks ... are the nosiest I have ever known... like their tummies tickled... follow wherever we go... in fact are just PURRfect!
On my easel 2007-09-26 14:53:00 Fisher king (Acrylic)I have been working on this on and off for three weeks .... and still a long way to go, I think. Not my usual kind of subject but I was intending to enter it into a national exhibition in Auckland which has a section sponsored by the Heron family, to which artists are invited to enter a painting in any medium of this strange yet elegant bird. However, the entry date has come and gone and the painting still isn't finished! But I refuse to give up on it and intend working on it some more today.With regard to the exhibition I have entered two paintings to the Open section. This is the first time I have plucked up courage enough to enter anything to a really large Auckland show. I should hear in the next couple of days whether or not either one has been accepted. Fingers are firmly crossed!
Ed Labadie - Creating from Chaos 2007-09-23 20:17:00 Perhaps I need to write a little something about what we were actually doing at Ed Labadie's abstract workshop. Ed paints mostly in watercolour or oils and his process for creating abstracts is the same for both mediums. He calls this process 'CREATING FROM CHAOS' - follow this link for the demonstration DVD and/or a booklet about his method available for purchase.Basically this involves dropping colours randomly onto a wet ground, then allowing them to mix and mingle by tilting the support this way and that. When this initial layer is dry there follows a stage of contemplation, - viewing the painting from all angles and allowing it to 'speak' to you. How does it make you feel? What can you see? What are the important shape? Once you have made some decisions it's time to start developing different areas of the painting, eliminating distractions and accentuating your important elements. This is done with overpainting and glazing.Sound simple? Well, think again! Even the initial st Read more:Creating
, Chaos
Abstract Workshop - Day 2 2007-09-23 18:41:00 Night and Day (Acrylic on Bockingford Paper 300 gsm)Day 2 of the workshop did not go well! I started this painting immediately on arrival and worked at it all day .... and found it terribly hard work!Many of the artists attending the workshop started several paintings over the two days .... some as many as eight, but only a few got anything to a 'finished' stage. I felt like throwing in the towel more than once but was determined not to give in and persevered with different techniques and ideas, even resorting to cutting off some of the edges to try and to improve it. I am surprised at how good it looks in the photograph ..... so it may get a stay of execution! Read more:Abstract
, Workshop
Abstract Workshop - Day 1 2007-09-22 00:31:00 And now something completely different to my usual! .... done today at the workshop with Ed Labadie. I have cropped this a little to improve the balance of the composition, but I am quite pleased with it on the whole. Pity it was done in a class - this means it will not be possible to enter it into the majority of exhibitions.Girl at the bar (Acrylic) Read more:Abstract
, Workshop
Update on a Bright Spark! 2007-09-17 23:50:00 You may remember my post about the 'artistic gene' running through the maternal side of my family - the SPARKS? Well, my grand-daughter in UK has just sent me these photos of some of her latest work. I think you'll agree that she has made great progress in the past year .....Her name is Naomi and she will be 16 years old next month. Naturally, I am very, very proud of her! Read more:Update
, Bright
Technorati - a parting of the ways 2007-09-17 05:35:00 Well it sort of feels a little scary but I have made the decision to break with Technorati
.... and so what, you may ask? When I first started out with blogging I read up on available advice for promoting ones blog, use of search engines and the like. Most sources seemed to advise that listing with Technorati was paramount for a blog's visibility and success ............... so I duly joined up and just bit my lip a few times over various hiccups that occurred with my first blog (this one). However, things went from bad to worse when I created my second blog Art Blogs 4 U ...... and I have lost track of how many times I've had to request technical support/assistance because, for some unknown and unfathomable reason, Technorati has never properly updated post details or correctly rated the number of links Art Blogs 4 U has.To try and get any assistance has been an absolute nightmare and enough to make me tear my hair out .... the only consolation being that I only have to read the User
Remembering 9/11 2007-09-09 20:20:00 Resurrection (Acrylic on paper, 7.5" x 11")While sorting through my studio this week I became re-acquainted with this small abstract painted shortly after that terrible day six years ago. For those who died and those who were left to mourn. Read more:Remembering
Sally Strand - outstanding American artist 2007-09-06 20:10:00 On September 16, 2007, California artist Sally
Strand is to be inducted into the Pastel Society of America's Hall of Fame at their 35th Annual Awards Ceremony. Each year PSA selects an outstanding
pastelist who has made a major contribution to the medium and to the world of art. A selection of Ms Strand's works will be on display.Sally Strand's work is all about the effects of light, and her paintings of everyday life reveal the hidden elements in commonplace situations. I first saw her work about six years ago in a book on working in pastel and was immediately impressed and enchanted by it, and my aim became to emulate some of her magical way with light.Her work has developed a deep richness of colour and tone while remaining what I would describe as impressionistic in style, as in 'Warm Day' and 'At the Table'. Although sometimes her paintings are almost abstract in execution, as in 'Poolside', - which is my current favourite of those on display on her website.She is also eq Read more:American
Art exhibitions .... somtimes in, sometimes out! 2007-10-01 22:10:00 I entered two paintings for this exhibition ... but in spite of winning an award recently "Past Performance" was not selected. Which is kind of comforting in a strange way as it just goes to prove that all judges are different! But my second entry was selected ... so I am very pleased, especially as it is my most recently completed acrylic on canvas:'Bounty' (24" x 36")For those readers who live in New Zealand here is the link to the Waitakere Central Council Arts Centre website, which has all the details of their exhibitions and many art workshops plus a down-loadable Newsletter. There's a lot on offer - great if you are within commuting distance!
about ... resources for painting with pastels 2007-09-27 14:03:00 I get quite a bit of traffic from people searching for information on using pastels, and I hope that my blog is of some use to them ......... see pastel demos on your right under ART DEMONSTRATIONS, and posts on pastels under SOME OF MY POSTS BY CATEGORY.There are a numerous other resources for pastellists on the web and I am happy to announce a new one by artist Casey Klahn called PASTELS BLOG. This looks like being a really good site and definitely worth adding to your blog roll.To see another excellent artist who works with pastels, pencils or ink DO visit Katherine Tyrrell at MAKING A MARK. Lots of art information, art history, works in progress, you name it! .... Katherine's site is a fund of interesting information and a great source of inspiration.There is yet another great site at BACHMAN ART at Squidoo, - "created to gather pastel demos and tutorials into one convenient location for the beginning pastellist. There's more than one way to create a beautiful pastel. See how di
figure painting in pastel - to crop or not! 2007-10-08 14:02:00 Introductions(pastel on Colorfix paper)It's quite a while since I did any pastel work and I am beginning to miss it. I'm almost ready to set up to do some more, in fact. And that is not such a small thing as my work space demands that I pack up most of my acrylic paints, pots and palettes so that I will have enough room to lay out my pastels. Maybe in a couple more weeks I will be ready to try it!Meanwhile this pastel painting met with a mixed reception and looking at it again after decent interval I can see things that I do not like! .... but it does have some nice bits to it. So I am wondering whether or not some cropping might be an improvement .... I feel the rendering of the two figure
s does not marry together somehow. Plus the fact that a few people have said that they do not care for the sheep!!How about if I did something like this? -Please feel free to comment or perhaps cast your vote in my POLL at the top of the right-hand column. I do hope you will!
Art, Artists and Galleries 2007-10-06 13:02:00 I have just been introduced to a great blog written by Texas artist Todd Camplin called Art, Artists
and Galleries
. Todd writes about his own art plus all sorts of other interesting things art related, and is well worth a visit (or several, in fact)! He creates paintings from names and words .... many of which are truly amazing pieces. Todd is also past editor of Soujourn - a journal of the arts, also worth checking out .....
Pastel and Paint 2007-10-06 12:52:00 Billy Mac over at Critique My Blog has written a few kind words about my blog. If you've never visited this site then you are missing a great source for all kinds of blogs, plus Billy Mac's comments on them! Read more:Pastel
, Paint
New York, New York! 2007-10-05 13:34:00 The winners of the New York
, New York 2007 art awards at www.myartspace.com have just been announced. Entries from the 50 finalists can be viewed, together with those of the four winners, HERE. These include abstract and contemporary paintings, photography and installation art. I can't pretend that I understand, or can even fully appreciate, all of the pieces but I like the work of Masha Ryskin, John Westmark and Jessica Snow very much. Overall the show leaves me with the feeling that I come from another planet, and a rather boring one at that!
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