Blog

The Rockville gallery which I belong to is having an "Abstract April" and has ask it's members to create work with more of an abstract feel for the month. I have created a few pieces for this show, albeit still more or less landscape paintings. I pushed the color way out of where I would normally and was a little looser on some.  So if you wonder why I have some radically different works uploaded, that's why.  I have to say it was fun using color and chroma in a much different way than I would normally approach it. The fuschia  in the "Grey Night" piece below is hardly every present in nature, but it contrasts beautifully with the bits of turquoise on the horizon and in the middle ground. 

Magenta, deep ultramarines and purples are some of my favorite colors. Most times they are found in shadows and subjects with a darker feel. In "Marsh Shadows" (seen below) I used these colors, then used the opposite for the background sky to get a real contrast between the deep shadows and the backlit sky. 

In other news, I received a package in the mail that brought a smile to my face. It was a book on framing and it was sent to me by my very first customers, along with a nice card and note. It was last May that I sold my first pieces to George  and Susan Brattain at the Bridgeton Art and Wine show. I had only been in the Rockville Gallery, my first, for a week. I remember how nervous I was and wondered if I could sell anything at all. At the time I was scouring hobby lobby for any deals on frames and hadn't yet established relationships with frame suppliers. George and Susan bought three of my paintings that day. They have no idea just how much that meant to me and how it really helped to launch this journey. Talking with both of them (who are avid plein air collectors), I learned about IPAPA and all the events held throughout the state each year. They steered me toward some amazing Indiana plein air painters who have been an enormous help. So I want to again say thank you George and Susan for believing in me and being my very first customers. 

Next month begins this years plein air event season with the First Brush of Spring in New Harmony, Indiana. I will be participating in that event to kick off my 2019 plein air season.  It's a big event with some of the best plein air painters in the state. I'm ready and looking forward to it. 

:-)

Today the art auction for Vieques Humane Society opens. The piece in the picture above is my entry. It was painted last week en plein air on Punta Galinda.

It is 12x12 and is on panel. It will be framed in a black floater frame and the cost of shipping is $20. All the proceeds from this auction go to the humane society. This is their largest fundraiser each year. My participation in this event last year was the genisis for my pursuit to be a full time painter.  This piece, along all the other entries, can be found at charityauctionstoday.com. You will have to register to bid, its free, or you can phone the Siddhia Hutchinson/ Glen Wielgus Gallery  at 787-556-5409.

:-)