Another from New Zealand

I have been back from New Zealand for about a month now and am getting ready for my month as featured artist at my gallery in Breckenridge. This is a little 6x8 called Angry Seas that I did in NZ. It will be on display and for sale at the gallery in June. I am running around picking up frames, framing paintings up and trying to paint new ones too. But I am managing to get some new work done. My sister Adele Earnshaw will be here at the end of June and we are doing an outdoor show together, so with both shows going on, I will be needing plenty of work.

Oil Painting workshop in New Zealand

I wrote previously about a watercolor painting holiday in New Zealand in February 2012, just over a year from now. We are considering adding another week, working in oils this time, with Michael Chesley Johnson. Michael lives in Canada in the summer, Sedona, AZ in the winter and he teaches lots of workshops. He likes the idea of our relaxed itinerary in New Zealand and if we have enough interest, he would be willing to do it the week after we finish the first one with Adele Earnshaw and Joe Garcia. That would make it the first week in March, 2012, which in New Zealand, is late summer. A perfect time to be there!

The painting above is one of Michael's, not mine. He has titled it Low Tide at Friar's Bay, and I think it is one of his Canadian pieces. I lifted it (with his permission) from his website. New Zealand has similar scenery, with oceans and beaches, but we also have rain forest and pastures. It is a unique country, and one worth visiting. Let me know if you think you might have interest in joining us in New Zealand and I will send you more info.

A Conversation with my Artist Sister

I just spent about 45 minutes on the phone with my sister, both of us on our computers, looking at all the paintings in the Gilcrease museum's annual miniature show. For me, it is all about learning. Dell has always told me that I have a good eye, which I think means that I can tell good work from not so good work (unless it is on my easel!) However, I don't always know what makes it good, so these long conversations are, for me, a way to recognize why I like something, rather than just know that I like it. It helps me know what good composition looks like, why color combinations work, and how different styles and paint applications create the artist's own look. Spending time with other artists is the best way to improve your own work! Just don't wake up with a headache the next morning....

The Gilcrease show is a prestigious show, and has the likes of Matt Smith, Kevin McPherson and a lot of other well known wildlife and western artists. Yesterday was the last day for the show at the gallery, but they will continue online sales until November 15th. The above painting is the one that my sister, Adele Earnshaw, did for it. It was a true miniature, only 4x4, and has sold. She has a great way with cows!

What Is this blog about?

It is about the frustrating, yet rewarding, goal of being able to call myself an artist. When my artist sister introduces me to her friends as another artist, I often say something like, "well, I try", or "I paint". I want to get good enough at painting to be able to be comfortable being called an "artist".

For now, it is a hobby that seems to be turning into a small business. A third career, if you will. I am 61 and looking at the opportunity to retire from my job as a Realtor in a few years. I will turn my clients over to my daughter who works with me, and paint full time. Currently, I hang my work in the Arts Alive Gallery in Breckenridge and in the Art Gallery at Keystone Mountain in Keystone, Colorado. Arts Alive is a co-op gallery and I am very active in it.

When I first started painting I had no clue that I would ever be able to sell any of my work. After a while, I was wondering where I was going to put all the paintings! Why keep painting and stick them in a drawer? I found out about the gallery, applied to it and was accepted, and now I have a way to keep painting. The gallery has done well selling for me this year and I am learning lots of things about galleries, framing and how to present my work. Also, where to buy frames and supplies. I often take workshops and classes and will be sharing all that information in the hopes of helping other beginning artists as we go along. Tonight I will be doing a workshop for the Summit County Arts Council members on setting up your own website, so there will be more on that too. Keep coming back and I will keep writing!