"Broken Fortune" ...now available on eBay

"Broken Fortune"
Oil on Linen
10" x 8"
Unframed

Buy it on eBay

This is a simple little oil painting that I painted while tending a shop one day. It was a very quick little painting and I had to struggle not to get into my usual obsessive compulsive style.

We've started something...

Brigitte Woosley is a friend and previously we shared some studio space and now we're sharing some cyberspace!

We've just set up a new organization extolling the virtues of the cow in art. The group is called the American Society of Bovine Artists.

Right now we only have four members including ourselves but we're growing! After all, we're just a couple of days old. Check out the website and if you: are interested in paintings with cows; have painted cows; collect paintings of cows; own cows; dream about cows!?! you should become a member. It's only $10 and it's all fun. There is an artists' gallery and a page just for friends.

This is what I have up there now but I think I may have to do better....


By the way, I did the website for ASBA as well so if you're looking for website design.... contact me!

I'm a little bit sad...

I made a decision this month to give up my lovely studio.  I've been so busy at working on our "new home" that I haven't had any time to go to the studio and paint over the past two months. You can see what's been going on there if you go to "the trailer dailies" that I've been posting on my website.  I finally updated the pages on Wednesday night so it's now pretty complete.

That was only half of the reason, though, why I've decided to give it up...

With gas prices going up and the impending move to Canyon Lake, I decided that I will paint at home for a while. It's about 20 miles (one way) from our property so the round trip costs me dearly!

I'll still be painting again when the dust clears from the construction and I'm looking forward to it.  The longer I stay away from painting, the more I miss it.  I'm trying to see this as a "summer sabbatical" which will end soon! 

Since I haven't been painting much, I thought I'd put up a photo of the watercolor painting that was recently accepted in the 23rd Annual Conservatory Art Classic at the Bosque Conservatory in Clifton, TX. There were 159 works accepted from 859 entries. I've been told it's pretty difficult to get into this show so I'm thrilled to be chosen.  The show will be on exhibit from September 20 - 28.

 

"Tiny Pumpkins, No. 2"

14" x 11" 

Transparent Watercolor on Twinrocker Handmade Watercolor Paper

Also in September, I will be part of a three-artist invitational exhibit at the Ray Goldstein Gallery at the Dell Jewish Community Center  in Austin, TX.  I'm looking forward to this show since it will be the first time that I will have a showcase of my work in oils, acrylics AND watercolor. I'm grateful to the selection committee for inviting me and I'll post additional information when it's available.

What has REALLY been keeping me busy...

We bought a new piece of property...well it's actually an old mobile home that we're gutting and rebuilding.

If you want to see what we're doing you can check it out here .

It's adjacent to the property we already own where we're going to build our house. We'll move into this while we're building then turn it over to our friend to live in. What a plan!

Unfortunately, Paul had to head out to California for a job so I'm on my own with an additional work crew of one...

Wish me luck!?!

"Three Tomatoes"

"Three Tomatoes"

6" x 8"

Oil on Panel

It's been so long since I've spent any "quality time" in my studio!

I did this one day recently while I was there and it came out fairly well. It's a little different style than my normal work but it was fun. Maybe I'll do more of them.

I've recently been invited to show my watercolors at the Dell Jewish Community Center in Austin. It's a three artist exhibition in the Fall including two photographers and myself.  I'll post more information when it's available.

Really! I haven't died...

I feel bad that it's been so long since I posted but life has kept me so busy! I've done a few small paintings but I've definitely been too lax and I've had far too many distractions.

I promise that I'll get back to work this week and get some new work posted. For now, I'd love for you to visit my website at www.judithbakerarts.com and see my gallery of work there. There are some things that I've never posted here including photomontage (from the same series as my last post), oils, acrylics & life drawings.

I'm planning to do some really different kinds of things over the next month. I hope to enter the Oil Painters of America Western Regional Show this month and I've been invited to participate in a three artist show in Austin (more info on that to come) so I will have to get busy!

For now, I'll post this...

"Oregon Rocks"

Digital Photo Montage/Collage

20 x 24

$850 (framed original montage/collage)

This image is also available as a montage print without the hand torn edges and layers. It's slightly smaller than the original at 13" x 16".

Contact me if you'd like more information about prints.

"Leaving Roswell" 3/50

"Leaving Roswell"  

Limited Edition Print  5/50

8" x 18" (on 13" x 19" Ilford Matte Paper)

$185 unmatted/unframed

FINALLY!...

I'm finally starting to feel better after that horrible (cold/allergy/bronchitis?) month of feeling awful and I'm ready to start getting back to work. I have a long list of things to do before the end of this month.

There are competitions to paint for...

There's the "TEXAS" Show at New Bruanfels Art League which takes submissions on June 1.

The Oil Painters of America Western Regional Show deadline is June 17 (online submissions) and the Bosque Conservatory Conservatory Art Classic deadline is a few days earlier on June 14.

Lots to do!

My most recent painting...

"From the Soap Berry Tree"

(unfinished)

14" x 11"

Oil on canvas

My trip to Austin ended with me catching a terrible cold so I haven't been very good about painting since then. (Coughing and hacking and just plain miserable)

 I did spend a few days at the studio to work on this painting so I could enter it in the "Contemporary" show at the New Braunfels Art League.  I apologize for the less than optimum photo but I took it before the painting was finished and it was still just sitting on the easel. If you look at it closely you can still see where I scratched/sketched in the composition before I started painting it in. I  also made some changes to the background with some lighter and color-shifted areas which made the overall look a little less gloomy. I wasn't able to frame it the way I planned but at least it made it into the show. 

I've also been working on restructuring Judith Baker Arts Dot Com to make it easier to update and to correct some problems that have cropped up. So keep an eye on it for the new and improved!

The last painting that I finished before "Art City Austin"

"Three Tulips"

24" x 12"

Transparent Watercolor

It took two tries to finish this one but I'm pretty happy with the results.

Now that Art City Austin is over...

...I'm looking forward to working in mediums other than watercolor for a while!

I spent the last two months concentrating on getting stock ready for the festival and it will be fun to break out my oils again. I've had several ideas that I want to try so the next few months should be interesting. I'll also be making a quick trip out to CA (work for Paul and a mini vacation for me.) 

Then it's back to the studio.

"Art After Dark" 

Booth #114 at Art City Austin,  April 12, 2008, 7:30 pm (cell phone photo)

PS. I've decided that Art City Austin is probably not the best venue for my watercolors.  Although I received nothing but the best feedback about my work, sales were just not there. I sold a few reproductions but that was it. I'm contemplating the reasons and I've decided that unless I can include oils or acrylics to my booth, I will probably not do the festival again next year. 

Maybe, just like last year, the best outcomes of the festival are not the sales but the contacts that were made. I've met some interesting new people, made some wonderful new friends and reached some enlightening new conclusions so all is well!

A step forward...

Me, standing next to "Three Tulips" Watercolor 24" x 12"

photo courtesy of Gaye Sekula

"The Gallery at the Hacienda de las Rosas" show is now over and it was a lovely weekend event. Some of my good artist friends, Kay & John Reinke and Gaye Sekula were also in the show along with 9 others.
There was a nice crowd of art lovers at the reception on Friday night and lots of others came by to see the show over the weekend.

Now that this milestone is behind me, I can get back to work on more paintings for Art City Austin in April! Come see me at booth #114 on April 12 & 13.

Paint on...

Something I was reminded of...

"James"

Conté on Colored Paper

I was visiting the blog of a new acquaintance of mine, Susan Carlin. She does wonderful portraits among other things. She recently posted a simple portrait drawing that I really loved.  I thought I'd dig into my archives and find this portrait that I did during a life drawing session a few years ago. 

Sometimes the full pose just doesn't inspire you and it's the perfect time to work on your portrait skills.

Here's another portrait from a life drawing group session...

"Lydia"

Conté on Colored Paper

I've been busy, not just lazy...

I haven't posted in a week but that's not because I've been slackin'.

Here is one of the paintings that I did this week.  This one is a little larger that the previous ones but it's probably a simpler one.  

"Antler"

Transparent Watercolor on Twinrocker Paper

16" x 20"

I'm also doing a redo of a painting that I started on Saturday last.  I found out the hard way why you should let a watercolor dry overnight before removing masking fluid from the Twinrocker paper that I'm using!  I got anxious and started removing it too soon and the paper tore.  I mean it really pulled the surface off!  I was really bummed. But a lesson was learned.  Fortunate for me, I learned two lessons at the same time... you also can't use masking fluid over an area that has been painted with the Cadmium Red family!  Yup, just took the paint off almost to the paper!  WOW!  Won't do THAT again.

Coming Events!

Does it seem that I've been busy lately?  Well you're right!

There are two events coming up in the near future.  

I've been invited to exhibit in San Antonio at the Antique Rose Emporium in "The Gallery at the Hacienda de las Rosas" annual fine art show on March 29 - 30. I'll have several of my watercolors on exhibit along with a number of outstanding area artists. Try to come by!

Art City Austin is also coming up (April 12 & 13) and I'm painting like a fool...

If you would like to visit me there I'll be in booth #114.  Come by and tell me that you found me through my blog I'll have all of my watercolors for sale on site and I think they look better in person!

I'll be watching for you!

"Tiny Pumpkins 2"

"Tiny Pumpkins 2"

Watercolor

14" H x 11" W

Another view of the little "pumpkins."  Actually they're gourds, I am told.

I tried something new with this one.  I painted the entire background before painting the gourds. I think it was a bit easier that way but with such simple shapes that makes sense.  If I were to try that with a leafy subject it would probably be a bit more difficult.  I think I'll try that next!

"Red Berries"

"Berry Red"

13'" H x 10" W

Watercolor

This is the newest of my paintings and I tried something new. I decided not to trust in masking fluid when putting in the background on this one because of the delicate stems in it.  Masking fluid is a wonderful tool but it is TREACHEROUS!

There is nothing so disheartening as finding a missed area after you've removed the mask!  Those little failures always seem to show up in a conspicuous area and they're so difficult to fix.

So this time I decided to carefully paint in the background freehand.  I think it was pretty successful but it certainly was tedious.

"Tiny Pumpkins"

"Tiny Pumpkins"

Transparent Watercolor   9-1/2" H x 15" 

I'm back at it.  It's been a challenge to get back into my watercolor mode after working in oil for a while.

It's interesting. Now it seems that this would be a much easier subject in oils! Just a few months ago, I would have said just the opposite.  Funny how that is!

I'm actually having some fun with these new paintings which are so different from my previous ones.

Compare this to one of my previous ones...

"Shasta Cone and Driftwood" 

Transparent Watercolor  10" H x 12" W

two more

Here are a couple more...

One of the hardest things for me is trying to 

decide WHAT to paint.  

Some new watercolor paintings...

I've been working hard to get back into the watercolor routine by doing a series of small (6" x 6") paintings. I'll move on to some larger ones after these.

I have to have a bunch of watercolors for "Art City Austin" (formerly called the Austin Fine Art Festival) in April as well as for the Antique Rose Emporium's "Galleria in the Hacienda"

I've been trying to focus on oil paintings lately but both of these shows have requested my watercolors so I have to change hats for a while. I've been completing these little paintings in about 2 days each so I should be able to have quite a few by the end of March.

I'll post more as I finish them.

an update...

I managed to get a few hours of painting done on this today and I think it's coming along.

Hopefully I can work on it again tomorrow. I have to focus on watercolor over the next month for a few upcoming events and I have to work at "changing hats". It seems to be more and more difficult to do that lately.

See you tomorrow.

Why not?

I've always loved horses. When I was 5 years old, my Dad had to take long circuitous routes from point A to point B to avoid passing by my beloved pony farm! 

I still love horses and I have no idea why I've never done paintings of them. This week I decided to give it my focus and I started the oil portrait of a bucksin inspired by a photo that I clipped from an old magazine (My magazine fetish is another long story that needs telling at some other time)

This is a cellphone photo of the results after my first day of painting on it. The color needs work and it needs a LOT of refining and a good idea for the background but I'm happy with it so far.



I'll post my progress on this first piece of equine art as it moves along.

A lovely ballerina...

This was painted alla prima during our portrait group at the New Braunfels Art League last week. It was such a lovely pose by such a beautiful young lady that it was hard to fail!  This was my first classic ballerina painting and I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

The newest member of Oil Painters of America...

I've decided to really work on getting my work out into new venues this year and I've entered a few big shows and applied for membership in the Oil Painters of America.

Today I received my letter of acceptance!  I hadn't heard anything since I sent in my application one week ago and I was resigned to the fact that I wouldn't get in before the National Juried Exhibition deadline.  

I went to see the show at the Whistlepik Gallery in Fredericksburg last year and was quite impressed with the caliber of work I saw there.  I've now sent in my entry and I have my fingers crossed!

Wish me luck?

 

The Holiday is over!

It's been a long time (over a month!!!!) since I've posted anything on my blog and my friends have been quite merciless in pointing this out to me. 

I'll take the heat!

I had a wonderful holiday season visiting my son Kabe in Tulsa and my old friends in New Mexico.  While visiting the Sandia Mountains where I used to live, I marveled at the fact that I never went out and painted the fantastic scenery there.  I wasn't doing landscapes then (but then, I wasn't doing much else either!)

I took lots of photos while I was there so be watching for them to show up as paintings in the future.

Now that things are settling down and I'm getting things settled in at my new studio, I'm anxious to start painting there. My plan is to get into more shows and do more painting than ever before. I have some new ideas rattling around in my head and I can't wait to see what falls out when I pick up my brushes again.

Thanks for patiently waiting for something new to appear here...  

I hope that it will be worth the wait!

For now, I'll post a painting that I did as a commission.  The painting was made into a print but the original is mine and available if you like it....