New Gallery Photos

I thought I'd post some photos of the new gallery space, which officialy opened last Friday night. We were swamped the entire night so I did not get ONE picture of the actual event! It turned out well--hectic but fun. We're both still recovering from total exhaustion, but at least we made it through "phase one". Phase two is still to come--moving my art studio part into the building. We hope to have that accomplished by mid January at the latest. Front room:

This is the wall to the right as you walk in the front door. The flowers on the table are from our new landlord!

This is the left wall of the same room--A great spot for the paintings in my mini collection:

This is a view of the right hand wall as you continue on into the middle room.

Here's a shot of the same wall looking back into the front room:

Here is the opposite wall in the second room. The picture to the far left is an original oil painting of Tuscany. The pictures to the right are canvas prints on the walls, and paper prints in the rack. People were amazed at the quality of the canvas prints, which looked so much like paintings that I had to tell them they were prints and not originals.

   

Heading out from the 2nd room and into the third room. This is where the band played opening night:

Rounding the corner into this third room, here is my wall of Key West paintings:

   

   I had these paintings framed differently from the usual gold because I felt like the solid gold was too formal for this subject matter. I like the linen liner and the platinum colored frame with the bamboo motif for these sunny Key West pieces.

   This last room will undergo some changes. The front two rooms with the hardwood floors will remain gallery space, but we'll use this area more for work space (to be determined), though we'll still hang some art here. Down that hallway is a fourth small room and a bathroom with a utility sink.

   Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery is located at 16 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA, 23219. Currently we are open from 6 to 9 p.m. during the First Fridays Art walks, and other times by appointment. Please call 804-254-1008 (1-877-DIAL-ART toll free) to visit the gallery or to inquire about the paintings you see on the website.

Varnishing

There has been much debate over whether artists should varnish their oil painitngs, and I think the word is still out, depending on who you ask.  A varnish is a resin applied to the surface layer of an oil painting. It adds sheen and can protect the painting from dust and pollutants. The varnish can be removed by conservators for cleaning without removing the paint layers underneath. But varnish also has yellowing properties and can turn quite dark over time. It can also crack the paint beneath it if it is applied when the painting isn't completely dry through and through. I have also seen paintings ruined by varnish that was applied too thickly or unevenly, so you have to be careful with it. 

In earlier times, varnish could protect from the dirt particles put out by burning coal, etc. But the Impressionists did not varnish their paintings because they wanted to avoid the yellowing properties perhaps, but mainly because they preferred a matte look to their paintings (if you go into a museum today you may see varnish on the surfaces of many of these paintings, but likely they were not put there by the painters themselves. Interestingly, Monet in particular preferred a very matte look and white, plain frames for his paintings; not the heavy ornate gold ones you see in the museums.)

Today varnish seems to be purely a optional decision, and mainly an aesthetic one. The Gamblin website has some good info on the topic of varnishing here. If an artist likes the look of a varnish, she can apply one, but only after the painting is completely dry. Oil paintings that have any thickness at all generally take about 6 months to dry through and through. If not, serious cracking can occur because the top layer of varnish will dry faster than the layers beneath.

In all honesty many of my paintings don't hang around in my studio for 6 months. What I usually do is to apply a retouch varnish once my paintings are dry to the touch on the surface. A retouch varnish is so lightweight that it becomes part of the top paint layer, so you don't risk the cracking that a heavier varnish can do. A retouch varnish can also even out the surface of the painting, bringing out darker areas that may have "sunken" to a more lustruous appearance. The effect is to provide a lusterous protective sheen to the painting, which I prefer to a super shiny surface.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist

Fun with Gouache

I spent some time yesterday playing with gouache paints so that I could see how I liked working with them as a possible candidate for my portable studio. Gouache is a water based medium; basically it is an opaque watercolor. While as an oil painter I wouldn't exactly call it opaque, it is more so than traditional watercolor. I've worked with many different water media before, including gouache, but it has been some time. Here's what I discovered:

My "oops" moments:

• Some of the colors don't behave at all like either watercolor or oils. In general the gouache colors were somewhat darker and took some experimenting to get the mix I wanted.
• The paint dries very quickly! In the future I may rethink squeezing out big blobs on my palette all at once (an overzealous oil painter's habit.) If I painted with these outdoors, I'd definitely need a spray bottle or drying retardant to keep my paints moist and fluid while working in the open air.

My "hey, cool!" moments:

• A very forgiving medium that is easy to work with. Most mistakes can be "lifted off" with water and brush. The opaqueness allows you to paint over certain passages and change the composition (something not so easily done with watercolor.)
• Versatile- can be mixed with watercolor and pen and ink. Acts as a watercolor for washes, but can also be laid down more opaquely and mixed with white.
• Easy cleanup. Like watercolor, just a little soap and water does the trick.

Gouache paintings are treated the same as watercolors in terms of care and framing. They should be displayed under glass and kept out of direct sunlight for best longevity. Gouaches tend to like a rigid surface, so a heavy paper or mat board is a good substrate for this medium. Here is a little painting I did of the Provincial countryside:

 

 

 

Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact

Smaller Works

Here are a couple of smaller paintings I did recently to include in my upcoming show. They are each 12x12" gallery wrapped:

"Early Lavender"

"Golden Valley"

Often times when collectors are interested in my smaller works, they are looking for pairs or multiples to use in a grouping. So I do try to keep that in mind when I am creating the smaller ones-- especially my minis. I don't go about creating "matching sets", but as I am working I think about compliments.

Because there are so many ways to hang art, I created a little sampling of ideas on my website that addresses some of the possibilities. It can really be a fun endeavor in itself, and an expression of one's own personal style and creativity as a collector. Some people like a very formal, symmetrical presentation, while others like to mix it up. Some people prefer that all frames match, but I'm one of those who enjoys an eclectic presentation and think that variety of frame styles presented together can look pretty neat, so long as they compliment each other (and of course the room's decor.) I've even seen both framed and unframed work hanging together to great effect.

While sometimes there is a perfect small spot to display a single painting, these smaller paintings can be shown in so many other ways. They can be stacked one over another on a narrow wall, or presented in groupings over a larger piece of furniture like a sofa or console. They can be used instead of sconces to flank a nice mirror over a buffet or hutch (I've done this in my dining room before). They can even be displayed more informally, and sit atop a mantle or book shelf.

Here are a couple of snapshots from my last open studio that shows how I displayed smaller works as part of a larger grouping:

 

 

 

 

Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact 

Shipping paintings

I've spent a lot of time lately doing commission work, so I haven't added as many new works to my website recently. Since I've been doing so much packing and shipping, I'd thought I'd share a bit about the less "glamorous" aspects of the art 'biz; preparing a painting for shipment.

I start out by using cardboard corner protectors on my framed paintings:

Then I sandwich this configuration between two pieces of cardboard cut to size.

I'll tape all of this together carefully, making sure only to tape cardboard to cardboard and not to tape any exposed frame! Then I will wrap this up in bubble wrap, much in the way I'd wrap a gift:

When boxing a painting, I make sure to have at least two inches of padding around all four edges of the painting, as well as front and back. Some people use peanuts, which are lightweight and great for filling, but I tend to steer away from that because they can be messy. Often times I will use foam sheets or bubble wrap for filling. My shipper, who I will sometimes use for larger framed paintings, once told me that when packing the piece in the box, you need to make sure that when closed, you cannot feel the painting moving in the box at all. Don't over stuff, but just make sure that there is no sloshing or shifting ability.

All of this gets boxed up in a heavy or double-ply cardboard shipping box. (My shipper will most often build sturdy boxes fit to size when I ship the large paintings.) Then I use strapping tape and clear wide shipping tape to seal. My shipper says I don't need the strapping tape if I'm using the shipping tape, but when I have it available I like to use it because it seems stronger to me.

That's it! Now it's ready to go off to its new home.