French pastoral WIP and art studio WIP, cont'd

The misty painting of the Lot Valley continues....

Still trying to keep things soft, but articulate them at the same time. Today I'm working on the sheep. Meanwhile, I've been told that it's okay to continue my obsessive postings about the new studio ;-) . So here's a little mini tour:

First of all, so much of the furniture in this space came from IKEA that you'd think I had an interest in the company or something (none exists--other than a serious interest in shopping there. ) In fact, we put so many of my "IKEA finds" together that Dave started calling it "I killya" because of how much this stuff weighs. Still, there's no denying that they have some intelligent designs to outfit an office and art studio (and the price is right too!)

Here's a view of my painting area and the sink. At first I was going to go with a regular utility sink and cabinet, until I found the "Udden" sink at IKEA.

That sink nearly DID kill us, actually--trying to lift the coordinating cabinet up to screw it into position in it's nifty little slot. For a while after that little ordeal I seriously thought I had nerve damage in my hand (my "painting hand, too!)

Below is a view from my little sitting/library area looking toward the art bins that Dave built for me. There are some more bins on top temporarily, but they will go up in the loft area when we're finished with them. At this writing, we're still working on studio storage, so I'll write more on that in a future post. A bookcase blocks the view, but the sink sits across from the bins, and my main easel stands across from the full-length mirror pictured, so I can check my work in reverese.

And now flipping my position, here is a view of my sitting/reading area from beside my art bins (still populating the shelves with my many art books!)

I have divided my sitting and office area from the painting/sink area with a large 6 foot room divider with storage cubbies from IKEA's Expedit storage series. I like that it divides the space while still giving me a feeling of openness. What is hard to see is that I've bolted this unit at a right angle to a white bookcase that faces the French doors for added function and stability.

The ladder is actually an old telephone ladder like this one that I bought cheap on Craigslist. We're still working to make it a moving ladder on a track...almost there.

Now we're on the other side of the room divider looking at my table where I do my framing, plein air panel prep, and flat art-mounting. All those little drawers are great for my framing tools and fasteners.

In this same "room" sits my office. Can you tell how much I like paperwork? I've rather been avoiding going through my files, but since it's tax season, it's the task before me:

Note those big squares of light from the windows and how far they come into the room. This is why I opted not to have east-facing windows also on my painting side. I will likely put up some kind of sheer window treatment soon to diffuse this light so it won't be so harsh.

Conspicuously absent from these pictures are my paintings that will in future be on the walls and in the bins. We have yet to get them out of my temporary storage space until we have finalized our art storage solutions....but more on that in a future post.

Studio building project- the final stretch

My online presence has been a little quiet lately because we are getting down to the "finishing touches" of prepping my new art studio for move-in. After my lights were installed, I finally came to a decision about the color of the walls, and I've spent the majority of my time in the last couple of weeks painting the walls and trim, installing picture moulding, painting more trim, and touching up walls and trim some more.  (Just one more door to go!) Not only am I body-weary, but I am also decision-making weary. So it is a good thing that most of the big decisions are now behind us. I really had a time trying to decide on wall color. I knew I wanted a color (as opposed to white/off-white). But having had yellow walls in my last studio, (great color for the gallery walls, not great for art-making) I also knew I wanted something that was neutral enough so as not to cast the wall color onto my paintings and palette.

While the color that's so popular right now with many portrait painters (mentioned in this previous blog post) was waaay too dark for my taste, I did like the idea of a neutral gray/green. So I decided to start my quest by playing with a sample of the portrait painters' color (Benjamin Moore's "Mohegan Sage", #2138-30) to see if I could figure out the underlying base color by tinting it with a bit of white.

It may look a little more "colorful" on the computer monitor, but the lightest tint was a fairly dead-looking gray. Benjamin Moore lists Mohegan Sage as a "black", and having tinted it I can see why. It probably is a combination of black with just a touch of yellow. It's very rich in its full strength, but none too inspiring in my tinting experiment! Still, tinting up to an almost elephant gray, I couldn't deny that it is a very neutral color, and thought I could use my tinted sample against some other color swatches to find a related color that was both lighter and more inspiring but still neutral for my studio walls.

What I found was a beautiful rich color that seemed to be in line with the darker sage, though perhaps a tiny bit cooler. It's a color called "Storm Cloud Gray" (also by Benjamin Moore, # 2140-40.)

While this color is a good deal lighter than the dark sage, I was still a little concerned that it would be too dark. So I decided to use it on just one wall as an accent and do the rest of the walls in an even lighter shade that I also liked-- again a gray green called "Paris Rain," (BM color #1501). Here is the result:

Here are the lighter walls running into the deeper accent wall, complete with sleepy husband reporting for cleanup duty last Saturday morning (what a guy!)

I find both of these colors really lovely and pleasing. Sometimes they look more gray, sometimes more green; though in either instance they still remain neutral enough not to overpower.

In the above picture you can also see the picture moulding we installed so that I can hang artwork. Unlike the trim moulding, I decided to paint the picture rail the same color as the walls, both because I wanted to keep the high walls looking "high" and because the picture moulding was fairly plain and nothing special.

Since Dave (and friends) installed both the floors and the trim moulding, I wanted to do all of the painting myself to give the poor man a break. I totally underestimated how much time it would take. I guess it was those high walls that fooled me, but at last it's more or less done and we've had the "SmartBox" delivered (portable storage box). Over the next few we can actually start the process of moving in, assembling furniture, and piecing together my various work stations. This too will take a while (and likely a few more trips to IKEA) but it's actually starting to feel like a real art studio now. I'm excited about the prospect of being in there and getting back to painting again (as in ART) on a regular basis!

The next big challenge will be figuring out some storage solutions that make sense for the new space. Much of that will have to be dealt with after I've gotten my main workstations set up, but I will be sure to blog about it as I go along. Meanwhile, I doubt I'll do much blogging over the next few days, as we will be moving and dismantling my office for a bit.

Still in the dark about art studio lighting

Now that we have the drywall up in the studio building project, I'm anxious to pick out a paint color and get going on the walls. But since the appearance of the paint color is so dependant on the quality of light you have in your space, I've decided I'll need to tackle the lighting requirements first. I have spent waaay too much time reading about "full spectrum" lighting, color rendering index (CRI), foot candles, lumens, and Kelvin temperature, and I can't say that I'm that much clearer on any of it! I knew going into this project that I would not have the benefit of the full natural northern light that is said to be ideal for an artist's studio. But that's okay. I'm kind of used to working with different lighting conditions, and in any event no amount of northern exposure is going to help any artist on drab or stormy days or after sundown. But what I want for the new studio is as much diffused natural light as possible, and supplemental artificial light that comes as close as possible to the color and quality of daylight.

From my reading I have learned that the balanced color of natural daylight has a Kelvin temperature somewhere in the range of 5000K to 5900K. Kelvin temperatures numerically lower than 5000K turn towards the yellow and then red ends of the color spectrum, and higher numbers tend towards the white and then blue ends of the spectrum. As a point of reference, standard fluorescent lighting is fairly warm and yellow at 3500K, and standard halogen tending more toward the red at 3200K.

Keeping these things in mind, my aim is to light my studio (and especially my painting area) with a light that is as pure, balanced, and near to a clean white as possible in order to better see and mix accurate colors in the studio. (Paintings are always going to look a bit different under different lighting conditions, but I hope to avoid a massive color shift once my paintings leave the studio). I'd also like light that is non-directional so as not to cause a spotlighting effect or glare on the reflective surfaces of my oil paintings.

I have looked at a ton of options online (to the point of brain overload!) so I thought I'd share the leading options I'm considering below. Each have their pros and cons, so the answer will likely be to choose a combination solution that gives me enough light without breaking the bank!

Option 1: Install one or more Solatubes.

Pros:

• Bright, evenly diffused and true natural daylight when it's at its best.
• Less expensive than skylights without the spotlighting and worry about "hot spots" sometimes associated with them.
• Uses solar energy, so there's a potential for lower overall electricity requirements.

Cons:

• Costly to install, so even though they require no electrical power, it would likely take many years to recoup costs with energy savings.
• Just as with studios that have northern lit windows, an alternative light source is required for nighttime work, and even likely on cloudy days.

Option 2: Installing high bay, high output compact fluorescent fixtures. (Note: High bay fixtures are optimal in my case due to the cathedral ceiling height of my studio.)

Pros:

• Offered by many manufacturers in a variety of styles and color temperatures, including "daylight" bulbs. (A few resources are listed here.)
• Availability is catching up totungsten and halogen bulbs, and daylight versions are even being offered in the big box stores like Home Depot.
• Bulbs last much longer than incandescents, sometimes lasting for years.
• Much more energy efficient than incandescents and most halogens (fewer bulbs/energy required to achieve the same amount of lighting).

Cons:

• Difficult to dispose of. While there are more and more recycling options being made available, these bulbs create a pollutant due to the toxic mercury within. It can also be dangerous if care isn't taken to handle the bulbs properly in the event of breakage. (The up side of this is that assuming the bulb realizes a natural life cycle, you won't go through as many bulbs as you might do with incandescents due to the extended bulb life of compact fluorescents.)
• I am not convinced that the fluorescent "daylight" bulbs can achieve the effects of full spectrum light, no matter what the packages say, though these newer bulbs certainly are an improvement with a much better CRI than the old "office" type fluorescents of the past.
• Cost: While the fixtures can be relatively inexpensive in comparison to Solatubes and some track lighting, if high bay fixtures are needed the cost quickly edges upwards. Bulbs touted as "full spectrum" are also on average typically priced much higher than incandescents, ranging from $8 to $15 a piece.

Option 3: Solux bulbs used in track or other fixtures.

Pros:

• Chosen by a growing list of galleries, museums (including the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris) as well as artists for the clean natural quality of the lights.
• Versatile. Bulbs offered in a number of different Kelvin temperaturesand can be used in low voltage track lighting to illuminate artwork or work area, or in task lamps that can be moved to different locations.
• Small bulbs are a lot easier to store than 4' long fluorescents!
• Long-lasting

Cons:

• These are essentially "directional" lights, with limited spread. While they appear excellent for lighting artwork and even small focused tasks such as reading, they are not going to light up a room or achieve a diffused ambient light. And I'd likely have to focus a number of these lights on my painting area to blend the beams for a large enough  spread.
• More potential for glare on my canvases, due to the directional focus,  though I could purchase the optional diffusers which may help with this somewhat.
• Cost. These bulbs are relatively inexpensive if used selectively, but could be prohibitive if used widely, as bulbs range in price from around $8-up, and the fixtures are not cheap. Task lighting fixtures are also rather expensive.
• Halogens generate a lot more heat and use more energy than compact fluorescents to achieve similar lighting levels.
• I have heard reports that colors shift over time towards the warmer end of the spectrum as the bulb ages (but this is true of most halogens and fluorescents too.)

So there you have it. Okay so I may be overthinking this, but since lots of quality light was on the top of my "ideal studio" list from the get-go, it's pretty important to me. But even after all of the research, I'm not sure if I've really shed much decisive light on the subject! Ideally I'm leaning towards a combination of Options 1 and 2, with #3 reserved for the occaisional supplemental light, if I happen to install tracks down the road.  But let's face it, I also have the very real consideration of a budget to deal with as well, so I'll have too see how well reality meets up with the ideal. I would really welcome any additional suggestions, thoughts, ideas or experiences on this topic, so please feel free to leave your comments on the blog.

Photographing oil paintings for the web

Thanks to my niece Molly, a talented artist in her own right, for inspiring this blog post: So you have a nice little painting you've just completed, but none the photographs you took do it justice. How can you get decent photos for your website? I am certainly no expert photographer, but I will share what I do for my own website to produce decent reproductions of flat art for online display.

Photographing artwork is definitely a little tricky. If the artwork has any sheen at all, any flash or angled light can cause glare on the surface, which will distract or obscure the true nature of the picture. These days, I use a digital camera for all of my photography and tend to do a fair amount of color correction in Photoshop. But I used the same method of photography I will describe below, even in the pre-digital age when I made slides of my work. 

The best conditions I've found for photographing artwork is outside on a bright but cloudy day. This gives consistent diffused light and the least amount of glare. If photographing on a sunny day, try to set your painting up at the edge of a shaded area so that enough light reaches the painting without shining directly on it. Tree shade isn't good because of the dappling. It needs to be even light, so maybe an overhang on the side of a building or something.

If you are shooting film or are otherwise not able to correct the camera angle after the fact, you'll need to make sure your canvas is as perpendicular to the camera as possible. You can either set it up on an easel or hang it on a wall on the side of a building if the overhang isn't too large. To avoid the fish-eye effect that can occur because of a wide-angle lens curve, you should set your camera up on a tripod far enough away from the painting and zoom all the way in on your painting to fill the lens as best you can with the picture. This will minimize that fish-eye distortion. (Thanks to artists David Darrow, James Abbott and others in the Daily Painters Discussion group for this and other technical tips!)  

When photographing, I use my camera's manual setting so that I can set the white balance and bracket the exposures, just in case what I'm seeing in the viewfinder isn't what I get on my computer screen. Then I'll examine all of these images in Photoshop, and with the painting sitting next to me, I'll make adjustments to the chosen image in brightness, contrast, color, etc. Photoshop is great also for correcting the picture if the painting doesn't look exactly square. But Photoshop is also $$$ so if you don't already have it, you might look for a cheaper image editing software program that can do most of these basic corrections.

For the web, I will overlay my copyright info and save my images as 72 dpi JPEGs. For archiving, though, I save the image at the largest size my camera setting will allow, and save it as a TIFF. JPEGs are fine for web stuff, but not great for archiving because it is a "lossy" image format. This means that every time the JPEG is opened it looses a bit of information, even if it is a large file. For any kind of high quality reproduction (such as giclee prints), the best option is to have the painting professionally scanned or photographed at a very high resolution.

Vibrant new show for the First Fridays Art Walk tonight

It's raining now, but they're predicting a clearing by 5PM, so head out to the First Fridays art walk downtown tonight. We're open early from 6 to 8:30, and there's ususally plenty of parking on Main Street. Opening tonight at the gallery: "A Touch of Red"- New and recent landscape paintings from Provence to the Tropics with a splash of Valentine's Day red.

"A Place in the Sun", Key West Oil on Canvas, 16x20" More info

Where we are: 

Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery is located at 16 East Main Street, (between 1st and Foushee) two blocks east of the Jefferson Hotel.

New winter/spring hours: 

Beginning in February, gallery hours for the winter/spring season are Wednesday through Friday from 12-6 PM and Saturdays from 11-2.

We're also open during the First Fridays Richmond Art Walk from 6 to 8:30 PM and by appointment at other times. For additional information contact us or call 804-254-1008. Click here to view a map and get driving directions from your location.

Online charity art auctions- The learning curve part II

Look for a new "Art for Food" auction posting later today. Meanwhile, here's  a follow-up to my previous post  on the charity art auctions I'm holding for the CVFB. Filed under the "hadn't thought of that one" category: 1. Sales tax: Only after a couple of auctions were listed did it dawn on me that I probably had to collect VA sales tax. Doh! A call to the VA Dept. of Taxation confirmed this.  I am selling the item and then once I collect the profits, I'm turning around and donating the money to charity. Even though it's a donation, it's still a retail sale and subject to the tax for in-state sales. I can't really do anything about past auctions but pay the tax myself. But for the future a statement to collect sales tax in Virginia will be included in the listings. 

2. Framing: Due to the time involved in listing and promoting the auctions, making the donations, as well as packaging and shipping (not to mention creating the artwork), I cannot provide an in-house framing service for the charity auctions. Watercolors should be framed under glass, and shipping glass requires a lot more time and care in the packing and additional cost (and risk). It also adds another dimension of confusion to my whole accounting process. The good news is that these pieces are created in sizes that can be matted inexpensively, and fit easily into standard-size frames  found readily at local frame shops and even craft stores.

3. Donations: I started these auctions out with 100% of the proceeds going to the charity. However, since these auctions are an ongoing 6 month project, I really do have to consider the processing costs. Paypal, my online money transfer agent, assesses processing fees, reducing the total amount that I collect. If I can designate 95% of the proceeds to the charity, this will defray my costs for processing and any listing fees (for eBay listings and/or extra features).

More thoughts on eBay: I've been reading more on the eBay/Missionfish deal and can see that there might be some benefits to listing there. I've learned that in addition to your auction being listed on eBay's site and in the GivingWorks category, it is also listed on Missionfish. There are claims of better visibility and higher returns for GivingWorks listings over regular listings. Without having listed there I don't know how accurate that is.

The main hesitation I've been having are the Missionfish fees. At first blush, 15-20% of the donation seems like a painfully large processing fee. Will it really save that much time over ArtByUs in the processes of listing, fulfillment, documentation and donation? Will the venues provided through eBay GivingWorks increase the number of bids? If those two things were true, it might very well be worth a try.

A few gallery snaps from the "Small Stuff" show

Don't let anyone tell you that hanging a show for a bunch of small works is an easy task. But after it was all in place, we were very happy with the results, and I'm glad to report that my husband and I are still married. ;-) Here are a few shots from the show, on view now through Jan. 30th: When we were looking at this space for the gallery, one of the first things I noticed was this cute built-in. It's a perfect display for my minis and my new line of watercolor/pen and inks. Here I've decorated it with some lights and mistle toe:

A close-up that shows some of the ornaments--I like the little silver and gold Christmas balls along the bottom shelf:

On the opposite wall are the landscape paintings of Venice and Lake Como:

Close-up shot of the mantlepiece decorated with paintings. To the left of the large Venetian landscape are a series of little square 6x6" Lake Como paintings. Anyone who has read my blog for a while, or my squidoo lens on hanging art must know I'm a fan of grouping big and small paintings together like this. I'd love to do something similar over my fireplace mantle at home.

A small grouping from the next room of some of my more local autumn scenes:

I  guess that's really all I had time for, photography-wise. I may share a few more snaps and I will definitely share more info on some of the individual pieces in the show very soon.

Miniature landscape painting of the Tuscany sunset

This painting sold last night at my gallery exhibition preview, but it's still on view tonight for the First Fridays downtown art walk. It is a companion to another Tuscany painting I blogged about a couple of days ago:

"Lingering Light, Tuscany II" Oil on linen, about 3.5" x 7.75"

If you're doing the downtown art walk tonight in Richmond, come by Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery and see all of the "Small Stuff" -- miniature paintings and prints --on display for the holiday season. The gallery is located at 16 East Main Street between 1st and Foushee.

If you're not in Richmond, I am continually uploading new paintings to my web gallery, or you can see them offered first here, on the blog. I'm also offering free shipping (with some restrictions) until the end of the year, for holiday shopping convenience.

Useful links:

Ideas for hanging "small stuff" How I pack paintings for shipping My purchasing FAQ's My gallery information (and virtual tour)

Grand Venice painted as a small vignette

Though the subject matter is vast and expansive, this painting is tiny. I enjoy the looseness of it. With a painting this size you can't help but be loose! The little gondolier and other people were a challenge, so I resorted to a size 0 brush in some places:

"Grand Venice" Oil on Canvas, 4x5"

The image is about true to size. Painted on a mini gallery wrapped canvas with edges painted a near black (the gondola color). This is offered on its own or with an accompanying mini easel. Additional pictures and info will be added to the website later, but you saw it here first. Please contact me for all the details.  Available to ship this weekend, after my openings Thursday and Friday. Update: just sold! To see the other small works I still have available for sale, please click here and here.

Mini still life oil painting; colorful apples vignette

Here's one of many small pieces that will featured in my "Small Stuff" show that opens next week at Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery. It's a colorful still life painting of apples in a translucent red bowl:

"Three's a Crowd" 4x5", oil on canvas

Set on a gold mini easel, this little piece is great on a shelf or mantle with other objects d'art. In the gallery I have it grouped with a couple of my gallery wrapped mini florals:

More mini paintings and vignettes will be featured as my next show draws ever closer. Stay tuned! **UPDATE: This piece has sold. See some of the other small works I have available for sale here and here. For more information about any of these pieces, please visit my website or just contact me.

Venice oil painting, "La Città D'Oro"

 

This little painting is of a golden evening along the Grand Canal. It is one of the small works I will feature in my upcoming show, "Small Stuff".

I'm celebrating my first year the gallery, so I'm offering a preview of this exhibition at my anniversary party on Thursday evening, December 6th. Invited guests will enjoy a chance to win a free painting during the event! Contact me if you're in the area and would like to attend the preview. The show officially opens at the gallery on December 7th from 6 to 8:30 PM for the First Fridays Richmond art walk.

Click here or on the image above for more information about this painting.

Fun new mini prints and free shipping!

If you subscribe to my email newsletter, you may already know about the charming new mini prints I'm offering. But if you're exclusively a blog reader, you may or may not have noticed that they're also newly linked here on the blog (scroll down to the end of my sidebar on the right side of the screen.)

These new prints are made on acid free fine art paper with archival inks, and sizes range from very mini 2.5" x 3.5" (such as the one pictured, matted to 5x7") on up to 8" x 10". All are signed and make great holiday gifts. I'm offering these prints via my new Etsy shop for online shopping convenience.

As an added bonus, right now shipping is free one-way in the Continental U.S. for all purchases of $30 USD and over. Customers outside of the continental U.S.A.: You will receive a shipping credit (based on my listed shipping charges) towards your actual shipping costs! (Contact me for a custom shipping quote prior to placing your order.)

By the way, I'm offering the same shipping promotion for any paintings and limited edition prints purchased via my website as well. Click here or just contact me for more information.

Video- Tour of Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery

Taking some time over the Thanksgiving holidays to spend with family , so for now I leave you with a little tour of my studio/gallery featuring my last and perhaps one of my favorite shows to date, "Luminosity". The groovy music, by the way is by David Webb.

If you don't see the video player above, clicking this link will take you to the video in a new window.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks to EmptyEasel.com for featuring my landscape paintings!

A few weeks ago, Dan at Empty Easel was kind enough to feature my plein air painting demo on his art site. I'm thankful to him again, because today he's given me a very nice a write up about the latest landscape paintings I've created for my current show  about the luminous landscape. If you have an interest in the arts, do check out his site. He regularly features the works of artists he's reviewed from around the internet, plus he has wonderful tips for art and painting as well as Internet art marketing. If you're an artist, consider submitting your work or an article yourself for a possible feature.

...And if you're in the Richmond area, my show "Luminosity" is still on view until December 1st, so come by my studio/gallery this Friday during the art walk if you can,  or just contact me to visit the gallery at another time.

Do you Squidoo? My new lens on hanging artwork.

According to Wikipedia,

"Squidoo is a network of user-generated lenses --single pages that highlights one person's point of view, recommendations, or expertise."

According to me, it's pretty addictive! I've really been enjoying surfing it, and I've also created a couple of lenses of my own. My most recent lens is: Hanging Artwork and Caring for Your Art Collection. While I've blogged some of this information before, I've included new content on my lens that I hope will be of interest to art lovers and art collectors. I've also just updated my other lens on landscape painting with new content, so check them out! And if you enjoy my lenses, please consider leaving a star rating for them at the top of the screen.

Tiny sunset painting- "Day to Night"

I am heading out of town for a few days to be with family, so for now I submit a tiny painting I have just completed for an upcoming fundraiser for Art6 and ArtSpace Galleries here in Richmond, VA. The show is an annual event called "THINKSMALL 4!" and it is always a fun event and has some really wonderful work for sale from artists in the area. This piece measures 3" high by 1.75" wide, so I thought I'd post it here to scale:

"Day to Night" Acrylic on Yupo Paper

Art opening tonight: "Luminosity"

I've been scrambling this week to get everything finished for the opening  for my exhibit of new landscape  paintings tonight here at the gallery, and I'm officially pooped. The good news is, the show looks great, and  I can now take few hours to rest before we open up tonight. Come out and see us if you are coming downtown tonight or are doing the First Fridays Richmond art walk! Here are the details for tonights event:

"Luminosity" Art Exhibit at Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery

Richmond, VA –  Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery will feature new paintings of the luminous landscape by Jennifer Young.  The show opens on Friday October 5th, 2007, with a reception from 6 to 8:30  PM. Opening night music provided by Russell Young. The exhibit continues through November 30th.   Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery is located at 16 East Main Street, two blocks east of the Jefferson Hotel. Click here to view a map and get directions from your location. For additional information please contact us!

Luminous landscape painting: Beneath the Haze

This is a new painting I've done as part of a series of works I am calling the Luminous Landscape. It is of a most unusual evening sky I saw while painting an adjacent view on location on Tilghman Island. It had been an incredibly hazy, humid day, and when I set up to paint en plein air, the sky was covered in a heavy haze. But as the day started approaching sunset, I saw the sun doing its best to burn through that haze. The effect produced a diffused comet-like trail of light across the upper part of the sky, and  a bands of clearing closer down to the horizon. I really enjoyed the abstract qualities of this scene.

"Beneath the Haze" Oil on Canvas 40" x 30"

I painted this larger painting in my studio on a gallery wrapped canvas with a deep 1.5" stretcher with painted edges, so it will be ready to hang without the need of a frame. Here is a side view:

Art for the bathroom

I have written about some of the pitfalls with hanging art on canvas in the bathroom before, but that doesn't mean you can't hang other forms of artwork. Here is my response to a recent email inquiry, which I hope will offer some additional clarification: Q: Could you please advise me what sort of artwork could I hang in my bathroom?  I would like to hang a painting or one of those photographs printed (screen-printed?) on canvas-type material (I am not too sure of the material).  Please advise.  Best regards, S.L.

A: Hi S.L.- Art for the bathroom has some challenges but it is certainly not an impossible dream. If the bathroom has a tub or shower I would stay away from hanging art on canvas or wood panel. Over time, the moisture from the bath or shower steam could cause the canvas stretchers or wood panels to expand and contract, warping the support.

I think artwork on paper, such as my giclee prints, is better suited for bathroom. Your best bet is to have the art framed professionally with mat, glass, and backing paper to seal the art in the framing. That will help to prevent moisture from getting in under the glass.

On the other hand, if you are talking about a half bath without tub or shower, I would think you could feel reasonably secure hanging most any type of art. You may also wish to ask the opinions of a professional picture framer or art conservator in your local area. I am not an art conservator, but offer my opinion based on my own experience with the materials. I hope this helps!

Italian Waterways Art Opening Tonight

If you are out and about during Richmond VA's First Fridays art walk, please stop by to our opening from 6 to 8 PM. The show will feature my Italian waterways; recent paintings of Venice and Lake Como.

If you are a Richmonder and haven't been to First Fridays, it has really become quite the event. It is again featured in the Richmond Times Dispatch. This time it is on the front page!  It's a really nice article for everyone involved in First Fridays. I'd like to emphasize that First Fridays includes more than the galleries and restaurants on Broad. My gallery and a few others are just an easy few blocks off of Broad Street, where the parking is still relatively easy to come by ;-).  View the art walk map, plan your route, and come on by!

For information about the painting pictured, please click on the image or contact me.