Artichokes, Marketing and Mediums

So I do a lot of fruit & veggie paintings - not because I'm obsessed with them, although it looks like that, but because they are the perfect subject for me to learn all the things I need to learn about painting. There is an endless supply - I just stop at the grocery store on my way to the studio and look for interesting shapes and colors. I am that weird lady in the produce section picking through pears and apples and nectarines, holding them up, staring at them, turning them over, comparing them to each other. Taking fruit waaaay too seriously.

During Lowell Open Studios a woman asked me if I had any paintings of artichokes because she loves artichokes. While I failed miserably as an art marketing person by actually telling her she didn't have to leave her email address - just check my blog - it did get me really into the idea of painting an artichoke. Dropping the ball on the art marketing is sad considering I've been doing marketing for a living for years - I guess when it is my product that I'm marketing I find it harder.

Anyway - here's my first artichoke. It's another small one - 6x6. I had a hard time with the photo, the focus is off. I'll probably do a couple more because I enjoyed this and I worked through a lot of painting challenges. My favorite parts of the painting are the leaves on the table.

Oh, I also tried a new medium on this painting. Medium - for those non-painters out there - is not some new age psychic coming in and checking the painting chakras, it is the stuff you mix with the paint on the palette to get it to flow better, dry faster or slower, add gloss and probably other stuff I'm forgetting or I don't know about. I have used Galkyd (my first oil paintings) and linseed oil (the past 3-4 months) and I liked both of them. Then someone told me about Liquin and that's what I used on this painting. I'm not sure I'm digging it actually - I think I really like linseed oil the best, but I'm going to use Liquin a few more times before I decide. The advantage of Liquin is that it allows the oil paint to dry faster, which is great because you can come back the next day and it's almost dry - or at least dry enough to paint over. Galkyd supposedly does the same thing, so I need to go back to that again now that I have more of a clue what I'm doing.

Going back into an older painting again

I've been at the studio a lot the past couple of weeks getting ready for Open Studios next weekend. I have paintings I want to show, but it is kind of wierd looking at the earlier ones because I've progressed since then. So I went back into two more paintings this weekend.

This flower painting was originally done as a quick study in my MFA painting class. It was done in a couple of hours and it really was a great exercise. It was the first, and one of the few, large paintings that I've done - I think it is 24x40 or something. I had a lot of fun painting this because it was so big and my teacher kept urging us to be quick.

But there were things about it that really bugged me - especially the background.


So Saturday I just said "f@#$ it" (sorry Mum) and started changing things.I am having a blast - just painting away and using my imagination.



- I have 3 pictures - the original, yesterday's changes, and where it is today. I'm going to keep going. The background is interesting now, but not right. Also want to put the tall flowers back in, but I'm waiting until I settle on the background.



Here's where it is now:

Open Studios!!

I'm finally doing it - opening the door, showing my work and actually putting prices on my pieces. Two of my favorite people will be with me - Nadia Richman will be selling some of her paintings and Annie Cronin will be there handing out yummy gluten free treats.

Come to Lowell Open Studios!

I have about 12 people that read my blog :) but if you love art, and want to spend the day enjoying the creative world, you HAVE to come to Lowell on the 26th or 27th. There are over 100 artists open in my building alone, others in downtown Lowell, and lots of activities going on. Bring your friends, your kids, yourself and have a relaxing day immersed in art of all kinds.

Hard to believe that a year ago June I started painting and wouldn't even open my door on a normal day - and now I'm opening for open studios. I'm really excited about it - I don't really care if anyone buys anything, its more about the evolution of feeling confident enough to show my work.

Work in Progress

This is what's on my easel today. I'm painting from a photo that I took this summer at the cottage we rented. I'm doing something different with this painting (every painting I try something different) - I'm starting by blocking in the large color areas with thin layers of paint mixed with mineral spirits. First I painted the entire canvas orange using acryllic, which, if I don't completely cover it up, should give the whole painting a warmer feeling. I'm trying to get across the feeling of a warm summer day.

The chairs are a bit tough because of the angles - and I painted out the trunk of the tree so I could work on the background without muddying it up with the brown from the tree. I'm also changing a few things - there is no house in the background, but it sort of painted itself in :)

Since I took this photo I've removed and restarted the chairs. They are the focal point of the picture so I need them to be right.

Peach tree

Labor Day weekend meant three days of painting! I worked on two paintings and this is the first one. The other one isn't done yet, and I can see a few things in this one that I'm going to tweak.

It's fruit again, but its still on the tree so technically this is not a still life. :) I have this wonderful, rickety old peach tree in my backyard that produces big juicy peaches that I hardly ever eat. No clue why because I love peaches.

I'm happy with this painting because it captures the light and movement in the leaves. I'm a little shocked to be honest, because I'm starting to get things down on canvas that are close to what I envision. In the beginning it was all a big crap shoot; I never knew what would happen and the paint definitely controlled me, rather then the other way around. It was very frustrating because I knew what I wanted to create but I couldn't do it. I guess all the painting books and magazines I've been pouring over for the past year are starting to actually make a difference.

Back to work tomorrow - ugh. Work is fine and I really have absolutely nothing to complain about, not to mention that it provides the means that allow me to have the studio and paint - but, still - ugh.

New York City Workshop

I just enrolled in a 5 day workshop in NYC with Karin Jurick - I'm so excited!! I think she is wonderful painter and I mentioned her in an earlier post. She started painting about 5 years ago and does it full time - she's an inspiration. I've also heard that her workshops are great.

The workshop combines 2 things that I love - NYC and painting. We will be taking photos around the city and then going back to the studio to paint. The workshop is being held at the National Academy which will also be very cool. I don't paint from photos, mainly because it would probably encourage me to be too exact and also you don't see the shadows and colors accurately. But Karin always paints from photos and she has somehow figured out how to overcome that.

I have almost a year to save the money for the outrageously expensive hotel (don't have one yet, but it is NYC so it comes with the territory) but it will be so much fun. New York is one of my favorite places.

Little Mr. Salt Chef Guy

Took a break from the fruit. This is a little salt shaker that I think my friend Nadia gave me years ago. I don't know what happened to the pepper (I have a lot of lonely shakers). This was so much fun to paint and I flew through it. I think I need to take more of a break from fruit.

Fruit is a great learning tool though because it is really challenging to capture the color and light.

I am trying to paint a lot of 4x6 panel paintings for the Lowell Open Studios at the end of September.

Have to figure out how to frame these.

I added a photo so you can see what my little still life set up is like. For some reason this cracks me up.

Try Again

This is my second attempt at a painting blog. I didn't like the name of the other one and I never posted anything. So I decided to get back to basics, call it what it is - "Meg Temple's Studio". I want to use it to keep track of my painting progress, and to share the work with my friends, family and other artists.

Feedback is more than welcome - good, bad, and indifferent. The more feedback I get, the better my painting will become.

I will try to post a few times a week and include paintings. Initially I will post a bunch of stuff because I have a backlog of paintings. I'm going to start with the oldest and post until I am up to date.