Out and About: Hogan and Lodi

Lake Hogan-Cameron Trail
libbyfifefineart

Same as above:)
www.libbyfife.com

Roosters??? In Lodi?????

On Friday I had quite the day of highs and lows. To begin with, I took my walk at the lake as usual. I try to be as careful as possible when I am out there-snakes, dogs, and people all can be a problem and in that order too, mind you. My BIL ordered me a can of pepper spray from Amazon and so I have that with me now. Anyway, I saw a guy coming along the trail in street clothes, walking off of the path, and he sort of alarmed me. I got my spray ready and he must have seen me do that because he was quite friendly to me as we passed each other. Turns out that I recognized him as one of the regulars that I see during the week. Can't be too careful though. I did manage to snap the first two shots as I was walking. The color is still great right now though I heard on the news that the moisture content of the grasses and such is equal to what it would be in October and not June! Yikes!

After the lake, I motored on to Costco in Lodi. Lodi is a  much larger town about 40 minutes west of us. As I was turning onto the driveway there, I spotted the electrical box with the rooster painted on it. You don't see that everyday. After I got inside, I headed to the optical department. The young woman who helped me was very professional and seemed like a kind soul. I was so pleased with her whole demeanor and attitude-so very different from the optical experience that I had here locally just a month or so ago. She gave me God's blessings and sent me on my way. Quite nice. 

As I was leaving the shopping center, I got caught in a funeral procession. It was a gorgeous day and I had mixed feelings about that funeral. I finished up though with some lunch as I sat in the parking lot of one of the wineries on my way home. Ever forward I guess.

This week I hope to finish up the painting that I am working on. I am starting to warm up to it finally. On Friday I have to prep a bit for the show this weekend at Hovey Winery in Murphys. I have two days this week where I need to run errands and I am hoping to get some hiking in on one of those days. And lastly, I ordered some photos of my recent work that I am hoping to turn into cards for sale this weekend. If the pics are good, I will show them on the blog and they will be for sale there also.

OK, hope everyones Monday is off to a good start. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Libby

 

New Work: A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose

A Rose Is a Rose Is A Rose
10" x 10" Acrylic on 1/2" MDF board
Available: libbyfife@ymail.com
www.libbyfife.com

I finished the above painting on Wednesday. For the coloration, I was inspired by the work of Mabel Alvarez. In reading about her, she seems to have been a forerunner of both the CA Impressionist Movement and the march towards Modernism. I thought her designs were outstanding; in particular, if you follow that link above, it will take you to the original image that I found so inspiring. I already had the composition above in mind, but her composition of course if far superior to mine. I'd like to reproduce it just to see what it was all about. For mine though, I snapped this image and wasn't trying for anything in particular (except a specific pose) but I noticed right away that the arms, flowers, and bent over upper body created a kind of circular motion which I thought was interesting. Anyway.

I got going on another painting yesterday and so far, so good. It really pays to have several drawings already completed and waiting to be used.  Helps to alleviate the anxiety. I also went for a bike ride yesterday at the lake and that went well. The sensation of rapidly going downhill is starting to be more comfortable for me so good news there also. Today I am doing some errands and hope to work on the painting from yesterday a little bit more.

Hope everyone has had a creative week. Thanks for reading and commenting

Out and About and a Tip

North Grove meadow

Crazy Trees-North Grove campground

View up from Overlook Trail-North Grove

Trail-North Grove

2nd Shot-Trail North Grove

The heart patient after her higher altitude hike

color notes

color notes

I mentioned earlier that our weather, though hot, has been good. When it gets too hot around here, people head for higher country in the Sierras or the coast where it is much cooler. One of the places to go that isn't too far is Big Trees State Park in Arnold. The Stanislaus River runs through the park and there are campgrounds and hiking trails. The draw though is really the hundreds of redwood trees. They are beautiful and rather majestic and just not something that I see everyday. I have a free pass through July to the park courtesy of the Arts Council in San Andreas and so off I went yesterday to gather some color notes for future painting and to do some hiking.

Most of the photos are self explanatory. Because I plan to do some paintings, I tried to pin down yesterday what it is about the landscape there that I like so much. Apart from the beauty of it, the trees are really the draw for me. That, and the beautiful colors. I noticed that there are a lot of very strong vertical forms which contrast very nicely with the horizontals of the branches which can be very straight or gently curving. Even within those very vertical tree trunks, there are gently curving bits of bark which provide a nice contrast to the "straightness" of the whole scene. I also clued into the colors of these very brightly lit green trees. They are much, much shorter that the pines and redwoods and provide a good height contrast and a greater degree of luminosity with their sheer leaves that allow the light to penetrate to the ground. It's all good stuff. 

My color notes are the last pics and are a helpful tool for me when I go to actually do some paintings. And in fact, I recommend just a very basic child's kit of watercolors as a tool for quilting. How's that you say? Designing a quilt or whatever can be challenging if you can't envision all of the colors together at one time. Cutting up swatches for the design wall isn't always prudent. But, mixing watercolors and painting onto index cards and then posting that on your wall is a great idea. You can adjust contrast and color and then go shopping in your stash or to the store to see what you might want. The painted index cards help to give a very immediate, right-in-front-of-you view of the feeling of the quilt that I think a computer can't provide. Anyhow.

Hope everyone has had a creative week so far. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Libby

New Work: Spring Into Summer

Spring Into Summer
10" x 10" Acrylic on 3/4" MDF board
available: libbyfife@ymail.com

Last week I worked on this painting and finished it up on Saturday. There is really quite a lot that I like about it and maybe 1-2 things that I want to work on for the next painting.  Pure landscapes are a lot harder than you might think. 

I will say though that this time of year right now is perfect for the type of landscape that I prefer. The colors of the oaks and the grasses are deeply saturated. As the summer begins, and the lack of water is ongoing, the leaves of the trees will lose their deep greenish blue color and begin to turn brown and red and gold. The grasses will also become somewhat de saturated in color (not sure why exactly) and the landscape, though still beautiful, will become less vibrant. Each season here presents something special for observing and painting but this time (and the Autumn) is my favorite.

In other news, did anyone read Vicki Welsh's blog post about time management which was posted on her blog a couple of days ago? It's one of the more thoughtful posts that I have read lately (in general) and it's worth a little extra time to read what she has to say. It certainly got me thinking about how I spend my time and the choices that I have made personally in my life. Before you beat yourself up it's a good idea to think about what you actually get done in the course of the day. 

I also read another post this weekend about keeping your website updated and the content meaningful and truthful. Not only do people expect current and relevant information, but the thrust of the article emphasized truth in your resume. It hadn't occurred to me but people who might want to do business with you in one way or another could easily check what you have on your online resume or list of accomplishments.  Why fabricate something that could be checked? Come to that, why lie about any of that at all? Good food for thought.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. It was hotter than Hades here on Saturday but cooled down tremendously for Sunday. Kind of nuts. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Libby

This and That: The Week's Rundown

Boards being prepped for painting

A little exercise

Some sketching-Lake Hogan

Possible lizard or bird

Some organization

There is no finished painting for this Friday but I thought I had better surface. Monday and Tuesday were taken up with appointments. Wednesday saw me doing about 3 drawings for future paintings. Thursday and Friday were (and are) studio days with some about and about time mixed in there for good measure. So, here is the rundown of what went down this week.

The first shot shows the boards that I worked on this week. They have to be sanded, primed, gessoed, and then sanded again. It takes some time so I try to do several at one shot. The second pic shows what I did yesterday which was to take my bike to Wrinkle Cove for a little ride. Rich bought me a bike rack for my birthday and I want to use it. I thought the cycling would be a good addition to my exercise routine of just walking and light hiking. I also took my gouache and sketchbook and sat down afterwards to take some color notes. The color notes are to do with the 3rd pic shown above. That is my drawing fro the painting that I am currently working on. I switched up those tree branches a bit and did some other minor adjustments so we will see what happens. There seemed to be a lot of symmetry and oppositional lines in this composition which is something I really like.

The fourth shot shows what everyone else has been up to. The front door is a primo spot for the cats who are interested in lizards and birds. Several weeks ago I had about 3 lizards in the house-not all at one time mind you. One little guy lost his tail (which I had to find and clean up) and was being held hostage by Cassie via her mouth. Yuck! The other lizard was quite large and was last seen living in my garage. The final lizard surprised me and I captured him and put him outside.

The final shot shows a little organization of the magazines. I subscribe to Country Living (yah right!) and Cooking Light magazines. CL is a great magazine for reference of color and other ideas so I hang on to several years worth.

I am a little torn these days. The weather is great and so I want to be outside early in the day. At the same time though I want to be painting in the studio. I am also having a mild crisis (again) with the direction of my artwork and I also have to attend to some personal business. It feels like a lot some days and frankly, drinking first thing in the AM is not a good idea for handling everything so I am not sure what to do! LOL:) But, I hope everyone had a creative week and as always, thanks for reading and commenting.

Libby

New Work and Two Sales

River Watch
6" x 6" Acrylic on board

Wrinkle Cove
9" x 12" SOLD

Woven
9" x 12" Sold

I hope everyone had a good weekend. Our weather has heated up quite a bit and we are actually expecting temps in the low hundreds later this week. Yikes! Too hot for me but OK. Luckily the warmer weather like this means I can be outside in the early AM for a lovely walk and then in the studio for some work. So, that's just what happened this weekend.

The first pic shows an idea I have had for awhile. I like using the palette knife a lot and wanted to somewhat get back to my sanded figures concept. Whenever I am outdoors I think about being part of the landscape. As goofy as that sounds, it's all about connecting with my environment whenever I can. I wanted to depict a figure in a river like setting-not an actual setting but just the idea of it. So, I was after colors and some vague shapes. I used my palette knife to apply color, to scrape, and to make other marks. I also did what I think Julie Ford Oliver advocates which is using a scraping tool to remove color in order to reveal the color underneath or to add fresh, clean color. I think! That was the upshot though of scraping away with a credit card. Although acrylics are opaque, it's my belief that you get cleaner color in just one layer of paint and not multiple layers.

In other news, I participated in the garden show in San Andreas over the weekend. Man almighty, it was hot! The heat hits these black rubber mats and redwood type wood chips and radiates back upwards to your legs. The heat also gets trapped underneath the tent. It was brutal! I talked with a number of very nice people who seemed interested in my paintings. Local people tend to recognize the buildings and frequently mention Edward Hopper. I should be so good! But it is nice that people know who he is and have an idea about paintings of buildings and places. No one seemed interested in my figures or collage work which is OK. The landscapes though are the draw and I mentioned this to Debra over the weekend. Landscapes are very understandable and appeal to a broad swath of people.  This is a good thing. Portraits and still lifes are much more difficult to relate too as they are highly personalized or maybe too arty to be relatable. Same thing with abstracts. What you choose to paint dictates the size of the audience you will be able to attract. Specializing in something esoteric or unusual really narrows down the pool. But, as my former manager used to say, know your audience! And as I like to say, paint what you love. And I do love my environment so it's a win-win. And by the way, the two paintings above went to a very nice gentleman here in town. He is a fellow walker at the lake also which made it very nice to speak with him and to sell him the paintings.

OK, I have two days of errands and such to attend to before I can really get back to the studio. Better get crackin'! Thanks for reading and commenting.

Libby

Libby Fife Fine Art-May 2013 Wrap Up

A Good Book
12" x 12" Acrylic on MDF board

On Deck
10" x 10" Acrylic on board

The Clerk
12" x 12"

Touch Up
12" x 12" Acrylic on board

Homeroom
12" x 12" acrylic on board

Completed Work:

I am continuing to work on this new style which I think of as abstracted figurative work, for lack of a better term! To that end, this month I completed 5 paintings. Three of them are based on images selected from the Library of Congress's database of photos. The particular collection that I am working from is based on thousands of photos commissioned by the Farm Security Administration during the 30's and 40's. The photos were meant to document specific Farm Security Admin. projects-housing, redevelopment, infrastructure, etc., and also to document social problems such as poverty, education, and working conditions. Many of the photos were also propaganda pieces used to promote participation in the war effort. Many of the images are very powerful-moving or somehow distressing-and are an important part of our collective history. Overall though the images seem to carry a message of hopefulness and progress. The link to the database is here.

The other two paintings, On Deck and A Good Book, are based on my own images. All images, whether mine or those of other people, are edited and manipulated to produce the compositions that I find interesting. The drawing is then rendered, transferred to my board, and the painting begins!

Upcoming Shows:

For those of you who may be local, I will be in two spots this upcoming month. The first place is the Master Gardeners' Center in San Andreas, June 1st from 10-2. There will be plant sales as well as displays and demonstrations by many artists from the Gallery Group of the Calaveras Arts Council. It should be warm weather and lots of fun. The second place is at Hovey Winery on Main Street in Murphys. It's time for Passport Weekend and it should be a great time. Again, there will be local artists selling their work. Last year was a lot of fun so again, if you are local or can swing it, make some plans now for this event.

Miscellaneous Happenings:

I have been out and about several times this month in order to take photos and to just look around. I was in the small farming town of Linden earlier this week and made a post about that adventure here. My art buddy, Cate, and I were also at Calaveras Big Trees Park yesterday to scout out some ideas. There is a possible opportunity to have our work displayed at some point in the new visitors center that is being constructed. These trips in and around the county are important for me as a means to gather material for painting and to also take a break from painting! Balance is the key here.

I also participated in Our Gallery Group meeting this last Wednesday. I gave a small talk about the use of social media, such as blogging, and how it might benefit our group. I think the information can be generalized to other groups and individuals and so I hope to put together some ideas that people can read, print out, and take with them to their own group. The Internet is such a powerful tool for helping people to stay connected and for bringing people together who otherwise might not see each other that often.

Lastly, I have updated my website to include my recent work. The link to my site is here. I also have my Etsy shop which is current and that link is here. Maybe you have friends or family members that might be interested in having a look at my work. Just share these links with them or let me know and I can get them the information. I like m"meeting" new people online:)

This post is the second try at a monthly wrap up that people can read at their leisure. As always, if you prefer not to receive these emails with a link to these posts, just let me know. Thanks though for taking the time to read them. I hope they are enjoyable:

Libby