Red Poppy Painting - sketch

Last night I played with some red acrylic paint. This is is an unfinished quick sketch of red poppies in preparation for an upcoming mural project.

Tie-Dye Piggy

Tie-Dye Piggy

After spending the weekend up at the fest site doing some painting prep work for the Philadelphia Folk Festival, then attending a family party Sunday evening, I pulled out my acrylic paints and my white Adopt-a-pig and started painting.

Here is my little guy standing on the original tie dye sweatshirt which I used for reference. It isn't finished yet, but he's on his way to a colorful new outfit!

If you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about, here it is in a nutshell:

Rob Amand started the Adopt-a-Pig idea to make a difference.

The mission and goals of the Adopt a Pig program are simple: to provide coping mechanisms to children fighting cancer and their families. 

I, along with my ARTsister friends, have agreed to paint a pig or two, which will then be sold at auction. I will post more details about that as I learn them (sometime around Labor day I believe).

Here's a link to the website:
http://www.adoptapig.org/index.asp

And a link to the facebook page:
 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4453506&id=501962777#!/group.php?gid=38046667399&v=info

Hey, have a colorful day today, OK?

Breaktime

Sometimes

you just need to

take a break.


So when I can,

I take one.

Believe in Yourself!

    As professional artists, there are so many challenges we face. Most people consider art to be a lower priority than necessities like food and shelter, and I have to agree. When a person is hungry, he or she would rather be given a piece of bread than a painted image or a chunk of carved wood!

    This of course makes it harder than ever to thrive in a tough economy. There are many guerrilla marketing tactics that can be used to keep one's art business afloat, many of which I have been investigating. One thing I always do is try to keep up with new ideas from art marketing guru, Alyson B Stanfield.*

    Over the years I have read thousands of words of wisdom by Alyson. As usual, she hit the nail smack on its head when she said, "What matters is that you believe in yourself."

    These three words: "Believe in Yourself" express what I believe to be the most important factor in an artist's success.  If you don't believe in yourself:

    -YOU WON'T deem it worthy to invest in continuing art education.
    -YOU WON'T have the motivation to stay up late working on a solution to a problem, to do what it takes to resolve issues.
    -YOU WON'T have the discipline to work through bad days as well as the good days.
    -YOU WON'T have the confidence to try new things.
    And, if you don't believe in yourself, NO ONE ELSE WILL BELIEVE IN YOU EITHER!

*Note to my fellow artists:
If you want to learn more about taking your art career to the next level, you might want take a look at her closeout sale on some very timely info products. Deeply slashing prices until July 16th only! Hurry! Take a look! Click here for more info.


'Till next time,. . . . Enjoy the color!

Summer rain

There is something very refreshing about waking up to a summer rain. That steady sound of so many raindrops splashing against the roof somehow cleans away yesterday's troubles.
Will today be a better day?

Barnes Foundation

I went to the Barnes Foundation today with six of my fellow ARTsisters. From what I hear, it will be in its existing home for one more year, before they move it out to center city Philly.

What a treasure we have right here in my area! (I can drive there in less than fifteen minutes.) So many European Impressionist paintings all in one place.

There were tons and tons of Renoir paintings, many Matisse, Modigliani, and Cezanne.
Also on view were paintings by Van Gogh, Seurat, Soutine, Monet, Manet, Courbet, Rouault, Braque, Gauguin, and Degas.

There were also some earlier (before the impressionist period) works like Bosch,
El Greco, Daumier, and I believe I saw a Delacroix too.

Nothing like a museum trip to inspire one's muse!
Here's a little study of blossoms I did the other day. Interactive Acrylic paint on archival foamcore. Measures 6" high by 7.5" wide.
(Image: Copyright 2010 Jeanne Guerin-Daley. All Rights Reserved)