Monday 29 January 2018

Prepping for a bunch of paintings

So in about 2 months time I have to have 5 paintings ready for my final graduation show.  Prepping for a painting usually takes about as long as the actual painting itself sometime, depending on the size and detail involved.

I am trying to stick to a theme, winter in Edmonton, and have a few pictures and value sketches picked out to try some colour studies with.  Tomorrow I begin the painting part of this endeavour.

Thursday 25 January 2018

Office Work

I have been picking away at a couple of paintings I posted on my blog earlier this month, trying to finish them off and get some critical feedback.  So... I have been painting each day but won't post the same paintings until they are done.

What I do want to talk about is what I have also been working on over the last month - developing my own website. After listening to many Savy Painter Podcasts and hearing numerous artists stating how important it is to develop your presence along side your artistic development, I bit the bullet. Creating your own website can be daunting and time consuming, but also worth it when you are starting out.  When I got a couple of quotes to have a website developed for me professionally, costs were above $2500, depending on how much additional marketing and assistance I would require.  I decided that until I can sell at least $2500 in paintings, I best spend my money on art supplies and honing my skills.  I purchased a fat book about Wordpress, which wasn't really too helpful, as it was already out of date.  What worked best was watching Youtube instructional videos - love the YouTube!!

I spent probably 20 hours now and I have a 'finished' website = click the link to check it out Tessa Stanley Art .  
The process includes:
 - choosing / paying for a web hosting company (I chose Bluehost based on my 'research' of hosts and costs) 
- choosing / paying for domain name for your website
- choosing a 'platform' in which to build your website - I chose Wordpress.org NOT Wordpress.com - this was very confusing at first as I accidentally signed into both at different times.  Wordpress. org is a self build platform versus Wordpress.com has pre-made designs, less work but less flexible.
- After watching a couple different Youtube videos about building your own Wordpress.org website I went ahead and followed along.  Early on in the process I almost gave up, but it got easier the more I worked at it. The resulting website, I feel turned out pretty good for a beginner, considering my costs were roughly $99 - $150 for Bluehost and domain name. $30 for the obsolete Wordpress manual. Time used - priceless.

I am sure when I start producing some really great paintings and want a more professional looking website I can spend some money on paying someone to build and maintain a website for me, but for now I am pleased with the result.  Have patience and try it!

Tuesday 23 January 2018

Impressionist style painting

In my quest to find my painting 'style' I am trying to make this most recent painting more impressionist in style.  It is NOT COMPLETED YET and I am still working on the foreground and sky area.  I chose a lighter palette and trying to do more brushy strokes of paint.  I find I am needing feedback and will try to get a critique from the FCA (Federation of Canadian Artists), of which I am a member, and who provide a monthly critique session.



On the weekend my spouse and I had a nice afternoon checking out galleries here in the city.  We were just looking but the  The Front Gallery had a one person show of Kari Duke's work, which I have long admired.  So... our tradition is that instead of buying Anniversary gifts for each other we buy a piece of art every couple of years - we bought this one below - cause we both really like her style and these back alleys are pretty iconic I am sure I have walked down a few while living near the University in the 'ol days.




Thursday 18 January 2018

Progression without an ending

I am attempting two things this year.  One is to do a minimum, 4 hours of painting / drawing or pottery daily to increase my artsy skills.  The other is to spend less time on social media - so I will try to post on Monday and Thursday's only.  Need to fit in work and family life and some fitness too.

I started this orchid (which I finally got to bloom again after 2 years) but I felt like I had squished it onto a too small, cheap board.  Anyhow...a lesson learned.  If I start a painting and I don't feel like I have the correct drawing AND I really don't like the surface (cheap linen glued to cardboard) then I should start again.  I kept trying with this one and grew more 'disgruntled' with it as I went along. Listen to yourself!!





Monday 15 January 2018

Back after a break

I've been away for a little bit, sitting by the ocean.  Was inspired to try to paint a beach picture -this is in progress.  It is the first time I had tried painting on Clayboard (ampersand) and was not aware that using oils on Clayboard is not really recommended.  The surface is very slick and smooth and absorbent.  It will require a few more layers and a bit of drying time before I get this one right.