Babies having Babies

So, seems this year is the year of the baby. 

Ted's baby dishes

A group of the nieces and nephews (well, their significant others) are starting or extending their families. It seemed appropriate to come up with an artsy baby gift for the brood.  They are a few years away from  enjoying a painting and luckily I'm married to a potter.  And luckily my husband has his own studio and a great imagination.

Ted embraced the baby challenge (pottery wise) and came up with sets of baby dishes for the little ones. Bright colors and different shapes.

Some of the primary color ones we mixed up. They turned out pretty cool. You can check his work out on Anna Norris Fine Art

I ended up going to Texas to paint a mural for one of the babies. My niece asked for an African Savanna.

Her husband is from Ghana and I had a great time researching terrain, animals and villages for the mural. She wanted something that was more cartoon based and neutral colors. Baby friendly but able to grow with the child.

My niece lives in Livingston Texas and part of the challenge was figuring out what resources for purchasing the paints were there. I found out there was a Lowes and that was perfect. I ended up figuring out colors and amounts of paint here and then picking them up there.

I'm not much of a sketcher. I have the picture in my head and I just start.  Can be a little unsettling for clients that can't read my mind. This piece actually evolved on the wall. At first it was just going to be between two windows. Well you know how that goes. I ended up with two full walls.

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So I realized as I started that I had no idea how to gracefully end the top and bottom of the mural. I didn't want it to feel too formal. The tree/cloud band on the top was informal enough. The bottom was more of a head scratcher. I though a band of Ashanti would be cool and M and D came up with a child's blessing that D translated into Ashanti.  I will attempt to attach the video that pans the room and has D reading the blessing in Ashanti.

Can't wait for the new generation to make their appearances. I know there will be a few painters/potters among them.

Under painting! I don't need no stinking under painting

Well maybe I do. Under painting, the painting underneath the painting. The underpinning that holds the scene together and plays off the colors on the top layer. Changes the way light bounces through the painting. I like to start with vivid colors. I may end up covering them completely but I like to work with them. They inspire me and sometimes take the painting in a whole different direction.

My inspiration was some bikes in Bend Oregon. Ted and I have found that bikes are very popular subjects. I try to photograph them where ever we go.

 When in doubt under paint a rainbow. I had a weird sized board to work on and wanted to try something random on the under painting.  Force my brain to look at things differently.

 When I started working in the shapes I was forced to rethink color combos against the background.

Bend Bikes some weird dimensions, oil on board

There were a number of changes as I realized the balance wasn't there and I needed to rethink the composition. It played much nicer when the foreground was changed. Can't deny a good diagonal line can save a painting. The addition made the bikes more important and gave movement to the piece.

A problem I used to have when I started painting was giving the same importance to everything in the piece. I've had to take time to decide what I want the focus to be. Change the values, color palette, soften the background to boost the importance of the focus of the piece. It's like golf, you will never master it but sometimes you're more successful than other times.   We all have paintings, projects, golf clubs that sit facing the wall until we gain enough experience/knowledge/courage to pick them up again.


The Neighborhood Watch
9 by 12 oil on board

This is a painting I did for a couple of their guard animals. Wrigley and Jasper are ever vigilant.

I started this with a bright orange under painting. The bright red of Wrigley's coat was there to show through the dark of the top coat, play off the blues to add a richness. I pushed the intensity of the cars on the street knowing that I would be doing a glaze and sgraffito to reveal the underpainting. In doing that I muted the street scene and stopped the eye at the doorway. Putting the importance on the animals. My wise mentor and friend Gabbie Hirsch told me that as soon as you put a live thing in a painting your attention is drawn there. True words.

Was pretty pleased with the results. Never had done screen before.

If you haven't tried underpainting your canvases/panels/cupboard doors try it.   A

So I've found out I have no Social Media Savvy

Mount Hood 12 by 24 oil on canvas

Greetings from the beautiful northwest. Camas Washington to be exact. In our quest for an unending source of fresh water we found Las Vegas was not our best bet. I now have a view of the Columbia River, through the trees, and a "vintage" house.  We even have two galleries here in Camas and a First Friday.

Fallen Leaf Lake 8 by 10 on canvas
Google maps calls it Dead Lake but that's not right.

The painting around here is great. Obviously different than Vegas. I mean there's water. Pretty much everywhere. It snows and there's ice, sometimes. And I have to say I've become a little obsessed with the water in its many forms.

Upside, the art scene in the Northwest is pretty good.  I've met some very supportive business people here  and have art in 2 locations. Wendee at Nico Bella Salon, nicobellasalon.com,  has been a great help. I have a number of pieces for sale there and they move quite nicely. I just got into The Hungry's Bakery, www.thehungrysbakery.com , thank you Jenny Easley. If you're in the Camas area both places are great. You can get beautified, cultured and have a cupcake or two.

In face Wendee is so supportive she had a Marketing class "How to Gain the Professional Edge" by Twila Kaye of WomanUp Global, www.WomanUPGlobal.com , at the salon and invited me to it.  I was kind of excited. I figure you're never too old to learn something new. I was the oldest one there and the only one who had no idea of how a hashtag # is to be used. I did not know that 11 #'s is the "sweet spot" for instagram. Not only that I did not have a twitter, nor have I ever tweeted-twitted-twittered????, I had not posted a picture to my instagram, I had no clue of the use of Linkedin, my website was pretty lonely, and we can see I haven't blogged in 2 years. Obviously I was due for a makeover. You know you're special when the entire class is suggesting things for you to do and the order of importance.

Georgia Pacific Mill Camas WA 12 by 24

This blog is my last step in my Marketing make over. OK, I haven't got a twitter yet but I just am not feeling my inner Kanye. So now you can go to www.annanorrisfineart.com  and view my  up to date website. Hopefully while there you will be given the opportunity to join my Anna Norris Fine Art Facebook page, link to this Anna Norris Fine Art blog, become chummy with me Anna Norris Fine Art on Linkedin, we can figure out the benefits of that together, and finally you can follow me on Instagram at Anna Norris Fine Art. Notice the theme here.

So here's to my new Pacific Northwest adventure. Please check back to see if I can keep this up more that once every 2 years. Hopefully by the next time I will have an "Artist's Statement" which I also don't have.  Let me know if you can find me on the web.   A

2013 is a quarter gone

Where to begin. Once again I vow to try to keep up with this blog. OK, maybe I should let that go.  Lot's to share.  Will make sure there are illustrations to go along.

Under painting

Almost done

                    First thing to mention is Celebrate Las Vegas Autism awareness project.

I heard about it through the gallery, City of the World, and was asked if I wanted to do a guitar. Of course. I have a few friends with kids affected by autism.   They didn't know what kind of response they'd have and were a little surprised with the response from the local art community. Over a 100 guitars were turned in.  With everything from collage, painting, sculpture, tiling, calligraphy, you name it.

Their small fundraiser had a mind of it's own. This thing has taken off and now it has morphed into a book complete with launch party. If you are in the Las Vegas area check it out. I've heard the next step is to have the guitars displayed in some of the casinos throughout Vegas.  I've included a link to the site. It's worth a look at the different art forms used. Enjoy                            
 

Red Rock and Roll
Oil on guitar.

Here's the link:   http://www.celebratelv.com/city-wide-art-gallery

Thank you Julie Townsend for inspiring me to market myself this year.

No, I'm still alive...really.

Yikes, I blame the non posting on the heat. It's down to the manageable 70's here in the desert. Still a little too warm for Thanksgiving but much better than the 100's.

I was productive this summer. Great excuse to stay in the house and paint or GO TO HAWAII. Yep, I spent the month of August on Oahu. While I was there on family business I did have time to get out and paint. I also took a lot of pictures.

Ua Nani O Nuuanu

The picture above was done of Nuuanu Stream near the Queen Liluokalani Gardens.  Ted and I use to live near here when we were first married. 

Kailua Canoe Club 4ft by 4 ft
Private Collection

My friend Rhonda lives close to the beach in Kailua. Well, everybody lives close to the beach. She commissioned this picture because of the sand castle in the background.

Thomas Square

The fountain at Thomas Square was my go to place near the hospital. Not too many crazies.

Stairway to Heaven, Sunset 20 by 24

Sunset gives the best light. What a great way to see Kaneohe and Kualoa. The tail of the lizard.

Souzas

Didn't realize until after it was done that this picture is looking up at the Stairway to Heaven. In fact the highest point on the back ridgeline is where the Stairway picture was photographed from. And, they're both photographed about the same time of day. 

I'm working on a post of other new non-Hawaii pieces and will have that up in a few days.

Baby it's hot outside

Ahhh May in the desert. It's been in the 100's already. This ends our forays into the wild. Not the heat so much as the snakes. I have a healthy respect. OK, it's really a fear.

Last Sunday Ted and I discovered Spring Mountain Park. The old Howard Hughes, Vera Krupp (think big diamond) estate made into a state park. Lake Harriet, the subject of the picture below was the irrigation source for the ranch.

Sunday Afternoon with the kids

While Ted explored, I painted. Have no idea what the name is of the outcropping but it was beautiful. I hauled Brunhilda (my easel) up there and found a bench. Yippee. I was fortified by peanut butter m and m's and water. Was just a landscape study until the momma duck brought her babies out. There must have been 7 or 8 of them. I sat there long enough she wasn't afraid and brought them quite close. They had to be in the picture. Notice dad protecting the flank. There was one straggler (all families have one) that had to be rounded up repeatedly.

"Pick me"  5 by 26 inches oil on board

 I finished my mom's commission. She wanted chickens. My friend Joe has chickens. Exotics (I picture tassels and a pole) to be exact. I tried something new and made prints and cards from this painting. They came out beautiful.  Del, the print guru, at Desert Art Supply walked me through the process.
The prints are 5 by 26 inches with an 1 1/2 inch border. Printed on Rives archival paper. The colors are brilliant.  I have 4 copies and am selling them at $40.00 a piece plus shipping.

"He's the Man"
The cards are details of the original. Broken into 3 different pictures. They measure 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches, blank on the inside, with envelopes. They are $2.00 per card or $5.00 for three. 

 They're on glossy  stock and quite nice. A great way to get your chicken fix.

I'm including two of my cactus pictures. The Engleman's we inherited put on quite a show. Had to take advantage of them.

Cactus oil on board 9 by 12 

I didn't get to see any beaver tail flowers this year. It's been pretty weird weather here. I had never seen the yellow blossoms cover a cactus before and it was quite beautiful. I even liked the dying blossoms. There was so much variation in the colors.

"What makes the desert beautiful"  oil on board 9 by 12  $200.00

I really love this "What makes the desert beautiful". It was a struggle to paint. Thanks to the encouragement and comments of my Tuesday group and some guidance from Gabby it turned out to be one of my favorites. Maybe I'll have to make a set of cactus cards?

I really liked how the colors turned out on this.

Thanks to all the comments, suggestions, pictures and support. As usual you can reach me through this blog or email me at annanorrisfineart@gmail.com.  I'm on Pinterest. Mostly paintings but some other stuff. 

By the way,  do any of you know a good web site designer?

I've had a request to show available art.

Las Vegas Wetlands, oil on reclaimed cupboard door, maple finish. $300.00
approx 13 x 22"

Kooloa Kids, oil on board, gold frame $100.00

Kooloa Kids, oil on gallery canvas, 9 x 9" $75.00

Brunch, oil on board 8x 10", with  gold frame approx "12 by 14" $100.00 

Laenani Beach, oil on board, black frame $100.00

Kailua Beach, unframed $75.00 9 x 12"

Sinavawa Turn Out, Zion, oil on board, whitewashed frame $100.00

The tide pool, oil on reclaimed door, 14 1/2 x 15" $100.00

All paintings come ready to hang. Shipping is included.  

Thanks for looking and as always: you can reach me through this blog, at annanorrisfineart@gmail.com or call me at 808-391-5740.  A