Washed Away

Please check out my paintings at http://JenniferFerrisArt.com/

Alive After 5 tonight in Roswell, GA

Alive After 5 kicks off tonight in historic Roswell, GA from 5pm - 9pm. For this fun event, the shops on Canton Street stay open late, there is typically live music, and various vendors set up tents all along the street. If you haven't had a chance to visit Galerie Matilda's new location in Roswell yet, this would be a great opportunity. Many of my "New Mixed Media" paintings are hanging there, so if you live anywhere nearby, please go and check them out.

While you are at Alive After 5, check out one of the many great restaurants on Canton Street. If you are in the mood for sushi, check out Zest next door to Matilda's - it is so yummy! When I take my kids, we love to eat at The Fickle Pickle - don't miss their fried pickles and homemade potato chips. Outside The Fickle Pickle, the Roswell Fine Arts Alliance will have many of their works on display and for sale.

Alive After 5 is held the 3rd Thursday of the month, from April through October.

Please check out my paintings at http://JenniferFerrisArt.com/

Painting in Italy...well, sort of...

Yesterday, in Maureen's class, we did an interesting exercise. Maureen set up a scene of an Italian hillside/seaside village on an overhead projector and we attempted to paint the scene quickly, as if we were actually painting in plein air. We listened to Italian music and had fun pretending we were actually in Italy. Of course we didn't have to deal with the many challenges of actual plein air painting, such as ever changing light, wind, or other undesirable weather conditions.

(The reference photo to the left is the courtesy of one of Maureen's students from another of her classes.)

I have only recently purchased a lightweight travel easel, and have yet to attempt actual plein air painting. I have to get organized with the rest of my plein air supplies, and, to be honest, I am just spoiled with having everything already set up and ready to go in my studio. But, I do hope to try it sometime this spring or summer. Although, my ideal scenario is expanding my studio and adding French doors to it, so that I can paint inside while feeling like I am outside. We are talking to an architect soon, so I "have my fingers crossed." In the meantime, if you have any tips for plein air painting, please leave a comment and share your tips.

Whenever we paint the same subject as a class, it is always so interesting to see how differently everyone interprets the reference and how varied are the paintings. Next time, I will have to remember to take photos of several different artists' paintings. I especially like the composition of Maureen's painting. She zoomed in on the buildings, so that they dominated the painting. And, she planned to have sky above the buildings, rather than more hills. I also loved how Lorra's painting was looking - somewhat abstract, and a beautiful palette. Despite our challenge to work quickly, I believe Jane is the only one who finished. She is by far the fastest painter in the class, and can usually sign her painting each week before she leaves. I have to say, I am very jealous:-)

Please check out my paintings at http://JenniferFerrisArt.com/

New Seagulls Painting

I have finished my latest painting in my Seagulls series. This one features 3 seagulls flying on a blue-gray sky that fades from dark teal to a lighter blue-gray. Sometimes it is so hard to come up with a title for a painting, especially when painting "in series". If you have any suggestions for a title, please leave me a comment and let me know - I would love any suggestions!!

Here are the other paintings in the series so far:

"Escape from Winter",

...which I painted during a cold, dreary week, and the following dyptich, "Beach Beauties":

Please check out my paintings at http://JenniferFerrisArt.com/

Latest Painting

After several weeks of minor revisions, I finally finished my triptych of the three girls walking on a city sidewalk. That is how my best paintings typically go – I am able to get them to 90 – 95% complete in the first session or two, and then I let them sit. I keep coming back to them and tweaking them for a week or two or more until I am completely satisfied.

As I have mentioned previously, the critique stage is so critical. I need to step back from the painting frequently to see how it “reads” from a distance. I will also look at it in different lighting. I don’t like to squint, so instead, I turn off all the lights inside and outside my studio except for the main overhead light, which has a dimmer switch on it. I study my painting as I slowly dim the light. Sometimes I will take an “in progress” photo of my paintings and study the printout and the thumbnail. There are so many different ways to view your painting and see it differently, to make sure the overall composition is strong and that the intended focal area is working.

I decided to title this painting "Headed for Adventure". This painting is based on a photo I took on my 40th birthday celebration trip to Austin, TX last year with a group of girls I have known since the 3rd grade. We had such a fabulous time, and on this particular day, we got to see a bit of the reason behind the phrase "Keep Austin Weird", as we attended the annual Eeyore's Birthday Party Festival. We also got to attend a great art festival that day - so much fun!

This painting is on three separate canvases, each one measuring 36"h x 12"w, for an overall dimension of 36" x 36". The edges are painted a dark brown, and so the group of paintings is suitable for hanging with or without frames.

Please check out my paintings at http://JenniferFerrisArt.com/

Paper Painting Workshop by Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson

"Elephant" by Elizabeth Nelson

I have just signed up for a Paper Painting Workshop by Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson, and I am so excited about it! My husband, Brad, and my two boys are going on a Boy Scout trip the same weekend, so the timing is just perfect. I had some other tentative plans for that weekend, but when I came across this workshop description, it just seemed like it was meant to be:-) It will be so much fun to immerse myself in painting with a group of people for two 6.5 hour days. And, Elizabeth's paintings are so gorgeous!!!

Of course, I already work with a type of collage to create the textured backgrounds for my newest acrylic paintings, but Elizabeth's technique is quite different. In Elizabeth's paintings, as well as many other collage/mixed media artists', you still see some of the original media (newspapers, etc.) in the finished painting. I have only done this to a limited extent in some of my paintings, such as "A Cow in Paris" to the right, but haven't really delved into the process of multiple layers of both collage and paint, or in using collage elements to contour the shape of an image. I don't know if I will incorporate any of this process in to my future paintings, but to learn the techniques will be so much fun.

I can't wait to share with you what I create in this workshop! Check back in early May for the photos.

Please view my paintings at http://JenniferFerrisArt.com/

Practice Painting in Big Sky

Well, I promised that I would post pictures of my paintings during our trip to Big Sky last week, so here goes. Of course, there is never as much time as you think there will be, and so I only started 3 small paintings, and did not complete any of them. But, they were fun practice. And, I took lots of photos, and have lots of ideas for a future series of paintings.

The first painting to the left is a quick abstract landscape that I did without a reference, and the colors were chosen based on what I had on my palette (totally breaking "the rules"). I did this painting as we were packing to go home. I needed to clean my palette and hated to waist the paint. I think it might be my favorite of the three - I like the loose, easy style, and the vibrant colors.

This next one is based on a photo I took on a previous trip to Big Sky during the summer. To finish it, I need to work on the fence (it is only quickly sketched-in at this point), add a little more definition to the trees, and finish the flowers and grass in the foreground.

And, the last one below has several areas that need work. First, I think I would remove the far rocky/sandy bank, as I think it is distracting and taking away from the overall composition. Once that is removed, it will be easier to see what else needs to change to make this painting really work.

Learning to critique your paintings is such a valuable skill for an artist. I think I have mentioned previously how much I have learned in that area from Maureen's classes. She is also always reminding us to step back from our paintings frequently, to "paint a little, and look a lot". I will usually come back to a painting several times over the course of a week or two, continuing to modify it as I notice areas that could be improved.

Please check out my paintings at http://JenniferFerrisArt.com/