No Fear

I love color.  Shades and hues. Values and tints.  Intensity.  Saturation.   This is the vocabulary of my artistic soul.  Light.  Energy.  Prisms. Pigment.  This is the vocabulary of my scientific soul.  Advancing or diminishing.  Highlights or Low lights.  Complimentary, Analogous, Triad .  This is the vocabulary of my theoretical soul. 

One can often hear viewers exclaim “You’re not afraid of color are you?”  as they pass my display at an art festival.  Should I be?  No one told me!  That comment always intrigues me:  fear of color?  Never!  I embrace it.  Experiment with it.  Am emboldened by it. 

Walk into any Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware however and you will find grayed palettes:  taupe, white, gray, browns, beige, sage green, slate blue, abound.  It’s enough to give an artist addicted to color  an anxiety attack. 

There’s the dilemma of the season:  should I bow to “what’s hot” in the design world in order to sell my work?  A day or two of soul searching has led to the answer:  NO! 

I am a colorist. I know how to use color to express the vision of my heart.  My artistic voice at the moment is rich in hue, bold in choice, and saturated in intensity.  Recently a customer summed it up quite well.  He said, “I have seldom seen so many different colors and such bold colors come together to form such a cohesive and uplifting painting.”  Hurray!

Actually my work plays well with neutral decor.  It is a great POP of color that can be the signature to the room.   Like a pair of diamond earrings for a fabulous dress or a red tie with a dark pinstripe suit a painting adds the “you” to a room. 

When you’re ready to add the jewelry to your room, come see me.  I’m the one with bright paintings on every wall.

 

Ready, Set, GO!

Today’s assignment was putting together the plan for tonight’s live painting event.  Or from my point of view, painting off site.  I hope I am always alive when I paint!

An hour and a half is not a long time to paint a 30″x24″ painting.  My layer upon layer process usually requires me to put the painting aside, work on another and come back to add the next layer.  For instance I will lay the sky in on a canvas and let it dry often until the next day before I add the background, mid-ground, and foreground.  Each might take at least an overnight before I move to the next design area.

Not so tonight.  So I have written a map of sorts, a sequence of areas to paint, hopefully allowing the background time to dry before adding the next design element.  I have also pre-mixed my paints with the medium I use for my first layer of color.

People often ask how long a painting takes to complete.  The hidden time is amazing:  pondering design elements, process, and specific paint colors can take a relatively huge amount of time.  The perfect color in the perfect spot is after all what makes a great piece of art.  Then there’s the time consumed in selection (as in where exactly is that tube of paint?) and mixing of the first layer, making sure I have the right tools in hand, the easel at the right height, the lighting correct, etc.  All before the first knife of paint has danced across the canvas.

Usually I paint the first layer before I select the detail palette and prepare my tray of paints for finishing.  Not so today.  Anticipating the details is what it’s been about as I have prepared my tray of over 30 hues to develop tonight’s masterpiece.  I am as ready as I can be.  Master plan in writing in case my mind forgets, enough paint to finish at least two pieces I’m sure (don’t want to run out!), palettes prepared, supplies boxed.  I am set.

Now it’s time to GO!

Treasures of the Heart

Encouragement comes in many shapes, sizes, and faces.  Working in an open studio has brought comments of all kinds over the years.  Not all encouraging to say the least.  I’ve learned to filter the negative (“Susie your work is better than this!”{Susie is a child}), chuckle at the off the wall (“These sure are ‘purty’ pictures.  Are you blind?  I always thought Monet must have been blind.”), and savor the sweetness of a well intended comment in whatever form it comes in.

Saturday was one of those interesting days at the studio.  First thing in the morning, as I chased cyber spooks on the internet,  a little girl walked by the studio, looked at my collection of work  and exclaimed, “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”  Unfortunately I was too preoccupied with the computer to actually hear the comment, but a colleague who was walking by filled me in.  My heart sang.

Minutes later  another child,  a boy of 8-9 began to interact with me while I sat before my easel developing this abstract painting.   He asked what I was painting.  I explained that as I  paint I listen  to hear what the painting wants to be.  Immediately I knew I was speaking to a young boy with an old soul.  He seemed to absorb every word and went on to ask great questions.  When his mom stepped in he explained to her that I painted with a palette knife not a brush,  that I was painting an abstract which could be whatever someone saw in it, and that a good artist paints from the heart.  Wow!  Here was  a boy who opened himself up to the experience of the studio and got it.  A line of harmony was  added to the song in my heart.

Later a conversation, a sale and the following post on Deborah Gall Art on facebook “Wonderful joy meeting you today. I am going to truly enjoy my framed piece. Looking forward to owning many more pieces of your beautiful inspirations.”

I believe that my heart collected more treasures than my bank balance did.  I’m okay with that.  I smiled all the way to a peaceful night’s sleep.

This painting is one of a new series of work I’m creating using multiple layers of medium and paint before I begin to develop the details.  It will be the subject of another blog since it was birthed out of rejection.  Hmmmm maybe I’ll title it Redemption!  It is 36×48 and will retail for $2000.

Color and Impact

It happens wherever I go.  Indoor shows, outdoor shows, or in my studio (which is open to the public), individuals or couples come in with numbers floating around in their heads.  The size of the wall, the size of the piece they are replacing, the size of art they think they need.  I commend those who  take the time to measure before shopping for art.  The size of the space is important.  It is in fact the jumping off point for selecting the perfect piece.

Many things go into finding the perfect piece for the spot;  heart response to a painting being of course the biggie.  However today I want to discuss the impact of color in a room.  A little color theory:  warm colors (think fire and sun:  red, orange, yellow) are the strongest colors in the spectrum.  It takes the least amount of yellow compared to other colors to be seen from a distance.  Cool colors (think cool mountain lake:  blue, green, purple) are the weakest colors in the spectrum.  Purple is the weakest; it takes a bigger spot of violet to be seen across a room.  Want to test this?  Next time you are in a stadium look across to the other side and squint your eyes.  You will see those yellow Cheeseheads before you see the Purple People Eaters.  But I digress.  What that means to you as an art collector is that it takes less red, orange, or yellow to have an impact on a space than blue, green, or purple.

Point is dimensions of the perfect piece can be determined by the impact of the painting.  Color is not the only element that affects the impact of a piece of art.  But for now, let’s leave it at this:   a smaller painting done in a warm palette may be just the ticket, or a larger piece in a cooler palette.  Now you’re on your way to becoming an expert!

Today’s paintings:  Warm: ” East of Eden”,  20×20, $350  Cool:  “From One to Another”, 12×12 $200

The Freedom of Art

Happy Independence Day to my friends in the United States;  Happy Monday to those of you around the world.  Please indulge me in a bit of patriotism.  I woke up this morning thinking about a phrase from yesterday’s sermon:  “It is for freedom that you have been set free” and I began to ponder freedom of speech.

I am one who believes that as an artist my number one job responsibility is to communicate.  Artists use a variety of ways to not only tell their personal story, but other truths they have encountered along the way.  Political statements, social messages, inspirational thoughts have all found their way on to canvas, sculpture, pottery, photography, etc.  My personal artist’s statement speaks of giving truth expression and speaking it clearly and boldly.

That is a freedom I enjoy as a citizen of this country and it is not one I take lightly.  It is for freedom of speech, freedom of artistic expression, freedom of defining my truth in a personal way, and more that I have been set free.  God bless America!  Let freedom ring!

“What’s That You See?” is a 24×24 gallery wrapped canvas that reminds many of fireworks.  Thought that was appropriate for the Fourth of July.  Available at the studio.

Start Small

Recently one of my collectors shared how they got started collecting my work.  He reminded me that they first purchased a small piece, took it home, hung it and began to enjoy.  It was as they realized how the piece took on a life of its own in their home, that they began to consider larger work.  “We saw how much more we liked it than we originally thought; that’s when we knew we wanted more of your work.”

The other day I began a smaller piece as a prototype for a larger commission.  Some artists will sketch smaller versions of paintings to check composition, etc.  I actually paint a smaller piece because my process doesn’t lend itself well to sketches.  In the prototype I will work out the color palette, the placement of design elements, and the overall movement of the piece.  In fact I can pretty much guarantee that if you commission me to paint a large painting, I will first work things out in a smaller format.  In fact it is something I often share with my commission clients so that we are on the same page when it comes to their special order.

My point is that starting small works for both artists and collectors.  My collector is right on the money with a great way to begin purchasing art.  If you have never taken the plunge into the world of original art, a small piece is a great way to begin.  If you like an artist, but can’t yet afford the large masterpiece, a small masterpiece is a great treasure.  Small work can be placed on an easel and used on table tops, book shelves, counters,  as well as hung on the wall.  Another collector’s first purchase was one of my angels, that she looks at every morning as it sits on her bedside table.

My advice? Go ahead and start small.  You may discover like my clients, that you’d like more because of what the piece does for your home, office, and your outlook on life.  Or you may decide that one is enough.  Either way you own an original, have brightened your life, and have helped an artist along the way.  It is a first step in what could be a very exciting journey into the world of art.  Good on ya!

  This little gem is called “Poppy Fields”  It measures 10×8, has painted gallery wrapped edges and    is perfect for that little splash of color in any room of the house.  Available at the studio for $100.  I also offer many pieces under $100 in a variety of sizes and shapes.  You really can own an original for under $100!