Painting, painting, painting!

I lucked out and hit the Art Supply Warehouse canvas sale late last week and bought some bigger sized canvas in bulk (6 packs) at great GREAT prices! They have arrived and now I just need to cover them.


I lucked out even more yesterday when I took my presentable watercolor paintings to Hobby Lobby to find mats for them. Yeah, sale there too! Half off, so I got some perfect mats for most of my better watercolors and will do what I can to find affordable framing options for them too. While at Hobby Lobby, I researched how to frame canvas panels I'd painted that I will be showing. The Hobby Lobby staffer explained they go in open frames without glass, obviously, and usually use foamcore behind to back them to the right depth. Nice staffer, helpful concept, but though the frames were on sale and very affordable, I will look around and hit the sale on the first day they have it next time, rather than wait until late in the week. (The staffer explained they have this sale usually every 2 or 3 weeks.)

Lastly, the painting above is a quick and vibrant one on a small 12 x 12 canvas. Comments from my facebook fans (where I'm Moesse the Eclectic Artist) and from friends I've emailed it to indicate this style and color combo is very popular. I think I'll be doing several more of these graphic ones for the show.

So much canvas, so little time!

I met with the restaurant owner of The Mad Platter who'll be hosting my show starting April 17 in Nashville and got the 411.

The space, which I've seen in quick run throughs with the Germantown Christmas Carolers (yeah, do that for the afterparty) each December, is adorable. Brick back wall will be a great location for some statement making grand pieces, butter-colored walls and a space to hang larger pieces to separate the restaurant from the service area will provide more great backdrops, as will the large 16-ish foot bookcase near the entrance (for smaller works).

Fortunate, I paint very quickly and expect I can get a lot accomplished to put up there.

The best news is, they will be hosting my paintings for 8 to 10 weeks! That means, I have an opportunity to work on more and replenish if and hopefully when other pieces sell. The current artist has pieces priced at $60 for 12 x 12s and $800 for large 4 x 6's. Yeah, I can get into this!

I'm hoping to fly my bff Bindy down for the reception the restaurant is hosting for me during the show. The date is tbd, but we covered the basics of it last night.

So, anyone in coming to or in the Nashville area from mid-April to late May come by The Mad Platter and check out my stuff. Tell them Moesse sent you!

OMG! Exciting News! I've got a show scheduled!

It was pure and total luck, I swear, and some very great friends!

I happened to be playing bridge (yeah, I'm kinda a geek!) with friends in a she-shee area of Nashville called Germantown last weekend. I hadn't seen these great people in ages, too busy painting, filing taxes, getting sick, etc. So, it stands to reason I'd bring my photo album of my paintings, right?

Well, as luck would have it, a new couple was there to play and were introduced to my stuff. As MORE luck would have it, they are restauranteurs of a great place and fixture in Germantown called the MaD PLaTTeR Restaurant (yeah, all skewy with the caps thing, right? But it fits!)

So, long story short, they were in need of an artist to show for mid-April, and before I'd taken off my jacket and laid down my purse, Marcia Jervis, co-owner with husband Craig, came up to me and asked if I'd be interested... And voila!

To top it off, I did damn well in bridge that night with great cards, tremendous partners, and of course, wonderful company!

As I played, I tried to remain cool, calm and non-chalant, but I was brimming over with excitement all night and stole away to the bathroom to call my hubby, not a bridge player who enjoyed a night home alone now and again.

Mind's whirling and racing! She wants some big stuff, and lots! Of course I've given away most of mine so I'll have to get cracking! Fortunately, I paint fast.

Golden is Golden!

Chris Farrell of Golden Artist Colors, Inc. noticed my post on opacity the other day and generously responded, as well as sent me a promotional version of the Tint & Glaze Poster which lists all 109 heavy body colors currently offered by Golden and details each one's opacity and luminosity.

I've put it up for handy reference right near my drawing board.

Speaking of Golden, I did more research on the company and am very impressed! Very socially responsible (which I love), and they produce everything right here in America! (Watertown, NY, to be exact...). I am eager to try using a variety of Golden products since they are mentioned in a cool book I get ideas from: Acrylic Revolution by Nancy Reyner.

The importance of an "O"

Get your minds out of the gutter! I'm talking Opacity here, and after painting hither and yon, blending random colors to see how they end up on my canvas, I've decided I really need to get a handle on the whole translucency thing since it really makes a huge difference as you are painting along, especially when working in glazes.

I discovered this the first time I used red iron oxide in a painting with haybales. Ugh! I had to work very hard to tone down all that rust color and covering with most yellows, and even browns from certain manufacturers, didn't work at all. It wasn't until I added titanium white, my go-to opaque-turner, that I succeeded.

With that in mind, and since it's such a gorgeous morning (even though it is a Monday), I decided to get out into my studio for this painting exercise.

I pulled out all the acrylics I have and spread them out in color order, more or less, regardless of maker.

On a sheet of cold pressed 140-lb watercolor paper, I painted horizontal lines of each color, noting the flow of each (for another post at another time after I've done more research).

What I found was that I've got far more translucent paints in my kit than opaque and I think that's typical. Thus, this post's title.

Know before I share my results that I've historically bought a wide range of paints, often selecting by price and whether it's on sale or not. Several folks in my Painting Class prefer Liquitex Heavy Body and recently, I scored a set of 12 of these in 2 oz tubes in various colors at a great price on Ebay. I haven't yet cracked them open for paintings, deciding to use up what I've got first. It's taking restraint, believe me, but I did open them for this exercise.

Anyway, in the process of doing this exercise, I discovered three things:

1.) I have way too many colors
2.) A paint color from one manufacturer to another (yes, I'm ashamed to say I have a few duplicates), is different.
3.) Though Liquitex's Heavy Body labels list whether a color is opaque or translucent my findings didn't fully agree. Maybe the difference is in degree.

I'm finding the below fully opaque:

Titanium White, of course (and I don't have any black any more, so can't say on that)
Cadmium Red Medium
Red Iron Oxide
Burnt Umber
Van Dyke Brown
Paynes Grey
Sap Green

After conducting my study, not wholly confident in my findings, I came across this terrific chart by Golden Artist Colors which I think I'll put into spreadsheet form some rainy day to keep handy as I paint.

I also came across this page on a website by Judy Filarecki that pretty much did what I did but in perhaps better detail. Thanks Judy.

So, that's today's lesson. Know your "O's."