art

Are you ready for a(n Art) Challenge?

Dogs, February 2018, Professional Practices

I am thankful that I am finally getting over a rather rough cold, as well as healing up from a freak fall on my porch stairs. It was a rough couple weeks. It’s been a while since I painted, from sheer pain/exhaustion/feeling icky. My energy came back, and I discovered that I will happily work away listening to Audible or podcasts.  I get away to distracted listening to the news.

We are still waiting for an electrician to come by and fix our electrical issue – all the rooms on one of our electrical circuits is being temperamental. It is kinda working, but it affects my daughter’s bedroom and my studio, so I have taken over the dining room table.

But, I digress. I was listening to the Leslie Saeta Artists Helping Artists Podcast, and she is promoting her February “30 in 30 Art Challenge” I was originally not going to join up, but, I have changed my mind. Here’s why, and some background.

I was first introduced to the concept of art challenge around 2008-2009. It was a show called The Forgotten Works Challenge, held at the Tashiro Kaplan Building near Pioneer Square, Seattle. The “Challenge” consisted of creating 30 artworks on 8×10 canvasboard panels, within 30 days. Exactly. That’s a lot of surface to cover. I remember telling the coordinator I would not be able to complete the challenge – he said – slap some sharpie smiley faces on the blank ones, but bring them ALL back. Light Bulb! Since then, though, I have figured out how to complete all the panels. 😉

Since then, I have pretty much done some variation of the 30 day challenge. Sometimes even a couple times a year. If you check out the sidebar on this blog, most of the Series posted were done in that mindset. What can I say, I like series. Also, it sure made me a better, faster, more confident painter.

I think it has helped me more recently, to have some kind of theme. So my theme for the February 30 in 30 Challenge is The Brown Dog. Why? Well, it’s the Year of the Dog in the Chinese Lunar New Year. AND February 16th is the Lunar New Year start day! AND it’s the year of the EARTH dog (element, get it, brown dog, earth dog) AND my favorite subjects are… Dogs! So. Very. Excited.

Have you done Leslie’s Art Challenge? Or another one in your town? How have you approached it?

If you want to join Leslie’s Challenge, here’s the link – you you might have to cut and paste, sorry – https://www.saetastudio.com/30-in-30.html.   I recommend listening to the latest Artists Helping Artists podcast – it talks about how this (or any) Art Challenge can be very useful to any artist. Enjoy!

Psst – check out Amber Honour’s blog – burntumberarts.com She’s doing her own January Challenge. And I believe #stradaeasel is doing one too! Follow them on FB or Instagram, and while you’re at it – check me out too of you want – @DanaAldisStudio

9/6 – Peach Moth (Egybolis Vaillantia)

Artwork, September 2017
Moth6

9/6 – Peach Moth, 6×6 Acrylics on Paper

When painting series, one discovers so many interesting things about the subjects. Moths are so varied, and the names are wonderful. However, this moth name, though seemingly adorable at first, turns out, is a pest moth. Probably not the last one I will paint.

Brian & Millie – Why I paint dogs

Dogs

My focus was drawing in school. I didn’t start painting regularly until 2008. My preferred medium is oil paint. My preferred subjects are dogs. Or at least, one I keep going back to paint.

For 5 years, I was a Chartpak/Grumbacher painting instructor for the Michaels store in Moscow, ID. If you don’t know the program, it offers 2 hour classes where you paint a 9×12 canvas, from start to finish, in one sitting. The interesting part is how they divided up the subjects into four categories – Still Life, Floral, Landscape, Seascape.

So that got me thinking – what do I love? What to I want to paint? It took a couple months, but then I realized that my passion was painting animals. Specifically, dogs. I’ve been painting dogs (and everything else with four legs or wings) ever since. You can check out some of my pet portrait commissions in my page section – I’d love to paint your pet!

I spend waaaay too much time on social media. (Why yes, I am on FB and Instagram @DanaAldisStudio)  But, in my (weak) defense, that helped me make art and family connections as well as follow different animal rescues. One that caught my attention was Leave No Paws Behind, Inc. They take the last chance dogs, the ones that have been often horribly neglected, or dumped because they were too old. As frustrating as it is to watch, there is a silver lining, these dogs get the care they desperately needed.

 

Millie, 8×8 oil on canvas
Brian, 8×8 oil on canvas

Brian and Millie were two dogs I followed on FaceBook. Their page, The Life of Brian, is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, Millie passed away in 2016, and Brian also passed last month. They are terribly missed. I’m not sure how it happened, but in the last years, Brian became one of my muses. Dana (Brian’s “mom” takes great pictures)

WBrianandMillie

The Kiss, Brian & Millie. 16×24 Oil on Canvas

My tribute to Millie & Brian is this painting of the two of them sharing a tender moment, “The Kiss”. I offering prints of the painting, with 25% of the sale to a local rescue near where I live.  The 8″x12″ prints will be $45 plus shipping. They are fine art prints on beautiful printmaking paper.

And in non-art but all dog related news – introducing the new member of our “pack” – Dorothy the Goldendoodle. She’s 12 weeks old, not breed standard color, runt of the litter. She’s a little shy, and neither of us have had a puppy in our lives for over 15 years. All my friends expect to see paintings in the near future. 😉

Dorothy

Dorothy, The Goldendoodle @ 12 weeks

Below are links to some of the Animal Rescue pages I follow on FaceBook, as well as some of my favorite animal artist pages.

An Act of Dog – Artist Mark Barone created a a staggering 5500 shelter dogs https://www.facebook.com/anactofdog.org/

A great dog rescue organization – Big Fluffy Dog Rescue – also good for snarky commentary and imaginative breed descriptions https://www.facebook.com/bigfluffydogrescue/

And I have a lot more, but my FB page froze up (because I have so many liked pages) so I will post more later.

 

 

The Artist in Summer – Plein Air calling

Artwork, Plein Air
DSCN2338

My friend Aaron Johnson and me trying to paint in the rain. Wasem Vineyard, WA

Spring has sprung here in the Pacific Northwest. The weather warmed up enough for me to venture out painting outdoors (aka plein air). My husband and I have been discovering and hiking the Whidbey/Anacortes/Skagit area since we arrived last September – mostly to tire out our active 3 year old. We thoroughly enjoy discovering all the amazing State Parks that dot this area. We see bald eagles, deer, rabbits, the occasional chicken, frigate birds, ducks, seals, even some small dolphins. Such an amazing area. And a year pass is only $30! (consider it’s $10/day otherwise, a year pass is a steal!)

My Plein Air paintings done in Early Spring 2017

A mutual friend introduced me to LaConner artist Nicolette Harrington. She is a painter/teacher as well and she is my plein air painting buddy! We usually meet up once on the weekend, and I often rely on her location choices, since she has lived in the area for at least the past 25 years. It’s fun to go with someone who knows the local secret spots! The great thing about the parks out here is you can literally park your car, walk 10 feet and start painting. Or you can trek a little ways onto the trail and be just as rewarded by the view. It just depends how far you are willing to go.

LoneTreePnt

Lone Tree Point, View from Kukatali Reserve, LaConner WA

I have my gear streamlined quite a bit now. I don’t “pimp my ride” but I LOVE finding all the cool gadgets for plein air! In comparison my studio set up is super simple. I think the challenge of downsizing/condensing is part of the thrill of plein air painting – the lighter the load, the more exploring you can do. Also, setup/breakdown is quick.

So here’s my current set up:

PaintBox (or “pochade”) – I have a couple different options, and I have listed the websites at the end of this post. I use the Guerilla Painter’s ThumBox (6″x8″ish) with an insert in case I want to go larger (up to 8×10 wooo!). The cool thing is that this box holds your paints under the palette.  I just started using Joshua Been’s “Fly On The Wall” compact pochade box (approx 8x8x1.5 closed). He updated the Fly recently, making it even more efficient.  I also have Stephen Coulter’s plein air set up – though I mostly use the panel holder.  All attach to a camera tripod mount/screw.

 

Tripod: ManfrotoTripod

– At this point I have two camera tripods. One that came with the Stephen Coulter package – nice, sturdy, pretty light. Right now I am in love with a new tripod by Manfroto, with a swivelball head mount – you screw your pochade box/panel holder onto it. It weighs only 2 pounds! Caveat – don’t weigh it down a lot, also only extends to 40″. Neither is a problem for me, since I am 5’2″. But now ya know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paints – ideally up to 6 tubes, small if possible. But, that’s up to you. 😉 I just tried out Joshua Been’s limited palette – TW, CAD Y, CAD R, ULT B, BS. I couldn’t help but add Aliz C, and he even added Cerulean B. Inn plein air, less is more… a limited palette is your friend. 😉

MarthasBeach

Martha’s Beach, LaConner, WA, 4×5 oil on canvasboard

Brushes – whatever you like! I usually have 6 or 7, various sizes. Filberts are my fave, but I am starting to really like flats.

Medium – make sure you have your medium in a shatterproof/leakproof container! Gamsol is great, or a 50/50 mix linseed/gamsol, or the wonderful gel mediums like liquin/neomeglip…

Odds & Ends –

Paper towels (Viva is my personal fave, because I am a paper towel snob) I tear off 3-4 full size sheets and fold them. Easier to pack. Some artists like to bring full/partial rolls.

WATER! Sunhat/baseball cap, Sunscreen, Bug Spray, Cell phone, snacks, sketchbook/pencil (optional) 1or2 large ziploc bags, or a couple plastic shopping bags to hold your trash. Plastic pencil box to hold paints/short brushes. Wet Wipes are also very useful if you have space.

And some other cool stuff – composition cards etc. Hover over images for descriptions

View Catcher (dickblick.com)
KrollRoberts.com MVP#1 or #2
Masterview (Etsy) Artists Viewfinder Set

 

And, in closing…

5×7 Plein Air, Bainbridge, WA
5×7 Plein Air, Bainbridge, WA

You have to start somewhere! My very first plein air – done in 2011ish -thanks to Martha Jordan & the Winslow Art Center, Bainbridge Island and  Instructor Jim Lamb. I was terrified of landscape painting before this workshop. Now, I might be slinging paint, some days are better than others, but the experience is always worth it.

 

Here are some links where you can start your plein air adventure –

Pochade/Paintbox options – All are excellent. I recommend you find something that works for you. There are literally dozens of options out there. Most of these will sell packages that include the tripod.

https://guerrillapainter.com/

http://www.joshuabeen.com/merchandise/portable-painting

http://artboxandpanel.com/

Paint, Brushes etc etc – http://www.dickblick.com/  is the go-to online spot. Or your local art store. My favorite paint brands? Right now I am loving Gamblin and M Graham. Excellent color.