Paint Party Friday: Week 3, Year 2 Check-In Featured Artist: Kathy Van Osdale

image courtesy of Kathy Van Osdale

Welcome to Paint Party Friday and the next installment of our Featured Artist Series!  (Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist?  Click here for details!)  This week, we are featuring an artist who creates bright and colorful paintings that she describes as whimsical folk art.  Many of you know her as KVO, it is our pleasure to introduce you to Kathy Van Osdale!

1) Please tell us a bit about your history with painting.  (When did you start painting? How has your painting evolved since you first started?)

I have been drawing and painting since I was eight years old. My parents got divorced when I was seven and I became very introverted. My mom worked a lot and I was left home alone for many hours. Art was an outlet and a friend to me. I spent hours drawing, coloring, and painting. I took art classes in middle school and high school and majored in Art in college at Florida State University. However, it was not until after my daughter was born that I started painting regularly.

2) What are your favorite techniques, media, and tools to use in creating your paintings?

My favorite mediums are watercolors and acrylics. I have painted in oils, but they take a much longer time to dry and are more expensive. I love to work with bright colors in my pieces. I prefer to work with larger canvases, but I will paint on a smaller scale.

3) What is your favorite thing to paint?  Why?

I really enjoy painting water, buildings, Frida, and images from pop culture and famous art pieces, such as my own version of the Mona Lisa or Botticelli’s Venus. This is my favorite painting that I have painted to date. (“Venus is Born” by KVO (2010))  I love Botticelli and “Birth of Venus” is one of my favorite pieces. I wanted to do my own version of that painting. I painted Venus in watercolors on watercolor paper. Then, I cut her out and attached her to a canvas that I painted in acrylics. I always paint my oceans the same way, which I guess is kind of a signature of mine. I love her hair and how it blends into the water.

4) What is your proudest painting moment and/or greatest painting achievement so far?

My greatest painting achievement so far is a portrait I did of my daughter when she was eleven. It is very abstract and colorful and she has it hanging in her room. All of her friends comment on it and ask her who painted it… I get tickled when she says, “My mom!”

5) What's next in your painting future?

Next for me in my painting future is to learn more…more …more… I love taking online classes, I am disabled so these are ideal for me. There is also a local museum that offers classes and I am hoping to take some very soon. I also want to connect with more artists online, building my folk art community on ning, make more videos, and maybe eventually, teach classes myself.

Thank you, Kathy!

To learn even more about Kathy and see more of her art, please visit her at:

http://www.whimsicalfolkart.com/

**Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist?  Click here for details!**

And what a great party last week! Here is our check-in for this week's party:

Please make sure to use your post URL address NOT your blog home page URL address as there are many late visitors who get confused as to which post is for PPF when they arrive (after Friday) at your website. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, an explanation of how this tool works can be found on Week 1 and Week 2 Check-Ins.

Have a fabulous time at the party!

*****Notice****

There are problems commenting on many blogs Friday morning. On Blogger Help - Known Issues, it says this - "Creating more than 10 Custom Redirects will currently throw a bX error. Engineers are working on a fix and we'll update this thread as soon as it's resolved." It was error bX-tm5jc4 so that applies - though I have no idea what custom re-directs are...

It is definitely interfering with the party and with visiting.   :(    Hopefully they will fix it soon as I couldn't even comment here. Please try again later if this is affecting you too and hopefully we can get the party rolling again!

xo

EVA (and Kristin)

Paint Party Friday: Week 1, Year 2 Check-In - Introducing The Featured Artist Series!

Welcome to the first party of our 2nd year!  We want to THANK YOU for making last week's celebration such a fabulous party - so many wonderful paintings, partyers, comments and fun! We had sooo much fun!

As we enter our second year, we'd like to turn our attention to the people who make Paint Party Friday such an amazing place to visit and to share painting efforts... YOU!  That is why we are very happy (and super excited) to announce our new "Featured Artist Series".  Each week, during our link-up, we will feature a new PPF painter...

Would YOU like to be featured?  

Here's how:

1) You have painted and participated in Paint Party Friday at least three times.

2) Create an image (preferably a painting) that represents you as an artist and also includes "Paint Party Friday" or "PPF".  There are a couple of ways to do this...

          a) You can create a new and original image. Here are a few examples:

image courtesy of Heather Stillufsen

image courtesy of Catherine Constance

image courtesy of Gloria V

OR...

          b) You can use an existing image and add text using Photoshop, BeFunky, Picasa, or other software:

image by EVA  (text added in Picnik)

image by Kristin (text added in Picnik)

3) Answer the following interview questions:

1. Please tell us a bit about your personal history with painting.  (When did you start painting? How has your painting evolved since you first started?)
2. What are your favorite techniques, media, and tools to use in creating your paintings?
3. What is your favorite thing to paint?  Why?
4. What is your proudest painting moment and/or greatest painting achievement so far? (Feel free to include a photo to accompany this question.)
5. What's next in your painting future?

4) Please share any websites, blogs, shops, etc. you would like us to include with your interview.

5) Email all of the above to us at:     
                         paintpartyfriday (at) gmail (dot) com

(You know what we mean... writing it like this helps to avoid email trolling robots.)

Each week we will randomly choose a PPF artist from all completed submissions. We look forward to learning more about you!  

And now, what many of you have been eagerly awaiting... The winner of our first giveaway is:

#74!  Jill at A Gorgeous Mess of Chaos

Congratulations!!!  (Please email us with your address so we can send you your prizes.)

Thanks to everyone for participating in our Birthday celebrations!!

Please make sure to use your post URL address NOT your blog home page URL address as there are many late visitors who get confused as to which post is for PPF when they arrive (after Friday) at your website. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, an explanation of how this tool works can be found on Week 1 and Week 2 Check-Ins.

Have a wonderful time at the party and a great start to the first week of Year 2 of PPF!

P.S. (Note from EVA) Many of you have commented on all of the awesome PPF opening images over the past year and how appropriate and lovely they were. These were all Kristin's doing and I think she deserves a "hand" (too bad there aren't any little symbols for clapping) for all of her hard work last year! Thank you Kristin!! 

P.P.S. Thank you SO much for removing word verification/captcha. Visiting and commenting is now so much more fun again!

Paint Party Friday: Week 52 Check In... Let's Celebrate 1 Year of PPF!!!

Wow!  One Year of Paint Party Friday, already?!?  We can hardly believe it!  Many of you have been partying with us since week one, and every week since we have met new painters... For all of you, both new friends and old, we are so very grateful!  We continued to be amazed, surprised, delighted, and inspired by this ever-growing, fun community of artists.  THANK YOU!

As we enter our 2nd year of PPF, we want to focus even more on the painters that party with us each week. (We'll share more about that next week.)  Paint Party Friday is such a great community because of all of the fun and diverse painters that party with us each week, which is why we consider today a celebration of YOU!  In honor of your enthusiasm, talents, hard work, and dedication to weekly painting, we are thrilled to announce our very first...

This week, when you enter your Paint Party Friday link you will be entered to win...

A one of a kind, black canvas, Paint Party Friday brush holder!  But, a brush holder without brushes is just a holder, so we're including...

25 fun and colorful brushes in a variety of shapes and sizes to suit all sorts of painting needs!  But wait, there's more - What fun are brushes without paint?!?  Not much, so we're also including...

A $25 Dick Blick E-Gift Card, so that you can buy yourself some paint (or whatever else you might need) to go with your new brushes in their fancy-schmancy new holder!  Wheee!!!

To enter this giveaway all you need to do is link your PPF post to this week's Mister Linky by Sunday night (11pm EST).  All PPF posts linked by the deadline will be eligible for our very first giveaway! The winner will be chosen from all of the eligible entries by a random number generator and announced next week. (If EVA's or Kristin's number comes up, another number will be chosen.)  Good Luck!

*Update (3/11/12, 11pm EST): The Giveaway is closed.  We reached a record number of participants  (104)!  Thank you partyers!!!  Please check back next week to see who won.*

We are also thrilled that, according to last week's poll, most of you (who have a "track") are either on track or ahead of schedule. Yay! One of the changes for next year (more news next week) is that there will be few, if any, polls in Year 2 - so we thought we'd end this year by asking how (and if) the polls were helpful to you...

Please make sure to use your post URL address NOT your blog home page URL address as there are many late visitors who get confused as to which post is for PPF when they arrive (after Friday) at your website. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, an explanation of how this tool works can be found on Week 1 and Week 2 Check-Ins.

Thank you all again for helping to make Paint Party Friday so much fun... Now let's get this party started!

xoxo

Kristin   and  EVA

P.S. If you haven't already, please help everyone to comment by turning off your word verification aka captcha (unless of course you have serious spam issues). Thanks so much!

Paint Party Friday: Week 51 Check In

Welcome to Week 51 of Paint Party Friday! Week 51!! Next week, we will have been painting and partying for a full year. Wow!! How the heck did that happen? We hope you will join us next week for our anniversary party and for a giveaway and to hear about a few exciting changes we will introduce for Year 2. Make sure to bring your paintings and party shoes!

Thank you all so much for your help in encouraging commenting by getting rid of your word verification. Based on the comments here on PPF, we all really, really appreciate it. (And hate the new captcha WAP - with a passion!) Some of you didn't know you even had word verification set to ON (default). Others couldn't find the place to change your setting. It turns out you are likely in new Blogger and have to go back to old Blogger to change it! (Blogger - what is with you? You used to be easy to use...) Gloria Z gave us this link on how to change the setting if you can't find it. Thanks Gloria! (If you missed last week , please read our post about being a robot and enabling easy commenting. Thanks.) Our poll showed most of you either moderate comments, or are open and have had no spam or if you do, you just delete it immediately.

The time flies so fast - it is already March!! Which started us wondering - are you on track for your painting goals so far this year?

Please make sure to use your post URL address NOT your blog home page URL address as there are many late visitors who get confused as to which post is for PPF when they arrive (after Friday) at your website. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, an explanation of how this tool works can be found on Week 1 and Week 2 Check-Ins.

Have a great time at the party!