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!

Paint Party Friday: Week 50 Check-In

Welcome to Week 50 of Paint Party Friday!! Wow! Last week was another awesome week with so many wonderful paintings by our regular and a number of new partyers. Great to have you all joining us!

Last week, unfortunately, had one overwhelming factor hindering our enjoyment of the party and our fun in visiting each other and leaving comments. Blogger has changed their word verification so it is now all captcha and asks "Are you a robot?" We hadn't known it but we have discovered we are robots. We find the new word verification very difficult to read. Some of you have vision and hearing problems and we know for you it is much worse. Many of you have voiced your frustration with the new captchas, so we are again entering a plea here. PLEASE turn off your word verification.**

One of the things we love so much about PPF (and we are frequently told that it is what you also love) is the community of artists here and everyone's warmth and friendliness in visiting each other. We want to encourage visiting and commenting.  Captcha is seriously discouraging it. People are leaving rather than entering those annoying letters.

It is the default setting on Blogger so you may have it on and not even know it! First thing to do is check to see if it is on. We are not techies, but here is our attempt at an explanation:

 - Go the your Dashboard

 - Click on Settings

 - Click on Comments

• You want to show comments so we can all see what everyone is saying
• Please allow anyone to comment as not everyone uses Blogger and it helps our friends and fellow PPFers who have their own websites or use Wordpress or Typepad to be able to comment
• The next 6 are less important  - whatever you prefer*
• Comment Moderation - if you are getting odd comments or spam gets though the usually very good spam filter that Blogger employs or are paranoid (like EVA. Kristin and PPF don't use it and have had few if any problems - knock on wood!), you may want to approve comments. (If so, enter an email address. One you can look at easily because on Fridays it might be busy!)
• Show word verification - NO!
• Remember to SAVE!

Here are two links to perhaps better explanations with more visuals - a Youtube video done by Randomosity and a post by Cheriquitecontrary with screen captures.

While we are talking about Blogger settings, PPFer Geri of My Heart Art has a great explanation on getting replies so you are not a "no-reply blogger". (Dashboard - Edit Profile - check "show my email address" and enter it - SAVE profile.) We changed our settings when she first mentioned it and it is great to hear back from someone who has appreciated your comment. If you are uncomfortable with sharing your personal email address then email us (link on sidebar) and we can send you an invitation to get a gmail account which you can forward to another address.

**Having said all this, if you are having serious spam or security issues, of course you should keep word verification on or if you've tried the other options and moderation (and deleting spam) isn't working for you. We want you to feel safe.**

Phew - was that enough talking? Barely time for a poll. Last week's showed that while most of you are painting purists and haven't used digital painting programs, many would be willing to try! This week, we thought we'd ask about blog security since it is on our minds.

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!

*EVA has found that even with moderation some spam slips in unless she uses "embedded below post" on the Comment Moderation Placement section, then none does.

Paint Party Friday: Week 49 Check In

Welcome to Week 49 of Paint Party Friday! It is great to see so many familiar faces every week and meet some of the new players joining in... and, of course, to see your wonderful painting efforts! 

In our poll last week, we were talking about secret ingredients - and asking you to share your secrets! Many of you will add anything (and everything)... with book pages being the most popular choice. There are many of you who are purists however and prefer their secret ingredient be the most obvious - the paint itself!

We are noticing though that some of your paintings don't actually include paint or other secret ingredients. They are entirely digital! This week's poll asks about your digital painting experiences. If digital painting is something you have experimented with, or are a master of, we hope you will tell us more in the comments about the tools, software, apps etc that you have liked, found valuable and would recommend we try!

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!

Paint Party Friday: Week 48 Check In

Welcome to Week 48 of Paint Party Friday! Last week was another great week of amazing painting and creativity (and partying)! So wonderful to each of you at the party and to see all your efforts!

Last time we talked about your favourite paint brands and it seems the leading choice is Golden with Winsor and Newton coming in second for those with favourites. Something to remember perhaps, for the next time we go shopping (or when our spouse/family/friend asks what we want for ____ occasion). It's great to learn from the experiences of others as well as to try new things on our own.

We've seen hints over the last year, of  special touches many of you add to your paintings. This week we started wondering - what are the secret ingredients in your paintings?

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 this week's party!

Paint Party Friday: Week 47 Check In

Welcome to Week 47 of Paint Party Friday! Last week was another busy party with great paintings shown to us by all of you wonderful artists - new and returning!! It is such a joy to see you all here and creating!

In our last poll, we asked about brushes and what shape you prefer... Flats were the most popular choice but for most of us, it depends on what we are painting.  And no one seems to be a fan of fan brushes! Which makes us wonder - if you do like fan brushes - in what situation are they your go-to brush?

Thinking about brushes made us wonder about the paint you use on them... This poll may be a little tricky as there are brands that are available in some countries and not in others. (And some of you use only watercolors - not all of those brands are captured in the poll choices. Sorry about that...) Please let us know what your fave is if it is not included. Newer painters may not  know the difference between the paints. (EVA says - that's me!) Please help by telling us in the comments more about why you prefer your favourite (if you have one) to other brands.

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 fun time schmoozing and checking out all the great work at the party!

Paint Party Friday: Week 46 Check In

Welcome to Week 46 of Paint Party Friday!! What a party last week - over 90 painters! Wow!! It is great to have you new PPFers join us and wonderful to see so many people coming back each and every week. And the art! And the talent! Fabulous!!!

For new paint players, (and any of you who have previous asked but who slipped through our cracks or crevasses or chasms....) if you would like to be listed on the left sidebar of Paint Players, please send us an email (on right sidebar) or ask in the comments and we will try to be sure to make that happen. (And if we haven't by next week, a friendly reminder might be necessary...)

It is also great to see how adventurous and open to experimentation you all are - our poll showed that the majority of you are willing to try any shape of canvas. Rectangles are otherwise the most popular choice. Thinking about shapes... we started to wonder about what shape paint brushes you like best?



A couple of little housekeeping notes on comments. Internet Explorer and Blogger seem to be spatting again and causing some of you to have problems leaving comments. Switching your browser to Chrome seems to alleviate these issues. We were using Chrome so we haven't noticed the problems. Maybe using other browsers might also help but we haven't tried.

Also Blogger seems to have changed their captcha/word verification on some design layouts so you have to scroll down through a window to find the darn word. And those words seem to get  longer every day! The other word verification system captcha we find almost impossible to read - and we ARE humans! Most PPFers love commenting and everyone really loves receiving your comments. With a group this big, anything that slows us done as we "work the room" makes it less likely for people to stop and chat. We don't use captcha or word verification and have never had any problems so we think it worth turning off. However, we all want to feel secure. The "comment moderation" settings are another way to protect yourself by looking at and approving your comments before they are published. EVA uses them, Kristin and PPF don't. PPF has had almost no spam, maybe none. (Thank you!) EVA noticed that each time she turns it off, some spam seems to sneek through. Something to consider to make commenting easier for us all?

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 marvelous time at this week's Paint Party!

Paint Party Friday: Week 45 Check-In

Welcome to Week 45 of Paint Party Friday! 2012 is really off to an awesome painting and partying start!

In last week's fun poll, we learned that most of us are not very superstitious, at least not about Friday the 13th! We heard about superstitions new to us and strange things that happen to some of you. (We really want to watch Robin walking down the street when she is angry to see the streetlights blow out!)

In last week's links, Netty posted her new paintings on triangular canvases given to her by Valerie-Jael. Triangular! That was the first time we had seen triangular canvases. And it made us wonder - what shape do you prefer to paint on? And bonus points (haha) for telling us in the comments about the strangest shape you've painted on! ;)

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.

Hope you have a fantastic time at the party!

Paint Party Friday (The 13th!): Week 44 Check In

Welcome to the Friday the 13th edition/Week 44 of Paint Party Friday! It's wonderful to see the new year start with a number of new painters joining us for the first time! Welcome! And Welcome back to everyone who has been here before - great to see so many familiar faces already in 2012.

Wow! We were blown away by some of your answers to last week's poll. 11 (Eleven!) of you want to paint a painting a week! Quoting Oprah - "You go girls!" - PPF is here to help keep you accountable for your efforts. Many others want to paint at least one painting a month. And most of us just want to paint! (Yay!!!)

Since PPF falls on Friday the 13th this week, we thought we'd have a fun poll and ask about your superstitions - if you have any!

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.

We hope you have a great time at the party and that Friday the 13th brings you only GOOD LUCK!

Paint Party Friday: Week 43 Check-In - Happy, Creative 2012 Everyone!

Welcome to Week 43 of Paint Party Friday! Happy New Year! We hope that all of you have a fabulous and creative 2012 filled with time to make LOTS of art! (And to show us your paintings here...)

Last week, we talked about resolutions. Some of you had art related resolutions and goals, others didn't make them and an increasing number of you preferred the idea of a Word of the Year. We (EVA and Kristin) posted about our "Words" as did Lisa/WrightStuff and others. Geri/MyHeartArt has even started a blog hop about the Word of the Year so if you want to share yours, please join in.

Some of you talked about wanting to paint a specific number of paintings in 2012. Gloria has twelve (12 for 2012?) in mind... (though we suspect she may paint more...) and Mary mentioned her lofty goal of a painting a week. What about you? Do you have a specific number of paintings that you want to paint in 2012?



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 fun time at the party! We've set out celery and carrots sticks to make up for all those cookies last month...

xoxo

Kristin and EVA