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Friday, October 26, 2012

Paint Party Friday Week 33 Year 2 Check In (And A Plea)

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We fear we previously may have been too subtle (lol)...
So, we've put it on the side of a building!

We want to hear YOUR story!!!
Click here to find out how to become a
Paint Party Friday Featured Artist

What are you waiting for?

We want YOU!
 
It was a hopping party last week (and most of you haven't even been Featured Artists yet...)! Wonderful paintings galore!  

As always, 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.
 

For those who celebrate it - Happy Hallowe'en and Buenos Dia de la Meurtos! Have a great week!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Paint Party Friday Week 32 Year 2 Check In Featured Artist: Aimee from Artsyville




photo courtesy of Artsyville
Welcome to Week 32 of Paint Party Friday (Year 2) and to the next edition of our Featured Artist Series! (Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? Please click here for details!) This week's featured artist creates bright, colorful, and fun paintings with charming and thoughtful words that match her vibrant personality. Please welcome Aimee from Artsyville!
 
image courtesy of Artsyville
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?) I’m not primarily a painter, but I use paint and love it! Mostly I write and illustrate hand lettered poems and phrases, and I do use paints with those sometimes. But I'm a big crafter too, and this is where I really go nuts with paint!

image courtesy of Artsyville
What are your favorite techniques, media, and tools to use in creating your paintings? For paint in my illustrations, I go with gouache. It’s chalky and has a weird texture, which gets a lot of people all riled up, but personally, I love the thickness and boldness of it. It’s like painting with cream, and it’s excellent for filling in little doodle details, which I love, and covering up my mistakes, of which I make plenty.

image courtesy of Artsyville
I love watercolor, too. Sometimes, I’ll work backwards from my usual method of creating, and toss a bunch of watercolor splotches on paper. After they’ve dried, I let the shapes guide my writing and my word choices, since I’m restricted by the sizes of those shapes. I use this method a lot for my journal pages.

Liquid watercolors (any kind) and acrylics (Liquitex) are my favorite for craft projects.

image courtesy of Artsyville
What is your favorite thing to paint? Why? Objects! Things that have no expectations -- and even things that don't expect to be painted in the first place. Pumpkins! Chairs! Whatever is there. I’m much freer with paint when I’m in crafty mode rather than deciding where it should go on an illustration. I love to slap paints on kraft paper grocery bags. I cut them apart, lay them flat, paint in random patterns, and then cut them up for collage pieces or craft projects.

image courtesy of Artsyville
What is your proudest painting moment and/or greatest painting achievement so far? It’s not so much a particular moment as it is a feeling I get when I put a brush onto a surface. The moment a brush imparts that bright splotch of color... it’s like the first sip of an excellent beer or a real, full-sugared Coke. It doesn’t even matter to me if it looks good or not.

image courtesy of Artsyville
What's next in your painting future? My family and I just went through a major relocation that has taken the better part of a year to work through, and the (un)settling process left me with very little time or emotional energy to take on new work. Some people are great about working their way creatively through strife, but instead I can only absorb and observe. So as the ideas popped up, I kept them in a thousand different notebooks, and now I have the time and the spirit to channel them. It will be a very busy fall in Artsyville! ♥

image courtesy of Artsyville

***
Thank you for bringing so much color and inspiration to the party, Aimee!

To learn more about Aimee, please visit her at:

http://artsyville.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/artsyville
http://www.facebook.com/artsyville?fref=ts

 **Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? (Of course you do!)
Click here for more details!**

Another fun and busy party last week with such lovely creations! Now, here is our check-in for this week's party:

As always, 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 and creative week everyone!

Friday, October 12, 2012

Paint Party Friday Week 31, Year 2 Check In Featured Artist: Alicia Araya


image courtesy of Alicia Araya

Welcome to Week 31 of Paint Party Friday (Year 2) and to the next edition of our Featured Artist Series! (Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? Please click here for details!) This week's featured artist has just successfully completed an astounding project using a very creative (and slightly unusual) medium.  Please welcome Alicia Araya!
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?) My father was an oil painter, though for some reason he has not painted in years. He's living on another continent, and painting was a passion, a hobby, something he did not pursue - he was a Navy man, then a lawyer, as well as an artist, as well a self taught electrician, carpenter, etc. Thus I learned how to oil paint at the age most children are still using crayons. Sure, I used crayons as well, and to this day, but you know what I mean... in any event, I followed my dad's spiritual legacy, I suppose, because I was never willing to, in any serious way, commit to one thing. I spent most of my 20s travelling around, partying, enrolling in University, then quitting and getting a job, then finding it dreadful to work and joining University again, then traveling, then being broke ... ad nauseum. Even though art has always been with me, I never seriously contemplated being an artist until after finally committing to receive a college diploma.

Vowing to AT LEAST achieve receiving a BA before my 30th birthday, I realized my last 9 months of university that, were I to declare a Bachelor's in Studio Art, I would succeed in graduating (oh my!!!) - I had, in the past 8 years or so, taken enough arts electives to qualify me for that diploma quickly. For anyone who finds this level of cluelessness incomprehensible and possibly even unforgivable, I would like to remind folks that it was quite en vogue in the 90s to instruct our youngsters "go for broke! take student loans! just enroll as an UNDECIDED MAJOR!!! This is THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE!!!" and well - some of us never quite transcended that early well-meaning suggestion.

That diploma effort seemed to, at least in my mind, justify focusing time & attention on creating art. Part of my problem has always been that I can never, on a given day, decide what to focus on. The great thing, then, about seriously pursuing the BA was the way it gave me permission to PAINT, or sculpt, or draw, all the time! And I definitely realized that, all other things working out, I could definitely pursue this vector of activity for the rest of my life, if anyone would pay for it, certainly, but even barring that, if I could just be allowed to paint and live somewhere and not starve.

image courtesy of Alicia Araya
So now I find myself at mid 30s able to say "I am an artist and at times a graphic designer", not necessarily because I make a brilliant living at it at this time, but because it is the one thing that has consistently rewarded me, and which I can commit to fully.

As far as painting evolution, etc: I feel like I am heading more & more towards realism, in some form or other. I started out in an inchoate, sort of untrained way. I then got tired of what I was capable of producing (or NOT capable, as the case may be) which was when I started taking art classes. A drawing class in 2008 radically transformed my relationship to art and rendering, and I am forever grateful for all learned there. As well, it gave me the habit of charcoal sketching everything I could possibly see, which has helped me immensely in painting.

image courtesy of Alicia Araya
What are your favorite techniques, media, and tools to use in creating your paintings? What I have always adored for reasons I can't entirely understand or articulate are the look and plain old capacity to render things in a realistic way. Though I work in many mediums, etc, I want to briefly describe oil painting. I begun with straight up alla prima painting - wet on wet, I believe they call it - and then came to LOVE glazing techniques, thanks to that last oil painting class I took at college, where I learned both the technique & the mediums/chemicals used. Now I am developing hybrid styles mixing glazing with wet on wet, as well as, in an ad hoc sort of way, developing ways to achieve different sfumato effects & specific hues & whatnot through sheer persistence as opposed to actually doing the reasonable way and reading up about various techniques, etc. Experimenting - that's it, in a word.

image courtesy of Alicia Araya
What is your favorite thing to paint? Why? I do enjoy still lifes, now! Especially, as stated above, things that allow me to capture the mood and feel of a different, earlier era. I also love landscapes of all sorts - mountains, streams, waterfalls, etc. This is why the Turner project resonated so well with me. I am not terribly keen on portraiture...

image courtesy of Alicia Araya
What is your proudest painting moment and/or greatest painting achievement so far? 2012 has been an excellent artistic year for me! I begun by selling my first commission for $500 and shortly thereafter managed to fund my Kickstarter campaign, 90 Paintings in 90 Days, aka the Epic Painting Project, which has allowed me to complete, give or take a little tweaking, 90 oil paintings. These are reinterpretations of the oeuvre of the incredible landscape Romantic era British artist, JMW Turner. These are done on prepped wood panels - not traditional wooden panels, but pieces of driftwood rescued from local waterways. The shapes of the canvases very directly correlate to the subject matter and the composition itself - an effort with which my husband (photographer and artist in his own right) assists me with. He can view each piece of wood chosen, we consult the JMW Turner book of images we have, etc. One painting a day. Intense.

This Epic Painting Project has been a highlight, both in a creative and business sense. Being able to Kickstart (as it were) a project of this length and effort is an achievement I, even 6 months ago, could not have fathomed bringing to fruition. It involved more promoting, advertising and selling than I've ever really done in my life, and gave me a look into what arts fundraising is like. Some confidence in terms of future projects will come from that, no doubt. Artistically, of course, the effort is legion. I address many of these matters in my blog turner.aliciaraya.com but, in a nutshell, doing this has allowed me to stick to an artistic discipline, exploit & explore the medium, learn a style from a master, and provide me with a cohesive portfolio group of works - something I've never really had in the past. Additionally, I have sold another commission for a painting project (a large portrayal of the ocean), and have sold a good quantity of smaller works through the site FiVERR. I blog & have blogged about all these things throughout the year.

Since then I have managed to receive another large painting commission, and in addition, I have successfully produced (and sold some) close to 100 wood, poetry, and art pieces with Jim, my husband. We call them Homily Sticks and Ponder Panels, and more can be read about these here http://art.aliciaraya.com/2012/08/ppf-and-august-challenge-new-wood-art.html. We are focusing a lot of time producing these in hopes that folks might find then neat as holiday gifts.

image courtesy of Alicia Araya
What's next in your painting future? Let's see... as stated it is a particular difficulty for me, projecting myself to some sort of future, but if I were to extravagantly desire a painting future, it would be one where I could live off painting, doing either commissions and/or successful sales - my overhead is immensely low, so it wouldn't take much in the scheme of things - but consistent income through art is the thing. The other thing I'd dearly love is to go back to school to get an MFA. I would love this like nothing else! I love being steeped in training and study! Also if I have a chance to go back to school I will know better how to take advantage of the benefits of belonging to an institution.

image courtesy of Alicia Araya

Thank you so much Alicia for the wonderfully informative and inspirational interview!

To learn even more about Alicia:
I can be found habitually at art.aliciaraya.com, as well as marshallcommunityarts.com - the latter is a blog I keep regarding mine and hubby's artistic activities in WNC where we live. The site for my Turner project is turner.aliciaraya.com, where one can also see the entire portfolio of events, of the project. I have an online shop at Zibbet, http://www.zibbet.com/MarshallCommunityArts where I sell not just my art and our joint wood pieces, but a lot of Jim's photography. As well, I am selling some 'virgin' driftwood pieces so that fellow artists interested in exploring the medium could acquire some of these 'jewels'.

I am on facebook here where I also like to post images of work https://www.facebook.com/alicia.c.araya and the facebook page for the work Jim & I do is https://www.facebook.com/marshall.community.arts - I welcome any new FB friends or 'likes'!!!

 **Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? (Of course you do!)
Click here for more details!**

Another fun and busy party last week with such wonderful paintings! Now, here is our check-in for this week's party:

As always, 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 everyone has a wonderful painting filled week!

Friday, October 5, 2012

Paint Party Friday: Week 30, Year 2 Check-In Featured Artist: Kristin Dudish

image courtesy of Kristin Dudish

Hey everybody, it's Kristin here... First, I'd like to welcome you all to the 30th week (Year 2) of Paint Party Friday and thank you all for making this such a fun party.  Second, I'd like to say:  Please, please, please send in your PPF Artist Interview!!!  We warned you that if you didn't send in your interviews, you'd be subjected to EVA and I blathering on about ourselves... So, while we wait for your stories (please send in your stories), you're stuck with me!  

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?)
I have been painting for as long as I can remember - I have wonderful memories of preschool easels, unlimited rolls of fresh paper, and bright colorful finger paints!  My love of painting continued throughout my childhood and eventually led to art school.  I spent my college years creating serious conceptual art, but always found myself being drawn back to a more whimsical style.  Currently, I find myself returning to my painting "roots"... Trying to remember the freedom of creating as a child, where "rules" didn't matter and the only limitations were those of the imagination.

image courtesy of Kristin Dudish

2. What are your favorite techniques, media, and tools to use in creating your paintings?
I have to say that I honestly couldn't possibly narrow it down!  The internet has completely revolutionized the way we create and share art, and as a result I am so excited to constantly be learning new ways of creating (Each new technique I learn becomes my "favorite"!).


image courtesy of Kristin Dudish

3. What is your favorite thing to paint?  Why?
I love to paint with a humorous twist.  As long as there is a bit of whimsy, the actual subject is secondary.  I like to play with words and create unexpected pairings through my paintings.
Why?  Because I want the fun that I have while creating to be evident in the finished painting.  (I also think there might be a little bit of rebellion involved... When I was in art school, my professors always said to stay away from cliches, puns, and silly art.  Now that I'm on my own artistically, I've decided to play by my own rules.)

image courtesy of Kristin Dudish

4. What is your proudest painting moment and/or greatest painting achievement so far?
In addition to wanting my artwork to be "fun", I am most proud when I am able to combine my art and painting with my passion for kindness and service.  Before I had my son, I was the co-owner of a mural/decorative painting company.  During that time, we painted a mural for one of Oprah's "Use Your Life Award" recipients... Being a part of something so much bigger than myself as a result of my art was truly magical.  (You can read more about it here.)

image courtesy of Kristin Dudish

5. What's next in your painting future?
I feel like I have so many ideas spinning in my head... more paintings, books, and online classes...
I am currently working on a series of paintings based on the surrealist game "exquisite corpse", and preparing for the launch of my first e-courses in 2013!  (Click here for more info.)

images courtesy of Kristin Dudish

To learn even more about Kristin, you can visit her at:


**Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? (Of course you do!) 
Click here for more details!**


As always, 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.


Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian PPFers! Hope everyone has a fun and creative week.

*Update 10/6/2012*
Kristin here again... Thank you all SO much for your kind and supportive comments, they mean more to me than I could possibly express.  You are an amazing group of artists and I am so grateful to be a part of this wonderful space!  xo