The Desert in a Gallery in the Desert

I happened to check the Website for one of the galleries I'm in. The owner has a photo of the front window with two of MY paintings sitting there for all to see! (The paintings in question are shown to the right of the gallery picture).

(Click here for the gallery's Website; MY Website is, of course, http://www/southwestspaces.com or http://www.desert-paintings.com

I wonder how many people have seen my paintings while strolling by the gallery?

Paint-In Smackdown Results

(Well, maybe "smackdown" doesn't quite explain it!)

Anyway, after the final painting session at the gallery last Saturday, I brought the piece home to the studio where I'll finish the image, varnish it and return it to the gallery (which, by the way, is here). The snapshot shows pretty much what the painting looked like at that point. After catching up on some other things the past few days, I finally resumed work on the painting.

(Say, have you ever noticed artists work on their art but musicians play music?)

To be continued...

The Desert in Infrared

I stopped by Joshua Tree National Park yesterday afternoon. It had been driving me crazy that we've had those fun, wispy high clouds the last few days, but I haven't been able to do any picture-taking because I've been in Palm Desert working on a painting (see the "Paint-In" series below).

It's too early for spring flowers in the high desert, and the low-desert flowers are just beginning to appear. So I decided to concentrate on shooting some infrared pictures and go for the surreal look. I don't know if any of these will become paintings someday, but digital infrared photography is a great, inexpensive hobby (inexpensive, that is, after one has invested in the equipment).

Paint-In, (Final) Day 4

Getting toward the end of the Paint-In Sessions. It looks like I'm sound asleep as I'm sitting there, but I actually am painting in this view. I'm painting. No, REALLY!

I did meet lots of people (including a CEO from a print publisher). But, of course, this wasn't the most productive way to paint, with things not being setup the way I'm used to, and talking with the many people who came in to visit me and/or to look around in the gallery.

However, the whole idea of doing this was not to maximize production, but to draw people into the gallery (which it did) and for me to become a little more better known in this area. And we even sold a small piece on Saturday.

I still have a lot to do on this painting, so I'll need to finish it at home. I'll definitely post a picture of it here (without me in the pic!) when it's done.

Paint-In, Day 3

Ahhh...3.5 days down, one to go, in the series of working on a painting in the gallery.

The picture was taken around 3:00pm / 1500 hours. After the shoot, I worked an additional hour and began adding details to the ridge on the left of the piece. I should be able to come close to finishing tomorrow, with some tweaking to be done after I bring it back to the studio. Then comes the varnishing, which will add another week to the process.

Plus, a little good news: we sold one of my small paintings today, while I was there! The buyers were cute and asked to have their picture taken while holding the painting and with me IN the picture. A sale here and there during this economy is much needed.

Stay tuned for the final installment of this adventure, (hopefully) tomorrow night.

Paint-In, Day 2.5

I stopped by the gallery again today to block in some areas of the "Paint-In" painting that hadn't been done yet.

Now, I can begin putting in some foreground detail. That'll give people a chance to get a better idea of what the painting will look like when finished.

However, I'm also beginning to see there's no way I'll finish this piece before 4:00pm/1600 hours on Saturday. I'll have to complete it in the studio next week.

BTW, either the painting is upside down, or I inverted the photo and I'M upside down! =)

The Paint-In, Day 2

Here I am, painting away in the gallery last Saturday. Scroll down a little and you'll see how I'm progressing.

(The light in the gallery is funny. It looks like I have a bald spot on top of my head, doesn't it?)