Johanne Morin's Art in the Making

New studio

2012-02-09T09:28:00.000-06:00

I've been working in my new studio for the last few months. I did some color swatches (again), some reading and experimentation... not much to show you, but let me start with my new studio. I have three "stations": the computer station, which I've tried to keep small. Now if I could spend the time in proportion of its size... The easel station for painting and a sitting station with a drafting table for reading,.. I have a few shelving projects in mind to make the studio more practical, but so far so good...

The computer desk and (one of ) the art and office supplies storage.

The easel station. To its right there is a still life stand that I use to setup still lifes or a digital picture frame (for reference pictures). To the left of the easel there is a tool chest for drawings and painting accessories and supplies.

Sitting station (with a drafting table) for planning, reading, etc... You can see some color swatches and recent paintings hanging on the wall.

First show in NY

2011-10-14T15:30:00.000-05:00

This is my first show (The Putnam Arts Council) since we moved to Mahopac, NY. I thought that would be a good way to connect with local artists as well as "testing the water". So I decided to submit one pastel and one oil painting. I was confident about the pastel painting being accepted. I wasn't sure about the oil one, since it's the first time I've submitted one in a juried show. But you never know: the oil painting has been accepted and not the pastel! So I'm looking forward to seeing the show.

Here the information for the show:
The Putnam Arts Council Juried Show, Fall 2011
521 Kennicut Hill Rd, Mahopac, NY, 10541
October 14 - November 11th
Reception: Oct. 14th, 6 - 8 p.m.

"City Awakening", Oil, 8 x 10": accepted

"Primary Colors", Pastel, 10 x 8": rejected

ConcART-IV - follow up & See you later Austin!

2011-10-14T15:00:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since my last post,... we are now living in Mahopac, NY. It's quite a change compared to Austin, TX. The landscape is very different of course. It rains and the ground stays wet for days. We were living in North Austin where most of it was developed in the last 15 years or so. Here, it's from the 60's (including the house). We live in the suburb of NYC (1 hour by train), but we are in the country on a one acre lot with a well, a septic and an oil tank! Oh, let's not forget about the wild life: black and gray squirrels, a rabbit and a ground hog living under the shed, a skunk somewhere (I haven't seen it yet :), birds, hawks, deer and a COYOTE (saw on in the backyard one morning :)...

Irene greeted us within a week of our move. We were very lucky with only broken (but dead) branches in the yard and we were out of power for 13 hours. Some very close by neighbors had trees broken and were out of power for 6 days! A few days later we got a LOT of rain... enough to help with the drought in Texas, I'm sure. ... but I had no power over that ... :(

I'd like to "close" the chapter on Austin, TX with a follow up on the Farewell ConcART. We were very happy to see some of our friends, neighbors, and collectors one more time before we left. We had 45 people for the (piano) recital and about 10 more people showed up later. It may have been the smallest crowd we had for a ConcART, but it was a good one! I had a moving sale (only my most recent work was marked at a regular price), but collectors were going for pieces that were "talking" to them and rather than the price tag. Lesson learned. I sold four paintings prior to the show, fifteen during the show and a request for a future commission. So these are 19 paintings that found good homes and that we didn't have to move :). ... that is a record for a ConcART!

Thanks a lot to Debbie and Libby for helping out and making the ConcART-IV a success.

Thanks everyone for coming and buying artwork.

Will miss you Austin, TX!

Ken always says something about the piece he is about to play. It is very effective to keep everyone attentive to the play. You can see the paintings displayed on the walls for the show afterward.

Farewell ConcART (IV)

2011-08-02T13:15:00.001-05:00

Ken and I are getting ready for our fourth and last ConcART in Austin, Tx this coming Sunday (August 7th, 2011).

We are looking forward to sharing our piano recital and art show with friends one more time before we leave for NY. Ken has a few new pieces that he will add to his biggest hits for the recital and I will also have a mix of old and new paintings for the show.

There will be a moving sale:

- Johanne's artwork (except for the new or small paintings);
- Ken's CDs and DVDs for ConcART I & II;
- picture frames;
- picture frame envelopes and carriers (last year price).

Please feel free to contact me if you like an invitation to the Farewell ConcART.

City Emergent, Oil with palette knife, 6 x 8"

2011-07-29T09:38:00.001-05:00

Again with the palette knife and premixed paint, I wanted to be more assertive and looser with each stroke. My first reaction when I put the knife down was: okay that may be too loose... I went too far and I may have to go back the way I painted the previous one :(

I put the painting on the mantel and went to the gym. When I came back, I took a fresh look at it with a totally different reaction: I really liked it! It has grown on me since.

City Emergent, Oil, 6 x 8"

Urban Mirage, Oil with the palette knife, 6 x 8"

2011-07-27T10:15:00.000-05:00

I wanted to exploit this design/idea further... and I still have two smaller picture frames with copper inset :)

For this one, I tried to keep moving at a steady pace: make quick decisions, stick to them and leave the stroke alone. I premixed my paint: about 3 different colors for each of the 4 values.

I like how distant the "city" appears in the background with a value closer to the value of the sky rather than the value of the foreground. I don't mind the roughness of the strokes either.

Urban Mirage, Oil, 6 x 8"

The last three paintings framed

2011-07-25T09:55:00.002-05:00

Here are the last three paintings framed. The second painting had too strong a red and was competing with the copper inset (cf. the first and third picture frames). It worked better with the gold inset. These paintings are growing on me, specially the first one!

City Awakening, Oil, 8 x 10"

Destination Unknown, Oil, 8 x 10"

The Quiet Beyond, Oil, 8 x 10"

The Quiet Beyond, Oil with the palette knife, 8 x 10"

2011-07-22T09:45:00.001-05:00

I used the reddish color (brown pink) again in the background but ended up covering most of it. I like the closer (but still distant) look of the city of this one.

The Quiet Beyond, Oil, 8 x 10"

Moving from Texas to NY :( & :)

2011-07-20T13:17:00.001-05:00

We'll be moving to Mahopac, NY (about one hour north of NYC) in mid-August. Ken had an offer to work at IBM with a "dream team" of researchers in Artificial Intelligence. The team that did the machine (Watson) that played (and won) the trivia game on Jeopardy.

For everything else we are not sure what we're getting into ;)

Here's are some pros:
We'll have 4 (gorgeous) seasons!
It will be closer to both families (driving distance - within a day)
A lot of new places to discover.
A lot of new people to meet.

I'll keep painting and hopefully I do more wood sculpture.

Here's are the cons:
My friends from the Austin area will be far away.
For everything else I'll do my best to turn the cons into pros (even the cold(er) winter). :)

I sure will miss that southern charm/hospitality and all the nice people and great friends I had the opportunity to meet and get to know. I will miss you all!

Destination Unknown, Oil with palette knife, 8 x 10"

2011-07-18T18:20:00.003-05:00

I recently sold a bunch of picture frames. Some I used before and others always ended up back in the stack.

I often use coffee bean with a gold inset picture frames for my paintings. Not too long ago, I had also bought some coffee bean with a copper inset frames (picture below). Sounds good, right? Well, they didn't seem to fit any of my paintings. So I tried to sell them, but I still have 4 of them (I sold one).

In order to better fit the coffee bean with a copper inset picture frame (so I thought) I chose a more reddish color for this painting with a similar design as the previous painting. I lost some time struggling with the sky. It was fine and I should have left it alone. I was then limited in time to finish the painting and decided to skip the "buildings" in the background.

I like the overall warmth and peaceful feel to this painting.

Destination Unknown, Oil, 8 x 10"

Coffee Bean with a copper inlet picture frame

City Awakening, Oil with palette knife, 8 x 10"

2011-07-03T13:26:00.002-05:00

Howdy!

This painting is loosely inspired by my last trip to Canada when I visited one of my sisters in her new condo. She has a nice view on the Ottawa river as well as some of the downtown buildings. She'd like me to do a painting for her new place. Something large (4' x 6'), abstract, neutral colors, with a lot of paint (palette knife effect). It doesn't sound like anything I've done so far, but I like the challenge...

While waiting for more instructions on the commission work and after spending a few weeks getting the house ready for sale (more on that in a future post) I was ready to play with some paint! It felt good!

City Awakening, Oil, 8 x 10"

In the Spotlight, Oil, 6 x 6"

2011-05-11T10:19:00.000-05:00

"In the Spotlight", Oil on canvas panel, 6 x6 "

I just couldn't resist painting the blue bottle, again. :) I was able to keep the flowers simple and I like the overall feel of this one.

Thanks to Virginia for the title!

The City After the Rain, Oil on canvas, 11 x 14"

2011-05-08T13:41:00.001-05:00

The City After the Rain, Oil on canvas, 11 x 14"

Happy Mother's Day!

Yesterday I decided to go in my studio and play. My only intention was to play with colors and a palette knife. I tried different strokes, color mixing,etc... and at some point I wanted to use whatever paint was left on my palette and quit. Then I realized I could be on to something. Not sure what it was, but I like it enough to put more paint on my palette and continue. I think by then I could see something like a city street taking shape...

I had momentum, I liked what was going on, it was exciting and I didn't want to stop just yet. A few minutes later when I started to slow down and wasn't "improving the painting" or making "good decisions" I decided to step back for a last look. I thought I might like this painting enough to frame it... So I stretched the edges to make it a standard size and quit.

Do you like this painting? or am I biased by the way I felt while painting it?

Primary Colors, Pastel, 10 x 8"

2011-05-04T11:15:00.004-05:00

Here's a pastel attempt at a still life with the blue bottle and some flowers.

I always have a hard finding titles. Any suggestions?
Thanks to Niall O Neill a FB "fan" for the title.

Primary Colors, pastel on primed board, 10 x 8"

Orange Daisy in a Blue Bottle, Oil, 6 x 6"

2011-04-15T10:45:00.003-05:00

I like this one too. I think I conveyed better/stronger light on this one than in the previous two paintings (1 and 2).

Orange Daisy in a Blue Bottle, Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

White Flower in Blue Bottle, Oil, 6 x 6"

2011-04-14T10:45:00.006-05:00

I like this one too!

I have a harder time avoiding reflections when I take pictures of paintings with dark colors in them. Any suggestions?

White Flower in Blue Bottle, Oil canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Empty Bottle and Oranges, Oil, 6 x 6"

2011-04-13T10:15:00.001-05:00

I'm very happy with this one! I like the bottle and its reflections, but I also like that the bottle edges disappear in the background at some places (lost and found edges).

Empty Bottle and Oranges, Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

QR-code on the back of my business cards & display case

2011-04-11T10:00:00.005-05:00

In order to facilitate finding information and contacting me about my artwork I started experimenting with QR code. So on my last batch of business cards I printed my phone number, website, blog and Facebook on the back with their corresponding QR code.

A QR (short for Quick Response) code is a square barcode readable by camera phone. The information encoded can be a phone number, email, URl, etc... I use the generator at: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

So if you have a camera phone (like an Android) and a "barcode scanner" application you should be able to read each of the following QR-code (even on the screen) and that would lead you to my phone number, website, blog and Facebook (without typing anything).

The back of my business card.

I also used the QR codes on the display case of my small paintings at the YMCA (previous post).

QR Code on the YMCA display case

Small paintings for sale at the YMCA

2011-04-08T10:15:00.001-05:00

It's been already three months this year that my small oil paintings have been displayed for sale at the YMCA on McNeil and I haven't sold any. By this time last year I had already a couple of paintings sold. 15% of the sales will go to the YMCA Partner of Youth.

YMCA window display with my small paintings for sale.

Clouds again...

2011-04-07T10:15:00.002-05:00

I tried to paint the same clouds again... I wiped out a few attempts and kept this one to record the "progress"... I think I'll leave clouds alone for a while...

After a few wipe out, that's all I have to show...

Another attempt at painting clouds...

2011-04-06T10:15:00.002-05:00

Here's another attempt (unfinished) at painting clouds I did during the workshop with Mike Windberg. I never got to paint the bottom part (water/ocean), since I was not satisfied with the clouds and the painting is more about the clouds than the water...

2nd attempt at painting clouds during the workshop, Oil, 6 x 8"

Clouds Rolling In

2011-04-01T10:00:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago I took a workshop on painting clouds in oil with Mike Windberg at the Windberg Art Center in Georgetown, Tx.

Below is the first painting I did in the workshop. I struggled quite a bit and Mike had painted quite a bit on it to show me different things. So when I came home it felt like some else's painting. So I reworked it until I felt it was mine... still not too sure what to think about this one...

Clouds Rolling In, Oil on stretched canvas, 11 x 14"

And the Winner is...

2011-03-28T14:20:00.001-05:00

I'm very happy to tell you that "Three Orange Wedges and a Bowl" won the 1st Place Still Life yesterday at the Austin Pastel Society 2011 Juried Member Exhibition!!!

My winning painting and me!

You can see the other award paintings in the show:

Which one do you prefer?

2011-03-23T09:00:00.002-05:00

Last week I had the pleasure of taking a pastel workshop with Liz Haywood-Sullivan, PSA. I really enjoyed it and she's a very good painter and instructor. We had a very nice and talented group of artists from the Austin Pastel Society. Using the same photo reference, on one day we did a painting on a black surface and the next day we used a white surface with a washed (alcohol) underpainting. Neither of them is finished. But which one do you prefer?

Pastel painting on black paper

Pastel painting on a wash underpainting

Let's try this again

2011-03-18T11:03:00.001-05:00

I'm very sorry for being quiet for so long. I've been painting, but I've had trouble getting back with to blogging routine. So let's try this again.

The following three paintings were accepted in the Austin Pastel Society (APS) - 2011 Juried Member Exhibition. It's the first time all my entries has been selected for the show. It's a very nice show. See the slideshow below of the selected entries.

Juror - Liz Haywood-Sullivan, PSA

Exhibition runs until April 30th, 2011
At the Corridor of Art - 700 Lavaca, Austin, TX 78701
Reception & Awards Ceremony (open to public) is Sunday March 27th, 2011 from 3 - 5 p.m..

Free parking will be available in the Parking Garage at 8th & Guadalupe during the reception.
Take a ticket, the gates will be open at the exit. Take the elevator down to the lower level to reach the Corridor of Art.

Summer on the Rideau River, Pastel, 8 x 10"

Three Orange Wedges and a Bowl, Pastel, 8 x 10"

Early Morning on Lake Austin, Pastel, 8 x 10"

Here are selected paintings for the show:

ConcART III - follow up

2010-11-22T20:18:00.000-06:00

It's been (already) over a week since we had our ConcART III. We can officially say it was the best one so far (again :-). We had somewhat fewer people than last year, but it was a very appreciative crowd. Considering the ratio of number of people vs the art sold I did better than last year. I will consider doing a "collector preview night" prior to the event next year. So "collectors" would have a better chance at getting their first choice :-)

We have three indispensable people who help during this event. They make the event go smoothly. Debbie helps with refreshments, putting drinks and food together, making sure they are available at all times to the guests, picking up the trash, etc. She does a great job. Lily was the door manager during the recital. So people get in only in between pieces. And Libby (last but not least) spends most of the afternoon in the office to take care of the sales. Thanks to Debbie, Libby and Lily who helped to make this a success.

Thanks every one who came and showed some interest in ConcART III. We hope to see you all with your friends at ConcART IV next year!

If you've been following my blog for a while, you've seen my artwork, but you can hear Ken here.

Rachmaninoff: Prelude Op.23 No.5 from Ken Barker on Vimeo.

Ken practicing his performance the morning of ConcART III.

ConcART III

2010-11-11T10:46:00.024-06:00

Ken and I are (almost) ready for our third ConcART this coming Sunday (November 14th, 2010).

We are looking forward to sharing our piano recital and art show with friends and hopefully we'll make new friends as well. Ken has a complete new piano recital program and I have over 40 new paintings to show.

This year, Ken will also have CDs & DVDs for sale. There is one CD and one DVD for each piano recital he did in ConcART I and II.

Award & Show

2010-11-10T10:45:00.001-06:00

Hey, a quick one to let you know that I got an Honorable Mention last Friday for "Early Morning on Lake Austin" pastel painting at the Austin Pastel Society - North Hills Gallery Member Exhibition. There were some nice paintings in there, so I'm happy I got something :-)

The show will run until November 29th, 2010 at:
Northwest Hills United Methodist Church. 7050 Village Center Drive, Austin, Texas 78731
EXHIBITION HOURS
Monday - Friday 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday - Closed
Sunday - 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

"Early Morning on Lake Austin", Pastel, 8 x 10"

Old Pot and Oranges

2010-10-27T09:00:00.006-05:00

Last week I went to a 5-day (open-studio) workshop with Dalhart Windberg at the Windberg Art Center, Georgetown, TX. The idea was to paint something of our choice and get critiques and personal instructions. This was a great opportunity to learn and I enjoyed every minute of it.
The school has such an impressive collection of objects for still life that I decided to start with that. I got quite a bit of help on finishing this (as part of the learning process :)

Old Pot and Oranges, Oil on canvas board, 14 x 11"

Golden Cottonwood

2010-10-12T09:00:00.003-05:00

Last week I went for another 3-day workshop at the Windberg Art Center with Mike Windberg. The subject this time was the "fall colors". I learned a lot and I really enjoyed it. Among other things I learned to work on an oil painting over a few days. I'm happy with the final painting (below). It is more detailed than I'm used too. I must say that Mike W. has added quite a bit to the foreground for learning purposes ;)

Golden Cottonwood, Oil on canvas panel, 14 x 11"

Paintings selected for the PSSW Annual Juried Exhibition

2010-10-02T14:00:00.003-05:00

Hey, here's a good news. The following two paintings have been selected for the 29th Annual Juried Exhibition with the Pastel Society of the Southwest. The juror is Katleen Cook, PSA. I hope she likes my paintings enough to give me an award. We'll see :)

The exhibition will be:
Nov 3rd - 27th, 2010

at Artists' Showplace
15615 Coit Road
Dallas, Tx, 75248

Reception and awards presentation will be Friday, Nov 12, 2010 from 6 to 9 p.m.

Summer on the Rideau River, pastel, 8 x 10"

Chip off the Old Block, pastel, 8 x 10"

Sunset on the Lake

2010-09-26T15:00:00.003-05:00

This seems to be the time of the year where it gets harder to paint/post regularly for me. It happened last year and I tried very hard to avoid it this year...

Among other things, Ken (husband) and I are getting ready to do our 3rd ConcART (a piano recital followed by an art show/sale) and this needs some preparation. Ken does the piano part and my paintings are on display. So one of the things to do for me is to decide if I have enough paintings to show. I need at least 40 paintings and since they are mostly small (under 11 x 14") I could use more. So I have five different "piles": paintings already framed, those to frame, those that could use minor modifications and be saved, and the reject pile. Oh, and the 5th pile is the framed paintings without a title. :) So for the next few weeks I will be busy touching up some paintings, framing, and doing quite a bit of work on the computer to get ready for our ConcART-2010. Maybe I'll post some of the modified paintings if worth it.

Last week I was able to paint this one with the palette knife. I worked on it the first day for 4 hours. I should have stopped after 3 hours: I made bad decisions and got careless in the last hour. So I had to work on it some more the next day to try to save it. But it was not as easy to work with the paint that already started to dry and got sticky... My house critic and I are still not sure where this one should be piled.

"Sunset on the Lake", Oil on canvas panel, 11 x 14" (palette knife)

Tomato and Cup

2010-09-14T21:33:00.006-05:00

Here's another still life practice... I like the saturated red color of the tomato on a neutral background.

Tomato and Cup, Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Quiet Fall Morning

2010-09-10T10:00:00.037-05:00

This is the 3rd and last painting I did in the palette knife workshop. As in the 1st painting, I worked on graying down the background and adding more saturated colors while moving forward towards the focal point (left yellow tree :). I needed another hour to finish this one, but I had already taken one hour overtime on the workshop....

Quiet Fall Morning, Oil on canvas panel, 8 x 10"

Sunset Over the Tree Line

2010-09-09T10:00:00.043-05:00

This is the second painting I did during the palette knife workshop at the Windberg Art Center. I wanted something simple to warm up on the last day, ... I ended up spending the whole morning on it.

Although the painting is not really about the trees, I like the way they turned out.

Sunset Over the Tree Line, Oil on Gesso Panel, 8 x 10"

Country Road in September

2010-09-08T10:03:00.003-05:00

After working on house and computer stuff since the last post I rewarded myself with a 3-day palette knife workshop with Mike Windberg at the Windberg Art Center in Georgetown, Tx. I felt out of my comfort zone and I had a rough start on the first day. The next day it felt better and I had fun painting. I learned a lot and I'm still digesting all the instructions we got.

Here's the first painting I did in the workshop. I'm pretty happy with it! I like the back lit trees and their glowing leaves.

Country Road in September, Oil on canvas panel, 11 x 14"

Pastel: Oak Tree in the HIll Country

2010-08-23T21:46:00.004-05:00

Here's another one that I'm happy with.
The reference picture was taken in Cypress Mill, Tx.

"Oak Tree in the Hill Country", Pastel on primed canvas, 8 x 10"

Pastel: Summer on the Rideau River

2010-08-20T10:00:00.001-05:00

I'm pretty happy with this one considering the amount of green in it :) The reference picture was taken during my last trip to Canada. It is a small and very charming town close to Ottawa called Manotick.

Pastel on primed mat board, 8 x 10"

Pastel: spring time - trees and reflection

2010-08-19T14:01:00.002-05:00

This is an early spring version of the view I used for a previous painting. The (fresh) greens of the new leaves is quite a challenge for me...

There are some paintings that I don't seem to make the improvement I'm looking for when I redo them... and I'm not sure how to "interpret" that. This is one of them. Are my expectations too high (I doubt), maybe I'm not "mature" enough as a painter and not ready for those ones (still a lot to learn),... anyone has any input on that? Sometimes I even think that if I used my other hand (the right one, I'm a lefty when it comes to painting) the painting would still look very similar :) Okay, I can hear you now... I need to try it, don't I?

The bottom painting was my 1st attempt. My biggest mistake on this one is that I painted it over 3 days (painted on the 1st and 3rd day). This reminds me why I usually paint "alla prima" (finish in one session): my mind is already somewhere else and I tend to question the decisions I made earlier about colors, values,... and repaint more than needed (overwork). It often ends up with a muschy looking painting and in this case not much of the primed surface shows through :(

Pastel on primed mat board, 8 x 10" (2nd attempt)

Pastel on primed mat board, 8 x 10" (1st attempt)

Oil study #184

2010-08-18T21:06:00.001-05:00

Here's another attempt at this little pot with three cherries. I like it better than the previous one (#183).

Uh oh, I just noticed that I forgot to paint the reflected light (from the table) on the front cherry... zut alors :)

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Award & show

2010-08-16T11:20:00.001-05:00

Last Friday I was excited to receive an Honorable Mention award for my painting "Chip off the Old Block" at the Central Texas Pastel Society - 9th Annual membership Competition & Exhibition.

The exhibition is at the Cultural Arts Center (C.A.C.) at 3011 North Third Street, Temple, Tx. It will be up and open to the public during the regular C.A.C. hours through September 17th. For more information visit www.cacarts.org.

You can see last year winners at: www.centexpastel.com.

Pastel primed mat board, 8 x 10"

Oil study #183

2010-08-11T11:00:00.003-05:00

I'm happy with this little pot and the cherry in the front. But it looks kind of safe/boring... hmmm...

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Oil study #182

2010-08-09T10:10:00.000-05:00

I find it more difficult to do plein air with the temperature in the triple digits here in Austin. So I stay inside. Here is a still life where I got inspired by onions. The red color of the two small ones turned out to be a challenge.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Pastel: trees with reflections on red primer

2010-08-03T10:00:00.002-05:00

I received a few more votes for the landscape on a red primer, so here is one. I will probably try a blue primer as well at some point. I'm happy with this one and I like the color combination.

Pastel on primed mat board, 8 x 10"

Pastel: Adobe Building (again :)

2010-08-02T10:00:00.002-05:00

I wanted to give one more try at this adobe.(previous attempt). I thought I could do better but I'm still not quite happy with it... and I still prefer the study.

Pastel, on Kitty Wallis, 12 x 9"

Cascades

2010-07-29T21:45:00.003-05:00

Sometimes, I just feel like playing with paint without anything specific in mind to start with. So after experimenting with the palette knife I got something that looks like "cascades".

Oil on canvas, 6 x 7"

Red or Blue primer surface

2010-07-28T21:00:00.007-05:00

A few weeks ago I was planning on painting a landscape with pastel. I couldn't decide between using a red or a blue surface. So I did two small versions using each surface. The next day I got sidetracked and never did the larger one. Any preferences?


Pastel painting on (red) primed mat-board, 3 x 4"


Pastel painting on (blue) primed mat-board, 3 x 4"

Oil study #177: Hill Country Dusk

2010-07-05T20:20:00.002-05:00

Thank you all for reading my blog and leaving comments (blog, emails, facebook, etc..). Even you don't get an answer back from me, rest assured that I appreciate them all.

Here's another landscape from a reference picture from Fredericksburg. For this one I did an underpainting with burnt sienna (bottom) and let it show through in the final painting (top).

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

The underpainting

Oil study #176: Red Barn at Sunset

2010-06-29T14:17:00.005-05:00

This is one of the buildings on the grounds of the Fredericksburg Artists' School. I was done painting the sunset (it's a no show :) and then turned around as saw the light on this building and in the clouds.

Again I'm not sure I conveyed the right time of the day, but I'm happy with it.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #175: It's Going to be a Good Day

2010-06-28T14:14:00.004-05:00

Although I painted this one from a reference picture, I struggled quite a bit with the clouds. I almost gave up on it three times. And it took me about 4 hours to paint which is an hour over my usual limit in time, energy and inspiration for this size of painting. But overall I'm glad I kept going.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #174: Hill Country in the Morning

2010-06-27T15:15:00.002-05:00

This is a reworked piece from my last workshop in Fredericksburg with Virginia Vaughan.

I was supposed to paint a sunrise, but I got mesmerized by all the quick changes of the light and the clouds. I got to watch the best part of the sunrise, but didn't paint it :( Then I decided to turn around and paint the landscape in the opposite direction, which was interesting (and still challenging) and it didn't seem to move so fast (that's what I wanted to believe anyway).

I'm not sure I conveyed the right time of day (early morning), otherwise I'm happy with the clouds.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #173 - plein air and Workshop with Virginia Vaughan

2010-06-23T11:20:00.003-05:00

I went to a 3 day workshop with Virginia Vaughan at the Fredericksburg Artists' School last week. We had a small group of very nice people willing to work from sunrise to sunset. It allowed me to try things that I wouldn't have done on my own, e.g. sketching farm animals and painting the sky at sunrise and sunset.

This painting is a rework of one of the studies I did the first night. It was supposed to be a warm up study before the study of the sunset but I spent too much time on this one and was not ready for the (fast moving) sunset :(

Looking at this one brings me right back into the workshop. I'm pretty happy with the field and I will try to paint more clouds...

Oil on panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #165: Yellow Flower in a Blue Jar

2010-06-09T09:50:00.002-05:00

Although I was excited about painting my new blue bottle, it didn't make it easier to paint :)
I'm happy with this first attempt and also with the flowers that I almost gave up on. I like the lost and found edge with the background.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #164 - plein air

2010-06-07T13:30:00.001-05:00

This one has been on the mantel for a few days now and I cannot make up my mind about it. I struggled quite a bit while I was painting it: it was cloudy and I chased the light a few times when the sun showed up. Maybe it's the lack of a (simple) strong value pattern... I'm not sure, so I'll leave it alone and check it again in a month or so.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #163: Sundries

2010-06-02T19:55:00.002-05:00

The lemon seems to glow in this one.

One thing I wish I had seen earlier is the diagonal of the shadow on the background, the pestle and the flower stem. They lined up too much. But my house critic (husband Ken) did not notice, so I left it that way :)

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Oil study #162: Blue Door

2010-05-27T22:18:00.005-05:00

This was an old farmhouse along Bull Creek. I thought I would paint some water but the creek was dry. So I opted for the front of the house. Although I was pretty close to the house I tried to keep it simple. It's far from being perfect but it was fun to paint!

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #161: Three on a Vine

2010-05-26T21:38:00.006-05:00

I wasn't sure about this one at first, but I like it now. I couldn't mix a good color for the light side of the tomatoes, so I ended up painting the shadow side darker :)

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Oil study #160: Sun on the falls II

2010-05-21T21:33:00.006-05:00

This is another version of the falls at Bull Creek. I like this composition better. There was more water than last time. It was mostly cloudy and I ended up chasing the light every time it showed up.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #159

2010-05-20T11:18:00.006-05:00

This is the palette knife version of the previous still life study (oil study #158).

Except for the object placement I painted this one from memory (right after the previous study). I wanted this to be fast(er :) and more decisive than with the brush. I stuck to the decisions that were made in the previous study. The memory part is mostly about the value and color relationships, which I think I got pretty close here. I believe that if there is a part I don't remember it's because I didn't observe it well enough in the first place. Maybe I'll change my mind in this with more complex setups :)

Oil on canvas, 5 x 7"

Oil study #158: Out of the Shadows

2010-05-18T20:28:00.009-05:00

After a few days of finding excuses for not painting: my still life stand wasn't high enough, the light wasn't right (i.e. the one that Qiang Huang was using ;), I couldn't make a setup that was inspiring, etc... I decided to go simple and try some oranges with a dark background.

I like the translucency of the front orange wedge and the lost edge of the orange in the back with the background. Otherwise I may have overworked it a little... there is not much life to it. What do you think?

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Gallery representation - website

2010-05-17T08:53:00.001-05:00

The website of The Riversong Gallery representing my pastel paintings is officially up and running. It looks pretty nice and I find myself privileged to be among the artists represented there! Have a look:

http://www.riversonggallery.net/

Workshop with Qiang Huang - #3

2010-05-13T11:00:00.003-05:00

Here's my last painting from the workshop. I tried the neutral background partially in the light this time. I like the 3D effect on this one.

Oil on canvas panel, 8 x 10"

Workshop with Qiang Huang - #2

2010-05-12T11:00:00.003-05:00

I wanted to see Qiang paint a rose. We didn't have any roses around but had plenty of wildflowers. He made it look SO easy. I thought I would give it a try. It was not easy, but I'm happy with the result.

Oil on canvas 10 x 8"

Workshop with Qiang Huang - #1

2010-05-11T11:30:00.001-05:00

Last week I attended a WONDERFUL workshop with Qiang Huang and hope to assimilate everything I learned.

Here's my first painting (with Qiang's help) I did in the workshop. The background is used as a stage for the objects (similar in theater). It's dark with a neutral color and the objects are in the spot light. The colors of the objects are also more saturated (than the background) and they seem to come out of the dark and pop up. There is also room in the painting for the whole setup, nothing is cropped. I never knew what to do with the background and I usually avoided painting it. But this gives me ideas for further experimentation. Thanks Qiang!

Oil on canvas panel, 8 x 10"

Color swatch & palette knife: Fire in the Sky

2010-05-04T21:24:00.010-05:00

I'm leaving for a 3 day workshop with Qiang Huang this Wednesday in the Hill Country.
I registered a few months ago for this still life workshop. I didn't expect to get hooked with the plein air. Anyway, the suggested palette is different than what I've used so far (warm and cool primary colors plus white and burnt umber) so I decided to make a color swatch (below).

I had quite a bit of paint left when I was done with the swatch so I decided to play with a palette knife. I didn't really have a plan at first, but you can see the influence from the plein air :) This was so much fun to do!!!

Oil on canvas, about 5 x 8"

Oil study #153 - plein air

2010-05-03T21:45:00.006-05:00

I was happy with this one until I got home and took another look at it: it was much too dark!

I usually put my canvas or panel on another, larger (black) panel to separate the painting from the surrounding scene. I read (Richard McKinley's blog) that if your paintings are consistently too dark, then you should try a white board! I'll have to remember that next time.

Oil on linen, 6 x 8"

Oil study #152: Sun on the Falls I

2010-04-28T21:00:00.007-05:00

I like this one! This is another attempt at painting moving water... from further away this time. I like the foreground in the shade leading to the falls in the light

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Oil study #151 - plein air

2010-04-27T21:10:00.005-05:00

This was fun to paint, although I was puzzled about how to paint the moving water. The solution: keep it simple (try to suggest instead of getting caught up in details)!

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Oil study #150 - plein air

2010-04-22T19:00:00.006-05:00

Everything is SO green these days; I find it very hard to mix all the subtle shifts in colors. So the grass is a bit too warm for the season. The yellow strip there should be flowers… hmm... at the end of the session I usually get tired and don't care anymore... even though that should be the fun time... So I should either get faster in the early stages of the painting or get more endurance. I should aim for the first one, I think. :)

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Woodburning, Rocks in the Desert

2010-04-21T19:00:00.004-05:00

The plein air class on Wednesdays is over so I decided to go visit the woodcarving group. It is such a nice group. I started this wood burning with the group and finished it at home.

Rocks in the Dessert, Woodburning on maple panel, 3 x 4"

Woodburning, Adobe

2010-04-20T19:00:00.005-05:00

Here’s a wood burning I did a little while a go. And I decided it was done. What do you think?

Adobe on Maple panel, 4 x 3"

Lost Creek neighborhood - plein air painting

2010-04-19T19:00:00.001-05:00

When two "classmates" and I were painting, a lady took pictures of us to put in the neighborhood newsletter.

Nancy Collins (left), me (middle) and Laura Barrow (right).

This was taken when we were almost done painting. It was a cool morning so I didn’t mind being in the sun. I usually don’t paint with the tripod leg in between my legs. But I had to turn my easel so I could keep my palette and painting in the shade. You can see there is no more shade on the path.

Me at the easel.

A closer look at my setup for plein air.

Here the painting again.

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

New widgets on my blog (en français plus bas)

2010-04-18T09:19:00.003-05:00

For those of you who receive the update in your inbox, you may not be aware that I installed a translation tool on my blog page. You may want to give it a try. It's not bad in French and some parts turned out funny. It's machine translation, so it’s a little mechanical :)

I also added on my blog a "Facebook - Become a fan" box, if you'd like to connect there as well.

Nouveaux “outils” sur mon blog
Avis aux interessés, j'ai installé un outils de traduction sur mon blog. Je l'ai essayé en français. C'est fait par une machine, alors c'est un peu mécanique et même drôle à certains endroits.

J'ai aussi installé un bouton "Facebook - Become a fan" pour les interessés.

Gallery representation

2010-04-17T09:35:00.001-05:00

Here’s some good news. My pastel paintings will be represented in a new gallery in Mariposa, California. The gallery owner saw my paintings on the web and contacted me. They like my oranges and my rocks. So I shipped several paintings to California. The opening is scheduled for this weekend. I’m excited about it and I hope it is the beginning of a long relationship.

Oil study #149 - plein air

2010-04-12T21:10:00.002-05:00

I went on the grounds of Laguna Gloria to paint again. Everything was so green!
When I arrived, the water was like a miror but by the time I was ready to paint, it had completely changed. So I had to rely on my memory, which is not quite up to the task yet :)

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Award Winners - APS Annual Juried Show

2010-04-11T19:00:00.005-05:00

The award winners of the Austin Pastel Society (APS) Annual Juried Show are shown here.
Unfortunately, I didn't get an award this year. The critique I got from the juror (Claudia Seymour, PSA) was that:
1) she didn't get the title (I thought it was clever :( )
2) she liked everything in the painting except the cropped orange in the background.

Oh well! "Meilleure chance la prochaine fois" :)

Chip Off the Old Block, 8 x 10", pastel on primed panel

The Exhibition is still on (with ribbons beside the winner paintings) until May 2nd, 2010 at the Corridor of Art - 700 Lavaca, Austin, TX, 78701.

Oil study #147 - plein air

2010-04-06T21:17:00.007-05:00

I went out to paint another waterscape today but it was hot, humid, windy, cloudy, ... and I couldn't make up my mind on a scene to paint. So I came back home and used a previous study and a picture and did this one.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 8"

Oil study #145 - plein air

2010-04-05T07:00:00.001-05:00

This one was done during my last plein air class in the Lost Creek neighborhood. I had my plate full with the water: there was so much going on and it was constantly changing. So I opted for simplification :) I'm looking forward to the day I can put all the pieces together (value, color, brushstrokes, ...) in one session....

Oil on canvas, 8 x 6"

Oil study #144 - plein air

2010-03-31T21:00:00.001-05:00

This must be my best light vs shade representation in a plein air so far. I need to keep working in that direction.

I went back to Lost Creek neighborhood with two classmates: Nancy and Laura to practice what Laurel showed us last week (the full color simple shapes block-in by Kevin MacPherson). Although my background is too dark, I was happy with the process. The background is a tall limestone wall with trees on top. It has very dark and light parts but it was all in the shade. If it was lighter, it would make it recede more and not distract as much from the path.

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Oil study #142 - plein air

2010-03-30T22:00:00.006-05:00

Maybe the water is a bit too warm (in color) and not quite dark enough in the foreground, but I like it anyway :)

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Oil study #141 - plein air

2010-03-23T22:13:00.007-05:00

Wow! Judging by your comments and emails I better stick to plein air a little longer :) Thank you all for your kind words!

This was done on a cold morning and I started half an hour later than the previous paintings. I thought I would paint a little bit later instead. Well, my body/mind said otherwise. At noon it was over: I was hungry (my snack was long gone) and I needed a bathroom break... My focus wasn't on the painting any more...

I tried something different to paint the reflections of the trees and it's too dark and not dull enough compared to the reflected tree above. I like the grayer background trees. There is so much more going on there (houses, boats, etc.) , but I'm not ready to put that in yet. The foreground trees on the right could have used a bit more light to show some volume. The hanging branch belongs to the foreground trees but its color and value makes it part of the background trees :( The water needs to be darker in the foreground and blended with some ripples at the top of the trees' reflection. And the sky holes are ugly. That painting could have easily used an additional half hour :)

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Oil study #140 - plein air

2010-03-21T17:17:00.001-05:00

I'm excited to show you this one too! One way to ignore the details when you start a painting is to remove your glasses. So I tried it for this painting and the previous one. In both cases I completed the painting and completely forgot to put them back on. Maybe I should keep doing it :)

How do you like it?

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Oil study #139 - Plein air

2010-03-20T21:00:00.001-05:00

I am excited to show you this one! Not bad for my 4th plein air in oil, eh? :)
I'm happy with my first attempt at painting water in oil; hopefully it will only get better ;) And I'm looking forward to painting better trees. There are a few things not right, but it shows some potential and I'm very happy with it.

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Oil study #138 - plein air - follow up

2010-03-19T21:31:00.009-05:00

Usually when I register for a class I make sure I practice in between classes. But this time I just played catch up with other things during the week. I thought my painting couldn't be worse than the first one. Well it was and it is a no show :( Looking back, I think my problem was that I lost so much time looking for something to paint that I set up for something (a tree) that was not really inspiring me.
This week is off (for the spring break) so I decided to go back and paint the palm trees again. It went much better. I was relaxed and had no expectations. This was my first time ever on my own and surprisingly I wasn't scared of people approaching to check the painting. I didn't care because I'm trying and learning, and it will only get better.

Here's the result. I'm much happier with this one...

Oil on canvas, 6 x 8"

Oil study #136 - plein air (outdoor) painting

2010-03-18T22:00:00.004-05:00

So far I've had very little success with plein air painting with pastel. I get overwhelmed and I sabotage myself (and the painting :). I have tried it in a class/workshop setup, but I never did it on my own. It's mostly fear; fear of not being able to do justice to what inspires me, fear of people stopping to watch, ... and I find pastel cumbersome for a quick pack and go.
I see more potential for a quick pack and go with oils and I'd really like to be able to enjoy painting in plein air. So I registered for a plein air class in oil with Laurel Daniel at Laguna Gloria (local art school). I like her work and thought I could learn a lot from her.

The first class was three weeks ago. I found out why it was so hard to get in one of her classes: the students like her so much that they take every class she offers. Laurel did a demo of a group of palm trees. She stopped at different stages to give us a chance to try what she just showed us. She made it look very easy. Everyone painted the palm trees. And we had a chance to learn from everyone painting. Here's my version. I'm not crazy about it but I promised myself I would give it another try.

Oil on canvas, 8 x 6"

Oil study #135

2010-03-01T20:41:00.008-06:00

I'm pretty happy with this one too!!!

I have a harder time taking pictures for oil than pastel paintings. Part of the difficulty is the way the light hits the brushstrokes. In this painting, the reflected light on the oranges is closer in value to the orange than in the photo, and the cup is lighter than the left side of the left orange, hmm... I'll try to take another picture.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Oil Study #134

2010-02-26T22:00:00.000-06:00

I'm very happy with this one too! It's the first time I have painted this green bowl successfully (i.e. it doesn't look like it has melted :-)

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Oil study #133

2010-02-25T22:01:00.004-06:00

I'm pretty happy with this one!!! I like the (looser) brushstrokes with the under painting showing through. I like the reflections and the translucent piece of orange.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x6 "

Oil study #132

2010-02-24T21:24:00.007-06:00

Working on my brushstrokes and trying not to forget everything else :-)

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Oil study #131

2010-02-23T21:25:00.003-06:00

Okay, I feel like I'm moving forward again... (this is just a whisper, I don't want to jinx it ;-) I like this one as well.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Oil study #130

2010-02-22T21:05:00.001-06:00

I'm happier with this one: the orange is better and I like the loose background.

Oil on canvas panel, 6 x 6"

Oil study #128

2010-02-17T21:07:00.004-06:00

Sometimes I feel like I don't know how to paint anymore... these oranges turned out the color of an orange pepper, i.e. too red and too dark. The reflected light looks like a ring... but in reality it is not as light as on the picture (at least).

Oil on canvas, 6 x 6"

OIl Study #127

2010-02-16T23:00:00.001-06:00

I've been using linseed oil as a medium for a while now to thin the paint. I usually use it at the beginning of the painting with the darkest colors. So I don't know if I was too lazy to mix more paint or what for this one. But I used too much of it and from the beginning to the end. As a result (I noticed only afterward) there is no thickness of the paint anywhere. And that was probably one of the reasons I had so much trouble leaving brushstrokes showing.

Another thing I noticed, only afterward, is that having the top and the bottom part (the background) almost the same shape and size is not good for the composition.

I could go on...

Oil on linen, 6 x 6"

Oil Study #126: Un Coquetier Noir

2010-02-15T21:11:00.006-06:00

This is a black ceramic "coquetier" (eggcup). There was so much reflection on it that I was afraid of not getting the values right if I used colors. So I was a chicken and went for plain black and white :-)

Oil on canvas, 6 x 6"

Oil study #123

2010-02-04T20:35:00.002-06:00

This one turned out a little darker than I wanted. This is the worst time of the year for the natural light in my studio and it was a cloudy day on top of that :( The reflection of the wet paint is also more noticeable when I rely more on unnatural lighting. Is that a well known problem or is it just me?

Oil on linen, 6 x 6"

Oil study #122

2010-02-03T21:00:00.001-06:00

I thought the form of the cup and plate would be the challenge for this one. But their subtle changes in values (and colors) gave me more trouble. It was fun to paint.

Oil on linen, 6 x 6"

Austin Pastel Society - rotating demo/paint around

2010-01-30T10:54:00.000-06:00

I participated in a "paint around" (or "rotating demo") during the last Austin Pastel Society (APS) meeting with four other artists (Regina Burchett, D. K. Richardson, Mike Etie and John Bittick). The artists started paintings of their choice (from reference pictures), then switched every 10 minutes to work on their next door neighbor's painting, and finally finished in front of their own paintings to complete the rotation. The final paintings were sold for a total of $220 that will go to the APS scholarship fund.

It was a fun experience and I would do it again! Not only was the paint-around a first-time experience for me but painting in front of an audience as well. I was the last one to set up my easel and the only place left was in the spot in front of everyone. Initially the idea was that people would rotate to the next easel. So I would be there only for 10 minutes. But we ended up rotating the paintings instead of the people. So I got stuck in front (or people got stuck watching me unless they stood up and walked around). That part was not as nerve-wracking as I initially thought, and I may have enjoyed it (I think ;-)

Every rotation was a surprise and the first question was "What am I going to do with this?" and I could almost hear an echo from the audience "What is she going to do with this?" (that was probably my nerves echoing :-) The next question was "What can I do to make this painting closer to finished with what I have (actual painting, times, palette, ...)?" It was not always clear the direction I should take, but I had to make decisions and work quickly.

Here are some pictures that Libby Peters graciously took at my easel during the rotating demo. To see other points of view see Jo Castillo's (current president) pictures and to see the (almost) final paintings see Regina Burchett's pictures.

Austin Pastel Society - rotating demo

Rae Andrews (the organizer of the paint-around) took a video of the activity and I will let you know when it will be available.

Thanks to everyone who participated, who came and who organized this activity.
Cheers
Johanne
http://www.JohanneMorin.com
http://JohanneMakingArt.blogspot.com

Painting selected for the APS Annual Juried Exhibiton

2010-01-27T19:50:00.001-06:00

My painting "Chip Off the Old Block" has been selected for the Austin Pastel Society Annual Juried Exhibition :) The other two paintings I submitted (previous post) didn't make the cut :( You can see a slide-show of the the selected paintings here.

Chip Off the Old Block, 10 x 8"

The Exhibition will be from March 7th to May 2nd 2010 at the Corridor of Art - 700 Lavaca, Austin, TX, 78701. The reception is open to public on Sunday, March 21st from 3 to 5 p.m.
Hope you can make it.

Oil studies for sale at the YMCA

2010-01-22T21:10:00.008-06:00

Today I went to the YMCA in North Austin (where I exercise) and put three of my oil studies in a display window. 15% of the sales will go to the YMCA Partner of Youth. It's an unusual display for the YMCA but the fitness director (Ron Perry) and I thought we would give it a try and see if anything comes out of this. Who knows?

Pastel: Adobe Building II

2010-01-19T20:45:00.004-06:00

Here's another version of the Adobe Building... I did building a little bit darker than in the last painting (and more similar to the study)... I'm happy with the "brushwork" on the building, but overall not quite there yet...

Adobe Building II, 14 x 11"