Spring in the City

 

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This is from a trip to San Francisco a few years ago by myself. One of the things I love about downtowns in cities are the big shadows and occasional channels of light that break them up. I had fun with the warmth seeping into the shadow areas, and they sky reflected off the windows and metal hatch(?) on the sidewalk.

On a different topic, I used to recommend Feedburner at my workshops as a free way to set up a newsletter. Unfortunately that feature will end soon, and they are recommending that anyone still using it download their email lists if they don't want to lose them. : (

Picking Up Lunch

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Here's another oldie that just needed a few tweaks. Also today I went through my "bad" pile - paintings that did NOT work out, regardless of tweaking. I have been keeping them in a cabinet that I generally only open to add another one to the pile, so I mostly don't see them (unless I am moving and need to decide what to do with them). Today I remembered why hiding them is such a good idea. Why? Because seeing each one of them again makes me feel TERRIBLE! And that just makes me more afraid to try things, which is the opposite of what I want if I intend to grow as an artist, which I do.

So be kind to yourself, and clear out the stuff that makes you feel bad. Throw it away, OR, if you plan to save the surface to paint on later, hide them from yourself until then. But also remember, that the "bad" pile is important, because it means you're working and experimenting, and even the professionals do bad paintings on a regular basis! You just don't want to SEE it on a regular basis. Keep painting, and keep looking forward.

Evening Color

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I Love My Website (carolmarine.com)

This is post three in my ongoing series about Daily Paintworks.

My husband, David, and I created Daily Paintworks (DPW) over 11 years ago as an online art gallery and artist community. Since then, DPW has grown and changed into something much more. We promote our artists' work every day on our "What's New" page, as always, however, that now is the "icing" of DPW, with the "cake" being the beautiful and easy to update artist website you get when you join. This post is the backstory behind those websites.

Years ago, I was showing my work on DPW, along with our many other artists, while also maintaining a separate artist website that was tedious to keep up-to-date. I told David I wanted to remake my website and he said "Why don't we make your Gallery page on DPW, which is already easy to maintain, your full-fledged website?", which is exactly what we did!

The advantage of being married to someone who is really good at programming, is I got to design my ideal artist website. I wanted a website that was clean and elegant, where the art stood out. It also needed auctions and PayPal links so I could sell my art, a bio page, and be able to sell my books and promote my workshops. Above all, it needed to be extremely easy to keep up-to-date, so I could spend my time painting. And that is what David built for me.

So that is how DPW grew from a simple online gallery to one offering great artist websites. David and I don't like limits and complicated pricing, and so our websites let you add unlimited art for one simple price of $12.95 a month, which hasn't changed in over 10 years. We would love to have you with us - try it free for a month!

In the next post in my series on DPW, I will tell you about our new theme and customization features that let you make your DPW Gallery Website perfect for you!

Natural Spotlight

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What is Daily Paintworks?

I started doing these little “daily” paintings a little over 12 years ago. I enjoyed it so much I raved to all my art friends, and several started their own daily practice and blogs. Quickly we realized it would be beneficial to band together and promote one website instead of all our individual blogs. Thus, Daily Paintworks (DPW) was born.

I created the original design, and my husband (the programmer) has put in countless hours building it into what it is today. DPW has become his full time job/passion, as he handles support, improves features, and adds new ones. My oldest stepdaughter, Sophie (28), answers questions from buyers and members, and my youngest, Maddie (23), does social media outreach. And I continue to … consult. : ) It is truly a family business.

I am very proud of what DPW has become, so I decided to talk a bit about it again, over a series of posts, in case some of you don’t know, and/or might be interested in using it. I also want to clear up some common misconceptions about what it is. (to be continued…)

Going About Life

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It looks better in person, so I'll try to get a better picture once it's varnished. This is from another oldie San Francisco reference. I just love the three very different ladies, heading ... wherever. I don't know if they were together, or if they just happened to be side by side in that moment.

Snack Break

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Here's another one from San Francisco. It ALSO came from a terrible reference. The lady was mostly ok, but the background was ick, and her bags were ... awkward. I was emboldened by my last one, so I decided just to go for it.

Waiting in the Cold

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This is another old one, also from San Francisco. The reference photo was terrible, but I always loved these ladies all scrunched up on the bench. So I completely changed the background. It was a total experiment, but I think it worked out.

The Shadow Knows

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This happens every year at about this time - I start feeling desperate for new reference material. And because I can't go on a trip right this minute to collect more, I dug deep into some old files. This one is from a trip I took to San Francisco years ago. It was late afternoon/evening, early spring, and I found this corner where the light was just magical. I stood in the same spot for about 10 minutes and took pictures of all the people walking by. Only a few are paint-worthy, of course. But that's how it goes.

Cold and Windy

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I spotted these two lovely ladies in downtown San Francisco last year. The white socks make the outfit, don't ya think?!

Considering

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I try not to plan too far ahead with my paintings, or even at all. I don't lay out what I'm going to paint for the next week, or even the next day. Instead (if I'm going to be painting from photos) I start by flipping through some random files. When a particular scene catches my eye, for whatever reason, I immediately go into my studio and paint it. I didn't always do it this way, but it's been working for me lately. It keeps everything (the process, and the painting) fresh and spontaneous. And fun! Today this scene from Embarcadero (in San Francisco) called my name.

In Line for the Trolley

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I vastly underestimated how hard this was going to be to paint. Many hours later...

Sunset Hills Truck

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I found this old guy at the bottom of the sunset hills in San Francisco earlier this year. I realize I might be wrong about the location. If so, I apologize.

Evening Commute

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I took a bunch of photos when I was in San Francisco last time, in the evening. My camera (any camera) is sadly incapable of capturing that magical light. This is my first attempt at ... faking it. Second actually. If I'm honest.

Reflecting on Chinatown

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This is a scene from my trip to San Francisco earlier this spring. I know it's a bit of an unusual composition, but when I saw it my brain screamed, "This is awesome - take pictures!" And I try to trust my instinct.

Lunch on the Lawn

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Here's another one from San Francisco. This gal was on a hill, in a park, in the spring, with droves of other young, hip people, seeing and being seen, with her snazzy yellow bag, and grabbing a bite while she was at it.

A Ladies Afternoon

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Here's a swerve back to the city (San Francisco). I used a 6x6 inch panel for this one and I have to admit, after using a lot of larger panels lately, this seems - impossibly small!!!

Navigating the Market

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NEW ARTBYTE: Painting people. It's finally done!! And it's got a lot in it: 11 pages of instruction and a full demo video (of the painting above) with voice-over. I've been working my patookie off, and am proud of the result.

The next you'll hear from me is when I get back from my Carmel workshop. I'm looking forward to lovely weather and lots of sunshine!

Clingy

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I'm not sure which caught my eye first - the little boy or the glowing soda. It was one of those reference photos I took so fast my trigger finger hurt afterwards. Not really, but you know.

San Fran Buildingscape

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Some of my favorite views in San Francisco are from way up on one hill, looking down and then up another hill. I have more like this that I'm sure I'll paint at some point. I'd like to try them bigger.

Meanwhile, why have I not posted in weeks? Well, last week I was attending the Plein Air Convention in Santa Fe, which was pretty great. I painted some, but have nothing to show for it, mostly due to the high winds that almost blew me (and everyone else) away. The week before that I was home but had a crick in my neck so severe I couldn't do much of anything. Yeah. First it's my back, then my neck. Is it that I'm getting old? At any rate, I'm back in the studio and feeling better, but rusty.

Capture the Moment

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For some reason I get more glare on my paintings when I try to photograph them on an overcast day, vs. a sunny one. And we have a lot of those in the winter here in Oregon. So I've taken a second photo to show how this looks from another angle. This is my favorite San Fran painting so far!

For the next two days I am taking a workshop from Ruth Armitage. She is teaching us how she does abstract paintings, using cold wax and all kinds of other fun tools. I'm really excited to see how she makes her beautiful paintings!!