Thank You

Yippee! Another outdoor art show season is in the books and I'm looking forward to a quiet winter with less travel and more studio time in the months ahead.

I'm already sending out show applications for 2016, but as I look back at this past season I want to say thank you to everyone who came out to my events and who helped make this another successful year of traveling and exhibiting my artwork in locations ranging from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with many other stops in between. It's a tough grind sometimes because I never know how the weather will shake out or even how world geopolitical events can affect consumer sentiment. I can get so busy with the minute details (Do my van tires have enough air? Do I have labels for everything? Did I remember to bring picture hanging hooks?) that I sometimes lose sight of what I have right here in my local area.

Nonetheless, I got a pleasant reminder that there's no place like home last week when it was brought to my attention that readers of State College Magazine voted and helped me take the Bronze Award for "Best Local Artist" in their Best of 2015 reader survey. That was a fantastic surprise for me and I really appreciate your votes and your support of my artwork.

It only makes sense then that with the conclusion of my outdoor art show season this past month, I'm sticking closer to home with my remaining exhibitions for 2015. This month and throughout the upcoming holiday season, you can find my recent oil and pastel paintings at several venues around the State College area. When I don't need "all hands on deck" for an out-of-state show, I enjoy sharing my artwork at both traditional and unconventional venues in my hometown.

Study, Lower Manhattan 6 x 12 original pastel.

First, I've partnered with Moyer Jewelers in downtown State College to share my recent pastel landscapes and cityscapes in the gorgeous storefront display windows at the corner of Allen Street and College Avenue. Due to the window sizes, this exhibition features small format pieces. These are fun, colorful works that I sometimes use as initial studies to work out ideas for larger format pieces in the future. I like creating these works because it's kind of liberating: there's no pressure to "get it all right" with a large format, and I can take some risks with color and composition that might be harder to pull off in a large, in-your-face format.

Winter Pines, Indigo 8 x 12 original pastel.

Unfortunately, due to a boneheaded digital camera maneuver on my part, I deleted my studio photos of these new works, so I can only share them with you right now as they appear in the display window. Once this exhibition concludes, I'll get them properly photographed and onto my web site. In the meantime, you'll just have to swing by the shop in downtown and check them out for yourself.

Study, Moshannon Reflections 8 x 12 original pastel.

The next local exhibition features my original oil landscapes and cityscapes at National Penn Bank at 2541 East College Avenue in State College through the end of November. This show features works of varying sizes as well as some of my limited edition prints.

Study, 6th Avenue Rain 6 x 12 original pastel.

Finally, you can see my recent original oil landscape paintings at the State College Framing Company and Gallery in the Hills Shopping Plaza. These works will be on display through the end of this year. For more information, please call the gallery at (814) 234-7336.

School is Back in Session

I've been working on several new pastel cityscapes in anticipation of my final art shows later this fall. Shown here are a few new pieces fresh off the easel within this past month, including subjects from Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City.

South Street Rain 8 x 8 original pastel.
A rainy summer day becomes a play of brilliant abstract color
along South Street in the heart of Philadelphia.

As the temperatures cool down and school resumes, it's worth highlighting that I'll teach a 6-week class for the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania in Lemont later this month. The class is called "Forward! Strategies for Strengthening Your Artwork" and it's suitable for both beginning and intermediate students in all 2D media.

I tailor this class to the interests of my students while we work on topics such as overcoming common creative roadblocks, choosing subjects, gathering strong source material, and resolving the challenges of color and composition. I pull materials from my background as an artist for Walt Disney Feature Animation, TED Talks, contemporary artists and my experience as a full time artist to help students set up their work spaces and focus in on the things that they want to address in their artwork as they move forward. The class will be held on Wednesday afternoons from 1-4pm beginning on September 30, 2015. Here's the full class description:

Ever feel stuck in a rut? Want to take your art to the next level?

Learn from a national award-winning fine artist and Walt Disney Feature Animation alum how to overcome the roadblocks, habits and fears that inhibit creating great art. We’ll cover topics including how to identify promising subjects; how to gather source material; overcoming the challenges of color, values and composition; what to do when you feel stuck; and how to effectively organize your workspace. This class is open to beginning and intermediate students who work in all 2-D media: acrylic, oils, watercolors, pastel, and drawing. The class will be tailored to the interests of participants. On the first day, please bring a sketchbook and your favorite drawing utensil.

For more information about this class and to register, please contact the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania by phone at (814) 234-2740 or through their web site: www.artalliancepa.org.

Dynamo 18 x 18 original pastel.
A view from the High Line Park in Lower Manhattan.

To the Point, Pittsburgh

This artwork is also available as a limited edition print.

Wisconsin, Long Overdue

Late this past week, I returned from a wonderful painting trip to my home state of Wisconsin. I began my career as an artist over a decade ago, right after my husband and I moved out of Wisconsin to the mid-Atlantic region. I've never been back to my beautiful state to paint until this past week, and what a wonderful week it was.

I traveled with my good friend and fellow artist, Lisa Mitchell, and we spent just shy of one week traversing the Door County peninsula in east central Wisconsin enjoying subjects ranging from farms to rugged Lake Michigan shorelines under the most ideal summer conditions. It's been a busy summer for me with several outdoor art shows, and the opportunity to focus exclusively on painting for an extended period of time was a true treat. That, and sampling the many slices of cherry pie, a regional specialty, made the week magical.

Cave Point, 8 x 8. Thanks to its rugged, rocky cliffs, this is one of the most popular points on the peninsula, and that made painting here a challenge. This initial block-in was early in my workday. I got it mostly completed, but as the day heated up, so did the crowds and I had people teeming around my easel.

For the sake of travel portability, I traveled with my oil painting field kit. It's probably the heaviest I've ever traveled, with one full-size suitcase devoted just to my oil painting gear. But thanks to Southwest Airlines, the bags flew free and intact (hooray!), so it all went as well as possible.

Over the past decade, the art scene in Door County has exploded with a nationally recognized plein air painting event held each July. I don't know whether I'll ever participate in that event in the future, but I was just happy to be back home and enjoying the great scenery.

Lavendar Field, inland, 11 x 14. Did someone say purple? How could I resist this subject in the interior portion of the peninsula.

I worked on a series of small landscape pieces. All of these works are on Belgian linen panels, which offered a great, compact format for painting while on the road. Given my relative newness to the oil medium, I'm slower with my oil painting than I am with my pastel work, so I wasn't able to complete any of these motifs out in the field. But many pieces are close and just require a few refinements in my studio to complete them. In the meantime, I'm sharing a couple of snap shots with you to give you a sense of just how gorgeous this part of our country is. My fall is busy with more outdoor art shows, but stay tuned in the coming months for the completed versions of these works on my web site. Enjoy!