Art Scene

I'm having a great time at Art Scene going on yesterday and today in Rockford Illinois. Come on down and visit if you're in the area.

Yogi is Today's DOG on MY BLOG

Yogi

The weather is getting warmer but I still have a few dogs left. This is Yogi. Thanks Brian Hardas for submitting the picture.

Charlie and Rusty are Today's DOG on MY BLOG

I'm loving the alcohol inks! They're interesting as they make various patterns and blend with surrounding colors.

There's always a point when I wonder:"How is this painting ever going to recover?"

Then I realize I actually have a lot more control than I think.

Rusty and Charlie

And it all works out in the end.

Inspired By the Spring

Beth's Tulips

 Want to purchase a Giclee Print of this painting? http://www.jillraefinallyart.com/giclee-prints.php

My garden is my inspiration. First, it taunts me with a few pokes of bulb leaves reassuring me that warmer days are coming. Then I am enticed to go outside where the sun and wind clears my mind. I become further awakened by doing the physical activity required to clean-up the garden and prepare it for the season. Choosing the season's plants and flowers is like painting in 3-D as I combine colors and textures into a riot of living art. I photograph the garden as I walk around and pick out nature's masterpieces.  In the winter I am left with only the memories and the photographs as I paint, waiting patiently for the coming season to start again.

Emma and Zoe are Two DOGS on MY BLOG 2014-04-04 05:51

Emma and Zoe

Progress on the Iris Painting 2014-04-04 06:06

The day's work.

Any ideas for names?

Happiness is a New Painting Happiness is a New Painting

I love starting new paintings and I'm beginning to understand how important it is to me.

My studio is a mess. I really need to clean it out but I don't want to take the time away from painting. I have dog pastels all over ready for their final fixative spray, two alcohol inks, oils drying and my Queen Anne's Lace oil on my easel along with stacks of photographs I want to paint or draw. There is the Chives and Russian Sage watercolor hanging upside down on my bulletin board (Is this painting really done?) On my watercolor boards are this Iris painting and - I don't know the names of these - flowers and squiggly grasses. I have found that I really need the variety. My watercolors are slow and very controlled, where my oils are freer and louder. All these things; oils, watercolors, pastels, alcohol inks, ink pens have very different feelings to them. I like working in one medium until I feel I need to stand away from it for awhile and have another project waiting for me. Some might say that is not a good way to establish a style. But it doesn't work for me to stick to one piece or medium. Does that make me an ADHD Artist? Why not? I'll wear the label proudly.

Everyday I can't wait to get to my studio, and I don't want to leave. I just want to paint and do nothing else. Alas, there are dishes and laundry to be done along with meals,shopping, bills, meetings and appointments. I have come to my one year anniversary of leaving my employment for my painting and I can say I love it. I can't get enough and actually feel a bit overwhelmed with all I want to accomplish. I never knew that I'd be learning so much about accounting, marketing and computers. What a joy it is to be an artist waking up and doing what I love everyday!

How do you work on your pieces? Do you stay with one painting from start to finish or do you jump around like me?