April 2008

Birthday portraits:

Granddaughter, Dacey, soon to be twenty-one!

Granddaughter, Jenna. The portrait is for her mother's birthday.

This is my youngest granddaughter, Kimberly, who just turned eleven.

This is Jasmine, known as "Jazz", my daughter-in-law's constant companion.

This is a recent flower painting, "Camellia".

April is almost over and I have not posted anything. I have been painting some family portraits and I have just framed a new flower painting. The portraits are of granddaughters and a grand-dog. These portraits are birthday gifts for my daughter-in-law and two of my granddaughters. The flower is a Camellia. Painting flowers is like eating comfort food. I like to savor one every once in awhile. I am currently working on two more paintings and helping the Knoxville chapter of the Tennessee Watercolor Society. The TnWS 31st Exhibition will open in June, 2008. Look for news of that exhibition in future posts.

An Award!

Remember this painting? It is called "Tree Study". I photographed the huge tree when I visited Blowing Rock in North Carolina. I used a portion of the tree for my painting. It was shown on my January post after I sent a slide of it off to the Texas Watercolor Society. I was very happy when the juror, Jeanne Dobie, accepted it for the TWS 59th Annual Exhibit. This afternoon I heard from the Texas Watercolor Society. I was informed that I had won the Bronze Award for transparent watercolor. The award includes a lovely bronze medallion and a check for $1000. I have not yet come down from Cloud Nine. I like it up here and may stay for awhile.

My Paintings at the Art Market Gallery

The five paintings shown here are featured this month of March at the Art Market Gallery in downtown Knoxville, TN. Visit http://www.artmarketgallery.net/ for an overview of the gallery.


White Phalaenopsis was shown in an earlier blog. View January: Five Orchid Paintings.

This White Orchid painting was also posted in January's blog: Five Orchid Paintings

This is Lace Cap Hydrangeas. $600. plus shipping

Sunlit Grapes has been shown in three national exhibits: Watercolor West, California Watercolor Association, and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America. It won Best of Show at the Palm Springs Desert Museum.

The Silver Pitcher was painted because I like reflections. I bought the shining pitcher solely to use in still life set-ups. This is the first time I used it. It also can be seen in my very first blog, December 2007: "Fuji Reflections". Contact me at genieven@gmail.com if any of these paintings interest you. Leave an comment. It is easy to do.

Featured Artist of March

The Magnolia painting on the easel welcomes guests to the Art Market Gallery

The Featured Artist Wall shows five of my paintings and the ceramics of Erline McKay I have been a member of this beautiful cooperative gallery in downtown Knoxville since August, 2007. Each month two of our artist members are featured, one is a 2-D artist and the other is a 3-D artist. On the first Friday of each month the gallery stays open until 9:30 PM and offers hors d'oeuvres, wine, and music for our guests. This has become a very popular happening. We draw 500 - 600 guests on that night. Visit http://www.artmarketgallery.net/ for a view of the gallery and the work of some of the members.

Beginning a New Year

"Cleo" is a painting I shipped to Jenna Mandis, my oldest granddaughter. A few years ago she
took a photograph of this feline member of the family. I liked the light pattern and asked to borrow her photograph for a painting. I am pleased with the result. Some of the things that please me are the dramatic light pattern, the color harmony, the treatment of the fabric, and the rim lighting that traces the back of the cat. This painting now belongs to Jenna.

This is "Tree Study", the painting I shipped to the Texas Watercolor Society's 59th Annual Exhibit. Having the juror, Jeanne Dobie, select it means a great deal to me.

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After my December trip to California for my birthday and a busy holiday season here in Knoxville I had to get back to the responsibilities of daily life. The first two weeks of 2008 were filled with many necessary chores. My art related activities included taking down an exhibit of twenty paintings from the Schilling Gallery of the Westminster Presbyterian Church, picking up paintings from the Tennessee Art Association show and the Arts and Cultural Alliance juried exhibit, and trying to find wall space at home for the twenty-two retrieved paintings. I spent a day at the Art Market Gallery, taking my turn as a member of our beautiful coop facility. I gave a presentation at the Knoxville Watercolor Society meeting, explaining my method of composing and transferring a subject to paper. I packaged and shipped two paintings, one to the Texas Watercolor Society juried exhibit, and one to a granddaughter in Los Gatos, CA. I was without my car for a couple of days while a needed tune-up was performed and I shopped on the Internet for a new printer. Both the car and the printer are very necessary items in my life. Now that my car is running smoothly and the new printer is functioning efficiently, I can resume a more normal schedule in the few remaining days of January .

Five Orchid Paintings

White Phalaenopsis
$600. plus shipping

Orchid Fiesta

$900. plus shipping

White Orchid

$700. plus shipping

Cymbidium Duo

$700. plus shipping
SOLD

Cymbidium Cluster

$700. plus shipping

The source for these orchid paintings was the St. Louis Botanical Garden orchid shows. Every year while living in St. Louis I visited the beautiful displays and took photos for reference. When ready to plan a painting, I had many decisions to make. For three of these paintings: White Orchid, Cymbidium Duo, and Cymbidium Cluster, I chose to make a simple statement. I wanted to feature the blossoms against an uncluttered background. In order to do this I used Frisk Film, a clear covering which airbrush painters use to cover and protect portions of their compositions while applying paint. As a watercolor painter I had to take another step. I had to seal the edges of the Frisk Film so that watercolor would not seep under the film and ruin the orchid image. This required a tedious application of liquid frisket around the edges of the Frisk Film. Once the flower image was protected, I was able to freely apply numerous layers of watercolor pigment to the background area in order to get the color gradation I wanted for each painting. I learned this method from a Santa Cruz, CA. artist, Elizabeth Kincaid, during a three-day workshop. Her watercolors show a masterful use of Frisket and Frisk Film.

The dimensions of the five orchid paintings:

1. White Phalaenopsis: image 20"x12"; frame 28"x 20"

2. Orchid Fiesta: image 28"x20"; frame 36"x28"

3. White Orchid: image 20"x14"; frame 28"x22"

4. Cymbidium Duo: image 20"x14"; frame 30"x24"

5. Cymbidium Cluster: image 20"x16"; frame 28"x24"

Contact genieven@gmail.com

A Visit to Google December 2007

I went to visit the Google site in Mountain View, CA, with my son, known at Google as Simon Quellen Field. Simon has been with Google for the past four years . He has witnessed its tremendous growth. He was one of a thousand Googlers then. Now there are sixteen thousand members of the Google complex. The buildings, each with gourmet kitchens, micro-kitchens, gyms, child care, and a policy of welcoming pets at work, are designed to provide an idyllic work environment. The result is very impressive. It was a treat for me to see where my son happily spends his time.

A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

A view from Montevina Road

Diane, Katelyn, Penny

Jenna and Dacey

My three California "kids" arranged for me to join them in Los Gatos,

California, to celebrate my 80th birthday. It was wonderful to spend time with my three oldest "kids", Glen, Simon, and Diane; my two daughters-in-law, Kathleen and Penny; and three of my granddaughters, Jenna, Dacey, and Katelyn. My graphic-artist daughter, Diane, had selected several photographs from the family albums. She enlarged, mounted, and laminated them. Images of me as an infant, a seventeen-year-old graduate, a bride, and in the multiple roles of helmsperson, charter chef, and snorkeler in the Caribbean became a part of celebration decor throughout the dining room and living room. It was quite an experience to see so many views of oneself.


Kathleen's spirited little dog, Jasmine, and Simon's African Gray Parrot, Corky, were very much a part of the gathering.

FUJI REFLECTIONS

This is one of my latest paintings. The medium is transparent watercolor.The image dimensions
are 15" X 19". The frame dimensions are 23" X 27". I am pleased with the lighting in this piece. I also like the distortion of the fujis reflected in the pitcher.