Sunday, August 31, 2014

Theme Decided for 30 Paintings in 30 Days -


Joining Leslie Saeta's  group of 600+ other painters signed up for creating 30 paintings in 30 days beginning September 1st.

My Theme?... Small black and white and monochrome painted studies to reinforce my ability to see values, improve compositions and cheer up my drawing skills which have been sorely neglected and suffering these last 3 or 4 months.

All paintings will be posted on Leslie's blog - of course will put mine up here too...

Stay tuned and paint pretty -

JoanneHopper.com

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Back to it....and so much going on!



Family matters have kept me from posting for a while - nothing too serious.  Everyone is healthy and happy. Sometimes kids (aka our pineapples as we affectionately call them), just need extra time.

We also just got back from a wonderful trip to Chicago. We met with family and friends and got to see some phenomenal art - both at the Art Institute of Chicago and in some classy galleries in Scottsdale AR on our way back through to Maui. What an inspirational thrill!

So - my time waiting and traveling has not been wasted!  I've actually been painting quite a bit and have about a dozen new paintings that will be forthcoming in the next few months.

Reading has been hugely important these last few months as well.  Everything from Henri to Hensche to Hawthorn, Mary White (love her and her work), Ruskin and a wonderful book by Ryan Holiday called "The Obstacle is the Way".  Been reacquainted too with Hans Hoffmann's amazing vibrant paintings and Hockney's work - and many others...

Procreate - a fantastic iPad app - has also been a surprising inspiration.  I'm not crazy about computer art and have tried several other drawing/painting programs and hated them.  Procreate is entirely different. Easy to use and customize. It's been a lot of fun to learn and experiment with.  ...more to come on Procreate. 

Leslie Saeta's "Artists Helping Artists" podcast has also been a great companion on long drives and times of waiting.  I've signed up for her 30 in 30 event for September and will post more about that soon. I have a theme and a goal and will be posting those pictures every day. 

Metal point drawings and tool production are still, and always, in the works.

The pic above? - Bill had an easel sent from a Dick Blick art store in Chicago for me - what a wonderful man!!!  Amazingly it arrived home before we did.  So I've rearranged my studio space a bit and can now work on much bigger pieces - Yay!

Great to be back to work!
Paint Pretty -