Holiday Art Sale

Mele Kalikimaka!

Four Painters and a Potter!  Please come see us this coming weekend- December 2nd and 3rd at Deb Lynch’s gorgeous Sunnyside Art Studio on Baldwin Ave, Makawao! 

Artists include Deb Lynch, Matt Montagne, Patti and Ike Gildersleeve and yours truly - Joanne Hopper.

Paintings for sale in all price ranges and sizes and beautiful handmade pottery!  Come talk story - See you there 🙂

Slice of Iao Valley

I began this little painting on location and finished it up in studio.  It's such an awe inspiring and peaceful place to paint - even with - or perhaps because - there are so many people milling around enjoying the place too.  It's 3.75 x 10 inches, oil on panel.  Unframed.  JoanneHopper.com

Summer Silversword

This piece was accepted into Malama Wao Akua - the East Maui Watershed Partnership art exhibit at the Hui No'eau in Makawao, Maui!

I'm So grateful to the jurors Tamara Sherrill and Mike Takemoto for jurying me into the show.  A very special thanks and appreciation to Mr. Mike Takemoto for choosing my piece for his Juror's Choice Award!

I'm incredibly honored and humbled to have been included and participate in such a key conservation effort here on Maui.

Procreate Uses for Painting and Sunflowers

Been painting in fits and starts as my kids are out of school.  We're having fun swimming, hiking etc...  In between I'm working on a new series of paintings - images coming in the next couple of months.  Also doing a bit more signage etc.

Don't remember the last time I mentioned this, but for anyone interested in digital art - take a look at Procreate.  (The iPad version - though the iPhone version is quite useable).   It's easy to find on the app store.  For less than $10 it's the deal of the century.  I noticed just now it doesn't have great reviews, but I cannot imagine why.  I use it for many things - including painting.  (I also use it on iPad Pro with Apple Pencil)

A couple of the terrific uses for Procreate in painting:  it's super easy to turn your image upside down in Procreate to get a fresh perspective on drawing and values.  It's also great for isolating a color from a reference photo that may be giving you grief.  You can easily see the hue and value by picking it directly from the photo with your finger and it compares that color with the last color you looked at so you can see the relative difference between the two.

Hope you're getting lots of painting in!  Thanks for reading my blog - Much appreciated!!
J

The cherry blossoms are a wedding present for a dear friend.

Hand Refined Linseed Oil - Finished

From a bottle of raw "Flora" brand edible flax oil through three washes and four rinses - two cups of oil has become one cup of sun-thickened drying oil.  I'm loving using it!  It's a about half as thick as stand oil and takes a little more time to oxidize - a day or so.  It smells amazingly fresh - like cucumbers and linseed oil combined.  The pics below are from the process.

At times it was looking pretty gnarly and I was seriously wondering if it would ever amount to anything.

The pic above is mid process before clearing and thickening in the sun.  It just glowed...

This pan was set out in the sun every day for two weeks to thicken and clear the oil.  You can see a little calcium carbonate cloud on the bottom left from the last wash to neutralize the acid content.  As you can see in the first pic I was careful to not transfer that to the finished product.  

The second batch got it's final rinse today and will go out in the sun in the above pan as soon as the sun comes out here.  

All of the directions for doing this yourself are on Tad Spurgeon's amazing web site by the same name.  His book is called "Living Craft" which you can also find on his website.  I absolutely cannot recommend it Highly enough!!!  It's a phenomenal book - a comprehensive reference book really -  with an incredible amount of information that's not on his website.

Maui Winery

The private wine tasting room at the Maui Winery in Ulupalakua, Maui.  I worked on this twice on location and tweaked it in studio.  Would like to do a more finished painting at some point.

Oil or Acrylic Gesso??

Oil vs. acrylic gesso grounds:  The panel of swatches on the top is an acrylic ground with various paint manufacturers represented.  The bottom panel is oil ground with the same manufacturers paints, though different pigments.  The top swatches all seeped oil over the surface of the acrylic ground.  The oil in the swatches on the oil based ground all stayed exactly the same.  Interesting....

Ulupalakua

Spent time working in Ulupalakua this past week.  Gloriously beautiful and quiet after the bustling busy-ness of MOS. 

Maui Open Studio Weekend -

It was such a delight and an honor to share studio space this weekend in Deb Lynch's gorgeous brand new studio with both Deb and Patti Guildersleeve!  We had a fantastic weekend!  Met lots of amazing people and had so much fun talking story.  As usual - I learned much.  Already can't wait for next year -

Hui No'eau "Art Affair"

This is a "postage stamp" painting -  5 x 7 inches  - for the Art Affair fundraiser and auction at the Hui No'eau on Baldwin Avenue in Makawao.  I understand it's sold out!   Wonderful -

Poetry

Does your work contain your poetry??  Been asking myself that a lot lately and being very discriminating about the idea in relation to what I want to say.  I've been painting a Lot and have discarded and wiped more works than I've kept because they have to have my poetry in them.  It's a process of exploration - don't always know how to make it happen - no formula - but liking it when I find it.  The more I work the more I expect to see it...

Painting, painting, painting... And App Recommendations

Prayer Flags from the Sacred Garden

So - I've been totally remiss in posting lately.  I've been painting a Lot - and loving every minute of it!  Getting ready for Maui Open Studios upcountry weekend February 25th and 26th.  I'll be at Sunnyside Art Alliance - 1799 Baldwin Ave, Makawao -  with several other amazing artists!  We'll be there at Deb Lynch's super-beautiful studio from 11 am to 6 pm both days.  

Will be posting previews of some new paintings over the next couple of weeks too.

Took an amazing iPhone photography class at the Hui No'eau that covered primarily ProCamera and Snapseed apps.  I highly recommend both for artists if you use photos as reference materials at all.  ProCamera's HD is able to capture a wide Gamut of visual information to work from.  Snapseed is great for "processing" your pics and shifting them more toward the vision you are aiming for with your painting.  I don't use pics a lot myself though sometimes I'll need to finish a painting from one.  But these are super useful apps if you do.

Days 14 - 15 Leftover Gourds

Started this 6 x 6 painting yesterday but time was short as it often is on a Saturday - so I finished it this afternoon. This picture is way to contrasty - the shadows are not nearly that harsh.  Guess you'll have to come to Maui Open Studio February 25 and 26 to see it in person.  😉  Manana, mas!  #stradaeasel

Day 13 - Sketching and Painting in Lahaina

Busy day sketching and painting in the Banyan park in Lahaina, Maui.  Gorgeous day and the temperature was perfect. Will be going back...   #stradaeasel

Day 12 - Above Makawao

Very voggy day on Maui.  Though the haze is hard for some people it makes landscapes interesting.  The sunlight was wonderful!  Not happy with the foreground so will be heading back up to finish it one of these days.  #stradaeasel

Day 11 - Copy paper and ball point pen.

Day 11 - unexpectedly found myself in ER today and so did a life sketch on the back of something there.  Top of a tray table.  Enjoyed drawing it!  Everyone is fine and back to painting today -
#stradaeasel

Day 10 - No White Paint

Left the white paint in my studio - darn it!  So carved out the values with paint and will go back again - hopefully Friday morning.  Day 10 of Strada 31. #stradaeasel

Day 9 - Paint Tubes

Day 9 of 31.  Having fun.  This is almost finished.  Am going to leave it for a couple days.  Painting in Makawao tomorrow morning and in Keokea on Wednesday.  Expect to finish it on Thursday.  Will post a better pic then.  Thank you for visiting -   #stradaeasel

This has been a fantastic impetus for me to regain a great painting routine after several months needing to be caregiver for several family members.  Everyone is fine - but it's been tough to be away from the paint.

Day 8 Eggplants

Was tough to get to the paint today - wonderful family weekend.  Just squeezing this one in...
Day 8 of Strada 31.  #stradaeasel

Day 7 of the Strada 31 Challenge

A day at the beach with my boys.  Mixed media study done with pens, water soluble pencil, watercolors and casein in small Moleskine watercolor book.  Moody ocean.  Wonderful to be outside after all the rain we've had.  #stradaeasel

Day 6 of Strada 31

Nope - didn't finish.  Fixed some drawing problems and made progress.  Had more fun than yesterday if that's possible.  Painting on the beach tomorrow. Ah......  can't wait.  This palette is a bit unusual for me - so many colors.  A warm and cool of each primary plus a transparent red oxide.  Strada 31. Day 6. #stradeasel

Day 5 Paint paint and more paint!

Okay - So I'm already tired of painting tiny little card fronts.  This is 10 x 10 and Sooo much fun!  Hopefully will finish it tomorrow if I can wait that long - perhaps after dinner.  Fifth day of the Strada 31 paint challenge. This is just what I needed!  #stradaeasel

Day 4 - Tomatoes

Day 4 of the Strada 31 day paint challenge.  So I took the few left over colorful tomatoes and put them on top of the red ones.  Most of the purple ones had been consumed but worked a little purple in there.  This was a fun study for a larger painting.  Will need some more multi-colored tomatoes from Mana but they were all out last night....  To be continued...   #stradaeasel

Day 3 of Strada 31 paint challenge

Day 3 of Strada 31.  So - I finished my value sketch and notan and my darling daughter ate most of my still life!!!  Ugh...  She has a bunch of special needs and cherry tomatoes are like candy to her - so how can I fault her - cute as can be!  So here's the drawing - loved these too - they were the multi-colored ones.  Will get more for tomorrow...  #stradaeasel

Day 2 - Oil Sketch "After Breakfast"

Day two of the Strada 31 paint challenge for January.  This is an oil sketch on prepared paper.  Using limited palettes chosen at random also.  This particular one is Winsor Red Deep, Winsor Yellow and Old Holland Scheveningen Blue Deep.  The prepared paper is watercolor paper with a warm granular wash on it with shellac over that to protect the paper. So I'm starting on a middle-ish value, not white.  #stradaeasel

Strada 31 Day Painting Challenge Day 1

I'm doing the Strada Easel 31Day painting challenge. Besides painting and drawing, my purpose is also to have 31 small oil sketches to use as card fronts for stationary. :) So this is Day 1 - January 1st, 2017. Happy New Year!!! #stradaeasel And thank you Strada and Haley!