Tuesday, November 30, 2010

More from the Charrette

"Floral Study"
© Nancy Laliberte
10" x 8" oil on canvas panel

Continuing to work with the water-soluable oil paints, my good friend and fellow artist, Val Berkely and I, decided to follow an exercise from the book, Painting with Water-Soluable Oils by Sean Dye. Kevin Macpherson is a featured artist in the book so we followed his painting exercise to help us get a feel for working loosely and with lots of paint. In the end, our pieces didn't look like Kevin's but we had fun trying! My painting ended up looking better upside down, and somewhere hidden under the layers is a vase that is, well, upside down.

"Block Study"
© Nancy Laliberte
8" x 10" oil on panel

A block study exercise adapted from Susan Sarback's book, Capturing Radiant Color in Oils. Susan studied with Henry Hensche at the Cape Cod School of Art. One of the artists featured in the book is John Ebersberger, whom I had the opportunity to study with in 2004. That was my first introduction to seeing color and palette knife painting. To this day I still remember, "light plane, shadow plane." Block studies are a great exercise in seeing color and breaking down the masses with more color--something I think I could have pushed more in the painting. This piece was done primarily with a palette knife with a bit of brushwork at the end.

A good charrette always includes some art videos and our favorite was Larry Seiler's Painting a Waterfalls in Oils. Larry is a high school art instructor and all I can say is he has some lucky kids. His video was very complete and he does a great job explaining palette colors, design, brushwork and more. Check out his blog and website for more painting tips and other good stuff.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Thankful

"Pumpkin Worthy"
© Nancy Laliberte
6" x 8" oil on panel
Sold
I have one can of pumpkin and several pumpkin recipes. Pumpkin cookies? Pumpkin bread? Pumpkin cheesecake? Pumpkin pie (can't get enough!)? Pumpkin right out of the can? (My friend Suzanne's favorite!) They are ALL "Pumpkin Worthy!"
Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving. The best part was listening to my children say what they were thankful for: family and being together.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Charrette

"Apple Pair"
© Nancy Laliberte
6" x 8" oil on canvas panel
$95
Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to partake in a painting charrette with my good friend and fellow artist Val Berkely. A charrette is often referred to an intense period of work by one person or a group of people prior to a deadline. Val has a cabin on the south shore of Lake Superior near Ironwood, MI. In her cabin is a 12 foot long table which makes a great space for a temporary studio. While we didn't have any specific deadlines, we did have a focus and an intense period of work. Our focus was to experiment with water-soluable oil paints, specifically the Cobra brand and its mediums. It took a little getting use to, but we liked the paints; I loved being able to blend and work alla prima. We did not care for the mediums made by Cobra---too smelly and gave me a headache and Val itchy eyes. The apple painting was a piece I did with the Cobra paints, minimal water and no mediums.

While we waited for the in-floor heating to get up to temp, I successfully started a fire in the stove--on the first try. Might have to audition for Survivor or something.

A whole new spin to "painting warm-ups."

Monday, November 22, 2010

For Good Health

"An Apple a Day"
© Nancy Laliberte
6" x 6" acrylic on archival paper

An apple a day, a painting a day...

Friday, November 12, 2010

Busy Fun

"Gather ’Round"
© Nancy Laliberte
5" x 4" watercolor on paper

Been having all kinds of busy fun this past week! Isn't that what life is all about? :-) Busy fun included a watercolor workshop, an Excel class, the conclusion of Where We Live, disassembling the show, delivering paintings to Riverfront Art Center in Stevens Point, WI for their holiday show, delivering paintings to the Center for the Visual Arts in Wausau for their holiday gift gallery and selling some more art--thank you collector friend! This painting is from the watercolor workshop I took at the Woodson Art Museum. I am vamping up my sketchbook journaling and travel journaling so a morning spent on watercolor techniques was very inspiring.

Speaking of Where We Live, I just want to thank my family at home--Nicholas, for your energy, enthusiasm and love of art; Erika, for all of your help with Nicholas and other "stuff;" and Mike, for your support, stability, and love; my family afar (you know who you are); my friends; the CVA staff; collectors who were touched enough by my work to give it a home--their home; and to my fellow artists and partners-in-crime, Val Berkely and Chris Mosse--you're both awesomely creative and I was honored to be in your company. Thanks everyone!
I love you all!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Last 4 Days...

Take a break from your busy day and enjoy some colorful art therapy...

Now through Sunday, November 7th, you can view my most recent paintings along with the work of Wausau artists, Val Berkely and Chris Mosse at the Center for the Visual Arts, 427 4th Street, Wausau. Gallery hours are 10 am - 5 pm Thursday and Friday, and noon - 4 pm Saturday and Sunday.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

One More

Sous La Tonelle II
(Under the Arbor II)
© Nancy Laliberte
12" x 12" x 1-3/8" acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas
SOLD

And in the gallery...with Val Berkely's grape portraits and Chris Mosse's hand-painted cabinet. Chris' cabinet has a very cool tree painting on the inside. The cabinet can fit bar/glassware or DVDs and CDs. It has been pure delight working with Val and Chris and the CVA staff on this show, Where We Live.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Putting it all Together

Sous La Tonelle I
(Under the Arbor)
© Nancy Laliberte
12" x 12" x 1-3/8" acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas
SOLD

It's funny how some paintings brew in your mind or subconscious for a while, perhaps years, and then something occurs, a trigger of some sort, where it all comes together and ends up on canvas. This painting was inspired by photos I took a few years ago of my brother Joe's grape arbor, by my parents' love of wine-making, and my desire to bring that all together visually.

From Where We Live, currently showing at the Center for the Visual Arts gallery in downtown Wausau, Wisconsin.