Day 4 of 60: Sweet Succulents

"Sweet Succulents"    8" x 8"   $100.00

I fell in love with these beautiful succulents—their smoothness, color and hardiness. Surprisingly, they were fun to paint! I had anticipated the 60 Days of Painting challenge to be stressful, but so far it has been enjoyable. Whenever I paint, I obsess over every detail; I never want to say a painting is "finished" since I always see room for improvement. Having a deadline helps me let go and enjoy the results.  

Below is a sneak preview of the painting I began today. Stay posted for the finished artwork tomorrow.
Also be sure to check out Elise Wehle's artwork for the project as well.

For those who have been eyeing been my prints on Society6, now is a great time to purchase. Free shipping is available from today to March 17, 2013 at Midnight Pacific Time. *Offer excludes Framed Art Prints, Stretched Canvases and Throw Pillows with insert.

To access the shop:

http://society6.com/HeatherRobinsonTeran/prints

Special promotion link:

http://society6.com/HeatherRobinsonTeran?promo=8dc313

Thanks to all for your great support on this 60 Days project!  I love to hear your feedback.

60 Days of Painting

March is going to be a great month for painting!  This March and April I am taking the challenge to paint 30 paintings in 60 days.  Fellow artists Elise Wehle and Annie Henrie are also participating in the challenge. 

Please feel free to follow my blog as I post a painting every two days.  The focus of the project is to enjoy the process of painting, not to worry and labor over every meticulous detail.  If you have any comments, image or theme ideas, leave them below or on my facebook page.  I would love to hear from you.  All paintings that will be posted are for sale.  Please contact me if you see one that you would like to have in your home.

Above is the first painting.  Below you can see the wood panels Annie and I made for the project!  It is difficult to see, but there really are 30 panels here.

Also, I am happy to announce that you can currently purchase prints and originals of my artwork on the following sites:

http://society6.com/HeatherRobinsonTeran

https://www.etsy.com/shop/HeatherTeran

Here's to a great 60 days of painting!

Orange County Gallery Exhibition

This past February was the last month of a successful four month exhibit of my paintings in Gallery 2050 Main, in Irvine California.  I am a bit late in getting the pictures up, but here they are anyway!

This exhibit showcased 13 of my large scale paintings.  

Thanks to all for the great support!  There was an amazing turnout.  

A Bit About My Art-Making Process

For those of you curious about how I work, here is a quick look into the way I make a painting.  

My most recent body of paintings was exploring perfectionism, and that naturally lead me to escapism.  What do people escape to when they realize their life isn't all they want it to be?  That was the seed of thought that brought this painting to life.  

First, I use larger brushes and block in the basic shapes in the painting.  A lot of this is done in fast-drying acrylic.  For simplicity sake, I painted the first coat of this painting in black and white and limited colors.  

Next, I go back in with oils and paint with more detail and greater attention to color accuracy.  In the early stage, I stay focused on larger shapes and gradually move to the finer planes and details.

When I get sick of painting one thing, I usually switch it out for something new and different.  I like to be working on multiple paintings at once, so the work stays feeling fresh.  

 

Next, I go flesh out the painting in more detail.  In some places, I use a palette knife and glaze over larger sections (see the volcano and the blue dress below).

  

Once I painted in the figure and background, I mix up a large quantity of transparent paint and pour it over the top to create a veil-like surface.  You can see that at this point I am working with the painting on the ground as opposed to on the easel.

With the transparent layer dried, I painted in the flowers with a large brush.  When it comes to paintings, I love a mix of different layers and surfaces, the thin veil of transparent paint with fleshy, thicker oil paint on top.  Here is the finished painting!

Latest news:  My painting "Strawberry Days" was accepted into the annual juried show put on by the Utah Division of Arts.  The artwork will be up from October 21 to November 23rd in the Rio Grande Gallery in downtown Salt Lake City.  The gallery is open from 8-5 M-F.  Anyone is welcome to come to the opening party on Friday October 21st from 6 to 9pm.  It is going to be lots of fun.

For those of you who weren't able to be there at my latest art show, here are the paintings:

"A Day's Work"

"Strawberry Days"

"A Sensible Thing"

"All Glamour"

"Canopy Fiction"

"Cloud Cover"

"Peacock Suite"

"Fins Desserts"

"Rustic Romp"

"Shakuhachi Saucer"

The show was titled "The Last Eight Months" referring to the time it took me to produce this body of work.  As you can tell by the statement beneath the show title (see photo above), it was an exploration of unrealistic ideals and our own private vision of utopia.  

It was such an amazing experience painting these--difficult but often enjoyable and definitely rewarding.  Thanks to everyone who helped me with the show!

So! I haven't posted in a while because life has just been so busy.

I am working long hours painting in the studio.

In March I showed at Gray Wall Gallery in Salt Lake City.

Below is a photograph of the main painting that was on display at Gray Wall.  

It's 40"x40" and titled "Wedding Gift".

here are some close-ups:

 The next three are little paintings that were also hung in the gallery:

A picture of my husband and I at the opening reception:

 More recently, I finished a commissioned piece of a darling mother and daughter for Mother's Day.  

What a fun Mother's Day gift!

Currently I am finishing up 10 large scale paintings for my final show at Brigham Young University.

The opening reception with be held on the evening of Friday, July 22nd.

Please mark your calendars!  It will be an event you won't want to miss :)