Tag Archives: Carrie Lewis

Friday Guest Artist ~ Carrie Lewis

April 10th, 2009 | Posted in Linda Shantz

I know I said Monday was guest blogger day, but I lined up five guests for the month, knowing there would likely be a day that I was grateful for doing so. Today is that day! Carrie Lewis is another friend and EAG member with whom I have a lot in common. Though we’ve yet to meet, we’ve known each other for years, and I’ve no doubt one day we will meet! Please be sure to visit Carrie’s website. There, in addition to galleries of her equine and landscape paintings, you’ll find links to her blogs. Not only does Carrie paint, she also writes.

Carrie is working in oil, in a style that is quite similar to how I paint in oils. I’ll let her explain! Thanks, Carrie!
“Buckles and Belts”
A Work in Progress using The Flemish Technique

by Carrie Lewis


Buckles & Belts (above, with reference photo at top) is the first ’still life’ I am attempting using the Flemish painting technique. The focus is the combination of buckles, straps and shadows where a bridle and halter meet. The horse was a pony horse I photographed years ago at Mt. Pleasant Meadows in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. It is 6×8 inches in size and is on prepped 1/4-inch masonite panel. The panel was prepped with half acrylic modeling paste and half acrylic gesso applied with a large confectioner’s knife and spread over the panel until it became too stiff to work with. After it had dried, each layer was scraped with a razor blade and the result was a surface that has the texture of an egg shell and is almost as smooth.

#1
Once the drawing is worked out in detail, it is transferred to the panel with graphite. Drawings are transferred to the painting surface using graphite, but the first layer of paint will completely wash away graphite. To preserve the drawing, it is redrawn in ink.

#2
With this painting technique, the imprimatura stage is not the first painting stage. It’s the final prep stage. The painting surface is being toned in preparation for painting, but it is toned after the drawing is in place instead of before.

I used two base colors for this layer: Lamp Black and Yellow Ochre. Prussian Blue can be added to create a cooler imprimatura layer and white can be added to create a lighter value imprimatura.

The imprimatura is usually applied thinned with painting medium of 2 parts solvent to 1 part walnut oil (I exclusively use M. Graham Oils ground with walnut oil). With this painting, however, I rubbed the imprimatura layer onto the panel and smoothed out the color with a clean cloth and using no medium.

The drawing can be transferred, inked in and brought to the finished imprimatura stage in the same day. Fast out of the gate! That’s what I like!

#3
One Week Later….

The Umber Layer is only the first step in the actual painting process and to date, all of the paintings I have in progress have required more than one day to complete this stage. Buckles & Belts is no different.

At this stage, I have used painting medium (2 parts solvent and 1 part walnut oil) to create a wash using only Burnt Umber. The idea is to use oil paints like watercolor and to apply the first layer of color in confident strokes. I’m afraid I’m not as confident as I should be, but this is both a new technique and a unique subject, so I proceeded more carefully.

All of the darker shadows were blocked in along with some of the shadows in the lighter range.

#4
The Next Day….
A little bit more work. I have been putting in 30 minutes or less each day on this piece, gradually developing values as much as possible, then setting the painting aside to dry over night. The paint is about the same consistency each day and about the same value (darkness). The darker darks you see here simply have more layers than the lighter darks.

#5
This is the finished Umber Layer. It took three sessions spread over the space of about five days to complete this work. I am very happy with this painting in spite of the complex design and the non-traditional subject treatment.

The painting will no dry for at least two weeks and probably closer to three. I will check it at the two week mark, which will be April 13, but so far, the paintings I’ve checked at two weeks have not been ready, so it will probably be April 20 before I get back to this one.

The next step will be the dead layer, the results of which give paintings the look of being seen in the light of a full moon. I’m looking forward to this stage with much anticipation.

©Copyright 2009 by Linda Shantz. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Whatever Happened to Spring??

March 30th, 2009 | Posted in Karen Baker Thumm


Our snow was pretty much all gone until last night. That’s when the Winter Storm Warning began for us, and now we have plenty of the white stuff again, along with high winds and drifting. It’s a good thing my husband hadn’t taken the snow blower off the tractor yet.

I’ve worked a little more on the Belgian painting the past two days and have made a little more progress. Most notably, the inside of the trailer has been painted, and this has given the painting more depth. Later I’ll give some tone to that interior so that it isn’t such a dark hole, but it’s an improvement for now. I also painted the chrome strip on the roof, added more highlights and put in the reflections of the horses and the grass. I may need to add more grass color to make the reflections more believable later on, and after that, the whole trailer will be glazed over with a darker blue.

Now that the trailer is well under way, I can turn my attention to the horses again; the part I’ve been anxiously waiting for. In the next step, the left hand horse will be painted and made darker as was my plan from the beginning. The painting should really come alive with this step.

Since it’s tax season, I’ve also been working on taxes, and they will be my focus until today’s paint is dry. I can’t wait to get the taxes done and to the accountant so that I can spend more time on art again. That should be enough incentive to keep going and not procrastinate any longer, like I’ve been doing along with just about every other American.

©Copyright 2009 by Karen Baker Thumm. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.

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Character Gallery: A Call for Entries

August 18th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

I am considering a new painting project. A series of “up close and personal head studies” featuring equine characters.

Thirty years of doing horse portraits of all types have engendered a fascination with the equine face.

The fascination has gradually led to a desire to paint some of those horses that their owners might not otherwise consider as portrait material.

I am not looking for bright and beautiful, unless the equine character in your barn is also bright and beautiful.

Painting of a western horse head copyright Carrie Lewis, all rights reserved.This portrait of a working cow pony at rest is a sample of what I am looking for in possible subjects.

Possible subjects could also be the old codger that patiently gives kids rides when he would rather be snoozing in the shade after a lifetime of service.

That horse or pony with a face that only a mother (and the loving owner) could love.

That special expression that bespeaks mischief or slyness.

The portraits will be primarily small format paintings (no smaller than 4×6 and no larger than 14×14), but there will also be ACEO portraits and larger portraits as well.

If you have or know of a horse you think would be perfect for this project, please contact me. I cannot guarantee that every horse will be painted, but I I would love to correspond with you or take a look at your photographs.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Four New ACEO Landscapes in the Works

August 13th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Yesterday, I worked on a total of six paintings throughout the day. One small format, which is very close to completion, and five ACEO landscapes.

The small format painting is the end-of-day scene I’ve been tinkering with off and on for a couple of weeks. I think it’s time to make an executive decision and just finish it!

One of the ACEO landscapes is one I started last Saturday at the gallery. I added a few more greens and a little bit of detailing, but the paint on that batch of ACEOs was still wet, so I didn’t do much with them.

The other four are new starts and they are featured above.

I used the same color combination for all of them. Cerulean Blue and Titanium White, but one of them has just a touch of Azo Yellow in it. All the colors are from my older, linseed oil based stock. Lefranc & Bourgeois, Winsor & Newton, Van Gogh and a Daniel Smith or two.

At the start, I was thinking only about painting skies. But it has been some time since I’ve used an under painting on anything, so I decided to design the full composition for each ACEO landscape.

They are all from imagination so are subject to metamorphosis as I work.

The net result of all of this activity is that I now have two batches of four ACEO paintings in progress. That should allow me to always have something to work on at the gallery.

I can’t remember the last time that happened.

A secondary affect is that I’ve now committed almost all existing ACEO stock to paintings. Time to start looking for more material!

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Landscape Study #18 2008

August 12th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Landscape painting ACEO copyright Carrie Lewis, all rights reserved.This is Landscape Study #18 2008: Silence.

An order for three new colors of M. Graham Oils arrived yesterday and I had to try them out.

The colors are Azo Yellow, Manganese Blue Hue and Viridian. All three appear in this painting, along with Titanium White and, toward the bottom, Burnt Sienna.

This original ACEO painting was completed yesterday. It was painted on a medium brown under tone and is on gessoed, archival mat board.

My original intention was to finish it after the paint had a chance to dry.

But now I’m not so sure. I like the stark minimalist look of the horizon so far in the distance coupled with the foreground and very little in between.

When I happened to think of the title Silence, that emphasized the vast distances and the silence that comes with it. So now, I’m thinking this one might just be finished.

Landscape Study #18 2008
3-1/2 x 2-1/2
Original Oil on gessoed archival mat board
$25 unframed plus shipping

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Landscape Study #17 2008

August 11th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Landscape painting ACEO by Carrie Lewis. Copyright 2008, all rights reserved.Landscape Study #17 2008 is my landscape painting for the week of August 4, 2008.

It is an original ACEO landscape painting, so it doesn’t qualify as a small format work, but it is a landscape and that was the primary goal for this particular challenge.

It was painted over a toned multiple-gessoed archival mat board card using primarily five colors: Cerulean Blue, Sap Green, Yellow Ochre, Azo Yellow and Titanium White.

In some areas, the toned surface was allowed to show through and in others, the pattern of brush strokes and the use of transparent colors only thinly veils the color beneath.

This original ACEO painting was completed Saturday, August 9 after two days of work.

I also worked on three others during those two days, but they were not ready to call ‘finished’.

During those two days, I did work on the 4×6 small format, end-of-day painting originally intended to be the Landscape painting challenge for the week, but I ended up wiping off most of the paint I put on it and that meant some additional drying time was necessary. Hopefully, this week….

Landscape Study #17 2008
3-1/2 x 2-1/2
Original Oil on gessoed archival mat board
$25 unframed plus shipping

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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I Love a Rainy Day….

August 9th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

….Seems to me like there was a popular Country/Western song by that name many years ago. I can hear the chorus in my ear this morning, but don’t quite remember the artist. Eddie Rabbitt, maybe? (Have I given away my age, yet?)

I also hear rain in my ear. The alarm this morning was an impressive peal of thunder rolling across the heavens and 7:30. Very motivating!

The light is gorgeous, but then I always have been deeply appreciative of the effects of rain and overcast on light. There is something deeply satisfying about the way distance looks when viewed through a veil of rain.

Colors seem more saturated, too. Have you ever noticed that? The greens are deeper and richer. The reds and yellows are sharper.

Maybe it has to do with the relative gray of the atmosphere, but it’s always a delight to see the way God’s green earth responds to rain both physically and visually.

I am left wondering how close winter is. This year has been the coolest year I’ve experienced since moving to Kansas in 2002 and the recorded average global temperatures bear out that observation. Several “coldest month on record” months have already been noted this year.

Winter flirted with spring for what seemed like months here in Newton. In fact, I have jokingly told several people that it’s almost been like living in Michigan, right down to the rain patterns. Rain in August in Kansas? Yeah, right!

But it’s August 9 and it’s raining. A delightful, gentle, cooling rain. With the exception of five or six hours spanning late afternoon and early evening, it rained all day and into the darkness.

Granted, we did have some 100 degree plus weather at the end of July. Five or six days of it, if I remember correctly. But the first year I was in Kansas, we had five or six weeks of days in the low 100s and nights all the way down to 80 or 90!

So, being the snow lover I am, I can’t help but wonder if summer is over here and if the next thing we see over the next few weeks will be the steady, gradual decline in temperatures that leads to Fall and, finally, to snow!

Only time will tell.

In the meantime, I have enjoyed the look and feel of a rainy day.

You know, now that I think about it, I think the line in the song was, “I love a rainy night”.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Landscape A Week – Week 6

August 8th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Sunset painting on artfix canvas by Carrie Lewis, copyright 2008 all rights reserved.This is my Landscape A Week painting for the week of August 4.

I was reminded by the comments of a visitor at last week’s exhibit with the Delano Chamber Players that end of day scenes are bright and colorful and fun to paint.

So when I sat down to paint on Monday, a sunset was what I decided to paint.

This one is a 4×6 oil on Artfix unstretched Belgian linen canvas.

This canvas, which is a very nice weave and is oil primed, was a rather interesting thing to get used to painting on. It is not at all like painting on commercially prepared cotton duck canvas, even if that type of canvas is gessoed two or three more times, which was my practice.

Artfix is silky smooth, very sturdy and the oil priming is a joy — and a challenge! — to paint on. But, all challenges aside, I don’t think I would ever go back to cotton duck and I’m not so I would buy pre-stretched canvas any more. It’s a lot easier to stretch canvas the first time than it is to re-stretch a factory stretched canvas.

Other than two or three very small pieces, this is my last piece of Artfix.

Time to start scraping pennies together for another piece!

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Telling Stories

August 6th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

On July 11, I attended my first in a series of workshops on writing hosted by Perfect Peace West in Wichita. While there, I purchased a couple of books on writing. Upon reading one of them, I got quite a shock.

The story I recently finished and which was pitched to a self-publishing company, accepted by them, then withdrawn by me, does not fit into any of the categories of Christian fiction for which I intended it.

I was immediately faced with three options:

  • Fix it, which would involve a complete rewrite
  • Scrap it and work on something new
  • Scrap it and finish one of the other two rough drafts, both of which fit

I spent a couple of days agonizing over the decision then decided I liked the characters well enough to do a complete rewrite.

So I spent another day or two pondering plotting options, wrote summary paragraphs for six of them, wrote test pages for the two favorites, and made a decision.

On July 15, I started rewriting.

Starting new things is always a lot more fun than finishing old things (ask my husband, who has to deal with the “this painting is ugly, I want to start over” and “this story is awful, I need to start over” moments in every project) and all of my artist friends, many of whom deal with the same thing.

By July 19, I had a lot written and was very pleased.

Then the logical side of my brain got involved, I did some calculating and realized, “Hey! If I can average 2,778 words a day, six days a week, I can put together a 100,000 word rough draft in 36 writing days.

Before you hurt yourself laughing, let me add that I did make a note that every single word would have be the right word in the right place at the right time and the chances of that happening were about the same as the chances of finishing a painting with every color choice, brush stroke and technique being exactly the right thing at exactly the right time.

But I have had a few paintings come together like that over the last thirty years.

Why not a manuscript?

So I set myself the personal goal of writing 2,778 words every day Monday through Saturday and having a 100,000 word (at least) rough draft completed by August 25, which would be Day 36.

It has been a struggle!

But it has also been manageable. On a couple of days, I had to force myself to sit at the computer and type until quite late at night, but my word count average per day for the first 19 days of the challenge is just under 3,000 in spite of writing under 500 the first day of the project and just over 1,100 the second day (pre-goal setting).

What’s more, in spite of a lot of material that won’t make the final draft, I have eleven complete chapters and another four or five that are roughly mapped out. There is clear beginning, a rather murky middle and a sketchy ending.

All of this is in addition to maintaining painting goals and work at the Carriage Factory Gallery.

Granted it would be a lot more difficult with new characters and a completely new story line, but it’s no cake walk as it is.

And the notion of setting high goals and hitting them regularly is a grand motivator, especially on those days when making time to get the job done is the most difficult.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Landscape A Week – Week 5, Finished

August 5th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Landscape painting copyright Carrie Lewis, all rights reserved.This is my Landscape A Week painting for last week. Yet to be titled, this painting was finished on Wednesday or Thursday of last week…

Until I sat down to paint yesterday.

I knew I should have cut it off the back board it’s mounted to along with two other 4×6 pieces of canvas, but I didn’t. Consequently, I couldn’t resist putting just a little bit more paint on this one during the day.

Sigh.

It is so very difficult to finish a painting and leave it alone, sometimes.

So I have to move the official finish date on this one to Monday, August 4 and, therefore, do not technically have a finished painting for last week.

The good news is that I also worked on the other small format painting I started last week and started a new one for this week. So the objective is to finish one of those this week and maintain my average of one a week.

Weekly SMA Landscape #5 2008
6 x 4
Original Oil on unstretched Artfix Belgian linen canvas
$100 unframed plus shipping

I am also preparing to finish October Skies with some corrections on the horse. That will hopefully begin today (Tuesday). I won’t have much time later in the week due to scheduling conflicts Thursday and Friday evenings and an all day class at the gallery that will eat up my morning on Saturday. With God directing my brush strokes, I hope to have the portrait completed by next Monday but I can see, the way the schedule is shaping up, that it might actually take until the end of next week.

Writing continues apace, as well, though I didn’t do anything beyond blog and journal updates until early evening yesterday in order to finish a book by Kansas author, Deborah Raney, and to begin reading a book on starting a business by co-authors Cameron and Donna Partow titled Work With The One You Love. Both are great reads and well worth the ‘day off’ from other work.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Exhibit & Concert, August 3 Report

August 4th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Art show at the West Side Baptist Church in Wichita. Photo copyright Carrie Lewis, all rights reserved.On Sunday, August 3, from about 2:30 to 5 p.m., I participated a combination chamber concert and art exhibit at West Side Baptist Church, 304 Seneca in Wichita.

The exhibit portion of the afternoon’s event was an exhibit of my original paintings, featuring landscape paintings in traditional, small format and miniature sizes. But I also had portrait samples available for viewing in both oils and colored pencil.

My work was set up in the lobby and was the first visitors saw. It was a cozy setting that invited people to browse or to sit down and enjoy a more leisurely examination of framed artwork and a collection of over 100 ACEO landscape paintings.

The concert presented the combined talents of the Delano Chamber Players and The Horn Society, both of Wichita.

The groups performed a one-hour concert of classical music for brass and orchestra that was very well received.

Between 70 and 80 visitors came to enjoy the concert, the art exhibit and refreshments, as well as a chance to meet and greet.

Personally, I had a great time meeting people and extolling the virtues of the Flint Hills as landscape material and as a place of beauty and inspiration. In spite of car trouble on the way to the concert/exhibit and temperatures soaring into the high 90s (summer is finally here, a few weeks late!), it was a great afternoon.

I am very much looking forward to the next event, currently scheduled for 3 p.m., September 28 at West Side Baptist Church.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Exhibit & Concert, August 3

August 2nd, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

The afternoon of August 3, I will be exhibiting work at West Side Baptist Church in Wichita. The art exhibit will be co-featured with a live performance by a local orchestra. The concert is at 3 p.m. and will be followed by a reception.

The art exhibit will be available for viewing before and after the concert (and during the concert as well for those who prefer to shop and listen at the same time).

The exhibit will include a variety of work from my ACEO Landscape Painting album to framed and unframed miniature paintings, small format paintings and larger landscapes and horse paintings.

West Side Baptist Church is located at 304 West Seneca in the Delano District of Wichita.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Wichita Women Artists at the Carriage Factory Gallery

August 1st, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

I am very happy to announce the opening of a new, one-month exhibit at the Carriage Factory Gallery.

An exhibit of works by the Wichita Women Artists opens today, August 1, and runs through August 30.

The exhibit includes original paintings in alkyd, oil, watercolor, pastel and colored pencil. Subjects range from portraiture to still life and landscape with a wide variety in technique and style.

Fourteen women have presented a collection of stunning work for this one-time exhibit. Many of them are award winning artists.

Many of the works have been in other exhibits, as well, including a recent exhibit at a Topeka, Kansas gallery.

The exhibit opening will be Saturday evening from 7 to 9 p.m., August 2. I invite you to stop by the Carriage Factory Gallery to see this exhibit and visit with the artists.

If you cannot make it to the gallery for the reception, the exhibit will be open for your review Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. There is no charge for admission, though we do accept donations.

For those of you from out of state (or for our international visitors!), the exhibit is now online and can be viewed at the Carriage Factory Art Gallery-Wichita Women Artists page. You are welcome to browse to your heart’s content.

And if you see something you cannot live without, contact Carrie at the gallery. She can be reached by email at cfgnfaa@sbcglobal.net or by telephone at 316/284-2749.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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A Gray Day in Concord, Part 4

July 31st, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Landscape oil painting in progress. Copyright Carrie Lewis, all rights reserved.With the glut of things going on at home, church and work and some potentially interesting developments in other places, as well, progress on A Gray Day in Concord has not been quite as ambitious as I had hoped when I put it on the easel last week.

But there has been progress and, for the most part, I am pleased with it. The painting continues to develop one small step at a time.

Last night, for example, I blocked in the water with a mixture of Cerulean Blue, Quinacridone Magenta and Titanium White, with just a hint of French Ultramarine Blue in the lower corner.

Along the shore, I added some greens for the reflections of trees and grass.

I thought when I put the paint on the canvas that the colors were wrong, but when I looked at it again this morning, the error didn’t seem quite so great.

With so much of the composition now blocked in, I will also be able to make the kinds of general color corrections necessary to prepare the painting for the final phase

I know the grassy hillside is not the right color and I need to add more fall color into the trees. There are also some hints of crimson along the shore. Those adjustments can now be made after the paint dries.

I have also been preparing for the final work on October Skies, which is scheduled to begin next week.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Landscape A Week – Week 5, Part 2

July 30th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

I ended up with just a little bit of studio time at the beginning of the day and a little bit at the end.

In the morning, I worked on Gray Day in Concord. That painting is coming along very nicely. All that remains to block in are the larger trees and the water. Then it’s detail time! I will be posting an update on that pretty soon.

In the evening, I worked on each of the two 4×6 landscapes that were started yesterday. I started them with linseed based oils, so while they weren’t completely dry, they were more dry after one day than the walnut based oils would have been.

I confess to having a headache and some mental bleariness by then (it was after 9 p.m.), so I didn’t want to work on anything ‘important’, either. These two little paintings were the perfect solution!

I began with this one. While the light areas were still quite wet, it was a simple matter to add darks to the trees and work on the water in the areas that were more dry.

In those areas that were still wet, picking up color from yesterday’s work only added to the overall affect of what I was trying to do.

There also isn’t much I can do with the sky, so I left that alone.

When I finished with that, I mixed some more dark green using Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red and Cerulean Blue with some Titanium White and moved to the other mini landscape.

For this one, too, I darkened the trees and filled them out quite a bit. But I also added highlights where I could, once again picking up some of the sky color.

In the water, I added more tree reflections and lightened the area near the far shore.

In the foreground, I used a small sable and slashing (carefully slashing!) horizontal strokes to suggest reflections.

They are both progressing nicely, but I still like the misty one best. The other one is catching up, though. They both still need some work, but it is quite a bit of fun to be able to work on them two days in a row.

Do I hear three?

Finally…

…a little bit of Christmas in July in today’s mail. My copy of The West Point Fitness and Diet Book arrived today. That means I can get started on getting back into shape. I tested out the book by checking it out at the library and liked what I saw (other than that walk/run part of the program).

I decided to buy the book and found an excellent soft cover copy for 99 cents. It could be the best 99 cents I’ve spent recently.

It could also be the most difficult challenge I’ve set for myself lately because it’s going to take a lot more work to achieve the condition I would like to be in than it was when the book was published in 1977!

I’m going to probably even have to diet! Oh no! That was never a factor in The Early Years!

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Landscape A Week – Week 5

July 29th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

Another landscape painting in progress by Carrie Lewis. Copyright the artist, all rights reserved.After much puttering around, self-imposed distractions, odd jobs and busy work, I did finally get around to putting paint on canvas yesterday.

Not much paint and small canvases, but sometimes you have to take what you can get!

I started two miniature landscapes. They both measure 6×4 and are on unstretched Artfix Belgian Linen. They are both also in the running for this week’s Weekly Small Format painting.

The first one is based very loosely on a photograph I took at one of my favorite local landscapes, the low water bridge on Tawakoni Road between Wichita and Newton. The photograph shows the upstream side of the low water bridge at flood stage. The water was like a looking glass and every time I see it on my screen saver, I think “I have to paint that.”

This is my first effort and I admit it has lots of problems. The sky is much too blue. The water is much too blue. The trees are much too light. I don’t particularly care for this one at this stage, but that is a very familiar feeling.

Neal likes it, so I will probably finish it after it dries.

Landscape painting in oil (WIP) by artist Carrie Lewis copyright 2008, all rights reserved.This is the second one and I like this much better. I suppose the gray and moody atmosphere is an accurate reflection of what’s going on inside at the moment.

Or it could be that I simply like the study of atmosphere and light on a hazy day.

This image has no basis in anything but observation. It is no particular place.

As for which one will be finished for this week’s challenge…. I don’t know. At this point, that will depend on how they dry and which one is easier to finish. The misty qualities of the second one would make that the favorite for this week, but it’s impossible to tell.

And there is also the possibility that they will both be finished.

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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10 Easy Ways to Avoid the Studio

July 28th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

I have been struggling with making myself do the things that I should do the last few weeks. Mondays have been especially bad this month and I’m not sure why.

In an effort to ridicule myself out of such non productive behavior, I thought I would list the ways I’ve found to put off doing what I know I should do.

Today, for example:

1. It looks like rain, so wait until you hear thunder, then mow the back yard.

2. While you have the mower warmed up, why not mow the front yard?

3. Hey! That alley is getting a bit out of control, so let’s mow there, too.

4. Those two sickly houseplants really need to be repotted. Let’s do that.

5. Of course, that means mixing up pottng soil and ‘real’ dirt, so we have to do that first.

6. Look at those clay pots! They’re filthy. Time to wash them.

7. Do the laundry (this is a usual Monday job, but today I washed sheets, too; that’s not usual)

8. As long as the sheets are in the washer, let’s flip the mattress, shall we?

9. As long as we’re doing sheets, let’s wash the rugs in the bathroom.

10. Egads! Look at that bathroom floor! Time to mop that, for sure!

This list could go on and on, but I think I’ll stop there. I’m not yet shamed into doing what I should be doing (painting and/or writing), but I’ve at least given myself a good laugh and realize that I’m doing what I used to do when I was in college and had an assignment I didn’t want to do: Everything else I could find!

I think that’s called avoidance.

The best thing I can say is that most of those things on the list were done or at least started before lunch and the rest were done or at least started before 1 p.m. In addition to that, they all were necessary chores. It’s not like I was sitting around reading a good book.

Which reminds me… where’s that Jane Austen book I started last week….

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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Guienne Hanover, Part 1

July 26th, 2008 | Posted in Carrie Lewis

With the portrait of October Skies nearing completion, it’s time to introduce the next portrait.

This is Guienne Hanover (photo by Jeff Coady, Coady Photography). Guienne Hanover is a four-year-old trotting mare, but in 2007, she became the world’s fastest three-year-old trotting filly. On October 20, 2007, she trotted one mile in 1:51.2. The previous track and world record was 1:54 and the North American record for the same distance was 1:52.

She won the Virginia Breeders Elimination at Colonial Downs by 13½ lengths in a wire-to-wire victory in which she simply outran the rest of the field. (You can read all about it here.)

The portrait was purchased at the 2007 Michigan Harness Horseman’s Association benefit auction, but it wasn’t until Guienne Hanover turned in her stunning performance at Colonial Downs that she became the subject of the portrait.

This is a full racing image, as you can see, and includes some things I’ve not painted before…like the tote board in the infield.

Some of the things unnecessary to the composition have been eliminated or de-emphasized in the drawing and will be further reduced in significance for the painting. Utility poles along the backstretch, for example.

But the view I have of Colonial Downs shows a beautiful track setting with tall trees and great atmosphere. Since I will be painting a ‘moment in time’ instead of just a snap shot of a race horse, enough of the details need to be retained to identify the track and the occasion as well as the horse.

The size (proposed at 20×24) and scope of this composition means it will most likely be a two-month project. One of my goals for 2008 was to complete one major painting every month, as well as smaller paintings as able. With the exception of October Skies, which is also a large painting with a complex composition, I have been able to maintain that pace.

But Guienne Hanover has the look and feel of a portrait project that will require at least two months to complete.

But what an exciting challenge!

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.

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