Daily Painting "mudhead"

I know very little about the Hawthorne method of painting "mudheads"..but I had a go at what I figured a mudhead might be..here is my mudhead oil on 6 x 8 panel

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My daily painting for today...6 x 8 oil on canvas panel





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Tagged...!

I've been tagged twice...by Dean H and Cathleen Rehfeld.
When you've been tagged your supposed to mention who tagged you, then tell 7 things about yourself...Then you're supposed to tag 7 other defenseless souls. Thanks for tagging me!

1. I have been a painter for only four years..but I was a graphic designer for about 15 years prior.
2. I have owned (and been devoted to) a 1975 blue Triumph Spitfire for 33 years.
3. I grew up in Elgin, Illinois, famous for the manufacturing of the Elgin watch.
4. I visit cemeteries even when I don't "know" the people in them. I love the history and the art of the stones.
5. I am related to this movie actor.
6. I name things..my Triumph is named "Honey" and my basement studio is named "der Bunker"
7. When I was a child I did a monologue play for my entire class...like a wee Will Rogers, but without the lasso.
There! Now I am tagging these people:

Rene' Plein Air
Gretha Lindwood
Bill Sharp
Katherine vanSchoonhoven
John Holland
Maeona Urban
Nancy Van Blaricom

(If I tagged you...The rules of being tagged are:
1. Link to person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules
3. List 6 or 7 unusual things about yourself or quirky but boring, unspectacular details about yourself
4. Tag 6 or 7 other bloggers at the end of your post and comment on their blogs to let them know they've been tagged
(I think if you have been tagged before...you can just pass!...if not...Tag, you're it!)

In honor of Kyle's Dad

I've never done a mid-west painting before..(despite the fact I grew up there and I do have an appreciation for the beauty of the "heartland"). I wanted to do this painting in honor of a young artist's father who died, doing his job as a farmer. I learned about it here.
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Organizing!

Whenever an artist is in an exhibit they need to have their dates organized ahead of time, otherwise they will screw up! It isn't just one date...generally there are a whole batch of times and dates that have to put on the calendar. It goes sort of like this: submission date, delivery date, overall exhibit dates, press release date (if applicable), post card and/or electronic post card date, reception date, pick up at end of show date.
I organize information for my own shows that I am involved in and I also keep track of some things for my plein air group (somebody has to do it). That means I just spent two days "penciling-in" 2009. I'm not complaining! I feel really fortunate to be involved in exhibits. What I have learned (the hard way) is that keeping track of all the forms, dates and rules is really not bad at all. Attitude is everything! It was a bit of a chore to slog through the forms for dates and record them..but now that it is done I can get on with painting without vaguely wondering when things are happening. I have it all on my electronic calendar and my calender is going to email reminders to me. Hooray!

Do I like this...? I don't know

I think I may have gotten the image of this night-time church from the Wet Canvas Image Library a couple of years ago. I print out photos of "appealing subjects" and keep them in a file. Today I came across this and it seemed like a good subject for my daily painting. Half way through it, however, I started feeling like I was working for Hallmark. ha ha. I kept on, however..and I'll just have another look at it in a couple of days.
oil on 11 x 14 masonite
p.s. doesn't it seem like the church and I are looking the same direction? (see my self portrait in the entry directly below)

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Self Portrait

My art group, PPASP, has a portrait project underway. The "assignment" is to paint a portrait of another painter. My partner is Mary L. We are also supposed to paint a portrait of ourselves. I haven't started the portrait of Mary yet..it has been a challenge to find time to get together with her in person. I've read that the reason many artists paint themselves is because the model is always available! Good thing these things aren't supposed to be flattering.
12 x 20 oil on stretched canvas

Oil sketch..made up woman, November 22

Forty five years ago today I was in 8th grade Science class. Our principal came over the P.A. system and told us that the President had been shot in Texas. An hour or so later we learned that the unthinkable had happened and that our movie-star president was gone. Of all the things that ever happened during my lifetime... that was certainly one of the most memorable. Everything changed that day forevermore. Maybe..if I were to paint a final version of this, I would entitle it: "remembering... Camelot"

single tree revisited

Touched up this little tree painting.
Oil on 8 x 8 canvas panel

Near Troutdale, daily painting November 16

This is oil on 6 x 8 canvas panel, painted out of my cigar-box pochade.
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You are invited! November 18, 2008

Please come to our closing reception for the Portland Plein Air & Studio Painters Annual Group show at the Kingstad Gallery. Tuesday, November 18 6 - 8 pm Kitty Wallis will do a pastel portrait demonstration. Free to the Public! See you there. :)

How Now Brown Cow November 15

There have been a lot of cows in daily painting blogs lately. I thought I would paint one too. When I was a girl our back yard backed up to a dairy farm so I got to spend a lot of time looking at them up close and square on. The ones I remember were black and white (Holsteins?) and this one, from a reference ...is probably an Ayrshire (?) I painted it over an old painting that I didn't like. I love to do that!
I went to "I've Been Framed" today to buy canvas panels and to get something framed. Great prices there in their frame shop. I also worked on straightening out my studio. I am about 1/2 of the way done.

Oil on 8 x 8 canvas panel

Tree on the Edge

Well, this was interesting. This is a painting I did several weeks ago. It was weak and muddy and I didn't think it was worth trying to salvage.....but today I looked at it again and thought it had kind of a nice quality despite the problems. I sanded down the painting and put Galkyd lite all over the canvas panel. This method is something I tried a couple times before. I learned about it in Kevin MacPherson's book. The Galkyd makes it so you can feel like you are painting wet into wet ...even though you aren't..you are working on the top of a previous painting. To me...the new version seems significantly improved from before.

Oil on 8 x 8 canvas panel

"Moses"

I went to Hipbone studio today. I did this acrylic sketch of the model....Moses. It turned out pretty dark, but despite that I was satisfied that it was a pretty fair representation of him. 6 x 8 on canvas panel.

Dark creek!

This is my daily painting..I worked from a reference photo. I had to scrape back the creek twice..not dark enough. I really pushed it ...and made it practically black. It has a couple problems here and there...but I think I was rewarded for the bold decision to make the creek so dark.
This is oil on 8 x 8 canvas panel.

I am showing in a new exhibit at Broderick Gallery

(Click to Enlarge)

---Press Release---

NEW EXHIBITION AT BRODERICK GALLERY POINTS TO GREATER THINGS TO COME

November 10, 2008 PORTLAND OR --A new exhibition entitled “Into the Light -- Regional Paintings”, will open on November 11, 2008 at Broderick Gallery, 15800 SW Upper Boones Ferry Road #120, Lake Oswego, OR, and will run through December 15, 2008.

The exhibition offers a variety of subject matter pertaining to regional scenes and concepts that promises to enlighten and inform. Gallery owner George Broderick states “In the years to come, as awareness unfolds, much more international attention will be drawn to art from our matchless geographic region.”

Participating artists are: Roderick Smith, Celeste Bergin, Shawn Demarest, John Oberdorf, George Broderick, David Gibby , Geri Burkhart Weiner, Trudy Jacobs, Ann Van Der Velde, and Stephen Stuart.

Broderick Gallery, 15800 SW Upper Boones Ferry Road #120, Lake Oswego, OR 97035, Tel: 503 684-5511
Gallery Hours Tuesday-Friday 11am – 6:00pm, Saturday 11 – 5 pm

Informal reception....Nov 11 6-8pm

www.broderickgallery.com

The opposite of the vampire guy, daily painting 11/9/08

Remember the wicked looking two-color guy I painted for Halloween? Today I decided to try to paint the antithetis of him...also in two colors (cobalt blue & violet). She seemed to have come out to be rather a saintly looking person...just as I planned! 6 x 12 on stretched canvas

Gallery Hopping Friday Night in Vancouver

It was a great evening of art Friday night in Vancouver...beginning with a visit to Mitch Baird's show at Art on the Boulevard. There were many red dots..who says collectors aren't still collecting!? Well, small wonder there were sales..those paintings are exquisite. Mitch told me that he is going to be teaching classes in his West Linn Studio in the near future. Sign me up!
We also got to visit with plein air artist Mike Rangner who is also showing at Art on the Boulevard. It is always a pleasure to see his fresh landscapes.
Gretha Lindwood and Barbara Szkutnik are showing together at the Aurora Gallery. You must go see their work. Both of them are hitting their stride..that work looked strong! From there we checked into the Sixth Street Gallery where we saw Quin Sweetman in the life drawing/painting show. These three galleries were an easy walk from one another and we saw some glass blowing through a window next to the sixth street gallery too. All and all...a perfect art evening.
Mitch

Quin

Gretha & Barbara

Mike

...hours in front of the computer!

I just spent the whole morning updating my website. Can you go have a look at it?

Over the past few months I have spent more time on this blog than on my website. I've been neglecting it. I know some people put all their imagery onto Flick'r to let Flick'r serve as their online gallery. I have a Flick'r account too! There gets to be just too many places to upload your work. I do think there is value in being able to see many pieces in one place (in a grid/gallery style) . Do you have a website...and do you think it is more or less valuable than your blog?

Thanks for looking at my website (if you will!)
celestebergin.com

Nothing can stop an Idea whose time has come

This is my daily painting and a possible submission to the Kingstad's Peace exhibition. The deadline is Saturday. I have a few other things to submit. There is one more element to be added to this. I have to wait for it to dry.
I am working in a graphic style for submission to the Kingstad "Peace" show. I keep thinking more about the racial warring that
has taken place during my lifetime...(instead of thinking specifically about Iraq, etc)
I have decided to press ahead (graphically!) with my submission. I view this project in more of a "poster" type manner than my usual realist manner. That is what it is to be an artist..to take risks and to put forth ideas that very well might be misunderstood by others. We'll see what happens. :)

Daily painting November 5, Yes, We Can

Obama mentioned the New Deal in his speech last night. I grew up in Illinois looking at the art of the depression..(The WPA, part of the New Deal). My hope is that artists will be able to work regularly again, like the artists of the WPA..that art will become a vital part of everyone's life again, as it once was..and that art will come back into our public schools! Things feel possible again.

Daily painting..snow

Here is an oil painting, 8 x 8 on canvas panel. It is from a photo reference of the Conboy Wildlife refuge. I tried to play up the complementary colors.

November 3 daily painting

During the summer I took a workshop with Mitch Baird. We all painted the red barn (on Sauvie Island). This is from
a photo reference from that weekend. Oil on 8 x 8 canvas panel.

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daily painting..clouds

8 x 10 oil on canvas panel

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Portrait study from a previous drawing, daily painting

I liked putting this woman's face into a strong vertical format. It is oil on 6 x 12 canvas panel

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