Good News!

We had a lovely time at the art reception last night. Turn out was very good, as were the snacks. And the box of food donations was full to the brim.

But the best news of the night was that my painting Seasons' Reflections (shown in the last post) won second place in the watercolor category. What a nice surprise!

Paint Box Art Club Member Show

Seasons' Reflections

12" x 10" watercolor on paper

Stacy L. Rowan

This post is for anyone within driving distance to the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania. This Tuesday, November 20th is the opening reception for the Paint Box Art Club Member Show. The show is being held in the Nazareth High School Art Gallery in Nazareth, PA. The hours for the reception are 7 - 9pm. Light refreshments will be served. The club will also be collecting non-perishable food donations for the local food pantry.

All visitors are welcome to attend the reception. It is a good time to come to the show, because the artists will be there and the winners of the awards will be announced. So please come join us if you are in town.

Directions to the high school can be found here.

I have two paintings entered in the show. Seasons' Reflections which is shown above, and Sacrifice which can be found in this post with close ups here.

The show runs until December 13th. If you wish to check out the show during school hours, you must enter through the office and sign in on the visitor's log.

The Veil

untitled rose value study (WIP)

Stacy L. Rowan

The gray veil of winter has descended on eastern Pennsylvania. October is full of bright, endlessly blue skies, brilliant red and gold leaves and joyful orange pumpkins. November rolls in and replaces this celebration with a low gray ceiling, misty, rainy days and gutters full of leaves past their prime. Is it any wonder that I just ordered five tubes of colorful watercolor paints? Two oranges, a turquoise blue, a deep gold and a bright yellow. The perfect antidote to gray November days.

Gifts

3" x 2"

watercolor thumbnail
Stacy L. Rowan

Being a mom of young children, I often receive special gifts which they find for me when they are outside playing. I love these gifts and wanted to encourage the gift giving. So I decided to find appropriate vases to display them. This allows us all to enjoy their finds as long as possible.

The painting above shows some of the mini vases that I use expressly for this purpose. They are the perfect size to hold dandelions or clover flowers or grass that has gone to seed. They have also been known to contain fall leaves, flowers that have already fallen off their plants or other treasures that the uninformed might call weeds.

I love that my children are so excited to share nature's beauty with me, and I want them to know I appreciate their thoughtfulness. That's why my collection of mini vases will continue to grow. At least until they grow too old to bring me gifts from the yard.

(I'm working on a title for this. Before writing this post I was thinking about "Signs of Appreciation", but now I'm wondering if "Gifts" isn't better. Anyone want to cast their vote? If so, leave me a comment with the title you like best. Or if you have an even better one, I'm open to that too!)

Meditiation

Work in process

colored pencils on Ampersand Pastelbord

Stacy L. Rowan

Working on pencil drawings can produce a very meditative feeling for me. This is true whether I am working with graphite or colored pencils. Since the drawings build rather slowly and changes are only an eraser stroke away, I find it easy to get "in the zone". I can shut down the rather incessant analytical chatter that normally rambles on in my brain and enjoy the process. I have been appreciating these meditative mediums lately because I find they are a good balance to an otherwise busy schedule.

Graphite drawings are great for investigating and focusing on values. They reinforce the importance of working with the full value range.

Colored pencil drawings are obviously good for learning to work comfortably with color. I am using the drawing above to immerse myself in a subject that is yellow. I've drawn and painted yellow objects before, but still feel it is the most challenging hue for me.

What's in a Name

Lately I have been finding myself with short snippets of time to work on my art, instead of hour long blocks. I have been using these snippets to work on several different projects. I'm finding it fun to jump around and work on the piece that speaks to me in the moment, but it doesn't really give me much to share in terms of progress images.

So instead I will share a little of my process for naming this piece.

watercolor 3" x 2"

Stacy L. Rowan

I have been trying to come up with titles for my watercolor thumbnails because the title "Watercolor Thumbnail 8" is neither informative nor inspiring. However, I was struggling a bit to name this piece and didn't know why. After trying a bunch of different titles in my mind and not liking any of them, I decided that, instead of trying to find a good title, I would try to find out why all of the current titles didn't work. Once I looked at the problem from this angle, I realized that my struggle with a title originated from my feeling that the pear and blueberries shouldn't really be together. This summer I started shopping at a local farmers' market and, as a result, have been learning about harvest times for fruits and vegetables. So I now know that blueberries ripen in summer and pears are a fall fruit. Because of that, in my mind, these fruits don't really go together.

Once I figured out what had me stuck, a title came to mind quite easily... "Untimely Companions." They are untimely companions because if I buy fruit according to the local growing season I wouldn't be able to buy them together. The title gives a nod to a topic (buying local produce) that is becoming more important to me. And I like the touch of humor in it too. Their companionship is also untimely because they are going to be made into fruit salad and devoured! YUM!

If I Weren't a Painter...

...I'd be a tap dancer!!


I love tap - as a spectator or a dancer. It is so much fun! I have taken, all told, about 12 or 13 years of tap lessons since my first class way back in 6th grade. My favorite style of tap is rhythm tap - think Gregory Hines or Savion Glover. It's all about the footwork! I'd really like to start tapping again. I think it would feed my creative side.

In the meantime, I plan to get my fill of tap tonight by going to see a show by the Shelley Oliver Tap Dancers. Here is a fabulous video of one of their performances. WOW! I bet you can't watch the whole thing without some toe tapping of your own.

A Partial Plan

untitled rose value study

Here is another update on my value study for the rose painting. As you can see, I completed the initial shading on the main rose and started working on the rose bud. I decided to flesh out the form on both roses, the leaves and the stems on my first pass. Then I will come back and work on my hierarchy of lights and darks.

As I am working on this, I have realized that I think of this drawing as being tall and thin with the roses standing up (like it is posted here). But it needs to be long and thin, as if the roses are laying flat, to fit the space in my mother-in-laws dining room. Hmmmmm... That part of the plan I am still working on. My current thinking is to finish this drawing, because I like it in it's own right, then do some tweaking in Photoshop for the painting. Or I may try some thumbnails to get a feel for the changes. I'll keep you posted.

Preparing to Paint

value sketch for rose WIP

copyright 2007 Stacy L. Rowan

Tomorrow my art group meets again. In preparation I decided to start a value study for the rose painting. I am using several different references for this painting, so I felt a value study was important. For one thing I need to make sure that the lighting is consistent throughout the piece. Also, I felt it would be easier to work from one reference while painting instead of flipping through a pile of papers to find exactly what I need when I need it. You'd be surprised how quickly a wash can dry when you don't remember if you wanted a soft edge or a hard one!

I could have done a smaller thumbnail sketch to block in basic values, but I chose to make a drawing the same size as my study painting. It can be tricky to get the values correct in the center of a rose where so many petals meet. I find it is easier to work larger when the details are more complicated. The other reason I decided to work larger is that it has been awhile since I did a graphite drawing. I knew I'd enjoy creating a more finished drawing. So I let myself have fun.

I haven't decided yet whether I will work on the background more tomorrow or try to finish up the graphite drawing. Maybe I'll work a little on both.

Art Group Meets Again!

untitled work in progress

watercolor on canvas 5" x 12"

copyright 2007 Stacy L. Rowan

Last Tuesday was a happy day. The group of ladies I paint with met for only the second time since May. We normally meet once a week year round, but our fearless leader, Dana, had hip replacement surgery in the Spring and needed time off to recover.

Painting can often be a solitary activity, so I really look forward to getting together with this group. We give each other critiques, ask for advice on art and life and share some laughs. I also hear a lot about what I have to look forward to in life in the coming years, since I am the youngest in the group by 15 years or so.

Last week I started working on a small painting that is serving as a study for a much larger commission. My mother-in-law wants a very large watercolor of a rose to go in her dining room. After much discussion, I have decided to try painting on watercolor canvas. This will eliminate the need for glass and make the final painting much lighter.

Since I have not worked on watercolor canvas before, I decided it would be a good idea to do a smaller study painting first. This will also help me trial the composition, which is a bit tricky since the painting is to be long and thin.

My initial reaction to the canvas is that it is similar to working on hot press paper. The paint does not sink into surface and is extremely easy to lift off. So far I have put three layers on the background. I had to use a very light touch when adding layers so as not to disturb what was already there. I think it is good that I am not looking for a perfectly smooth background. It will be interesting to see how it is working on the more detailed areas of the rose.

The background right now is almost a coral color, but I will be adding more layers to make it a bright orange-red. After I've put in more work on this piece, I'll come back and give a more detailed opinion of the watercolor canvas.

Pitman Craft Show in Review

I thought I'd give a report of last weekend's craft show. If I had to choose one word to describe the show it would be 'average'.

The weather was beautiful aside from one brief storm that blew up right after we finished setting up. It was like something out of a sit-com. After putting up a tarp loaned to us by our booth neighbor Jerry the pop-gun guy (Thanks Jerry!), we quickly moved the tables and racks to the center of the booth and squeezed ourselves into the corners so we could hold onto the canopy legs. The gusty winds felt like they might lift up the canopy and blow it away despite the attached weights. My husband said I looked like a ship captain manning the sails and trying to keep my ship afloat! The few brave people who showed up early to beat the crowds couldn't even get into our booth! We must have been hysterical to watch.

Ten short minutes later it was all over. By noon the clouds were gone and the sun was shining brightly. And once we moved everything back into place our booth looked great! Unfortunately you'll have to take my word on it because I forgot to take a picture.

The crowds were good and remained pretty consistent through the day. Not many people were carrying bags though and the bags I saw contained smaller items. Our sales followed that trend.

On a more positive note, I had a few people stop by who mentioned that they received my postcard mailer about the show. So I am calling the mailer a success and will be working to expand my mailing list. Also, now that these two shows are over, I should have more time for creating new paintings and drawings. YAY!! In fact I've already started, but you'll have to wait for the next post to find out more.

Pitman Fall Craft Show

Crisp

original watercolor 18" x 14"

copyright 2007 Stacy L. Rowan

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I am participating in the Pitman Fall Craft Show this Saturday from 9am to 4pm. The show is being held on Broadway in the quaint South Jersey town of Pitman.

I am sharing a booth with my Dad and my sister. Our booth is in front of Joe's Barber Shop. Stop in and say "Hi!" if you are in the area. If you're not going to be in the area, maybe you could help out by saying a little prayer for good weather.

Joe's Barber Shop

In past years the easiest place to park was in a lot on Lamb's Road near the intersection of Elm Avenue. From there you could catch a shuttle into town. I'd recommend this since parking in town is at a premium during the show. Hopefully they will have the shuttle service again this year, but I don't know for sure.