The Future Looks Bright

 I don't usually create paintings that reflect my mood, but I think this painting does it for me. Do you know when life gets complicated, but by the end of the day you've figured things out. This is what this painting reflects, the distant road has opened up and I can see things clearly.

Arlene's Artist Materials SOS

                                  

Arlene's Artist Materials, Inc @followers Sending out an SOS!

Basically, we need your help. It has been a tough couple of years for us and we’re trying to keep our head above water. But between rising costs, schools dropping art programs or closing entirely, and stiff online competition, it’s been very difficult to stay afloat. So, we are reaching out to our art community. We have been serving the Capital Region (and beyond) for over 60 years now and would love to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. We also understand that it’s convenient to shop online, but the next time you need art supplies please consider coming to see us instead! We offer great everyday discounts and have the widest selection of art supplies in the area and a knowledgeable and friendly staff. We sincerely appreciate all the support you’ve given us over the years, but we still need all the help we can get.

I was just there today to buy oil painting supplies. Arlene's is an institution and it would be a great loss to the capital region if it closed!

Edgar Payne's Composition of Outdoor Painting

 

Edgar Payne's Composition of Outdoor Painting. This book has been recommended in artists' blogs I've been reading. It comes highly recommended, is beautifully bound and has lots of helpful illustrations. My goal is to read it this winter and feel more comfortable with landscape painting. Below this is my first attempt at a forest scene.

Evening Sailors Study

 Evening Sailor Study 8 x 10 inch oil on Ampersand panel. I thought I’d continue working on landscapes with the online courses by Debra Huse. I liked her clouds and colors. This is my continuing attempt.

Happy Cows Cigar Box

 
 

So much fun painting on cigar box lids. I've learned a lot about shapes and colors of varied skies, clouds and colors of simplified backgrounds and foregrounds. 

Clouds and Lake

I've been working on painting clouds within a landscape. Previously clouds were just a slash of white across the sky.  I'm getting the hang of large cumulus clouds. I'm happy with this composition. According to John Carlson, the sky is the key to the landscape and it's the most fun for me. An object helps draw the eye into the scene. Today it's a canoe with a sail.

Large Still Life on Yellow Cloth

I've finished this larger painting and I'll be framing it today. My technique is that I paint one object at a time putting down the color and leaving it. If it doesn't work, I scrape it off and mix a new color on my palette. I don't go over the stroke with more paint if I can. Here's my philosophy, "Painting is like golf, the fewer the strokes the better." I plan on putting this painting in the Stockade Villager's Outdoor Art Show this September.

 

 

Cloudscape

 Cloudscape 9 x 12 inch oil on canvas paper. I thought I’d try something new, an online course with Debra Huse. 

I liked her clouds and colors. This is my attempt. #landscapepainting #debrahuse #painting #oil #oilpainting #contemporaryart #robinrosenthalart

The Landscape Painter's Workbook

Looking for an interesting book to read this summer, then I suggest The Landscape Painter's Workbook by Mitchell Albala.  I'm a still life painter, but I like reading about all types of art. This book explains some art terms that always interested me. Albala added beautiful paintings that demonstrate those terms. This is a book I'm happy to add to my book collection.

Who painted this portrait?

 I'm not a portrait painter, but I'm lucky to know one. Who painted this portrait? It's Trudi Smith and what a nice surprise to have been presented with this. Trudi is a wonderful portrait painter, but you won't find her work online. Nowadays, she keeps to herself. 

                                                     

Art for the Win

 

A great evening on Friday the 7th at

Art for the Win show (Gallery5Schenectady)

200 Harborside Drive, Schenectady, NY

The show is only open for a couple more hours today June 9th.

I’m pleased to have had the opportunity to participate:)

Amber Vase on Blue Plate with Three Lemons

 My painting was accepted into the Cooperstown Art Association Galleries. I'm looking forward to the reception this Friday evening from 5 to 7. I submitted this painting because there are interesting colors in the jar and also there are shadows and color temperature throughout. Color temperature is complex and I enjoyed painting it.   

33RD ANNUAL REGIONAL JURIED ART EXHIBIT ESSENTIAL ART

MAY 17 - JUNE 26

HOURS TUESDAY - SATURDAY 11AM - 4PM

 

Here's a new piece of studio equipment, Glassboard White Paint Palette. I'm excited to have a bigger surface to mix my paints on. It is easier to clean and more environmentally friendly than working on a paper palette.

 

Mother's Day 2024

 This image was created using AI by my son James and daughter-in-law Shu-Ying Chung. I'm here in my studio with their cat Mikko during a painting session. What a fun Mother's Day gift.

Flowers from my daughter Samantha.

What a surprisingly nice Mother's Day.

Partly Overcast Sky

 My husband and I would walk this path once a week on afternoons during our vacation. It was pleasant and the clouds were always interesting. I think they were alto-cumulus. Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting says these "clouds occur when when the upper air moves in greater swiftness than the lower....inclined away from the point-of-wind, almost as if the upper part of the clouds were tumbling forward" and "are usually of cold color: dark steel gray against a wan lemon-yellow sky." My sky was light to darker blue. Painting is a way of remembering vacation days.

 

Oakroom Artist show at the Cooperstown Art Association Gallery

Thank you Oakroom Artists and the Cooperstown Art Association for putting together a beautiful Show. Everyone's work looked great and we had a large turnout at the opening reception. This event is free and open to the public.

    The show runs April 12th - May 8th

    Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday  11am to 4 pm

    The show is located in the Town Hall - 22 Main St. Cooperstown, NY

The Oakroom Artists & Meet Me In My Flower Garden Show at the Cooperstown Art Association Gallery

I'm pleased to announce I'll be participating in this prestigious Cooperstown Art Show featuring approximately 28 Oakroom Artists. I'll be contributing four art works to this large show.

Reception:

On Display: April 12 - May 8
Opening Reception: Friday, April 12, from 5-7pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday from 11am-4pm

22 Main St, Cooperstown, NY, United States, New York 13326

This event is free and open to the public.  I hope to see you there.

Windy Day Landscape

I've always been fascinated by landscapes, especially skies. I like those artists who simplify their compositions and create gradations of blues in the skies from dark blue higher up and lighter blue near the horizon, and also many values of grays in the clouds. I hope to find a sense of spontaneity in my landscape and a feeling of wanting to take a deep breath when viewing at my painting.

Blue Orchids, Green Vase and Silver Tray

 I went to a flower arranging class and here's a peek of part the arrangement.  I was overwhelmed by all the flowers and colors, and I needed to simplify the still life if I was to paint it.

What I kept was and what remained were the Dendrobium Blue Orchids. I paired them with a new green vase I got from the thrift and a silver tray I purchased at Michaels. 

I wasn't sure I'd post it since it seemed a little busy to me, but I said what the heck, I'll do it and move on.

Rubber Plant in Clear Glass with Plates, Yellow Pitcher and Silver Bowl

Rubber Plant in Clear Glass with Plates, Pitcher and Silver Bowl 10 x 10 in. oil on gessoed panel #oil#oilpainting#brushstrokes #painting #still life #allaprima #colorful #paintingfromlife#impressionistic#rubberplant#yellowpitcher #silverbowl#orangecloth #contemporaryart#robinrosenthalart

Violet Vase on Blue Plate and Silver Bowl

 I recently purchased this cut glass violet flower vase at the thrift and wondered why someone would get rid of it. It was so pretty in the light. It was fun to paint and lovely to look at. I'm happy with the outcome.

My New Year's resolution is to begin to draw regularly in addition to painting.

Most Viewed 2023

  These are some of my most viewed images from 2023.

Thank you for a wonderful year and best wishes for a Happy New Year.

Working on Wet-into-Wet Painting Techniques

  When using wet-into-wet painting techniques or alla prima, the edges are softer and the colors blend nicely. It's great if you are short on time or don't want to overwork your painting.  I wanted to thank Karen O'Neil from the Woodstock School of Art for her online painting demos of glass that inspired me to create these and other works.

Green Glass, Silver Bowl and Plum

I was invited to a friend's garage sale last weekend. She had items like this fun little silver plated bowl. I can always count on garage sales to get my creative juices flowing.

 

Getting back into the swing - Study in Pink

 On the heels of a success like winning the 1st place award at the Stockade Art Show, a period of good productivity and a busy life, I almost fell into a painting funk! At times like these, I like to try something new like warm-up exercises. The goal isn't to produce a great painting or to change my style, but it's to help get back into the swing of things.

This time I reread Sarah Sedwick's book Dynamic Still Life for Artists. I really enjoyed it and many of her explanations applied true. So after putting together a still life, I did a drawing, a value study in black and white oils with 5 values plus white, and then did her alla prima technique in three steps, an underpainting, pre-mixing my colors and lastly applying the paint. I changed a couple of things, I'm not one for creating an underpainting but I liked to premix my colors.

My goal was to create momentum, to get started painting, relax and have fun.

Gallery 5 Pop-Up Art Show in downtown Schenectady

 

I'm excited to announce I'll be participating in the 2nd Gallery 5 Show, Fall For Art, in downtown Schenectady from Oct. 27 through 29th. I hope you can come and check it out.

A Great Day at the 72nd Annual Stockade Villagers' Outdoor Art Show 2023

The weather turned out sunny and warm for the 72nd Stockade Villagers' Outdoor Art Show. My full display and the 1st Place Award for my painting Focal Point. It couldn't have been a nicer day! Thank you to my husband for all his help, Gary for co-judging the Oakroom Artist award and my friend Gail for stopping by to support me.

72nd Annual Stockade Villagers' Outdoor Art Show 2023

 

A great outdoor art show and sale in Schenectady’s Historic Stockade neighborhood.

Saturday September 9th 2023 10am-4pm  (rain date Sunday Sept 10th noon-4pm)

It will soon be that time of year again for the Stockade Villagers' Outdoor Art Show. 

My favorite art show of the year.

There'll be lots of wonderful art and friendly people.

If you get the chance,  stop by and say hello. I'll be exhibiting my oil paintings.

I'm also excited to be judging the Gilliland - Weinheimer Oakroom Artists' Award.

Good luck to everybody.

Mountain Gallery Oakroom Artist Show

I'm pleased to have two paintings in this gallery show.

Hope to see you there.

Reception:

This Friday August 18th from 6pm to 8pm for the opening of SHOW VI: Oakroom Artists at LARAC's Mountain Gallery. The show runs through September 20.

 

This event is free and open to the public. All purchases made by LARAC members on opening night will receive a 15% discount (5% for non-members).

Address:

LARAC Mountain Gallery, 21, Bay street Glens Galls, NY 12801

I Discovered A New Online Framing Company

 I've discovered a new online frame company called WebPictureFrames.com.  It's a frame outlet and gallery located in Eugene, Oregon. I've learned from their website they've been around a while. I purchased this floating frame for my new painting and it came today. Perfectly packed and beautifully made. I recommend them and the price was really reasonable, so I feel compelled to highlight them. Here are some images.

My painting was placed but not attached to the frame yet.