From 2007 - "Two Flamingos"

"Two Flamingos", Acrylic on canvas, 6" x 4"

While I'm on vacation, I've scheduled some blog postings from my animal series in watercolors in 2007. Here's "Two Flamingos", a little experiment in acrylic on canvas. I liked how the flamingos seemed to be so comfortable with each other, like an old married couple. Enjoy! And please come back next week!

From 2007 - "Seven Pelicans"

"Seven Pelicans", Watercolor, 11" x 15", Sold

Thanks for visiting! While I'm on vacation in Australia, I've scheduled some blog postings from my animal series of watercolor paintings created in 2007.

Here's "Seven Pelicans". This painting was inspired by a photo I took on a family vacation in Mexico. We were enjoying a quiet morning on the beach, and a bunch of pelicans landed on a nearby fishing boat. They looked so contented and peaceful, which is just how we were feeling at that moment, so I snapped some photos.

Back in the studio, I found a photo I liked, cropped it, changed the contrast to suit my purposes, and got to work with watercolors and paper. I like to use colors creatively, as you may have noticed from this painting. The pelicans were actually brown, not purple as shown above.

Now "Seven Pelicans" is beautifully framed and hanging on a wall in Switzerland.

Gone Fishing . . .

"Fishing" (detail), Watercolor, 2007

G'day, mates. My family and I decided (on fairly short notice) to head off to Australia for a vacation for a few weeks! So I'm gone fishing. Well, really I'm gone vacationing and painting.

I'm taking my paints and canvas panels, and plan to paint lots of Australian-inspired landscapes and abstract landscapes. We'll be traveling to remote locations (like the Outback), which means I may not be able to post any work along the way. Instead, I've scheduled blog postings of my previous watercolors, one each week, in the hopes that you'll keep visiting!

The painting above, "Fishing" is a watercolor completed a few years ago of my beautiful niece Kirsten. She's fishing in a little pond at my parents vacation summer home in New York. I took some photos of her there, and then painted this when I got back to my home in California. Now the original is hanging in my brother's home in New Jersey.

Thanks so much for visiting and for all your comments and support. Hope your summer's starting out to be a fun one.

Please come back next week to check out the next installment from my watercolor series!

1st Place - "Lakeside Play"

"Lakeside Play", Oil on canvas, 16"x20", Available

June 13, 2009 update: "Lakeside Play" won 1st place in the Los Gatos Art Assocation peer group judging contest today. Thank you, fellow artists, for your votes and for your support!!!

Previous blog posting for "Lakeside Play": This is the latest in my series of oil paintings that depict people who are totally absorbed in what they are doing. This little boy was playing quietly on his own for a long time at the side of the lake, just checking out what was under the water, and throwing some pebbles every now and again. For those of you who have met my sons, you might recognize that the "model" for this painting is my younger son Erik.

In the art world, this is called a 'figurative' painting, and 'people' are called 'figures'. 'Figurative' painting differs from portrait painting in that it includes most or all of a person's body. In a portrait painting, the face is the main attraction, although a portrait may include some of the body as well.

Thanks for visiting! I'm signing off now, and heading back to the studio for some more figurative painting.

2009 Artfest in the Park

My painting "Shopping" (Blue Ribbon winner) and me at the 2009 Artfest in the Park

Hi there! Thanks to all my friends (old and new) who came to visit the 2009 Artfest in the Park in Mountain View, CA last Saturday. It was a fine sunny day, warm but not too hot, in a beautiful, grassy park, filled with art lovers (but not too crowded). What a perfect combination!

Many thanks also to Marian and Ned Gault, Catherine Rodriguez, and all the other event organizers who worked tirelessly to make this event successful. Jeff Owen from the Los Gatos Art Assocation also gets a big thank you for gathering a large group of unruly artists and organizing us and our artwork into a professionally presented booth. And thanks to Jeannie Kahwajy, the always-smiling friend who sent me this photo!

"City Lights"

"City Lights", Oil on canvas, 24" x 36", Available

Hi friends. When I painted "City Glow" for my demonstration at the Fine Arts League of Cupertino, one of the members (I believe it was Rajiv Khilnani), suggested that I take the idea and go bigger. Thanks for your suggestion! The result is "City Lights", which is about 3 times larger than "City Glow". In both paintings, I wanted to give a feeling of excitement, something so compelling that viewers would want to immediately jump into the city and explore it. What do you think?

Friendly reminder . . . if you live locally, please stop by and see me (and 100+ other artists) at the 2009 Artfest in the Park on Saturday June 6 in Mountain View. Click here for details.
Hope to see you there!!

Blue Ribbon Award of Excellence - "Shopping"

"Shopping", Oil on canvas, 36"x18", Sold

May 26 update - I'm reposting this painting, "Shopping", because it just won a Blue Ribbon "Award of Excellence" at the upcoming 2009 Artfest in the Park in Mountain View, CA. Woooeeee! That made my day. The juror (judge) was Dale Laitinen, a nationally known artist who paints in watercolors and oils.

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, please come visit us at the 2009 Artfest in the Park on Saturday June 6, 2009, 10am-6pm at Pioneer Park in Mountain View (behind the Center for Performing Arts). There will be lots of great art at reasonable prices. You can enjoy a stroll through the park and meet the artists. Over 100 of us will be there. I'll be at the booth with the Los Gatos Art Association. Click here for details. Hope to see you there!!

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Previous blog posts:

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January 10 update - Today this painting won 1st place in the Los Gatos Art Association peer group judging! Fifty artists voted on 17 pieces of art (mostly paintings), and "Shopping" got the most votes. That felt nice!

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"Shopping" is a new painting in my People in Action series. This painting was inspired by a 3-week trip I took to China over 10 years ago to see the ethnic minorities in the Yunnan province, and by a photo taken by an excellent photographer named Veronique Gillard. Veronique is also a close friend. Thank you Veronique!

The woman in this painting is part of an ethnic group that lives in both China and Vietnam. The group is called "Red Yao" in China and "Red Dao" in Vietnam. She was dressed for a normal shopping trip to the market. I find her clothing amazing! She just purchased some beads, which are in a bag in her hands, and she is looking for the next stop on her shopping trip.

I also thought this woman's face was gorgeous. There were lots of reasons to paint her. So here she is, in oil on canvas, waiting to be hung on a wall in my home or yours . . .

"City Glow"

"City Glow", Oil on canvas, 16" x 20", Available

Hi friends. I was invited by the Fine Arts League of Cupertino to give a palette knife painting demo last Monday night. It was my first painting demonstration in front of a large group. Thirty or more people were present, and we all had great fun! In about 1.5 hours, I created the initial painting, and then took it home and finished it. The completed version is shown above.

I want to thank Tamar Assaf of FALC who invited me to do this demo, Marion Kumar of FALC for taking photos during the demo and sharing them with me, and all the FALC members present on Monday, who were so very friendly and supportive.

1st place - "Dreaming"

"Dreaming", Oil painting on gallery-wrap canvas, 20" x 16"

Hi there. I'm re posting this image of "Dreaming", as yesterday it won a 1st place award at the Los Gatos Art Association's peer group judging contest. The judges were the 30-40 association members who were present at the meeting. To them, I say 'thank you'!

Also, Happy Mother's Day to all you hard-working moms out there. Being a mom is not an easy job, and your children may not know enough (yet) to thank you, so I will. Thank you!!

And thanks go especially to my own Mom, who is an amazing artist and who is so very supportive of me and my art endeavors. Thank you for everything you've done for me, Mom.

"A Vast Similitude"

"A Vast Similitude", Oil on canvas, 40" x 30", Available

Welcome back! "A Vast Similitude" is the left painting of a two-piece painting (diptych). This painting was inspired by Walt Whitman's poem "On the Beach Alone at Night", which I absolutely love, and will quote here:

On the beach at night alone,
As the old mother sways her to and fro singing her husky song,
As I watch the bright stars shining, I think a thought of the clef of the universes and of the future.

A vast similitude interlocks all,
All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,
All distances of place however wide,
All distances of time, all inanimate forms,
All souls, all living bodies though they be ever so different, or in different worlds,
All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes, the fishes, the brutes,
All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages,
All identities that have existed or may exist on this globe, or any globe,
All lives and deaths, all of the past, present, future,
This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann'd,
And shall forever span them and compactly hold and enclose them.


Wow.


When I originally read this poem, I needed to look up the word 'similitude'. It's defined as "a visible likeness" and "an imaginative comparison". To hear how it's pronounced, click here.

I've created a few paintings inspired by this poem, and think I'll keep going and create a series. Please stay tuned for more . . .

Have a great weekend!

P.S. If you live locally, please come see my demo in Cupertino on Monday May 11 at 7pm. Details are in the posting below. Hope to see you there!

Please Come See My Painting Demo

On Monday May 11 at 7pm, I'll be giving a palette knife painting demonstration at the Fine Arts League of Cupertino. The event is open to the public. Details are below.

The Fine Arts League of Cupertino is a very friendly group of artists. If you live locally, please come. I'd love to see you there!!!

May 11 , 2009 / 7:00pm

Fine Arts League of Cupertino General Meeting,

Creekside Park, 10455 Miller Avenue, Cupertino

Open to the public. Guests welcome.

Holly Van Hart - Demonstration of the Palette Knife Technique

Holly Van Hart is an award winning artist who especially loves painting with a palette knife. Holly's passion is creating landscape, figurative and abstract oil paintings that reflect the beauty and complexity of life. She has the ability to capture nature, with a palette knife, from realism to abstraction. Holly will demonstrate her palette knife technique using oil paints and her favorite oil painting mediums.

"Orange and White Sparks"

"Orange and White Sparks", Multi-media on canvas, 24"x 18", Sold

Hi friends. Abstract paintings with reds and oranges seem to be my favorite these days. Here's the latest, "Orange and White Sparks".

My other abstract paintings were done with oil paints. This one was created with many media - watercolor, acrylic, collage, and oil - roughly in that order. This painting has lots of texture, which you can see when you click on the image. Some of the texture comes from the acrylic painting and collage underneath, and some comes from the oil painting on top. Most of the 'sparks' were painted with oil paint on top of the underlying texture. It was great fun to paint. I hope it's also fun to look at.

Thanks for visiting!

"Happy City (Left)"

"Happy City (Left)", Oil on canvas, 36" x 24", Available

This painting completes the "Happy City" triptych. The other two paintings in this triptych are below.

I designed them to work together, and also to hang independently of each other. My critique group liked them, which always makes me feel good. These paintings are big (each canvas is 2 feet by 3 feet) and I like to think they look more impressive in person than when you're viewing the tiny digital images on your computer screen. Anyway, please feel free to visit me in my studio, and tell me what you think!

"Happy City (Middle")

"Happy City (Middle)", Oil on canvas, 36" x 24", Available

Hello friends. Here's installment 2 of the Happy City triptych. This is the middle painting of the three. The previous posting was the rightmost painting. They will go together like this:

Middle and right paintings of the "Happy City" triptych

Please come back soon to check out the third (left) and final painting in this triptych.

"Passion for Painting" Award!

Thanks to Nava Attia-Benoit, I have been awarded the "Passion for Painting" award! Thank you Nava. I feel very honored!

Nava and I share a passion for painting. And a passion for blogging. I especially love reading Nava's Unchain My Art blog, in which she shares with us all the ups, downs and arounds associated with growing as an artist.

Nava and I participate in a monthly painting critique group (along with 7 very talented and fun artists), so I get to see her incredible work every month. She creates dramatic paintings of people, mostly faces, and mostly watercolor, and now some really cool acrylics too.

Thank you Nava, for the "Passion for Painting" award, for your excellent advice in our critique group, and for your friendship!

"Happy City (Right)"

"Happy City (Right)", Oil on canvas, 24" x 36", Available

"Happy City" is one painting of a triptych (which is 3 paintings that will hang together). The other two paintings will be posted soon. There's a surprise in how they will be hung. Please come back to check it out!

1st place - "Red Dao Face"

"Red Dao Face", Oil on canvas, 40" x 30", Available

Hi Friends. I'm reposting "Red Dao Face" (which you may have seen before) to share some good news with you. At the March meeting of the Los Gatos Art Association, this painting was awarded 1st place in the peer judging contest. The judges were the 40 or so association members who were present at the meeting. To them, I say 'thank you'!

About "Red Dao Face": I was so taken with the face of the woman in "Shopping" that I painted "Red Dao Face" right afterwards. To keep it loose, I mostly used a palette knife as my painting tool. You can click on the painting to make it larger and see the texture.

This work is my largest yet - 40" high by 30" wide - which makes it HUGE for a painting of a face. Now we just need to find a spot on our wall (a big one) to hang it on!

Which do you like better - "Shopping" or "Red Dao Face"? All comments are welcome.

"Splendor"

"Splendor", Oil on canvas, 20" x 24", Sold

Hello friends! Thanks for checking out my latest abstract landscape painting, "Splendor". I wanted lots of texture in this one, so I used a thick acrylic underpainting with browns and reds, and then piled lots of oil paint on top. Where I wanted the red acrylic underpainting to show through, I scraped the oil paint off with a palette knife; you can see hints of that throughout the painting. (You can click on it for a larger image.)

I also wanted a nice deep yellow glow. To get the right color, I mixed yellow paint with it's complement, purple, and then added a little red and white. Sounds like a strange combination but it did what I wanted it to!

Some lines from a Walt Whitman poem are etched into the paint on the lower right side - "Splendor of ended day, floating and filling me". That's where this painting gets its title.

Enjoy!

"Orange Glow"

"Orange Glow", Acrylic on canvas, 20" x 24", Available

I was in a happy mood when I painted "Orange Glow". I was at a meeting of the Fine Arts League of Cupertino, where we were offered the opportunity to try Atelier Interactive Acrylic paints. These paints have a long 'open time' similar to oils (or so it was claimed) and I was excited about testing them. ('Open time' means the length of time that the paints are still wet and you can change them and blend them. Oils have a very long open time, sometimes days, which is a feature that I love; traditional acrylics dry within minutes.) It was just announced that I had won the artist of the month award for "You Too I Welcome", and after that was it time to paint with the Interactive Acrylics.


We were allowed to use as much paint as we wanted (fun!) so I put some big globs of orange, yellow, green, black, and gorgeous pinkish purplish paints on my palette, took out my canvas and palette knife, and got started. I loved the colors and was pleasantly surprised by blendability (open time) of the Interactive Acrylics. I painted most of "Orange Glow" at the meeting, and then went home and finished it the next morning.


The colors in this painting are, for me, very happy ones. What do you think?

"Love Your Art Blog" Award

Wow, I feel so honored. Peggy Stermer-Cox, an artist that I admire for her amazing creativity and drawing skills, has awarded me the "Love Your Art Blog Award". Thanks very much Peggy!!!

I invite you to visit Peggy's wonderful blog, http://peggy.stermer-cox.com/, and see (among other things) her Kitty series of abstract drawings. At last count, Peggy was up to 32 variations on this theme! Not only does Peggy create wonderful art, she also shares insights into her creative process. For all these reasons, I am a big fan of Peggy's blog.

Thanks again for this honor, Peggy!!!

1st place - "You Too I Welcome"

"You too I welcome", Oil on canvas, 24" x 30", Available

One night at a painting critique meeting, fellow artist Belinda Lima showed us some wonderful paintings in her Guitar Series. I was awed and inspired by her gorgeous deep reds and yellows, and the next day got to work on this abstract landscape using similar colors.

It's titled "You too I welcome". This phrase is part of a poem by Walt Whitman that I etched into the deep red painting in the bottom left of the painting. The lines read, "You too I welcome, and fully, the same as the rest. You too I sing with joy."

At the February meeting of the Fine Arts League of Cupertino, this painting was awarded 1st place in the Artist of the Month contest. The judges were the 30-40 FALC members who were there at the meeting. To them, I say 'thank you'!

"Quiet Morning"

"Quiet Morning", Oil on canvas, 18" x 24", Available

This painting, "Quiet Morning" was inspired by a photo taken in Vietnam by my friend Veronique Gillard. Thanks Veronique! I've spent a lot of time in Asia, both for pleasure and business, and when I saw the photo it struck a chord. I loved the sense of quiet, and the sense of depth created by the receding mountains.

Most of "Quiet Morning" was painted with my favorite palette knife, with a brush used for some of the smaller details.

Did I capture the sense of quiet of the lone boater?

"Coastal Poem"

"Coastal Poem", Oil on canvas, 12" x 36", Available

Here's a new painting in my landscape series, "Coastal Poem". This was inspired by a gorgeous sunset I saw on a recent weekend away with my girlfriends to a little town north of San Francisco.

If you look closely you can see some text written into the oil paint on the left hand side of the painting. (You can click on the image to see it in more detail.) This text is a few lines from a Walt Whitman poem that captured the essence of our weekend trip. It reads as follows, "The beautiful sister dances on with the rest, With the fascinations of youth, And the equal fascinations of age."

What do you think?

(In case you're wondering, Walt Whitman's poems are in the public domain; this means I can use them freely in my work without infringing any copyrights. Many thanks to Walt for his absolutely amazing work!!!)

"Blue Moon"

"Blue Moon", Mixed Media on canvas, 24"x30", Available

Hello again!

"Blue Moon" is part of my abstract landscape series. I wanted a moody night-time painting with interesting texture.

Unlike most of my other paintings, this is a mixed media work. I created an underpainting in acrylic and string (yes string!). If you click on the image for a close-up view, you can see a strong S-shape starting in the center of the painting, and another curved line coming up and over the moon. That's the string. There's also acrylic medium in the underpainting with some lines etched into it with a comb. You can see the lines under the moon (in the close-up view). On top of all that are oil paints (the blues and darks and lights).

The string was an experiment for me, and this painting took a few iterations to get right. In earlier iterations, it felt like I was fighting the curved shape of the string, and I wished I never put it in there. I stored the painting away for a while, and later took it out for another go. Then, for whatever reason, everything flowed easily.

My mother and sister visited us recently from their homes in New York. They each took at tour of my studio (independently), and both chose this painting as one they especially liked. What do you think? All comments are welcome!

Thanks so much for your interest and support, and please visit again soon!

"On Art" Newsletter - "Go Figure"

Hello!

To keep in touch with friends (art friends and other friends, old friends and new friends), I publish a short, fun "On Art" newsletter by email every few months.

This issue, "Go Figure", is about the passions that drive great figurative paintings (paintings of people), including examples from Munch, Degas, and Nieman. Please click here - Issue 4: Go Figure - to take a look.

If you'd like to subscribe, click here.

Here are the previous issues -

Issue 3: Art and Feelings

Issue 2: The Art of the Kiss

Issue 1: Auguste Rodin

Thanks so much for your interest, and happy reading!

"Swim (Bike Run)"

"Swim (Bike Run)", Oil on canvas, 24"x18", Available

Hello, and happy new year!!!

"Swim (Bike Run)" is an abstracted version of an earlier painting called "619". I liked the earlier painting, but not enough to stop there, hence this new version. With "619" my intention was to make it painterly (that is, to have visible and energetic brushstrokes and/or streaks of paint), which I thought would help show the action of the triathletes. But somehow the earlier painting came out more realistic than intended.

With "Swim (Bike Run)" I wasn't going to let my realistic instincts take over. So my primary tool for this painting was a medium-size palette knife. I had recently completed "So Many Worlds", and decided to use a similar technique for this painting. I sketched out the figures and background in charcoal and then went over the lines with a dark paint. Then, armed with the palette knife, huge piles of paint and Weber Res-n-Gel medium, I set to work applying the paint.

Two days later I finished it. After it dried, I asked for a critique from my painting friends. They made some excellent suggestions, which I incorporated, and this is the result.

There was one question about the slanted horizon line. I thought it contributed to the feeling of movement and action. What do you think?

Thanks for visiting, and best wishes for an amazing 2009!

"Autumn Poem"

"Autumn Poem", Oil on canvas, 24"x30", Available

I want to wish all of you a very happy holiday!!! Thanks so much for your visits and comments and support in 2008. I look forward to even more fun together in 2009!

Here's an abstract painting I created a couple of months ago, in autumn. For the first time, I incorporated a poem into a painting. Hence the name "Autumn Poem". If you can't already tell, the poem is written on the right side of the painting. The painting was created in oil, and the poem was written into the thick oil paint with charcoal. (You can click on the image to enlarge it and see this better.) My artist friends really liked this one. Under the influence of their opinion, I like it too. What do you think? I want to know!

These days I'm painting two different series - people in action, and abstracts - both using oil paints on canvas. (A "series" is a group of paintings that have many common characteristics, for example, subject matter, medium, style, and/or colors.)

Sometimes it feels like painting people is harder than abstracts. And it can be, because our eyes are so sensitive to correct facial and body proportions, body positions, etc. But abstracts are also very demanding, albeit in a different way. As an artist, if I'm not relying on some 'real' object or person as the source material, then I need to make up a whole painting in my head, and have it convey the right mood, and have it conform to lots of important design criteria too. So, sometimes it feels like painting abstracts is harder than painting people.

Painting people (also called 'figures') and painting abstracts is all great fun and I love it! Someday I may combine the two to create what some folks call "Figurative Abstracts".

Thanks again for your visit, and stay tuned for more . . .

"So Many Worlds"

"So Many Worlds", Oil on canvas, 24"x32", Available

Back to abstracts again! Here's a new painting called "So Many Worlds". When I started this painting, I was aiming to create something with a happy optimistic feeling, that was primarily yellow, with beautiful greens, blues and purples, using a circle design, and a dark band at the bottom. And of course it was supposed to conform to all or almost all of the design criteria I learned from my art instructors over the years.

I started with a blank canvas and a piece of charcoal. I sketched out the circles and a line at the bottom in charcoal, and squeezed the paints out of the tubes onto my palette. Then I picked up my palette knife, and started applying paint to the canvas.

When the painting was well underway, it came to resemble worlds and planets. I thought of my children (boys, ages 4 and 6) and the lives they have ahead of them. They will have so many opportunities, so many "worlds" to seek out and explore (figuratively and maybe literally too). I decided to name it "So Many Worlds", and carved these words into the thick oil paint. If you click on the image, you can enlarge it and you should be able to make out some of the letters and or words near the boat shaped image with the 3 circles.

This painting has lots of texture, and when you see it in person, the paint glows. Viewing it on a computer screen just isn't the same. To give the paint that glow, I used a "medium" (something that you mix into the paint) called Res-n-gel by Weber. According to Weber, the gel makes colors more transparent and "adds brilliant gloss". I agree!

What do you think? Please leave me a comment. If you want to see the painting in person (and check out that special glow you can't see on the screen) please email me and stop by!

Olive Hyde Art Gallery, "Mother and Child"

"Mother and Child", Watercolor on paper, 8" x 10"

Three of my watercolor paintings (including "Mother and Child") are currently on display at the Olive Hyde Art Gallery in Fremont, CA. This weekend (December 5-7) is the gallery's annual holiday gala and show, with a huge selection of quality fine art and handcrafts for sale. It's the perfect place to buy beautiful and unique holiday gifts at attractive prices. If you live locally, it's definitely worth checking out. Click here for details. Hope to see you there!

"College Soccer"

"College Soccer", Oil on canvas, 16"x20", Available

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My husband, two boys and I had a delicious meal with some very good friends in their new home near Santa Cruz (a coastal town about an hour's drive from where we live). Thank you Larry and Kim!

And thanks very much to all of you for your support and encouragement on this blog. It means more to me than you may ever know.

Continuing with my 'people in action' series . . . here's "College Soccer". This painting shows three college soccer players caught up in the moment and totally engrossed in their game. It also shows some other team members and spectators absorbed in the action, and aims to give a feeling for the excitement of the game.

For source material for this painting, I went to the Stanford vs Oregon State game recently (at Stanford) and took over 200 photos of the game. Although neither Stanford nor Oregon scored any goals in this game, it was full of amazing action and exciting plays.

I was hoping that one of those photos would be perfect (all by itself) to use as source material for a painting. Well, it didn't turn out that way. To get the design I was looking for (including exciting action, with a few players, and some team-mates and on-lookers in the background, and parts of the wooded campus in the background), I needed to piece together a few photos. It was more than a few, actually. This painting is based on five different photos.

Given that Stanford is my alma mater, I wanted to show off Stanford (in the white) to best advantage. But the best of my photos had Oregon State (in orange) looking like they are in control the ball. Reds and oranges are some of my favorite colors to paint, so perhaps the team colors swayed my choice in this case.

In any case, I hope you enjoy the painting!

"619"

"619", Oil on canvas, 16"x20", Available

Hi there. Here's a new oil painting in my series of people in action. It's a scene from a swim/bike/run triathlon; the athletes are leaving the water and will quickly get themselves ready for biking. I wanted to convey the energy, focus, and excitement of these athletes at this moment. Did it work?

Also, can you see why it's titled "619"? (To find the answer to this question, it might help to click on the image and see a larger version.)

Painting people ("figures") is very demanding because our eyes our so sensitive to facial and body proportions, body positions, etc. But it sure is fun. Especially (for this painting) capturing all those muscles.

I'm working on some other paintings in this 'people in action' series, and also some abstract paintings, and will post another new painting after Thanksgiving.

Hope you have a wonderful turkey-day! Thanks for visiting, and please come back again soon.

"Beyond the Trees"

"Beyond the Trees", Acrylic on canvas, 16"x20", Available

Hi there, and thanks for visiting!

The itch to do an abstract painting got me again, and here's the latest, "Beyond the Trees", in autumn colors.

I used acrylic paints for this piece, and did an underpainting of the whole canvas in a gold color (a new color for me). When the underpainting was dry, I painted this piece "alla prima" (in one painting session). Acrylic paints dry very fast, which means I had to work very fast to get the look I wanted before the paint dried. This piece has some thick paint in places, called "impasto". An oil painting with impasto might take weeks to dry, but this acrylic painting dried overnight. (Oil paintings can take weeks to dry to the touch, and a full year to dry thoroughly.)

Tiny bits of the gold underpainting show through in many places, and help pull the piece together. My husband, who rarely comments on my paintings one way or the other, told me (unsolicited) that he liked this one. That was nice!

"Playing Soccer"

"Playing Soccer", Oil on canvas, 12"x36", Available

"Playing Soccer" is part of a new series I'm working on with people in action, especially people who are really wrapped up in the moment, such as these 6 year old boys playing soccer.

This long format (one foot high and three feet wide) is also something new for me. I chose it because I wanted to show the action of all these players on the field. I worked from photo references, and had to put a few photos together to make the composition work.

My husband coaches one of these soccer teams. He really tries to impress on the boys that the most important things are to 'play your best' and 'have fun' (versus winning). For this reason, he doesn't keep score during the games. Also for this reason, I chose to make this painting monochrome. In actuality, this was a game in action, not just a practice, and the players on each team were wearing their team colors (light blue and green).

To reinforce the action in the game, I painted "Playing Soccer" a little looser than my normal style. I was aiming to show the energy of all those boys on the field, and didn't want to get too wrapped up in the details of their faces.

It was fun to paint and I hope you enjoy viewing it!

"Hiking Out"

"Hiking Out", Oil on canvas, 16" x 20", Available

Thanks for checking in! Here's my latest painting, "Hiking Out". It's a representational painting, which means that the subject of the painting is something you can identify. In this case, the subject is a small dinghy sailboat with a man and a child leaning back to counter the force of the wind. The boy is actually sitting out of the boat, using toestraps to keep from falling out; this is called hiking out. That's a description of what you see in this painting. What the painting is really about is the fun and excitement that these two sailors are experiencing in the moment depicted.

This is part of a new series I'm working on with people in action, especially people who are really wrapped up in the moment (such as these two sailors).

Thanks again for visiting, and please stay tuned for more!

"Orange Sky"

"Orange Sky", Oil on canvas, 20" x 24", Sold

Hi friends. Here's "Orange Sky", a new abstract painting completed this week.

Some people love abstract paintings and some people don't. Some people buy these abstracts, others send me fan mail for these abstracts, and others politely suggest I should not publish them for the world to see. In any case, as you might guess, I like painting abstracts and like sharing them with you. I particularly like abstracts with lots of red and orange, including this one, Fiery Lines, Red Sweep, and Red Knot.

This painting actually started as a predominantly green abstract painting, and I didn't like the result. I painted this fiery orange sky over it, and then fell in love. (All artists fall in love with their subjects and/or their paintings. If artists didn't have this passion, then art wouldn't happen!) Some of the original green shows through in this painting, which makes the red and orange glow even more.

Hope you like this painting too. Whether you do or don't, please let me know by leaving some comments on this blog.

I'm also working on some more 'representational' paintings (paintings of things that you can easily recognize). I'm trying something new . . . paintings of people in action. When they're ready I'll post them here too.

"On Art" Newsletter, Art and Feelings

Hi again.

To keep in touch with friends (art friends and other friends, old friends and new friends), I publish a short, fun "On Art" newsletter by email every few months. This month's topic is "Art and Feelings". Some people say the best art enables you to feel the emotions of the artist as he or she was creating that piece of art.

Coming from an ex-engineer (which I am), this seems like a very touchy-feely subject. But now that I am an artist and no longer in high-tech, I can write about these things and share them with you. How fun!

Please click here to see the newsletter - Issue 3: Art and Feelings. To subscribe, please send me an email (holly@hollyvanhart.com).

Thanks, and happy reading!
Holly

Previous issues:
Issue 2: The Art of the Kiss
Issue 1: Auguste Rodin

Award at the Menlo Art League 2008 Annual Exhibit!

Hi friends. Thought I'd pass along some good news . . . my painting "The Kiss" was just awarded 3rd prize for oils in the Menlo Art League's 2008 Annual Exhibit. The juror (judge) was George Rivera, Executive Director of the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, CA.

Please come on over and see the exhibit. It's at the Menlo Park Library, 800 Alma Street, Menlo Park, CA, Oct 5-31, 2008 Wed-Sun, 12-4pm. The reception is Sunday October 5 from 2-4 p.m.

"Having Fun"

"Having Fun", Oil on canvas, 20" x 16" x 2.4", Available

Hi everyone. The economy is going crazy (in a not-so-good way) and maybe I am too (in a good way, I hope). Here's my latest painting, "Having Fun".

When I finish a painting, I often let it rest out of sight for a week or two, and then take it out with a fresh eye and make some improvements. Then I get some feedback from a few artists I trust, improve the painting some more, and then (if I think it passes muster) post it to this blog.

"Having Fun" is more fresh off the easel. It has benefited from some insightful comments from my artist friends, but it hasn't gone through the usual "let it rest out of sight" period.

For me, this painting feels like a bit of an antidote to what's going on out there in the financial world, so I'm going ahead and posting it anyway. What do you think?

"City Flow" Painting

"City Flow", Oil on canvas (shown in frame), 20" x 24", Available

Here's the next painting in my Cityscape series, "City Flow". Similar to the oil sketch of the same name (below), this painting is meant to be energetic and fun, and to capture the movement and diversity of a large city. What do you think, does it?

"City Flow" Sketch

"City Flow", 9" x 12", Oil sketch on canvas board

Here's a small oil sketch that's part of my Cityscape series. As some of you know, I was raised in New York City, and as an adult traveled to many major cities in Europe, Asia and the US. I'm inspired by all my experiences with these cities and my feelings about them. The abstract paintings in this Cityscape series come mostly from my imagination, with occasional references to photographs from my travels.

"City Flow" (above) is meant to be energetic and fun, and to express the movement and diversity in a large city. It is a sketch, which is usually created as preparation for a larger painting, but when framed can also make a nice little piece of artwork in its own right.

"Red Squares"

"Red Squares", 20" x 24", Oil on canvas (shown in frame), Available

As you can see, I'm getting back into my abstract paintings. And I'm excited about it!

"Red Squares" is part of my Cityscape series. This painting is an exploration of color (mainly red and blue/green) and shape (squares), and is meant to portray a very lively yet mysterious mood.

I started this painting with a vertical orientation, and when I was about 3/4 done, found that I liked it better horizontal (as shown above).

One of the really fun parts about painting abstracts is that you have so much freedom. In fact, you have the freedom to do anything at all. For most of my abstracts, I aim to stay within some of the design parameters taught by my painting instructors. For example, three important design parameters are - a painting should have a center of interest, it should have a dominant color, and it should have an interesting pattern of light and dark shapes. (There are many many more.) But other than that, it's just you, your canvas, your brushes, your paints, and your creativity.

I hope it doesn't sound easy, because it's not! In fact, painting abstracts can be harder than painting realistically. When painting realistically, at least you have a subject or photo to 'copy' from, instead of having to make it all up in your head.

I recently hung "Red Squares" in our living room at home. Some guests were visiting and told me it was their favorite of my abstracts (of the paintings that were hanging up). Do you have a favorite? Please let me know!

"Fire and Ice"

"Fire and Ice", Oil painting on gallery-wrap canvas, 18" x 18", Available

I've been working on some new paintings in my abstract series and here's the latest - "Fire and Ice". It's on an 18" square canvas, and shown here hung on the diagonal. You're seeing it against a black background on your computer screen; the painting itself doesn't have black triangles on each corner.

I haven't done many works (yet) on a square canvas. With non-representational abstract paintings (paintings that are not meant to look like anything in particular), you can hang them in any direction. With rectangular canvases, this gives you 4 choices. With square paintings, you can also hang them on a diagonal and get 4 additional choices!

With some of my abstract paintings, I decide how I want to orient them before ever touching the canvas with paint. With others, I decide mid-way through the painting or even at the very end. With "Fire and Ice", I designed the painting for this orientation.

What do you think? (You can click on the image to see it in more detail.) As always, all comments are welcome.

"Ladyscape"

"Ladyscape", Oil painting on gallery-wrap canvas, 30" x 24", Available

Hello again, friends.

Here's "Ladyscape", the latest in my Rodin series of oil paintings. I created her in my studio over the last few weeks, after having taken many photos and done some pencil sketches at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. From this angle, the curves of her body reminded me of the rolling hills nearby (which I love). And I was irresistibly drawn to the way the light fell on her in the late afternoon and made all those gorgeous reflections and shadows.

I also like the mystery created by this unusual angle . . . who is this lady? what is she doing? what is her mood? The fun part is that you, the viewer, can interpret this painting whichever way you wish. Please let me know what you think! There are never any wrong answers.

"Hand/Hip"

"Hand/Hip", Oil painting on gallery-wrap canvas, 20" x 16", Sold

Hi again. Hope y'all are having a fabulous summer!

Anytime I get to paint is a fabulous time for me. Here is my latest painting, "Hand/Hip". Like my painting "The Kiss" (below), it is also inspired by Auguste Rodin's sculpture called "The Kiss". In the sculpture, I like the way his hand is just about to touch her hip. I also like the rhythm of reflections on their bodies and especially on her back. I aimed to capture (or even dial up) these elements in this painting.

In paintings of people, our eyes are typically drawn straight to the people's faces. The design of this painting is unusual (with the faces so close to the edge, and out of focus) because I wanted a clear focus on his hand and her hip. What do you think, my friends, how well is this design working?

Like many of the paintings in my Rodin series, the dominant color of this painting is red, the color of life. When the paint is squeezed fresh from the paint tube, it is bright red. To create the deep red you see in this painting, the bright red paint is mixed with bright green paint. For an artist, mixing paints is loads of fun. When I first studied color mixing, the idea of mixing red with green (to create a darker red) seemed very bizarre. For the moment, it's my favorite color combination.

In closing, if you've read this far you may also be interested reading in my latest newsletter, which is titled "The Art of the Kiss". It's not about the art of kissing, which I'll gladly let someone else cover. It's about art depicting a kiss, which is apparently a very popular subject in art. Click here to take a look.

"Jacques de Wissant"

"Jacques de Wissant", Oil on gallery-wrap canvas, 20" x 16", Available

Thanks for stopping by. This is "Jacques de Wissant", next in my series of oil paintings inspired by the sculptures of Auguste Rodin; Jacques one of the six Burghers of Calais.

What captivates me about Rodin's sculptures and what I love to express in this series of paintings is the contrast between human strength and weakness. In this case, the Burghers of Calais were in a very weak position (living in a city under siege by the English, and in which many people are starving), yet they had the emotional strength to surrender to the enemy king in order to spare their fellow Calaisians. By surrendering, the Burghers thought they would be executed. In the end, luckily, they were fed and clothed and their lives were spared.

I revisited Rodin's Burghers of Calais at Stanford a few weeks ago, and spent lots of time studying the six of them from many angles. I had already painted Andrieu d'Andres and this time I was inspired by Jacques. I like this viewpoint of Jacques because it shows the strength of his hand and arm, and because of the dramatic foreshortening (see how large his left hand looks compared to his head?), the interesting shapes in his head and right hand, the exciting diagonals of his robe, the sky reflections on his body and robe, and the mystery as to what he his holding in his left hand (it's a key to the city of Calais).

To date, I have two other oil paintings in this series ("The Kiss" and "The Thinker"), and six watercolor paintings.

As always, I'm interested in your comments . . .

"The Thinker"

"The Thinker", Oil on canvas, 30" x 24", Sold

Here's the next painting in my Rodin series, "The Thinker". Rodin once commented that The Thinker was not only a thinker and dreamer but also a creator, which is (I believe) how Rodin viewed himself. Rodin actually had himself buried under a cast of The Thinker, which tells us how strongly he connected with this sculpture.

What I like about the angle of this image is how it emphasizes the man's hand. In order to create things, you not only have to think, you also have to take action (symbolized by the large hand). I also like how this angle shows off the rotunda of the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, where a large casting of The Thinker is installed.

The sculpture of The Thinker is made of bronze. In my Rodin series paintings, I like to use variations of the color red, which is the color of life.

As an aside, medical experts think the model for the Thinker was between 40 and 45 years old. This was also Rodin's age at the time his sculpted this work, and my age at the time I painted it.

What do you 'think'?

Arte y Pico Award!!

This blog was just honored with the Arte y Pico Award (for creative and interesting art blogs)!

Nava (a fellow artist with an engaging blog called "Unchain My Art") has just awarded this blog the Arte y Pico award. Arte y Pico was created by Ana in Uruguay. What does Art y Pico mean? As Ana puts it, "Basically, ironically, it translates into a wonderful phrase in Mexico, 'lo maximo'. It will never find its counterpart in English, but if it HAD to, it would be something like, Wow. The Best Art. Over the top".

I'm greatly honored that Nava chose me for this award, especially considering the caliber of the other artists she selected - Myrna Wacknov, Sandy Maudlin, Nathalie with an H, Rhonda Carpenter, Bill Jones and Lisa Towers. Thank you Nava!

Here are the rules of the award:
- Pick FIVE blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
- Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
- Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
- Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award which is here: Arte y Pico.

And here are five of my favorite artist bloggers that I'm passing the award along to (in no particular order):

Mike Bailey, who is a master at painting design and who shares his design advice freely

Qiang Huang, a daily painter whose design and brushwork regularly take my breath away

Karin Jurick, a self-described paintaholic who (among many other things) has an awesome series of oil paintings of people admiring artwork in museums

Todd Bonita, an ex-chainsaw sculptor (!) who now creates beautiful oil paintings

Ed Terpening, who has an engaging blog about plein air painting, and even more engaging plein air paintings

Dear awarded artists, please go forward and spread the Arte y Pico award!

"Two Left Hands"

"Two Left Hands", Watercolor on paper, 15" x 11"

I'd like to share some good news. Today I was notified that "Two Left Hands" was selected as one of 50 finalists in the 2008 University Art Open competition. The University Art store says they had a "tremendous" response to the competition, which makes me even more excited that this painting was chosen as a finalist. They selected the finalists based on digital images, and will view the actual artwork to select the winners later this summer.

"Two Left Hands" is a watercolor painting in my Rodin series. It was inspired by Rodin's "Three Shades" sculpture. In this painting I aimed to show the tremendous strength of the hands and arms, and to allow plenty of room for personal interpretation. What are these hands reaching for? Why are there two left hands? Are they collaborating or competing?

I chose to paint these hands in red (the color of life and of blood), and as I painted them it somehow felt that I was breathing new life into them.

I'm still working on my new painting in this series, Adam, and have also started The Thinker (both in oil). I'll post them both here when I'm happy with them, which I hope is sooner rather later, but I never know for sure!

"The Kiss" - Rated PG for nudity

"The Kiss", Oil on canvas, 16" x 12" x 1.4", Sold

Last year I painted a series in watercolor inspired by Auguste Rodin's sculptures, which was (creatively) called my Rodin series. A painting in this series, "Andrieu", even won a prize at the 2007 Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society annual show. I feel such a deep connection with Rodin's sculptures, and always knew I would continue with this series. And now I am back at it, with great enthusiasm, and this time in oil.

Above is my new painting "The Kiss", inspired by the sculpture of the same name in the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. Rodin's sculpture was created in 1880, during the time he had an affair with Camille Claudel and created numerous sculptures of passionate couples. "The Kiss" was Rodin's most censored work - in England in 1913 it had to be draped with a sheet, and in Japan in 1924, bamboo screens were placed around it. Aren't you glad those days are gone! (In much of the world, at least.)

Today I took this painting to the Los Gatos Art Association for our monthly peer judging, and am happy to report it came in third. This was the second time I tried the peer group judging, and the first time a painting of mine placed in the top three. It made for a happy Saturday.

Comments?

"Red Knot"

"Red Knot", Oil on wood, 12" x 12" x 1.25", Sold

Here's my latest abstract painting in red, "Red Knot". I wanted to paint the feeling of togetherness. The red lines represent (in my mind) people, and the center of interest is the overlapping red lines in the upper left.


This is the first oil painting I've done on wood. I liked the smooth feel of the wood (compared to the roughness of canvas). To give the painting extra texture and contrast, I used a thick, light yellow underpainting. I applied the underpainting with a brush, and then used my fingers to create lines and knots in the paint. (Click on the painting above to see this detail.) After the underpainting dried, I created "Red Knot" with red, green, and blue oil paints, lettting the yellow underpainting show through in the center of interest in the upper left. To make the red lines glow, I brushed on red paint and then rubbed some of it off with a rag so you can see the yellow underpainting underneath.


The wood panel for this painting came with a built-in frame, 1.25" deep. The frame is painted with the same deep red you see in the painting itself.


I had great fun painting it. You tell me . . . is it also fun to look at?