A few gallery snaps from the "Small Stuff" show

Don't let anyone tell you that hanging a show for a bunch of small works is an easy task. But after it was all in place, we were very happy with the results, and I'm glad to report that my husband and I are still married. ;-) Here are a few shots from the show, on view now through Jan. 30th: When we were looking at this space for the gallery, one of the first things I noticed was this cute built-in. It's a perfect display for my minis and my new line of watercolor/pen and inks. Here I've decorated it with some lights and mistle toe:

A close-up that shows some of the ornaments--I like the little silver and gold Christmas balls along the bottom shelf:

On the opposite wall are the landscape paintings of Venice and Lake Como:

Close-up shot of the mantlepiece decorated with paintings. To the left of the large Venetian landscape are a series of little square 6x6" Lake Como paintings. Anyone who has read my blog for a while, or my squidoo lens on hanging art must know I'm a fan of grouping big and small paintings together like this. I'd love to do something similar over my fireplace mantle at home.

A small grouping from the next room of some of my more local autumn scenes:

I  guess that's really all I had time for, photography-wise. I may share a few more snaps and I will definitely share more info on some of the individual pieces in the show very soon.

Miniature landscape painting of the Tuscany sunset

This painting sold last night at my gallery exhibition preview, but it's still on view tonight for the First Fridays downtown art walk. It is a companion to another Tuscany painting I blogged about a couple of days ago:

"Lingering Light, Tuscany II" Oil on linen, about 3.5" x 7.75"

If you're doing the downtown art walk tonight in Richmond, come by Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery and see all of the "Small Stuff" -- miniature paintings and prints --on display for the holiday season. The gallery is located at 16 East Main Street between 1st and Foushee.

If you're not in Richmond, I am continually uploading new paintings to my web gallery, or you can see them offered first here, on the blog. I'm also offering free shipping (with some restrictions) until the end of the year, for holiday shopping convenience.

Useful links:

Ideas for hanging "small stuff" How I pack paintings for shipping My purchasing FAQ's My gallery information (and virtual tour)

Video- Tour of Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery

Taking some time over the Thanksgiving holidays to spend with family , so for now I leave you with a little tour of my studio/gallery featuring my last and perhaps one of my favorite shows to date, "Luminosity". The groovy music, by the way is by David Webb.

If you don't see the video player above, clicking this link will take you to the video in a new window.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"The Golden Pair", plein air painting

It was so windy on Friday that painting outside was a real hazard. So I painted in my car, instead! This little vignette is of a scene along Foushee Street, right near my downtown studio in Richmond, VA. 

 

"The Golden Pair" Oil on canvas mounted on hardboard, 5x7"

Painting in the car has its own hazards, I must say. I'm used to stepping back to see my painting from a distance, and there was none of that. It was pretty confining too, so I had to be careful where I was pointing those brushes! But, any way, I guess it beats having my painting and all my gear slamming against the pavement.

This painting is in the "Vignettes" section of my website and may be purchased online. For more info about this piece, please click on the image or contact me!

"Autumn in Bellevue" plein air landscape painting

Today is gray and rainy, but yesterday started out as a spectacular sunny morning. So I took the opportunity to paint this little street scene in my neighborhood:

"Autumn in Bellevue" Oil on Canvas, 7x5"

 I have always admired this cute little yellow bungalo on our evening walks, and it fit right in with the blazing fall colors that lined the intersecting street.  This has to be one of the prettiest falls I've seen in a while in the city of Richmond. Over the next days I hope to paint as many plein air paintings as I can before the wind carries the foliage away.

Please click the image or contact me for more info.

New painting details uploaded to the website

It took me a while but I finally got around to uploading some of the plein air paintings I've blogged about in recent months:

   

Details and purchasing info for these smaller paintings  of the Eastern Shore of Maryland are in my gallery of Mini Paintings, as is the recent little autumn scene. In another section of my website, I've uploaded these two Eastern Shore plein air paintings in my gallery of water-related scenes: 

 

 And finally, I mentioned yesterday that I was considering doing a touch more to the little lavender watercolor. Well, I didn't do much but I couldn't resist a tweak, and you can see the final image in the Vignettes section of my website. As with my other Vignettes, this one  may be purchased online  via Paypal. Update: This painting has sold!

Now that I'm getting caught up, I have some new work to upload...stay tuned!

Thanks to EmptyEasel.com for featuring my landscape paintings!

A few weeks ago, Dan at Empty Easel was kind enough to feature my plein air painting demo on his art site. I'm thankful to him again, because today he's given me a very nice a write up about the latest landscape paintings I've created for my current show  about the luminous landscape. If you have an interest in the arts, do check out his site. He regularly features the works of artists he's reviewed from around the internet, plus he has wonderful tips for art and painting as well as Internet art marketing. If you're an artist, consider submitting your work or an article yourself for a possible feature.

...And if you're in the Richmond area, my show "Luminosity" is still on view until December 1st, so come by my studio/gallery this Friday during the art walk if you can,  or just contact me to visit the gallery at another time.

Do you Squidoo? My new lens on hanging artwork.

According to Wikipedia,

"Squidoo is a network of user-generated lenses --single pages that highlights one person's point of view, recommendations, or expertise."

According to me, it's pretty addictive! I've really been enjoying surfing it, and I've also created a couple of lenses of my own. My most recent lens is: Hanging Artwork and Caring for Your Art Collection. While I've blogged some of this information before, I've included new content on my lens that I hope will be of interest to art lovers and art collectors. I've also just updated my other lens on landscape painting with new content, so check them out! And if you enjoy my lenses, please consider leaving a star rating for them at the top of the screen.

WIP landscape painting complete: Blue Ridge Morning Fog

Due to several days of rain, I had a struggle last week getting a good photo of the painting I shared previously  as a "work in progress" (here and here) . Sunshine has returned! Here is the completed painting of an early morning fog landscape in the Blue Ridge mountains (Nelson County):

"Blue Ridge Morning Fog" Oil on Canvas, 20x24"

Plein air painting; "Falling leaves on Wilmington Ave."

It's been a wet couple of days here in Richmond, so I'm glad I went out eariler in the week to paint some of the autumn colors in my Northside neighborhood. This little fall street scene vignette was done on location not too far from where I live:

"Falling Leaves on Wilmington Avenue" Oil on Canvas, 6x8" Contact me for more info.

For this plein air painting, I set my easel up just in front of a lovely row of blazing orange-red maple trees in front of Ginter Park Baptist Church. The view looks down Wilmington Avenue to the cross-section where it meets Brook Road.

Just at the end of  Wilmingon on Brook sits the suggestion of a neighboring home. All that was visible through the canopy of trees was a bit of hedge, and then beyond that a front door flanked by two columns.

I think these elements give the eye a place to rest. But the main attraction for me was, of course, the color of those leaves and the patterns of morning light and shadow that fell across the road.

Fog landscape painting- Work in Progress (cont'd)

I decided to let the fog painting rest for a day or two to do a little plein air painting, and think about what I wanted to do next with the studio piece. When I came back to it, the surface had "set up" a bit, which made it easier for me to make adjustments to the color temperature. I decided I didn't want to wait to make changes to the overall warmth of the painting, so I jumped right in:    

  

As I'm going along I am restating shapes, doing a kind of push and pull with the foreground and background. I've reintroduced the telephone poles, which right now I rather like. More work to do but it is starting to take shape.

Landscape painting W.I.P. - Still exploring fog

A cold has me moving a little slowly but today I'm painting and I thought I'd share a work in progress of a foggy morning in the Virginia Blue Ridge mountains:    

 

I've started with a pretty simple drawing with a very thin earthy mixture, using both brush and rag to indicate my general composition. In case you can't tell what this is, a fence and a pathway lead down towards the center of interest; a foggy line of trees. What I really like about the composition is the strong lines that draw me into the scene, justaposed by the softness of the hazy atmosphere. I've included some telephone poles and lines in my initial drawing because they were a part of the scene, and I liked how they echoed the other lines on the ground. They may remain...or not. I may also move that path over a little to the left or widen it a bit, but I will know more once I get further along.

For these fog paintings I find it is easier to start with the lightest values of the sky and more distant trees, building darker values as I work my way forward. As I'm going along I'm painting pretty quickly and thickly, testing  and comparing values with a palette knife of color on the canvas, as in the 2nd image. Right now I really want to keep my edges soft, so I'm using a rag quite a bit in this early stage to push paint around, blend edges and make corrections.

For this fog painting, what I have in mind is a scene with somewhat warmer hues than what I've achieved so far. Even though the fog is thick and there is a diffused light rather than a direct light source, the sun was burning through and giving everything a warm hazy glow.

The problem is that warm colors can so quickly jump out and push the distance forward, so I'll need to discover ways to deal with this. I should have a better idea of how to proceed after I block in the foreground.

Art opening tonight: "Luminosity"

I've been scrambling this week to get everything finished for the opening  for my exhibit of new landscape  paintings tonight here at the gallery, and I'm officially pooped. The good news is, the show looks great, and  I can now take few hours to rest before we open up tonight. Come out and see us if you are coming downtown tonight or are doing the First Fridays Richmond art walk! Here are the details for tonights event:

"Luminosity" Art Exhibit at Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery

Richmond, VA –  Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery will feature new paintings of the luminous landscape by Jennifer Young.  The show opens on Friday October 5th, 2007, with a reception from 6 to 8:30  PM. Opening night music provided by Russell Young. The exhibit continues through November 30th.   Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery is located at 16 East Main Street, two blocks east of the Jefferson Hotel. Click here to view a map and get directions from your location. For additional information please contact us!

One more sunset painting; Day's End, Hatteras

This painting was inspired by the recent trip I took to Cape Hatteras, located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The first day we arrived at our cottage, it was quite overcast and gray.  After a 4 1/2 hour drive, we were a little disappointed, but we remained hopeful that the weather forcast would prove to be true and that a clearing would take place by nightfall. I'm happy to say that our hopes were realized. At dusk while we were preparing dinner, one of my friends called out to me, "Come look at this amazing sky!"  I ran out to the balcony to see a procession of dark billowing clouds parading across a magnificent sky that seemed to be painted with sweeping strokes of brilliant color. As we stood gazing at the spectacular view towards the sound, I noted how the backlit beach houses anchored the scene with their simple dark shapes. Here is my rendition of that evening scene:

"Day's End, Hatteras" Oil on Canvas, 24"x30" Click here or on the picture for more info!

Guest posting today

Today I'm posting about my Outer Banks paintings as a guest blogger over at the Queen of the Surf Pirates Blog. It's a fun and informative blog with the latest Outer Banks surfing info, beach news and more, courtesy of Paula Degatto and Sammy the Surf Dog from Nags Head in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Check it out, and thanks Paula for the invitation!

Blue Ridge mountains landscape painting: Lifting Fog II

Here is a painting in my "Southern Landscape" series that I've just completed. This painting shows an early morning Virginia scene of fog rising from the earth on a summer's day. I painted a smaller similar version of this scene some time ago and when I finished that one I knew I wanted to see it on a larger scale:

"Lifting Fog II" Oil on Canvas, 24x36"

I mentioned the other day that these last paintings I've been doing of early evening scenes are lessons in value comparisons. I can say the same for this early morning scene as well. The values are fairly close together in some cases and the value shifts are very subtle, so it can take some doing to differentiate one from another.

 The main thing I do is just to compare, compare, compare. I will mix a big load of color on my palette and dab a bit on the area of canvas that I'm working on, compare that to the other surrounding values before I commit.

Color temperature (warm vs. cool color)  as well as color intensity are other elements that help describe atmospheric perspective in a painting, especially when the values are very close together.

So, for instance, if I want to push a part of the landscape back into the picture plane to add depth, I may cool this area down, gray it down, or use less contrast (or all 3), as I've done with the above lines of trees at varying distances.

By a similar notion, if I want to push a part of the landscape forward I may use more contrast, as well as warmer, more local colors as I did in the twilight painting from my previous post.  Of course, with a blazing sunset in the sky all of this gets a little tricky, but that is part of the fun!

Sunset landscape painting; "Twilight on the Outer Banks"

Fresh off the easel is another landscape painting of my favorite time of day on the Outer Banks. The setting for this painting is again on Ocracoke Island, on a little inlet that has a small beach where you can watch the sun set.

"Twilight on the Outer Banks" Oil on Canvas 24x30" Click here or on the image for more information

I am really enjoying the challenge of these evening paintings. The value ranges are relatively close in most areas of the painting, so I've really had to pay attention to the subtle differences in values and how they relate to one another. I'm still limiting my palette, but depending on what I am painting I vary the palette colors somewhat. I'll write more about what I'm discovering in my next entry.

New coastal sunset landscape painting; "Finale"

Fresh off the easel, this painting is of a spectacular sunset we saw on one of our trips to the Outer Banks of North Carolina this summer. It's Silver Lake Harbor on Ocracoke Island, to be exact. This painting and other recent landscapes will be included in my upcoming show called "Luminosity".

"Finale" Oil on Canvas, 24x36"

I'm calling this piece "Finale" (as in "the grand finale") because, like a finale in a live orchestral performance, sunsets are like nature's final performance of the day. They never fail to dazzle, and yet no two performances are ever exactly the same.

Back from Hatteras & a plein air sunrise

I'm baaaaack. Everything about my Cape Hatteras vacation was perfect (weather, house, food, beach). And for the first time in a long time I took a true vacation, where lounging was required and painting was optional. Even when you do something you love for work, you still need to recharge. All work and no play make for less good work overall, in my opinion. HOWEVER....the sunrises were spectacular and I couldn't resist making at least one attempt at caputuring it en plein air. Here it is:

Hatteras Sunrise Oil on cavas, 6x8"

For more information, please contact me.

Luminous landscape painting: Beneath the Haze

This is a new painting I've done as part of a series of works I am calling the Luminous Landscape. It is of a most unusual evening sky I saw while painting an adjacent view on location on Tilghman Island. It had been an incredibly hazy, humid day, and when I set up to paint en plein air, the sky was covered in a heavy haze. But as the day started approaching sunset, I saw the sun doing its best to burn through that haze. The effect produced a diffused comet-like trail of light across the upper part of the sky, and  a bands of clearing closer down to the horizon. I really enjoyed the abstract qualities of this scene.

"Beneath the Haze" Oil on Canvas 40" x 30"

I painted this larger painting in my studio on a gallery wrapped canvas with a deep 1.5" stretcher with painted edges, so it will be ready to hang without the need of a frame. Here is a side view: