Ahhh....I've been neglecting this blog a bit...

Many things are changing in my life.  And art is not the priority at this time.  But it will soon be, and at the top of the "list." 
I've done a lot of monotype work lately, and continue to show it at the Art Leagues' Gallery as well as in their Bin Gallery.  Unfortunately I forget to photograph it before I frame it, and it never looks decent with a reflection across the front.  One can check out the Art Leagues Flicker site for the latest show.  My current piece is another C & O Canal view.  I can't seem to get the place out of my head!

Moving into Fall

Over the past few weeks, I've been showing a lot of prints.  The submissions for the August "Scapes" show and the September show, both at the  juried Art League Gallery in Old Town Alexandria, were monotypes.  The Sept. show was juried by F. Lenny Campanello, who called my Landscape painting in the 2009 Artomatic, "best landscapes."  The monotypes are, of course (!), landscapes.  The smaller prints (5 x 7) are made with a wonderfully fluid soy based ink that has a deep, rich black.  I've created larger works (7 1/2 x 9 1/2), working in the Discover Graphics studio.  I used a sheer coat of graphite ink and then "paint" in the image with a deep black. It give me layers to carve out a image.  And easy to add texture.  I hope to have some good images soon.  The ones at the Art League Gallery's Flicker site are through glass. 

The image that got into the Washington Printmakers National show, and the August "Scapes" are currently at Kelley's Art and Frame, No. Washington St., Alexandria, until late next week.  



I've been working, in oil, outdoors with Bobbie Pratte.  It's so nice to be outside in lovely cool weather.  Sooooooo many less bugs to content with.

August

I know it's still July, but it's been so hot, it felt like August in June!  
I'm off to Indiana for a plein aire painting week.  Good fellow painters, good food, pleasant lodging, what more can a painter ask for?


I will also be entering work in several other shows, details when I have good news.  Stay cool! 

Busy Summer

May, June and July have gone by swiftly.  Paining at Carderock, and Solomon Island did not produce much.  But they are area I want to explore.  Had work in the Art League Gallery show in June, as well as at Kelley's A&F.  But July had been spent getting ready for several shows.

Washington Studio School Alumni Show.

www.washingtonstudioschool.com

I got 2 small pieces into this juried show that runs from July 7th through August 22nd.  Check out the work, and check out the school.  While I've been painting since high school, WSS is were it really came together.  If you really want to learn to draw and paint, this is the place to be.  Great spaces too.  The works are shown in the Widget below, Sun at Fletcher's (plein aire, 8x10) and Hunting Creek Trees (9-12).

Washington Printmaker's Gallery, National Small Works

www.washingtonprintmakers.com

Just on the off chance, I submitted work for this show and I got in!  And then I found out that only 50 works had been selected out of about 400 works submitted, whoa!  The work is a monotype, 5x7, I made in the Spring.  It's called Hunting Creek, but it's an image I have not completed before.  I liked the way it came out.

I've been so pleased with this set of prints, that I'm taking a workshop with Penny Barringer, of Discover Graphics, for a few weeks.  Different ink and paper so it's been hit & miss so far, but I finally got 2 good images.  But I think I will keep at it for a while as I love the graphic black on soft white images.  And all those ghost to play with!

Orchard Gallery, Bethesda, MD,  Juried Show

 I got a piece selected for this great little gallery in the heart of Bethesda.  A 12x16 version of Autumn Trees that was seen at Artomatic.  The image is also in the Widget below.  I'm so glad I am able to show my work in a whole new area of Metro DC.  The show runs through the whole month of August, and the Gallery is open every evening until 8:00 PM.  There are some interesting restaurants in the area too. 

April has been May with all the flowers.

I've been out in the garden most of this month.  Planting seeds and blubs.  Hopefully we will have enough rain to make it worthwhile.  Once that's done I'll be concentrating on painting outdoors as much as possible.

I'm so pleased that the first time I submit a monotype to the Art League Galley show, it was accepted.  And thrilled that the Juror was Jack Boule, Mr. Monotype himself!  I don't have a image to show, but you can check out the Leagues Gallery Blog.  They usually have a Widget with the shows images.  It a 5x7 inch, Black on White image of part of the C & O Canal up near Great Falls.  I, of course, also have a small oil in the Bin Gallery, Twilight, from the Hunting Creek series.  It has a sky that seem unreal, but I've acturally seen something similar.  My area of Virgina gets some amazing sunsets. 

I put two pieces in Kelley's Art & Frame Gallery April show.  This closes on the 22nd.  As I'm working on another project, I don't think I'll be able to enter the May show. 

April is also the birth month of my Mother, Sister, and Nephew.  Happy B-day all!

March means Spring is almost here!  Planting time!!
Two works, both from the Hunting Creek series, on show at Kelley's Art and Framing, see location below.  Another show has one work from the C & O Canal series, at the Bin Gallery in the Art Leagues Gallery.  This small painting was the beginning of the whole series.  I created it "plein aire" at Fletcher's Boathouse area of the Canal.  The site is on the Potomac by the boat rental area.  I saw the sunlight hitting this small island of bushes through a group of trees.  There is an image on Widget below, Sun at Fletchers.

Feb. 2010 Showings

I have 3 works in a Landscape show at Kelly's Art & Frame.  It's located on No. Washington St., Old Town Alexandria.  I'm showing Canal Boats, 18x18.  Which is from the C & O Canal series at Fetcher's.  An image is below on the left.  Two smaller pieces, 12x16, Up Hunting Creek, and Autumn Trees.  These are from the area South of Old Town in and around the Hunting Creek.  I hope to put work in Kelly's shows on a regular basis.  So if you don't see a work in the Art League's Bin Gallery, check out Kelly's.

New Work for January 2010

Sorry, the image is bad, as the paper needs to be flattened.  This is on gessoed paper, Acrylic, with graphit and watercolor crayon.  The size is 15x18 1/2, to be framed without a mat.  I've called it Riverview, mainly because it's not a place I know.  Although it seems to have elements of other paintings and images I've made.

Beacon Hill sunset in Art League Gallery show

Beacon Hill is in the January 2010 show at the Art League Gallery.

This is another series I've been working on.

New Paintings

Never being satisfied, I always want to find a better way to say what I want.  I've been working with Steve Fleming the past few month in an abstract format.  I've never done abstract before and had felt I really didn't have the right kind of brain make-up to accomplish this kind of work.  But working through some simple exercises Steve showed us, I've been able to push some familar imagery in a different way.  I'm not sure how this is going yet, or even if it's the end result.  Right now there are too many possibilities, so I'm just going to keep at for a while.  Here is some work in progress.  Some of the images are black/white, and some of the color ones are not true.  I'm still trying to understand the camera too.  These are the drawing and then the first and second stage.  I'm not sure it's finished yet.

Another opening, another show...

Canal Boats is now appearing in the 'Scapes show at the Art League Gallery. This is the Leagues annual, prestigious, and juried landscape show.
There is no Bin Gallery show for August. The Art League Gallery is on the main floor of the Torpedo Factory Arts Center on the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria.

Current Shows

I have work in two shows currently.

The Bin Gallery, in the Art Leagues Gallery, Torpedo Factory, Old Town Alexandria, VA, where I am able to show at least one work, on the walls, every month.

I also have two pieces in the Art in City Hall show that opened July 20th, 2009. This is a 7 month juried show, that hangs on the 2nd floor of the Old Town Alexandria, VA, City Hall. Entrance on the 300 block of Cameron St, Monday thru Friday during business hours.

Please leave me a note here, if you stop by to see these paintings. Thanks.

Thank you, Lenny Campello!
"Best Landscape - Kathryn Trillas"

Wow, and here I was wondering if anyone even noticed my work, back in the tight corridor I seemed to have gotten myself into. [7th floor, area 11, near the windows.] It a great feeling to know that someone who worked their way through the whole of AOM, which I haven't even done yet, and I'm there every weekend, called my work "best".

However, I do want to say that there are quite a few wonderful landscape & cityscape painters and artists to be seen at AOM. There is so much good, creative, and interesting work that this experience only makes me want to work more and harder. Push my work in new directions. I can't wait for next year's Artomatic.

This is the last weekend, July 1st through 5th. It's a great view of the 4th of July fireworks, and a great place to enjoy being an American artist! Happy 4th!

Artomatic 2009

Above are some of my paintings showing at Artomatic 2009. They are a series of paintings started in 2007 on site at Fletcher's Boat House on the C&O canal. The paintings shown here were created in 2009, and are the largest of the group.

My work, from Artomatic, is also captured in a video by ArtMedia News. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OXMklRtqBY. My work is about the 11th & 12th image into the video, just after Tim Tate.

Welcome.



I've created this blog to show my work and how I develop my paintings, drawings, and other visual ideas.