Le Danse Study

Nymph Study, 6 x 6 Inches                         Oil

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Starting Bid $40

I visited Paris in 2009 and came down with an awful virus on our second day there.  Seven days in Paris eating saltine crackers and chicken broth. I was sick as a dog, and my wonderful husband dragged me (at my insistence) to all of the art museums that I had dreamed of visiting.  Every museum twice.  My vision was bleary and my mind was mush and I knew at the time it would be a miracle if I remembered anything I saw at all, so I took hundreds of pictures.  I've been sorting through them recently and found some that I took of the sculpture "La Danse" the Musee d'Orsay. 

One of my photos that I'd like to paint includes a grouping of the dancers' faces.  Here is a monochromatic study of one dancer's face.  I'm picturing the future painting as a study in whites.

Devotion

Devotion, 8 x 10 inch, oil on panel        $240

Every time I look at this scruffy face, I laugh!

Arise

Arise, 6 x 6 inch oil                                              $100

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It was a holy moment to see this great bird rise off the water when I was out walking.  Because everything was so blue, it was a challenge to differentiate the blue shadows on the bird from the blue of the water beneath it.

Me and My Shadow

Me and My Shadow             6x8" oil  $150 unframed

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I'm not sure which delighted me more:  seeing the leaves through the glass or discovering the shadow on the wall!

Gentle Nosegay

  

Gentle Nosegay                          5 x 5 oil on canvas panel

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The palette for this piece was chosen based on Edgar Payne's color exploration of the yellow/purple compliments.  In this painting, I used predominantly purple, with yellow mixed into everything, plus white, orange and blue.  I painted it on a red ground.  This painting has a lovely, gentle feeling to it.

Color Relationships

Predominantly Yellow               Predominantly Purple

After  my inspiring trip to the Edgar Payne exhibit in Tulsa, I returned to the studio and cracked open my Payne book on composition.  The book shows some sample exercises on color relationships, particularly on the use of complementary colors.  The first one I've done is Yellow/Purple.  Both of these small studies use the same colors, but in different proportions.  As you can hopefully see above, the study on the left uses more yellow than purple and the study on the right is the reverse, more purple than yellow.  All of the colors contain yellow and purple, with the addition of some orange, white and green.  I then took the same colors and did a floral using more purple than yellow.  My next post will show the result.

A Reason to Smile

 "A Reason to Smile," 8 x 6 in.          Oil on canvas panel.

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http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/127191

My favorite flowers are the simple ones, daisies, daffodils and tulips.  Year after year they return to brighten the world.  My father had a stroke last week and  I've been at a hospital with my mother for several days.  We're far from home in an unfamiliar city and even though my father will recover with lots of hard work, seeing this daffodil reminded me that there are still plenty of reasons to smile.  I hope this brings a smile to you as well.

Happy Spring,   Julie
(For those of you in the Rockies, spring really will arrive, and if not spring, it will be summer!)

Afternoon Blossoms

Afternoon Blossoms, 6 x 6 oil                   $125 framed

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Continuing to think about simplifying my subject, I painted this with my usual palette:  titanium white, cad lemon yellow, cad yellow pale, cad orange, cad red medium, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue and pthalo blue.

Morning Bouquet

Morning Bouquet, 6x6" oil                                          $125 framed

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My upcoming posts, starting with this one, will all touch on the experimentation I did during my winter hibernation. 

 I greatly admire the small paintings of Lisa Daria Kennedy and so I spent some time exploring how she works.  She has very strong value patterns, highly simplified forms and mixes soft luminous grays.  I've successfully mixed a lot of her colors, but when I sit down to paint in her style, my own habits and inclinations become part of the mix as well (that's a good thing).  I set this little bouquet in my studio one morning and tried to keep her simplification and grays in mind as I painted it.  It definitely produced a much softer feeling.

Starting bid is $40 for the unframed painting.

It's Spring and the Return of ArtWalk!

Chickadee, 8 x 10," oil                                               $390

I seemed to have gone into hibernation this winter. I've spent lots of time studying and experimenting, but with the advent of Spring, I'm excited to take on some new subjects, colors and styles. One of my study activities was taking a 3 day workshop with Lani Vlaanderen on birds. I've enjoyed painting birds before, but really benefited from Lani's instruction on bird anatomy and colors. I highly recommend taking any course from Lani as she's a terrific artist, teacher and person. I painted "Chickadee" above in her class, and am still working on on a barn owl that I began there.

You can see "Chickadee" (above) at Colorado Expressions here in Colorado Springs. They began representing my work in January, and with their downtown location and stable of excellent artists, I'm very excited to work with them. Stop in to see the big, beautiful gallery. If you can't make it during the week, you can also see them during the Downtown's 1st Friday Art Walks. If you happen to be flying out of Colorado Springs in the near future, you can also see my work in the exhibit that Colorado Expressions has installed there.

And speaking of Art Walk, this Friday, April 5th, Old Colorado City's 2013 season begins. I'll be in my studio from 5 to 8 pm and am looking forward to seeing you after all these months!

David in Sunlight

"David in Sunlight,"  6 x 6 in. oil on canvas     $85

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This small bust of David was a gift from an artist friend, Tim Deibler, who consistently challenges me in my artistic growth.  The bust has been sitting on the sill of my studio window for a year now.  It often begged me to paint it when the sun streamed in, but as a new subject for me, I wasn't sure that I was ready to tackle it.  I finally worked up my courage last week!  I'm happy with the results and plan to try it on a larger scale.

2013: The Early Bird

                                     "The Early Bird," 6 x 6 in.   Oil on canvas panel    $85 

  

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For the first time in many years, I took a painting sabbatical to rest my "art muscles" and to enjoy the holidays with my family.  I've been working steadily and with intense focus for several years now, and after the Studio Tour last November, I realized that my brain and my body needed a break.  Last week, I returned to the studio rested and refreshed and have some fun paintings that I'll be sharing with you.  Here's "The Early Bird" that started me off bright and early!

I'd like to remind everyone that there are two ways to purchase my paintings online:  

Buy It Now   or    Click to Bid

1)  The "Buy It Now" price is posted beneath the painting's photo.  You can either contact me by email, or click on "Buy it Now"  to purchase with PayPal.  When you use "Buy It Now,"  you instantly guarantee that the painting is yours.

2)  The majority of my posted paintings are also available by online auction.  The "Click to Bid" link will take you to Daily Paintworks, an online auction site for artists.  The starting bid on my paintings is currently $35 (unless otherwise noted).  Bidding is in $2 increments.  I'm still building my online following, so these auctions are often a great way to obtain my work at below retail prices.  

Please note that once a bid has been placed on a painting, "Buy It Now" is no longer an option and bidding in the auction becomes the only avenue to purchase that painting.

If you'd like to take a look at my Daily Paintworks gallery and investigate my current auctions on the site, click here.  

Enjoy!

Donut Holes

Donut Holes                   5 x 5 inch oil

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No donut painting series can be complete without donut holes...  At first, painting the glaze of icing on these and the other glazed donuts seemed daunting, but when it came down to it was pretty simple.  The secret is to just paint thinly and only in areas where the glaze was thickest.

Purple, With Sprinkles

Purple, With Sprinkles                  5 x 5 inches

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Donut 5 seemed so out of place at the donut counter--all pastel and purply in the midst of the Christmas reds and greens.  All "Island of Misfit Toys" like...I had to claim her!

Boston Creme

Boston Creme                            5 x 5 in., oil

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The Boston Creme.   Chocolate.  Custard.   Need I say more?

I loved painting the warm browns and highlights of the chocolate frosting.

Jelly Donut

Jelly Donut, oil, 5 x 5 inches

Donut number 3 in the series is a jelly donut.  Looks delicious doesn't it?  Well, let me tell you, it tasted even better than it looks!  5 x 5" may seem like an odd size, but both Hobby Lobby and Aaron Brothers sell 5 x 5" frames.

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White Icing

"White Icing," 5x5 inches         oil

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I'm rolling out the donuts starting this week, so be on the look out for your personal favorite!  These will be great gifts for the donut lovers that you know and also look great framed in sets for yourself.  I have a baker's dozen, and today's offering is a classic white iced donut!  Bidding starts at $30, so don't miss out!

Win a Painting!

A Pretty Good Pear       6x6 inch oil                $125

Visit me this weekend on the 10th Annual Pikes Peak Studio Tour and register to win "A Pretty Good Pear."  Tour my home studio and choose from a large selection of my paintings for yourself or for holiday gift giving.  This year, I'm offering just a few 2013 desk calendars for sale.  And don't forget, I have all those donuts I talked about.  First come, first served!

Mostly, I'd just love to see you and chat in my home studio!  Look me up on the map; I'm Studio 14.

For more information on the tour hours, and a map, visit

10th Annual Pikes Peak Studio Tour

If you have any questions, contact me at info@juliekirkland.com

Love to All,  Julie

Old Fashion, Glazed

Old Fashion,  Glazed         6 x 6 inches, oil

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In preparation for the Pikes Peak Studio Tour, I set out to paint some small, very affordable paintings,  5 x 5" in size.  Who knows why, but I decided to start with a donut.  One thing led to another, and I ended up painting a dozen donuts and a cup of coffee.  Powdered sugar, chocolate covered, jelly-filled, sprinkled, boston creme....  They're charming on their own and will be great displayed in groupings.  This Old Fashion Donut I painted expressly to auction on Daily Paintworks, so it is the traditional 6 x 6".  

I'm dying to show you all of them, but am keeping them under wraps for the tour.  Your first chance to see them will be at the First Friday ArtWalk in Old Colorado City.  Did I paint your favorite donut?  Come see on November 2nd.

In hopes of preserving my figure, I'm now turning my attention to painting inedible things...

Cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan                                   9 x 12" Oil  

I've had this photo of my daughter Audrey for two years now, and finally decided to tackle it.  The style's a bit different for me, and I took some liberties with the photo, adding a background, changing her scarf color and dressing her up with some jewelry (including that big rock on her finger).  I had so much fun painting it that I'm planning to do some more portraits in like this if I can find some suitable subjects in my reference photos (or get my daughter to model for me again).