Barbara Jaenicke demo

This weekend I'm fortunate to be taking a workshop from artist Barbara Jaenicke, at the Coppini Academy of Art in San Antonio. I absolutely LOVE her landscapes! Click on her name to visit her website!
She first does a thumbnail sketch from her photo, to nail down the basic value patterns, then does an underpainting with pastel washed in with isopropyl alcohol.

These are just a very few of the photos that I took. but she worked so sparingly that most of the pics I took didn't seem to show much progress, but somehow, magically, the painting got finished!

These are the colors she used for the underpainting...

She washed in the underpainting with  isopropyl alcohol.

She tested what colors she would likely use in the painting, and then got right to it!

My painting for today was from a photo taken at my home town Landa Park, and it looks pretty good in my camera, and others in the workshop liked it, but I don't feel like it's done so I'm not going to show it yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Why Paint Small?

Recently I had an inquiry from a blog follower about my work. "Wow beautiful work Rita! I've been following you for quite a while now. Just curious, why do you work on such a small scale?"

I replied:

Hi friend,

My goodness! You asked the best question! I put this off for a day to think of how best to answer it, and also because this is an excellent blog topic for my Art Journal so if I answer it well I can turn it into a post. (multitasking - yea!)


First I'd like to recommend some light reading of 2 of my older posts:

http://ritakirkmanjournal.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-inspires.html

http://ritakirkmanjournal.blogspot.com/2013/01/new-years-resolution-first-do-work.html


These talk a bit about painting frequently, how I started doing cows and painting small. But to specifically answer your question the best way is to make a list. There are so many excellent reasons for painting small that even the list has lists. The reasons spawn more reasons...

1. Small is cheap.
2. Small is fast.
3. Small is small.
4. Small uses less materials so is more economical ("cheap" #1).
5. Because it's more economical you can charge less ("cheap" #2).
6. The low prices attract more buyers.
7. Acquiring more buyers grows your client base, and your email list.
8. You can connect with your new clients on FB and potentially attract all of their friends.
9. Because small paintings cost less, some clients buy several at a time.
10. Some of the small-buying clients will also like to buy your large work.
11. Because small is fast, they take less of your valuable time, so are more economical ("cheap #1). Etc, etc.
12. Because small is small, mistakes are less stressful.
13. Because small is fast, mistakes are quicker to fix.
14. Because small is fast, failed paintings are easier to shrug off, and quicker to learn from.
15. Because small is fast, you can paint more of them.
16. The more you paint, the better you get!! (This should be Number ONE!!)
17. As your work improves, more people like it and want to buy it.
18. (And because the small ones are cheap, they can!)
19. As your work improves, failed paintings are less frequent.
20. Many art-buyers have no room on their walls for large work.
21. Many buyers (at fairs and galleries) are traveling and want something they can carry.
22. The more you paint, the more paintings you have.
23. The more paintings you have, the more frequently you can post on social media.
24. The more paintings you have, the more paintings you can sell.
25. Painting small makes it easier to paint every day.
26. Painting small is addictive.

All of the items on this list are true and from my own experience. None are made up or borrowed from anyone else, but you might hear other artists have the same advice because they've learned it too!

I could keep adding on to some of these - especially about the social media! But that one might need it's own post...

Let me know if this is helpful! ;)

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Studio - Then and Now

Way back in March of 2009, I started my first blog. it was called Rita Kirkman's Art Journal, but it wasn't this one. In June of 2011, I had been into the 'Daily Painting' movement for five months, after taking a Carol Marine workshop, and had decided to limit my blog to daily paintings. So I changed the name of my blog to Rita Kirkman's Daily Paintings, and created a new blog with the name Rita Kirkman's Art Journal that would host all the other stuff besides Daily Paintings.

Well, what I'm leading up to is that my very first post on my first blog was some photos of my studio-in-progress:

Here was the pic of my future studio from that post. (More info on the post here.)

Well, 4 years later, I've been reluctant to post photos of the studio, because I have yet to arrange everything to my ultimate satisfaction. I began working in the building in 2012, long before everything was completed.

Here's a shot from move-in week in 2012:

Here's a shot from last week:

This is a panoramic image that shows all four of the walls of my studio; I was standing in the doorway when I took the shots. Along the left wall, I plan to have some french hanging system to hang finished, framed artwork. (Meanwhile, there's a b*#load of stuff just leaning against the wall..) Along the right wall, I have some molding converted to short shelves for unframed work. Here's a better shot:

This is NOT what it looks like today. There's even more clutter along the baseboard and every inch of shelving is filled! But then, I am in the midst of preparing for 2 art fairs and a solo show.

Here's a close-up of where I do my work:

Darn it, this is also an old shot. I know I have more recent shots, but just can't find them! Aarrg! Fie on technology! Well, it looks pretty much the same, but I've been working on larger stuff lately.

Thanks for reading! Please share!

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