Inspiring figures.

Continuing on the theme of women painter-related activities and exhibitions (from yesterday's post), I want to give props to the women who are exhibiting in The Butler Institute of American Art's "Inspiring Figures" exhibition, a project of the Cecilia Beaux Forum of the Portrait Society of America. One of the exhibiting artists is the Philadelphia area's own Alexandra Tyng, who will also be in the "Women Painting Women" exhibition and on the painting expedition in South Carolina this fall. Below is the painting Alex has in the "Inspiring Figures" exhibition, and this link will take you to her recap of the opening reception for the exhibition which she posted on her blog; her blog's main page is http://alexandratyng.blogspot.com, take a look!

Claude and Pamela Frank, oil on linen, 52" x 48" by artist Alexandra Tyng.

The women who are Women Painting Women.

It occurred to me the other day that I haven't yet fully explained Part Deux of the Women Painting Women exhibition events this November in Charleston, South Carolina. I'm very, very much looking forward to the exhibition at Robert Lange Studios of more than 50 amazing artists from around the country and abroad... but I'm also really very much looking forward to our very first "Women Painting Women" painting expedition on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina (just northeast of Charleston itself). A dozen of us - all artists also showing at the Robert Lange Studios show - will be gathering for a week of plein air and figurative painting. Yay! And I realized this picture from last week in NYC outside of Kelley and Ping includes 1/3 of our posse...

Left to right: Alia El-Bermani, Alexandra Tyng, Sadie Valeri, and Diane Feissel - photo by Garth Herrick.

It's going to be a great time, we've got a great group! The rest of our dynamic dozen, not pictured above, include the following artists: Catherine Prescott, Cindy Procious, Katherine Stone, Linda Tracey Brandon, Lisa Gloria, Mia Bergeron, Rachel Constantine, and Stefani Tewes.

Sorolla + Sadie.

Had a lovely day yesterday checking out some art in NYC!

Friends and fellow Women Painting Women contributors Sadie Valeri and Alia El-Bermani and I checked out the Hispanic Society of America, where the Sorolla murals of life in Spain have recently been re-installed. The pictures I took came out terribly, as usual – but I'll throw one or two out here just to give you a sample:

These murals and their re-installation were the motivation for the trip to the Society, but the building itself in addition to the rest of the (small-ish) permanent collection definitely had significant appeal:

A gorgeous Diego Velázquez painting, poorly photographed by me (sorry)

A painting of, not by, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres…

Sadie and Alia on the second floor

Afterwards we went down to Soho for the opening of Arcadia Fine Arts' Small Works Show - Sadie had a beautiful piece in the show - entitled "The Wave" - pictured below:

PhiladelphiART.

You may actually know this already, dear reader, whoever you are, but I would like to share with you nonetheless that Philadelphia is chock full of really great artists. I say this here because I feel as though Philly and its awesome residents don’t always get their due. So let's give them their due, shall we? We shall do.

Always a source for great discoveries, I stopped by Artists' House gallery over the weekend, here in Philly's Old City neighborhood. The last time I was there, I fell in love with the work of painter Patrick Crofton; this time around, I was blown away by the work of painterSamuel Evensen. I love low-contrast studies in white, and this guy delivers the goods with some serious skill:

Snow, 10" x 10.5", oil painting by Samuel Evensen

Also excellent to see was a show by Philadelphia artist Asya Livshits at PII Gallery in Old City:

Girl with Cat by painter Asya Livshits

More posts on this front to follow, no doubt, Stay tuned. And – come to Philly and see some art, fer chrissake!

Women Painting Women: The Exhibition

Stay tuned for more information on a very exciting event in which I will be participating this November! I will be one of approximately 50 women painters from around the globe exhibiting at Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, South Carolina for their "Women Painting Women" exhibition. The exhibition concept was inspired by friend and fellow painter Sadie Valeri's "Women Painting Women" blog (to which I am a contributor). Here's some information on the show and the participants on the Robert Lange Studios blog... more info coming soon!

Here is the first press coverage for the show - more to come!
• Charleston City Paper

Poof!, 2010, 30" x 30", oil on birch with map fragments and ink, by Austin, TX painter Jennifer Balkan

Richeson.

One of my paintings of friend and fellow painter Juliette Lemontey (who makes a great model!) is a finalist in the Richeson 75 Figure and Portrait Exhibition for 2010. You can see the paintings which made it into the show at this link.

I've posted the painting to this blog before, it's this one:

the search, 2009, oil on panel, 12"x12", by me.

Labor Day + glorious = Laborious?

Given that I LOVE autumn, I think it's fair to say that most cities look pretty darn good to me around this time of year. That said, however, I am really enjoying this first dose of a Philly fall that we've experienced these last couple of days. The following is a photographic tribute to the past holiday weekend, in all of its awesomeness:

I love this log house in the middle of the city, in Northern Liberties (N. Lawrence Street)

creek in Fairmount Park

The boys hanging out on the deck here in Fishtown

an Eakins moment on the Schuylkill River

The Japanese House and Garden in Fairmount Park

Sign at the Shrine of St. John Neumann in Northern Liberties

Chilling out in a gazebo in Fairmount Park

Sculpture outside the Please Touch Museum/Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park

Parade of geese on the Schuylkill River

Park bench acrobatics - Fairmount Park

Sketch Club, part deux.

Last evening I stopped by the opening reception of the Philadelphia Sketch Club's current member show in City Hall. And I had never ever been inside Philadelphia's City Hall before! Ever! What I can tell you is this: it is architecturally very interesting, and as of yesterday evening, it was very WARM. Boy, was it warm. I can also tell you this: it was full of art, at least on the 5th floor, where the Sketch Club exhibition was hung... and this was the best piece there:

Michaela, 22" x 28", Charcoal, 2008, by Rachel Constantine

I've been a fan of Rachel's work since I was introduced to it last year; a fellow artist recommended her work for the blog I contribute to, Women Painting Women. Here's a link to the post, and below is the painting I posted to the site (it was hard to choose, I love so many of her paintings):

The Ceremonial Kimono, 60" x 36", oil on canvas, 2005-2006, by Rachel Constantine

Lucky for me, we will be in the same group show this coming fall, a group show based on the Women Painting Women theme, which will be held at Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, SC. Stay tuned for more info on this exhibition, coming soon...

Recommended viewing!

Last evening I had the good fortune – thanks to the lovely and talented Alex – to be at a presentation by painter David Shevlino at the Philadelphia Sketch Club. David presented and discussed his most recent (self-produced!) painting demo DVD – and it was really quite well-done. I'm positive that I can't describe it more aptly than Lisa Gloria did in her review found on Art Studio Secrets, so I will urge you to read her review... also, you can preview this most recent video (among other painting demos by David) on his YouTube channel at this link. If you see that and become as much of a Shevlino fan as I did and decide to buy his most recent video, you can do so at this link. Highly recommended!

He has also inspired me to give Galkyd another try – the few times I've used it I was turned off by its stickiness, but I'm newly hopeful that I can keep that aspect of the medium under control with a little more solvent in the mix. Fingers crossed.

Here's a demo David did of a painting of Sumo wrestlers: