Butter - and Insights from St. Louis

Butter

Oil on canvas, 12x12

101 Dogs Project painting

Isn't this a fun painting? Butter looks like an imp, doesn't he? I haven't met him, but I know he is much loved. 

Even though I am on the road, I'll be making paintings for the project, and hoping you will sign up to participate! For $375, you get an original oil painting of your dog, a book or poster containing your dog's portrait, and a variety of project-related items. I'll donate a portion of your sponsorship to one of four dog-related groups I've chosen, or to a dog-related group of your choice. 

For more on the project, please click here to check out the 101 Dogs web page

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ON SATURDAY, I showed up at a Budweiser distribution center to participate in a mock jury put on by the people who run the St. Louis Art Festival, one of the top festivals in the country - and one that has so far not accepted me. 

The event went on from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. I came away exhausted and bleary-eyed,  but full of insights. The jurors had no life-changing comments on my entry, but I did get life-changing ideas from the day. I posted a lengthy piece on Art Fair Insiders about my experience. You can read that by clicking here.

The regular jury looks at work over the course of two or three days. This past year, it took 27 hours to accept 150 artists from the 1281 that applied. In general, their response to why I'm not getting into the very top shows, all the time, is that no one does. And, it's always a crap shoot. 

Still, I cam away from the event with renewed vigor, hope, and ideas. 

Here are the jurors, looking at the entry of my friend Cynthia Battista. Cynthia and I will be exhibiting together at the Tubac Arts Festival in Tubac, AZ, Feb. 10-14. 

To see more of her jewelry, please click here. 

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Dog of the Day

Saw this guy in St. Louis. His owner and I were both lost! 

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A Final Thought

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web." 

- Pablo Picasso

Free Already

Free Already

Oil on black canvas, 16x16, $385

Please click here to email me for availability and shipping info

 I was taking a detail photo for a person who is contemplating buying "Leonine Dreams," and it occurred to me that the detail I'd photographed - the eyes, part of the ear and some of the sheep's coat - would make a fantastic painting. 

And so I gave it a try. I love the abstract quality of this piece, the shadow on the eye, the free flow of colors and paint, the heavy surface. 

It's not the first time that a part of a piece has presented itself as a whole piece, and it got me thinking that maybe people are like that, too. And when you find someone you love - a partner, lover or friend - it could be because the part you saw first truly echoes the whole that follows. It's a thought, at least. 

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Deli meat for that oh-so-tiny, 1-pound family. Sigh. 

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Dog of the Day

Three Shelties, behaving well, as always. Saw these three in Omaha last summer. 

Want your pet to be Dog of the Day? Send a jpg to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

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A Final Thought

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art."

- Andy Warhol

Ashton

Ashton

Gouache and oil on canvas, 12x12

I was a bit disheartened after my portraits of Emmett and JJ - not truly disheartened, but a little, but determined to push on - and then I made this painting of Ashton, and it changed everything. I love this painting! It looks a lot like Ash - maybe an older version of Ash, but a distinct version of him. 

Making this piece taught me a lot. Hair makes a big difference. The nose is a good place to start - it's where I start in dogs and cats, so why not in humans? The shadows on his face in the photo I had were harsh and deep, and I was worried about them, but they make this painting. 

For a while, I had a sign posted on my computer that said, "Carrie, Paint the Light." It was a reminder not to paint THINGS, but to paint light, and shadow, and how light and shadow define things.  That very Big Lesson came back to me with this painting. 

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At my site on Fine Art America, you can have my paintings printed onto all sorts of things. You can get actual prints, on paper or metal or acrylic block or canvas. You can get my paintings on pillows, iPhone covers, duvet covers, tote bags (these are really great) - and also on shower curtains. 

During the summer, I stay with my brother and his family often, when I'm doing shows or delivering paintings or visiting in New England. They live in Hartford, which is pretty central, and they have a nice bedroom for me. They take me in, they feed me, they put up with me, share their house and life with me. I know he's my brother, but still, it's a lot. I wanted to thank them, so I had a shower curtain made of a painting I'd made of their daughter and one of their dogs. 

The shower curtain is great - but their bathroom is very narrow, so narrow that there really was no place to step back and look at the painting, as huge as it is. So Rand had a great idea - to put it on Larkin's tree house. Doesn't it look great?

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Dog of the Day

Saw this giant at the SoNo Arts Festival this summer in South Norwalk, CT. 

Happily for everyone, he was very friendly. 

Want your pet to be the Dog of the Day? Send a jpg to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

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A Final Thought

"Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master." 

- Leonardo Da Vinci 

Painting People - Like You!

Kathryn

Oil on canvas, 6x6

At the start of the year, I set a number of goals and challenges for myself. One was to learn to paint people, here in 2014. 

That's one of the reasons I accepted an invitation from a delightful young couple to paint their wedding reception AT their wedding reception, in early September. They approached me during a show in Maryland in the spring, and have to tell you that I did ask them if they were really looking at my paintings... and they said yes. 

I had just started thinking of painting people's faces, and had in fact pulled some faces off of Facebook, when my friend Kathryn, who is also a collector of my paintings (look behind her in the photo below), and a very talented painter herself, suggested that I ask blog readers to sen me selfies, and then paint them. 

So I'm asking! Please send me a selfie - I'll paint the first 30 or so that I receive. You'll have to bear with me as I learn and struggle and grow - but I promise it will be fun, or at the very least, interesting! 

You can send your photos to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com. Thank you in advance! 

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THIS WEEKEND, remember, it's the Wickford Art Festival! The show is Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It's in the cute seaside town of Wickford, RI, and it's a fun show. Click here for more info. 

I'll be in Westport, CT, the following weekend, if you're closer to that end of New England... 

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Dog of the Day

My friend Tiffany, who also collects my paintings, sent this photo of Lizzy, her new dog. Lizzy is 11, and a sweetie. Tiffany and her family adopted Lizzy about six months ago, after the death of Xena. 

Want your pet to be the Dog of the Day? Send a photo to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com. 

And as always, thank you for reading, and for supporting me in this new life!