art blog | amy donahue fine art: July 2014

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Accidental Hiatus and Life According to my Iphone

Didn't mean to disappear this month. Time to show the blog some love again.

This little collage will get you up to speed:

Oh, and ignore the duplicates, please. I'm annoyed at myself for doing that too... but as they say, Perfection is the enemy of the good. Or something like that.

So, it's been a busy month! A little explanation, you say?

Top to bottom (left to right):

Row 1:

(a) Theo got his very own carpet square in my studio. The typical afternoon in the life of the studio pup. (b) A little nocturnal painting action. (I'll post a photo of the outcome soon.) (c) Epic morning at the easel! I've been itching to paint a good waterfall this summer. My wish came true during a family vacation to Garrett County, MD. This was Swallow Falls National Park.

Row 2:

(a) Inspired by some fabulous Australian Impressionists, like Arthur Streeton, to paint a tall 'n' skinny. (b) This is a flashback to June. Taken by my mother. (c) I am still recovering from this one. Beautiful morning on the dock, despite the intermittent rain, almost falling in the water (with all my gear), a skinned knee, dropping my fav Rosemary brush in the lake, toes falling asleep (Raynaud's Syndrome), and getting a little sea-sick from the rising and falling of the dock with each passing motor boat. Still glad I did it.:)

Row 3:

(a) The banks of the James in Charles City. (b) One of the sailboats floated away while I was painting it. This was also Garrett County, MD. (c) Lazare Gallery. Such a treat.

Row 4:

(a) Painting with a "limited color palette". It's the trim that never ends. It goes on and on my friends. (b) Delicious color palette for the sky of a commissioned painting. (c) Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. A fabulous week with my extended family.

Row 5:

(a) Working on the greens. (b) The big brush for the big sky. (c) One of my many studio paintings this month. I'll post it soon.

Row 6:

(a) I was standing on top of a 30 foot waterfall. So fun! (b) Duplicate (c) Duplicate

Row 7:

(a) Back to June. This was Jockey's Ridge, NC. The older brother is attached to one of those kites. And we named the raft Ginguite. A story for another time. (b) The pup! We went trail ~~running~~ sprinting/stopping/sniffing/leash-tangling. (c) It's sewing time with Grammie. :)

Follow me in instagram for more visual updates.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

30-34 (30 in 30 Challenge) - Qiang Huang and a bunch of studies

Every time I get on blogger to make this final post I've gotten distracted by other art blogs I follow. Namely Qiang-Huang. His artwork in my blogger dashboard feed makes me completely forget what I got on my computer to do. That and makes me re-think posting my little attempts at painting. His work -- the shapes, the tones, the angles, the colors, the brushwork.... I could look at it forever. So, yes, what I was saying: it has been a very busy week and the limited time I've taken to post to the blog has been hijacked by Qiang Huang (pronounce Chong Wong, fyi). If you don't have 20 extra minutes in your day, don't click on the link.

My 30th painting turned into five. Rather, five studies for future paintings. Some studies were for a commission, some for upcoming shows. All completed on July 1st, which was really the 30th day in the challenge for me, since I began on June 2nd.

Details are still being worked through, but a number of the paintings of the 30 in 30 will be on display at Gallery Flux's "En Plein Air" gallery artists and "Big Skies" juried exhibits during August and September. More details to come!

Thanks for all the "likes" on the blog posts on facebook and the encouragement during the month. I'm honored that you all actually take the time to look and read. Thank you!