#Liberateyourart Postcard Swap Art Received

It's been a fun month, this winter I participated in an art postcard swap project. Every week this month I have been getting mysterious postcards in the mail. How fun! Here is the loot:

Postcards from artists all over the US. 

I hadn't drawn much or painted in almost a decade so I used this as an excuse to force myself to do just that. Here are my contributions to the project: 

You can see more images and read more about my postcards in these blog posts: #liberateyourart

This was a fun project, I think I will use a different printing company next time. I wish more of the artists wrote notes on their postcards like Kat the organizer suggested, I wrote nice notes and was hoping for the same, some of this felt very promotional which wasn't what I was expecting. But either way. it's fun to see what people are proud of and to get surprise mail! Who doesn't love a little mail. I didn't make any new connections out of this like I thought I might but oh well, I painted! I like what I contributed, and hope it brightened someone's day!

Here is a video montage of some of the contributing artists, compiled by Kat Sloma (copyright Kat Sloma 2015) I'm sharing as one of my pieces is included at 3:00 minutes. Enjoy!

April 16-19 you can follow the "link hop" by scrolling down and clicking on any of the participating blogs to see what other participating artists have shared. 

An InLinkz Link-up

#liberateyourart Postcards Sent Today!

I've finished my postcards and after some frustrating printing mishaps from Fedex office online (BE VERY CAREFUL and put lots of info in notes in your online order because apparently simply clicking on the document type postcards does not guarantee you a postcard sized print...not a user friendly website at all...go to a retail place and pay the little extra to guarantee you get what you want...)

All images are Copyright Virginia E. Berry 2015 and are my original designs. 

Here they are!

Two lucky artists in the postcard swap #liberateyourart will get my favorite painting from this exercise.

I now have 8.5 x 11 prints of these images...that I felt compelled to purchase even though they intended to shred them due to the mistake (It just felt so wasteful and since it is my art I thought I'd take them since I NEVER reproduce my paintings...though sadly the edge of the Rat Baby Love image is slightly cut off where the text is...wanh wanh). I am happy to share with you if you want one :) I can have others printed too. Just contact me and name your price. Prints are $1.49 plus postage and envelope so you have an idea of my expense (not to mention labor and creativity but again...name your price ;) ) I may work on the scans of the images with the all white backgrounds to get the shadows out from where the page was warped from watercolors. 

Sweet handwritten messages to the unknown artist recipients.

And the envelope off to Kat Sloma the organizer and facilitator of this fun project. I hope I remember to sign up again next year. Looking forward to art in my mailbox! 

Also very excited about the vintage circus poster stamps the Post Office had! You can buy your own. I want to send more mail just so I can use these....seriously considering stock piling them since they are forever stamps now. They had me at the stripey clown tights! 

Happy Valentine's Day from the Rat Babies #liberateyourart

My husband and I both sent cute rat themed valentines to each other independently (we are in different countries at the moment). Here was my contribution.

I skype with with husband and our 3 pet rats everyday. Dumbo and Baby are cage mates and he was holding them about like this the other day and it made me think of this image. Sometimes they wrap their tails around things like little hands so the tips do curl like that (artistic liberty on the placement ;) )

All images copyright Virginia E. Berry 2015

And the Award for Artistic Insomnia Goes to Last Night and the 6:30 AM Bedtime #liberateyourart

I prefer working on creative projects at night. No pretty birds in the yard to distract me. No one to bother me. Not much of interest on TV. That warm, delightful silence that the darkness offers after everyone else is asleep. Best working hours always.

Last night apparently my sketchbook practice turned into a much more elaborate effort than I had anticipated...bedtime ended up being 6:30 AM...just before sunrise so at least it was dark when I shut my eyes.

Here is the painting that true insomnia produced. All images copyright Virginia E. Berry 2015

Again, rough images taken with my cell phone. Better images another day. My laborious, whimsical sketchbook addition:

Close up of raw crystal crown, an idea I've had for a while for a jewelry project.

Pocket pet rat baby on an arrow that reads "Big ideas constantly swarm me"

Rumination text in bird reads: "My mind is swarming with big ideas, they keep me up at night. Like a constant fight, I rarely sleep for fear of losing the good ones. The ones I ruminate on for hours on end, I try to write down, to capture, like wild creatures I hope to cultivate into remarkable contributions. My meager marks on this world. I know we race through this short life, and with that I hope to leave it better than when I entered it. Some nights my thoughts wake me in the middle of my dreams, demanding I record them. I am of simple means, extravagant dreams and humble talent. I read, study and practice constantly, seeking a way to launch my dreams into the universe."

Liberate Your Art Sketchbook Practice #liberateyourart

I'm participating in #liberateyourart this year and haven't done hardly any drawing or painting in almost 15 years (wow, shameful!). I pulled out an old sketchbook that had some blank sheets left and did some artistic explorations last night in the middle of the night. (Most creative in the silent, dark hours). All images are my original work and copyright Virginia E. Berry 2015

These are quick cell phone photos and the color/grain is not great. Another day when I decide which I will make into postcards for the Liberate Your Art project, I will take better images. For now I am practicing drawing and painting and exploring technique as it has been a looong time and my skills are rusty. I like these paintings but know there's more impressive something in there...

Text reads: "Is there a line where the soul ends and the universe begins?"

Text reads: "I ruminate my dreams away hoping not to lose my visions and ideas like petals in the wind..."

Liberate Your Art Postcard Exchange Project

I've signed up for this cool art exchange project. It's free, your only expense is materials to make your postcards and postage. There is both a facebook event page and info on the organizer's website

Join us!

I plan to explore this ink and water color technique I used for my friend's self-portrait postcard project last year.

Liberate your art image copyright Kat Eye Studio 2015 and available at the above facebook link 1.29.15 

Self Portrait watercolor my original art work. Copyright Virginia E. Berry 2015

Painting Props in the Studio

I bought my most FAVORITE color combo of the moment- twilight blue and icy aqua. Or per the paint chip names: "Twilight" and "Jamaican Aqua". And now I am scooping up useful wooden objects right and left and turning them into display components in my little shop at home. Some are for traveling too.

My first expedition into painting was the motivation to buy these colors - a new sign for fairs (and currently hanging in the little shop too). My husband built it and it is made from primitive antique fence posts and clapboard plus one piece of wood with great rusty nail heads I found on the beach.

And here it is in action at the Puffin Festival in Elliston, NL:

Next I ended up at an auction in Trinity, NL and found this wonderful, discarded, handcrafted suitcase in need of some TLC. I sanded it, cleaned off the rust, replaced the broken hinges and then meticulously painted...for days. Once dry, I sanded some more to get the distressed look I wanted. I am still working on it to convert it into a traveling display; adding a 3rd panel, components to hang jewelry from and if really ambitious, wheels and a telescopic handle (wish list).

BEFORE:

AFTER:

And then I found this odd handmade pedestal at a thrift shop. It needed gluing. So I glued, sanded and painted it ombre. It can be flipped over too so either the light or dark can be the top. Inspired by the stairs in my friend Crystal's new studio, Little Free Radical.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

In action in the little shop with my new necklace displays and a mirror I also painted (another thrift shop score)...addicted to these colors right now!

Cement Patches and Paint

Stage two of the retail space renovation. Steve's cement patch is nearly dry and we mended the whole in the wall left by the removal of the take-out counter. We also painted the boards along the bottom of the wall. The brackets had left brown marks and the new boards needed paint. Here's a peek at what we're up to:

The Depiction of Fabric in Paintings

I have come to realize that most of my all time favorite paintings in the whole world (that I have laid my eyes upon thus far)...brilliantly depict fabric in the clothing of the subjects. One such painting I discovered a couple of years ago at the Worcester Art Museum. It is in their permanent collection and quite wonderful. I have never seen such an effective portrayal of transparent lace before this picture. It looks like real lace and you can see through it as you could if you were there. Not to mention the great detail in her dressing table accessories. Woman at Her Toilette by Francois Clouet

At some point in high school I believe, I stumbled across Flaming June, as large as life on an out of the way wall in a museum whose name and location slip my mind. I don't know if it was an original or a print as I cannot seem to find any mention of whether this painting and I could possibly have been in the same museum at the same time in the last 5-10 years. Does anyone know how to look up the record of where paintings have been shown?

I love Flaming June because the artist captures the clingy, gauzy semi-transparent nature of her gown. He also expertly shows the natural drape of the fabric, how it pulls some at her right knee, and how it falls vertically from her extended left foot. Genius!
Flaming June by Frederick Lord Leighton

And finally I leave you with Julia, Lady Peel who I met at The Frick Collection in New York City (NYC) about a year ago while at the United Nations. The Frick Collection is a private collection in the exquisitely decorated home of the late Henry Clay Frick, a steel magnate, right next to Central Park. This collection houses numerous examples of my favorite paintings that are my favorites simply because of how the fabric is depicted. I highly suggest you visit The Frick Collection next time you are in NYC.

I have limited myself to sharing with you only Julia, Lady Peel as she is one of the finest examples of the amazing collection of paintings in The Frick Collection, and this way I won't go on for days about paintings I love. Maybe I will revisit this topic in the future with a different collection of paintings; small doses makes it easier to digest.

The color combinations in this painting are so eye catching (just had to put that out there). The artist really has made it easy for the viewer to distinguish one texture from another. You clearly see that the crimson plumes coming off the hat are light and feathery. You see that the white fur stole is just that, fur. And you see that her sleeves are sleek satin. Not to mention the detail in her jewelry! Love it!

Julia, Lady Peel by Sir Thomas Lawrence