Personal Art Blog

Sharing the lessons I teach at the Artist Guild and the personal discoveries in my art.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Farmers Market #6





Farmers Market #6

8x6in oil on canvas $125. SOLD

This is another complex market scene. It is a  lot on a small canvas.
The lady in the yellow dress really caught my eye.
For me, the enjoyment of the farmers market  was observing the
different people getting far more involved with what they were
buying than how I see them buying similar items at my local supermarket.

 Artist Note.

When I first started this I painted in only the lady in yellow. I really liked her
but discovered I lost the feeling I was after.
The painting somehow became about only her and not a colorful and
busy market scene. So I popped in the tall lady in white.
She does balance the plastic bags hanging down on the top left.
If you place your hand over the lady in white  you can see
I would have had a perfect square format with the yellow dress
and hanging bags.. But... I had started with the rectangle.
It really doesn't matter because I love painting these scenes and
solving my problems. I did do a couple of thumbnails first and it
did not show up as a problem in black and white. It was the color yellow
that attracted the eye too much and kept it there. Once I had painted her
and liked her I was scared to touch her ( I am learning!) so I moved
the color around and over to the right side using a variety of different shades.
(The shadow side of the blue boxes is not quite as saturated as shown.
 - that is a camera problem I could not solve)

Talking about solving problems...
I had an accident where I lost most of my big toenail a couple of weeks back
and when I was invited to a party I decided the band-aid did not look
too appealing in my party sandals so I painted the shape of a toe nail
in the matching color nail polish right on top of the band-aid.
Obviously this photo was taken without the pretty sandals!











It was suggested I pass on this hint on my blog.

Thank you for all the encouraging comments on my last post.
Sorry I could not get to answering them all but you made me
really great.





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26 comments:

  1. Not only are your paintings masterful and exciting to behold, the way you share your process and problems solving is so inspiring and helpful!

    and the band-aid? brilliant! simply brilliant. you could sell an entire line of band-aids with painted toes and make a fortune!

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  2. Such a great comment - thanks Suzanne. A fortune would be nice!
    Your painting of egg yolks is a stunner! Hope everyone gets over to see it.

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  3. Ah, it is about the yellow dress lady without the white dress lady and I am so amazed how it truly becomes a market scene by adding the other figure. And the color white brings such a great balance since the yellow is bright too. You did a perfect fix here Julie...thank you for sharing the details!

    Ouch on the toe...and I am still chuckling over your problem-solving ability. I will bet no one noticed the toe too! Brilliant my friend!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Lisa - love your new painting and the gold seemed to work just fine. I loved your layers.

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  4. What a fun blog post. The toenail thing is just perfect. On the painting I squinted at your painting and loved the movement of the darks and lights. And so fun to view the square painting. You are right, it would have worked perfectly. But I really like the lady in white and have just enjoyed the whole thing!

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    1. Squinting is what I do a lot of. Linking either the lights or darks where I can. Your painting of the geese is a departure for your regular daily painting work and a lovely painting.

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  5. I love this one, very nice play with depth. I'm not sure I wrote this to you, but there is an artist, very skilled one that said that he like to get in trouble. Then he had to solve the problem and new and interesting things happened, and one learn a lot like you said.

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    1. Your comment made me feel good. Thanks Roger.
      Your poppies are AWESOME!

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  6. this is a beautiful painting, Julie. It added more interest by adding the second figure. They look so intent on the veggies and I love the light hitting the yellow dress! As far as your toe..Ouch!!! It's hard to see the bandaid. A wonderful idea..you
    should patent it! LOL

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    1. You took a good look at the band-aid and that's so nice Hilda. They could make them for fingernails - could be neat! Thank you.
      I am looking forward to seeing your next painting.

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  7. I had to laugh at the band-aid story and photo! So creative! And I simply cannot believe all that you painted in that tiny 8x6 space - its magic!

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    1. Magic is the beautiful drawing you did on today's post. Thanks for the neat comment, Susan.

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  8. what a great painting--thanks for telling us what you thought and how to make that fix. If I ever hurt my toenail (knock on wood that I don't) I will remember this bandaid thing! So smart! Ok...I just have to ask---what the heck kind of accident was this?? (My mother once opened a freezer and a huge frozen turkey flew out, fell to the floor and broke her toe!!! Anything like that???)

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    1. Hate to laugh at your mothers story but it is such a visual.
      No, nothing that dramatic. Trying to reach under a bed something and
      pushed my foot (against the wrong thing) for traction. The nail just peeled right off. Major pain for such a little thing.

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  9. How inspired was that toenail painting on a bandaid? Fabulous! I can't see the difference, quite honestly. I love these market paintings. I think you should set up a table and sell them at the next farmer's market!

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    1. laughing at me at the market. I would be wanting to paint.
      Hows your drawing of M coming along

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  10. This painting has a very nice swingy, back and forth rhythm to it. This is one of my favorites so far.

    Nice looking toenails there and a clever fix!:)

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  11. Great way to solve a problem (both the painting and the toe). I like the tension of the two women with their backs to each other and supposedly each unaware of the other.

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    1. neat observation - thanks Carol. Your bamboo paintings are unique and wonderful.

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  12. Nice job of moving items around to get the effect you liked! The two blues front and center catch my eye first; then I am pulled up into the yellow, a nod to the white, then a swirl around all the red. I like the touches of green and teal, too.

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    1. Good comment and when are you going to start a blog? Your paintings are lovely.

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    2. oh dear, I am not very good at blogging. theroetically, I have one, but I don't know how to activate it....
      And thank you for the fine compliment. I treasure it especially from someone who's work I admire as much as I do yours!

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  13. Great toe camouflage! But seriously- I do appreciate how you describe altering this scene to make it more of what you intended for the composition....rather than just what you initially started with. It's a great reminder for me to slow down & think about "is this my original intention" and "how could this be a better composition" ....Thanks for the insights!!! (and the beautiful painting, yes, I amazed at how complex that small painting is!!)

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    1. Thanks for this great comment Roxanne. I appreciate you too.
      Love your watercolors and the lavender info.

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  14. Ha! I LOVE the creative solutions that artists come up with - so sorry about losing your toenail but what way to work it! :)

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I love that you are taking the time to comment and thank you for it. I am sure other readers will enjoy them too. If you cannot comment through this format then email me at juliefordoliver@gmail.com
Cheers,
Julie