m. p i l g r i m (art)

I didn't really get into art for the money.  It was something I needed to, like breathing. After decades of college and raising kids, I finally had the freedom to let loose.  Recently a friend asked me to do a landscape painting of a scene she was particularly fond of.  I was really touched by this painting being something that represented a happy memory and what it meant to her, so I wanted to do a good job.  I started out with an 11x14 linen panel, and drew in the composition with white chalk, as I usually do.  I started with the sky, some quick-dry titanium white, ultramarine blue, and cerulean, mixing more white into the sky as it approarched the "earth".  Initially I did the distant far background hills kinds of greenish. The foreground greenery was sap green and some cad red, and the tree wood was done with a mixture of burnt umber and blue ultramarine, laid in with my palette knife turned sideways.  I started working in the shadows as a blue/gra...

I signed up to be in a holiday art fair locally, and started preparing for it to be an opportunity to sell some art. I didn't expect really to sell any, these fairs are often for gift-giving; people don't show up to buy fine art. However, I wanted the experience to see what it's like to sit in one.  I was stuck with what to put on my banner as a title, other than my name, and finally settled on: I purchased some "grids," which are metal standing panels on wheels where you can hang things. I also purchased a table cloth and a folding print bin. I had cards made of some of my art, and some prints.  I asked my painting teacher how to price my art - it's higher than some of the other artist's artwork; however, it's hard to compare because they aren't doing oil landscapes. Should I drop my prices to be closer to theirs? "No," he said. "Keep the prices the same, but make prints and other low-cost options for people who might like your art....

For painting III not only did I finish early, and do an extra painting, but it seems administration was not happy that the instructor was letting people go early, even though they were done for the day. So, he apologetically told us that he had to dock grades for people who didn't stay until the end of class, but he offered extra credit - a self portrait or an old master copy. I decided to do both. Artemisia Gentileschi  was a Baroque born in 1593, in Rome. She was the daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, a prominent painter in the traditio of Caravaggio. She trained in her father's studio - unusual for women back then, and was exceptionally gifted from a young age.   Self portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, 1615 (age 22) In 1610, when she was 16, her father hired Agostino Tassi, his colleague, to train her. Instead, he raped her. Back then, it was hard for women to prove rape, and they would often be tortured to be certain they weren't making it up. Artemisia was subje...