Kearney Art In The Park 2016

Kearney Art in the Park 2016

Gary and I are getting ready to share our art and photography at Kearney Art in the Park this Sunday, July 10th from 9:00 to 5:00. Also showing from our area is my friend, Alissa Millsap, she has lots of goodness to share.

Gary has been taking photography and metal art to this show for many years and we have met so many awesome people who love art. It is always well attended.

The temperature might be a little warm but there is lots of shade, music throughout the day and into the evening, and great food including shaved ice to cool you off.

If you are local, I hope you can make it to the show and be inspired by beauty, goodness and creativity. If you come, please stop by and say hi to us, we would love to see you.

Vintage Bridal Dress Display Open

Dawson County Historical Museum Vintage Wedding Dress Show. Painting by Beth Cole

The Dawson County Historical Museum in Lexington has been working very hard to create a beautiful display of vintage wedding dresses. The display is now open so if you are local, it would be fun to take in. Here is Crystal's interview on NTV's Good Morning program telling more about the display.

I painted six of the dresses in oil and pastel, they are also hung and ready for viewing. The show will be open through the end of August, 2016.

Enjoy the day my friend.

--Beth 

Vintage Bridal Dress Paintings

Cropped Version of Wedding Dress III © Beth Cole

The Dawson County Historical Society and Museum is opening a show of their collection of vintage wedding dresses on June 20-August 31, 2016.

I have painted seven pieces to accompany the show. I struggled with whether to paint the full figure or just the dress, mannequin style. I ended up doing a little of both. There are seven pieces in all, four oil paintings and three pastels. 

I am planning to host an online show for my newsletter subscribers. If you would like an invitation, please subscribe to my newsletter and let me know by June 30th. 

Wandering the Palouse

We just returned from wandering the backroads of the scenic Palouse (WA) area. It is a mecca for photographers and the like. I loved the pristine farms, rolling hills and the culture of preservation of barns, granaries and history. Very cool. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Have a good week. God bless you dear reader.

--Beth
Soli Deo Gloria

Plein Air Challenge

I have been trying to paint at least three plein air pieces a week with the encouragement of my mentor, Kim Casebeer. I am one of several in her mentoring program. It is good to have company because it is challenging. 

I wanted to share a little piece of my world, here's a short video from yesterday.

When the challenge is over, I will share the pieces I was able to paint.

I hope your day is full of something creative and inspiring!

Be Kind To Yourself

Painting is hard work, yes? It doesn’t always go like you expect. Your paintbrush gives you a mudpie when you wanted fresh veggies. You know?

I had one of these paintings just recently. I got up super early to meet my plein air challenge of three a week. It was the morning after a rain. The air was crisp and still. The sun was just coming up but it felt a little stormy. I drove to the tippy top of the east table where I could get a good view of the valley. The sun was dancing magic on the fields below. The yellow grass in the foreground was lit up. The sky in the west began to get darker and darker, super dark blue. I heard rumbles. Saw the wind start pushing those clouds harder and faster toward me. The air was very still. And we know what happens next. Yes, we do.

Storm over the west table

I kept painting, painting. Praying for a miracle on the canvas. Praying for the rain to hold off.

Guess what. You guessed it.

The raindrops began to fall. I schlepped everything back into the car. Drove home. Unloaded and took the painting inside to get a better look. Sigh. I didn’t like one single thing about it. The view I saw really spoke to me but something got seriously lost in translation. I'm sorry I can't even bring myself to show it to you. 

I could spend time on this one trying to resuscitate it, nurse it to health if you will. But. There is so.much.more.to.paint. Right? So I’m not going to beat myself up over it, there will be more lemons like this and hopefully, more like the ones I want to paint.

Be kind to yourself my friend. Here’s a little reminder by one of my favorite artists.

My Painting Playlist

Earthy Gray - oil on Wood Panel - 12 x 12 © Beth cole

I can’t imagine painting without music. Seriously. How does one do that?

Hubby bought me the best Christmas gift last year, a JBL Bluetooth speaker. The sound is amazing. I don’t know if it has improved my art, but it has lifted my heart for sure.

Here are some artists I really love and play frequently while painting. It’s a bit on the eclectic side, but I like all for different reasons at one time or another.

• Pride and Prejudice Soundtrack
• Matt Papa
• Andrew Peterson
• Patty Griffin
• Shane & Shane
• Jordan Smith
• Alison Krauss
• Family of the Year
• Sandra McCracken

So, what is on your playlist?

Beautiful Light

Looking west

It happens almost every evening. I look up and see that beautiful, golden magic hour light streaming across the land that borders our home, the view when I look west, and our back yard. It almost always makes me stop for a minute to see. Sometimes it draws me outside to walk around and watch for a little while. And on the most special of days, it causes me to grab my camera real quick so I can capture what has gripped my heart. Oh how I love the beautiful light. Such a perfect and simple reminder of our Maker who has no dark side at all and who draws us out of the darkness into His marvelous light.

After You Finish a Painting - Then What?

On The Road To Halsey © Beth Cole Acrylic on Canvas 36 x 36

It has taken me a while to figure out what to do after I finish a painting. After experimenting with various workflows, this is my current process.

1. I use Word to create a file for the painting. It includes the name of the painting, an inventory number. I use year/month/# of painting within the month/medium, so for example the 3rd pastel of March this year would be 3163P. You can use any type of numbering system you like. I also include a short description of the painting that can be used whenever you post online or show it in a gallery. This is something I learned from reading Art-Write by Vicki Krohn Amorose. Writing about your art is a good habit in which to get into – it helps to invite the viewer into the painting.
2. After I finish this file, I save it in a folder on my computer. I have organized my folders like such: Art/Word/Art Descriptions
3. Next I take a photo of the art. I have a music stand on which I place the art in a room with good natural light. The music stand helps me keep the art at eye level so I can get a good photo.
4. After taking the photo, I bring it into Photoshop, crop it and make any edits needed (i.e. light adjustments to be sure the photo looks as close as possible to the original). Then I save the file on my computer as such: Art/images/Landscape/March2016. The file name includes the name of the piece and the number, i.e. DeepWater3161O.
5. I list the painting on my website and in Artwork Archive, a new tool I have discovered that helps keep my inventory organized online. I am only in one gallery now, but as my journey progresses, Lord willing, I will be ready to manage work that is in more than one gallery. You can sign up for a free trial of Artwork Archive here.
6. I share the painting on my Facebook page and Instagram. I have shown phases of the painting on Instagram, but I might do that less as I don't believe people read. I have had great response and encouragement from Instagram.

What does your process look like?

Imagination and Memory

Sometimes I have reference photos for paintings that are the wrong season of the year, you know like in winter where there are no leaves on the trees. I don’t really want to paint trees like that but of course I could if it was an enchanting, snowy scene. Sadly, most of my winter photos are not enchanting.

So. Enter imagination.

Reference Photo

If I had painted this painting closer to the photo, you would have seen lots of black tree branches and not much to lead your eye through the painting. I knew before I started that I would need to use a little imagination.

What drew me to take the photo was the clump of reddish brush in the front left. I really loved that. And the water hiding in amongst the trees.

Before I began painting, I created a small thumbnail value study to see where to put the lights, darks and highlights.

When it came time to add color to the values I had some decisions to make. Did I want a spring like painting with lots of greens and yellow, or a fall scene with the beautiful golds and oranges and reds that happen that time of year.

Because of my aforementioned attraction to the red brush, I decided to go with a fall color palette, imagining what it might look like if the leaves were in full color and the grass was putting on its gold in preparation for winter.

Hidden Pond © Beth Cole Pastel on Paper - SOLD

Thank you imagination and memory.