Good Reading Material

I've been trying to catch up on the stack of magazines in the studio corner. I don't subscribe to that many - Art Calendar, the Artists' Magazine, and American Art Collector - but when time is at a minimum, reading is the first thing that goes. And I've got a small mountain of issues stretching back to the summer months.

I'm newly enamored of Jeremy Lipking and Casey Baugh - Google their names - you will see extraordinary paintings. While I don't necessarily connect with their subject matter, there is no denying their mastertise (is that a word?). Their understanding of light, their manipulation of it as though it is a vase or ghourd or something solid, is extraordinary. And their use of edges - soft, hard, and lost - blows me away.

Ultimately, the one lesson that I walk away with when studying the work of these two is sweat equity. Both artists committed to their vision and worked towards it, despite the odds. That could have meant working two dead-end jobs and painting after hours, or relying on a spouse to hold the family together, or moving 1/2 way across the country to study/paint alongside a mentor. Whatever it meant, they did it, while staying true to that inner voice.

I have a wealth of respect for that.

Thanks for following along,
Kim
ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

PS The other thing they both had in common: Richard Schmid. Both (and others) have said that his book "Alla Prima" contains everything they ever needed to learn about painting. It's worth a peek or two - my copy is dogeared. Not that this makes me a better painter, just a disciple. Go to www.righardschmid.com to get your own copy. I recommend his dvds too - they are brilliant!

The Barbie Series

FROM TOP: "Bad Hair Day (Barbie)," 12" square, acrylic on gallery stretched linen; "I've Lost My Head (Barbie)," 8" x 10", acrylic on gallery stretched linen. Both available for purchase; inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com .

Friends convinced me to enter some of my toy paintings in an exhibition at a local university. Originally I was going to paint finger puppets, but an afternoon spent sorting through my daughter's closet pushed me into an entirely new direction - Barbies.

These two new paintings are very much part of the "Tags, Toys and Treasures" group. But they have a presence that is oddly unlike the objects I've painted for "Tags, Toys and Treasures," and therefore will become their own entity/series.

Barbie is such a cultural icon that every viewer brings their own bag of memories and feelings to the paintings.

I'm laughing as I play with the dolls in my studio. It's a second childhood, working on these toy paintings, that's for certain! (Having 4 brothers, I didn't play much with Barbies. My oldest brother ripped their heads off to jam firecrackers down their necks. That sort of behavior wouldn't be tolerated these days, but it was pretty common place when I was a kid. We lived dangerously then, riding bikes without helmets and all. Ah, but I digress).

So anyways, here are the two pieces I'll be sending to the show. We'll see how they are received, and what sorts of other compositions I can build from Annie's stash of dolls.

Thanks for your time,

Kim

ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com

http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/

A Very Serious Still Life

I received a number of inquiries in the last few days about where I find my inspirations and how I keep going. Besides in all the faces and personalities I get to profile as part of the Painting a Dog a Day project and my daily (strong) dose of coffee, I find them everywhere around me.

• The golden maple leaves dancing right outside my kitchen window.


• My kids' first smile each day (which comes hopefully before their first tear).


• The sound of a dear friend's voice on the phone.


• The way Finnigan's nubbin of a tail glides underneath his skin.


• The purr of my black cat, not just the sound, but the feel of it against my chest.


• The smell of a wet painting.

I'm sure we all have triggers that keep us going - those are just a few. I make sure I am surrounded by handfuls of them, all the time. And for those days when it's tough to get into the studio, I've found a couple of no fail motivators:

• The Nutcracker soundtrack, no matter the season.


• And The Barber of Seville (kill the rabbit..... kill the rabbit....) The right music can almost always get the job done!


• Browsing through Julian Merrow-Smith's website (http://www.shiftinglight.com/) and dreaming of being able to one day paint like him.


• A visit to our local yarn shop, where I can simply sit amongst the rows of colored wools.
  The smell of freshly baked brownies or cookies.


• A brisk walk around the neighborhood, following Finn's nubbin and prance, breathing in the air, listening to the birds/crickets/frogs/silence (when snow is freshly falling)

Here's a bonus painting - one I couldn't help but do. My latest inspiration, you might say.

Yesterday I looked up from the easel and spied a row of puppets carefully lined up by one of my kids, perfectly centered in an unexpected shaft of sunlight. They were brilliantly colored and terribly humorous when visualized as still life objects. It was way more fun than painting pitchers and creamers and ghourds (sorry, Vianna, if you are reading this!!). This guy is the first of a number of lighthearted studies I'll do in the weeks to come - painting something saturated in humor and color was a great diversion!

So I give you "ARGH!! (Puppet #1)," 8" square (larger than life), acrylic on canvasboard, $180. Imagine this guy framed up and hung in a cubicle/office. Or in a child's room. Or even hung overtop a mirror. He will definately brighten up a special corner somewhere. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com .


Thanks, as always, for looking.
And for sharing these paintings with your friends and family,
Be back tomorrow!
Kim

Kimberly Kelly Santini
http://www.turtledovedesigns.com/
distinctive pet portraits
& 4-legged paintings

http://www.paintingadogaday.com/
come. sit. stay.
enjoy the art.

I've been working hard, behind the scenes here, taking another course with Vianna Szabo (http://www.viannaszabo.com/), refining my painters eye. This latest course, about 1/2 way completed, has involved some intensive still life paintings, graduating into portraiture from a live model.


Here are the paintings I've completed to date. I will not be offering them for sale through my website, simply because they are not animal related. But if you are interested in purchasing one of the class paintings, please drop me a line - ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com .



"White Still Life," 8" square, acrylic on canvasboard, $180. This was the first assignment, a still life setup that was entirely white. The lesson was to paint all the shades of white. I had a difficult time - first off, because I couldn't buy into the inanimate objects, and then secondly, with the lack of contrast. I ended up sitting crosslegged on the floor, looking up at the table, sketching the still life with conte pencil, when I came upon this composition. Inquiries to ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com .



"White Pitcher," 16" x 20", acrylic on canvasboard, "$399. Our second assignment included a variety of white items set against darker grounds. I was still trying to find a means of connecting with the inanimate items, when my eye fell in love with the pattern when the setup was viewed from the far corner. I used artistic license, and really played with the colors, working on balancing my values so that the objects read properly, but using color saturations straight from my head.



"November Still Life," 11" x 14", acrylic on canvasboard, $279. This third assignment was a still life setup saturated with intense hues. The trick was to paint not just the light, but the color reflections from each object. I concentrated on the use of edges and modelling the objects with my brushwork.



"Jerry," 11" x 14", acrylic portrait on canvasboard, $279. I am especially pleased with Jerry's sitting. This painting is a sincere likeness, but it also carries other elements of maturity - the color temperatures model the form in many places (instead of value changes), the brushwork caresses the shapes, and I employed a number of different types of edgework and color saturation to help accent my focal point.


Next week we get to paint a woman, supposedly dramatically costumed in complimentary, bold colors. I am confidant I will come home even richer in knowledge, with a few more miles under my brushes.


Stay tuned!

Kim