Summer Rhythms

Summer Rhythms

14" x 11" pastel on paper

Whew! With the new job of Assistant Principal, my quantity of free time over the summer plummeted. Thanks to all of you who have kept on, occaisionally asking where I am...

The above painting is the third one I've done in 2009. And since I've decided to keep the focus of my blog on my art, well, that's why posts are a little far and few between. The motivation for this work came from the gallery in St. Louis where I show my work, Gallery M. Susan, the nice owner over there decided for a juried show this fall called 'Beauty Is...'. I needed to get her some new work, so I went over to Tower Grove Park in St. Louis where they have gorgeous tropical waterlily ponds, and I took a bunch of pictures. One photo ended up on my laptop as wallpaper. Perhaps that can be a future post. We can put it up as a sort of challenge. What do you think?

This is actually a small part of a much larger picture of white waterlilies. When i went to print off the whole file, it only showed this much. I was just about to delete the print job, when the composition struck me, and I was intrigued by the water, the curves of the pads offset by the straight lines of the stems. One person told me that it was too dark, but I like using my darkest pastels, sometimes.

This was the first painting where I used Mineral Spirits to create an underpainting. I painted the water a very dark green/brown, and the leaves a yellow ochre. If i were to do it again, I think I would choose complementary colors instead. I think some red or orange showing through the leaves would be striking.

Until next time, when I'll let you know how the Gallery Opening does this Friday evening...

Pastel Guy

Water Lilies WIP (part I)

After my last posting, where I showed 4 pictures I was considering for my next painting, I chose one that had richer colors (thanks to photo editing software!) and a more panoramic view of the pond, although not as wide as the original. I kept asking myself, "What is the story I'm trying to tell with this picture?" The answer I came up with was that the painting would be about the pond of lilies, not just the lilies. That cut out the close-ups (those can be other paintings!). Because of the size planned for this piece (24 x 36 inches - about 67 x 100cm), there will be room on the panel for details in the indiviual plants. The trick will be to then not have the details be too busy. I might even write myself a big post-it that says, "SIMPLIFY!" and post it on my easel.

In the black-and-white sketch pictured above, I wanted to work out the composition, but more importantly the values. Since the original photo had many many shades of green, combined with reflections in muddy water, it was hard to tell what had a light value and which were darker. You can see by my notes in the margin that I notated where the lightest and darkest spots were.

I'll be posting as this work progresses. It's the largest pastel I've done, and since I'm on break, I have more time to be on the computer....Keep in touch!

HELP!

OK, I'm not normally this indecisive, but I can't decide which cropping to use for my next painting. Any suggestions?

I Need You!

HELP!

Considering how much traffic has viewed my Jewelry Tutorial I and Jewelry Tutorial II, (a huge heap of thanks goes to Rena Klingenberg and her Jewelry Business Blog for featuring my tutorial a while ago), I think it's about time to make another. But I'd like to hear some opinion from my readers. I also think I may start making some really detailed ones and sell them on Etsy as downloadable files. There is a woman in Thailand who does that for $5 each, and seems to sell them pretty well.

So, here's a list of media in which I would feel comfortable making a tutorial:

1. silversmithing in general
2. soldering
3. turning your jewelry designs into reality
4. beaded work, perhaps making a successful random design
5. stained glass projects (maybe my Christmas tree earrings?)
6. pastel paintings
7. cuff bracelets
8. painting composition (decide what of a landscape scene to include)
9. bezel setting stones
10. insert your idea: ________________.

Please take a moment to comment so I can make plans!

Thanks,

Pastel Guy

www.studio206.etsy.com - jewelry store

www.matthewweld.com - pastels

My Christmas List

I need a makeover.

OK. Scratch that. My website needs a makeover. (Although some may argue for the former!).

My family has been asking for my Christmas list. But I can't think of anything (except the new Blackberry Storm, but I don't want to have to pay $250/month just for access!) I really want. Maybe I'm at that age where I don't really want much anymore. I already have a great family and a job and a house.

But what I do want is a decent website for my pastels.

In reading art books, magazines, and blogs, my website is embarassingly amateur. I found this place that was cheap, and they hooked me by saying they had these templates that made it easy to make your own, professional-looking website. HA! I just remember several chat sessions with the techies, phone calls, and late nights filled with cursing.

That was 10 months ago, as part of my 2008 New Year's Resolution.

Now, I see that there are several sites that are designed especially for artists. From having had a website for almost a year now, I have come up with a wish list - the requirements of a perfect host, if you will:

1. They will still accept my domain name. I don't want my domain name to have to be tacked onto the beginning of the hosting site, as in my Etsy store, www.studio206.etsy.com. People should be able to type in www.matthewweld.com, and go directly there.
2. It should have a cart, so I don't have to go to PayPal, make a button, copy it, and then paste it onto my page FOR EVERY PAINTING! However, I need to be able to disable this feature if my work is at my gallery and only available through them.
3. Easily adjustable/customizable templates, like blogger.com. I like this site, and I would use it exclusively, but there's nowhere to show all my work.
4. When visitors click on a thumbnail, it will take them to a page with an enlarged version. I shouldn't have to set that up. It should do it automatically. I can't do that with my current site, so I haven't taken the time to figure out a page address and all for each enlarged picture.
5. A place for reader comments, like a blog. There should be some way for the vistors to interact with my site and my work.
6. Simple Flash capabilites, like the Flickr Gadget on this blog that shows a slideshow of my jewelry and recent work. I don't want it to be so complicated that it takes forever to load. I've been to some websites that I X out of before it has finished loading, because I'm impetuous like that. And I have cable internet.

Six wishes isn't so much, is it?

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. If you have visited another artist's website that you think is amazing, leave their link in the comments section.

Thanks in advance,

PastelGuy

www.matthewweld.com - pastels

www.studio206.etsy.com - jewelry store

Blueberries for Breakfast

Canadian Blueberries (pastel on panel 8 x 10)

OK, so I dug up another painting from last summer.

This one is a little more abstract than my usuals. But the subject made such an impression on me in real life that I had to paint it. We were on Russell Lake in the middle of Quetico Provicial Wilderness. The boys I was counselor for were out in the canoes suntanning (burning?!), and I was wandering around just a little bored.

It was our Layover day, which meant we were staying at the same campground for two nights in a row.

On the shore was this little blueberry plant perfectly surrounded by granite boulders. In the foreground was an amazing array of mosses and lichens the likes of which I've only ever seen in the Canadian Wilderness. I made a quick sketch, and then a couple months later, turned it into a painting, based on my memories of the colors.

It ended up being a study of shapes. Many people have trouble with rocks, but if you just keep working on their shapes, and remember how they reflect the light and have substance and shadow, eventually they will emerge as a symphony of shapes which look like rocks.

The upper right hand corner I wanted to leave especially abstract, so the focus of the work would be within the confines of the granite rocks.

Also notice how it takes warm colors to accentuate the cool ones of the lichen in the bottom left. Likewise, it took cool blue accents to fill out the shadows under the rocks (which were colored with the Unison Darks set).

Oh, and nothing beats fresh blueberry pancakes for breakfast in the bush.

Until tomorrow,

Pastel Guy

www.matthewweld.com - pastel paintings

www.studio206.etsy.com - jewelry store

This painting is available for sale at Gallerie M in St. Louis, MO

Status Check!

Whew! It's been awfully busy around here!

State Certification exams in the morning, jewelry making in the afternoon, family time at night...when'm'I supposed to blog?

The photo here is my studio table this afternoon. If you look closely, you can see some of the earrings I have posted on my blog or on Etsy. I have a show coming up at one of the local elementary schools soon, so I'm trying to get a bunch of earrings together, since those are what sell the best. There are little crystal Christmas trees and hammered silver loops.

What I really need is for some store to come and buy the whole lot all at once. (And while I'm dreaming, let's just say they want me to create a Spring Line for them. Oh, and they're interested in my pastels as well - apparently they would make beautiful prints to sell nationwide through higher end furniture and accessory markets).

Tomorrow, I have a spot in the Jewelry Showcase on Etsy. I'll see if I can wield my snipping tool well enough to share it with everyone. Let's hope for lots of early Christmas shoppers! I've been busy trying to refine my photography, and make it more in line of what's on Etsy, so hopefully my wares will be included in more treasuries, and will be more enticing to those who're shopping.

I hope you're feeling productive and happy!

PastelGuy

www.matthewweld.com - pastels

www.studio206.etsy.com

Ramblin' Art - As Usual

OK. Back to pastels for a moment.

("Yeah, right," you think. "He's always got something more to say than just art!")

Busted.

You know, I never really ever had an opinion about anything. Now I can write about all kinds of things. My opinion on this subject of not having opinions is this:

If you're never asked for your opinion, you don't learn how to form them. Now that I'm a teacher, I have to make all sorts of decisions throught the course of a day. I remember that during my first year of teaching, the one factor that really caught me off guard about teaching was all the decisions I was having to make. I knew there would be lots of grading, and lesson plans, and committee work, and blah blah blah. What I didn't expect was, "Where should I put this?" "If I turn this in tormorrow, what will my grade be?" And then there are the questions that I could never answer: "What's my grade?" "If I get a 100 on this test, what will my grade be?" And the worst question ever: "Did we do anything important yesterday?"

Anyway. Where was I? Right. Pastels.

The painting shown here was actually painted last year. It was taken from a photo shot from a moving car. The reason I dug around and found it was because the picture was taken on our way to our first camping experience with the kids. Fortunately, they loved it, and so this last weekend we had our first 2-night camping experience with the kids. We have the best family! We have so much fun doing not much of anything... Every time we pass this portion of the interstate, I have to point that particular farm out to anyone who's listening (they're getting pretty adept at feigning complete absorption in other activities by now!).

A little story about this painting.

The farm went pretty well. The buildings and trees went in without too much trouble. The sky was just plain blue and the field was green (it was just soybeans, after all). After sitting on the mantle piece for a while, I decided the field needed some visual weight to balance the busy farm. So I started adding that red color, and it really made it work for me. That led to the yellowish highlights, and pretty soon, I had this amazing foreground.

Then the sky. (I have to admit, there was a little alcohol involved with this one).

The sky really irritated me. The clouds were too fluffy, so I started adding purple. After a couple days of this, I finally poured myself a couple fingers' worth of whiskey and started really adding texture and color. I had to adopt that who-cares-I'm-so-flippin'-tired-of-this-stupid-painting-anyway attitude. Presto change-o. Dramatic clouds with a dramatic foreground suddenly made the busy farm seem somewhat, well, pastoral.

This was one of those times when it was the journey that really made a difference, and not the product. I learned several lessons from this one that I have carried over into subsequent works.

Keep Doin' What You Love!

Pastel Guy

www.studio206.etsy.com - yes, I do jewelry, too.

www.matthewweld.com - the official pastel website.

En Plein Air

This last Sunday, I joined the nice folks from the Missouri Plein Air Painters' Association as they painted at the Johnson-Shields Recreation Area along the Mississippi River. I chose to look across the river and paint the bluffs along the other side that make up the west side of Alton, IL (see above). This was my second time actually using my pastels outdoors. Usually, if I draw outside, I will make a value study with pencil which will then be turned in to a painting in the studio. However, as with any painting, one of the challenges is to decide what message you want to convey - what is the painting's story? In this instance, there are actually quite a number of homes along the top right of the bluff, the Great River Road runs along the base (and is often flooded when the river rises more than 3 or four feet!), and there is a whole lot of industry to either side of the section I painted. I ended up deciding that it was the bluff itself that drew me to paint that particular location, and so everything else had to be simplified. A huge smoke stack, a conveyor belt with a big pile of gravel, and telephone poles were taken out from the left, and just to the right is a huge section of grain elevators and a gaudily painted riverboat casino.

But that day it was the cliff. When I arrived at about 10:00 am, the protruding parts of the bluff were in sunlight, and the rest in shade. However, by the time I set up, decided what to attack, and found my vine charcoal, I could see that the rest of the bluff face was slowly entering the sunshine. Therefore, instead of starting with the sky as I usually do, I set about quickly putting in the lights and darks of the bluff before the light changed too much. The houses went in last. I saved them because I wasn't sure I wanted to add them, since I don't usually put manmade structures in my landscapes. However, the bluff was just a bluff without them, and I think they make a pretty good addition - a spot of color if nothing else - and it gives the viewer more details about this particular bluff. Without the homes, it could be any bluff. By the time I left at noon, the painting was as you see it. I'd give it about a B-.

While the result may not be my favorite, the experience was fantastic. As my schedule allows, I plan to join these guys every Sunday, although it will probably, in reality, only be about once each month. I'll keep y'all posted!

Keep stretching those boundaries!

PastelGuy

Keepin' It Coming!

Once The Salute to the Arts show was over, I thought I would have nothing going on on the art front. Wrong! I'm not the kind who can sit still for long. In fact watching TV lasts for about 30 minutes, and then I have to get up and do something new. I think it's important to always have something on the horizon - something to look forward to, since anticipation is always half the joy. If I didn't have something in the works for after the show, there would be this huge letdown. True, there was a huge letdown, but at least there are more upward slopes in the near future.

One of them is the 2-man show which I will be part of at a local gallery in two weeks. Today after school, I took her 24 paintings for the upcoming show which starts with an open house on September 12 from 5 - 8 at Gallerie M in St. Louis. Photographer Dennis O'Malley and I will be sharing the spotlight. His photos are in black and white with subject matter from all over the world, a great complement to my pastels with subject matter from around the US. I was really great to see my paintings hanging on walls. Last weekend, they were on the panels of my display booth, but that's nothing to seeing them on well-lit walls! We discussed pricing, and agreed to bow to the market's downward turn and adjust them just a teensy bit. We agreed that it's better to move art than to keep stockpiling it! Goodness knows I don't need 24 paintings sitting around my house!

Speaking of paintings in my house, we almost bought a HUGE painting at the art show from a Florida artist named Rasa Saldaitis. Unfortunately, our downstairs refrigerator kicked the bucket a couple of days before the show, and so Martha went out and bought a new refrigerator. There goes our artwork money! I'm sure the poor artist thought I was lying when I gave her the whole new refrigerator story, but for once it's true! My son picked out one of her prints from the kids' art tent, so I guess we'll live with that one (for now!).

I also met another great artist, M. Shawn Cornell at the show. He's from St. Louis and does his paintings entirely en plein air. He and his father started the Missouri Plein Air Painters Association, and they meet every weekend at different locations in the area, no matter what the weather is! They invited me to join them on one of their paintouts, so I think I may take them up on it this weekend, since it's a three-day weekend here in the US. I'm sure there will be a later posting about that experience.

So, although the big show that has been consuming me and my family's life since April is over, I have several opportunities coming up soon, and that's what it's all about!

Keep your eye on the future!

PastelGuy

In the Newspaper!

This weekend is the debut of my pastels at the Midwest Salute to the Arts, a juried show located here in Southern Illinois. Today, the local paper ran a feature article on me and my work. It was all very last minute! The reporter called me on Monday, we met Tuesday after my school ended, and she wrote it Wednesday so that it could be in Thursday's Lifestyle Section. Whew! After a two-hour interview complete with a photographer, I was pleased with the article (despite two typos!). See the link above to read it. How did I end up being the one artist chosen to be highlighted? Pure luck? No way! I made sure the right people knew about my work in a way that made my story very intriguing.

But getting the article in the paper got me to thinking about how artists really need to promote themselves. In my last blog, I gave some advice on how to express yourself with galleries, and some of that holds true for getting free advertising, too. As the reporter was leaving, I asked her how she picked me out of all the local artists who will be featured. She said it was because of the press release I had emailed to the paper the week before. Aha!

The trick to writing an effective press release is the spin. For mine, there were several angles I could have taken with this story:

1. I'm a local artist who will be showing work in the Salute to the Arts (SA). [boring!]
2. I'm a local artist who will be displaying his work for the first time at SA [better, but not much]
3. I'm a local teacher displaying my work for the first time [better yet - more interesting]
4. I'm a local science teacher displaying my landscapes for the first time [science and art together?! WOW!]

As it turns out, this is the angle used. I then wrote 4 short (2 - 3 sentences) paragraphs on topics that could be covered in the article, just to give them ideas, so they could see the potential. It was written in the third person, as if I were writing about someone else (I thought this would assuage my conscience, who was afraid I was bragging too much!). Then I gave them my contact information and my website so they could see more of my work. I had just about given up hope when she called.

So promote yourself! It's not bragging, it's spreading news.

Keep painting!

PastelGuy

www.matthewweld.com

The Gallery Experience

In preparing for this week's Salute to the Arts, I have been in contact with Susan of Gallerie M, the gallery in St. Louis which displays my work. She has been so easy to work with that it made me start thinking about how important it is for artists to have a positive working relationship with their business partners, the galleries who showcase their work.

On September 15th, I will be a featured artist at an open house at Gallerie M. Susan agreed to prepare the advertising materials a little early so that I could hand them out during this weekend's show. Although I haven't seen them yet, I did send some images over so that she could select one for the front of the postcard she will mail to her mailing list. As a last minute addition to all I have going on Friday with setting up for the show opening on Friday, I agreed to drive over and pick up a few hundred postcards. Twenty minutes later, I phoned her back, asking if I could borrow a couple of my paintings on display for the show. She said no problem, she would have them ready with the postcards when I drop by to pick them up early Friday morning. I guess when we're both willing to "scratch the other's back," it is a win-win situation for everyone.

However, I know this isn't true for all artists. Many don't communicate with their galleries, figuring that they are the 'artiste' and simple phone calls are beneath them. I couldn't disagree more. You are there for each other. While the gallery certainly needs the artists' works to display and sell, there are millions of artists out there, so the artist needs to cultivate a friendly yet professional working relationship with their galleries. Off the top of my head, here is a quick list of 5 pieces of advice for artists seeking gallery representation:

1. In communications, make sure your emails are free of errors - grammatical, spelling, mechanics, etc.
2. When meeting gallery owners in person, dress professionally. A casual business would be appropriate, I think. If there are patrons in the gallery while you are there, you don't want to give the image that the gallery works with ruffians.
3. Make sure you can communicate with your audience. Be able to explain your art - what it means, how you do it. And for heaven's sake, don't be offended when you're asked!
4. Walk that fine line between self deprecation and self aggrandizement. You don't want to seem like a pompous you-know-what, yet you have to be honest about your abilities and your accomplishments. You must have talent, or the gallery wouldn't have contacted you. Be gracious in accepting compliments, be honest about your abilities. No one can fault you for that.
5. Follow up your visits with a short note - just like your mom used to make you write to grandma after Christmas (or whatever holiday).
6. Keep your prices in line with what they are at the gallery. You certainly don't want to undercut them, and by the same token you don't want to ruin their reputation by making them seem like a bargain basement. I have a published price list that goes by size, so a 16 x 20 at the show this weekend is the same as it would be at Gallerie M, as it would be if I sold it to my neighbor.

My gallery experience has been very positive, and I look forward to a long relationship with Gallerie M. I hope that your experiences are/will be the same. I would be interested in hearing some of your stories.

Peace,

PastelGuy

www.matthewweld.com

Finding Subject Matter - in Canada

Blustery Day 16 x 20 pastel on panel

Every summer, for the last 6 years, I have accompanied teenagers into the Canadian Wilderness. We take high school students into Quetico Provincial Wilderness through an ecotour outfitter Voyageur Wilderness Programme. The Savoie family in charge does an amazing job of educating youngsters in environmental stewardship by example, teaching, and practice. For 7 days and 6 nights, we travel through the wilderness practicing no trace camping in an area where motorized anything is banned. What an exhilirating experience for me and a life-altering experience for them!

With so much beautiful scenery, it's hard not to be inspired to paint. This last July when we were there, we went along a mile-long portage (where you have to carry all your gear from one lake to the next) that bordered some amazing rapids. Since I usually miss all the scenery on a portage with my head stuck in a canoe, I had to make a trip back sans gear to catch some of views. The painting above was done from a photo taken along the portage. The energy experienced in the rapids along the ground and in the clouds flying by in the sky was overwhelming on one level, and quite peaceful on another. One minute I felt very small and insignificant, yet the next I felt as though I was a part of the vastness - the oneness - and that I could just sit and close my eyes...

All that is what I tried to capture in this painting. I started the sky and the spruce trees in my grandmother's basement in Montana, and then finished it here at home in Illinois. Yet every time I make a painting from a place I know, it takes me back, and that's just one of the great things about art.

I just hope that other people make a similar connection. I realize it won't be the same, but perhaps they have experienced something similar in a completely different location. Or maybe this scene just reminds them of a place, or perhaps they just connect to the energy.

Peace, and keep doing what you love,

PastelGuy