Linda Blondheim Art Studio Landscapes Of The South

North Carolina Hills
4x6 inches
gouache on acid free mat board.


See my paintings HERE


Art Notes Blog HERE

Friends,
I will be away on a paint out trip next week March 2-8, 2008. Please be patient until I return the following Thursday.


Painters Tip


Using Art as a Visual Aide Attracts Attention from Collectors

Soon I will have a few events where lots of collectors will be present. Competing with other artists is tough, especially when all of you paint the same subjects. I have come up with a way to get viewers interested in my work. I have created a story board about the stages of a painting. The first four stages and a final finished painting. The last stage has information about my agent's web site and mine. People are interested in how things work. I believe they will remember my work because they have seen and learned something about my process. All I have to do is take a table top easel and my story board with me to all of my spring events. The board will work in the wet room for all of the paint outs and at the Garden party where I will be painting. I can see many possibilities for this, including gallery openings, lectures and demonstrations for studio parties,art league meetings,interior decorators, artist residencies and museum portfolios and proposals.

I used a simple piece of foam board. I did the four stages in gouache on paper, mounting them on mat board. The fifth painting is a real oil painting with a nice mat in front of it for a nice presentation. I typed out all of the labels and glued them onto the board under each painting. I will keep the board in a sealed plastic bag for transportation.






If this seems to be popular, I can actually have a nice professional presentation done by a graphic designer instead of the homemade look, but I think this will do for now.

I am very happy to share this idea with you all, but I do ask those painters who go to the same events with me not to use the idea to compete with me. Use it somewhere else please :>)

Linda Blondheim Art Studio Landscapes Of The South

Homosassa River
24x24 inches
oil on canvas

See my paintings HERE

Art Notes Blog HERE



Painters Tip


Thoughts about Painting Reflections

There are lots of ways to approach painting water reflections. Some painters make a science of it, being very precise, others keep it minimal with simple streaks across the water in a side to side motion. My method is simple. I am not a realist painter and so I approach landscape painting from a design perspective rather than trying to copy nature. I like to lay in the basic elements of the reflection, trees, color masses and so forth, early in the painting. Then I will ignore the water for some time while I work on the land masses. I save the water for last, using a semi abstract method to apply the paint. I like to use diagonals and curves to leave motion on the surface in areas, laying in dark and light, color and so forth, esentially plugging it in approximately where it would be in the scene I'm painting.

I never swish the paint from side to side, preferring to have a cleaner crisp placement. Instead, I lay in short strokes with color over color, creating a broken refracted look to the paint surface. Some of the paint is left untouched and smooth, other areas are textured. My reflectons are never exact or perfect mirrors because I think the painting is more interesting without perfection. Sometimes I will turn the painting upside down to check for linear elements.

The best way to learn to paint water is to do small studies . Do studies of patterns, different atmospheric conditions and so forth, until you are very comfortable painting water in all kinds of conditions. Water is about light and reflection. Don't make it too predictable. Don't think of it as water, but instead, as form,color, and value.

Linda Blondheim Art Studio Landscapes Of The South

Cypress Trees
4x6 inches
gouache on cold press watercolor paper

See my paintings HERE

Art Notes Blog HERE



Painters Tip

Working on a Series or Theme

I've been working for a couple of years on my Florida River series. It has been a very interesting journey and I have loved every minute of it. My advice is to do some planning before you begin a long term series. Take lots of notes about your process and your journey. Write down your basic goals for the series. Will it be educational for your viewers? How will you support this idea? With studies, a journal? Will you want to show the body of work in a gallery or museum? As you sell the paintings, will you keep a record of you the patrons are, so that you can borrow the paintings back for exhibition?

Often times my series just happen without forethought. I often have to play catch up with documentation, studies and so forth after the series is well on its way. That's ok too. The first river paintings were just happenstance, with no thought in mind for a body of work. They are long gone, but after a couple of months, I started getting excited about the paintings and began to be more serious in my long term approach to this project. It has only been in the last month or two that I started being quite serious about all the parts and pieces in terms of the educational value of this journey for nature enthusiasts, conservationists, and art lovers. Now I do multiple 4x6 inch studies of the rivers I intend to paint, so that I can share these with those who wish to know the painting process. I use my Art Notes blog to record my process and thoughts about the series. I will be able to simply print it all out and write the essay to show with the studies and the paintings to make a complete presentation for this body of work.

I am very much looking forward to traveling to Wekiva River State Park in two weeks where I will have a week to paint the river, springs and lakes in the park. I will be able to take lots of notes and do many small studies of the area to add to the series.

Planning a project and series will enrich your experience beyond measure. The next time you start out on a series, think of the possibilities which will enhance your body of work. Not just for your patrons but for your own knowledge and growth.

Linda Blondheim Art Studio

Lake Alice
6x9 inches
oil on panel


See my paintings Here

Art Notes Blog HERE






Painters Tip


Edge Control in your paintings

A found edge gives momentum.

Hard edges block the eye from moving into adjacent spaces.

They can effectively move the viewers eyes through a painting.

Soft and lost edges allow the viewer to move freely between sections of the painting.

Varied edges create interest in the painting.

Edges can be external or internal, with external defining the outside shapes and internal defining folds or patterns in an object.

Color and pattern can be spilled over edges, connecting and relating the two forms

The biggest problem I see for beginning landscape painters is a lack of variety in their edge work. It is either all loose and messy or all tight and hard. It's really important to understand that the eyes see soft edge work in the distance and more refined edgework where they are focusing. Your edgework directs the viewer to important areas of the painting. Remember that the viewer will never see the scene you are painting. It is the painters job to direct them through the painting in a pleasing way.