Night flight

I love flying when its dark or the sun is just setting.  Its as if you're suspended between two worlds, with a perfect sky above and hints of life seen below the clouds.

This little painting was from memory, flying over a headland, getting ready to land.  Little breaks in the cloud allowed glimpses of the lights of a town below, looking like pins of light on a map.


This is 6 x 6 on gesso board in oils.

Jellyfish

I keep trying with this jellyfish and am very slowly making progress with glazing and layers of colour.  The head of the jellyfish still isn't the right shape, but its moving into the place I want it.  Its in oils on gallery canvas and looks so much different in real life.  I know I always say this, but photographs, especially ones taken at night never do justice to images.  And why this decided to turn on its side, who knows??!

I may try this subject in another medium and see what happens.  I'm thinking that it may make a good candidate for a wax batik piece or perhaps a watercolour on paper textured with tissue.  A little study to test the waters may be in order.

I'm just about ready for the next exhibition which opens next week.  Deep breath.   I have a number of smaller works in this exhibition as well as some larger pieces too.  Keeping up with production to ensure there is something new is challenging, but doable.  A couple of the new pieces framed up beautifully.  I'm almost loathe to part with them now!  But I'm hoping they'll find new homes to go to during October.

Dabs of paint

 

A pale self-portrait looked out of the mirror with the serious eyes of all self-portraits.  Vladimir Nabokov

A few more dabs of paint while I experiment with a looser style and a simply laying down of colour as opposed to blending paint.  Pointillism to a degree, but larger.  There is no perfection here and none is strived for.  Its painting, pure and simple.  Thinking has been banned.

Exhibiting virtually

I've toyed with the concept of virtual exhibitions for a few months and it is available is several forms of software at varying levels of sophistication and pricing. Its a step up from static websites or blogs, going from two dimension to three dimension views.

VirtualGallery.com is a meeting point for art buyers and sellers; we play a mediating role to facilitate the purchase and sale of works through a system that guarantees:

• A reliable environment for both parties.
• The authenticity of the works on sale.
• The opportunity to return them.

I'm starting with Virtual Gallery for a trial to see how a virtual gallery performs and what interest it garners.  The gallery performs as a three dimensional room or rooms, depending on how many pieces are displayed, with art on all walls which can be viewed as the mouse (viewer) turns right or left.

Closer views of the art can be seen by clicking on a piece, as well as information about the piece, pricing, etc.  The software works as a cross between a website and a gallery , with a commission paid on sales and future development into on demand printing being researched by the organizers.  The commission rate for the free version is 20%.  If you buy the package, it drops to 10% with more options available.

There is an option to link updates and events to Facebook or Twitter and to have an opening event for the gallery. I haven't really looked at the sales option for this trial, as I'm not sure if I want to go this route in this environment or not yet.

I'm using some of my gyotaku and fish paintings for this gallery view.  If you take a peek at the virtual gallery, I'd love to know what you think about the concept and how you think it compares to blogs, websites and online gallery options for potential exposure and sales of art.

Jeanette Jobson Fine Art - The Gyotaku Project

Colours and shapes

Its been another really busy weekend and only tonight that I've had much time to concentrate on any painting.
Today the exhibit at Masonic Temple was taken down and now another one is looming which opens on October 6th.

While I deal with the flurry of things that must occur to make the next exhibit work, I'm still considering where I want to go and what I want to do with my art.  Sometimes just painting without thinking too much about it helps.  I know I always overthink my art and that can be the downfall.  Those first strokes are often the best ones, only to be obliterated by other strokes that take away the freshness.

I was determined to let the paint lie as it fell in this start of a self portrait.  Its oil on an 8" x 8" canvas panel.  Nothing serious, no under drawing, no thinking, just me feeling my way through the world of colour and shape.