Cramming & Catching Up

This post will be rather short today as I have some catching up to do on minis..... 

Admittedly, as you may have noticed, I haven't done any minis this week.  This week was the deadline of an art show competition and even though I am more of a steady farming type of artist - working at the same routine pace each day,  a week or two before a deadline I am always cramming in the hopes of that one last painting that will just knock everybody's socks off. I don't think this has ever worked once! Ha Ha. But stubbornly, I always hold out hope that it will.  So there is lots of fast food, unwashed dishes, piled up mail, dwindling food in the kitchen and no time for the supermarket. Painful photographing (trust me this is the most frustrating part) and editing of the work. Trying to decide whether or not to enter the piece that photographs really well or the piece that has something special in person- sigh. This is often the case, and since most competitions now are judging from digital images there is not much you can do about it.   Emotionally, the cycle tends to go through hope, determination, anxiety, self-doubt, hope, preparing for rejection, acceptance that I have done the best I could and let the chips fall where they may.  

So now that is done, I can get back to my normal working schedule which produces between: 1-3 gallery paintings a week depending on their complexity and size, my 1 hour daily sketch, and on average 1 day of teaching a week. 

 

We are only 24 HOURS AWAY FROM THE MINI GIVEAWAY!  I hope you will JOIN my blog, by clicking that little Green Google Join button on the right. Check to make sure you show up in the members list underneath.

I started catching up on minis yesterday afternoon and with that said, I gotta go so I can do more today! I want the winner to have plenty to choose from. 

Thank you all so much for following, commenting, pinning, sharing, bidding, etc! All of it helps keep me striving daily for artistic achievement.

Much Love,
Kelli

Here are some of the gallery paintings finished this month:

 

"Cottage Roses" - 18"x14" - oil on panel - $2000

 

"Apples with Brass Bucket" - 16"x20" - oil on linen - $2400

 

"Daisies and Blue" - 24"x30" - oil on linen - $4800

 

"Pink Gladiolus" - 24"x20" - $4000

 

"At Her Dressing Table" - 30"x40" - oil on linen - $4800

 

"Champagne Pink & Red Roses" - 14"x18" - oil on panel - $2000

 

1 Week Away From My Mini Giveaway!

That's right we are just 1 week away from my mini painting giveaway.  Right now your odds are 1 in 64!  If you would like a chance to win one of my mini paintings please make sure that you JOIN the blog. You will see your picture listed among the members. Which means you will probably have to sit down at an actual computer to do this, the phones are not showing the button to join.

I am so excited to give someone a painting on February 1st!  I will announce the winner here.  I ask that the winner emails me at kelli@kellifolsom.com and I will give you a list of available paintings to choose from.

  I will be coming out with a new batch of minis next week so please keep watching my Daily Paintworks gallery on the right hand side of the page or follow my facebook page. Another big thank you to everyone who has purchased my work! I am soooo looking forward to writing a big check to Wells Fargo and chop down that student loan.  Also even if you can't purchase something, every time you like, comment, pin or share me on google+, it is a huge help you guys!  This really gets my work out there to more people.

 

ONLINE TUTORIALS:

If you are an artist and wondering how I paint you may not know that I have some free YOU TUBE mini tutorials and I plan to do more:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpeTocscj4o

Also I do have a full 2 1/2 hour video + 8 page written lesson available here:
http://www.openstudioonline.com/Account/Workshop/SecurePages/WorkshopEntryPage.aspx?WorkshopId=37

And you can also schedule critiques for your paintings on this mentor website.

SHOWING UP:

Down to business, I wanted to write about showing up.  It's so important that you are showing up everyday in your studio and doing deep work.  Deep work can only come from having a set amount of uninterrupted time to focus. Yes this means no internet, no phones, no getting up every 5 minutes because you remembered something you have to do.  No studying someone elses work for 30 more minutes. If you only have an hour, use that hour! Everyday!  There is so much that you can only learn from time in the saddle. (Check out Cal Newport interviews on the topic deep work on YouTube)

 These days it seems like we have an unending wealth of knowledge from other people who are masters and that is great of course, but  just because one "knows" what they are to do does not mean that they can do it.  Unfortunately, you can "know" and then sit down to do and the "knowing" does not come out. You know what I'm talking about don't you? Aaarrgghhh, I should be better than this!  This can be so frustrating.....and well, I wish I had some better news for you, but there is no way around it, you just have to not be able to do for a while. This is where a lot of people give up.  I encourage you to be willing to make paintings that do not live up to your knowledge.  It's the only way. You can't get to a great painting by doing one painting. I promise you that one day you will be painting and all of the sudden you will realize that your skillset has caught up a little bit to your knowledge.

 When this happens, EUREEKA! Go get a root beer float folks, it's time to celebrate.  I tell you nothing makes me happier than realizing that after months of struggling I have finally reached a new level.  I don't even give a shit what anybody else thinks about it or that it's not as good as So and So. I know that I improved! I know that I will keep improving. I recently had this experience with my portrait painting.  I've been going to group once a week at least for months, I went to 2 portrait painting workshops this year, I've watched videos, I've analyzed my paintings and master paintings.....and finally my portraits started to show improvement this week.  You have to be willing to fail, be a beginner, look like a fool in front of everyone, be vulnerable and open and allow someone else to help you!   This is so hard, but personally NOTHING is worth missing my goal of improvement - especially my own insecurities. 

 

Some minis from this week:

I painted another pear mini by special request. No matter how many times I paint pears, I always find it a challenging study and try hard not to make they look like light bulbs.

Pink & Red Carnations, 7"x5", Starting bid $50!

I loved the spiraling light on these carnations, sort of a contrapposto of flowers!http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/496873

or buy it now for $75. If you don't have paypal just email me for another form of payment.

 

 

What else do I do?

Of course my schedule doesn't just include painting 1 hr mini sketches. I also complete up to 3 larger gallery works a week. In addition to hiring a model once a week privately and going to a portrait group. 

 

Here is one of my recent gallery paintings, "Apple Butter Bucket" - 16"x20" - oil on linen

and you guessed it, it is for sale $2000 framed and shipped.  So just email me if you are interested. I also do a 2-4 month payment plan, $500 a month. I can take credit cards as well.  

 

Framed in black and gold, it's about 23"x 27".

 

 

You can already see one of my portrait sketches in the background there. Here are some of the portrait sketches I've done recently , total working time is about 2 1/2 hours each and some rough 30 minute figure sketches in my studio searching for ideas. It's said that you shouldn't show your unfinished work, but I don't know- I always enjoy seeing the artists sketches that I admire. It gives me an idea of how they were trying to discover and art gold didn't just ooze out of their fingertips all the time!

 

30 minute figure sketches:

 

 

2 1/2 hour portrait sketches....I had some root beer floats to celebrate my progress!

Portrait of Kiana

Portrait of Kelly

 

The Work is Joyful!

Once again I am overwhelmed by the appreciation and support I receive on a daily basis! Every time you comment on a painting, share my work on social media sites, add me on google+ or like a youtube video and of course buy a painting, it helps me out tremendously.  So, I want to say a big THANK YOU!  

So often, I get comments about my work ethic....and I would like to not sound like a Pollyanna, but I often wish I had more daylight hours to work by or more energy because the work is so enjoyable. Not always pleasurable, but joyful.  It is very important for me to keep it this way. To guard my happiness and keep the positive momentum going, lest that sneaky little sister self-doubt should creep in and sabotage my progress. 

As far as the minis go, I have been doing them off and on for about 4 years and I have always set a timer. I started doing this my last year of school to work through problems faster.  Between doing demonstrations for classes and these minis, I have gotten better at prioritizing and painting faster.  I've always loved a good drill!  Something about the focus, the adrenaline, no time to overthink - just whatever is in there comes to the surface.  When I was in grade school I lived for the end of the week math drills where whoever completed the quiz first with a perfect score got a big giant cookie with M&Ms in it. Now that was some motivation for a little 8 year old, and I would win almost every time. I really just wanted to win, often I would just split the cookie with all of my friends.  I guess not much has changed about my personality. If you are a painter, I hope you embrace your personality traits and use them to fuel your progress. It may be in a totally different way than mine.

 

Here are some of my minis completed this week:

"A Good Pearing" - 7"x5"

This one was really fun to do! I've always loved a good wine bottle painting. The shiny highlight and reflections I just can't resist. I also really enjoyed putting down some juicy light on that pear.

This one still doesn't have a bid on it. You can get it for $50 here: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/494629

 

"Two of a Kind" - 6"x6"

This one was probably the hardest to do in 1 hour, just because it was more up close and I had to try to model the form more. All of those little ins and outs where the stem comes out of the green pear was tough, especially because when oils are fresh out of the tube they are really soft and buttery so it can be tough to get a lot of fine detail.

 

"Yellow and Pink Flowers" - 6"x6"

This one was just so much fun to paint! I wanted to do all shades of pinks,purples and reds and have the yellow carnations really pop.  I accidentally ordered some brights (paintbrushes) and I found they came in handy on getting those super lit crisp edges. 

 

"Sunflowers on Blue" - 7"x5"

Well they are all fun to do, but I can never resist a sunflower.....or two! Decided to pair it with a lighter background this time. (This one did not photo well. I think because it is dark outside this morning and overcast. The background is more of a blue-green. I'll try to retake tomorrow).

Available here for $50: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/495764

 

"Roses and Carnations" - 9"x12" - oil on panel

I loved that mini so much I decided to do a variation on it for my classroom demonstration. This time with some roses- yikes!  I'm really getting into studying roses lately and they are still intimidating to me.  I decided to take it a bit more dramatic this time with a bolder composition and darker background.  I spent about 90 minutes on this one with talking.

Starting bid is $95 here: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/495765

 

 

HAPPY PAINTING EVERYONE!!!

Don't forget to JOIN my blog (your id badge will show up under the members list) if you want to WIN  one of my paintings on January 31st.

Mini Painting Giveaway January 31st!

I just want to say first of all how overwhelmed I am by all of the support I receive for my work on a daily basis. Sometimes I just think, "How did I get so lucky?"......and then I think "Oh yeah- hard work, student loans, sharing that work....and people actually wanting that work.....and maybe a little touch of grace or luck too!" 

So my campaign this year (as I mentioned in my previous post) is to sell my daily mini paintings as a way to dig out from underneath this burden of student loan debt.  ALREADY this month you have given me an extra $350 to go towards my payment this month! Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy your new paintings.

 

Please JOIN my blog (look for the tab join this site on the right hand side) if you want a chance to WIN one of my minis! I will draw a name and announce the winner here on January 31st. 

 

Here are some of the daily paintings I have done since after Christmas :

I bought a bouquet of Yellow Roses and I was really getting into practicing those. So there's a lot of those - ha ha.  I have always found roses to be very complex and intimidating to paint, so I figured it was time to put in some time on them.  Of course even in these minis, I am always trying to make a painting with good design as well. Sometimes these lead to a larger work if it is strong enough.  I played around with high key, middle key and low key values as well as trying out different color combinations with the yellow. It's really amazing how many different looks you can come up with using one subject.  The other hard part is trying to study their delicacy and shape in one hour. I really focused a lot of time and energy on the contours and tried to keep their overall shape close in value regardless of shadows so their abstract shapes would remain strong.  I'm not sure what I am going to work on next, now that my roses died!

New Year, New Committment

About 8 years ago I decided to make my dream come true to become an artist. I don't know that it was a dream or just a necessity. Anyhow, I had to do it.  I realize how fortunate I am to be able to be an artist full time, especially as a single woman without additional support. Did I say fortunate....sometimes I am actually shocked and don't know how everything lined up for it to happen. So many things could have gone wrong - - - but they didn't.  I am so grateful to live in a country with the freedom to chase your dreams. I still believe in the American dream that you can make it happen....but I also know for every one of me there may be 5 others who keep trying and haven't "made it" YET. 

With that being said, just because we have the freedom to chase the dream does not mean that the dream will be free - ha ha.  I'm sure there are a number of ways I could have chosen to pursue my goal, but 8 years ago the only thing I knew to do was go to an art college and get a degree in studio art. This left me with close to $100,000 in student loan debt. Yikes is right.....I've tried not to think about it and just keep painting!

I am coming up on 4 years out of art school and I have been able to make a living selling my work. I started off living bare bones, renting rooms out of strangers houses for cheap rent. When I moved back to Oklahoma, I lived in a cheap 1 bedroom apartment that I painted out of for 2 years. This was not the bottom of the barrel, but I'm not going to lie and say that it wasn't a depressing place to live. I was so stressed out those first few months, terrified at the thought that I might have to get a job that would take me away from painting.  Still, the situation was not exactly leaving me dancing in the meadow with joy at the prospect of not being able to pay the rent one month. Whether it was hard work, skill, hustle, good fortune, destiny or a combination of all,  but thankfully that never happened.

Last year I was actually able to upgrade to a nicer place to live with a bigger studio (which is still the living room) and better light. I was even able to save some money as a safety net for the future. I was even able to go to a couple of workshops this year to try and improve my paintings again. I am thrilled to say the least with my progress and so grateful for the prosperity. 2015 was one of the happiest years of my life. But the debt is a $500+ a month burden (that's even income based payments) and I want to start chopping away at it so I can have a better future that might even include owning a home and studio!

My goal for 2016 is to chip away at that student loan debt! I have always done stretches of daily painting sketches, but this year my goal is to do one every single day.

• A daily 60 minute sketch. 
• They will cover all genres and different mediums over the course of the year. 
• They will start at $50 on auction with free shipping in U.S.
• I will post about them here every week and also keep you informed of my larger gallery work. 

They will be available for sale and my goal this year is to be able to apply $15,000 dollars to my student loans.

Here are some of my first daily sketches (getting a jumpstart on the new year!)

"Friendly Yellows" - 6"x6" - oil on panel - 60 minute sketch

Chinese Jar against Red - 6"x6" - oil on panel - 60 minute sketch

"It's You Against You"

Some of you may know that I recently took a workshop with David Leffel and Sherrie McGraw last month in the very lovely Santa Fe, New Mexico.  It was  a wonderful experience that I will never forget. I was unbearably giddy at the sight of costumed models, a room full of people hungry to paint and waiting on bated breath for the words of wisdom that would come from the instructors. 

David Leffel always has these little sayings, what he calls mantras, and I would agree with the term mantra because they are meant to make you think - to get you to ponder....and if you do ponder and you let it, these innocent little mantras seep into your mind and take up residence carving pathways each day until you come to understand new layers of its meaning.

It's always so funny to me that one or two of these little sayings for our art zen master ;) will just keep creeping up all the time. It's as if the universe won't leave me alone about it! So lately it's "It's you against you" that is haunting me continuously.  Now mind you, when he said it to me, I was really frustrated at the time with my painting and I although I adore this sweet little man who just wanted to help, I was gritting my teeth thinking, "How bout it's me against you! Let's go! I've had it! I'm sick of this freaking painting!!!!! Aaaarrrggghhhh".  But of course I couldn't say that, I had to smile and pretend to not be on the verge of a major hissy fit, so that the great David Leffel would see how mature and open I am! Ha Ha.  Of course going to this class gave me, once again, a great renewed compassion for my students.

I don't know if anyone else out there is like me in that you get to this breaking point of frustration and you just want to scream, cry, punch something, or maybe Frisbee your drawing board across the beach and curse (obviously this is something I've done!) and certainly anyone who tries to give you kind words of wisdom at this moment is not welcome!!! Ha Ha. I don't care who they are. You are past the point of all reason my friend. Honestly when I threw my drawing board across the beach and boldly proclaimed that I was , "Sick of this shit! I give up!" , I felt such a huge relief from the frustration. I realized that I had forgotten that I was NOT alone when I looked over and saw my boyfriend smiling and I just started dying laughing. In fact it still makes me smile. So it's not all bad! Although the emotion is definitely unpleasant, sometimes the heat of conflict can bring healing and resolution.

However, here is the dangerous part....and that is getting so frustrated that you quit maybe for a day, two days, a week....or a year.  Steven Pressfield ( author of War of Art and Do the Work) refers to my above examples as RESISTANCE. 

I recently had yet another experience with good ole' resistance where I experienced the above torture in a portrait painting session. I was at the depths of despair, total frustration, ripping myself apart for feeling so irritated......and then not 1 hour later after I got the painting home I thought, "Hey, wow this isn't so bad....in fact I think this is the best portrait I have ever done!".  WOW!!! Yes I felt really OFF balance- to say the least.  In my opinion when you are having that much of an emotional roller coaster over a piece of artwork, it's just doesn't ring true.  When both emotions are on opposite ends of the spectrum like that, the real truth is somewhere in the middle. Both are FANTASIES. One is the " I'm a horrible artist and I never get any better" fantasy and the other is "this painting just made me an artistic genius" fantasy. Sweet but boring reality is waiting for you to join it somewhere in the middle.

So my sweet friends, if you too have struggled with these issues I encourage you to have patience with yourself.  Learning to paint is simply not glamorous. I'm sorry, it just isn't. Fulfilling-Yes. Glamorous-No. It's painting with patience every day....every day.....every day....did I say every day....oh yeah...every day. You build your legacy every day, one painting at a time. Sadly, we only tend to notice artists once they have been doing this for 10 or 20 solid years. We don't see their laborious toil and daily monotonous tending of their garden.  So when you are caught up the heat of frustration, take a deep breath and say "I don't like this, or this hurts."  It's a psychological trick to get out of your emotional reaction.  The moment and the pain (resistance) will pass and you will still be painting again in 10 minutes, an hour or tomorrow. 

Some of my recent paintings:

Copper, Oranges and French Blue - 24"x20" - oil on linen

 

Tea and Gold Pears - 11x14" -oil on panel - $1300

"Ode to a Pear" - 9x12" - oil on panel - $1100

Both above paintings are available at www.theprinciplegallery.com

Self portrait with Pearl Necklace - 6"x6" - oil on panel - $400

available at Randy Higbee's Show here: http://www.dailybrushwork.com/Sort.aspx?UserID=5789&GSID=1068&pg=10

 

COURAGE TO CREATE

I am fortunate that at various shows and workshops I receive the compliment on how good my work is.  (In fact, I have become somewhat of a compliment junkie)  For some reason the last time I received this compliment I was struck immediately with the thought, "I have no excuse not to be good."  The reason being that it is simply common sense that the more you practice the better you get.  I mean weren't we all taught this as children? I can still hear the voice in my head from various adults as a child saying, "practice makes perfect".  So why, is it is so hard to accept it as an adult now? When I tell people, well I've been painting the equivalent of a full time job for 8 years so I better be pretty good, they look at me with disbelief.  I don't know every one's story and I know that a lot of the time we tend to idealize people into this rare ball of talent that we possibly cannot attain and will never be........that somehow they were just blessed with this and they were magically picked by fate to succeed. I am all for magic, mystery, fate and the unknown and I know we are all born with different abilities and talents that I think are predetermined by whatever cause you want to call it........but I also know is that if you spend over 16,000 hours (that's 40 hours a week for 8 years) working on a skillset, you are bound to get better! I'm sure you are familiar with the 10,000 hour mastery theory? Now, I would not call myself a master of course but I've put in 1 1/2 times that amount so I better be pretty darn good.

The problem I think often is that people are not putting in consistent chunks of time to get good at what they do.  You have to be honest with yourself. How many real hours are clocking in with painting?  Because that's where it counts.  Don't confuse artistic activities like straightening up the studio, ordering supplies, facebooking, looking at references, watching art tutorials, reading blogs, toning canvases (well I think you get the point) as CREATING ART!

And yeah, it sucks. I know it sucks.  I wish it came easier. I wish I could be spectacular without all the effort!  ;)  It's hard stepping up to that easel every day and painting. Sometimes it even feels like it gets harder and harder, but there is no way around it, I've got to actually CREATE in order to create.  So I think the 2 top qualities for an artist to develop are COURAGE and HONESTY. 

It takes courage for me to create and frankly half the time I trick myself into it by saying well I don't give a shit how this turns out, so I don't chicken out.  The second thing that is difficult is to be honest. I know when I need to try setting something up for the 10th time and I know when I didn't give it my all and when I was fearful or lazy in a painting, where I didn't take the risk. All of this courage and honesty is alone what will make the paintings better.  I wanted to share some thoughts on this because sometimes I think it's too easy to think that artists who put out a lot of work, or who seem so confident while they are painting don't experience fear. 

So I encourage you today to have the COURAGE to create.

Some of my favorite books related to this topic:

The Courage to Create by Rollo May : https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=Oj_Z1xImAwoC&source=productsearch&utm_source=HA_Desktop_US&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=PLA&pcampaignid=MKTAD0930BO1&gl=US&gclid=CKCdns2TjskCFQbWfgodxWUGaQ&gclsrc=ds

War of Art by Steven Pressfield: http://www.stevenpressfield.com/the-war-of-art/

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594634718/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=86276772067&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4571683959837468642&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_6ws444ecdr_b

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho: http://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0062315005/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447443743&sr=1-1&keywords=the+alchemist+paulo+Coelho

Some paintings I've recently completed.