abstract painting fused with realism Archives – Page 2 of 5

New Downtown Studio Opening May 4th

May 3, 2018 By Carol McIntyre

You are INVITED!

On Friday, May 4th, my new downtown studio is opening during First Friday Art Walk, from 5pm-8pm. If you are in the area, please stop in. Several other art venues in the neighborhood will be open during this art walk. There are several wonderful restaurants near-by.

This is the first time I will have my poured paintings available for sale.

Location:

Michael Garman Second Floor Studios

2418 W. Colorado Avenue

Colorado Springs, CO 80904.

Entrance is in the middle of the block of Colbrunn Ct, just north of Colorado Avenue. Note: There is no available elevator to the 2nd floor. There are 22 stairs with two landings.

I am in Studio “T.” Each studio is identified by a letter and its own door color. Of course I had to paint mine purple.

studio opening, oil painting lesson, color theory, acrylic painting lesson

The hallway view of Studio “T.”

PS If you want to come before the main door opens at 5pm, please call me at: 719-510-0006. I am sure I will be there from 3pm on.

I had fun jazzing up the “T” for my door. I even poured some paint on it.

I look forward to seeing you Friday!

Alcohol Obsessed Painting is Not For Drunks

March 4, 2017 By Carol McIntyre

What is ‘alcohol obsessed painting?’ As a creative, do you sometimes find yourself obsessed with some technique or skill that you would like to learn? My latest obsession is alcohol. No, not the kind that comes in a whiskey bottle, but the rubbing or isopropyl alcohol that you can purchase in any grocery or pharmacy for about $0.79.

Below you can see the under painting for 3 different paintings where I used alcohol to create amebae-like shapes. You can probably surmise that I am, in fact, obsessed with this alcohol technique! LOL! Many would say that I have gone overboard.

How Do I Create These Alcohol Obsessed Paintings?

Please let me start out with a qualifier: I have only been experimenting with this obsession for a couple of months, so I know I have more to learn. Your suggestions and experiences are welcomed.

These are my basic materials:

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Surviving an Emotional Tailspin After a Show Cancellation

August 17, 2016 By Carol McIntyre

For nearly a year, an opportunity to create a new body of paintings for a one-person show had been on my calendar. The opening date was only two months away. Then I received an email that no one wants to receive. It told me that the venue was going out of business. Hence my show had been cancelled!!

Oh, WOW! Mentally and emotionally I went into a tailspin for about 24 hours.

For several weeks I had been painting intensely about a new concept for the show. The title was going to be, “Celebrating the Art of Wine & Spirits.” I love a good glass of wine and I do partake in a good martini periodically. This venue taught classes on wine and spirits, as well as hosted a number of different kinds of events. The subject was perfect.

Ladies Night Out, 24×30 mixed media on canvas.

This emotional tailspin after a show cancellation took me for a ride. Where did I go?

A huge wave of disappointment flowed through me. Ideas for paintings had been swimming in my head for months and I was excited about putting them into paint on canvas. For nearly a year, I had been collecting images and taking photographs, sketching ideas, etc. Already, I was liking the results of my concept.
Then I got angry. Interestingly, I was more upset with myself than I was at the business owner who had failed me. My negative brain chatter started beating me up with, “Why do you choose venues that are not successful for you?” And little of the poor me stuff rambled through my brain. I literally paced back and forth trying to grasp what had happened.
Next, I got upset again because I had altered my entire Fall schedule to accommodate the date of this show. For example:
- The opening date prevented me from participating in a local regional artist studio tour;
- I also had to turn down another opportunity to show my paintings at a conference;
- A friend had written that she wanted to visit a couple weeks before the show and I said, “No,” because I knew that I would be too occupied at that time to enjoy her visit;
- My husband’s work was taking him to Dublin, Ireland at the exact same time, and I could not join him because of this commitment.
- I don’t think people realize how our lives are impacted when we artists schedule various events.
Then I wondered, “What was I going to do with these paintings about wine and martinis? Was it a waste of my time?”

Visions of Paris, 20×20 mixed media on board.

I know myself well enough to know that I have to go on this emotional and mental roller coaster in order to process it and get to the end. I need to feel what is going on and acknowledge these feelings. Perhaps it is not really an end …it’s a resolution. Denying my feelings is not helpful. Writing in my journal also helped in facilitating the process as well a talking with a compassionate friend.

I want to mention that I have never liked nor understood the statement, “Things happen for reason.” Why? Because it negates the feelings and thoughts of the person who is experiencing the unfortunate event. It is also another form of denial. Denying my emotions leads to festering and my body – particularly my stomach – does not like to fester. I also find the statement offensive because it indicates that the person making the statement is not willing to experience the fullness of humanity.

emotional tailspin after a show cancellation

It’s in Vogue, 24×30 mixed media on canvas

Finally, I arrived in a space where I had empathy for the venue owner. I knew her slightly and realized that her dream had not come true. She had tried for over 5 years to create a profitable and positive business. It was the bigger picture. Rather than responding to her via email, I called her. Fortunately she answered the phone. We had a wonderful conversation and shared a few tears. She told me at the end that she appreciated my “being gracious with her.” Down the road, we may connect again. I am glad that our relationship was maintained.

When I began surfacing from my emotional turmoil, I was able to realize that my subject matter had universal appeal.

There are potentially several opportunities to explore with my wine and spirits paintings and concept. I have had to ‘turn my ship around’ and begin to look beyond my original plan and start creating another. As in other similar similar situations, I began making lemon aide.

When something comes along that feels like a slap in the face or is totally unexpected, how do you react? How does it impact your creativity? Your artistic journey? It happens to all of us. Please feel free to share.

P.S. If you like this post and find it helpful, I’d love it if you’d pass it on via email or social media. You can use the buttons at the top and bottom of this post to share it.

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When do You Quit?

April 7, 2016 By Carol McIntyre

Why am I asking, “When do you quit?” Recently, I have been captivated by Elizabeth Gilbert’s book “Big Magic,” where she talks about fear and living a creative life. (BTW, I highly recommend this book.)

Within these discussions she brings up the topic of quitting, particularly when the project/objective is no longer easy. In our world of instant gratification, I sense creatives quit much more often when the water gets rough or the process becomes difficult.

“Riding the Waves,” 22×24 acrylic on board

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I Ran Into a Wall: The Perils of Daily Painting

September 30, 2015 By Carol McIntyre

Participating in a daily painting challenge for 30 consecutive days is a real challenge. I knew it would be difficult and I wondered if and when ‘The Wall’ would show up.

It did.

Have you ever committed yourself to a daily challenge for anything? …say for 30 days? I have read that a 30-day challenge is an effective way to change our behavior. For example, teachers of meditation often encourage their students to meditate for 30 straight days to help them embed the practice into their daily lives.

I may be going out on a limb here, but I believe that committing to 30 days of daily painting is different from meditating or exercising for 30 days. Why? Because of the time commitment and the problem solving required. The physical and mental demand is fairly high.

About day 10 into this painting challenge, physical exhaustion set in. The continual hours at the easel began wearing me down. Mentally, my brain was starting to turn into mush. My life was also becoming more of a drudgery. This challenge wasn’t enjoyable any more yet I didn’t want to quit!

When I started, I had this intention of expanding on my “Playful Abstracts.” I had been working on these just prior to the 30-day painting challenge. I had prepared several canvases, as noted in my blog post “Prepping for 30-Days of Painting,” and I was looking forward to pushing myself to explore this different style of painting. Below is one of my favorites. I was liking the results and loved seeing how these paintings made people smile.

“Tools of Joy!” 14×11 acrylic on canvas, $154.00

During the second week, I was beginning to get a tad desperate for subject matter. Because there is so little time to contemplate while searching for reasonable ideas. I began feeling as if I had to dig further than I wanted to to come up with a concept. In other words, they didn’t just pop up like hot pop corn. (Wouldn’t that be nice?)

“My First Love,” 8×8 acrylic, $88.00.

One of my finds as I was digging was remembering my joy of sewing. I titled this one “My First Love,” because sewing was the first craft skill that I learned. By age 5, I was operating a sewing machine and creating various things with zippers and fabric. I loved to sew.

These “Playful Abstracts,” were becoming too time consuming and more detailed than I thought they would and I was missing out on important life events. At a crossroads, I decided to return to pure abstract, thinking these would flow more easily.

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