About me. Not about me.

fhoffman art, artist, Artist studio, British Columbia, Exhibiting, faye Hoffman, Jennifer Worsley, Landscape painting, plein air painting, Studio painting, Victoria, Woodblock printing

My husband, Andrew Bartley, sent me a link the other day to a short video about the life and work of Jennifer Worsley. When I viewed the video I will admit to already being in a really good mood… so this video was hugely inspiring for me! Andrew and I purchased one of Jennifer’s woodblock prints a couple years ago from the Davidson Gallery in Seattle. It is on the wall in our bedroom so I see it several times a day and it has become a part of my psyche. Up until Trump came into office and the Canadian dollar sank so low, we took an annual trip to Seattle as a nice little break for normal life and a chance to check out galleries and markets in Seattle. It was Andrew’s annual birthday gift, which also included the purchase of a reasonably priced artist’s print. We have a lovely little artist print collection now but I don’t see it expanding until the political and financial situation in the USA settles down a bit.

But I am getting off topic. The video about Jennifer and her work has inspired me to start documenting Andrew and my own adventures in plein air and studio art making. We have some camping/painting trips planned this summer and I need to remember to take my documentary hat along with me! It is our goal to come back from those trips with plenty of very small studies for much larger studio landscape paintings to be done over the winter months. And then we want to have a 2 person gallery show. We’ve both been in the same group exhibits and I’ve had 2 person shows before but we’ve never shown together. So the video will be a way to capture the steps towards our goal as both a promotional piece and a way to remember our adventures. Life feels like it is getting shorter now that I am over the hill and on the way into retirement. I don’t want to wait until retirement to have all the fun! You never know what will happen between then and now so let’s do it and document it! Now!

But I am again getting off topic. And I’ve had too much coffee this morning. So go watch the video of a wonderful artist enjoying her life. It’s great!

Coquettish

fhoffman alla prima, art, artist, British Columbia, Charcoal drawing, faye Hoffman, monotone painting, Painting, portrait painting, Studio painting, Uncategorized

Things really heated up inside the studio and out this past long weekend! I had 3 days in the studio and it was fantastically creative and productive! While I did wander out to enjoy the sunshine on the deck and do some chores, I took the opportunity to work on a diptych and a portrait commission. The portrait commission is a surprise gift so you won’t see it until the recipient does – but it’s well underway. Actually, Andrew and I are both trying our hands at this portrait so the purchaser will have a few options to choose from and we both have a great model to work from.

But back to the diptych…

The Conversation
The Conversation, Diptych, 12″ X 24″ (unframed) Studio oil

I started out by painting the female member of this duo and titled her “Coquette”. And I was so happy with how she came out that it inspired me to create her male counterpart – “Coquet”. Together, they created a partnership which no longer seemed appropriate using those titles and so The Conversation was born. When I look at them, looking back at me, I imagine myself interrupting them as they speak closely in front of a painting at a gallery art opening. Theirs was an intimate exchange of mysterious, even suspicious nature and I had intruded.

They were great fun to paint and gave me special delight because it appears that I have finally learned how to control the technique. Using just one colour is very similar to drawing with charcoal – in fact, I sort of consider these painted drawings. I use my brush and a rag to push and pull the darks and lights of the oil paint just as I would use the charcoal stick and chamois to push and pull the charcoal.

The portrait commission has started in the same manner but I am going to push it beyond the one colour once I have the likeness where I want it.

The countdown to summer holidays and art shows is on now and if this past long weekend was a taste of what’s to come, it’s going to be a fantastic season!

Everybody Needs a Bit of Success

fhoffman art, artist, British Columbia, Exhibiting, faye Hoffman, Landscape painting, monotone painting, Painting, plein air painting, portrait painting, Salt Spring National Art Prize, Sidney Fine Arts, sooke fine arts show, Studio painting, Victoria

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you will know that I’ve been working on a few things:

1. a series of nest pieces

2. developing my monochromatic portrait skills

3. little art challenges to mix things up a bit

4. plein air and studio landscapes

Because I enjoy a variety of mediums and subject matter, my art and artistic intent has seemed scattered. I am working cleaning that up with these 4 directions. I am finding that desire to jump around is satisfied and I can still feel like I am making progress. When I am feeling let down by the progress in one area, I use the art challenges to find small successes. The work may not be what I would exhibit but for some reason they are more often than not surprisingly nice. The spontaneity apparently works for me. I should figure out how to channel that into my other work.

As summer approaches we will be painting en plein air more, especially when vacation days roll around. I said in the car to Andrew this morning that I would like to develop a consistent method for painting in the field which yields more successes. I feel like every time I go out that I am starting over as a young student. While the young part is good, the student part is not. I know I still have a thousand lifetimes of skills to learn but I am now a practicing artist. And the work should reflect this.

Except the little art challenges. For them, I get to paint donkeys and puppies!!! Why not?!

I also recently added a background to my 2nd nest painting. That process was interesting because I almost had to repaint it all in order to get the background to not look stuck on. Live and learn!

3 pieces have been accepted into the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria‘s Summer Small Works show coming up in June:

 

And submissions are being readied for Sooke Fine Arts and Sidney Fine Arts. Andrew and I are debating whether to enter the The Salt Spring National Art Prize. We shall see…