Art Shows and Galleries

Where has this week gone!? I have worked on my art almost every day and I don't know how I neglected posting to my blog.

I had a challenge last week. One of the charcoal portraits I was working on was really giving me a hard time. I had purchased some new charcoal sticks and I used a harder grade of charcoal for the under tones. When I tried to erase the highlights, there were spots all over that wouldn't erase. A woman doesn't want spots on her face and arms. I decided to make a sample of the different grades of the charcoal sticks and what they look like erased. I taped off squares on the paper I use for my portraits. After toning each square with the different grades of charcoal, I erased some spots on each one. This way I could see how each one acts and I won't make the same mistake again.

I have almost finished my longhorn painting. I am heading to Blanco at the end of this week and I need to have this painting finished by that time.

Saturday, I drove over to Hobbs, New Mexico to pick up my art from the Llano Estacado Art Association Fall Open Art Show there. As I was gathering my things, the lady who was overseeing things came over and shared with me. She had been present at the critique given by Grace Knox, who was the juror for the show. She told me that Grace had said something to the effect that my painting, "Peek-a-Boo" was perfect. She couldn't see anything to change about it. I was thrilled!

Next week I will enter another art show in San Angelo, Texas. The show is called "Best in Realism" and I think I have some paintings that certainly fall in that category.

Hopefully, I will post the final product of "Longhorn" tomorrow. The bull looks pretty good and the grass is coming along nicely, but I have to totally rework the sky. I was experimenting with color and it just didn't work. The sky needs some clouds and a little more excitement to complement the bull.

If you have put off ordering your artwork, please remember that there are just a couple of days left before we are into November. Place your orders now so you can take advantage of some very economical pricing.

Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor

nancyverschoor@toast2.net
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee." (1 Timothy 4:14)

Thursday! Already?

This week has just flown by! I can't believe it's Thursday already.

Tomorrow I will post the large version of "Singin' and Dancin'." You have been waiting for a long time for this one, but I know it will be worth the wait. There are just a very few finishing touches to put on it tomorrow and then I will photograph it and post it for you. I would have finished today, but some of the paint needed to dry before I could put the final layers on.

I am still working on the charcoal of the three beautiful kids. I can't wait to get this one done - it is so much fun to do.

I am also working on a large longhorn bull. And believe it or not, I didn't get his horns long enough. I will fix that tomorrow, too. He is a massive and very impressive hunk of beef.

There are about three other paintings I want to start today!! But I have to finish some of the ones I already have begun. The painting ideas just keep popping in my head. I can't paint fast enough to keep up with all the great ideas I have. It is an interesting challenge to have.

Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor

nancyverschoor@toast2.net
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee." (1 Timothy 4:14)

Gallery Representation

I'm sorry I didn't get to post a blog over the weekend, but I do have some very exciting news: I have been accepted at an art gallery! It is called Rain Bird Gallery and is located a few miles south of Austin. The director told me that there are a huge amount of new homes being built in the area. People are always going there to buy art to hang in their new homes. My sister had stopped at her gallery and asked her to look at this blog site. After viewing it, she discussed my art with the owner and they agreed that my paintings would be a good fit. It is very exciting to be represented by this gallery.

This brings me to another topic. The prices I have had on my works here on the blog are actually rock bottom prices for the kind of work I do. We can call them "Introductory Prices." There are a lot of reasons that the prices can't stay where they are, but the bottom line is, they are going to have to go up.

If you are like me, you tend to procrastinate things. What I will do for you is this. If you place an order for anything on my blog during the month of October, you can purchase it for the current price. On November 1st, the new pricing will go into effect. If you order a commissioned piece from me during October, you can get that at the current commission fees. Those will be increasing in November, also.

On Wednesday, I will be sending six paintings to Hobbs, New Mexico, for the Llano Estacado Art Association (LEAA) Fall Open Art Show. They will be for sale there as well. I have had to raise the prices on those pieces since the LEAA keeps a percentage of each item sold. It is exciting the way so many things are happening now. The paintings that don't sell at this show will be sent to the Rain Bird Gallery.

The blades of grass are finally finished! I haven't had a photo shoot yet, but will do so this afternoon. You can see "Low Plains Drifter" later today. I loved learning how to made this big guy look shaggy and molting. I learn something new on every painting that I do.

Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor

nancyverschoor@toast2.net
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee." (1 Timothy 4:14)

And More Blades of Grass

It can be an almost tedious process to paint in all the grass in a painting like this. Nevertheless, it really feels so good to step back from the painting and see it all coming to life.

I do a landscape like this in layers. The first layer is a fairly solid undercoat to quickly block in some color on the page. I prefer to have some color down before I tackle the main subject. The white of the canvas is usually too stark to judge the values of the colors I need to use on the main animal(s).

Once I have the horse or deer or whatever animal I am working on painted, I go back to the background and refine it. I add details such as tree branches, bark, clouds, grass (and more grass and more grass).

I lay in dark green blades of grass first. Then I lay in light shades of green grass. I often will go back to the darks and maybe even add more lights again before I am done. The end result is usually a field that looks quite believably grassy.

As I step back across the room and look at the painting, it is often easier to spot any problems in value, color, or shape that need fixing. At this point I almost always see something on my subject that isn't quite right. That must be corrected before I can call the painting done.

Tomorrow I will be out of town and Sunday I will be at church, so I may not get much of a chance to do any painting over the weekend. Today will have to be a full day of painting to get things done.

Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor

nancyverschoor@toast2.net
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee." (1 Timothy 4:14)

Blades of Grass

I have made a lot of progress on my buffalo painting, "Plains Drifter." It will be posted by the end of the day - tomorrow at the latest. It depends on how the background goes. It can be a slow process to paint all those little grass blades! Anyway, be looking for the picture.

Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor

nancyverschoor@toast2.net
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee." (1 Timothy 4:14)

"Peek-a-Boo"

I finished "Peek-a-Boo" and will put it on today. I have started a painting of a buffalo which I will call "Plains Drifter." We live in Texas and it wasn't that long ago that the buffalo roamed across this vast land. We have had a lot of rain this year and the native grasses are quite high right now. I am going to paint the grasses a little shorter so the buffalo will show better. As we drive through the state we see fields with grasses so high you almost can't see the cattle that are grazing there. I suspect the plains buffalo would have loved all the good grasses we have this year.

Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor

nancyverschoor@toast2.net
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee." (1 Timothy 4:14)

Calendars and Other Sources of Income

How is everyone today? It's a hot and slightly muggy 93 degrees outside right now. I am in the cool house waiting for things to get more comfortable out there in nature. My neighbor and I had a yard sale this morning and we did pretty good considering we live in small town Texas. I don't know about you, but I am one of those people who have a hard time parting with my stuff. When I make up my mind to get rid of things, it's even harder to have those things left over after a yard sale and have to decide what to do with them. I hope to be able to find a charity to donate them to.

One of our customers this morning was also an artist. She and I visited for a while and I showed her some of my paintings. She seemed to like my wildlife paintings quite a bit and suggested that I might want to produce a calendar with my artwork. That is something I have considered in the past. I need to follow through with that and see about putting one together. Look for this to come in the future.

Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor

nancyverschoor@toast2.net
"Neglect not the gift that is in thee." (1 Timothy 4:14)

Court of Honor

Tonight our grandson, Toby, had a Court of Honor. He was given the rank of Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class Scout, and First Class Scout. He also was given the six merit badges he has earned this past year. The scout troop he started with was a little unorganized and they never had a Court of Honor. We got him enrolled in another scout troop and he was honored for all the work he's done along with three other Boy Scouts in the new unit. It was a simple, but well-done meeting and we had a pot-luck dinner afterwards. About 24 people showed up to support our boys.

I started another fawn painting today which I will call "Peek-a-Boo." It's going to be another 8" X 10" in size and it will show a fawn peeking between the back legs of its mother. I went to Austin to visit my sister a few weeks ago. We were in a nice neighborhood visiting our mom and the deer were epidemic! They were literally everywhere. Gail drove slowly while I snapped away with my camera. I must have taken over 150 pictures, but it was worth it. With this material, I will be able to paint quite a few pictures. I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I believe in taking a lot of photos. Usually, a few of them will be usable to work from for a painting. When you are working with animals, children, or anything else that moves you just never know exactly how the shots are going to turn out. By taking a lot of pictures, I usually get some that speak to my heart and that will make a great painting.

I also worked some more on the backside of the horse in "Singin' and Dancin'." I've been trying to figure out why it seems so difficult for me spend more time on this painting. Challenges come up in all of our lives. One thing that I struggle with is my fear that I won't be able to do well on my paintings. Now some of you that don't paint probably won't be able to relate to what I am saying, but painting new material and trying different techniques can be scary when you don't know how they will turn out. You are just hoping you can make it all work. You have this vision of a beautiful painting that will stir your heart and look oh so perfect. Sometimes my paintings accomplish that vision and sometimes they don't. The good thing is that you really can learn a lot even from the failures. I tend to be a perfectionist and really hate to have a failure, but I suppose most of us would like for all our efforts to be successes. Situations like this can help us learn that important quality called patience. I am convinced that patience is a virtue that Heavenly Father really wants us to learn. We seem to have so many opportunities to practice it! And I often think about how grateful I am that He is so patient with me. Some of the lessons of this life have been very slow in coming and there are probably many that I haven't figured out yet. It's a good thing we get to live so long, don't you think?

It was interesting to see how the voting turned out for your favorite paintings. Thanks to all of you who took the time to let me know which one you liked the best. Next month there will be another chance for you to share your opinions on your favorite piece, so be looking for that. Thank you, also, to those who have left comments for me. It is so good to hear from you.

Kindest regards,
Nancy

"Summer Shade"

Here is the painting of the fawns. I got it completed today and it felt good. Sometimes paintings just come together and this one did that for me. I'm going back to work on my large painting of "Singin' and Dancin'." I hope everyone has a good day.

Kindest regards,
Nancy Verschoor

Roadrunner

I wanted to include one of my pen and ink drawings on my blog. This is one I did a little while back. This roadrunner lived in a sour orange tree in my neighbor's back yard. He would visit our yard from time to time and it was amazing to see him run along the wooden fence at the back of our yards. One day I got a chance to take some good shots of him with my camera and this one of him on the fence turned out great. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did drawing it.

Kindest regards,
Nancy

Perspective Tip

I did get to work on my painting of the fawns today. They are turning out quite cute! I hope to be able to post the painting tomorrow.

For all of you artists who may occasionally struggle with perspective, I learned a terrific tip today. This works for simple two point perspective. I am not sure how you might adapt it for more complicated scenes, but it is great for something like a barn in a field. You will need your sketch pad, a rubber band, and two bulldog clips (or wooden spring-type clothes pins). Cut the rubber band so that it is one long band. Decide where you want your horizon line. Place one end of the rubber band at the side of your pad at the horizon line and secure with one of the clips. Stretch the rubber band to the other side of your pad and secure it at the horizon line on that side with the other clip. Now you need to determine where you want the front corner edge of your box, house, barn, etc. Raise the rubber band to the height you want it. Holding it in place, draw your lines toward your vanishing points on the horizon. Draw a vertical line extending down from the top point of lines you just drew. You can extend it below the horizon line if you want. Then you will pull your rubber band down to the bottom of the vertical line. Once again draw your lines out to the vanishing points along the rubber band. You can now place the other two vertical lines to express the far corners of your box or whatever shape you are making. I hope this makes sense to you. "A picture is worth a thousand words" probably applies here. It is hard to write it all out instead of just showing you. Please email me if you have any questions about this perspective tool. Maybe some of you can figure out ways to use this in more complicated scenes. Good luck and I hope you can have fun with this!

By the way, I realize I haven't posted my email for you. Please drop me a line if I can help you with anything: jnv268@toast.net

Some of my paintings are still available for purchase. Please send me an email for the price on any piece you are interested in.

Also, don't forget to vote at the bottom of the page for the painting you like the best. I look forward to hearing from you.

Kindest regards,
Nancy

jnv268@toast.net

"Wood Lily-Alberta"

In my past blog I wrote about my struggles with the background on my painting "Wood Lily", but I never posted the picture so you could see what I was talking about. Let me post that now. Today was a bit hectic and very little artwork got done. I did some thumbnails in preparation for a small piece I will start on Monday. It is going to be a pair of fawns resting in the shade on a warm summer day.

I hope everyone has a pleasant Sabbath Day.

Kindest regards,
Nancy

Welcome

I have heard about blogging for quite a while and I have finally decided to take the plunge myself. The main topic for this site is going to be my artwork.
I have loved painting and drawing since I was a young girl. But I am sure some of you know how life can go - you get married and love and support your husband through his schooling, jobs, hobbies, etc. He supports you in many of the same things. But before you know it you have a little flock of kids (four for us) and you get to be mom and all the labels that go along with that job. So art gets to be squeezed in between all the dozens of other activities going on, which means you don't get to do nearly as much of it as you would like.
Now, all of my children are grown and we are just raising two of our grandchildren. They are wonderful and are helping us to stay young. They are 14 and 12 years old. One of the best things about them is their willingness to support me in my artwork.
I have been really impressed that this is the season to devote time every day to painting or drawing. Some days life still gets in the way, but I have done more in the past two months than I have done in the past three years and it feels very good to me.
This gift that I have is truly a gift from God. I want to give Him the credit for anything that I do that gives joy to someone else. Each painting and drawing that I do usually has some challenging part in it. I pray fervently for guidance to understand how to solve the problems that invariably crop up. My Heavenly Father has helped me through each one.
Let me give you an example. I had taken some photos of some beautiful wildflowers in Alberta, Canada, a couple of years ago. I decided to do a small painting of a woodlily. I began with the background and loosely painted in some grasses and other plants with some warm yellowgreens. I blended them in softly to imitate a blurred background with the flower in focus. I wasn't really happy with how the background looked, but I decided to go ahead and paint the flower. I would fix the background later. I painted the flower with glazes. It took many layers to try to get the color right. Still, I couldn't make the color of the woodlily rich enough. It was at that frustrating stage where I thought I might just give up on it. A couple of days later, I decided I would try to improve on the background. I figured I would either fix the flower later or start another painting on top of this mess. I changed the colors in the background to a more cool shade of green. The darks were deepened and the shapes became more abstract. I stepped back to see the effect of it. My Heavenly Father had inspired me to change the background in a way that set off the woodlily to perfection! I loved the color of the flower now. It was almost miraculous the difference in the way it looked.
My sister has suggested that I start doing charcoal portraits. She mentioned about the amazing amount of money people pay for things at prom time. It would be fun to do some charcoal portraits for people. The cost for them would be considerably less than for a painting and, with good photo references, I could do them from home. I have done some already that my clients have been very pleased with. These would also make wonderful Christmas presents. I will figure out how to add pictures to this page and you can see what my work looks like. Portraits are always done with a lot of prayer. I want all the help I can get to create beautiful and accurate paintings.
My favorite type of artwork is Western paintings. I am currently painting a scene from a photo I took at a local ranch rodeo. You see the horse and cowboy from the backside. The rope is "singing" as the calf snaps it tight. The reins are "dancing" as the cowboy has turned the horse away from the calf. Hence, the title "Singin' and Dancin'." My first painting from this series of ranch rodeo scenes sold almost before the paint was dry.
Another type of painting that I have recently started doing is called "trompe l'oiel." This is a French term for "fool the eye." It is very detailed work that looks so real you think you could pick up the items. I painted an 8" X 10" trompe l'oiel in honor of my husband's grandfather. It contained a photo of him, a medal he received in WWI, an envelope addressed to him, a VFW medal, a VFW membership card and a couple of other items that were his. My son had come in the house several times and wondered why I had arranged Grandpa's things on a board like that. He didn't realize until I told him that it was a painting.
Well, I need to stop for now and go get some painting done today.

Neglect not the gift that is in thee. (1 Timothy 4:14)