Women Painting Women: In Earnest

A Traveling Museum Exhibition 

I'm honored to have my painting The Seamstress, included in the show. The list of artists includes many whose work I admire and have followed for as long as I've been doing this professionally, so pinch me, I must be dreaming.

Curators’ Statement

Women Painting Women: In Earnest is an exhibition that honors the human spirit and shares the thoughtful and unique vision of 34 artists who explore the complexity of being a woman today. Each artist looks beyond the surface of her subject, beyond mere replication of the physical world before her, in search of deeper realities. These artists have found a freedom to avoid voyeuristic depictions of the female form to examine honest and sometimes personal narratives about the struggles and resilience of the indomitable contemporary woman. With a sincere conviction to their craft, these artists raise such ideas as role association and identity, fragility with dignity, and emotional complexity to engage the viewer. Our hope as curators is that this exhibition will elicit an emotional response or unexpected connection that grants access to a greater depth of experience for both artist and viewer. As a noun, the word earnest can mean “a promise of what is to come." Indeed, these artists serve as the bellwethers at a time in history when women have the freedom to define how we see ourselves.  

~Alia El-Bermani - Curator and Co-Founder of Women Painting Women
~Diane Feissel - Curator and Co-Founder of Women Painting Women

The Seamstress, 39x32, oil on canvas over panel.

Important information: 

Exhibition at Customs House Museum & Cultural Center, Clarksville, TN

August 1 – October 1, 2017 

August 10,  5-7pm -  Opening Reception 

Sept 16 - Artist and Curator Walking Tour  5-7pm I will be in attendance for this event

Exhibition at J. Wayne Stark Galleries at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

Oct 16 - Dec 31, 2017

Oct 18 - Panel Discussion in the College of Architecture

Oct 19 - Afternoon Demo in Stark Galleries or College of Architecture

If you are in Clarksville, TN, or College Station, TX, do stop by! And if you can't get to the show in person, there is a beautiful catalog available online.

Do women paint women differently than men? The WPW movement is giving us a chance to see these paintings in a collective way and an opportunity to contemplate the question.

I have painted a male model wearing this superhero shirt many times but never painted a woman wearing it before.

This is one of those paintings that for me began as a story inspired by an individual and personal story but has transcended into a universal theme.

The model is my daughter, Carly. Rather than wait for her time to come, this young heroine is taking her destiny in hand. Who doesn't want to be a superhero? ‘Tis better to create her own reality, even though at times it may feel as though she’s holding it all together with safety pins. She can be in charge and look feminine and sexy as hell at the same time.

Click on Read More below to see details of the painting and musings.

How to Self-Critique Your Art

Art Lesson Du Jour

Spend Less Time on the Ropes to Make Better Work
(dedicated to my champion students)

Fact: It's a simple truth that every painting and drawing are a series of corrections. 

When taking a jab at art, each mark is our best guess in relationship to the other marks we've made. It's the best mark we can make right then, at that moment in time. We make it knowing full well that it is likely to change, and that's ok. Later in the process we will know better. 

Problem: Panic, strong emotions, and harsh self-criticism will defeat the creative process. 

I often see students in a knock-down, drag-out with themselves when things aren't going well in a drawing or painting. Their critique of the work becomes a criticism of self. It's easy to allow the critical voices of one's insecurities or the nasty voices of others into your head. I've been there and done that as well. Trust me, when you let those guys talk, no constructive critique is going on! 

When I see my students hitting below the belt I say, "Hey, don't talk to my student that way," "Would I say that to you?" or "Would you say that to anyone else in your life?" Of course the answer is always "No!"

Panic too can creep in during frustrating moments. We live a fast paced life with instant gratification and the sheer time required to look and see properly can make an artist feel panic. The brain is constantly yelling, "This is taking too long." We feel certain that everyone else is figuring this stuff out with more agility and speed than we are.

All this self-doubt and emotional thinking clog up the creative process, so that's why it's important to have a strategy in place. 

Your brain without a plan.

Solutions: Click READ MORE  below for answers. 

Life and Afterlife in a Cubicle

I had the pleasure of collaborating on a project with my husband, Daniel M. Strickland. His debut novel, Synergeist, has launched! My part in the collaboration process was the painting for the cover and having the privilege of being an early reader.

One challenge to painting a cover for the book was to try to capture the idea that energy is created when someone makes something. The art created continues to hold some energy after the artist has moved on.

As someone who has cried while standing in front of a five hundred year old painting, been moved to tears in a centuries old church, felt energized by words written by an author long dead and gotten shivers from music, this concept makes sense to me.

As is always the challenge, how does one capture the visceral with these meager visual tools? It sparked many interesting conversations around the dinner table about what something so etheral should look like.

Synergeist, 20x16, oil on panel, 2015 

Click below to see more painting details and info about the book.

Alla Prima Still Life Painting Sale

Add one to your collection

Rare Oil Sketches SALE- $125 Free shipping (in the continental US, Birmingham, AL area local pick-up or delivery, unframed. Sales tax applies in AL, USA)

email me at terrystr@terrystricklandart.com for arrangements.

Berries With the Red Striped Bowl, 6x8, oil sketch SOLD

This following quote is apropos for a post about Alla Prima painting, which is Italian for "at the first." 

“...she took her hand and raised her brush. For a moment, it stayed trembling in a painful but exciting ecstasy in the air. Where to begin?--that was the question, at what point to make the first mark? One line placed on the canvas committed her to innumerable risks, to frequent and irrevocable decisions--- Still the risk must run; the mark made.” 

                                                  ― Virginia Woolf, from To the Lighthouse

Lenten Roses in a Tiny Green Vase, 6x8, oil sketch SOLD

How to Draw and Paint Facial Features Part 4

Today, the mouth.

This is an ongoing series that is building up to a full portrait that I'm doing with the oil painting class I teach at Forstall Art Center in Birmingham, AL. If you are joining in for the first time for this post check out  Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, to catch up.

I begin by finding the mid-point and the quarter-mark for my image to correctly locate it on the page.

I'm checking angles to block in the overall width and height of the lips.
Click Read More to see important drawing concepts below the break.

How to Draw and Paint Facial Features Part 2

It's all about the eyes and mixing flesh tones this week.

This a project I'm doing with the oil painting class I teach on Tuesday mornings at Forstall Art Center in Birmingham, AL. We are doing small studies of each facial feature. Eventually we will do a complete portrait with the skills gained by studying the features individually. Here's Part 1 in which I drew the eye.

In the last post, the painting was at this stage.  My disclaimer here is that this is just what I do. There are many different methods out there but this is what I have developed over the years. It works for me.

I am constantly trying new things but for now this is my go-to starting place. I develop 4 basic flesh tones. Having a method helps me and seems to help my students.

Gesture Speed Painting

This week at drawing group I played around with doing the 5 minute gesture poses with paint and it was sloppy fun.

I used Bienfang Graphics 360 Marker Paper, 12x9, and Rembrandt burnt umber thinned with a little medium that was a mixture of linseed oil/OMS in about a 60/40 ratio.

The description of the paper is "Graphics 360 is a 100% rag, non-bleeding, translucent marker paper. It retains true color with permanent as well as watercolor markers." I think the paper is considered archival but not sure if the oil paint will have an affect on how archival the piece will be. More research needed.

I really liked the way it handled. The wetness soaked into the paper slow enough that I was able to rub out some forms, yet the paper did not buckle. I've used canvas paper before and it was too thirsty. It soaked in so fast that the rubbing out did not work well.

If I decide to finish these off I'll matt them and frame like a drawing.

I plan to experiment with the new arches oil painting paper and find some vellums to try. If you have anything you like to work on let me know. I'm looking for something not too expensive since coming up with a winner while speed painting 2-5 minute gestures poses is hit or miss.

Welcome Home, a New Commissioned Painting

Welcome Home, 37x42, oil on canvas over panel

This is a painting commissioned to commemorate a marriage of 43 years, and a home built by the couple. It was such a pleasure to get to know them better.

I'd love to say more, share insights and technical stuff but Christmas is nigh, and deadlines are looming so for now just...

Painting a Head Study, Part 2

In the second session with my oil painting class, I demonstrated premixing a palette that we'd be using for the flesh tones, the background and the hair. If you missed it, here's Part 1.

I'm a firm believer in premixing strings of color, it takes a little patience, but I think it pays off when you get into it.

I started with the background and worked forward, and in adjacent areas so that I could have good control of the edges.

I store my paint in a Masterson plastic palette with a cover. It's then wrapped in a trash bag and stored in the freezer. The paint will still be usable at our next class so all the mixing time and paint will not be wasted.

My understanding is that a home freezer doesn't get cold enough to actually freeze the paint but slows down the oxidation process which is what actually dries oil paint.

There is debate among artists about this but it makes sense to me. What everyone agrees with is never freeze your brushes or a painting! The cold will adversely affect your painting surface, the wood in the brushes, etc.

Be prepared to have your family complain about losing freezer space, a mini turf war of sorts. Especially when you have multiple palettes in there. (I'm up to three). The war generally fades to a rumble if you have your defense prepared.  Go on long enough about saving time and money and you shall prevail!

Painting a Head Sudy, Part 1

I've started a new project with my Tuesday class. We are doing a head study working from a photo. This is the first time I've done this project with them, so it's kind of an experiment.

We are all working from the same photo, one of mine. I chose a mostly full front view of the face. It is classic Rembrandt lighting, in which there is a triangular patch of light on the shadowed side of the face.

I printed an 8x10 grid on a transparency to lay over the image. The grid dissects the image into thirds. This helps with the drawing, placement of the head on the canvas and of the features on the head. I think it is also helpful in learning to draw.

It helps to start to see things flattened and in relationship to each other. Drawing the individual shapes within one square helps to see it primarily as shapes. This shift in the way of looking at something is very crucial in learning to draw.

We first drew the image in a graphite pencil.

Next we redrew it with a Faber Castell permanent sepia pen.

I noticed (after it was drawn in the pen) that I had the right side of her face too wide, but that's okay. Oil paint is very forgiving and the marks will be covered eventually with paint. 

The important thing, listen up here my students, is to make the correction as soon as you see it! It's much better to have caught and corrected it at this stage than later after I had perfectly rendered the ear.

Next I did a rub out using Burnt Umber thinned a bit with linseed oil, mineral spirits and res-n-gel (to speed the drying). I painted in a few of the darkest areas.

My intention was for everyone to get to this stage in the first of four 3 hour classes dedicated to this project. None of the students got to this point. I spent about two hours additional after class, getting  this far. Most of them had their drawings well along. Next time I will know to leave two class sessions for this stage of the project.

You  may recognize this model from another painting. I'm excited to be painting her again.

"Cardea", 16x16, oil on canvas over panel.

She was part of my Elements series.

Here is a post I did about under painting with Gamblin Fastmatte,
And another about this under painting technique, "Aye, There's the Rub".

The Three Fates - In Progress

My current obsession is a painting I'm working on for Principle Gallery's April 2012 show,  "The Expedition and Beyond"

Work by 14 artists, introduced through the Women Painting Women phenomenon of 2010, who continue to be challenged and inspired by each other.

The Three Fates, 30x40, oil on panel, (in progress)

This is an allegorical painting of Diane Feissel, Sadie Valeri and Alia El-Bermani as The Three Fates. In real life these models are artists and the Women Painting Women bloggers. The painting doesn't even have one complete pass of color yet so I still have many days left go on it.

I've included items for each of them that is personal to their work.

Alia is wearing flowering weeds in her hair, a shout out to her recently completed series of paintings honoring southern weeds. Sadie is wearing a ruff made of wax paper to represent her beautiful wax paper still-life paintings. Diane is wearing a bracelet of a cat cameo in tribute to her Fabrication series about animals.

Diane, Sadie, Me and Alia after the Robert Lange Studios Women Painting Women Invitational, November, 2011.

It's making me very happy to be working on this painting! I met all these women through the Women Painting Women experience, and since have become good friends. I'm so grateful to them for modeling.

The four of us, along with 10 others will be showing work that we did on a painting retreat in Charleston, SC in the fall of 2010, and work that was inspired by our trip. (a complete list with links to all the artists in my next post about the finished painting and show)

Here's the set up in my studio, where I work from a monitor and from prints. I set my palette up on a French easel to ease the strain on neck and shoulders. An added benefit is that the light on the palette is the same as the painting when it's set up this way.

This is a close-up of my palette. I generally pre-mix at least 4 strings of flesh colors, working back and forth between the strings to get small nuance of color.

Here's a reflection on how the WPW reminded me of my senior show "I've Gone Full Circle".

There is a preview of the catalog for the Expedition and Beyond. Here's a post about the Expedition.

WPW and the 2010 invitational in the press. 

More pictures when its complete.

Time Person of the Year, 2011, The Protester

Call it Zeitgeist, which according to Wiki is "the spirit of the times" or "the spirit of the age."

Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era.

The term is a loanword from German Zeit – "time" (English "tide" and "time") and Geist – "spirit" (English "ghost")

I've been watching the protests all over the world this year and thought this was a brilliant choice for the person of the year. 

I also thought it was interesting because of the painting I did earlier this year, "The Activist, The Incognito Project". Did my model and I tap into this Zeitgeist?

The Activist, The Incognito Project, 24x18, oil on panel

The Incognito Project is a collaborative effort between myself and my models where they choose to share their alter-egos or secret selves.

This model choose to be stripped of everything except those things most important to her.

My model is not getting tear gassed or pepper sprayed but in her own quiet way has shared her concerns with the world.

Here are a few other works from the contemporary art world, and about social concerns that I find thought provoking.

Graydon Parrish  -  The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy:  September 11, 2001  - 8 X 18 ft., oil on canvas

Carl Dobsky, The Lotos Eater, Oil on Linen, 24 x 60 inches, 2009 

Banksy

Banksy

War Protester Sign

Max Ginsburg, Torture Abu Ghraib, 46x32, oil on canvas, 2009  

Check out this photo essay portfolio of protesters from around the world by photographer Peter Hapak done for Time Magazine.

You can see a post with close-ups of The Activist, here.

And other posts about The Incognito Project here.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

from the Strickland Clan!

We have long history of doing silly face pictures. It started as a bargaining chip.

Parental Unit to the kids, "Do one nice smiling face and then we'll take a silly face picture." 

Little did we know that these pictures would quickly become our favorites.

 Who knew children were so wise?