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?

Happy Holidays! December Newsletter

Paintings, a magazine feature and a free story at Terry Strickland Art. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Happy Holidays! December 2011 Issue Thanks for signing up to receive my monthly newsletter. Here's a bit of news from our corner of the art world. My work is featured in this month's Poets and Artists Magazine, Issue #30! Poets and Artists is a gorgeous and very cool print-on-demand and digital publication, self described as Publishing as an Art Form. The print version will be available only until the next issue is out in Jan, the digital version will remain available indefinitely. I'm thrilled to have my work shown alongside some very awesome artists and poets. This magazine is an exciting example of the current dynamic changes in the world of publishing. You can see more about it on a blog post I did featuring the work of some of the other artists featured this month. A Holiday Sale - Oil Sketches From the Studio Amy Reading, 12x9, oil on linen, $450 I'm offering small alla prima oil sketches for the first time this holiday season. These paintings are priced $400-$450, framed and shipped, sales tax will be applied within the state of Alabama, US. Magnolia Gardens-Charleston, 8x10, oil on panel, $400 See all 11 oil sketches with information about prices and sizes here. Holiday Small Works Show at Principle Gallery I have two paintings in this Holiday Show at Principle Gallery, this one is Fire Dance. The show opened Dec. 4 and runs through the end of the month in Alexandria, VA. Holiday Show at Peterson-Cody Gallery The Bribe, 11x14, oil on panel Check out the gallery's small works show if you're in Santa Fe, NM or on-line. In Cincinnati, OH, see my work at Miller Gallery See you in the New Year! Forward to a Friend Teaching Spotlight AVOID WHITE AND BLACK LIKE IT’S THE PLAGUE! Well not really, but I do use white and black as a last resort.  Try this for more luminous and less chalky oil paintings. Start with your most transparent paints and mix up a BIG puddle of mid to dark tones. Take part of that puddle of pure color and modify it lighter. Instead of adding white, try this: 1. Add a lighter color from the same color family. Add an orange, for instance, if you want to mix a lighter red. 2. Add a lighter color from a different color family. Ask yourself “Is the color I’m after also warmer?” if so then add an opaque yellow like Yellow Ochre or Cad Yellow, “Is the color I’m after also cooler?” in that case use Cerulean or Chromium Oxide Green. Once you do that NEVER try to get the color back to the original color. The color is forever polluted by the white and will result in chalky mid-tones and shadows. INSTEAD go back to your original puddle, take part of that puddle and modify it darker. Instead of adding black, try this: 1. Add a darker color from the same color family. Need a darker blue? add a Thalo blue. Something darker red? add Alizarin or Red Madder Deep 2. Add a darker color from a different color family. Need a darker red that also needs to be less intense add a Thalo Green. 3. Add a dark brown earth tone such as Burnt Umber. This keeps your painting’s shadows and mid-tones more transparent which results in more luminous paintings. Here's a blog post about my Inspiration Quotient for a recent painting. Feel free to email me with topics you’d like to read about here! Ongoing Oil Painting Class at Forstall Art Center Birmingham, AL, Tuesdays, 9:30-12:30, to register email terrystr@terrystricklandart.com Class size limited to 10 students. Strickland Family Biz News A Creative and Independent Company The Stricklands at Matter Deep Publishing invite you to enjoy a FREE story on us for the holidays. Kyle's story about working retail at Christmas will make you smile for sure, so take a moment for yourself and enjoy Smile and Greet the Customer in ePub, Kindle or PDF formats. Sunshine's Night Out is on SALE through Amazon for $9.35 (down from $12.99) and free shipping with a $25 purchase. And here's another great Sunshine review and giveaway. Contact Terry Email (205) 664-5331 Website Blog forward to a friend  Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|**|END:IF|* *|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Poets and Artists Magazine

I'm thrilled to announce that my work is featured in this month's Poets and Artists Magazine, Issue #30, Dec 2011! 

Open publication - Free publishing - More art. poetry

Poets and Artists is a print-on-demand and digital publication published through hp MagCloud, by Didi Menendez. The magazine will be available in print ($22) until the next magazine comes out in January and available in digital form ($5) indefinitely. You can preview the entire magazine and read it on line.

This magazine is an exciting example of the dynamic changes in the current world of publishing. A beautiful full-color magazine that is produced and printed on demand, how exciting! That was unimaginable even a few years ago.

Here are a couple screen shots of my work as they appear in the magazine.

One of the other artists in this issue is Aron Wiesenfeld who's work I adore. It's beautiful and strangely disturbing. Aron shows at Arcadia Gallery in NYC.

Aron Wiesenfeld, Train Tunnel, 30x32, 2009

Fatima Ronquillo, who's work is gorgeous and equally surreal.

Fatima Ronquillo, Lady With Honey Thief

There's also an interview with Victoria Selbach and images of her larger than life acrylic nudes. Her use of light and shadows on the form creates interest abstraction.

Victoria Selbach, Mary 1, 32x30, Acrylic, 2011

Another magical painter in the magazine is Chris Sedgwick.

Chris Sedgwick, three Mythographers, 29x48, oil on canvas, 2011

There is also really cool work by Daniel Maidman,  and Aunia Kahn,  as well as a slew of poets: Ron Androla, David Krump. Pris Campbell, Joann Balingit, Joshua Gray and Michael Parker to name a few.


A few links for you of posts about my work that's in the magazine:
"Bram's Lullaby, The Incognito Project" 
"The Lion Tamer, The Incognito Project"
"The Bribe", which is currently showing at the Peterson-Cody Gallery's Holiday Show in Santa Fe, NM.

How to Reuse Oil Painting Panels or Canvases

Those experimental or failed oil sketches just seem to stack up. And while we rejoice in them and understand that they are stepping stones to where we want to be artistically...

Seems a shame to throw them out BUT we really must get rid of them ourselves because our grandchildren won't be able part with them. Who knows they might end up in a museum years from now, yikes!

I reuse them, who knows, the next sketch might be successful?

First, I hand sanded the panels (consider wearing a mask), then applied Gamblin Oil Painting Ground with a window squeegee. If the oil ground is too thick you can thin it with a few drops of OMS. This resulted in an almost slick surface.

I recently read about rolling the still wet surface with a white, house painting roller that has a low nap to get a slight texture. I will try that next time just to experiment.

A word of caution, I've been asked by students if they can simply use acrylic gesso to paint over their old oil paintings. The answer is no, gesso is water base which should never be used over oil based paint. It might seem like it's sticking but could eventually peel off and of course that will be on the very panel you've done your Mona Lisa on.

Here are a few alla prima sketches and plein air paintings that survived the cut...for now. 

Here's a link to a video of painter and Gamblin technical support representative Scott Gellatly, demonstrating applying their oil ground product to panels and canvases.

Have you found a great way to resurface your little stepping stone oil sketches? I'd love to hear your solutions.

Principle Gallery, Geoffrey Johnson, Martin Poole and Holiday Small Works Show

Opening Saturday, December 3, 2011, 1:00-4:00pm
I'm happy to have couple pieces in this show!

“Veni, Vidi, Vici”, 14x11, oil on panel

“Fire Dance”, 8x10, oil on panel

Veni, Vidi, Vici was a really fun painting to do. I love it when I smile through the process! 

Fire Dance is a bit of a trek to our darker side but I enjoy going there too.

Geoffrey Johnson

From the Principle Gallery website, Geoffrey's Artist Statement:

A native of North Carolina, Geoffrey Johnson received his classical training at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.  Since his time there, he has established himself as a true innovator, successfully capturing the alluring space between abstraction and realism.   A fascination with both the human figure and the powerful architecture of a modern city play a large role in his oils.  Through a feeling of anonymity, figures become suggestive shapes and the skyline of New York materializes mysteriously in the background.  The paintings embody the mood of each urban experience.

Martin Poole

I enjoy both these artist's work very much. They are spectacular in person. Here are links to the gallery's page for Martin Poole, and  Geoffrey Johnson.

Here are some of my other posts about shows at Principle Gallery.  It's located in Old Towne, at 208 King Street, Alexandria VA. Here's a link to the gallery's home page.