Plein Air Painting and Insects

Gnats, ants, no-see-ums, mosquitoes can be the bane of any plein air artist.  As you get used to heading out to paint you will find yourself armed with an arsenal of sprays to protect yourself from these pesky things.

My first line of defense:  Cactus Juice - this is a completely natural product and is usually very effective against marsh gnats and no-see-ums and to a lesser degree against the ants.

My second line of defense:  Some insect repellent with a modest amount of deet in it,

My third line of defense:  Deep Woods Off

For the ants (fire and other) I usually have to use a product with Deet - and spray it on the ground around where I am painting, on my shoes and the bottom of my easel and the rest of my supplies.

I also have found that having some dryer sheets available can help with the gnats.  I sometimes put them under my hat to keep them out of my hair.

I have also heard some people use lemon thyme and some rosemary but these other products seem to do the trick for me,

Of course, that being said, sometimes I just give up - usually after I have about 300 gnats that have committed mass suicide in my painting.  And so it goes!

Daily Paintworks

So, once again I am giving Daily Paintworks a shot at selling smaller pieces.  My concern is that there are so many artists that use this site, how does one get a following and make sales?  Also, in terms of still life paintings there are ga-zillions of them!  And they are great too!  Some of my thoughts about marketing on this web site are as follows:

.  low prices - this is an option but how can I justify dropping prices below what other customers have paid for other similar pieces?

.  auction - I am currently trying this venue - starting at a low price and waiting to see where it ends.

.  finding a niche - my beach paintings seem to get a great response - maybe as an artist I should just be doing this???

.  I have noticed that my 4 x 16" horizontal pieces don't show well - not sure how to correct this but they are killer paintings and have a great presence.

.  market the paintings for sale on facebook - haven't done this much but should try this.

Any other ideas out there???

The Key to Improving Your Painting Ability

PAINT!!!!

Are you surprised?  If you are uncomfortable spending money on stretched canvas by the inexpensive panels.  If you think you can't spend the money on those, get some heavy paper and gesso it - use that to paint.  The operative thing here is: you won't get better unless you practice!

I have been destroying my early work that I no longer want, don't like, didn't like from the beginning or just think it wouldn't sell and I have no place to hang it.  But in doing that I could see just how far I have come.  I am not saying there isn't room for improvement - there is A LOT of room.  But in the 10 years I have been painting and the last 6 when I have made an effort to paint most days, I have seen a lot of improvement.  These days I am working on small still life arrangements.  I go to consignment/thrift stores (or ebay) or wherever and pick up things to use in still life arrangements.  Then I take my 6 x 6 inch panels (which I have made myself) and paint them.  This is a journey, believe me.  I like what I am doing and am putting them on daily paintworks for sale but I am always working to improve them.  I know, in time, I will do so.  I guess, I want to work toward a less blended, more brush strokey (is that even a word?) piece with a more spontaneous feel.  

I am attaching some images ot the three I have done most recently:

The first one is up for auction on Daily Paintworks, the second two are just for sale.  Seeing them like this on my blog, I actually love them.  That doesn't change the fact that i want them to have a more spontaneous look.  If you are interested you can go to http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/barbara-benedict-jones-4356/artwork  and check them out.

So, get out there and PAINT!

Now what do I do?

It has been months since I have written anything here - it was all wedding, wedding, wedding.  It has absolutely dominated my life for 8 months.  My daughter and I have had lists, modified lists, emailed lists, excel spreadsheets, modified and amended over and over and projects - OMG.  Pinterest became the bane of my existence.  My beautiful daughter spent hours looking at pinterest (have to admit that I did too) and kept coming up with countless projects to make her day perfect.  I made pillows to decorate the beach house benches, signs for the ceremony, the receptions and the back of their chairs, pillows for the ring bearers and slipcovers for all the vases that decorated the tables.  Here are some of the images:

I will have a better image of the table decor when I get some images from my daughter.  I had a little help with the lettering on the signs - an artist friend of mine noted that I was pulling my hair out over all that I had to do and did most of the lettering - I did the Mr. and Mrs. and a couple words on the other signs.  

The wedding colors were coral and navy and I will post some other pictures in future blogs.  In the mean time I am trying to focus my attention on getting back to my painting.  

Small works are on the agenda - one of the first ones I did *by accident", I had forgotten to bring a large canvas but had a 4 x 16 canvas with me.  After finishing the first one "plein air" I quickly did a second 6 x 6 which sold 2 weeks later.

You can see that the tide was coming in  - the smaller one was done second.  I find that once I have done a larger one and have thought about, planned out and painted it it is easier to do a second - all my paints are out and the colors have been determined.