Julie Messerschmidt

Friday, November 18, 2011

Boca Grande Workshop Report

Last week I taught a three day still life workshop at the Boca Grande Art Alliance in Boca Grande, FL. Above is my very brief and very unfinished demo of one of our still life set ups.

Five students participated in the class, most of whom had never painted from life before. I introduced them to a lot of information, but they were eager to learn and worked very diligently at their easels, as the following pictures show. They all said they had a great time. I know I did, and I am very proud of the work they did.

Thanks to the wonderful staff at the Art Alliance for inviting me to give a class, and for making all the arrangements. Boca Grande is a lovely small island off the coast of Port Charlotte and Venice, on Florida's beautiful west coast. What a beautiful place to spend three days!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Outside the Box

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I'm happy that cooler weather is here (even in Florida), and celebrated by painting these colorful gourds.

I would like to extend a very big thank you to Neil Carroll of London, England, for his wonderful blog post featuring my painting, "Contemplating Blue and Orange". Neil is a fellow member of the DPW artist community, who though he claims to be "new" to oil painting, is a very talented. His lovely still life paintings caught my attention right away when I first encountered them on the DPW site, and I am happy to share one of my favorites with you.here. His chiaroscuro paintings are little gems.

Neil Carroll, "Small Pot" 6"x8"

You can see more of Neil's work at neilcarroll.com , and on his DPW gallery.

One of the things I treasure about being an artist is the privilege of being part of a wonderful community of people who are among the most supportive and generous I have ever encountered; willing to share their knowledge and experience to help in any way. Neil's blog post is just one of the many examples of this generosity.

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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

A Couple of Grannies

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Once again, apologies for the gap between posts. I am going to make an effort to resume posting on a more regular basis now that things have settled down for me.

I haven't had much time to paint small paintings in the past few weeks, but did manage to do this one. The granny glasses belong to one of my students, who has kindly been loaning me items for still life props. I liked the idea of the Granny Smith apple and the glasses together, but the glasses were definitely a challenge to paint - symmetrical circles with thin rims!

I would like to share with you a wonderful new development in my art career. This past week my work was accepted for representation by Anderson Fine Art Gallery in St. Simon's Island, GA. The gallery represents a variety of nationally known artists, and I am thrilled and honored to be among them.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Pewter Pitcher with Grapes

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My apologies for the month long blog hiatus. Sadly, my stepmother passed away suddenly and unexpectedly August 30. In the ensuing month, I have been busy caring for my father who is 95 and, of course heartbroken at the loss of his dear wife. Now that things have settled down a bit, I can return to the blog, though it may not be with the same twice weekly regularity for a while yet.

I have not had time to do any small paintings this past month, this is one I did earlier in the summer of a friend's small pewter pitcher. I really enjoy painting metal, and in this simple set up I just tried to focus on bringing out the range of colors in the pewter.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Onion Study

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Not having a great idea for a painting a few days ago, I did this onion study. I think it is always beneficial to concentrate on just one object for a study. In this case, I wanted to capture the different layers of the onion, to show their thinness and shine.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Last of the Birthday Wine

NFS
My husband and I love wine from Burgundy in France, and he is always asking me to do a "wine painting". He celebrated a birthday a couple of weeks ago, we had this bottle for dinner, so here is his wine painting!

The painting challenge for me was what to do about the lettering on the label. As it is the focal point of the painting, I wanted it to be legible enough to recognize as the wine we had, but yet not so perfect that the lettering took over. This is not easy to do, and I'm not sure my efforts were totally successful. Maybe that's why I don't do more paintings featuring wine bottles. Guess I'll have to practice by doing some more.

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Figs

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This is the first time I have painted figs. I have been wanting to for a while, but they are hard to find in stores where I live. They are challenging in that the skin is mostly dark, but yet filled with rich crimsons, blues and greens. I wanted to bring out those colors while still remaining in a very low key. They also start to wither pretty quickly, too, so an alla prima one day approach is essential. I did work on it a second day, but really had to rely on my memory rather than the subject in front of me. I'm satisfied with the result, but definitely would like to practice with figs some more.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Out in Front

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Here is another study for the larger painting I am planning, this one in a slightly different color scheme than the jar with the apple I posted last week. I am working on combining the subject, primarily the jars and jug with the fruit into a good design and then experimenting with different background colors to best enhance the subject. Doing these little color studies helps both with the design and gives me an idea of how I will handle painting the objects themselves. This painting was painted over a previous work, and I left a bit of the old painting showing through in places. It is a little bit looser than I usually paint, but I liked the look, so decided to leave it.

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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Olive Jars with Onions

I just finished this 12x16 last week and decided to post it, and talk a little bit about my thought process for the composition, rather than post a painting for auction. For this piece, I wanted to have fun with the textures in the old jars which have a variety of colors, as well as both rough and smooth areas where the glazes have worn off over the years. I wanted to create the feeling that they are in the shadows of an old Tuscan kitchen by indicating a strong sense of shadow and light. To direct the light toward the jars and the onions that surround them, I placed the old copper bowl in front as a dark foil It has the added value of picking up the oranges and yellows of the onions in its highlights. I decided on onions as an accompaniment to the jars because their organic shapes compliment the man made jars and bowl, while keeping to the same family of colors.

Do you think I was successful in fulfilling my idea? I would love to hear from you.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Peeking Out

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As a still life painter, I am always looking for interesting things to paint. This week one of my students invited me to her home to look at some of the antiques and various things she has. I came away with some great items and new inspiration. I immediately began planning a large piece with some of the new objects, which included various old jugs and jars. This piece was done as a study, and may form a portion of the larger work. Thanks, Carolyn!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Hat Stack

NFS

It's August, hot, humid and rainy here in Florida. The baseball season is in its final two months. My team is in first place! What better way to celebrate than by doing a still life of my collection of Red Sox hats.

Today is also my best friend's birthday. Over the years we have had a tradition of giving each other a painting for our birthdays. Like me, she is a die hard Red Sox fan, this painting is for her. Happy birthday, Ruth!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Oysters and White Wine

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Oysters and white wine, a perfect combination for a summer afternoon. The shells were fun to paint, as was the wine bottle, which was really done with just a few brush strokes.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

In the Spotlight

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Another in the box series I did a few weeks ago. I like how one of the apricots is in the light and the other is lurking in the shadow.

I have been working on a larger piece for the past ten days, so have not painted any small works. I finished the larger one yesterday, so will now have to turn my attention to some new smaller ones for the next few days.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Orange Peel

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A recent one I did of a peeled orange. I wanted to work on getting good paint texture in the light. pithy part. I chose the blue cloth to create a complementary color scheme.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Cobalt Blue

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This is another in the "Paint What You Paint With" series. I really enjoy painting the rolled up and twisted paint tubes; I like the way the light catches twists and turns forming nice abstract patterns. I may have to start keeping a few used ones around the studio to use as future props! I'll definitely be doing some more.

I just started a new larger piece this week, and am excited about working on that right now. As much as I enjoy working on the small paintings, it's fun to finally work on a larger scale with a more complex set up.

Below is a 16x20 I recently completed.

Arabian Dallah with Fruit and Leaves

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Olio Nero

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A couple of weeks ago on the Daily Paintworks website, Carol Marine issued a challenge to paint items that we paint with. Many of the artists on the website submitted entries. I didn't know what to paint the other day, so I thought I would jump on that bandwagon, too. I had a lot of fun with this one. I like the abstract pattern of light shapes formed by the twisted tubes and the side of the bottle against the dark background. The spot of red adds a wonderful color note.

Olio nero (black oil) is a medium I used when I studied at the Florence Academy of Art. It is made by the art supply store Zecchi from traditional old master recipes. Because it is made with lead, it speeds the drying time of paint. It also gives the paint a nice glossy sheen. I haven't used it lately, but I saved the bottle which made a great prop. I love the golden glow of light on the bottle's far side. Stay tuned for some more in this series.....

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Shallots in Shadow and Light

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These shallots were lying on the old cabinet I use as a still life shelf and I loved the way the light struck them dramatically, but left them mostly in shadow. It creates a really dynamic contrast, as well as a bit of mystery. That is what I find so appealing about chiaroscuro painting. Continuing my experimentation with the palette knife, I used it to create the texture of the cabinet.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Sittin' Pretty

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Generally, I tend to paint rather thinly, so for this painting I wanted to experiment with using a palette knife to apply rich, thick strokes of paint. I chose the brick and the old wooden shelf as a setting, feeling they would lend themselves to knife painting. I had fun with the knife, and I think the brick looks really solid. Maybe I'll try incorporating palette knife use a little bit more in the future. I like the color harmonies in this little piece, too.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Last of the Season

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As a still life painter, who paints fruit quite frequently, I am always trying to find an interesting way to present them. Leaves and stems add some interest, but unfortunately in this country, unlike in Europe, it is almost impossible to find fruit which still has a leaf attached in grocery stores or even at local fruit stands. After hearing me complain about this, one of my students was kind enough to give me some orange branches from her tree. This little study is the result.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Juiced

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I got the idea for this painting while juicing some lemons one day. I just liked the look of the hollowed out fruit. I set this arrangement up so that there would be some dramatic shadow shapes on the lemon halves in front, and a nice light striking the lemon waiting to be juiced.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Escapees

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I have done several paintings of eggs in the past, and a friend recently asked if I would do some more, so here they are. These eggs were determined to escapre being hard boiled!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Boxed In

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Another in my box series. I have done several as I am really liking the composition possibilities the box provides. I promise the next painting won't be "boxed in", but the theme will pop up again shortly.

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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Limelight

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The light from the lime seems to really make the surrounding box glow, even though it is a rather dull brown. It is amazing to see how much the different colors in the fruit can influence and change the color of the box. This is turning out to be a fun series of paintings!

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