An Art Fair and Gallery Report

Whew! It has been a whirlwind of a summer! Very busy with shows and painting. I have worked more art fairs than usual this summer, some were worth the effort, some were not. I have gained some new collectors and am happy that art sales seem to be on the upswing! The best shows this year were the shows that I have been exhibiting at for many years, with a good following of collectors. That is really no surprise, as it usually takes time for folks to notice an artist and follow their career. Folks also enjoy meeting the artist and talking about the artwork. The art fair shows also help the gallery sales. Many folks will mention to me that they saw and/or purchased my work at one of the galleries that represent me. This helps the artist with credibility and helps the gallery in name and artwork recognition! I am a firm believer in gallery representation and anything I can do to help promote the galleries is good as I want them to stay in business. It would be a sad world if art galleries no longer could afford to represent artists and stay in business.

Some booth shots from my 2013 shows. The paintings are all pastels. The last show is St. James Court Art Fair in Louisville, KY, October 4,5,6 . I will have both oils and pastels for sale.

Fresh off the Easel

Cedar Creek, oil, plein air study, 12x9, $250 unframed

Trout Stream in Autumn, oil, 24x30, $2500. framed

This studio painting is based off a plein air study painted during a PAAWM paint out last fall.
The 12x9 study was quickly painted on site and I knew right then that I needed to paint a larger version of that scene. I am still contemplating on painting a vertical like the study, in pastel for my shows this summer.
Hope you enjoy the painting!

Paintings at "Celebration"

Tonight is the opening for the 40th annual Celebration of the Arts reception from 7-9pm. 

If you are able to be in downtown Grand Rapids the exhibit is in the exhibition hall of the First United Methodist Church. The juried competition runs until Februrary 13, 2013.

My accepted entries are:

Field and Distant Farm, oil on linen, 12x16, $900. framed

Blue Moon, pastel, 16x12, $800. framed

Artprize Venue Secured

Yeah! I officially have secured a venue for this year's Artprize! The venue is the Old Federal Building - "THE SPOT", on Pearl Street between Ottawa and Ionia. It is a very cool looking venue with the exposed brick work, large walls and good lighting. My painting will be an oil, 40x60, titled "Elements of Rock and Water". While I have done many paintings of water...since we live in a state almost surrounded by large lakes, the rocks are a new type of landscape subject, esp. the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
I have completed a pastel painting that will serve as my study.

Elements of Rock and Water, pastel, 20x30, NFS...yet.

I will be posting some progress photos that took while working on this painting. Stay tuned.
Thanks for viewing my art!

Festival Regional Arts Exhibition - 2012

These four paintings were accepted in the 2012 Festival of the Arts Exhibition in Grand Rapids, MI. The exhibit and opening reception is at the GR Press Building, May 25, from 5:00 - 8:30 pm. More info can be found at Festival 2012. The exhibit will run until Saturday, June 9.

Awaiting Fields, pastel, 18x12

Daffodil Bouquet, pastel, 12x9

October Moon, oil, 6x6, SOLD

Towards Evening, oil, 12x24

New Studio Work

This is the first day in a long while that we have snow...only it is bitter cold, so I don't like to paint outside when it is under 20 degrees! I have been working diligently in the studio and here are a few of my new works.

Creek Reflections, oil on linen, 24x30, $2600.framed
This is a favorite place for me to paint with my friend Patti Mollema.  I used several plein air studies along with some photos for this painting. I was attracted to the early morning light as it lit up the creek banks and the hazy distant trees were a nice contrast. I used oil primed Claussen C15 linen and enjoyed working on such a beautiful surface.

Snowy Boughs, pastel, 16x12, $850. framed
I used an oil plein air study for inspiration.

Winter Light, oil on linen, 18x24, 1800. framed

This painting was created after the first major January snow of this year.

Paintings at the 654 Exhibit

January Moon, oil, 6x6, $250.

Frozen Sanctuary, oil, 16x20, $1600.

Cows in the Pasture, pastel, 6x12, $395.

Pasture Fields and Beyond, oil, 11x14, $800.

Haybales and Hills, oil, 9x12, $650.

Shifting Sand, oil, 30x40, $4800.

Snowy Boughs, oil, 7x5, SOLD


Shown are some of the paintings in the 654 Exhibit.
654 Croswell, East Grand Rapids, MI

The exhibit at 654ART/workcottage, will be  available for viewing  until  Jan.6, 2012.  "Six Women Artists: Paintings Inside and Out" is the title of our exhibit. The artists are Kathleen Putnam, Connie Kuhnle, Kay Tiedt, Patti Mollema, Barb Schilling and myself. The venue is actually a work space for business, so it is open during business hours, 7:30am - 6pm during the week. The receptions last Friday evening and Saturday were very well attended with close to 150 people viewing and sipping wine. Contact me by e-mail, Kalinowski@chartermi.net if you are interested in purchasing any of these paintings.

Out West

Collegiate Peaks-study, oil on linen panel, 6x8, NFS

Collegiate Peaks II-Study, oil on linen panel, 6x6, NFS
 

Utah Afternoon-study, oil on linen panel, 6x8, NFS

Our family returned last week from a two week trip out west! We drove to Colorado, Utah and the Grand Canyon.  I did numerous watercolor sketches during our long hours of driving and some oil studies from various campgrounds. I was most amazed by Utah's ever changing landscape. As we drove, it seemed to change from green mountain passes to deep canyons. Yellow and red mesas and unearthly hoo doo rock formations in Bryce Canyon. What a beautiful state! Colorado was also amazing with the very high mountain peaks, most still snow covered. We had a great time and now Colorado is on my wish list of places to live along with Montana.

Tulip Time

Tulip Beds, oil, 6x6

My Mother's day gift from my family was a trip to Holland, MI to paint with two painting friends! We had a great time finding a place to set our easels in this picturesque town. We settled on Veldheer Farm just to get  as many tulips in our paintings as we could. Our goal was to do a painting during Tulip Festival to enter in the Plein Air Painting Exhibit at the Holland Arts Council. The paintings that are on display will be up for sale at their silent auction until May 14.

Tulip Farm, oil, 12x9, SOLD

Art in Bloom

Yesterday, I participated along with Marianna Heule, Margo Burian, and Beth Charles (Tulip Time Poster winner), painting in the Grand Rapids Art Museum during an event called Art In Bloom. We set up a floral still life and painted for four hours while museum patrons watched. The paintings were sold during a silent auction. It was a fun event and we met some really great people! Here are some photos of us painting.

Margo and her painting in progress.

Marianna's painting in progress.

My painting is finished!

New Painting, New Print

"A New Day", oil, 30x40, $4800. Treeline Gallery
Also now a giclee print - see my website for details

This oil painting will be the centerpiece of my new work being featured this season at Treeline Gallery.  I look forward to hanging this new collection of paintings around mid-May. 

Daffodils are Spring

Two Daffodils, oil, 6x6

Daffodils and Pansies II, oil, 6x6

The daffodils are just arriving despite the unusually cold spring weather we have here in Michigan. I did a few small daffodil paintings this weekend to help cheer me up when they were predicting snow. When it did snow yesterday, I did several more daffodil paintings, this time with pansies, which always perk me up, they look so cheerful. My Grandmother's favorite flower.

Daffodils in a Bottle, oil, 8x6, Grand Gallery

Daffodils and Pansies, oil, 8x6 Grand Gallery

I hope these paintings cheer you up!

Class demo

"Creek Reflections", pastel, 18x12

This painting was started as a demonstration for my  beginning pastel class  that I teach on Wednesdays.   I believe it is now finished! I worked from a plein air painting and photo reference and combined the two to come up with the composition. The colors were mostly from the plein air study, though I went with the colors in the creek from the photo.

Winding Creek

I finally finished the pastel painting that I had set out to paint from my recent plein air study "Winding Creek-Winter", oil, 8x10. A recent  blog  had mentioned that I wanted to paint this scene larger so I settled on the pastel medium, 24x18. I am happy with the outcome, though I may still tweek it a bit. The brilliant sun on that morning had started to melt the foreground snow as I was finishing the oil study so I added that to this larger studio painting.

"Winding Creek", pastel, 24x18, $1500.

Thinking of Summer

I am thinking of summer as I work in my studio for the upcoming gallery shows. Here is a sneak preview of a few new pastel paintings.

"Windswept Dune", pastel, 18x12

"Morning Breeze", pastel, 18x24

Plein air with PAAWM

It was a fine day yesterday with lots of sun and temps in the 30 degree range. I drove over an hour south to paint with the Plein Air Artists of West Michigan at the Cedar Creek Farm Conservation Easement. The property owners were very accomodating. Al drove us back in the property on his new deluxe four wheeler vehicle. Jean made a pot of chili for lunch and we had a very fine critique at the end of the paintout in the warmth of their beautiful home. What more could you ask for?

"Winding Creek-Winter", oil on linen panel, 10x8

"Winter Woodland Trail", oil on panel, 8x10

I am already to use these small paintings as a reference for a 24x18 pastel....starting today!

Exciting News

I am so excited to see that I have two paintings accepted in the Salon International 2011! This is a juried exhibition of oil paintings hosted by the Greenhouse Gallery of Fine Art in San Antonio, TX. This is the third time my work has been accepted in this prestigious show. These are new paintings that will be put on my web site soon.

"Pond with Pink Lilies", oil on linen panel, 16x20, $1600.

"Tending Her Garden", oil on linen panel, 16x20, $1600.

Two New Pastels

I just finished two new paintings that will be shown at the St James Court Art Fair this weekend. I really like the pastorial motif and so that was my inspiration. There are many such scenes with farms, pastures and fields here in West Michigan and in the midwest. I try to capture not only the light but the atmophere of the day.

September Sunlight, pastel, 12x18, $900.

Out to Pasture, pastel, 18x24, $1400.

New Pastel Paintings

The St. James Court Show is next week and I have been very busy getting new work ready to exhibit. My goal is to bring at least a dozen new pieces to add to my inventory. I am also bringing a few plein air oils to show on the outside of the booth if the weather is permitting. So the next few days I will be blogging my new work as a preview of what will be at the show. Hope to see you there!

A Country Road, pastel, 6x12

Three Haybales, pastel, 9x12

Flower Fields, pastel, 9x12

All posted paintings are original paintings by artist Kathleen Kalinowski, copyright, 2010.