"Morning Glories" Work in Progress

"Morning Glories" work in progress, oil, 14"h x 11"w, ©Jill Banks 2014

That Anders Zorn portrait of his wife Emma ... seen Saturday in NYC at the National Academy Museum ... made me put a newspaper to work in this composition. Couldn't help myself. (See previous post for image.)

This isn't quite done.  The morning glory flowers and container moved to the Great Falls School of Art for today's still life class. Once they make a trip home, I'll finish it up.

The vine has been shouting for attention (paint me!!) with a profusion of gorgeous flowers in our backyard for the last few days. Wait too long and the opportunity is toast.

Not Nice News ... Stolen Art
Studiomate and friend Cindy Grisdela was one of 200 exhibitors at the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival this past weekend, May 17 and 18 in Reston, VA.  Sometime Saturday night, six of her pieces of fiber art were stolen from her booth. 

You can imagine how devastating this is for her. She needs your help. Read her blog posts ... keep a look out for those pieces and help get her work returned to her.

Amangansett (Hamptons area, NY)... Here We Come
in July!  I'll be joining other great artists at the Amagansett Fine Art Festival over the July 4 weekend. More details to come and hopefully, I'll learn how to pronounce it.

Lots of art shows, festivals, painting all sorts of places. It looks like quite a Spring and Summer. I hope to see you there!

Before I head off to all of these locations to show my work, if you're local DC... I really hope you'll come visit at the May 31&June 1 Outdoor (under the BIG Tent) Art Festival being held in Great Falls. 25 artists exhibiting. Husband Randy is in charge day one (Saturday, May 31, 9am to 5pm) and I'll be there Sunday, June 1, 11am to 8pm.

Right around the corner is the Great Falls Studio Art on the Green, an outdoor arts festival on May 31 and June 1 in Great Falls, VA ... and Mountain Maryland Plein Air. Lots to look forward to!


Phone: 703.403.7435
Email: jillbanks1@aol.com
Web: www.JillBanks.com
Blog: jillbanks.blogspot.com
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May 27-May 31: Mountain Maryland Plein Air I join 29 other artists juried from around the country to capture Cumberland MD and surrounding areas in this plein air competition and exhibition. Second time around.

May 31 & June 1: Great Falls Studios Spring Outdoor Art on the Green Festival  Two days with my work under a tent in the Great Falls Village Centre, corner of Georgetown Pike and Walker Road,  Great Falls, VA. Husband Randy will hold down “the Fort” on Saturday while I finish up at Mountain Maryland and then I hope to see you on Sunday, June 1!
 
March 5 - December: Richeson75 Still Life and Floral 2014  Two of my paintings: "Honey Bunny" and "Garden Girl" were chosen as finalists in this online competition and exhibition. 75 total works were selected for this exhibition from entries/artists worldwide. See the exhibit at http://richeson75.com/stilllife/index.html

Paint with Me in Italy: August 3 to 10, 2014. For more info, itinerary and links to register, see the classes page on my web site. Great folks are signing up to join me on this wonderful adventure. I hope you can, too!  

Sarah Banks, My Daughter, Is Face #77

"Sarah Banks: Face #77," oil, 12"h x 12"w, copyright Jill Banks 2011

My daughter, Sarah, finally succumbed to becoming Face #77 in my 100 Faces in 100 Days Project. That means she's escaped for the previous 76 days.

Somewhere in the middle, Sarah asked me how much longer ... more than one hour? When I said I'd need four hours she wondered (aloud) why I say three to four hours when it's almost always four hours. She has a point.

I've painted her quite a few times, but this one's the best. Plus, I got to spend about five hours being with her, talking and taking breaks (including omelet making and eating). So, a very big treat for me! I want more days just like that.

With two kids grown, I miss spending day-to-day time with them. (I'm also very proud and happy for them.)

I hate to say this because I don't want to jinx anything ... but I'm getting better at painting. I'm struggling less (oh, I REALLY worry about saying that); concentrating on what's important and simplifying shapes; seeing and understanding subjects in three dimensions; dealing with paint and surfaces. In Sarah's case, I know how to paint her. That allowed me to push the painting farther than any of the rest which means I achieved everything I wanted to.

There'd be more photos ... like a photo of Sarah with the painting of her ... but she was napping when I thought of it.

Same painting with photo taken under tungsten light

Effect of Lighting: Photographing Paintings
I also photographed the painting outside, at dusk. I don't have a filter on my camera so the photo above has a bit of a dusky quality to it, but the colors are so much truer than many on my blog that I've taken under tungsten light. To show just how drastic the effect of lighting is on the photograph, the photo to the right is the same painting taken inside under tungsten light.

This is why when you look back through my blog at the photos of my sitters with their paintings, those photos look bluer/more natural. At those moments, there's more sunlight/natural light in my studio. Then I rest. Then I take photos of the finished paintings to get them ready for my blog and the natural light's long faded.

Cindy Grisdela's Blog

Cindy Grisdela is an accomplished fiber artist ... also a friend, one of my first "faces" (Face #4), and a fellow Great Falls Studios member. According to her blog, she was influenced by my project to start her own: a quilt a day for thirty days. I caught up on Cindy Grisdela's blog today about her quilt-a-day project ... and it ... and the quilts are terrific! Very inspiring! I'd heard about Cindy's quest from Laura Nichols (president of Great Falls Studios, a potter, and face #57). Seems Laura is thinking about her own project goal, this time in pots. I feel great that this project is getting these two very energetic and productive people to push themselves in a new way to help develop their art.

Recently I had a chance to be a "fly on the wall" and hear someone discussing my project. The comment was something like this: "She's already obviously great at painting portraits. Why would she want to paint 100 more?" My answer (which I couldn't give then) is multi-faceted. I think my work is really good and I put my heart and soul into it. But, I always want to keep improving. And, I'm not working to (just) become better at painting portraits, I want to grow as a painter (and artist) in my approach to all subject matter. Well, that's part of my answer.

 Web: www.jillbanks.com
Blog: jillbanks.blogspot.com
100 Faces in 100 Days Project: www.jillbanks.com/jillbanks/100_Faces_in_100_Days_Project.html
Email: jillbanks1@aol.com
Phone: 703.403.7435

Web Site Just Updated and Yesterday

More fun times were had by all at yesterday's Great Falls Studios Spring Art Show at the Colvin Run Historic Schoolhouse in Great Falls, VA. Lots of regular eventgoers showed up ... but lots of new people, too ... coming from all over the area. What's interesting to me is how appreciative visitors are that you take the time to talk to them about your art. I'm appreciative that they are interested in discussing it. Just as my paintings unfold before me as I'm painting them (as I see something new in my subject), the discussions lead the visitor to see more and more in the painting. Each painting holds a story and its enlightening to hear how others interpret it.

I sold two more works yesterday. Three in all for the weekend. "Sauce or Salsa?" went to a couple who will be taking it with them to hang in their future home in the South of France. "Basilica of Constantine and Maxenthius", my drawing fresh from the Forum in Rome, went to a fellow artist in the show. One of the dangers of participating in these art shows is that we have two days to be tempted by each others' art. I went home with a new, "lucky" mug from potter Laura Nichols and an art-quilt covered guestbook from fiber artist Cindy Grisdela. Couldn't help it. I'm happier having them!

I updated my web site this morning with new updates to come. I realized that most of the paintings and drawings I had for sale at the show this weekend were missing from the site. I can't correct that overnight -- but I did add four paintings (of New York City streets) to my Places Gallery. Plus, (drumroll), I added pricing info to that gallery as well. I plan to do this for the other galleries (Still Life, Portraits, Drawings) ... but that will take me a little while. I'll also be adding many paintings in the process.

"Sauce or Salsa?", oil on linen, 8"h x 10"w, copyright Jill Banks 2010. Sold
"Basilica of Constantine and Maxenthius", ink, watercolor wash, pencil, 8"h x 10"w outer mat, copyright Jill Banks 2010. Sold.

Web: www.jillbanks.com
Blog: jillbanks.blogspot.com
Email: jillbanks1@aol.com
Phone: 703.403.7435