Life as an Artist- Jill Banks

Thursday, October 13, 2011

The Power Went Out

My Area of the Studio a Few Days Ago ... More's Been Added Since

I'd show you an updated version of the Artists' Atelier, a day and a half away from the Great Falls Studio Tour, but the power went out. We are yet under another deluge of rain. A tornado warning. Etc.

What I really wanted to show you was how Randy hung my nine Beanie Baby paintings together. They look great en masse and are now filling up the window space. Maybe a photo tomorrow?

For Studio Tour, there are 48 artists participating in 29 locations throughout Great Falls, VA. It's free. It's fun.

I don't mean this wrong ... but people buy art on the Tour. Not coming, means that piece you love, may not be there at the next event. (I only offer originals. One piece, one owner.)

The Studio Tour is the event that inspires the budding artist within. Those 48 artists are demonstrating their process, talking about their inspiration and encouraging others. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to that remind me of how a conversation I had with them at this event -- made them return to creating art. People who profess to not be artists find out a creative outlet, and art-making can be something for them, too. It's truly an amazing experience not to be missed ... for people of all ages.

Start your tour at the Artists' Atelier at 1144 Walker Road, Suites D&G, in Great Falls, VA. The Tour is Saturday and Sunday, October 15&16, 10am-5pm. We'll have refreshments ready although last year's crowds consumed every crumb we could muster. I'll be in my corner waiting to see you. We'll have brochures with maps to plan the rest of your weekend. Be a tour-goer! See you soon.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Great Falls Annual Studio Tour, Oct. 15&16, 10am-5pm

Artists‘ Atelier, 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA

Out & About Norfolk Plein Air Painting Event, October 20-22

ON EXHIBIT

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s 115th Annual Open Juried Exhibit

National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC, October 4-28

"Cubanelle and Roses," oil, 10"h x 8"w, ©Jill Banks 2011

The Art League's October All-Media Membership Exhibit, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria, VA. My charcoal drawing of "Oscar" was juried in and will be on view through November 7. "Cubanelle and Roses" is in the Bin Gallery.

American Artists Professional League 83rd Grand National

Salmagundi Club, 47 Fifth Avenue, NYC, Nov. 1-11
To read more about the 100 Faces in 100 Days project on my web site (www.jillbanks.com), go to the 100 Faces Project Pages 1 and 2 where you can see all 100 of my volunteers. Click on the paintings, and go to my blog post for that person's sitting.

Web: www.jillbanks.com
Blog: jillbanks.blogspot.com
100 Faces in 100 Days Project Page 1 (faces 1-54): www.jillbanks.com/jillbanks/100_Faces_in_100_Days_Project.html
100 Faces in 100 Days Project Page 2 (faces 55-100): www.jillbanks.com/jillbanks/100_Faces_in_100_Days_Project_2.html
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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

"Chocolate Confetti Cupcake" Painting Today

"Chocolate Confetti Cupcake," oil, 6"h x 6"w, ©Jill Banks 2011

I could have called this "Cupcake #3" since it's the third day in a row I've been painting these treats. All have melted by the end ... but this one managed to melt in the middle of being painted. I had to rely on my memory of it with a chocolate covered top. Tomorrow, I'll be changing subjects so this is it for cupcake treats for awhile.

Today's Still Life Class

There must be some awfully good instruction and listening going on in my Still Life class -- because beautiful paintings are popping up all over the room -- created by both new and continuing students. It's sort of shocking -- even with my high expectations for them. All three setups are complicated and interesting. They are all up to the challenge. Good thing. I seem incapable of setting up easy ones.

Lessons learned lately: It's fine to use tape or rulers to get a straight line on a painting. Grapes are painted as masses -- not as individuals. There are some really beautiful grapes happening around here.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Great Falls Annual Studio Tour, Oct. 15&16, 10am-5pm

Artists‘ Atelier, 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA

Out & About Norfolk Plein Air Painting Event, October 20-22

ON EXHIBIT

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s 115th Annual Open Juried Exhibit

National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC, October 4-28

"Cubanelle and Roses," oil, 10"h x 8"w, ©Jill Banks 2011

American Artists Professional League 83rd Grand National

Monday, October 10, 2011

Another Cupcake Painting: "Sprinkles and Dots Cupcake"

"Sprinkles and Dots Cupcake," oil, 5"h x 5"w, ©Jill Banks 2011

I just finished "Sprinkles and Dots Cupcake" when the frosting and top turned into a mudslide. Pretty amusing to look up and discover a new shape. It would make a pretty good painting now, too.

I taught portrait class today ... with the first of three sessions with Livia. I shouldn't have told the class they have three days to work on it. It makes them worry more ... and slow waaaaay down. Their beginning sketches are looking good but if I'd kept quiet, I bet there would have been lots more paint on those canvases in all the right places.

My studio has been buzzing for at least a week with everyone preparing for Studio Tour next weekend. (Go to the Great Falls Studios web site to download/print a brochure and to register to win Art Bucks coupons to use on the tour.) Lots of framing and wiring and label making and putting up new art everywhere. Makes me think I should be working on all those things myself. I'm always looking for that elf that will take care of it all for me. Where'd that guy go?

It's time to check the fridge and see just how grotesque last week's still life objects are ... what needs to be replaced for class tomorrow. And then time to go home.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Great Falls Annual Studio Tour, Oct. 15&16, 10am-5pm

Artists‘ Atelier, 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA

Out & About Norfolk Plein Air Painting Event, October 20-22

ON EXHIBIT

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s 115th Annual Open Juried Exhibit

National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC, October 4-28

"Cubanelle and Roses," oil, 10"h x 8"w, ©Jill Banks 2011

American Artists Professional League 83rd Grand National

Saturday, October 8, 2011

New Cupcake Painting: "Icing Meltdown"

"Icing Meltdown," oil, 5"h x 5"w, ©Jill Banks 2011

After carefully selecting four cupcakes at the Safeway for their "looks" -- I eventually retrieve one as my painting subject out of a complicated box. I couldn't figure out how not to damage the frosting while pulling it out (there was a collar contraption around it). But it didn't matter, since the frosting slid off about one minute after I turned a light on it. So here's a painting of an almost fully frosted Cherry cupcake that's seen better days. There was plenty more action in the studio than this ... and I apologize for the lousy photo ... put it's back to work now on my main project of the day.

"Icing Meltdown" will be one of small square paintings for sale during Studio Tour weekend next week. We're setting up a screen full of these little guys at the Artists' Atelier (1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA). There's no theme. Just small and square.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Great Falls Annual Studio Tour, Oct. 15&16, 10am-5pm

Artists‘ Atelier, 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA

Out & About Norfolk Plein Air Painting Event, October 20-22

ON EXHIBIT

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s 115th Annual Open Juried Exhibit

National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC, October 4-28

"Cubanelle and Roses," oil, 10"h x 8"w, ©Jill Banks 2011

American Artists Professional League 83rd Grand National

Friday, October 7, 2011

Hanging the Show In the Gallery and More

That's my "Sunlight, Sunflowers and Orange" straight ahead. Come see.

This was a mish-mash day. Lots of different activities. Zero painting but I got ready to do some.

This morning, Randy and I stretched a canvas for a portrait commission I'll be starting, in earnest, tomorrow. It's a relief to put those first strokes down. To move ahead. I was hoping to get a few hours in on it today, but instead ... I'll work longer and make more "first day" progress tomorrow.

The whole afternoon was spent arranging and hanging a pretty spectacular exhibit in the Atelier gallery space. The walls ... and work ... are beautiful. We figure that anyone who needs a wall of artwork should just come in and buy a wall. I realize I need to take better whole wall photos. They really are pretty amazing.

The left gallery wall with "Merry Go Round"

Many of us at the Atelier have been together for a number of years. We've witnessed each others' growth. There's a lot of talent here -- in our founding and newer members.

Early evening, Randy hung the super high pieces in the gallery and the rest of my studio space area. Then we headed home.

"Tranquility" a Finalist in Herndon ArtSpace's Portrait Expression Competition

I received word today that "Tranquility," a favorite painting and portrait, is a finalist in the Portrait Expression Competition. I love this painting ... and it's received many honors. I think they've been well deserved. I've hung this painting above the mantel in our master bedroom and it was amazing to just look up at her. I felt the richness of this painting. Like my bedroom had somehow moved into a favorite museum where I could wake up with a treasure that I could learn something new from each day.

I believe she's something special. Because of that, "Tranquility" has been my candidate for many different exhibits ... until somebody super smart decides to take her off "the circuit." ("Tranquility" was juried into two National/International Exhibits and won an Honorable Mention of Artistic Merit in Salon International 2011. The painting also appeared in Fine Art Connoisseur and American Art Collector Magazine in April 2011 as part of that exhibit.)

"Tranquility," 30"h x 24"w, oil, Jill Banks 2010

"Tranquility" will be on exhibit at Herndon ArtSpace November 1 though 27 as part of the 2011 Expressions Portrait Competition. Awards are chosen from the finalists once the exhibit is hung.

"Tranquility" is on view and available for purchase during Studio Tour but the painting will need to be exhibited in Herndon in November.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Great Falls Annual Studio Tour, Oct. 15&16, 10am-5pm

Artists‘ Atelier, 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA

Out & About Norfolk Plein Air Painting Event, October 20-22

ON EXHIBIT

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s 115th Annual Open Juried Exhibit

National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC, October 4-28

"Cubanelle and Roses," oil, 10"h x 8"w, ©Jill Banks 2011

American Artists Professional League 83rd Grand National

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Working On My Studio

Randy and I just spent a few hours hanging paintings in preparation for Studio Tour. Tomorrow, I'll be working with my studiomates to hang work by Atelier studio tour participants in the gallery. We always have too much work ... and too little space. Come Saturday and Sunday, October 15 & 16, the whole place will look wonderful ... brimming with art and people throughout.

Studio Tour is a self-guided tour throughout Great Falls, with 48 artists working in a variety of mediums (painting, photography, digital art, pottery, art quilts, lithography, wood carving, etc.) participating. It's free ... and you can go to Great Falls Studios web site (click on Studio Tour on top) and register for a chance to win Art Bucks ... money you can spend on purchases from Studio Tour artists. Twenty $50 Art Bucks certificates and one hundred $10 certificates will be awarded. You're that lucky, aren't you?

You'll also find a map on the Great Falls Studios web site. The Artists' Atelier, the studio I share with 15 other artists is Stop #24 (you can go in any order and whatever studio sparks your interest) at 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA. Right behind Dante Ristorante at the corner of Walker Road and Colvin Run Road. Hours are 10am-5pm on both days. We're getting ready ... the tour's only a little over a week away.

It's not ready yet ... but we're getting there!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Great Falls Annual Studio Tour, Oct. 15&16, 10am-5pm

Artists‘ Atelier, 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA

Out & About Norfolk Plein Air Painting Event, October 20-22

ON EXHIBIT

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s 115th Annual Open Juried Exhibit

National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC, October 4-28

"Cubanelle and Roses," oil, 10"h x 8"w, ©Jill Banks 2011

American Artists Professional League 83rd Grand National

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Plein Air Painting At Home

"The Cul De Sac," oil, 20"h x 16"w, ©Jill Banks 2011

Today I decided to take advantage of one of the few beautiful outdoor painting days left in the season. This scene was captured at the end of my drive ... what I see as I leave the house each day. One of my "treats" in life is to drive up and down this street to and from my destinations. It's just the prettiest street ... anchored by the house at the end I call home.

I'm always getting ready for something, but enjoying the exercise all the same. Today, my thoughts -- beyond it's not freezing or raining so you should park yourself outside -- turned toward the Out & About Norfolk event that's just a couple of weeks away. So my EasyL and I headed to the end of the drive.

It was a quiet day. A few dog walkers. Two kids from across the street returning home from school. My neighbor mowing the yard. About halfway in, the car -- the star of the show -- rolled away. In it were the housekeepers who wondered what I was up to. I turned the easel around and they got out and admired the work in process. That was a highlight.

It seems like all sorts of "cool" things are up in the air right now. I'll tell you more when they are more than possibilities.

And, two more pieces have a new owner. They are two favorites: "Pumpkinfied" and "Blue."

UPCOMING EVENTS

Great Falls Annual Studio Tour, Oct. 15&16, 10am-5pm

Artists‘ Atelier, 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA

Out & About Norfolk Plein Air Painting Event, October 20-22

ON EXHIBIT

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s 115th Annual Open Juried Exhibit

National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC, October 4-28

"Cubanelle and Roses," oil, 10"h x 8"w, ©Jill Banks 2011

American Artists Professional League 83rd Grand National

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

"Merry Go Round" Finished!

"Merry Go Round," 30"h x 30"w, oil on linen, ©Jill Banks 2011

I'm still in the studio ... and have to leave for home ... but wanted you to see this. "Merry Go Round" is finished. Just in time, too. Fruit flies have invaded the area. The produce guy at the Safeway where I bought a rotting nectarine's replacement told me that those were the last of those I was going to see for awhile. And, it's time to prepare my space for the Great Falls Studio Tour ... which means moving out my models. Lots of signs and incentives.

I love this painting.

Drawing Accepted into Art League Show

On Monday night, Randy and I brought two pieces to the Art League (in Alexandria) for this month's juried show. "Oscar," a charcoal drawing, is in the October exhibit which runs through November 7 in the Art League Gallery in the Torpedo Factory at 105 N. Union St., Alexandria, VA. "Cubanelle and Roses" is in the Bin Gallery for the month as well.

"Oscar" was juried into the Salmagundi Club's Annual Graphics and Photography Exhibit in 2009. The drawing was done during a modeling session held at the Artists' Atelier (my studio) and I was inspired. Live sittings do that to you. This drawing is very painterly, fresh and quick. That's who I was that day -- a painter with a stick of charcoal in my hand.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Great Falls Annual Studio Tour, Oct. 15&16, 10am-5pm

Artists‘ Atelier, 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA

Out & About Norfolk Plein Air Painting Event, October 20-22

ON EXHIBIT

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s 115th Annual Open Juried Exhibit

National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC, October 4-28

American Artists Professional League 83rd Grand National

Sunday, October 2, 2011

MPA Artfest Was Wet, Cold, Tiring ... And Great!

"Little Miss Muffet's" moved to a new home

I HAVE to keep this post short. I can barely keep my eyes open and I believe every part of me aches. It was cold and rained a good bit in the afternoon ... but we were able to travel dry to and from the tent this morning and evening, so thank goodness for that.

All I kept thinking, post Artfest, was how I'd like to leave the dishes in the sink. As in, if I had a different husband (I'm very glad I don't), I wouldn't have delivered paintings to the third floor to the Artists' Atelier. I wouldn't clean out his car. I wouldn't refold the screen covers and put them in the box downstairs (at home) where they belong. I'd just shutdown. Curl up on the couch. Vegetate. (Even with his diligence, getting ready for any show turns my entire house upside down. Don't come visit me at home any time soon.)

"Morning At Starbuck's" went to a good new home, too.

I hope to get back to (after some rest and not tonight) what made this such a great show. Happy purchasers did go home with two of my paintings -- and those were two of the highlights. But there were many more. So, if I forget, remind me.

Thank you to everyone who visited my booth today. In case you couldn't tell, it means a lot to me that you took the time to talk with me and appreciated my work.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Great Falls Annual Studio Tour, Oct. 15&16, 10am-5pm

Artists‘ Atelier, 1144 Walker Road, Suite G, Great Falls, VA

Out & About Norfolk Plein Air Painting Event, October 20-22

ON EXHIBIT

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club’s 115th Annual Open Juried Exhibit

National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC, October 4-28

American Artists Professional League 83rd Grand National

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Do A No-Rain Dance?

"Dining Al Fresco," 24"h x 20"w

The weather today ... was a big Yuck. And, tomorrow's MPA McLean Artfest is definitely going to be outside. I'm scaling back the art I'm taking. Husband Randy says not enough. The pieces I'm bringing are the cream of the crop. Lots of new. I just can't have any overflow (nothing on the ground) and I'm keeping drawings out of the wet air. You'll have to see those at Studio Tour mid-October or another time.

Maybe there will be sympathy purchases for soggy artists. Or maybe the sun will come out and it will be a whole new bright day.

We went over to the park to check things out this afternoon. It wasn't so bad then, but I did take the suggestion of going out and buying rain boots. There should be a lot of strong fashion statements tomorrow.

The MPA planning team had to call it: indoors vs. outdoors on Wednesday when Sunday was forecasted as 0% chance of rain ... sunny and cool.