Indiana Wildlife Artists Open Juried Exhibition

Local Artist, Patricia Getha will be among the award winning artists whose work will be shown at the Twenty-Seventh Annual Exhibit presented by the Indiana Wildlife Artists Association. Three of her works will be featured, “Winged Jewel” a stunning photo of one of the world’s smallest birds, “Tern Style” an Oil painting of a Tern preening its feathers, and “Niagara Falls Sentinel” a miniature acrylic painting of a Ring-billed Gull measuring only 4 x 5 inches!

This showing of Fine Nature Art will be displayed to the public in the Indiana Room of the Minnetrista Cultural Center, 1200 N. Minnetrista Parkway, Muncie, IN, from September 12 through September 26, 2010. The opening awards presentation is Saturday, September 11, 6:30-8 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the public, Monday-Saturday, 9-5:30 p.m. and Sundays, 1:00-5:30 p.m.

The exhibit will include two and three-dimensional artwork in a variety of media and styles with a wide range of subjects. The show is judged by expert representatives from the Fine Arts and Wildlife Naturalist professions. This exhibit displays some of the finest professional and amateur artists working in the state of Indiana and surrounding areas in the subject area of wildlife and nature and is an excellent concentration of artists dedicated to preserving and promoting wildlife art as a truly Fine Art.

Indiana Wildlife Artists was first organized in 1982. Among its goals are the advancement of wildlife art and education about conservation of natural resources. Membership at several levels is available to all artists whose work shows a serious approach to wildlife art.

Persons needing additional information about the group may contact IWA by calling 317-846-4755 or by visiting their website at www.indianawildlifeartists.org.

Warmer Weather, Borzoi National Specialty and Art In Bloom!

I have been very busy lately! Framing work, shipping to shows, teaching painting and photography classes as well as riding my horses, taking care of family and working my part-time job at Gypsy Woods. The warmer weather has been a little distracting too. My perennials are growing and the spring bulbs are nearly finished blooming.

The birds are really active! Lots of color in my yard! We have Eastern Bluebirds nesting in one house. The other house is still vacant after my war on the English Sparrows and now the wasps that are trying to build a nest. There were 5 male (bachelor) tree swallows all trying to get in the house while I was riding yesterday. They swooped right under Amy's nose! A Blue Jay is sitting on eggs in the cottonwood right off the deck at eye level. She hasn't moved and the male brings her food and tenderly feeds her... quite a contrast to their typical reputation as a somewhat obnoxious bird!

Artistically speaking, I have some photographs that have juried into the National Borzoi Specialty in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky in May. My friend Lynne Hlavin brought her beautiful dog over for me to photograph. The resulting images were quite stunning with nice golden, late evening light against the dark backdrop of our woods adding to the artistic quality of the photos. Here are the images:

"Intensity" and "Beauty and Grace" you can see the entire show here:
http://web.me.com/veniharlan/BCOA_National_Juried_Art_Show/Gallery.html#grid

I also have work in the Seaside Art Gallery 19th Annual Miniature Show www.seasideart.com http://www.seasideart.com/EventDetails.aspx?id=26
Images included in this show are "The Broodmare" "Timber Wolf" and "Mystic" All these paintings are done in Acrylic and custom framed. My darling husband made the floater frames from some scrap Maple. He is cutting and joining all my frames now! He is so talented!


Other events this week include the Columbus Museum of Art, "Art In Bloom" fund raising event. I will be photographing the floral arrangements along side artistic masterpieces. The arrangements are designed as an interpretation of the art they are photographed with. This should be an interesting assignment! Its not often that an art museum allows photography (except when its for them!) https://www.columbusmuseum.org/specialevents/aib2010/

In other news. I was recently asked to be one of two judges for the upcoming Delaware Arts Festival. This is a good size festival held in May with lots of local and regional talent. I am looking forward to this and was honored to be considered.

Recent Work

These images are from some recent work. the first image is called "Got Love?" It is an acrylic done with my new Golden Open Acrylics. I love these paints! They can be blended much like oils even 2 days or more after putting them on the canvas. The other three images are visitors to my bird feeders. These guys are used to seeing me around the feeders in fact the Chickadees darn near eat out of my hand and the nuthatches dart in and out so quick you hardly can get a shot off.

Sofie, Love At First Sight.......this is my Mom's dog who she took in from a friend who could not take care of her anymore. This is an Acrylic and will be a part of the "Helping Paws 2009" online exhibit beginning October 1, 2009 and running through January, 2010. A portion of the proceeds of the sale of this painting will benefit The Humane Society of Delaware County, Ohio. Prints are also available.

You can purchase this original painting or a print by contacting me. The price is $250 with 25% going to the charity.

Please consider the adoption option and support your local shelters.

Delaware All Horse Parade

This past Sunday was the Delaware County All Horse Parade which kicks off our County Fair, the best fair East of the Mississippi! I am a staff photographer for the fair this year and will be covering the Little Brown Jug and the Juggette as well as the rest of the races. I will also be poking around the show barns and arenas and catching the action at the Open and Jr. Fair shows. This is always a very busy time but oh so fun to be a part of the action. Best seat in the house for the Little Brown Jug!

The fair starts on Saturday, September 19 and runs until the 26th.

Here are a few shots from the parade. Hope you enjoy them.

Boots and Becky

This is my latest commission, Boots and Becky, a cute pair who I think, really didn't like each other very much. I managed to get some nice pictures of them and used Photoshop to composite them into a decent composition. The painting is an 11 x 14 inch oil.

I delivered the painting tonight. 1 down, one more to go!

It has been a while since I have done a dog commission but I must say, I have missed doing them. This pair was very photogenic so it is possible that they may show up in my future work.

Niagara Falls Sentinel

I completed this painting this week for a miniature show in Nags Head, North Carolina. http://www.seasideart.com/EventDetails.aspx?id=22. It is 4 x 5 inches painted in Acrylic and titled "Niagara Falls Sentinel". My plan is to do a life-sized painting of this same bird at some point. I have a lot of photos of him, some really interesting ones of him calling loudly when I got too close.
My husband had a hard time trying to figure out what held my interest so long but I couldn't resist the perfect light from the early morning sunrise. Gorgeous!

The Wilds!

This is a simple study produced while I was on vacation last year. Giraffes are such funny creatures. The reference for this drawing was captured at The Wilds http://www.thewilds.org, a 10,000 acre wildlife preserve located in East Central Ohio. The Wilds houses many endangered and threatened species from Asia, Africa and North America, including Cheetahs, African Wild Dogs, several species of Rhinoceros, Bactrian Deer, Grevy Zebra, Bactrian Camels, American Bison, Przewalski's Wild Horse, Sichuan Takin, Banteng, several species of antelope such as Fringe-eared oryx, Scimitar-horned oryx, Sable antelope, Persian Onager, and Common Eland. These species are free ranging except for the carnivores which are housed at the carnivore facility with large pastures to stretch their legs.

I have a lot of photos taken at a photography workshop last year. I took so many that it is difficult to go through them all. There is an artist workshop scheduled for May, 2009, 3 days all enclusive for $175.00! This is a great place to visit and for that kind of money, well worth the material you will come back with. The landscape is gorgeous and at that time of year, there will be lots of flowers too. If anyone is interested in attending, please let me know. I am looking for comrads to go with. See there website for more information.

Here are a couple of shots from the photo workshop. This year they have two! And YES, that is a bird sitting on that Sable antelope's back!

" 'Til the Cows Come Home"

A couple of weeks ago I got a call from my sister saying that our Mother was gravely ill. At the time, I was preparing to go photograph horses for the Spring Solstice project for the Equine Photographers Network Exhibition. Needless to say, I packed a quick bag and camera in hand, headed to Cincinnati (actually Southeast Indiana but close enough) where my Mom was brought into the ER. My thought was that if I got a chance, I would shoot horses along the way for the project but the opportunity did not present itself.

The following day, I was driving the winding roads in Southeast Indiana, taking in the beautiful scenery of the Ohio River Valley and trying to calm my Dad's obvious distress and worry about Mom. On the way back to the hospital, I saw some sows and a field full of Chickens and roosters, aglow in the late evening light. The temptation was too great! I pulled in the driveway and fortunately, the farm owners were out, granting permission for me to photograph the animals. The resulting photographs produced some excellent references.

This work is a Colored Pencil, 9 x 12, called " 'Til the Cows Come Home" He was quite a "hoot"! I am teaching a colored Pencil Class this summer and felt I should brush up on my skills and get a feel for the medium. I worked three days on this, a lot of time for the size and I probably could have worked another three days but had to get it finished for a local show at the High Road Gallery in Worthington, Ohio.

I plan on producing an oil from the same reference photos. The colors will be so much more vibrant in oils.

As a postscript to this post, my Mom is still recovering in the hospital but doing much better. She needs to regain her strength.

"Hobby" Day 3 Watercolor progress

Today's work on Hobby included further defining the subtle highlight and shadow details of the horse. I am happy with the progress so far and I think it will start coming together nicely.

It was difficult to not get distracted with the warm weather and absolutely gorgeous day going on outside the studio windows. I did take the time to clean the windows and rather enjoyed the antics of the feeder birds who are becoming very active with the pending breeding season. The American Goldfinches are starting to molt and get their bright yellow breeding plumage. I am contemplating a stop at the local Tractor Supply to buy one of the nice copper bird baths I saw there yesterday!

Watercolor Progress "Hobby"

I haven't worked a lot on this due to a remodeling project is the studio but did manage to get in a few hours. I have the eye defined a bit and you can see some of the dimension in the muscles and facial structures.

Vignettes are a bit of a challenge for me. I never know where to end them. This was supposed to be an 11 x 14 but the horse did not fit comfortably into that space so I had to re-draw it. It needed the extra space in front of the nose.

The studio is still a work in progress. We decided to put a landing at the bottom of the stairs which meant opening up the head space and properly re-configuring the plumbing and wiring. We were going to do this at a later date but decided that it made sense to do it now and deal with the mess. It also allows us to properly install the new lighting and ceiling. My husband is a true craftsman! He had to rebuild a wall that had been put up crooked which made more mess but it will be so much better in the long run.

I just ordered some beautiful hanging flower baskets to hang outside the windows of the studio. My hummingbirds will be so happy when they get here. Actually, the hummers will arrive before the flowers so will have to keep the feeders fresh for them! I love Spring!

New Commission: "Hobby"

I am starting a new commission and would like to post it here as a work-in-progress. The horse is named "Hobby". My 12 year old son actually took the reference for this painting. I had turned him loose with my Nikon D-70s at the Delaware Horse Parade where my client was riding with her side-saddle club. I presented several possible references for her to choose from and by popular vote, Simon's picture was chosen.

Here is yesterday's work along with the reference. Watercolor paintings take a while to develop, layering color, one on top of the other to get the desired density and values of colors. It has been a while since I have painted in watercolor other than a few black and white pieces produced last year. This will be a nice change!

On another note, Spring is in the air here in Ohio. the crocus is blooming; the Turkey Vultures are souring; and the birds are acting goofy. The horses are starting to shed as well even though it is in the low 30s today. We have a ton of geese on the river, all fighting over the females so lots of ruckus! I wish I could capture some of this spring behavior but I shipped my primary lens off for repair. The eagles up the road should be sitting on eggs by now so I hope to get them on the nest.

Art Show at the Dog Show

I just received word that my photo "Gotta Luv a Pup" took the Best Depiction of a Brittany Spaniel at the 2009 Art Show at the Dog Show, a national juried exhibition and sale of fine art depicting Man's Best Friend.

Some fellow members of the Canine Art Guild , were also winners in various categories. These members included:
Elin Pendleton, Best Doberman
Kim Santini, 3rd Place Oil and Acrylic
Dana Thompson, Best Sporting Group
Patricia Getha, Best Brittany
Kim Ratigan, 3rd place Watercolor
Dawn Secord 4th Place Pastel
Catherine Temple 3rd Place Drawing
Yvonne Sovereign 3rd Place Other, and Best Depiction of a Whippet

Congratulations to all who got in the show and the winners whose work will appear here: Art Show at the Dog Show

Studio Updates

Lately I have been spending time cleaning and remodeling my studio so I can get back to some constructive work. I have the walls newly painted in white and have ordered a hanging system for displaying my framed pieces. This serves several purposes...... it gets the work out of the closet and the boxes where most is stored, it lets me look at the work with fresh eyes and it makes the walls look nice! My husband built some vertical storage under the stairwell for matboard, frames, portfolios and other things that are always in the way and cluttering up my work space. We are installing a new ceiling, full spectrum light fixtures, and ceramic flooring (which will come later).

I haven't decided on window treatments yet. I have two large windows that look out to the pastures and the flowerbeds. These windows face south but are shaded by the deck overhead. I have a new door too which is not drafty like the old one and I hung a seed feeder so that I can look out the window any time and see the birds. In the summer I will hang hummingbird feeders and hanging baskets of flowers. I can't wait until it is finished!

I am thinking of "naming" my new studio. We live on the Scioto River so I was thinking something along the lines on Scioto Side Studio or something with Sycamore in it since that is one of the most prevalent trees in our front yard. We also have lots of Eastern Redbuds so perhaps I should use something with Redbud in the name......suggestions welcome.........

In the meantime, here are a few more images from the trip to Amish country. The last one is my filly, Gracie.

A Trip to Ohio Amish Country, Equine Art Paradise

Every year I try to do a sort of women/artist retreat with some of my friends. This event usually happens in September and always includes some great photo opportunities. This past September was no exception. Jean Cook, (Paola, Kansas) Ann Dysinger (Ohio) and I started out from my house in Delaware County, Ohio and headed northeast to Holmes County where Ann had grown up. Holmes County and the surrounding areas are some of the most beautiful farming landscapes to be seen and there are surprises around every turn as you meander through the winding roads and countryside. At one point we crested a rise in the road and came quickly up on a herd of loose, Black Angus cattle. We made our way to the farmer's home to let them know their cattle were in the middle of the road. This little distraction made us a bit late for our meeting with fellow artist, Karen Brenner (Wooster, Ohio) who was waiting for us on a street corner in a nearby town. With no cell service to be had, we could not call her to tell her we were running late. Fortunately we made it before she had given up on us.

We ate a scrumptious lunch in Mt. Hope, home-cooking at its best, and then headed into the countryside, stopping to photograph horses and landscapes along the way. We had a great time, though it always seems to go too fast! Karen Brenner, Juliet Harrison and I did a similar trip in the spring, meeting up with fellow artist, Sue Steiner, in Kidron, Ohio. Here are some of the shots from those wonderful trips. Needless to say, I have lots of painting material from these adventures!