Spring Studio Event ...Paintings need a home!

'Nesting I'             11x14             pastel             ©Karen Margulis
Purchase here $165

Spring has arrived! I spent a wonderful day painting outside! I tested my new plein air set up and made this week's video. (to be released tomorrow!) It felt so good to be outside in the warmth of the sun.  I also had a productive weekend doing some spring cleaning. I tackled my winter clothes and now I am moving onto the very messy studio. 

I need your help! I have some wonderful paintings that still have not found their homes. I need to make room for new work so I am having a Spring Studio Event! I have a selection of work available at a savings of 20%. Please visit my Etsy shop and the Spring Event section. If you find something you like just use coupon code SPRINGEVENT at checkout. 

These nest paintings and more are included in this event through Sunday April 12th. Visit my Etsy shop to see them all! Click here to visit shop.

Nesting II'          10x12          $145

'Nesting III'         10x12         $145

'Nesting IV'        11x14        $165

'Nesting V'           8x10           $145

Developing a Painting Style

'A Gentle Reminder of Spring'          11x14       pastel      ©Karen Margulis
click here to purchase $165

Quick. Before you read any further grab a piece of paper and write down three words or phrases that describe how you speak.

'Tiny Eggs'       2.5 x 3.5     pastel

What does this have to do with painting style?  Many artists struggle with the idea of a painting style. Perhaps they want to change their style or they are new to painting and don't know how to describe their style or if it has even developed.

 I believe that a painting style develops over time and changes as the artists grows and learn .....but also that everyone possesses natural tendencies that can be very hard to completely get away from. I like to encourage my students to embrace their natural tendencies and refine them and make them work for them....rather than fighting what comes natural. How do we know what our tendencies are?

• Take out 5 of your recent paintings and line them up. Study them. How are they similar? What is the common thread? Is it color choice? The way you make your marks? The way you compose?

• Take out the paper that you wrote on. Look at those three words/phrases. How do they correlate to your paintings?

I read a quote from Robert Genn that intrigued me.

"Your style is the way you talk in Paint"

Perhaps this is true for you and can give you insight into your painting style. And if it is true it can also give you insight into how you can tweak your style to use what comes natural to you and make it even better.  Just think about how you can change the way you speak to achieve a different result. Now apply this same idea to your paintings.

By the way, the phrases I wrote down were shy and quiet but loud and strong when needed. I think this  accurately describes my painting style. 

In my classes this week we all painted from the same photo so we could compare and see our unique painting styles.  It is always fun to see how each person interprets the same scene in their own unique way. And in many cases their paintings matched their personalities!

Collage of student nest paintings....evening class

Pastel Mini Demo BIRD NEST and What Inspired it!

'Gathering Eggs'      6x6         pastel        ©Karen Margulis
sold

Inspiration can come from the most unexpected places. We are painting bird nests in class this week and after my third nest demo I was wondering how I would paint yet another one for the evening class. I was out of ideas. I went upstairs to make lunch and realized I had my painting apron still on. Looking at it got my attention. Wow! my apron has the best color palette for a nest. It even has little turquoise birds on it. So I quickly ate lunch and ran back downstairs to paint a little nest for me!  

Moral of the story: Always be open to inspiration. It can come at the oddest times and from the strangest places. Enjoy today's mini demo and be sure to come back tomorrow to see why we are painting nests.

I start with a quick drawing on dark brown Canson paper, smooth side      size  6x6

I block in the dark masses. Building the nest from big simple shapes before any details.

Putting in the eggs. They will be refined later in the painting.

Continuing to build the nest with darkest colors to lightest. Mixing thick and thin lines.

Putting in the background color...spring greens. Adding some violets in the nest.

Continuing to weave the nest with thin and thick strokes and mixing browns and violets.

Putting in the finishing touches...brighter straw and touches of turquoise. Refining the eggs.

The finished painting along side my very inspiring painting apron!

Why an Artist Needs a Froggy Butt

'Signs of Spring'          8x8       pastel       ©Karen Margulis
click here to purchase $145

You might have a Froggy Butt and not even know it. It would be a good thing to have in your studio though. I didn't even know I had one until one of my workshop students told me about hers.  OK you must be curious about Froggy Butts!  And what on earth does it have to do with being an artist?

Picture this ... a golf club cover shaped like the bottom of a frog with his legs sticking up out of the golf bag. You can't help but laugh when you see it. My student has one and calls it her Froggy Butt.  It reminds her to laugh and have fun and not take her golf game too seriously. 

This got me thinking that artists can benefit from the same kind of reminder as the frog cover does for my friend's golf game.  What if we had something silly on our easel that would remind us to enjoy the painting process. Sometimes we get too serious, frustrated and down on ourselves especially when a painting isn't going the way we want it to.

Say hello to Mike Wazowski!

I have a large plush 'Mike Wazowski,  a character form the movie Monter's Inc (one of my favorites). I have him sitting up on a shelf in my studio. He is my Froggy Butt.  I can't look at him without smiling. He is a good reminder to laugh and have fun when I am in the studio.  Sure I get frustrated sometimes and often a painting isn't going my way. But I have to member not to take myself too seriously. It's only paper.  It is supposed to be about the process and enjoying the act of creating something.  If I get a successful painting than that is the bonus.

Today's class was such a good example of the benefit of a sense of humor and fun in the studio. We were painting bird nests and there was a collective groan about it. But in the end everyone had fun with the subject and did some great paintings. We laughed and enjoyed our struggles and successes. The frog was in the room with us today!

This student chose another way to paint eggs in a nest!  Great fun!

Do you have your own Froggy Butt?  I'd love to hear about it.  Be sure to visit the blog this week for more on painting bird nests!

Demo Monday! Bird Nest in Oil

'Simple Treasures'     5x7     oil      ©Karen Margulis
sold

I love oils!  It is the texture I can create with the brush and palette knife that really excites me. A bird nest is a great subject to build up that texture. I am new to oil painting, I've been dabbling for the past few months, but to keep me from being intimidated I remind myself of the process I use for pastels.  If I get stuck I ask myself "What would I do if this were a pastel?" and it helps put me back on track.  There are differences of course but there quite a few things that are similar.

1. (from top left)  I am using a 5x7 panel on my Easy-L easel.  I am also using a limited palette of white, black, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, cad yellow medium. I begin the painting by drawing in the basic shapes with thin paint.
2. Next I block in my darks. I am using paint thinned with Gamsol. I used a mixture of red and blue. I then added some dark orange/rust.
3. Next I block in the eggs. Oh yes I did add a color on my palette for the eggs....I added turquoise.
4. Now it is a matter of building up the nest colors. I get lighter and thicker with the paint as I build the layers. I also put in the background. I chose green because it seemed like a good nature color! and because I had some green in the nesting materials. 
5. Oops it looks like my pictures are out of order!  This picture shows the build up of the nest before the background was added. To give you an idea this step probably took me 15 minutes of painting.
6. Finished!  I used a palette knife for the finishing touches.

This nest was fun to paint and I can't wait to do more when I get back from Chicago! No time to paint this week!

How to Make a Photo Collage of your Art

'Nest Box Treasure'          5x7        pastel          ©Karen Margulis
available in my Etsy shop $50

There is something satisfying about seeing your art work displayed together. Maybe it is a feeling of accomplishment or satisfaction that you do have a real body of work. You can learn a lot from looking at your work when it is in a collection. Do you have a consistent style? What are you doing well? What could you improve?  It isn't always easy to evaluate a collection of your work. Pieces get sold or maybe on display somewhere. It takes up space and time to get them all together. I found a great way to compile a collection of your art in the form of a photo collage!

The collage I created at Collage.com with my nest paintings

I was recently introduced to the website collage.com.  After making a few photo collages I have to say I am hooked. I can see so many possibilities for these collages. I can make collages of my paintings and use them  to evaluate a body of work. And that is just the beginning!  Here is a little about Collage.com taken from their website:

Collage.com is a website that lets you upload pictures, make them into a custom collage, and order high-quality printed products featuring your collage. You can also share Collage.com collages online for free. Each collage can include hundreds of pictures arranged either in one of our 50+ shapes, or however you like.
The key technology that differentiates Collage.com from other software is its patent-pending auto-placement engine. Collage.com will automatically arrange photos to cover any shape without gaps or overlapping – something you can't get anywhere else! But that isn't all. Collage.com also lets you place photos anywhere you want. It will automatically adjust surrounding photos to eliminate gaps and overlapping, leaving a picture-perfect custom collage!

I can say without hesitation that it was very easy to create a collage. It is a very user-friendly website. You can make a collage just a few simple steps.

1. Choose a product and size...poster,cards,canvas, mug, mouse pad
2. Choose a shape. There are over 100 shapes including my favorite...words! I chose a custom word and just typed in 'nest'/
3. Add photos. Either upload your photos or get them from Facebook. You can add up to 500 photos. I used photos of my art work but of course you can collage any of your photos.
4. Create and share your collage with the click of the mouse. Of course you can purchase your creation and when you see them you will want to! 

Visit Collage.com and give it a try. See how easy it is to visualize a collection of your paintings all together in the form of a photo collage.  Now imagine the possibilities for using these photo collages in the promotion of your work. I will be posting more on this in my Business Tips column soon!
You can purchase a print of my nest collage at collage.com. click here 

Technique for Painting a Bird Nest in Pastel

'Renewal' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis
Purchase painting $125 sold

I love painting bird nests. Pastels are the perfect medium for painting nests. You get to use the pastels sticks as a painting tool for the larger areas and as a drawing tool for the weaving of the nest. You can use both hard and soft pastels and paint and draw. What could be better! It is easy to get caught up with the details of the nest materials too soon so I follow the same procedure I use for all of my paintings. I work from big simple shapes down to the details and from dark rich color to the lighter colors. Read the details of this painting below:

Building a Bird Nest

1. I am working on LaCarte paper. I begin with a light drawing with a Nupastel. I am careful to have a light touch. The paper is easily dented and cannot get wet (but I love it)
2. I block in the darkest areas with bold side strokes. I use several colors all the same dark value. No small pieces of straw yet...just the big underlying bold shapes.
3. Next I block in all of the light shapes and the eggs and leaves. Once the entire paper if filled with the big shapes blocked in I am ready to start weaving the nest. I start with the darkest color 'straw' and weave my lines in and out like a bird. I will alternate harder pastels and softer ones so I can get a variety of lines. I gradually use lighter and warmer and brighter pastels making sure I give definition to the nest and keep consistent with the lighting.
4. To finish the painting I work on bringing the eggs to a finish and add some warmer leaf shapes.

Thrift Store Studio Find...A 50 Cent Treasure

'Early Spring Treasures' 11x14 pastel with oil underpainting ©Karen Margulis

Purchase painting with paypal or check here $150

I love treasure! I love beachcombing and rockhounding and when I am not traveling I satisfy my gathering urge with visits to my local thrift stores. I have found the greatest treasures for my studio in thrift stores. I am starting a new series on my blog so I can share some of the best finds. Today's find is probably the least expensive item but one of the most useful...a JAR OPENER!

A jar opener is not just for the kitchen! I use it to open stubborn stuck tubes of paint, jars of mediums, glue tops, and whatever else I can't pry open. It came in handy a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to open an old jar of gesso in preparation for a workshop. It was impossible to open. I tried hot water, wrapping a rubber band around the lid and even one of those rubber round things. Nothing was working. Then I remembered the jar opener I bought at a recent thrift store adventure. With one twist that stubborn lid was open and my workshop was back in business! I have since used it several times with great success. The best part is that I had purchased the jar opener for only 50 cents! I almost didn't buy it because I was being thrifty but it is the best 50 cents I have spent for my studio! If you really want one and don't want to get lucky at thrift store you can find the jar opener on Amazon.
What second hand finds have you found for your studio?

Today's bird nest painting was done with an oil stain underpainting. If you look closely you can see the drips and spider-web drips of the underpainting. I will be sharing a demo this week so I'd love for you to join my blog or follow me on facebook & twitter so you don't miss an update.

The Bluebird Nest

'The Bluebird Nest' 11x14 pastel

Sadly Jayne had a bluebird box that was abandoned this season. She thinks that perhaps a tree limb that fell nearby might have frightened them. Whatever the reason she discovered the nest and eggs when she cleaned out the box. I knew I wanted to take advantage of painting the pretty little eggs since it is rare that we get to see them.

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Price: $175 USD
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