Work in Progress...

 Ah, Saturday...  That means a few precious hours of work during open studio hours!

Today I made some progress on the commission I've been working on.  The piece is made up of five paintings that will be hung on a large wall divided by 4 smallish windows.  Two long pieces will bookend the three smaller 14x11" paintings.

There's something about working on commission that I really like.  Aside from the obvious - knowing that there will be a check at the end of the project.  I am a people pleaser by nature so creating a painting tailored to someone's preferences tends to suit me well.

Below is the piece in progress as of today.

Left panel in progress

Detail of left panel

Middle sections - 1 and 2 of 3

Middle sections - 2 and 3 of 3

Middle section - 3rd from left

This painting brought to you by Gamblin...

Good things come to those who wait.

The wait is over and my new paints are here!

Now if I could just order a block of time to get to the studio and put these paints to use...

Wow, look at that crazy purple color?!?  I have no idea how to paint with purple but I am excited to give it a try!

It's a rare event (lately anyhow) and a rather exciting day for me when new art materials are procured.  I feel like the world opens up and anything is possible!

Yesterday I threw financial caution to the wind and ordered 10 or so new tubes of Gamblin oils.  Some colors I've used before, some I've never tried.  Even crazier, I ordered the paint online which can make choosing colors risky so who knows what I'll end up with.

I was talking to a visitor at First Thursday the other night who had commented on the progression of my work over the years.  I look at the work I did even 10 years ago and I have no idea how I made those colors.  Was art so lucrative a decade ago that I used my piles of extra cash to pay tiny artistic elves to mix colors on my palette?  Why don't I remember this???  Perhaps it's age catching up to me.  Perhaps it never happened.

In any case, buying a new pile of paints makes me think that elves be damned (I don't really mean that.  Elves are lovely, I'm sure!) I am going to make some new colors.  I've got a 48x48" blank canvas waiting for some color and as soon as those paints show up on my doorstep I'm heading to the studio to see what happens!

First Thursdays in the Arts District/New Commission

Here it is January and that means that First Thursday is only days away! I will be in my studio this Thursday from 5 (sometimes I am a few minutes late coming from work...) until 8 or so.  I am working on a commissioned piece of 5 smallish paintings and look forward to having a few hours to work and visit with people.  Hope you can come on by and see the new work and wish Leo a happy 4th birthday (poor kid has to spend his birthday at the studio!)

Here's part of the commissioned piece in progress...

So this is the year...

Like most people, I come up with a resolution or two around this time every year.  It's always nice to start fresh with a whole new year and the optimistic outlook that THIS is the year things are going to happen.

I sadly can't remember most of my past resolutions but would guess a fair number of them involved getting into better shape.  I do remember the resolution of 2008.  I was 9 months pregnant with my first child and I made a promise (after what felt like the gestation period of an elephant) that I WOULD give birth in 2008.  Sure enough, I made good on my promise with the birth of my son Leo 5 days into the new year.  Good for me.

This year I've got even bigger plans!  This is the year I am determined to become a full time artist.  Sure I've only got 364 more days to figure out how that's going to happen...  Doesn't mean it won't though!  I've been painting for 20 years and it would seem that after doing something for 2 decades it shouldn't be all that big of a leap to make it a career, right?  We shall see.

If you are reading this and have experience making a giant career leap AND have some advice for an optimistic/naive dream following gal, let me know.  I welcome your wisdom.

That said, I wish the best for all of you in 2012 and hope that if you've got something you are determined to do you get it done this year. 

Hello 2012 and Happy New Year!

Open Studio this Saturday!

Hi all!  I've been away from the studio a bit more than I'd like lately but will be back for one last open studio event in 2011.  Come by this Saturday, December 17 between 12 and 4 and I'll show you what I've been up to this year.  If you are in the buying mood, mention this post and you will get 20% off of any one painting if you purchase in 2011!  Now that's the way to deck the halls!

Hope to see you there!

It's about time!

After pondering for the last 7 or so years on how to go about updating my meganbell.net website I've FINALLY bid farewell to the old site's dated images and long ago events and pointed www.meganbell.net to this here blog site. 

Contrary to what you might have assumed from my upcoming events page on the old site, Art A Whirl 2004 is not happening next weekend.  In fact, if you were faithfully waiting for updates on the old site you've missed a whole bunch of shows in between.  Sorry about that.

The good news is that I've done a whole lot of new work since 2004 and I look forward to keeping you up to date on shows and such here at the new (and easily updated) www.meganbell.net. Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you back here again soon!