Painting in Mo

I seem to be going bag and forth between two blogs. The other is through my website, www.gabrielebaberart.com.
Recently we moved from So Cal to Az and then to Missouri. Life has been crazy for about three years. There was the moving, the retiring, (Husband), and lots of traveling. My self promotion has fallen to the wayside, for various reasons. Now though, I hope to spend some time figuring out a rhythm for it all.
There has been lots of painting, which you can see on my Facebook page.. So go friend me there.
The website, needs some updating, so that’s also on the list.
Currently we are traveling to settle up the last of the move, fetching things in CA. I will be posting to the other blog until I figure this one out. My husband will be flying his cub and I driving chase in the RV and towing the Jeep. It should be an adventure.
Be sure to sign up for my newsletter through my website. If you sign up for my blog there, be sure you have an rss app downloaded.
http://gabrielebaberart.com/blog

Southwest wanderings blog..who knows what day..

Well, wifi has been sketchy to no postings.
There has been a lot of driving to get from post A to B..lots of open land and not as much to see as I would have liked. I guess it is like that in the southern part if New Mexico. We did have fun in Silver City New Mexico, a reviving little artist community. Lost of coffee shops and a coupe wine bars but otherwise, several artist studio galleries, some better than others but what they have done to the old buildings is charming. Also at some point they had a mural competition, so that has added to the flavor of the old town, that I am writing about.
Scott and I are a bit overwhelmed with the poverty in which much of the population lives here in the southwest. We are grateful for all we are blessed with I our lives.
Today we left Silver City for Las Crucas, which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Wee had heard the Messilla was the "artistic place" to hang out, and that we should go to the Double Eagle/ peppers I think it was. Anyway, that was probably the best meal I had ever eaten. Chicken Pichacho. Yum!
Tomorrow we will be going to White Sands, and depending how long we take on that excursion, we might just give up our second day at this not so nice RV park. Don't go to the candlelight RV park. Not worth the stop. It was on our passport America membership but so not a good place.
I wish I could post Picts but still have not been able to link up with the right google plus account. You can look on my Facebook though to see a few.

Day one of Southwest wandering adventure

Sorry but I thought I lost this one but found it.. Tells more about our first day in detail.. I am on a learning curve.. Bare with me...

Day one of our journey was more of a get there day. The 8 hour drive from temecula to a Kia camp in Eloy AZ was safe and uneventful. It was a long day of driving but after we got to camp and set up we went over to the bar/ steakhouse.. Yes in the middle of no where.. There we found Elvis was in the building, or out in the open as it were...on stage at the KOA camp swing his hips and mumbling his tunes. I say that cuz he was more if an Elvis personality than a singer but quite entertaining just the same. He worked the crowd giving the ladies scarves. He came over and shook Scott's hand and the took mine and kissed me. It was fun. He came over and gave Scott a pair of Elvis glasses then said he was going to change and come back. We were done with our margaritas so Scott wanted to go back to the Scamp. 
Didn't sleep well, but never do the first night. After breakfast we decided on the next camping spot, Silver City, New Mexico where we will sit for two nights. I got a hankerin to find those hot springs for that crick in my back. 
Will try to post the days adventure each night.

Our southwestern trip through NEW MEXICO

This is my second attempt at blogging today from my phone. Hoping this time it works.
Last night we were in a KOA camp in Eloy AZ and to our surprise we were entertained by Elvis while drinking Margaritas. He apparently makes an appearance on Wed. and Sun. Although not the best singing voice, he was quite entertaining. He had the routines and gyrations down as well as gifting women his scarf. He shook Scott's hand, gave him glasses and then kissed me! Pretty funny.

Today we drove along the 10 and the up to Silver City where I was delighted to find an eclectic artist community in their old town. The buildings were brightly painted and murals scattered throughout the town. It was late in the day so most everything was already closed.  Oh, and we also passed by what looked like a huge mining opperation, but we found out that what we could see from the road was only about 10% of the whole thing. Pretty impressive.
I wanted to post Picts but am as yet unable to get photos from my google plus account. Apparently it won't go direct from my phon. Since I somehow have two google plus accounts, I need to figure out how to either switch the one linked to this blog or delete one of the google accounts. Might take a while.
I am posting some Picts to my Facebook..

Travel/ painting the south west

If you would like to follow my painting adventures, follow my blog at http://gabrielebaberart.com/blog. I am hoping that things will work out with uploading frequently to that blog while traveling.
Thank you for following me and my work.
Blessings,
Gabriele

Daily Painting

I am sorry gang, but I have not been posting to this site as often. I am mostly focusing on the other blog that is on my website, http://www.gabrielebaberart.com 
I have been busy doing a painting a day since the first day of 2012, and so far I have not missed a day. Just finished today's painting. If you would like to see the rest of the work, you can go to my site on the above link and sign up for the feed.
I thought though that I would share the process for this one here with a break down of the steps.

 This first view is the basic sketch. I toned the canvas lightly with transparent yellow Oxide. I like to use transparent colors to keep my painting from getting muddy.

 This second view is the transparent color layed in. I used Ultramarine blue, Sap Green, Maganese Blue, Transparent red Oxide, Transparent Yellow Oxide, Transparent Yellow by Holbein, and a transparent red I can't remember the name of, by Holbein. The light on the canvas is what is left of the orginal toned canvas

 

Here you can see that I added white to the mix, and also some of the cad yellow colors.  My goal lately is to make sure I leave some of the strokes in tact. I tend to be too nit picky. The painting has been done with a half inch brush so far. Bristle.

Here you see the finished painting. To get to this point, I switched to a smaller round brush and pushed the brush into the paint to load it onto the brustles so that I could "lay" the pigment onto the canvas rather than "stroke" the brush. This is the place where I end up taking it too far. Perhaps when I have painted the entire year of daily paintings, I will master this thing. Likely, though, I will find something else to work on. Seems to be the way it goes.
You can purchase this 6x6 gallery wrap painting on my website, for $80..

Sign up for my main blog

I have my blog main blog connected to my website.

 If you wish to sign up for my blog go to my blog on my website

There you can also sign up for my "Hot off the Easel Newsletter" to see the newest work to come out of the studio, classes schedules, workshops, art shows, and demos for local art associations.

Thanks for your interest.

Blessings,

Gabriele

http://www.gabrielebaberart.com/

Art shows ...Art shows.... Art shows....

Be sure to stop by the

Gallery at the Merc,

to see my solo show

"En Plein Sight, and more works"

now through Oct 3 2011.

===============================================

I also have a collection of works to the

Lorimar Winery right next door to the Merc,

on Main Str. Old Town Temecula.

Now through Oct 1.

Contact me for info..email me

Solo Show At the Merc Gallery Old Town Temecula

I will be having a solo show at the Merc Gallery, Old Town Temecula for the month of Sept. 2011
The reception is Sept 9th 5:30 to 7:30 pm

I will be having a concurrant show for the month of Sept. at Lorimar Winery, on Main Street also. Recpetion featuring a band and refreshments..time to be announced.

Positive Though Process while painting....

In working with students my classes, I am constantly dealing with students who are thinking with their left brain, making verbal, negative judgements about their work and themselves. "This looks bad, my trees look like lollipop, I can't paint this, This isn't working, I can't get this to look like..., the clouds look like marshmellows, It doesn't look like an apple, or a chair or a nose" what ever..seeing "things" and describing how they are feeling defeated, rather than, looking objectively at their work as an artist. In keeping a dialog of negative judgement of personal performance rather than thinking in artist terms, they grow increasingly frusterated and progress is hindered.
I suggest then that the students get up out of their chair, don't turn around, grab a cup of coffee, and step far away from their work. Before turning around I suggest a deep breath and then only think in terms of Value, Color, Shape and Line when they are describing what they see, offering no negative input, or their feelings. It takes some effort to break their habit of beating themselves up for not performing the way they want to. Each expect the painting "feel finished" early on, expecting to finish each part of the painting before moving on to the next. Most have a difficult time letting the painting be what it is, a work in progress, focusing on the process, allowing themselves to solve the problems rather than to focus on the negative thoughts and feelings.
I find it helpful to me as an instructor to be the student now and then to remind myself of the struggle of learning something unfamiliar. I am happy to have this next few weeks to do just that.
I have two more classes after Thanksgiving and then the classroom will be closed for the remainder of 2010. Classes will resume on January 24th 2011. A new schedule of classes is posted on the classes link. on my webpage, http://www.gabrielebaberart.com/
I hope to spend this winter break working on my own projects, and doing plenty of study and work from life. I hope to post here regularly to share with all of you. Please join me in my journey and invite others to come along. I will try to share my thought processes and progress along the way...
registration form
Jan 2010 class offerings pdf

Blessings ..
Gabriele

Classes in Temecula, begin April 5th 2010

I just realized I have not made a post in a good long while. Sorry about that. Sometimes life gets in the way. I have been busy working with students in my classes and some home renovations. It just seems like there is not enough hours in the day to get it all in.

Those of you who are interested, I have a new session of classes beginning the week of April 5th. The MSJC classes on Monday morning...(That would be oil painting at Mt. San Jacinto College, Continuing Education dept. 4 wks, $85
Tuesday Morning watercolor Project class, they start a week later with a four week session
Tuesday Afternoon watercolor techniques class,
Wednesday Morning oil painting, and a Wednesday afternoon class if there are enough sign-ups
Wednesday afternoon kids drawing,
I am taking an interest list for a Thursday Morning drawing class..so contact me asap to get on the list.

Those that need art supplies, can go through the links page on my site, and navigate to the Blick link, to Blick U, California, and find Gabriele Baber Art Studio for all my supply lists. EAsy click and shop.

Will be posting some new paintings soon. For more info on classes, go to my website, http://www.gabrielebaberart.com/ Now for me, it is back to the studio..

Vote for the Painting of your choice.

The student art show at Cosi' is still up through March. I have implimented a popular choice vote. Please be sure to stop by Cosi' and vote for your favorite painting. Cosi' is donating a gift certificate and I will be donating some art supplies to the winner.

Don't forget, Classes begin the week of January 25th, so get your registration in early. the complete schedule is on my website, http://www.gabrielebaberart.com/

I have recently become a Dick Blick affiliate. I have a link to them on my links page, so if you need art supplies, be sure to go through my link.

I am hoping to get back into blogging after we get the home renovations done, so hang in there..I will be back at it soon.
Blessings all,
Gabriele

Student Art Show: "Artists in the Making" Meet and Greet Reception

Cosi’, Art from the Hearth presents:

“Artists in the Making”

A collection of works by students of Gabriele Baber

December 9th

6 pm to 8 pm

Refreshments will be served.

Temecula Cosi’

41493 Margarita Rd

Temecula,CA 92591

(951) 296-6208

Student Denise V working on her holiday watercolor painting in my studio

The art works in this presentation are a collection of works from current and past students of Gabriele Baber. The pieces were produced in Gabriele’s Oil Painting, and Watercolor Classes and the entire show is student work with the exception of the pieces representing the instructor.
In the Oil Painting class, students are encouraged to work on their own subject matter at their own pace with guidance from the instructor. Group and private critique helps each student from beginning through completion. Through positive working environment and gentle critique the students are able to achieve positive results.
In the Watercolor classes, the students work together on the same image following step by step instruction with the instructor. Most paintings are completed in two or three class sessions. Students are encouraged to continue work on other pieces using the lessons learned for that week.

"I am extremely proud of my students and enjoy helping then through their journey and grateful to Cosi’ for allowing me to showcase their work here for all to enjoy!”

Gabriele Baber

Working from Photo reference, tweaking in photoshop.

So often when we take photos we are excited about the images, and then when we look at them later we wonder, "Where is that awesome scene I shot?". After plowing through the reference material, we find it, then only to be disappointed that it just doesn't look like we remember. Today though with digital photography, it is much nicer, but still, not as wonderful, had we taken the time to sit and sketch the scene ourselves and take notes. Time doesn't always allow that, so photography is the next best thing.

The original photo that I used for this scene was taken on a family outing to Kommern, Germany. This place was a wonderful place to explore. I hope some day when I get back there, I can go out on my own, and just sit and paint, one scene after another. That day though, I was a guest, and was enjoying the company of my family there.

This is the original photo that I took. You can see te basic idea is there but with some artistic licence, I think I have improved on the scene a bit. In photoshop, I worked up a comp, adding the hollyhocks and doing some enhancement.

I think that you will agree that the changes that I made from the photo, greatly improved the painting. I am doing a series of pieces that I hope to use as greeting cards, or calendars.

Thank you to my family for blessing me with such a wonderful day in Kommern! I have so many fond memories of the time I spent in Germany, getting to know them all. I am looking forward to going back very soon!

http://www.gabrielebaberart.com/

Making use of One's art work...

We all make these paintings and they pile up one, by one, especially those of us who do demos for classes we teach. Each year I work with my students to come  up with an image they can use for their holiday greeting cards. This year, the painting was inspired by one of my good friends, Colonel Max Hegler, retired, US Airforce. He and his wife went on a trip to someplace back east and posted this wonderful image of Max enjoying his lobster dinner. I just knew I wanted to paint it, but originally not as Santa. This is a good example of using our refernece materials as jumping off point for our work. This guy looks like Santa, but not a lot like Max, and intentionally so...but the work was inspired by Max just the same. As I said in yesterday's post that we are all too involved in making the painting look like the photo!

Ok..I am off the track here. The intention of this blog today is to share with you some things that my students came to class with yesterday. Two of them made lovely calendars out of the images that they painted through out the year to give as gifts for their family members and brought them to share. What a lovely idea and they turned out so nicely!  Such a wonderful way to share something you love to do with the ones you care most about! I have always encouraged the students to find ways to use their art work, be it as greeting cards to send to people as thank you's or pick me ups for those who are sick. With the computer and printers we have these days, the images we can reproduce are sometimes hardly distinquishable from the original. Bookmarks, cook books, greeting cards, t-shirts..any number of things can be done with the art work we create. Different designs can be achieved by cropping the images as well. One need not use the whole image but part to make an interesting design come to life.
I am proud of my gals in my Tuesday morning Watercolor class for the paintings they create, and their efforts to share their work with others. Good Job Gals, Keep up the good work!

Painting classes will be resuming after the holidays in my Temecula Studio mid Jan. Be sure to keep an eye out on my website for updates. http://www.gabrielebaberart.com/

No brown sac for me.....just making the mark

Today in class, my students mentioned that perhaps I should have some brown lunch bags to breath in to for when they start to feel faint from stress...I had to laugh but, I feel compelled to do a blog on this one.

So many people wait for years for the perfect time to start their painting journey. They can't because they are working.... They can't paint because they have kids.... They can't paint because life is so busy.. ..Then when they finally get to it they wonder if they will ever get good enough at it to please themselves.. So hung up on doing everything right. The goal always seems to be, make it look like the photo reference. In the process they are so stressed out trying so hard to do it right they forget the reason for trying to do it in the first place...doing something they thought would bring them joy. So now, these stressed out students are in a classroom wishing they had lunch bags to breath  in to. I see this all the time.

 So here is my input. We have cameras to give us something that looks like a photo. The photo is only inspiration not our bible.   Years ago, I got so that I could paint something that looked exactly like a photograph, something my students wish to aspire to, and spent the time since, trying hard not to make it look anything like a photo.

We have watches to keep us on time and make the time to do the things we want and feel we need to do, so why not paint now? I made the time over the years while raising my children to work on my skill, so that when my kids were gone I had something of myself left..I watched my mother crumble when the kids left. I wanted more for myself, although I did get a bit frayed around the edges as each one left the nest and boy did I understand my mother a whole lot better then! Now though, I am happy that I kept a bit of myself, for myself over the years, as I don't need a paper lunch sac to breath in. Not when I paint, or when I think of the kids not in the nest any longer. I can enjoy my painting days because they are mine and because I have done the work, to improve the skills over the years. My journey now is to paint so it doesn't look like the reference. I enjoy how the brush feels in my hand, the smell of the paint, and the way the paint feels as it glides across the surface of what ever I happen to be painting on. No brown sacs for me..just the pure joy of making the mark... getting lost in the world of shapes, values, and contrast...no words, no judgement, just peace and the joy of the mark.

Happy painting to you all!

Tuesday Morning Watercolor Project "Kommern, with Moan Flowers"

We just finished a new painting in the Tuesday Morning Watercolor class that meets here in my studio. The students are enjoying working from the reference material that I have brought back from the trip to Germany and Paris this last summer. I am still trying to recover from that one..lots happened while I was over there. Perhaps I will share those experiences on another post.

This painting is of a place called Kommern. It is a sort of outdoor museum of very old German houses and villages that have been moved and rebuilt at this park. They are called, "Fachwerksheuser". This place was amazing and they way they reconstructed these homes on site was very interesting. Check out the link about the place, and be sure to click on the "translate" button so you can read about it. http://www.kommern.lvr.de/freilichtmuseum/

 It was a beautiful day when I visited there with my Onkel Willie, Tante Maria, my cousin Silvia and her twin boys, Marc and Denis. I took so many pictures, and so wished that I could bring my students there to work on location. Perhaps some day I will set up just such a workshop. If you are interested in being on a list for traveling workshops, please email me, and I will be sure to get you on the list.

These are some of my girls working on the next painting, again of Kommern, this time of a cute little house with some hollyhocks in front.

Please share this blog with anyone you feel might be interested, but remember, the images herein are copyrite of the artist.

http://www.gabrielebaberart.com/

Student Art Show: "Artists in the Making" installed at COSI' in Temecula

I am excite to announce that as of this morning, the Student art show, "Artists in the Making" works done by my students, is officially installed at Cosi' in Temecula. Cosi is in the Bel Villagio Center behind the mall off Margarita. Their address is 41493 Margarita Rd, Temecula CA. After a couple students and I finished (thank you Dawn, Barbara, LaVerne and Denise!) hanging everything we enjoyed a wonderful lunch there. If you have not gone to Cosi' yet, you really should! Their food is excellent! Be sure to stop by and see the my students work. As soon as I hear back about the meet and greet reception, I will post the date so you can all join us for the fun.

http://www.gabrielebaberart.com/

New Website for Gabriele Baber

Been working furiously on my new website. Takes a lot of time getting all the business things done. People tell me all the time how lucky I am to do something I love, making art. I can tell you one thing, that making art is fun, but to work as a full time artist takes a lot of time doing everything but that. There is the Website to maintain, thank goodness for FineARtSTudiosONline to helpe me with that. They have a great set up. It has made it eaiser to get my work up there and a site that looks professional.
Then there is the marketing. That takes a ton of time to get it right. It is something I have been slacking on lately and now I have to pay the price, of time and money to catch up. Those of you who are out there thinking, gee, I am out of work, I think I will paint some paintings and sell them to make some money..well it is not as simple as that. Those of us who do this full time can tell you all about that!
Now I am going to go out to the studio and work up a new painting for the Tuesday Morning Watercolor class. They are finish up a painting this week, and we will be starting a new one. I will post the progress on the current painting later in the week.

Student Art Show: "Artists in the Making" a collection of works by students of Gabriele Baber

Well, this is my first official post on my new BLOG.  I would like to take this opportunity to announce an upcoming show of my students work, to hang at COSI' Restaurant in Temecula off Margarita. I have been collecting works by the students all week and hope to hang some time this week. There will be a "meet and greet" hosted by COSI'..Date to be announced. I am very excited to showcase my students work, from the Wednesday Oil Painting class and the Tuesday Watercolor Painting class. I hope to have a good turnout of guests at the meet and greet. Blessings..gabriele