Out and About in Virginia

Saturday, May 23, 2015 dawned a gorgeous, blu-sky Virginia day.  Perfect for a wonderful event held in Central Virginiat at Rounton Farm, outside of Orange, VA.  "ARF - Art Round the Farm" was held for the first time as a fundraiser for The Arts Center in Orange, with the theme of dogs.  There were 5 artists invited, myself included, to bring artwork to set up, and do demos.  There were fun contests held for dogs, kids and adults, along with live music, food, a 1-mile walk around the farm, and a great place to be on a Saturday in May.

It was the first time I used my new banner.  I also brought a couple of objects which have images of my artwork on them, such as baseball caps, tote bags, journals and notecards.  This in addition to quite a few of my dog oil paintings, some of the tiny dog paintings on their tiny easels.  It was a fun event, which I will look forward to next year.

New Medium! New Ideas!

I'm working on something a bit different, acrylic mixed media layering. After taking a workshop last year with Roby Artist Robyn Ryan - Ballyryan Studios, on her technique, I have been playing around with my own technique. These are NOT finished. The idea is that you create layers of paint, and mixed media if you choose to, and medium. You can sand back to previous layers, and bring out colors behind colors. I will post more as I get closer to being finished with these.

As you can see in a couple of the photos, the gel medium is put on fairly thickly.  I am playing around with different kinds of mediums, which give the effect of encaustic painting, which is a technique of painting with hot wax.  On the cow, you can see some of the earlier layers showing through.

I hope you enjoy watching how these progress!  Happy Spring!

Hello!  Hope you are staying warm and dry during this cold winter weather.  Spring is on the way, not long now, I can feel it coming!

I have a show, with an art opening, Friday, March 6, 2015/5-8pm at the Spitzer Art Center in Harrisonburg, VA.  The show is the "6x6x30" show, 750 pieces of artwork, created by 27 artists!  It should be a wonderfully unique and exciting show.  I hope you will join us for the opening.  My paintings are all about the area around Harrisonburg and Rockingham County in the Shenandoah Valley of Virgiina.

I am also teaching some classes at the Spitzer Art Center, and I have finished the spring/summer schedule, which I am including here.  Hope to see you soon!

Spitzer Art Center Classes

Spring/Summer 2015

Oil Painting 

Tuesdays, April 7- 28/ 1-3 pm

Acrylic Mixed Media Layering  

Tuesdays, April 7 - 28/ 10am-12pm

Tuesdays, June 9 - 30/ 1-3pm

Paint/Draw The Burg, Plein Air Painting Class

Tuesdays, June 9-30/ 6-8pm

Oil Painting

Tuesdays, May 5-26/10am-12pm

Pastel Painting

Tuesdays, May 5-26/1-3pm

Acrylic Mixed Media Layering

Tuesdays, July 7-28/10am-12pm

Private lessons available.  Contact Elaine Hurst:  elainehurst@mac.com

6x6x30 Exhibition

I was just accepted into a show at the Spitzer Art Center in Harrisonburg, VA, "6x6x30 Show".  This is a show which will have 27 artists, two sets of collaberative art, in which we each create a 6"x6" painting each day for 30 days.  They will all be hung at the Spitzer House at the end of the 30 days, which is for the month of March.  I have some work started, but thought you might like to see some of the panels as I toned them.  All will be toned with Ivory Black oil paint.  I have several ideas which would work well for this, but I am settling on having most of the paintings have something to do with Harrisonburg and/or Rockingham County Virginia.

I've had a long spell of not much painting, and I hope I haven't bitten too much off, but I have done this kind of thing before, and look forward to it.  I'll keep you up on what's happening, even at the end when the show is hung.

Stay tuned!