"Baby Milo"

NARAL Oregon is hosting its Annual Liberty Auction his Saturday, May 20, at the Portland Hilton. I am donating a charcoal portrait to the event, which visitors can bid on. All profits go to NARAL, and it is a wonderful opportunity to commission a charcoal drawing. I am excited to contribute my art to this event and its cause! More information can be found on the NARAL Oregon Facebook page. ”Baby Milo” is part of my Portraits series on Flikr.

So please join me in Hood River the weekend of May 19-20, 2012 and enjoy what makes Oregon unique.

Undressing Room is Froelick Gallery’s annual juried group exhibition and runs June 5 – July 14, 2012.  As one of art’s most frequently explored subjects, the undraped figure has accumulated countless layers of meaning over the millenia, but what does the nude figure mean today?  To see some different answers, don’t miss this show!

I use a large glass palette for mixing my colors. Because I often paint using the technique known as impasto, I sometimes let paint dry a bit on the glass and then scrape it off to use for texture as I continue painting.

Sometimes I turn my paintings upside down or look at them in my studio’s large mirror to see them in a different way. Reviewing and revising each painting becomes a vital piece of the artistic process. I work from photos, building rough sketches, charcoal drawings, and eventually the finished painting in my studio space.

I also teach students in my studio. With true natural light coming in through the large window and skylight, it’s a wonderful place to convey my painting techniques. Here, we can look closely at all the different aspects of painting, find inspiration, and enjoy art.

Portland Open Studios creates a unique educational opportunity for the public to witness art in the making, learn about media and materials, and the business of creative endeavor. Through this interaction, Portland Open Studios creates a platform for local artists to thrive, to engage and to foster a community that values the arts.

You can learn more about Portland Open Studios @ http://www.portlandopenstudios.com/

]]> http://suzykitman.com/portland-open-studios-3/feed/ 0 http://suzykitman.com/cannon-beach-gallery-opening/ http://suzykitman.com/cannon-beach-gallery-opening/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:56:03 +0000 Suzy Kitman http://suzykitman.com/?p=1283 Continue reading →]]> Thank you to everyone who made the opening at my Cannon Beach Gallery show a success! I had a great time spending the weekend in Cannon Beach, setting up my artwork, and attending the opening reception. It’s wonderful to see all my work come together like this.

I braved the snow on Thursday to deliver my paintings and headed out again on Saturday after working as a monitor for the Life Drawing session at the Multnomah Country Arts Center .  Accompanying me was my good friend and “support team” Jeanne Levasseur (She’s an artist too, and you can see her works at theskylinestudio.com).

The Cannon Beach Gallery did a great job placing my work, hanging it alongside the other artists: John Cook, Brian Cameron, and Margeret Fort Terrall.  My painting “Anne Views the Future” was featured on the postcard for the “Fruits of our Labor” show. Unfortunately, my seascapes didn’t end up fitting with the show as a whole, but I got to display many pieces from my Big Fruit series, including Apple Tree Triptych and Pear Branches.  And “Fruits of Our Labor” will run from March 1 until April 2, so we had an opening reception on Saturday to celebrate the show, which was also featured in the Cannon Beach Gazette. There was a nice turn out and the opening was a delightful event. Some of my students from Portland joined Jeanne and me, and the Cannon Beach mayor Mike Morgan and his wife attended too.

It was great to be able to talk to people about my work, to share it and receive so much appreciation. Many people wondered about my impasto technique, so I got to explain and discuss my art (I also have a YouTube video on impasto if you’re curious).

I’m hoping many more get to enjoy the show before I have to return in April to bring my paintings back. If you get a chance, please visit the nice, seaside show, at Cannon Beach Gallery through the end of this month.

Two years ago on my birthday, I went to the Oregon coast to go crabbing for the very first time.  The beautiful sights that day inspired me to paint, and now my “Morning Fog Burning Off” has sold at the Freed Gallery in Lincoln City. For me, it’s an image of that wonderful day.

We spent the day crabbing and caught nothing, but it was a great time anyway! At low tide, when the water receded, I walked around with my camera and took the picture that would eventually inspire my painting. I wanted to be able to smell the sea breeze in that picture. I sometimes take trips to the coast, to Cape Meares or Lincoln City, and I always find the rock formations there to be powerful. There’s a certain feeling at the beach that I want to bring home, and regardless of  time of day or tide,  I want all my seascape paintings to capture that essence.

In April of 2011 that birthday snapshot turned into “Morning Fog Burning Off,” an image of the coast that I sent to Lincoln City for display. Now it is finding another home, hopefully bringing a bit of that ocean air into a new space. It was sold to a Portland home, so I’m thrilled that it is going to be close to me again!

April 3 – June 5, 2012
Tuesdays 1:00 pm -  4:00 pm
Tuition $246

Learn to paint and explore the power of color, values and form.  Practice color mixing and the tools and mediums of oil painting, while developing compositions from colorful and varied still life.  All levels.  Get supply list online.

April 3 – June 5, 2012
Tuesdays 9:30 am -  12:30 pm
Tuition $225