Making a Mark 2010 Award!

I'm proud to announce that my blog, the Virtual Paintout, has been awarded The Best Art Blog Project Virtual Challenge Cup for 2010. According to Katherine Tyrrell, an artist from Great Britain, and the owner/operator of the Making a Mark blog (which is the #3 Art Blog in the UK, and #27 Art Blog worldwide), the explanation of the award is defined as...

Art can be quite a lonely activity and it's noticeable that people often like to have some sort of involvement in groups and projects related to art! This award is for:

• EITHER a major and reputable new project which adds value and involves a large number of bloggers
• OR a project which has grown over the course of the year in question or otherwise had some significant impact during the course of the year

I am very honored to have been chosen for this award for 2010. Especially by such a well respected, well read, artist and author. Thanks Katherine!

Washington & School

Here's one I did for next month's Virtual Paintout. I can't let anyone know the location until January 1, 2011, but the name of this one is a hint (for those willing to search).

"Washington & School"
9" x 12", oil

Christmas Creek

Stood in the creek today until the snow started coming down a bit too hard. I like the abstract quality in this.

"Christmas Creek"
16" x 20, oil

Graves Branch

Did this one today. A little cold out, about 30 degrees, but not too bad. I named it after my sister since I can't find the real name of the little stream that empties into Little Renox Creek, and it's on her property.

I used the style Stapleton Kearns calls "colored rice" on this one. I'm liking it more and more. Including a close-up of one area of the painting to show the varied brushstrokes.

"Graves Branch"
16" x 20", oil on linen panel

Little Renox Creek - December 2010

Here's one I started on location this morning and worked on some after I got it home.

"Lillte Renox Creek - December 2010"
16" x 20", oil

Pinckney National Historic Site

Here's a painting I completed to about 90% on location during a recent Stapleton Kearns workshop in Charleston, South Carolina. I finagled (is that a word? and if so, is it spelled correctly?) it a bit at home. Stape calls this approach "colored rice", in which each individual color is laid down separately from the others until the canvas is filled and eventually finessed. I'll write much more on the workshop soon. Met some wonderful people and enjoyed the company and good food.

Pinckney
16" x 20", oil

Spanish Point - County Clare

Here's one I finished up tonight.

24" x 36", oil on canvas, with detail shot

 

All Tied Up

The state of my beard was due to my 9 year old daughter's sense of humor. Including a detail shot of th eyes and nose.

"All Tied Up"
12" x 9", oil on masonite

Fall Pasture

Here's one I painted outside today. Might take it a bit farther, not sure yet.

20" x 24", oil on linen panel

Blues Singer

24" x 12", oil on linen

November 15, 2010

9" x 12", oil

Autumn Farm

Today's plein air effort.

"Autumn Farm", 9 x 12, oil

Blues Harp

"Blues Harp"
5 x 7", oil

November 11, 2010 - Self Portrait

Quick study. I like the direction.

12" x 9", oil

Going Dormant

This is a little apple tree in my backyard. The light was just too good on it this morning to pass it up.

"Going Dormant"
12" x 9", oil on canvas panel

Animatronic Carny

I posted the sketch of this guy a few days ago. I took the reference pic while in Gatlinburg, TN outside a mini-golf/mirror maze business. This was one of the animatronic characters hawking the place.

"Carny"
9" x 12", oil

Autumn Fields (plein air)

Here's today's outdoor painting effort. This is a larger one for my outdoor work at 20" x 24". About 2 and a half hours painting time. Oil on linen panel.

"Autumn Fields"

Carny Sketch

November 2, 2010 Sketch - 2nd Pass

Here's after another 30 minutes. I think it's getting somewhere, just not sure of where.

November 2, 2010 Sketch

Here's a quick 30 minute sketch I might add color to later on.

12" x 9", oil

Authority

"Authority"
9" x 12", oil on canvas

Beach Road

9" x 12", oil

Mountain Man

This is from a ref pic taken by Linda Brown at our town's Bicentennial Celebration this past weekend. Thanks Linda! About an hour and a half.

9" x 12", oil

Crocus Creek in August

I started this one on location back in August and it has been staring at me ever since. I threw some paint at it over the last couple of days and have come to the conclusion that this is all I'm going to get out of it.

Crocus Creek in August
20" x 24", oil on linen panel

October 18, 2010

To appease the masses...

October Creek

Painted in the creek today. Not much creek to speak of, mostly dry, with a puddle here and there. This was about an hour and 20 minutes actual painting time.

9" x 12", oil

October 11, 2010

12" x 9", oil

Fairview Cemetery

Little 9" x 12" plein air piece done while my wife was running a couple of errands.

Wednesday morning, Oct. 6, 2010

Monday Morning

Uggghhh...

12" x 9", oil

Farmland

Painted this one today in the beautiful sunshine of early fall. My goodness it was nice today.

Farmland
9" x 12", oil, plein air

Camino de Tierra

Camino de Tierra
7" x 5", oil on canvas panel, palette knife

Breaking Through

Breaking Through
12" x 9", oil

Self Portrait - Finished

Here's the final product. About 3 hours painting time. I know it's not to some folks taste, but I feel it's one of my strongest yet.

Self Portrait - Sept. 23, 2010
9" x 12", oil on canvas panel

Self Portrait - Step 2

Here's the piece after one more hour session. Coming along.

Self Portrait start...

This is about 35 or 40 minutes in. Started it at lunch today.

12" x 9", oil

3 hour daughter sketch

Here's one I played with for the last couple of mornings before work.

Rylea Beth sketch, 9" x 12", oil

Doc

Painted this one at the Cumberland River Bluegrass Festival yesterday. About two hours. Doc has a lot of character. Might have to do a studio version of this one, and a bit larger.

"Doc"
9" x 12", oil on canvas board, alla prima

Along the Creek Bank

Here's a quick one hour plein air piece I did this afternoon while standing down in a creek. Used a palette knife for 99% of it.

"Along the Creek Bank"
oil, palette knife, 9" x 12"

Lounge

16" x 20", oil on linen

$8 Parking

Here's a quick one done with the palette knife.

"$8 Parking"
5" x 7", oil on canvas panel, palette knife

Quick Self Portrait & my 500th post!

Wow! Can't believe this is post number 500 for this blog. One of these days I'll start adding something helpful. :)

Here's a quick 1 hour self portrait I did. 9" x 12", oil

Canadian TV Interview

Had the pleasure of being interviewed on the CBC show Connect with Mark Kelley tonight. Talking about my project I call the Virtual Paintout. I'm adding a link. Slide the bar over to about the 49 minute mark. The interview last for about 5 minutes.

Pretty exciting. Wonder how many folks watch the show?

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/TV_Shows/Connect_with_Mark_Kelley/ID=1575655417

Rochester, KY Church

22" x 28", oil on linen panel

Renox Meadow

A quick post of my latest. I'll replace this with a better pic when I get time.

Renox Meadow
16" x 20", oil on linen

11th and Park, Bowling Green

11th and Park, Bowling Green
5" x 7", oil, palette knife

Rock City

Here's a quick 45 minute painting done with knife and a little finger work. And no, it's not Rock City outside of Chattanooga... it's Detroit.

Rock City, 5" x 7", oil, palette knife

Closed

Closed, 5x 7, oil, palette knife

Dorchester Parking

5" x 7", oil, palette knife

Yellow Scarf

9" x 12", oil

Bean

Bean, 15" x 20", charcoal

Charles

Approximately 15" x 20", charcoal

Like studying your Blog Stats? You've gotta check this out... Woopra

I've just found the best blog and website statistics program I've seen yet. It's called Woopra. Installing on a Blogger site is easy. Use the Add a Gadget tab then the HTML/Javascript tab, paste in the code from the website, download the Dashboard to your computer, and you're finished.

You can use the code on as many blogs or websites as you want. The interface has tabs across the top to switch between sites/stats for easy navigation. The information is incredible. As an example, on the Virtual Paintout blog today I can see the individual pages people enter through, the search words used and the search engines used, the countries visited from (today's are USA, France, UK, New Zealand, India, Canada, Romania, Netherlands, and 7 other countries, respectively).

With my live visitors I have right now, I can see location, IP, Browser, Resolution. Along with how many times they have visited and their duration. I could also click the "Chat Now" button and whatever I type would pop up on their screen as long as they are on my site, and it doesn't matter what browser they are using. I think it might freak me out if it happened to me, but I can see how it would be useful in a sales situation to let them know you are there if they have any questions. Maybe. I can also see that the top cities today are Vancouver, Stevens Point, New York and 141 other cities.

These are only a few of the stats available. Check it out. Blows most others away.

Johnny and His Bike

Not sure if this one is finished or not. I'll look at it a day or so and see if I can figure it out. Pardon the poor photograph, it's large and difficult to shoot well.

Johnny and His Bike
40" x 30", oil on stretched canvas

Huts

Here's a quick sketch.

Huts, 9" x 12", oil