December news

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Bison and Lighthouse

I had the pleasure of taking a workshop last month with Ned Mueller (www.NedMueller.com).  A great instructor – he kept me on task to not be a slave to my photo reference, and had some great ideas on using value studies.    These two paintings I did during the workshop, Ned fussed quite a bit with my value study, but things finally started sinking in when I did the Bison in color.   I’m looking forward to doing another in a larger scale.

How do you create mood in a painting?  I’m experimenting with wet-on-wet glazes in watercolor  to better answer that question – and Point-No-Point lighthouse (in Hansville, WA) is a perfect subject.  The first time I went there it was a beautiful, sunny day, but every other time I’ve been there it’s been foggy and mysterious. Perfect!

Gift ideas for any occasion….including the holidays!  Below is a sampling of ideas (more art is on my website, including original paintings and high-quality archival prints). For questions or to place an order, please email me at MichelleAmicucci at comcast dot net (sorry for the cryptic email - I hate spammers!). Shipping and applicable taxes are not included in prices shown.

Holiday cards:  “Red Farmhouse” is my holiday card this year, about 5” x 7” with a nice matte finish. “Joy” on the front and “Warm Thoughts and Best Wishes for a Wonderful Holiday and a very Happy New Year” on the inside.  $2.00 each includes envelope.  


2011 12-month calendar:  $14.00


Prints:  I now offer 8.5” x 11” prints of most of my artwork for the very affordable price of $25.00

Note Cards:  Most of my artwork is available as a note card as well, $3.00 each or 5 for $14.00.  Mix and match or get one image.  www.MichelleAmicucci.com.  

Quote of the month:  "I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom."  Anatole France

Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels!

Red Farmhose

My most recent painting "Red Farmhouse" -- an experiment in minimal information.  It's hard for me to stop without adding a bunch of detail!

2011 Calendar

I've been busy getting the images together for my 2011 Calendar -  it's a 12-month calendar with a new image each month for $14.00 plus shipping and tax (where applicable, of course!).  Open size is 11" x 17".  Please contact me at MichelleAmicucci(at)comcast(dot)net.  Sorry for the spelling there, spammers (and scammers!) drive me crazy!

"Red Bell Pepper"

A recently completed commission - it's always fun to meet new friends!

Quote of the month: 

Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.

       ~ Bradley Millar

Splash and Splatter!

The weather has been beautiful, not the scorching heat everyone else seems to be experiencing, but nice cool mornings and pleasant 60 - 70 (maybe 80) in the afternoon.  Great for plein air painting, so I'm venturing out and really enjoying myself.   This is the first time I've tried plein air with watercolor...the first day it was roasting (80 is roasting to me!), and the paints were drying practically before they hit the paper.  The next day it was cool and humid, and the paper wouldn't dry at all!  Friday was just right, not too hot, not too humid.  The painting on the left is from the 'humid' day.  Colorful and lively, I made the darks a little darker (once the paper dried in the studio!) but now I think I'll leave well enough alone... 

And of course there are those paintings that have been sitting in my studio waiting for me to "fix" them...I finally decided to 'cut the crap' on this Rhino and wacked off the parts I didn't like.  There, now the poor critter can get out of the drawer! 

 

Of course there MUST be a pet portrait somewhere in the mix! 

You just want to kiss those jowels on this Chocolate Newfie!

Happy Swiss Independence Day!  Have a great August!  Stop by next month to see what's on my easel.

Quote of the month:  "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.

Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." --Benjamin Franklin

WHAT is THAT??

Okay, if you've seen my art, you know I'm a bit obsessed with detail.  Too much, sometimes, so I've been trying to loosen-up.  Get more vibrancy in my artwork.  I recently took a couple of workshops with different artists who have a looser style (Ron Stocke: http://www.stockeartstudios.com/ron.html and Carole Hillsbery: http://azwatercolor.org/ch/) that I like.  I think something is finally sinking in -- in  Carole's workshop, I created several pieces that were so much fun!  Colorful, vibrant.  When I showed my Mom this one ("Oregon Coast" watercolor 22.5" x 30") she said, WHAT is THAT?  and, You aren't going to paint like this all the time, are you???   I have to laugh...wellllll, maybe a little! 

This one on the right is "Horse and Carriage" (watercolor 15" x 22.5") -- I do love the colors.  It took more than I'll admit to resist getting out my teeny-tiny brush to start noodling with the details...I'm learning (albeit slowly...) when to PUT THE BRUSH DOWN! 

These paintings and more are for sale, and will be posted on my website sometime in the near(?) future.  But, if you are interested, please contact me via my website @ http://www.michelleamicucci.com/.

Happy painting!

Trial and error...

This piece was done with permission from a photograph by Lincoln Rogers (http://www.lincolnrogers.com/).  It doesn't do his beautiful photograph justice...I generally don't work from a beautiful photograph because I like to try to make my painting more interesting than a photo, but this intrigued me quite a bit.  Sadly, it's not what I had hoped, but I'll try again and see what happens.  It's an interesting subject that deserves another look!  This is done in colored pencil - maybe I'll try again in watercolor or oil...

I volunteer at the West Sound Wildlife Shelter (http://www.westsoundwildlife.org/), where they rehabilitate - and release back to the wild - injured/sick wildlife.  It's a great experience and a I learn something new every time I'm there.

 I did a little painting of one of the oppossums recently released as a gift to another volunteer. It's a nice little painting. I hope to do some painting of the other critters there one of these days as well! 


That's it for now - June already?  Where does time go.  My quote for the month: 

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.  -- Bill Cosby

Boston Terrier Light & Dark

I'm continually drawn by the 'hard line' between bright, hot light and shadow, especially as it plays on dark fur. This is another experiment for me -- I used ink and watercolor to capture my values, and used colored pencil for the final detail.  And of course, my subject, as it often is, my little companion Cleo!  She's a great model, doesn't complain, and has a very reasonable rate.  She works for homemade treats!  She does, however, chase anything that moves, so I have to quickly get a picture of her before she dashes off. 

The weather is warming up and the garden is starting to beckon me.  I think it's almost time to start plein air...now THAT is a frustrating experience for me!  We'll see if I create anything decent to post...if nothing else I can post my embarassing forays outside with a paint brush!  Happy May to all and thanks for stopping by!  

My favorite quote for the month:  "In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous." - Aristotle

Cats, cats cats!

Here's a Bobcat I've been working on -- this one is in colored pencil, with Idia ink in the darkest spots.  I fussed too much with the lower rock, but I think it's a nice study of light and dark.  I'm going to try it again in oil but much larger (I think I'll try 24 x 32 or something).  I'd like to get the highlighted parts to really glow in the hot sun...we'll see!

I'm getting into an 'experiment with color' phase, and I thought black would be a great way to play with different colors.  This is Spritzer, my niece's cat that I'm working on, and he's a real card!  This is done in colored pencil...not sure if I'm going to put a background on it or not, and I need to darken some of the darkets places -- we'll see how it turns out.


Happy painting!  Don't forget to check-out my website too.  http://www.michelleamicucci.com/

Okay, here's a still life I did in Darell Anderson's class - it was  a very enjoyable class.  Think COLOR, not subject, and I can get interested in painting still life.

March Madness!

Who knows what March holds, but I can tell you February was a blast! I took a class from Darrell Anderson (http://darrellanderson.blogspot.com/) and had such a good time -- he has completely changed my mind about still life painting! It's about the COLOR, not the SUBJECT!! Yippee! I have some images but cannot seem to get them uploaded...grr. Will try again in a day or two.

3/2/10 - well, I still get jibberish when I try to upload images. Hmmm.

Already February! Wow, and it feels like Spring - the birds are singing and the buds are already popping out...obviously, we are not in the snow-belt!! I've been working on cloud studies, and this has been a great time of year for storm clouds.

And of course I cannot resist the pull of drawing dogs! This Vizsla was rescued by a friend a few years ago. He's a little pepper-pot! This breed is most certainly not for the sedentary!

I hope your February is full of beauty and peace (and not too much snow...at least not too much snow that you have to shovel).

Quote for the month: "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." -- Winston Churchill