Time

Where does it go? In case you didn't visit my home page this is the painting that "won" the front image.

Updated my website again

I have been working hard. Have two upcoming exhibitions that will add to exposure locally. More about these opportunities for you to see work in person as they approach.
I had a hard time deciding which of the paintings done in the last week or so to put on the front page of my site. I finally chose Eastern Influence, but wanted to showcase another painting as well. Do you think I made the right decision? The paintings are very different in mood.
This is the other contender:

It is a 16 x 20 inch oil on archival panel called (I'll take) Romance

Completed yesterday

I am using the working title, Patio Plants for this 16 x 20 oil on Masonite panel. I started it Friday and almost completed it in a short painting session. I was finally able to put finishing touches on it yesterday. The orchid is a cultivated variety with origins back to a native Florida orchid called the Butterfly Orchid. I have a Butterfly Orchid growing naturally in one of my trees but it took a hit from Wilma last fall and I don't think it will bloom this year. The blue flowers are plumbago and very intense in color. I got close to portraying the intensity of the hue, but I am not sure there is a pigment made to hit this color on the head. The other flower is a native wildflower which shows up in many states: common name...Blanket Flower.

New work: Feeling Sentimental

Feeling Sentimental is a painting of my favorite flowers...roses in a color my mother loved. I included her pearls in this 18 x24 " oil on archival Masonite.

Major website overhaul complete

As I get my business plan together, I am learning about how to reach out and share my work with the world. Following some excellent suggestions from collectors, friends, fellow artists and my husband, I made some major website changes. The new work is now shown first as thumbnails and can be enlarged by clicking. I am using only Contribute3 to edit and create pages. This software is excellent, but pretty limiting. One day I hope to be able to delegate my website maintenance to a real professional. For now, I have learned a lot and will continue to improve the site. Please take a moment to visit and send feedback via the links. An E-Newsletter will be forthcoming. You can sign up on the website or contact me via my profile here to subscribe. http://www.trudybentleyrech.com/

Newest painting

My newest painting is of a delightful woman who models part time. She is the first model I have hired for just myself.

I titled this painting “…brings her own light”




It is a 16x20 inch oil painting on archival panel. I am pleased with the result and plan on keeping it in my own “collection” for now.

Time to go plan the next painting!

Conte figure drawing

What I did to keep myself busy while the gesso on the new panels dried...a drawing on Bristol board (a type of stiff paper) treated with gesso. The gesso was applied as to create a random texture. This drawing is a study for a future painting.

Conte portrait

Had a nice opportunity to have a model sit for me. This is one of many images I will be working on in the future.

Tea and Roses

This is the painting in its almost completed state. I am ignoring it for about a week so I can look at it more objectively. Then, I can make any need adjustments and sign it.

Closer

The title is Tea and Roses.

Busy as a bee: underpainting

Been very busy painting. Thought you might like to see the latest one. Have a few minor things to do before I consider it complete. Depicted in this post is the underpainting. I had fun with Photoshop losing the background of my studio.

Another new painting

The three roses used in the other smaller paint were used again, but with a different perspective. When placed in a bleach and sugar solution, fresh flowers last a long time. This piece is a 24 x 24 oil on a masonite panel. I am using more panels now. Likely that I will be moving toward using Belgian linen in the near future.


The Key

New painting

The title is Three Roses.

Think of Roses

I have been so busy painting, that I haven't done any household chores...the garden is weedy, my hair needs cutting, but I am painting like a person possessed.
Hot off the easel, too wet to sign yet, this is one of the last three paintings I did. Working title: March Roses.

The workshop

Ok, I had planned on posting more during the workshop with Karol Kintz. But...I have been working my tail off. Good thing.
I see paintings everywhere I look...that is everything I see seems to be in painting form right now. Even the newspaper seems to be transformed. Boy is it ever hard work, yet fun and very exciting. Am painting some plumbago flowers now. I finished a painting of tropical flowers and posted it on my website. See for yourself the side by side comparison of the plumbago painting and the tropical flowers.

The plumbago flower has a very difficult to photograph and paint color. I am some paint straigt out of the tube to get the intense purple/blue hue seen in the shadows of this flower. It is a challenge to get the right feeling.

Red

This post isn't about RED tape, but about red roses.
I will be taking a workshop with Karol Kintz on still life painting. Karol (who I mentioned before in this blog) is an accomplished artist who is featured at the Knox galleries in Naples. She studied at the American Academy of Art where I studied as well. Karol also studied with the very famous David Leffel. Google his name! Wow, I would love to have one of my paintings sell for 25K or more someday...
I plan on posting a work from her workshop weekly. To begin, however, this is a small painting of roses I did as a begining point before the workshop. The format for this oil is 5x7 inches.
If you got to this page from my website, you can return by clicking here
http://www.trudybentleyrech.com/

Progress

Learned a lot this weekend about getting into being an artist as a business. Where I live in order to work professionally, one must have an occupational license and really set up with various State and Federal entities as a business. Lots of RED tape. I went to a workshop by a group of volunteers with SCORE. They are usually retired business people who have lots of experience. The Small Business Administration works through this organization.
I have a lot to learn and my target to be fully operational as a business is fall of 2006. I will first make a business plan. Nothing in art school or even college covers this type of thing. I am happy there is an organization like SCORE.

I will be taking a workshop this week. Posting a painting done to prep for it tomorrow. More about the workshop with the painting!

Website is updated

If you are reading my blog, take a moment and check out my new website....
http://www.trudybentleyrech.com

I have learned a lot. Most artists post their bio in the third person. This is the web. I want to be more informal. My Bio and formal resume will go with a package to folks who want this kind of documentation or if I am in an gallery exhibition or museum type show, but for online...I am staying casual...at least for now. What do you think of this painting? I am donating it to a charity event for Step by Step Early Childhood Development Center. They help children with developmental delays catch up. It is a great center. They use art to reach out to the young children. It is one of my favorite pieces, but theirs is a great cause. Hope it brings them much needed funding.

One more thing

New artist statement part one...more candid
Why do I make variety of art I make?
I am an intensely visual person with a huge curiosity about life science and the arts.
My artwork is about connecting both.
For example, when my subject is a person, I like to look beyond the physical shell to connect with the personality of my subject.
Capturing the physical image of the subject is fun. I see mass and form, flesh and structure with a spark of the person inside.
Painting becomes my dance inspired by vision, being actualized by my own muscles and bones.

Working on new site

Put up the site and now am revising it in a major way. Took down all the pictures. Building the site with only Contribute 3 and limited templates is frustrating, but I have learned to go around a lot of obstacles. Helps to play with software. I could envision getting Dreamweaver someday, but have some other items on my wish list, like an Epson 4800 printer. Great way to make digital prints AKA giclees with such archival qualities as to probably outlast most actual paintings.