figure value studies

This assignment involved painting a black and white study first, and then painting the same pose in color. I changed the background a little; my main focus was in getting the values in the figure to read correctly.
“Connect the lights and darks so your eye can move through the painting without interruptions"...Peggy Kroll-Roberts

value studies

One of the highlights of my summer was participating in a Peggy Kroll Roberts workshop, but I have not taken the time to sort through notes/photos/what-I-learned until now. One of the things I like most about Peggy is that she still gives herself "assignments" in order to keep her work fresh and interesting. These are my still life studies from the first day of the workshop. Determining value relationships is an excellent reminder to ask yourself "what is my darkest dark, my lightest light?" before picking up the brush.
"The object of art is to give life a shape"...William Shakespeare

push to play

My one and only sister and I live too far apart to see each other as often as we would like, so we decided to keep in touch through a photo-blog. It is our version of a sisterly cyberhug. Because we are still kids at heart, our format is "tag, you're it!", so when one of us chooses a subject to post, the other is required to respond in kind. If you are interested in visiting our site, or leaving us a comment, you can find our "sandbox" here...shootin' sisters

"Life must be lived as play!"...Plato

Kreativ Blogger...

Thanks to Edward Burton for this award. I am honored to be in the same category as the others chosen. Please click here to see Edward's post. As a recipient, I am asked to reveal 7 things about myself, which I had fun with in a previous post here. Edward had already been tagged also, so he chose to list 7 things that he loves this time around, which I think I will do as well:
1. I love mornings, don't need an alarm clock, even in a foreign country when day is night, and night is day. I suspect that my brain must have a setting called "first light".
2. I've always loved dogs. When other children slept with their teddy bears, I preferred a real live puppy. Still do.
3. I adore anything lemony, the fragrance (fresh), the tartness (the best) and the color (Monet's gorgeous kitchen table and chairs)
4. My favorite colors are the colors of the ocean: blues, teals, turquoises and purples. My closet and home are full of them.
5. I love Pilates; the whole concept of core strength, the story behind it's origin; the focus it requires,and the fact that, like yoga, you exercise in your bare feet...and well, just everything about it.
6. I love people with a great sense of humor. It is a very important quality to look for in a mate, and an added bonus when both your children and your husband keep you in stitches. Laughter really is the best medicine.
7. And 7th on the list is my favorite number... 7- it just fits me, always has, even literally (ring, hat and gloves...)
And I am passing this award onto these artists...
Becky Joy ,an Arizona artist who paints the most inspiration sunsets. I just want to step into her paintings!
Rhonda Hartis Smith , a Kentucky artist, whose portraits and figures are full of charm and character
Mona Jones Cordell-wow, I love how she captures the energy and attitude of dancers in her gesture drawings
Carolyn Finnell-I adore this Louisiana artist's paintings that have luscious brush strokes, wonderful composition and color. Congrats on the new studio, Carolyn!
Deborah Paris, an artist who is a master of stunning, ethereal landscapes
Ann Salness- an Oregon artist who paints people, places and things with equal finesse
Bobbi Heath- a Maine artist whose landscapes are fresh and never overworked

September

(330) 12 x 16
“We're not here to leave a mark, bro. Monuments, legacies, marks - that's where we always go wrong. We're here to revel in the world, to soak in the awesomeness of it, to enjoy the ride. The world's maximum perfect as it is, beauty from horizon to horizon. Any mark any of us tries to leave - hell, it's only graffitti. Any mark anyone leaves is no better than vandalism"...Dean Koontz

the art of life

I have received a plethora of email about where I saw Dr. Oz, so...here is the answer. He was part of an anniversary celebration held for Central Baptist Hospital. I happened to be in the right place at the right time and serendipitously scored front row seats to his lecture. Ted Turner was pretty happy to be there too-and sitting only 4 or 5 seats away! He graciously smiled for this picture after he saw how excited I was to see him (AGAIN, apologies to my mortified family sitting next to me).
Anyway, like Dr. Oz; Central Baptist's progressive thinking includes a wellness center with a focus on the patient working as an equal partner with healthcare providers. And that, if you think about it, is quite a stretch from the old way of thinking where, unfortunately, many patients have long expected doctors to deliver a magic potion that would nullify decades of unhealthy living choices. As Dr. Oz has pointed out, "the current healthcare controversy will NOT be won in Washington, but in our own kitchens, homes and communities" because, while only a third of health issues are genetic, the other two-thirds are a direct result of lifestyle choices that include the mind, body and spirit. And what does that have to do with art? Absolutely everything, I would suspect. Dr. Wayne Dyer would call these choices "reenergizing our surroundings" with this advice:
"Choose to be in the company of those who hold a space for you to achieve the joy of maximizing, rather then minimizing, your highest human potential. Make your surroundings a temple of love and kindness. Pay attention to the music you listen to, the art you view, even the arrangement of your furniture and flowers—all of it!"

Land of Oz

Oprah calls him "America's favorite doctor"... Dr. Mehmet Oz. His new TV show starts tomorrow! His "You" books have made it "cool" to be healthy by connecting the mind, the body, and the spirit; and his enthusiasm and love for his work are contagious. I love his innate curiosity and belief that we must look within and understand ourselves in order to comprehend and appreciate the world around us...
"What gave Einstein the idea that there were particles or waves in physics? Is it possible that he was colored at all by looking at Impressionist paintings that had been done for the past 30 years, which created light from dots? And just as in that example, art colored perhaps the thinking of, if not Einstein, other physicists of the time. Medicine and physicians- We have an understanding of energy. We have a digital world. We have insights into technologies that we haven't yet applied in the context of the human body that we probably, one day, in this next generation, will gain insights to."...Dr. Mehmet Oz

New Website!

In an effort to be more efficient, I have tried to organize, categorize, classify, and straighten STUFF this summer. And as the summer draws to a close this Labor Day weekend, I am happy to say that I actually completed a few projects, including archiving all my paintings into a new website; dividing them into categories for easier viewing! I plan to continue this blog, but needed the website as an added tool for more efficient sorting. It was indeed a Labor of Love...You can check it out here: Faye Christian Phillips:

“Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others...for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of people, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”...Albert Einstein

True Authentic Swing

12 x 16, oil on canvas
I love fashions from the 1920s. You just know this guy's game will be exceptional the minute he steps out onto the green in this ensemble.
This painting will be part of an auction for the upcoming Kela Fee Memorial Golf Classic. Benefiting cancer research, it is named for a friend who never lost her "authentic swing" and whose life serves as an inspiration to all who knew and loved her.
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered"...Bagger Vance

Some Like It Hot

10 x 10, oil
“I read and walked for miles at night along the beach, writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me"... Anna Quindlen

Heat Wave

16 x 20, oil
“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient.
One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea"...
Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Happy As A Clam

(326) 20 x 24
I took a photo of this little guy at the beach last month. I'm not sure what it was about him, maybe his attire, but I sensed he was a "old soul" in a little boy frame, someone wise beyond his years.
"The truest greatness lies in being kind, the truest wisdom in a happy mind"...Ella Wheeler Wilcox

tree portrait

10x10, oil
“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds"... Edward Abbey

A Day at the Met

8 x 16, oil
about this painting...During a visit to NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the woman in the painting above walked into the gallery of American Painters and stood in front of Paxton's "Tea Leaves"--I couldn't believe my luck; she was poised and graceful; the perfect "model" in her long dress and hat. Camera in hand, I tried to be as unobtrusive as possible as I watched her walk about the room. I noticed that her dress was just about a size too large as it kept slipping off her shoulder, revealing the strap of the camisole underneath. I couldn't help but be aware of the irony that just a few feet away hangs another painting involving a painted over loose strap : namely Sargeant's Madame X, a painting that created much angst, outrage and controversy in its day. Lost in my thoughts of how that scandal would forever change the artist's career and his model's life, I was suddenly jolted back to reality by the realization that my "model" was now standing right in front of me. She startled me by saying "Excuse me, but I just couldn't leave without first telling you that you look as though you could have stepped out of any one of these paintings" What?... ME? What about you? Smiling, she simply turned and floated out of the room.
“I do not judge, I only chronicle”...John Singer Sargeant

~The painting above, along with about 20 more of my paintings will be part of a three-woman art exhibit entitled "Petals and Poses" beginning this Friday at The Capitol Arts Galleries. Also included will be original oil paintings by artist Rhonda Hartis Smith, and jewelry by Susan Lackey. So, if you are "in the neighborhood" please stop by our opening night reception between 5-7 PM on the 17th and say hello~
Also, just outside our gallery, the summer-concert-in-the-park series will continue, so it promises to be an enchanting evening filled with art and music~ just the sort of summer night that I long for all winter.
(After Friday, our show continues through August 5th, with gallery hours from 9-5 M-F)

Blue Ridge Mountains

I recently had the opportunity to meet a couple of friends for a painting trip in the mountains. As I looked out onto the layers of blue upon blue upon blue, I decided that mountains carry a sacred and powerful energy that is all their own. As you look out into the distance, you can't help but feel that all the things that seemed so urgent and important five minutes ago have evaporated just like the mist before you.

(322) 8x16, oil
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves"...John Muir

Grace

10x10, oil
"Perfumes are the feelings of flowers"...Heinrich Heine

Peony Party

(320) 9x12, oil'Tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes!" ~William Wordsworth

a play within a play

(319) 12x16
Yikes, this one was a wee bit more complicated.
“My logic tells me why strive for complicated, difficult-to-sew arrangements when simple squares, diamonds and triangles are so endlessly fascinating as long as the colors are alive.” Kaffe Fassatt

stand out from the crowd

(318) 8 x 8, oil
The biggest challenge in painting a flower resting on a floral background is of course, making the background recede while allowing the real star to come forward. Normally, objects in the foreground grab a little more color and warmth, but because this fabric is equally bright and colorful, my focus was in noting subtle shifts in value and color, as well as defining the shadow created by the iris.
“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way”...Edward de Bono

Stepping Out

(317) 6x6, oil
I thought it would be fun to include some colorful fabrics as a background for my flower. Inspired by my favorite master-of-all-things-creative, Kaffe Fassatt literally wrote the book on creativity...actually, he has authored several books showcasing his designs in needlepoint, paint, quilts, mosaics, pottery, knitting and fabrics! A true Renaissance man.
"Color is music to your eyes" Kaffe Fassatt