Getting ready for our 5th holiday shop!  It's always like a party or shopping with friends.

Come visit if you can!

SKARTS Fall Artists Studio Tour

Working to frame some new artwork for the studio tour.  Since my "studio" is just a kitchen table, I am teaming up with a few other artists to present at Loft 42. For more info click on the link to the right. I am eager to see the other artists' studios too to see get a peek at how everyone works on their creations!

Backyard Birds

Love the goldfinches- so bright, cheery and hungry! I wish they would stay still so I could paint them better, but they are quite busy.

Lavender Fest 2015

This year's lavender fest was bigger than ever!  I have to say I've never experienced anything quite like it.  There were about 5000 people in attendance-it was finally gorgeous summer weather and it seems like everyone from near and far came to pick lavender and buy buy buy! I was running out of prints and notecards by the end of the first day, and never sat down, ate, or used the restroom from 7 am to 3 pm!

My wonderful hardworking friend Julie hustled alongside me all day and came bright and early the next day to package up more items.  Lots of originals sold as well, and there were some tender stories to go along with them about how they reminded people of their children, or flowers their mother gave them, or a special place they had visited.  It was all so rewarding and reminds me of why I paint in the first place.

My sherpa Julie on the left.

Loads of lavender

People in the tent all weekend!

Even the dogs love lavender. :)

workshop with Ratindra Das

I learned some different ways of working with paper and color with Ratindra Das during a 4 day workshop recently.  New to me was applying lots of water with a big brush to both sides of the paper as opposed to soaking in a tub or starting dry. It was calming to begin this way, and the paper laid flat the entire time with no need for clips or tape. Next was to wash the entire sheet with color-I used quin gold and opera rose-and lift where you want the white to remain. It was a very freeing way to begin and a nice change of pace!  This is a scene I've always wanted to try from an Amsterdam visit of boats in the canal.

Notecard Contest

Some cool news to share: my painting of a blue indigo bunting won a notecard contest sponsored by the AAUW (American Association of University Women). It was one of 6 finalists out of 150 entries!  They printed them up with matching envelopes and sent them to all of the members in the USA.  What a nice feeling to be picked!

Wedding Map

This is a really cute idea a future bride and her mother commissioned me to do for the upcoming wedding.  They were inspired by a version of this concept and asked if I would be willing to do it-I was so excited I had a sketch ready that night.  It is a wedding "map" of all the places in town that are meaningful to the couple, matted so the guests can sign it at the reception.  It will be a really nice keepsake for them!

Rockin' Robin

Above are the colors I played with having a robin in mind. I think the abstract version is exciting! Maybe I'm on to a new style!

Woody Woodpecker

Not sure why he is called a red bellied woodpecker when it's his head that is red, but a thrill to see all the same. The contrast of colors in these birds always makes them fun to look at. Painted on 300# Bristol hot press; it's really great paper if you want to wipe out an area and correct or start over.

Need Flowers

We were very lucky to have a getaway to Florida to warm up a bit this month.  Talk about instant gratification! It was 0 degrees here and 80 degrees there! They have the most beautiful orchids everywhere just thriving in that climate. 

 The centers were a starting point with Alizarin Crimson, cad yellow pale and winsor violet, then painted some of the negative spaces around the petals. I think I could have left it this way, unfinished and somewhat charming.

But I went on to finish-they were a pale yellow color and I was quite enjoying the painting time on a nice warm porch with ocean breezes. Sigh....back to cold weather but the flower images help cheer things up!

Brusho workshop

It was a very successful Brusho workshop, organized by our local art guild that I'm a member of.  It was my first teaching this and was a little nervous only because I wanted everybody to have at least one nice sample to bring home after spending a whole day exploring this new medium.  Turns out no worries-everyone had a great time and we learned so many ways to use it from each other. Lots of inventive ideas were played with and each as individual as the person doing it.  I just showed them how it works and we spent the morning playing around with it. After lunch I did a  couple short demos, including how to mask off tree shapes and create winter birch trees and cardinals, but emphasized it could be any kind of tree or season. One lady did a beautiful fall scene background with birches, and another did just abstract colors behind the trees. Fantastic!

Proud participant with no previous                        A row of engaged students.

painting experience!                               

                           

                                                                                   

This person does journaling and taped a little Brusho sample to her entry. She also had a butterfly stencil and made little Brusho butterflies with it. (shown next to journal here)

Flowers were a favorite, so nice and bright. I can't even show all the great things people came up with! Someone did a batik style fish using wax resist, another did a frog that somebody else bought!  And when all was done, everyone went home happy and many ordered their own Brusho to play with to continue the fun.


The group and I were also interviewed by the local paper!  You can see the article and pictures in the link below:

http://auburnpub.com/skaneateles/news/bit-of-excitement-skaneateles-artist-christy-lemp-introduces-brusho-watercolor/article_728cd883-9b02-5390-b9a2-11d8ce67a2e1.html

This fox is finished! I used all my tricks of "seeing" if it was finished-looking in the mirror, upside down, and taking pictures on my phone. They all help see the picture from a different perspective and mistakes , or room for improvements, are more pronounced. And I also finally figured out watermarks!

Foxy Play

I've been fascinated by the red foxes that have been dashing through our yard lately. They're just a quick blur of red and that foxy face, off to maybe find food (the neighbor's chickens!) I don't have chickens so I continue to like their elusive charm.

I spent a whole morning sketching little studies-they turned out to just as elusive to me to capture the face; it's kind of triangular looking and the ears have to be just right. And the colors took experimenting also. Finally decided on raw and burnt sienna, and Schminke transparent orange instead of the new vermillion I bought. ( the top to the orange was hopelessly stuck on until my teeth held it firm to twist it off. Must remember to get a little pair of pliers!) Cobalt turquoise light to contrast and highlight the white fur.

 Letting him rest today with one eye and will continue tomorrow. Also want to try him with Brusho!