Artists-Collective- Our first Issuu Issue

Many of you know that a few artists and myself have been advertising in a national art magazine over the past year. We have a new ad coming up in November and we are debuting our first online issue. It was a "little" time consuming to set up the first one, and I am sure I have lots of grammatical errors in it, but it's done, and you get to see it first.


Click on the mini-viewer and you will go to the page. Click on full-screen and you should be able to view it without zooming in and out.

Get your own - Open publication

Enjoy.
If you like what you see, please leave a comment or rate it. I also invite you to leave suggestions or ideas for future issues.

Man on a Park Bench- this Week's Subject

for Different Strokes blog. Neat to see the different versions. Varnished Watercolor on Yupo board , 5x7 inches.

$95, plus $6 for shipping.

there seems to be a problem with the paypal button at the moment. It is giving an error message. Contact me via email if interested. Thanks.

New Yupo Painting- Black Tabby Cat

This painting I finished this weekend. The majority was done with watercolor on yupo board. 5 x 7 inches. I darkened and corrected a few values with transparent fluid acrylic glazes. Two coats of acrylic glossy varnish will be added on top.

12/12/07- on its way home. Hope the post office gets it there safe and sound.

Red Poinsettia Painting on Yupo

Happy Holidays Everyone- Where did the time go? It's only 19 days till Christmas day, if you haven't noticed or been counting.

Here's a little holiday painting from the last evening- a Red Poinsettia.

Limited Edition Holiday Ornaments

I posted about these a few weeks ago, and was working on the designs from my original yupo paintings this afternoon. Rectangular paintings don't always work when cropped to a circle. So I had to clone parts of the background to get a round shape.




I settled on these two, and was planning on putting them on the porcelain today, but 1 cartridge is low, so that will have to wait until next week. If the colors don't reproduce well, then I might have to change again. Still want to do a floral one too.

They will only be available as an ornament until Dec 31st. Snooze and you lose. Check back after Thanksgiving.

D Niece. D Nephew. Watercolor on Yupo, 7x10 inches

This little painting is painted from photos I took of my nephew and niece, probably 3 years ago now. I stole, (err. . . borrowed) BMW's red wagon (BMW- the other nephews, Ben, Mitchell, and Will) and hauled it to a family reunion.

Amongst, the "It's hot", "I'm hungry", "It's heavy", "Are we done yet?", I got a few photos.

This painting looks very washed out on my monitor. But I combined two photos as I couldn't get a perfect one. I wish I could get more detail in Retta's face. It's mostly in shadow, and she has no neck, it's just impossible to capture detail without it sliding all over the place. It would be easier if it was a larger painting. Click on the images and they should enlarge. You can see what I am talking about- the detail in her face.

Calla Lilies- Redeux

I finally was able to paint last evening for the first time in a few weeks. When doing that, I prefer to not jump back in right away with a very complicated painting, that I have to concentrate and think about too much. LOL- makes my head hurt!

I still had this photo sitting on my painting table, so I decided to paint it again, since the first one was donated to Postcards from the Ledge in Asheville, the first of this month.

Calla Lilies Again- varnished watercolor on Yupo board, 5x7 inches.




Here's the prettiest part to me, where the blue bleed into the Quinacridone Gold and Italian Burnt Sienna.



I will be offering this painting for sale unframed on ebay later this evening- here's the ebay link. If you think you want it, I would suggest bidding on it. If it's framed and goes into the show, with the show commission, it will be $200.

Calla Lilies on Blue- watercolor on Yupo board

I like calla lilies. I also like the colors of this painting- smokey grey blue, white, with touches of green, yellow, brown, and purple. It's watercolor on yupo board, 5x7 inches.

I am sending this to "Postcards from the Ledge" a fundraiser for public art in Asheville, NC.

Cat Nap Deux- Watercolor on Yupo

There is something so peaceful about watching cats, or dogs, snooze in the sun.

I repainted this painting for my November show. Just larger than the first one. This one is approx 8 x 10 inches. It will be double matted and framed.

Flickr Group for Pet Photos

I started a Group for Pet Photos at Flickr. It allows me to sort my own reference photos for paintings, and you can add any that you would like to share. It's brand new (last night) to be exact, and you probably will see artist friends of mine. Some are members of Art Helping Animals.

If you aren't familiar with flickr, check out the flickr homepage here.

If you want to add photos, first sign up for flickr. Then upload your photos to your own photostream. Then join the Group - here's the link- Andy Mathis Ref Pics
Above each of your photos you will see a "Send to Group" link. Click there and that is it. Enjoy your weekend.

Surtex Booth and Retriever Puppy Painting for Sale

Hello everyone. Back to reality.
Surtex was fun, and I am now busy getting organized and sending images to interested art departments. Here's a pic of our booth.


Also, I was planning on holding this painting for an upcoming show in November, but have decided to offer it for sale. Image size is 5x7 inches, watercolor on yupo paper, matted to fit an 11 x 14 inch frame. Comes unframed. I placed it on ebay- here's the link.

Getting ready for Surtex show

Scan. Print. Save.
Scan. Save. Print.
Print. Scan. Save.

That's what I've been doing for the past week or so. This is my 3rd year at the Surtex show in NYC. May 20-22. It is impossible to try and carry lots of binders, posters to the show, and still travel as light as possible. Last year, I realized that I needed an online licensing portfolio to hold images. Many of the paintings can be found around my website and blog, so it isn't top secret classified information or anything. I just need one concise place to send manufacturers to review images, and product photos without sharing them with the whole world. Here's a detail view of one scan today.



Back to the grindstone. . . . .

Retriever Puppy -watercolor on Yupo

I finished this painting last night. Scroll back the previous posts and you can see the steps and reference pic. I think I need to keep this painting for my upcoming show in November at the State Botanical Gardens. 30% of the proceeds benefit the gardens, 20% benefits Sundown Surgery Fund at UGA Vet Med teaching hospital.

Note- I have listed a giclee print of the painting in my Etsy store.

transparent watercolor on Yupo paper, 5x7 inches. Click on the images and they enlarge a little.

If you are interested in this original, leave a note in the comments. When it is offered for sale, I can let you know by searching for this post.

Another Calico Cat on Yupo- Painting of the Day

I have painted this reference photo before. What I like about the reference photo is the long hair and whiskers of this cat as the sunlight shines from behind her head. It's very dramatic.

That is difficult for me to capture on yupo as the paint slides around on the surface. Some of the whiskers and fur here are wiped and scratched out of the paint film. Others are painted with a little acrylic on a long and tiny brush.

Watercolor on Yupo, 5.5 x 6.5 inches

Listed on ebay as a charity listing for Sundown Surgery Fund.

Camelia on Clayboard- finished (finally)

I finished this little painting last night- that's 3 evenings of "daily" painting if you are counting. Clayboard just takes longer for me to build up the depth of color. 6x6 inches.

You can go back to the previous blog posts to find the reference pic and steps. Click on the photos and they will enlarge a bit.

Charity listing for Sundown Surgery Fund at UGA teaching hospital. Click here to bid.

Camelia on Day 2

I swear I worked on this for at least 4 hours last night. American Idol was on, then the news, then something on E . . . Before I knew it, it was 12:30.

Clayboard gets much lighter as it dries. What seemed close to correct last night, needs more glazes this morning. You really have to overpaint it to compensate for this fact.

It also doesn't help that I am painting at night, in a room with dark paneling, with not the best lighting (too yellow).

Camelias and Yupo don't Mix , 6x6 inches

I took some photos about a month ago at Massee Lane Gardens, home of the American Camelia Society, located in central Georgia. It was freezing that morning, but I managed to photograph a few rolls. The reference image is from the day. This camelia was glowing in deep shadow with sunlight hitting it from the side and behind.

Yupo isn't the best surface for capturing the glow, maybe. You can get great color, and texture, but not smooth values. Got to have the darks to make the light shine. There is one little blip on the bottom right hand side that I really like. I cropped it out for a close up.

I did experiment with this a bit. I used fluid acrylics to try and underglaze some areas. Once the acrylic is dry it doesn't move as watercolor does. It is worth more experimenting. I was using quinacridone rose, and ultramarine blue, mix with a touch of payne's grey to get a purple, bluish, grey color. Interesting that the quin rose and ultramarine seperated on the paper. I had a purple area that I touched with a damp brush. The pink was absorbed leaving the blue behind.

Most of the color that you see is watercolor glazed on top.

Maybelline- finished Yupo painting

I finished Maybelline's painting last evening. If you scroll back to the previous post, you'll find the ref pic and the first scan of the painting in progress. It is 6 x 7.75 inches on Yupo paper.

It is listed on ebay as a charity listing for Sundown Surgery Fund at UGA Vet Teaching Hospital. SOLD- going to Shreveport, Louisiana