Season 3 Archives | Page 3 of 10

Gabe Langholtz

#190 Gabe Langholtz: Painting in a Naïve Modern Style

Artist Gabe Langholtz paints in what he calls a naïve modern style. Sometimes he paints still lives, perhaps a table holding a few objects. Sometimes he paints figures, often holding something. His paintings always tell a story, through all the objects you see, and enhanced by his clever titles. He lives in the Austin, Texas area, but has done a solo show in New York, and is looking forward to other shows there in 2021.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Gabe Langholtz

Gabe’s website is called gabelangholtz.com.

On Instagram, he is @gabelangholtzart

In January, 2021, he will be showing art at Hashimoto Contermporary gallery in New York City.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

You don’t need to stick with one subject matter for your artwork. For Gabe, he does a lot of still lives, but he also does a lot of figurative work.
I’m a big believer in the importance of giving your artwork a title. After you’ve just spent a lot of time making a piece of art, don’t skimp on the title. It helps to differentiate your art and it adds to the story.
In 2019, Gabe chose a topic to explore with his paintings, and it was plants. Giving yourself a theme will give you a starting point for your art.
If your work is in a solo show, see if you can work with the gallerist in the hanging of it. They may let you because they figure you’ll know which art pieces go together.
There are opportunities right now for virtual shows, and if that’s all you can get, then go for it. But remember that it is important for people to see your artwork in person, so that they can see the texture and the details. Keep your eye out for the in person shows, because in a couple of months, I’m sure they’ll be coming back.
Put all your artwork onto your Instagram feed. It will become a virtual portfolio where people can get a good idea about you and your art.
We’ve talked about pricing before on the podcast. When your sales are slow, it’s not necessarily a good idea to lower your prices. That just devalues your work because it’s hard to raise the prices back up later. The better thing to do is offer smaller items that already have a lower price than your larger work.

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#189 Deanne Fitzpatrick: Creating Beauty Every Day through Hooked Rugs

For over two decades, artist Deanne Fitzpatrick has hooked rugs, first making them to warm her home, and then elevating them to gallery-worthy artwork. She is inspired by the land and water around her home in Nova Scotia, Canada. Not only does she make beautiful landscape rugs, but she also creates abstracts, and impressionistic rugs. She may use dozens of colors in just one rug. Deanne has written many books and offers rug hooking classes. She even has her own podcast, called Create Beauty Everyday.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Deanne Fitzpatrick

Deanne’s website is called hookingrugs.com

Click here to see her free How To video to get started.

You can find her books here.

And her classes here.

Her podcast is called Create Beauty Everyday.

On Instagram, she is @hookingrugs

On Facebook, you can find her at Deanne Fitzpatrick Studio and you can join her Group called Wild with Wool.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

I’ll start with this bit of advice that Deanne gives to all artists: simply show up. Show up to make your art, whatever it is. Even if you don’t feel inspired, make something anyway.
Rug hooking is a very mindful, meditative craft. It’s a great way to relax with yourself, especially now that we all have been home more.
When starting a new craft, start small so you don’t get overwhelmed. You want to be able to finish it so that you feel that sense of accomplishment. Deanne offers 6×6 and 8×8 kits as well as her larger ones.
Don’t limit yourself to one style. If you want to do abstracts, landscapes, and portraits, then go ahead. Deanne will do a few in a theme. You’ll end up getting a series or collection of a few pieces of art. Chances are though, there will be an underlying style to them all, like the colors that you choose, or the level of detail.
When you are finished creating a piece of art, don’t forget the presentation of it. Put it in a frame, mount it on a background, or do something that will make it stand out as a nice piece of art.
Think about your art and whether you could sell patterns or kits. People want to make things right now, especially as we are staying home more. Kits could be just the thing to add to your list of products.
I’ll end with another good quote from Deanne: Art and making is bigger than the thing that you make. It’s the process that’s important. And of course, the more you make something, the better you will get at it.

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Lorraine Bell artist

#188 Lorraine Bell: Wandering Artist and Art Journaler

Artist Lorraine Bell was a part of the group that started The Documented Life Project, about seven years ago. She is a lifelong journal keeper who expanded her artwork to include sketches and stories in travel journals. She’s truly a wandering artist, and she’s planned workshops for next year in Italy and France. She offers online courses on sketching and journal keeping, and she hosts a podcast called The Wandering Artist.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Lorraine Bell

Her website is lorrainebell.com.

You can also find her podcast The Wandering Artist on her website.

Details about her art retreats in France and Italy in 2021 are also on her website.

On Instagram, she is @lorraine_bell

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

Lorraine creates her own books for her travel sketches. Often she travels with loose pages and binds them into a book when she returns from her travels. Loose pages give much more flexibility in your drawing and ability to add mixed media items.
Seven years ago, Lorraine and 4 other artists started the Documented Life Project. Each week for a year, they offered a lesson or prompt for creating art in a planner. They ended up with a Facebook group of many thousand participants. Don’t be afraid to start something online. You won’t know if it will be something that resonates with others unless you try.
For her online classes, she has set up one Facebook group that they all can use. This is less time-consuming than doing one group per class.
When offering online classes, you have the option of offering them through someone else’s platform. That enables your class to reach a whole different set of potential students.
When we were talking about overseas retreats, Lorraine made a very good point. As a single woman, it’s easier and safer to do your traveling through retreats, where most everything is organized for you and you get to experience it with other women.
If you are looking to host a retreat elsewhere, one option is to connect with a local retreat venue that puts on retreats all the time. They’ll know the area and can plan the tours and excursions for your group.
Lorraine keeps her art supply list small when students are traveling to her classes. This makes it easier, especially when it’s an overseas retreat.

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Rachelle Kearl artist

#187 Rachelle Kearl: Painter of Wildflowers

Rachelle Kearl is a painter that is inspired by the wildflowers in Alberta, Canada. She creates beautiful floral paintings that are sometimes very detailed and sometimes more graphic in design. Often her paintings are large because she wants to make grand gestures on her canvas. Her paintings are shown in boutiques and artist collectives near her home. She’s hoping to be able to teach in person after the first of the year, using her skills as a former school teacher.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Rachelle Kearl

Her website is rachellekearlart.com.

On Instagram, she is @rachellekearl_art

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

We talked about art having a purpose. Some people stop making art because they don’t think it has a purpose. We forget that the purpose can simply be to make someone think or to make them happy.
Rachelle talked about learning from artist Betty Krause, that you should start out painting by activating your canvas. Just put some paint down, any color, and you don’t need to know where it’s going to go. This gets you started and you can change your colors or ideas later.
The first marks also help to treat your canvas as if it’s not too precious. Sometimes people are afraid to “mess up” a canvas and that’s why they can’t make the first mark. Just go for it and get it started.
Rachelle paints large canvases because she wants to make large gestures. The canvases suit what she’s trying to create.
When I was talking with Anthony Burks in Episode 185, he said that he had moved into a studio space that was a formerly empty store front. In his case, it is one space that has 18 smaller rooms for 18 artists. Rachelle told me that in Calgary they will utilize empty spaces in malls. She’s a part of an artist collective that is one space where many artists can show their work. These are great programs that utilize empty spaces, and they’re good for the retail areas because they’ll look busier and bring in more people.
Artists are starting to think about offering in person classes for next year. Rachelle mentioned that she will decrease the number of students so that they can keep their distance while working.
Rachelle mentioned a great thing she did when she was teaching pre-school for 3-5-year-olds. If they were working on something, she wouldn’t tell them what to do, instead she would say “Do you need anything?” That can be used for adults too. It’s a very encouraging statement that helps them to keep going.
Her paintings are inspired by the wildflowers she sees near her home. She takes photos on her walks, prints them out, and puts them in sheet protectors in binders. That way she has inspiration even when she’s in her snowy months and there are no flowers around.

Post category:Painters Podcasts Season 3 Show Notes

#186 Carl Stoveland and Shannon Torrence: A Month of Art on a Tropical Island

For today’s episode, I’m having a follow-up conversation with artists Shannon Torrence and Carl Stoveland. I first spoke with Shannon and Carl about two months ago in Episode 176. They told me about their upcoming month-long artist residency at Dry Tortugas National Park, which is 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. On Loggerhead Key, Shannon would be painting with acrylics and Carl would be taking photographs, videos, and painting watercolors. They were taken out there by boat with everything they needed for a month: paints, paper, easel, cameras and film, and of course, their clothing and food. If you haven’t listened to Episode 176 yet, I suggest you go back and listen to that first. They told me how they applied for this artist residency through the National Parks Arts Foundation, and that they planned to make a documentary film of this residency. Their final product is changing a little bit, as you’ll hear in today’s episode, as a result of what they saw during their time on the island. But they’ve returned with many paintings, photos, and film footage, and they’re excited to share their experiences with us. Here they are talking about their month together at Dry Tortugas National Park, on the 64 acre island called Loggerhead Key.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Shannon Torrence and Carl Stoveland at the top of the lighthouse on Loggerhead Key

Shannon Torrence

Carl Stoveland

Their website documenting this residency is flyingtortugabrothers.com

and it is also on Facebook and Instagram.

Carl’s website is carlstovelandphotography.com.

You can also find him on Instagram @carlstoveland.

Shannon Torrence is on Instagram @tidalcroftstudio.

You can find their podcast here.

In January, 2021, Shannon will be showing his art at Palm Beach Framemakers, and in November 2021 they hope to be at The Gallery on Greene in Key West.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

When doing an artist residency where you won’t have access to stores during it, be sure to bring backups of everything you need. You don’t want to bring too much, but you don’t want to run out of art supplies or not have working devices, batteries, or chargers.
Shannon would scout locations for each day’s painting. When painting outside, you need to prepare for all kinds of weather, plus different drying times for your paint, plus bugs, and blowing sand. You also need to dress appropriately, which for them meant long pants, long sleeves, and a hat so they wouldn’t get sunburned.
Shannon did color studies while he was on the island so that he could do accurate large paintings later when he got home. This is a good idea because photographs won’t always show the true color of a scene.
When taking photographs to use as inspiration for later paintings, take pictures at different times of day. You’ll want to see how the sun and clouds change the scene, and for them on the island, how the tides change the scene.
As I’ve said here before, for most artist residencies, you need to propose a project you’ll be doing while you are there or completing when you get back. It’s O.K. if that project changes based on what you experienced during the residency. You need to be flexible and adapt to unexpected things.
When you’re creating outside, it’s important to bring all your trash back with you and to not leave a negative impact on the environment.
They ended their interview with this great bit of advice for anyone doing a residency: The key to a successful residency is just being flexible. Things change every day from what you think you’re going to do.

Post category:Painters Podcasts Season 3 Show Notes