A New Direction

About this time 6 years ago I toured an art school in San Francisco. I dreamed of continuing my art education and living in California. That summer I was accepted into the MFA program and Fall 2009, I was studying figurative painting at the Academy of Art University.  I graduated December 2012 from the program and embarked on a journey of being a career artist. The past two years in Sacramento have been profitable with local shows, teaching adult painting classes, and establishing a home studio.

But....

A new year calls for new direction

 For 2015 my main focus will be participating in Art Festivals throughout Northern California. I am excited for this new direction and have spent the last months preparing. I've applied and been selected into a number of festivals with anticipation of receiving more acceptance into others. Above is a picture of my first one being mailed off. :)

I now have a traveling Gallery! This is just a glimpse of how VanCannonArt will look like on the road. 

Plans are starting to come together. I just purchased my first minivan to haul around my tent, panels and artwork. Its already coming in handy as I picked up a load of frames for my work. 

Thanks for sharing in my excitement! I am thrilled to have this opportunity and thankful for how everything is coming together. I hope you can join me at an event this year. The first few are listed below or you can check my website periodically as I update the calendar. 

Roseville - Art Affaire On The Square - April 25-26

El Dorado Hills - Art and Wine Affaire - May 9-10, 2015

Oakland -Montclair Village - 40th Annual Fine Arts Sidewalk Festival - June 26-28

Los Altos Art & Wine Festival - July 11-12

A day away - progress

Since getting to attend school in one of the most electric places in the States, I am thankful to still live a few hours from San Francisco. I get back regularly to visit friends, paint, eat, explore. Recently, I brought a couple art buddies from Sacramento and showed them a few favorite painting spots. I am grateful to love what I do, but it was certainly a work trip. We arrived late morning in North Beach and found a favorite spot on Russian Hill overlooking the neighborhood. I can visit the same spot multiple times and it will usually look different depending on the weather. Using a limited palette I tried to capture the homes and business layering the hillside. It was overcast, but warm - great painting weather.

When you have something as dynamic as SF city streets, its important to stick with your initial design. I keep thing in simple groupings at first and then start to bring out the details and various colors as I go. 

By early afternoon we made our way to our next spot, Crissy Field. The wind was gusty off the Bay and quite chilly. We had brought layers and bundled up for a quick plein air painting. This view is of the Golden Gate Bridge focussing on Marin County. I loved all the variations of gray. I tried to capture the soft transitions of colors. 

We wanted to get one more painting in before heading home. We headed over to the Legion Of Honor  and Lands End park which has another great view of the Golden Gate.

The light slowly started to dissipate, creating a calm evening mood. I focussed on my value pattern and tried to push the cool blues in all the groupings. 

We ended the day at Palomino's on the Embarcadero. It was a perfect way to warm up, relax, and discuss our painting day. I'm hoping to do it again sometime soon. Do you have a favorite look out spot or painting place in the Bay Area? I would love to hear about it - Maybe I'll try that one next time. 

www.vancannonart.com - vancannonart@gmail.com

Cup of tea

I had planned a Bay Area painting day with some friends, but last minute changes caused us to stay local. It worked out great since we still met at Patris Studios in Sacramento and brought our still life props outdoors. 

We tried to create a charming outdoor patio scene. It reminds me of the days I slow down and take time to sit outside on the back patio with my cup of coffee. 

 This speed studies took about 90 minutes.

Artist Ann Larsen zooms in on the bouquet of flowers and bowl of lemons. 

Patris takes on the table top still life too - speed studies creates lots of loose and bold brush strokes. A great response to the beautiful scene. 

I had time to get a second still life in before the sun moved behind the building. Thinking of Spring, I composed a vase of camellias and sliced lemons (courtesy of Ann's garden) on the table top. This speed studies took about 90 minutes. 

Want to learn to paint bold, colorful paintings? Join me next weekend for Speed Studies Workshop at Patris Studio. Or join me on Thursday's for 10 weeks of Speed Studies! Learn more on my website - www.vancannonart.com/classes/

Speed Studies Day

It was an energetic day in the studio - speed studies underway... I regularly set aside days to focus on speed studies. It allows me to be creative with my subjects, practice from life, stay loose and fresh.

My grandma planted daffodils along the sidewalk of her house. When I was in junior high we moved back into my dad's childhood home and I was greeted everyday in the spring with smiling daffodils. One of the first things I planted last year after AJ and I bought our first home was daffodils lining the sidewalk leading up to our front door. I love to cut bouquets and bring them inside. They make the room light up and brighten my day.

Today I used my cut bouquet and lemons as my Speed Studies prop. It was fun to paint them, especially with the variety of yellow hues. 

Playing with a variety of yellows in light and shadow is as challenging as painting white objects. It took me a few tries to play with the shadow colors before I was happy with the results. The challenge was painting the warms and cools that I was seeing in the shadows. I used a mixture of burnt sienna, lemon yellow, and sap green to create the subtle variations. I used the push and pull technique to create the flowers. I wanted some to come forward and others fall back into space. By painting the positive and negative space in intervals, it allowed me to capture the correct shapes and desired edges. This painting is 11x14 and took about 90 minutes to complete.

My second painting of the day was focussed on lemons. This painting had its own set of challenges as I tried to capture the translucency of the lemon fruit in contrast to the rind. My process always starts with a quick sketch that serves as a map on the canvas. For this piece I used burnt sienna for the drawing. I like how bits of it came through giving the fruit a bit of a glow. After blocking in the shadows I barely touched them again. I spend most of my time building up the texture in the light. This piece is 8x10 and took about 70 minutes to complete.

Want to try your hand at Speed Studies? Join me for a class or workshop. Visit my website to see what classes are offered. www.vancannonart.com/classes

What do Valentines Day, Art, and the 1950s have in common?

I am excited to participate in a 2 person show at Gallery 2110 this month. It be the first show at their new spacious location and feature my Americana work created over the past few years.  Preserving The Spirit and Ideals of The 1950s will showcase about 20 of my oil paintings along with work from Sacramento artist Bob Miller. Our show creates an experience of the past and explores the reminiscent quality of the golden age.

Join me for the opening reception - Thursday February 12, 2015 - 6-8pm (I'll be there!)

ALSO

A great date night on Valentines Day - Check out the Art scene during Sacramento's 2nd Sat. Art Walk - Saturday February 14, 2015 - 6-9pm (I'll be around, but not the whole time)

Gallery 2110 is now located at 1023 Del Paso Blvd. Sacramento, CA. Come see their new spacious space!

Join Me - Learn To Paint

Do you love the 'look' of quick and loose brushwork? Do you labor for hours over a painting without much success? Have you ever felt timid about going thick with paint? If so then Speed Studies is for you! Speed Studies is a fun and fast paced way to learn painting fundamentals and grow as an artist. Build your skills, speed, and confidence with Speed Studies as we cover a wide range of topics.

Arizona Art Alliance is an active group in Tempe Arizona. Not only will you get to enjoy the beautiful weather and landscape, but learn how to paint it as well! Can't make the workshop? Join me for the instructional demo. 

Join me on Thursday's for a 10 week Speed Study Class. We'll cover a wide range of topics including color, brushwork, viewpoint, material exploration, multiple painting approach, and much more! 

Explore the Tuscan hillsides with me and document your experience in paint. This trip will be an excellent balance of cultural immersion and painting time. Not until 2016 so plenty of time to save up and join me for an Italian adventure!

Can't make the class? Join me for a weekend Speed Studies Workshop in Sacramento. We'll be covering a wide range of topics including: color exploration, unusual materials, brushwork, get thick and chunky, lighting situations, new subject matter, and unique viewpoints. Sign up today.

January - Florals

One of my most popular classes is Speed Studies. It's also a process that I like to keep up in the studios. Speed Studies are paintings created in a limited amount of time. I set the timer and attack (slightly exaggerated) the canvas. The great thing about speed studies is I can challenge myself each time by choosing the objective. For the month of January I've challenged myself to paint all floral pieces. It was nice having a great excuse to buy myself flowers. My studio is full of vases and different arrangements of flowers. Not only am I building up a theme of paintings, but it is pushing me to create unique set ups and compositions. Ideas for next months themes? Leave me a comment below.

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