Pet Portrait Study - "Betty" - Oil on Panel, 9"x12", Two Hours

This was Betty. As an actress, she received numerous nominations for her emotionally moving portrayals of dogs in need. In this scene in our Brooklyn backyard, Betty played the part of a dog without a bone, despite the fact that she had just devoured one in record time prior to the director yelling action. Just off camera, her costar, Barney, provided her with all of the motivation necessary, while he gnawed on a bone also given to him just five minutes prior.

But seriously, I painted Betty on National Dog Day this week. I miss her dearly.

 

"Betty" • Oil on Panel • 9" x 12" • 2 hours • Available at www.PatrickSaunders.com

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

"Weathered" - Oil on Linen, 18"x24", Private Collection

I recently put this new painting in the online gallery on my website, www.PatrickSaunders.com, and was thrilled to ship it off this morning to a first-time collector in Michigan.

It always makes me happy when someone else is moved by a painting that means a lot to me personally.

"Weathered" • Oil on Linen • 18" x 24" • Private Collection

Reference and painting photos by Saunders Fine Arts.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

August 2020 Newsletter - Tell Your Story

Is it art or craft?

Read my latest newsletter to learn about taking your paintings beyond the pretty picture.

Click here to sign up:
http://bit.ly/PSFA-Newsletter-Sign-up

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Museum Tour Tuesday - "L'orchestre de l'Opéra" by Edgar Degas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France

For #MuseumTourTuesday, here is one of my favorite paintings by Edgar Degas at the Musée d'Orsay. Why? It's all about the point of view.

Instead of placing the focus with the action onstage, Degas chooses to feature the members of the orchestra pit, many of whom were his personal friends. The expected area of interest, the dancers, are reduced in their importance by the radical cropping.

Despite this unexpected shift in focus, the composition is very solid. The bassoon held by the central figure is a strong vector line leading to the figure of the bassist, whose instrument leads our eyes up and back, breaking the line of the stage. From there, the brightly lit legs of the dancers push the eye back to the orchestra pit, where the gaze of the cellist and the line of his instrument lead us back to the main figure.

"L'orchestre de l'Opéra" "The Orchestra at the Opera" • Edgar Degas • ca. 1870 • Oil on Canvas
• 56.5 x 45cm

Painting photo by Saunders Fine Arts.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Artistic Insipriation, Goofy Grape, the United States Postal Service, and My Mom

Here's a little story about my earliest artistic inspiration.

Back in the early seventies there was a Kool-Aid rip off drink mix known as Funny Face. If you collected the proofs of purchase, you could mail in for plastic cups that represented your favorite flavor/character. Mine was grape, represented by Goofy Grape.

I mailed in those proofs of purchase and waited for the mail to come each and every day for months. Each time our letter carrier delivered a package from Funny Face, it felt like Christmas morning. There was Freckle-Face Strawberry, Rootin' Tootin' Raspberry, Loud-Mouth Lime. Eventually, Goofy Grape arrived, and I was ecstatic.

I pulled out my box of crayons and created my first "alla prima" painting of Goofy Grape. My mother told me just how great it was and taped it up onto the picture window in our living room. I was so excited, I made another and another and another, until I had filled the window. That is how my life-long passion for creating art began. I still have that Goofy Grape cup, although it's a little worse for wear.

FYI, my father was a letter carrier for 35 years. He walked the same route each day and his visit was often the highlight of the day for many seniors. When I first started grade school, almost every kid knew my father even before they knew me.

So, the US Postal Service is very important to me, having deeply influenced both my art and my life.

 

Photo by Saunders Fine Arts.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Patrick Saunders Fine Arts - Online Art Gallery at www.PatrickSaunders.com

My most recent sunflowers painting will be shipped off to a new collector on Monday, so I just finished updating my online art gallery. Here are a few of the pieces currently available through my gallery on my website.

You can check out all of my available work here:
http://bit.ly/Patrick-Saunders-Online-Art-Gallery

 

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Throwback Thursday - "Tom" Portrait Study - Coppini Academy of Fine Arts, San Antonio, Texas

I miss painting at open model sessions. It was always an opportunity to practice working from direct observation, but I would also gain insights into the life of the subject. For #ThrowBackThursday, here's a portrait study from 2018, painted at The Coppini Academy of Fine Arts in San Antonio, Texas.

You might not guess it from his likeness, but Tom and I bonded over punk rock music, chatting during breaks from painting. Everyone is deeper than their likeness.

 

"Tom" • Oil on Linen • 11" x 14" • Available at www.PatrickSaunders.com

Painting photo by Saunders Fine Arts.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Art Review - "Geraniums" by Andrew Wyeth, Brandywine River Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

During a visit to the Brandywine River Museum of Art last summer, Kimberly and I were lucky enough to view Andrew Wyeth's watercolor "Geraniums." This piece is from a private collection, and not normally on display.

I'm struck by the multiple levels that this painting works on. At first glance, it's just about the view into the window and out the other side, but then one notices the bright red spots of the geraniums inviting the viewer to explore the interior. That's when we catch a glimpse of Anna Christina Olson, the very same neighbor Wyeth captured in his iconic "Christina's World."

Here, Christina is older and in failing health, confined to the few small rooms of this also deteriorating farmhouse. There's both a sadness to the painting from her isolation, but also a quiet beauty and sense of hope suggested by the color of the geraniums and the beautiful view beyond the far window.

 

"Geraniums" • Andrew Wyeth • 1960 • Watercolor on paper • 30.75" x 15.5"

Painting photo by Saunders Fine Arts.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

"Dama De Rojo" - Winner, Gold Medal, Oil Painters of America 2020 Juried Salon Show

I am honored to have been awarded the Gold Medal at the Oil Painters of America's 2020 Juried Salon Show for my painting "Dama De Rojo."

Thank you so much to judges John Michael Carter and Ken Cadwallader, and congratulations to all of the other award winners, and every artist featured in the exhibition.

 

"Dama De Rojo" • Oil on Linen • 15" x 30" • Available at www.PatrickSaunders.com

Reference and painting photos by Saunders Fine Arts.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

"Paul" - Pet Portrait Painting, 1995

 For #ThrowBackThursday, here is the first dog portrait I ever created, painted a quarter century ago. I had no idea then that pets would become my favorite subject.

Interesting note: much of the dog's body is unpainted canvas. A fellow painter said to me, "You can't do that." My response: "Who makes these rules?"

"Paul" • Oil on Canvas • 15.5" x 19.5" • Private Collection

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

"Guesthouse" - Airstream Life Magazine Globetrotter Online Art Gallery Invited Artist

 My thanks to Rich Luhr, the publisher of Airstream Life Magazine, for selecting me as one of the inaugural artists for the magazine's new online art gallery, www.globetrottergallery.com.

 

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Art Review - "Le salon à fresques" "The Frescoed Lounge" by Elizabeth Frances Boyd- Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France

It's #MuseumTourTuesday, and I'd like to share an interior painting by Scottish artist Elizabeth Frances Boyd that I am fascinated with.

I was completely unaware of her work until Kimberly and I came across this piece at the Musée d'Orsay, and I have since been unable to learn much about her or find many examples of her other paintings.

This, however, is an extraordinary piece with complicated textures, and yet a wonderful simplicity of forms.

"Le salon à fresques" "The Frescoed Lounge" • Elizabeth Frances Boyd • 1914 • Oil on Canvas
• 73x60cm

Painting photo by Saunders Fine Arts.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Western Art - "Weathered" - Texas

I started this one as just an oil sketch, but the more I painted, the more fascinated I became with all of the various textures and details I discovered. You just never know where a painting will ultimately take you.

"Weathered" • Oil on Linen • 18" x 24" • Available at www.PatrickSaunders.com

Reference and painting photos by Saunders Fine Arts.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

"Photo Shoot, Bethesda Arcade, Central Park" - Manhattan, New York

I miss summers in New York. The city would always get a bit less crowded, as so many of its residents would leave by August to beat the heat.

Coming from the Midwest, Kimberly and I never found the "heat" to be very hot at all, so it became the best time of year to explore the city when we lived there. We would often stumble across photo or film shoots throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan.

For #throwbackthursday, here's my 2013 painting of one such scene at the Minton Tiles in the Bethesda Arcade in Central Park.

"Photo Shoot, Bethesda Arcade, Central Park" • Oil on Canvas • 24" x 30" • Private Collection

Painting photo by Saunders Fine Arts.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Art Review - "Self-Portrait" by Cecilia Beaux, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.

For this week's #MuseumTourTuesday, I'm studying how simplicity can translate to the portrait with a look at one of Cecilia Beaux's self-portraits at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.

Most of the canvas is covered by thin washes of paint, most likely dashed off in the first minutes of painting. Only the face receives brushstrokes of any thicker paint, and yet not thick enough that we can't see the texture of the canvas through them as well.

The handling of the portrait gives it both a ghostly quality, but also a feeling of movement and energy, as if she stepped up to a mirror and quickly moved away. Beaux's skills as a painter shine through the work, as her handling of the medium appears to be effortless. I can only imagine that this was painted in a single afternoon, in between other works.

"Self-Portrait" • Cecilia Beaux • ca. 1889-1894 • Oil on Canvas • 45.4 x 35.2cm

Painting photo by Saunders Fine Arts.

© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Plein Air Competition Judging - Driggs Digs Plein Air Award Winners

It was an honor to judge this year's Driggs Plein Air competition with Scott Jones, and I am greatly disappointed that I was unable to do so in person. I haven’t been to the area in a few years, and I was looking forward to not only viewing all of the work by other artists, but painting some of my own in such a beautiful part of the country.

Going through all of the work in the show made this desire to paint on site even greater. I’m inspired and eager to be a part of next year’s event. The best paintings not only work on a level of technical expertise, but tell a story about the artist’s personal experience with the landscape, and many of these works achieved that. So many in fact, that my responsibility as a judge was extremely difficult. I only wish we had twice as many awards. This is exactly what I strive for in my own work and what I look for when evaluating paintings in a show. Tell me your story, set a mood, invite me to explore, and the painting draws me in.

Congratulations to everyone who participated, even in this particularly difficult year where a new approach was required. As artists, your work is a constant reminder that the world is a wonderful place, even in times of hardship. 

Go to www.driggspleinair.org now to see the online gallery of great work available for sale.


Best of Show
• David Marty • "Mustard Fields” • Oil • 8"x10"

Everything comes together perfectly in this painting to give us a story of the beauty, the expansiveness and the awesome power of the landscape.

We are immediately struck with the strong design of the foreground fields. The sharply controlled edges of the yellow suggest the influence of humanity. This is not a wild place, yet as we move up the painting, the brushstrokes become ever more spontaneous.

Once our eyes reach the sky, the chaotic impasto paint of the clouds suggest the unpredictability of nature, even in the face of the familiar fields. This juxtaposition creates a tension that keeps us moving through and exploring the scene.

Congratulations Marty on a fabulous painting. - Patrick Saunders

I find the foreground of the piece to be fascinating. Diagonals, colors, light and shadow is all complimented by a solid backdrop (with just the right amount of complimenting colors) and immense sky. The total package combined in one excellent plein air painting. - Scott Jones

Second Place
• Don Miskin • "String Lake” • Oil on Linen • 16"x20"

 This piece is beautifully executed overall, and the careful balance between the mountain and the line of trees particularly grabbed my attention. The wide variety of subtle greens throughout the foreground of the painting suggest a depth to the forest that is often overwhelmed and overlooked in paintings depicting breathtaking mountain views. Yet the mountain does not lose any of its importance.

The controlled use of value and color temperature changes in the mountain not only hold it together as the monolith that it is, but also add atmospheric depth to the image. The entire scene is tied together by the expert capture of the low sun cascading across the landscape. - Patrick Saunders

Third Place
• Benjamin Walter • "Canyon Glow” • Oil on Canvas • 9" x 12"

I enjoy the scale and atmosphere of this piece. The rear mountain peak and sky work so well together. And create a wonderful visual backdrop to the remainder of the painting. I feel that I am there -- looking up. – Scott Jones

Fourth Place - Plein Air Painters of Idaho Award
• Sherri Carter • "Pastoral Barn” • Oil on Linen Panel • 8" x 8"

The calm and quiet mood of this scene immediately emanates from this painting. While the execution appears simple and direct upon first viewing, if one looks closer, a very deliberate control of color, value and edges is revealed. The expert choice to break the boundaries of the window invites the viewer to explore the rest of the scene. - Patrick Saunders

Honorable Mention
• Allen Brockbank • "North of Town” • Oil on Panel • 8" x 16"

My artist friends know that I often focus my attention on the foreground of a painting. This painting starts so very strong in the foreground and then it compositionally takes you through the remainder of the piece and right back to its strength in the foreground. Good use of color that is not harsh or overdone. - Scott Jones

Honorable Mention
• Kerri Hammond, Kerri Hammond Fine Art • “Resilience" • Oil on Board • 6" x 8"

There is not a single unnecessary brush stroke in this painting, with each mark boldly applied to the surface of the canvas. This confidence in application transcends the paint medium and gives a sense of solidity to the heavy rocks and the single tree that dominate the composition.

When one moves past the rendered scene, there is an abstract beauty within the texture of every brushstroke, making this a painting not just about a representational landscape, but of the beauty of paint itself. - Patrick Saunders

Honorable Mention
• Trish Melander  • "Open Seating At the Rodeo” • Oil on Panel • 12" x 16"

Raw is the first word that comes to mind. Confident is the second. I can feel the heat of the sun. Not an easy day and light to paint this one. I have a hunch I would have learned something watching the artist paint this one. - Scott Jones

Honorable Mention
• Don Miskin • "River View” • Oil on Linen • 16" x 20"

There is a wonderful sense of depth to the piece, and as the viewer's eyes move backwards in space, one notices that while the saturation of colors decreases, the number of subtle color variations does not. This invites us to explore everything about the scene. This is not a painting about a mountain, trees or a stream, but rather the total package. - Patrick Saunders


© Patrick and Kimberly Saunders, Patrick Saunders Fine Arts, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s authors/owners is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Patrick Saunders for painted works, or to Kimberly Saunders for photographs and/or videos, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.