February 2017

February is

Valentine's Day, my birth month and

AMD Awareness month!

 

Here are ways to share your love: 

 

(My eye doctor educated me as to what to look for so I was able to

get treatment from a Retinal Specialist right away!)

 

(I have most of these!)

 

(It was this grid that let me know I needed to get help right away. I still have one on my

refrigerator and one at my bedside so I will recognize changes.)

 

Click here to order .

(Magnets only available to addresses in the U.S. and Canada)  

My gift to you!

 

Thus you see what this painting “What I See” is all about!

       

Stay tuned!

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Artists’ Profile this month: 

Barbara and Chuck Mauldin

Scroll down

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So that you may help me celebrate my 75th birthday:

“Owning original art is a commitment and can be pricey, but nothing is as personal and compelling as original art.” (Unknown)

During February, all Newsletter subscribers will receive 20% off the listed price AND you can deduct $100 for the frame! So go shop!

On this page of the website only:

https://www.allenfineart.com/landscapes.shtml

When you have selected your painting(s):

Contact me at:

leslie@allenfineart.com

Indicate with frame (if available) or without (easier shipping) and if international. (Canada only)

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From the Studio

 

We love to see installation photos of my paintings in your homes!

Here is one we received recently:

 

This was an earlier oil on paper abstract!

The collector wrote: “I love it next to my yellow bed frame!!” 

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These Plein Air paintings have all found new homes!

 

     

 

You can see all the ‘Sold’ paintings here: https://www.allenfineart.com/archive.shtml

 

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Abstracts

 

If someone tells you “My kid could do that!” Then tell them “I bet he couldn’t!”

Abstract is not as easy as it would seem. I studied Abstract painting for 5 to 7 years with eminent

Abstract painter Dale Chisman but I still can’t paint abstracts! I have concluded that I should

work in acrylics or mixed media rather than oils for full on Abstract. Perhaps oil pastels?

Because of the slower drying time, oils aren’t appropriate. Mmmmm?

I’ve spent more time thinking and reading about it than painting.

 

Abstract image……still not resolved. Working on it!

 

        

 

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New Abstract:

 

Strangely, I look at some things and at first glance they look like total abstracts to me.

I don’t recognize what they are.

(kind of like the “things” you see in the patterns on the floor.)

This image on the left looked totally abstract to me when I saw it

leaning against the wall in the dining room in the dark. I stared at it for days.

Then I started to paint it. And now it seems less abstract.

I see a lot of things wrong with the block in. Will correct and finish it!

 

     

Stopped here and decided to “think of it as an Abstract” and paint with more abandon!

Now I feel I should abandon it! It does need to dry between layers as the wet into wet isn’t working.

Several people have suggested that I return to the “Landscape to Abstract” or “Land Pattern” Series.

OK. ;>)  But I’m not going to give up yet!

This Saturday I will go to Meininger’s to see my friend Homare’s Demo and get some acrylics and other supplies!

 

Contemporary Abstract

Painting

with

Homare Ikeda

 

Saturday, Feb 4 | 1-3pm | Meininger

 

 

499 Broadway | Denver, CO  80203

 

 

I’m so grateful that I can still push paint around even if I can’t paint Plein Air anymore!

 

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Artists’ Profile

Barbara and Chuck Mauldin

 

       

 

We present our good friends and great painters who share an amazing studio in

Fredericksburg, TX. They are some of the premier painters in Fredericksburg!

 

They recently painted in Zion! Feast your eyes on these awesome pieces.

 

   

                             Chuck’s  “West Temple of Zion” 9x12 Oil          Chuck’s “Zion Light” 8x6 Oil                        

 

      

Barb’s “Canyon Country” 6x8 oil      Barb’s “Morning Light at Zion” 12x9 Oil      Barb’s “Zion Splendor” 12x9 Oil    

   

Barb says: “I used the warm and cool Portland Grays (Gamblin) that Kevin Macpherson suggested, and I found them extremely useful at Zion”.

   

·         How did you two meet? Did you share an interest in art when you met?

 

Barb: I was taking organic chemistry, and Chuck was an organic chemistry graduate student/lab instructor.  He asked me out and we hit it off.  We didn’t even know we each had a mutual interest in art for a very long time.  We were both focused on school – he was studying for his PhD in organic chemistry, and I was an undergraduate in biological sciences.  We had both begun painting in oils around 6th grade, and it was funny to discover we both had an interest in art that had begun very early in our lives.  We had even begun painting at the same age!

 

 

·         Chuck, like me you’ve been painting since about 12 years of age. But how does a PhD in Chemistry who holds 57 U.S. patents in the field of catalysis turn himself into a full time artist? Tell us a little about your background.

 

Chuck: Art was Number 1 for me in high school, but my dad “suggested” a career in science, my other Number 1 interest.  My high school chemistry teacher was the best of all and showed how it could be a hands-on activity, an attitude that I embraced as an “experimentalist” throughout my career.  For me, science and art have common connections – both involve curiosity, unknowns, and a basic need for problem solving.  I love both.

 

Chuck’s “The Shed Out Back” 12 x 16 Oil                                       

 

·         Barb, likewise, with a degree in Biology, how did you manage to pursue your art while raising three kids? Tell us about your interest in “Craft” as well. Your ideas seem to just flow! You are the master mind behind an annual Holiday Craft Sale in Fredericksburg.

 

Chuck turned a storage room in the garage of our first house into a mini-studio and rediscovered painting.  I tried my hand at painting before we had children, but I soon left that behind as we started a family.  Instead, I turned to crafts as a way to satisfy my creative side.  I drew and painted Disney characters for the nursery, crocheted and quilted baby items, sewed lots of children’s clothes, made handmade toys   I tried needlework and wood burning – you name it, I tried it.  Some things were easy to complete while the children played around me (not wood burning).  I got back into drawing and painting when they were in school, but not fine art.  Instead I worked on posters, murals, and church banners (painted on canvas).  I have continued that craft interest here in Fredericksburg. When we moved to Fredericksburg, I began to draw landscapes in colored pencil and pastels.  I had to do something while Chuck was Plein air painting!  I became frustrated with pastels, and tried acrylic (we were on a PAAC Western Slope Paint out, (I think that’s where we met!?) and it was easy to grab some acrylics, having no real equipment).  Within a year I had returned to my first love: oils. Chuck was a patient mentor.

 

               Barb’s “Cactus Jewels” 18x24 Oil         

 

 

·         You’ve both had experience with teaching; do you still teach?

 

Barb: I taught prekindergarten at the Lutheran school in Baton Rouge for three years, and then I began to teach art for the upper grades.  Eventually I taught art for grades 1 – 8. I also designed the curriculum for the preschool, pre-K, and kindergarten as well.  After leaving Baton Rouge for Fredericksburg, I have taught some children’s art classes through Community Education and also a few adult classes for cancer patients/survivors at our Cancer Resource Center.  Teaching others has given me an understanding and appreciation of others’ styles.

 

Chuck: Teaching oil painting to beginners resulted in a step change for ME!  In order to show someone else how to make a painting, technically, in the simplest possible terms, forced me to organize my own method.  For example, I taught the typical “dark-to-light” (and “thin-to-thick”) approach, which I fairly rigorously adhere to in my painting.  Then, in my workshop with Kevin Macpherson, he stressed the idea of finishing the darks before going to the lights, which really spoke to me.

 

 

Chuck’s “A Barn Full” 14 x 18 Oil 

 

·         We met through Plein Air Artists Colorado (PAAC); yes, I think it was that Western Slope Paint Out! Chuck is now a Signature Member, and Barb is an Associate Member. You both sponsored and arranged two PAAC Plein air paint outs in Fredericksburg TX that were a huge success. How important is Plein air painting to your work?

 

Barb: I know that Plein air painting has sharpened my appreciation for color in shadows.  If you paint solely from photographs, you miss all the richness seen in shadows.  You also miss out on subtle color changes in the landscape vegetation.  When we drive on art trips, we constantly talk about how to mix colors for a distant hill or mountain or a specific type of vegetation.  “Look how warm that shadow is!”  and “Can you see the reflected light under that eave?” are samples of our conversations.

 

Chuck: Our Plein air paintings tend to be an end in themselves.  We have only occasionally used them as reference for larger works.  I have sold more 6 x 8’s (all Plein air) than anything.  Not sure what that means!

 

 

        

                                                     Barb’s “Indian Blankets and Friends” 14x18 Oil      

            

 •        What percentage of time do you paint in the studio…Plein air?

 

Barb:  We paint in the studio during the winter (Dec. – February) when the landscape is very dull and gray (we don’t get drama in the central Texas winter!).  We also escape to the studio in the heat of summer, unless we are inspired to get up very early to paint before the thermometer hits 95.  Our Plein air is mainly in the spring and fall, unless we travel to cooler areas of the country.  When we have our annual “Texascapes” art show at Fredericksburg Art Gallery, as much as half of the artwork is Plein air.

   

·         Do you have a daily studio practice?

 

Barb: We do try to clear our schedules (wash clothes, mow grass, no meetings, etc.) and then we binge paint for a few days.  Most of the time we both paint in the studio at the same time, sometimes not.

 

Speaking of the Studio! Take a look at that pile of Plein air pieces in the “Frame Room”!

 

   

·         You’ve both been having some great success with OPA entries, WAOW, and the Mountain Oyster Show. And sales to boot! Tell us about this great run you’re having.

     

Barb at the WAOW Show in Fredericksburg in December 2016  

Chuck at the OPA Salon Show 2016

 

                            

Barb: We have had a “what do we have to lose?” attitude when it comes to shows.  Chuck was fortunate to get into two OPA shows. (The OPA Salon Show and the OPA Western Regional Show)  I was juried into the WAOW show, and we both were invited to the Mountain Oyster Show, also the 2016 PAAC Show. We have had a few sales at these shows, which is very encouraging.

 

Chuck: My first OPA acceptance (OPA Salon 2016) was a Plein air painting of an old cane syrup mill in Rosedale, Louisiana.  Ironically, this structure was the subject of my very first Plein air painting in 1982, made with my brand new French easel which Miz B eventually inherited.

Chuck’s  “Rosedale 1982”

Chuck’s  “Rosedale Syrup Mill”

       

 

What a difference! You can see in these how far you have come! Excellent.

 

Barb’s  “Mobile Home”  16x20 Oil  WAOW Show in TX!

Chuck’s “Crossing the Creek” 18 x 14 Oil OPA Western Regional!

 

·         Tell us something we don’t know about you?!

 

Barb: We need a bumper sticker that says "We brake for barns."  It takes us forever to get from point A to point B, if we have no constraints on time.  We love to drive down county roads.  Texas has an abundance of family farms and ranches with lovely barns and houses, not to mention critters...

 

Chuck: I paint to music from the sixties and classic rock.

 

·         Who currently shows your work?

 

Our work is at Fredericksburg Art Gallery, and Lee Bunch Gallery in Del Rio, Texas, and on our websites. http://www.barbaramauldinart.com/      http://www.chuckmauldin.com/

 

 

Chuck’s “Nemo Barn” 18 x 24 Oil     

 

·         What are your plans for the future? Where do you want to take your work in the future?

 

Barb: We need to find a few more galleries.  We are prolific, so we have a large inventory.

 

Chuck: Probably the single, most important skill that I would like to improve is, drum-roll please, drawing.  The plan:  just drawing for the sake of drawing.  I have learned that “good enough” is actually not good enough when drawing horses.  Proportions and details matter.

 

·         What shows are upcoming for you? Any solo shows?

 

Barb: Upcoming this spring: March 3-31 I am the featured artist at Lee Bunch Studio Gallery in Del Rio, TX.

 

Chuck and I will have our annual "Texascapes".  We have not finalized the dates, probably in April or May -- at Fredericksburg Art Gallery.  With the move this month, everything is crazy.  Our gallery's new home is a historic building on Main Street, the first two story building in Fredericksburg, built in 1850.  It is a limestone building with timber beams and deep windows, old glass.  Very wonderful place for an art gallery!  The property extends back to Baron's Creek, and we've already scoped it out as a painting location...

 

 

Barb’s “Riotous Cactus” 14x18 Oil          

 

·         What advice would you have for artists just starting their careers?

 

Take workshops from artists you respect.  Study; explore.  Find other artists and create a critique group.  Paint a lot, and then paint some more.  The more you paint, the better you get!    Paint what you love, and it will show in your paintings.

 

 

·         Any final thoughts?

 

We love to travel and paint as we go.  It is fun to paint the mountains and canyons and coastlines of western America.  Likewise, we have enjoyed painting in rural areas of the East Coast.  I love to paint the Gulf Coast, too.  However, people expect to see Central Texas scenery when they see our names.  That is a frustration.

 

Contact the artists about all artwork:

 

Chuck Mauldin

Barbara Mauldin

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