I will always love a fluffy dress!

 I love beautiful dresses.  I don't wear them.  I never have.  I would have loved to.  But I love to look and adore.  I imagine myself being 20 again wearing one.  So next best thing is to live through my daughters.  Our son won't wear them either.  Tee Hee!  

I wanted to post these and confess I am neither tortured nor have some angry angst.  I love all things beautiful whether it's clothing, furniture, the way a lawn is manicured or how a blanket is folded over a chair, dishes displayed, laundry neatly piled after folding.  I believe in reference for every task.  This rant went further than just prom dresses!  But sometimes experiences make me feel like I need to apologize for myself and my "provincial tastes".   Man, what brought this on!   I think this all came about from recently checking out the arts district in Culver City, CA.  What a charming and very hip area!  So cool! Young people defining themselves and how they live.  And I felt like a duck out of water. I felt very "out of touch".  I just need to get out of my "cow town" more often.  What a great place to visit!  Now I have work to do to try and be more sophisticated. 

On your mark!

Finally, they downloaded.  Here are a few of the others.  We had to work quickly.  Only had 5 or 10 minutes at most.  We posed for each other and had so much fun and put in more mileage.  I like them just the way they are!  I could definitely see a simple mat and frame on these.  Less is more.

5 Minute Poses.

I wish I could post the others but here's a start.  Ray and I go to a local Life Drawing session in the next town down the road, Copperopolis.  It is a great small group.  So fun. The model was a "no show" so we all posed for each other!  None of us could do more than 5 or 10 minutes.  There was an exception as long as the person could have a comfortable seated pose.  But that was just about enough time for just light and shadow for me.  That's what I chose to concentrate on.  And then mixed up the colors a bit.

What a mess!

This is our studio!  I have a weekend workshop coming up and I have got to get this place cleaned up!  I have to get still life set ups ready, clear the floor space, have the model stand ready for our model and just thought I'd show you some "before" photos.    

If I remember I will take some "after" photos and post them.  We have a lot of fun in these workshops.  They are small, anywhere from 5 to 8 artists, and it's easier to get to know each other. 

One of my corners.

Along the back wall of my end.  I am preparing to shoot a new instructional DVD.  You can see my prepping on the the two easels.

And there is Ray!  He gets one side and I get the other.  The wood stove is sort of the dividing line.

We have Sirius radio and a flat screen to keep some noise going.  I'll have to clean his side up too! 

This view is off to Ray's right.  I think that's Benny in the doorway peering out!  We have two Shi- Tzus that I adore!  Benny and Auggy.

And another view of my side.  I have got tons of "teaching tools" on those shelves I have no idea what I will do with them! 

Second effort.

I do not profess to be a portrait painter and I would rather bag groceries than try and make that a career.  I admire painters that do!  Bettina Steinke was one of the best.  I don't do well with commissions either.  I have done a few and it ends up traveling a different path in my brain and is so frustrating that it's better that I just don't go there.  Here is a second effort in the New Year to trying to improve my "head painting skills".  I love to do this for fun and growth.  This is Brandon.  He has helped us with our DVDs.  Helps us with our IT problems.  And is a wonderful young man with a bright future!  He attended the San Francisco Institute of the Arts and received a degree in Film.  It sort of looks like him but I also feel it borders on "caricature" which I hate!  I need to tone down the aggressive modeling, improve my drawing skills (his head seems a little long) but for about an hour it's a start.    

"Brandon"

Life Size

I also am placing a few new gouache paintings in my Etsy shop.

These are all painted from life.  So important to put the mileage in there.

"Monte San Savino"

Gouache

5" x 7"

SOLD

"Arrangement with Olive Oil"

Gouache

5" x 7"

SOLD

"Pienza Plaza"

Gouache

4" x 5"

SOLD

"Eleonora's Driveway"

Gouache

4" x 5"

SOLD

Efforts.

 These are some efforts I've been making in the past few days.  We had a young guy that plays ultimate Frisbee with Ray, out to the house to give us some 40 minute poses to practice our head painting.   Ray and I love to paint from the model but it's hard to get people out where we are.  We are a little shy about asking people.  But Ray has been approaching some of his teammates and we may just get something going!  Maybe our own open session "out in the boonies." But the people he's asked seem pretty excited and we pay them $20 per hour.  We schedule about a 2 hour time span.  So this is my attempt after a lull.  I could do this everyday.   

There are so many painters I admire for their skills in painting the head.  John Singer Sargent, Joaquin Sorolla,  Robert Henri, Matisse, Manet, David Park, Egon Schiele, Dean Cornwell, Andrew Loomis, Valentin Serov, Rene Grau, Burt Silverman, John Asaro, Frank Duvenek, Catherine Kehoe.  I could go on!  

"Esau"

(Life Size)

And I am finding I love to just sit and paint, rearrange, paint, rearrange, paint. Using my gouache and working about 5" x 7", I can get a lot of "decision making" done.  I am searching to say something with these but I am not quite there yet.  I am happy with these but I am wishing to push them a little more in say maybe a "fauvist" or "cubist" direction.  We'll see. 

"Table top with White Cup"

Gouache

5" x 7"

SOLD

"Table top with Orange Pitcher"

Gouache

5" x 7"

SOLD

"Table top with Blue Cup"

Gouache

5" x 7"

SOLD

New things, New Year!

First of all,  I am wishing everyone including myself a Happy "Ninja" New Year!  I am excited.  I gave myself permission awhile ago and I hope I continue to listen to my voice telling me to "go ahead, do it, do it."  I know.  .  .  "do what?"  Well .  .  .   "whatever within reason."  That means a  lot.  I have opened my own Etsy shop.  If you would like to take a look, type in Peggi Kroll Roberts in the search box, click on that and it should take you to my store.  This is where I am selling my "personal, experimental, not what the galleries want" work.  And because of that I am able to sell it at affordable prices.  Heaven knows there are so many artists and works out there that I would love to own but I simply cannot afford most of it.  I do trades but I can't come up with the $$.  AND! I wish people would look for ORIGINAL art and not all these giclee prints!  I mean it's simply "Ink on Paper" and I think they are WAY OVER PRICED!  Priced accordingly I would NOT have a problem with it. Now that does NOT INCLUDE wonderful woodcuts, mono prints etc.  I want to know the artist had a real hand in it.  I mean you can go into a museum shop and find a wonderful poster of a master work for what? 25 bucks??  So why would I pay $1000 for a print!  And especially if it had a run of 200 or more.  Come on! I don't believe they will hold their value.  Sorry, but that is the way I feel about it.  Buy Original art.  

"Ninja Lady"

Below are the recent works in gouache that  I will be placing in my Etsy store.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  "If you don't ask, you don't get."  I simply want to "Paint, teach and sell." 

(And travel.)  

"Long Flowing Hair"

SOLD

"Table Top with Blue Creamer"

"Table Top with Olive Oil"

SOLD

"Table Top with Bowl of Fruit"

SOLD

"Table Top with Backlighting"

SOLD

"Table Top with Yellow Coffee Pot"

"Table with Flowers"

SOLD