Twitter Art Exhibition - Moss, Norway 2012

Reflection
Acrylic 16x12cm

The second Twitter Art Exhibition took part yesterday in Moss Norway organised by David Sandum to raise funds for The Woman's Crisis Centre in n Moss. 328 artists from 31 countries around the world took part and 42 cards were sold last night at the opening raising $1450 already! Well done to David and all those who helped him with this project.


http://davidsandumart.posterous.com/call-for-artists-2nd-twitter-art-exhibit-in-m

NEW online Gallery and Shop!

I have spent some time away from painting over the last week to sort out my new online gallery and shop. I am really pleased with the result. It has made the buying of my art a whole lot simpler for my customers! Now you can add a painting to the Shopping Cart and pay with PayPal. All the daily paintings on flat canvas boards (30x30cm) are £75 which includes worldwide shipping via Airmail. A bargain! 


Hope you enjoy the new gallery!


Cat Salter Art Gallery and online shop


Cat

Buying art from Cat Salter......

I have simplified the 'buying process' for my daily paintings.

ALL the 30x30cm canvas boards are £75 which includes FREE shipping anywhere in the world!

Payment can be made through PayPal which is so easy.

There! No excuses now! Please get in touch if you see anything you like the look of!

Evening Rest - New daily painting

Evening Rest

Oil on canvas board 30x30cm

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

I really enjoy painting seascapes. One day I will hopefully move back down to be near the sea again. I am very jealous of those artists who live close to the coast!

This had photographed a bit flat but if you go to my Facebook page there are better pics there taken with my iPhone. Cat Salter Facebook Page

I am planning a series of seascapes over the next few days so will post them when finished.

Asparagus for Belle House Restaurant

This is VERY large and was a challenge to paint! The Vale of Evesham is renowned for growing Asparagus so it was an obvious choice for one of the large canvases for the downstairs restaurant at Belle House in Pershore.

Asparagus on wooden block
Acrylic on cnavas

Portrait of Ade (Commission)

Portrait of Ade
1m x 1.3m
Acrylic on deep edge canvas

This is a huge portrait (1m x 1.3m) and because of this is very dramatic. I wanted Ade's face to come out of the darkness of the background but mot to be menacing in anyway. It is painted in acrylics using thin washes of colour to try and maintain the translucency by using the white of the canvas underneath to shine through the washes.

Close up detail

Close up detail showing loose brushwork.

Commissions for Belle House Restaurant, Pershore

I have been very busy over the last few months painting another 7 paintings for Belle House Restaurant in Pershore. They have been smaller than the ones I painted for the downstairs restaurant (60x60cm) and painted in acrylics.

The brief was to produce paintings which depict the utensils and tableware that the restaurant uses. We chose objects which have reflective surfaces so that it would give the effect of light within the room which can be rather sombre due to the dark would panelling.

Old Shoe (1750-30)

I have managed to sneak in one daily painting today! This will be one of a series of wonderful vintage shoes I plan to paint over the next few days.

Old Shoe

Shoe embroidered with coloured wool 1730-50 

Acrylic on canvas panel

30x30cm

FOR SALE £75 (shipped anywhere in the world)

Glossy Plums finished

Acrylic on deep edge cotton canvas

130cm x 80cm

This is now finished and will be delivered tomorrow morning to Belle House Restaurant. I have really enjoyed this painting. I love the fact that, just by applying some white paint, it is possible to create the shine on the skin of the plums.

I am very pleased that the restaurant agreed to these plums being painted as they have the most amazing coloured flesh when I cut them open.

I have tried to make the plums 'glow' (similar to 'Proud Pear') by contrasting it against the dark wood and dark background. I am particularly pleased with the effect of the orange under the Payne's Grey which has given the background a glow as well.

I will take some photographs when they are on the wall in the restaurant.

Close up 

Commission painting of Plums in progress......

This is the last large painting for Belle House Restaurant in Pershore to go downstairs. 


The first stage was to under-paint the canvas with a zingy orange wash and then overpaint it with Payne's Grey but allow some of the under-painting to show through. This creates a lovely warm, glowing background. Then, it is just a case of building up the detail in the plums, linen napkin and the wood it is all sitting on! May have it finished tomorrow!


I am using acrylics for this on a deep edged cotton canvas (80cm x 130cm) 

This is how I have left it tonight....................

Plums (painting in progress)

'Proud Pear'

'Proud Pear'

Acrylic on canvas

130cm x 70cm

(Commission)

Paintings for a restaurant........

Scroll to the bottom of the post for today's progress.......................

I have started painting three large canvasses today (well, one at a time) for a local restaurant. I will post progress as I .....progress!

The brief was to paint some large canvasses depicting local produce from the area, the Vale of Evesham and Worcestershire, as this is a large fruit and vegetable producing region. There are certain fruits that are specific to this area, one being the Worcester Black Pear. I managed to trace some of them down but unfortunately, don't want to be rude, but they are the most boring looking pears in the world and do not lend themselves to making a good painting; very rough, dull skin and a very somber colour! (See photo below)...

So I have had to rethink using this variety! I have chosen a lovely golden coloured Williams Pear! I had done a small version of this pear to send to David Sandum in Norway for the Twitter Exhibition in Moss (5"x7") but this time it is going to be MUCH bigger (1.3mx 0.7m). 

6 Jan 2011 -

Below is today's progress - drawn up, background blocked in and starting to build up the detail slowly. The background is painted with Payne's Grey and Crimson. It makes a lovely rich, dark colour without being as flat as pure black. I have allowed the Ochre background colour to show through in places by just using a light wash over it. It is a deep edge canvas so I will paint them neatly in Payne's Grey.

I have left it at this stage this evening..............

7 Jan 2011 -

Start to build up the density of colour in the body of
the Pear with washes of pure yellow and orange and
white highlights. 

Then it is adding the detail to the surface of the skin. Loads of little spots! Quickest and most effective way to do this, is to mask off areas and splatter thin paint onto the surface. Fun too! (At this stage, the cat tried to sit on it while it was on the floor!)

Not finished yet. need to work on the linen napkins and the surface of the table but it is getting there. Will probably be finished by the end of the weekend. I then have a huge canvas to paint with Asparagus! 


8 Jan 2011 -


Not much to do today to finish off the painting. The pear needed darkening in on the left hand side with some ark orange washes built up in layers. A few more 'blemishes' were needed on the skin and I found the easiest way to do that was to blend them with my fingers so that the brush strokes were not so obvious.....

Finally, it was a bit of detailing put in on the linen napkins and I am happy with the result. I would welcome any comments about what might need changing! : )

'Proud Pear'

Acrylic on canvas

130cm x 70cm

Plums on Wood

'Plums on wood'
Acrylic on canvas board 30x30cm
FOR SALE £75 (shipped anywhere in the world)


I often have people comment on my painting's backgrounds so I thought I would show how I do them! I usually look at the subject and decide which colour I want to either contrast or harmonise with. In this case, I wanted to accentuate the bright orange of the flesh of the plum.

Not much of the background colour will show through at the end but it helps lift the background and give it some interest. After I had finished this painting I looked at it for a while and decided that there was too much of the orange showing through at the top and it was detracting from the plums so I knocked it back a bit but made sure some was still showing through.

This painting is a mock up for a much larger painting that I will be doing soon for a local restaurant.

Life of an artist in this computer age.....

I often wonder what the old masters would have made of our world we live in now - the materials we have available, the cameras we can use to aid our work, the internet!! Can you imagine 'following' Monet, Rembrandt or da Vinci! One can only imagine what Leonardo da Vinci could have achieved if he had had the power of communication that we have now!

This struck me today, as I was looking through the photos from last night's 'opening' of an exhibition of 240 postcard sized paintings in Norway. One of my paintings was hanging there among paintings from all around the world! ...Why?......... Because of the ease of communication of the internet!

I have been on Twitter for about a year and have around 900 'followers'. Most of them are artists from all over the world and we often 'tweet' about art; how best to clean our brushes, what paints to use, where best to buy materials. I love the fact that all the twitter artists are genuinely happy when another artist sells a painting and we all *cheer*! 

It was one of these Twitter artist friends, David Sandum, who asked me, and others, to be involved in this plan to send a small painting, representing a 140 character tweet, to his hometown of Moss in Norway where they would be sold and help raise much needed funds for the children's library. Wonderful idea. 65 of the paintings have already sold since last night! 

                                         David Sandum at Twitter Art Exhibition, Moss, Norway

So, I paint, photograph and upload the painting to various internet platforms I am a member of - here on my blog, on my Facebook page, onto a couple of art 'galleries' etc. Producing the painting is the easy part! Since being part of these online communities my confidence in what I paint has increased. If I am not sure about how a painting is working I will ask for feedback from my Twitter Art Friends. They are always happy to help out.

Sales of paintings are slow but that is to be expected with the financial problems the world is encountering. It can be frustrating because all of us artists would love to make a good living doing what we love best; being creative. But, being part of an online community helps you to realise that we are all in the same boat which is why we all *cheer* so loud when one of us makes a sale! ....maybe next time it will be us!!

'Sitting Proud'
My entry to the Twitter Art Exhibition, Norway.

BIG paintings about to begin....!

I have a received my bespoke canvases delivery yesterday and will be taking time out from Daily Paintings to get on with paintings for a local Restaurant that I have been commissioned by. (Belle House Restaurant)
These are going to be quite a bit different to paint on from the normal 30x30cm canvases I use for the daily paintings!!

I have three still life paintings to do for the restaurant of locally grown fruit and veg that is specific to Worcestershire; plums, asparagus and pears.


I will start work on Monday hopefully and will keep you updated with images about progress and then show the paintings in situ in the restaurant hopefully before Christmas!

Aubergines and Linen

Great excitement yesterday! Well, for an artist anyway! I had a delivery of Winsor and Newton Artists' Acrylic. There are 80 colours in the range and they claim that there is no colour shift. The colour they are wet is the same when dry on the canvas.

I used them today to see how they are and was very impressed......

'Aubergine and Linen'
Acrylic on canvas Board 30x30cm
FOR SALE £75 shipping included anywhere in the world.

I adore Aubergines! Often buy them just because of their glossy deep purple skins! This painting was actually quite a challenge to capture that glossy skin. The colour is so dark and yet has such depth to it. I had ordered a tube of Payne's Grey and used it for the first time today. I must admit I am a convert. Up until now, I produce 'black' by mixing Prussian Blue and Burnt Umber and it can often have too much of a blue tinge. I love that you can mix crimson or blue to the Payne's grey and change it's character. Great for Aubergine skin with a touch of Alizarine Crimson.

ARTSWAP

What is ArtSwap?


ArtSwap is the brain child of David Pringle, an artist from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. On a set date all the signed up artists post out a piece of art to their allocated artist somewhere in the world! 


Why, you may ask? What is in it for the artists? 


Well, nothing financially, but it is great fun and a fantastic way to make connections and build a network of artists from all around the world! I have been a part of the Twitter art world for about a year and find it a wonderfully supportive and fun place to chat. We all *cheer* when another artist sells a piece of work and swap advice, give feedback and generally chat about ART! I also 'tweet' for my husband's business and it is a very different experience. No real personal connections are made.


For the first ArtSwap, earlier in the year,I sent a painting (below) to Kim Foale in Tasmania, a wonderful ceramic artist. We now chat often on Twitter and I love to think that my little painting is all the way on the other way of the world! 

'Green and Pleasant Land'
Acrylic on canvas board 8"x10"

I received a piece of art from from Simon Rudd a Freelance writer, artist and Web programmer and, likewise we now chat and support each other with our artistic endeavours! 


For this ArtSwap I have been sent a lovely colour drawing from David Pringle's wife Pattie Pringle. Really lovely and now sitting on my mantle piece! I was surprised to have received it so quickly from the US! 

Looks good in it's new home!

My allocated artist to send my painting to was Stina Jones - (Artist, Illustrator, Designer, Art Director for Creative Elements design studio and blogger for the Arts eZine Creative Boom.) This time I sent to the UK not the other side of the world! She received it the next day and I think she liked it!

'Time for Tea' 

Acrylic on canvas board

Thanks to David for the fun and for the hardwork involved in the organising of the 'swap' When is the next one?

'Time for Tea' - for ArtSwap

Time for TeaAcrylic on canvas board
30 x 30cm

This painting is being posted out today to another artist somewhere in the world and I will be receiving a painting from another artist somewhere in the world!! This was the idea of David Pringle an artist and photographer from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

Took part in it last time and really enjoyed it! It is a wonderful way to make great connections with other artists around the world.

I went for a still-life for this painting, and have kept it quite loose and open. I didn't want a very finished painting but went for a more 'illustrative' style. Hope the recipient likes it!!

Porthcurno-Storm approaching

Porthcurno - Storm approaching
Oil on canvas board
30 x 30 cm
FOR SALE £75 Shipped anywhere in the world included in price.

Looking at this painting on the blog as made me think it might need some more work on it. I will leave it to dry for a while and then do some more. Will post the re-worked version when I have finished it. 

It is a good tool, the computer, for really 'looking' at a painting. It helps you to pick up mistakes easier than looking at the actual painting!

Waiting for water

Waiting for water
Acrylic on canvas board 30x 30 cm
SOLD

Finished this yesterday evening but had to wait until it was light to photograph it. I am looking into getting some daylight bulbs so I can work later into the evening now that winter is on it's way.


I used acrylic for this painting as I wanted to add the fine detail into the boat. I find oils are more suited to quick sketch paintings if you are only doing them in a day and not allowing them to dry.

Sitting Proud

'Sitting proud'
7"x5" acrylic 

A Twitter artist friend in Norway, David Sandum, has come up with a wonderful idea to raise funds for a Library in Moss, Norway who have had their funding cut and are needing to buy books for the Children's Library.

140 artists on Twitter are painting small postcard sized paintings and posting them to David who will then exhibit them at the library from the 1 December for a month. Once sold, the money raised from the little paintings (small to symbolise a 140 character tweet!) will go towards the Children's Library.

I was really happy to get involved in this worthwhile project as I have two daughters and know the importance of easy access to books for them as they have grown up!

All the best David with the project and hope the exhibition goes well!

Off to Norway!

Link to David Sandum's blog

"Tide's out"

'

"Tide's out' - oil on canvas board (30x30cm) For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)


If you follow me on Twitter you will have heard me having a rant about a 'rubbish' painting I felt I had done the other day and that I was determined to re-paint it and get it right!! Here are the two paintings side by side so you can hopefully see why I was in a mood!


It is funny, I didn't realise, until I photographed the painting on the left to put it up on the blog that it was no good! Once I saw it on the computer I saw the problems and tried to correct them but it didn't work! 


Why was I not satisfied? I had not concentrated when I was painting the boat and, as the focal point of the painting it has to be right. The shape was wrong and looked like a child's painting of a boat, it wasn't 'sitting' right on the sand, the colour was all wrong and the background was too busy. 


I paired down the background and used less colours and made sure that I painted the boat with more care! Hopefully you can see the difference.


It is not a bad thing to paint a bit of 'rubbish' every now and then. It stops you getting too cocky and makes you realise that you have to concentrate and really 'look' at what you are trying to paint!

Tide's Out - (Oil on canvas board 30 x 30cm)

Christmas Cards now available

As Christmas is approaching fast, I thought I would show these cards that I asked to draw for BHS some years ago. They have been up on my Zazzle account for a few months now and are suddenly selling well so people must be thinking about Christmas already!

   

All four are available as Christmas cards through my three online Print Shop accounts: Zazzle, Redbubble and Imagekind.

     

Alf's Gardening Shoes

Alf's Gardening Shoes - Oil on canvas board 30 x30 cm 

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

We were having lunch recently with some friends and this pair of shoes was outside the back door! Obviously well used and wonderfully battered and old, I thought they would make a fantastic oil study for a daily painting! I loved the way they are trodden down at the back from being slipped on without un-doing them!!


I am getting more adept at using oils now for fairly detailed work and am really enjoying it. I still like to use acrylics sometimes but seem to be using oils more now. Am off to Brittany soon and hoping to gather lots for potential daily painting material. More seascapes too, hopefully!

More cherries..........!

'Lounging about' (Pear and Cherries) 30 x 30 OIL on canvas board

For Sale £75 (inc worldwide shipping)

I adore painting cherries (and eating them!) These came from a tree in my parent's garden and were the biggest and juiciest they have been this year. Really enjoying be back into the daly painting regime again!

Left the back ground in this painting the original acrylic under-painted colour as I love the contrast of the blue against the white napkin. 

I am interested to look back through this blog to some of my earlier work and see I have developed in style. A lot of people are commenting that my paintings are 'fresh' so maybe that is my painting style now! A fresh contemporary realist? : ))

Daily Paintings are back!!

New Version

I did a little bit of reworking on this pairing today with the background to make the little white jug stand out more and refined some of the strokes on the jug. 

I feel it works better now.

Old version

'Juicy Cherries and White Jug' Oil 30x30cm canvas board (For Sale £80 unframed)

I have had a good break from my daily painting challenge and managed to get some other things done and felt it was now a good time to start again.

Thought I would start with a quick oil sketch to get my eye in again. I love working with white as it is a real challenge to get the tones right and yet make it still look white. I shall probably add some pure white highlights to this when it is dry in a few days.

I have a blog article half written about the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in London a couple of weeks ago. I will hopefully finish it soon.....!

Best Friends

Best of Friends (Bethany and Fuzzy)- Coloured Crayon on cartridge 


Have had a few days break from daily paintings to get some other projects under way.
Thought I would have an experiment with coloured crayons today as I haven't used them for a long time! I really enjoyed it! I love layering the marks to achieve the different colours and really loved experimenting with 'making marks'. I think I need to by some cheaper crayons though! (Don't usually say that!) They should make for definite lines and marks which is what I am trying to achieve. I will have another go with crayons tomorrow!