New Contemporary Painting

Intersection, acrylic on canvas, 36"x12"x1-1/2", $325.

Pick a color palette,  grab a canvas and paint.  The freedom that contemporary abstract painting allows is a great compliment to the realistic still life and landscapes that I create.

More Gallery 510 Photos!

Can you tell I'm just a little excited about Gallery 510!  The first photo is of my sister, Rosemary Baumann, on the left, who is my business partner and Gallery Director for Gallery 510, and me, Loretta Puncer, on the right.  

We are still working on establishing regular business hours... everything happened so quickly that I'm still trying to arrange my life to fit a gallery schedule.  Tentative hours are Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday 12-5, Friday 3-8. Regular hours will begin February 1 in conjunction with the Grand Opening.

The studio space within the gallery is working out very well.  I have devised a wall easel with a moveable shelf for painting.  I am also using a portable easel to paint on at the front of the gallery.  The light from the front windows comes from the north and is a very steady, bright light to paint in.  

Currently, I am still working on a commissioned car painting (the fourth of five),  a commissioned painting of an historical building,  and a series of contemporary pieces for the gallery opening.  I am also really feeling drawn back to the traditional still life, what this wonderful art journey all started with.  I found a shiny silver water pitcher at the Goodwill store the other day and my mind is swirling with ideas about what to include with this pitcher for a still life setup... I know I've said this before... especially to my students... the setup for a painting can take as long as it does to do the actual painting... I enjoy both.  It's like the time you spend preparing to have a Thanksgiving Dinner at your home.  You want everything to be perfect, you think about who you will invite, where people will sit, what you are going to serve. When the day comes, your guests arrive, the turkey has been in the oven all day, appetites are ravenous.  And then the feeding frenzy begins.  The best part though, is at the end of the day, the satisfaction you will have when every last plate is cleaned and bellies are full and that sleepy haze of satisfaction rules the rest of the evening.  A little dramatic, isn't it, but that's the best analogy I can come up with for what it feels like when I create a new still life painting.

Have a great Sunday!  I hope you have an original piece of art in your home that you can go to right now to enjoy.  If not you need to come see me!!

  

Photos of Gallery 510

I love my new space.  I've been painting away at Gallery 510.  Here are a few photos of the gallery space and my studio space.

Gallery 510 will be open for January "First Friday"

If you are planning to attend to this month's "First Friday", this Friday, January 4, 5-10pm, at the Cannery Art & Design Center stop by Gallery 510 and check it out. Get a sneak preview before the Grand Opening scheduled for February 1 & 2.  Gallery 510 is located at 510 East Fifth Street in the Oregon District. 937-672-6717

Gallery 510

I am officially moved into the new gallery!  I was able to hang most of the artwork yesterday and the studio is organized.  I am looking forward to getting down to the business of painting in the new space.  

We have set a date for the grand opening!  Friday, February 1, 5-10pm & Saturday, February 2, 3-8pm, 2008.  If you are not on my mailing list  and would like to receive an invitation please send me your email or snail mail address.

I don't have regular hours yet but if you see me in the gallery please stop in. 

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

New Art Gallery!

Mediterranean Evening, 36"x48", acrylic on canvas, $1200.

Great news!  I am opening my own art gallery in downtown Dayton's Oregon District. Gallery 510 will be located at 510 East Fifth Street. I will be showing paintings and photographs as well as using the space as a working studio. My sister, Rosemary Baumann, will use the gallery as an office for her interior design work.  

The grand opening for Gallery 510 will be the weekend of February 1-3, 2007.

More information will be coming soon.

  

Seashells

Seashells- King Conch, oil on canvas, 10"x8", $75.

Seashells

Seashells- Mother & Child, oil on canvas, 10"x8", $75.

Something other than fruit!

I'm Back!

Fuzzy Wuzzy Peaches, oil on canvas, 10"x8", $75.

I've been painting and have not taken the time to update my blog. Bad thing to do when I know that people follow me. I was just reading an article about artists and how many of us no longer keep journals that would give insight into our everyday lives and information about how our art is created...inspiration for me to update this blog.

So I've been painting away the last few days. A commissioned piece for a client in Cincinnati, several small still lifes for both galleries and a show that I'm doing in November in Chicago and I've been printing out photos from my travels.

Today I have a student coming to work on his college entrance portfolio and then back to painting.

Pears

I decided that I wasn't finished with these pear paintings that have been sitting around for the last few months so this is what I worked on yesterday. I was also busy moving paintings around getting ready for the First Friday at the Cannery this Friday.

What I'm working on today: Hanging some new work at the Cannery, teaching a drawing lesson with a high school portfolio student and I'm flying to new York this evening to check out the galleries and see some art.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Peaches

Maybe I should say, "Where in the world are the Fuzzy Wuzzy Peaches?" I forgot to take a photo so check back tomorrow if you want to see the painting. I worked downtown at the Cannery Gallery yesterday and did a small painting of peaches. I found a piece of red velvet that screamed at me to be painted and the texture of the velvet made me think of peaches. I also liked that the color of the peaches was similar to the color of the velvet. That made it a challenge to distinguish the edges of the peaches even though it was very close in tone to the background color. I know that some people think, "Why in the world does she keep doing those little paintings!", but everyone that I do is helping me solve problems and gain experience.

What I'm working on today: First event of the day is taking my daughter over to Miami University for a college visit.

This afternoon I'll be painting at Art in Motion at Town and Country with Mike Elsass. He is hosting an "Open Paint" from 2-6pm where he will be demonstrating his method for painting on steel. People look at his work and think it is a simple process but each of his paintings is layer upon layer of paint. His sense of color and ability to manipulate the paint help him to create the most beautifully rich pieces that have a depth that makes you want to crawl into them. I hope to join him around 4pm.

Helen's Sunflowers

Helen's Sunflowers, oil on canvas, 20"x28", $495.

Here is the finished sunflower painting that I've been working on the last few days. I titled it Helen's Sunflowers because I was with my brother-in-law's Mother, Helen, when I found the flowers. We stopped at Treadway's Gardens south of town and the field of sunflowers was adjacent to the fruit stand. I bought the last five in the vase and the cashier headed for the field to cut more. I'm a sucker for two subjects when it comes to painting and that is pears and sunflowers. I could paint either of them everyday and not get tired of them. The painting is hanging in the window of Art in Motion at Town & Country next to BW3's restaurant.

Today I am headed downtown to the Cannery. Our monthly "First Friday" open house is coming up this Friday, August 3, from 5-10pm. I want to rearrange things and add a few new pieces. I will be out of town on Friday so leave me a note in my book if you stop by.

P.S. If you want to leave a comment on my blog all you need to do is place your cursor on top of the word comment at the bottom of the blog and click. It should open a window that allows you to post a comment.

The Sunflower Painting

Here is a photo of the results of the first layer of painting for the sunflowers. I have the canvas completely covered with a first layer of paint. I like the composition...where everything is placed. It has dried overnight so that today I can go back into it and add a second layer of paint which will clarify and define all of the edges. I will try to finish the flowers and leaves because they will be starting to die off by tomorrow. I can leave the background for last as it won't change on me like the living things will.

Sunflowers

I always like to have four to five paintings in the works, all at different stages of development. That way you never get stuck. If you run into a problem with one painting you just put it aside and work on another. I believe that putting paintings aside gives you a chance to mull things over and come back with fresh eyes and ways to solve problems. I had to make a trip to Cincinnati today. On the way home I stopped at Treadway Gardens and bought some sunflowers that were just cut from the field. They were the ones with the bright yellow centers. I stuck them in a great metal pitcher that I found last week and got a new painting underway. I will work on it tomorrow first thing because the leaves on sunflowers only last a few days before they start to schrivel up.

I attended the artists meeting tonight at the Cannery Art & Design Center. The gallery space there has just undergone some remodeling which is now complete. It's a great place to view art. The space is now filled with about 35 artists. Our next open house "First Friday" event is coming up on Friday, August 3 from 5-10pm.

A New Painting

Yesterday I started a big canvas using a photo that I took in Portofino, Italy. I always begin a painting by drawing with a filbert paint brush using a lot of turp and french ultramarine blue or raw sienna. I outline and place everything this way. It is very easy to erase it if it is not in the right place. I got about half way finished with the drawing and plan to finish it today. This is the hard part... getting everything in the right place...you can't move on until it looks right...it's harder to change later so you better work with it now while it's easier to fix...then the fun begins when you get to add color.

Plein air painting at Lake Loramie

These were all painted up north, near Sidney, Ohio at a beautiful state park, Lake Loramie. It is a good exercise to set up and paint outside. The detail that you see when you are looking at the real thing is different than painting from a photograph. It trains your eye to see the important characteristics of a place. It also helps you learn to paint quickly.

What I'm working on today: I have 2 students coming for portfolio sessions. I help them compile a portfolio for college admission. Then I am headed over to the studio space at Town & Country to paint.

All set up and no canvas!

You've heard the expression, "All dressed up and no place to go!", well how about "All set up and no canvas to paint on!. I headed over to the Art in Motion space at Town & Country Shopping Center to paint. I was careful to seatbelt the sunflowers in the front seat so that they didn't get smashed in transport, I grabbed a spot light and a background cloth as well as all my usual painting supplies, set everything up, looked around for the canvas and realized that I had failed to retrieve one from the pile at home. See... we artists have problems just like everyone else.

"Art in Motion" is a temporary space that is being used to create art. It is a place where artists and the public can interact and share ideas about making art. We are in the process of publishing a calendar of events that will include art demonstrations, workshops, performance art, music, book club gatherings, art club gatherings. If you want the calendar sent to you by email please drop me a line with your address. If you or anyone you know is interested in making art in this space let me know that also and I will put you in touch with "the man".

"Art in Motion" is located in the Town & Country Shopping at the corner of Far Hills and Stroop Rd. in Kettering, Ohio. It is in the center on the mall, just east of the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant. Stop by and visit.

New Painting of Peaches!

"Peaches caught in a blue patterend room", oil on canvas, 10"x8", $75.

I decided to do another small fruit study to get back into the painting mode after being on the road for three weeks. At first I was not going to paint the busy pattern of the napkin that these peaches were resting on but then I thought why not give it a try. You can always change an oil painting if you don't like it. You just grab your palette knife and start scraping it out. My challenge was to paint the pattern on the back wall flat, as it was in the napkin, but to give that sense of foreshortening to the surface that the peaches are resting on so the pattern becomes distorted. Otherwise, it would look like the peaches are floating in the air. I think I did acheive this. These are the little things that I like working on when I do a small study. I can finish a painting in a couple of hours and then take what I learned to my larger and more complex paintings.

What I'm working on today; I printed out some of my travel photos and plan to begin some oil studies. I will be working 14"x11" and the ones that I really like I will paint larger ones of. I'm setting up on my driveway because the weather is so gorgeous. Stop by and watch me paint if you have a minute.

I started to stretch some 54"x 42" canvases yesterday over at the Town & Country space and hope to convince my daughter to help me finish them today. You really need two people to stretch canvas that big. One to pull and one to staple.

If you are interested in purchasing this painting please contact me at 937-672-6717 or lpuncer@woh.rr.com

I'm joining Town & Country Fine Art Gallery!

Several of the artists that share gallery space with me downtown at the Cannery Art & Design Center have asked me to join them south of town at the Town & Country Fine Art Gallery. My work will be hanging there as of Monday, July 16. I will have an official opening sometime soon after I've had a few weeks to produce some work from my recent trip.

Today I am spending the afternoon painting with a friend and great artist, Mike Elsass. He has acquired the use of an empty storefront in Town & Country Shopping Center next to the BW3 restaurant for the next several months. We will be there painting this afternoon from 2-6pm. Stop by if you want to see what we are working on today. Mike is planning to use the space for art encounters with other artists and the general public. He is calling the space "Art in Motion". It will be used for everything from art demonstrations and lectures to slide shows of my world travels. If you know anyone who would like to make use of the space let me know and I will put you in contact with the right person. A calendar of events is being compiled and will be published soon. Let me know if you are interested in the calendar and I will make sure you recieve an email.

I am also publishing Day 4 of my Mediterranean Trip. Scroll back on the blog if you are interested.

I'm home!

This is the last photo that I took from the hotel in Barcelona.
It was a wonderful trip, but I'm always glad to arrive home. I've not readjusted to the time yet which is why I'm blogging at 5am. I will be adding all the missed days to my blogspot and adding photos also. So please go back and take a look.
Favorite big city- Rome. Italy
Favorite small city- Ibiza, Spain
Most picturesque spot- Portofino, Italy
Favorite food- dulce de leche gelato, fresh mozzarella
Favorite drink- sangria
Favorite activity off the ship- Sistine Chapel, visitng the local markets, sitting at an outdoor cafe, people watching
Favorite activity on the ship- dinner; meeting people from other countries; visiting the bridge of the ship; enjoying a glass of wine with my sister, Hubert and Sandy. Sandy and I closed a deal for a commissioned painting for his office in Connecticut!
Favorite view- eating breakfast in my cabin on the ship every morning looking out onto the Mediterranean Sea. Exquisite!
Favorite new experience- getting off the boat onto the tender to go into Portofino. The waves were very high and the tender was really bumping around. Better that a ride at King's Island.