Mural finish

 Here are the final phases of my mural.  I was almost finished at this point and stopped to have a discussion with the clients about moving some of the foliage onto the adjoining wall.  They thought it was something they might want but decided to wait until the end to make the decision.

After I took the plastic off and pulled the blue tape away so they could see the adjoining wall they decided the wanted to go ahead with placing some foliage on the next wall.

I also gave them a little sail boat on the horizon.

This is the view of the mural from the hall.  This was the only place I could stand and get a photo of the whole wall.

I was very fortunate and my clients were wonderful to work with.  I gave them the sketch I worked from as a gift.  (30" x 22" acrylic on 300# paper)

On another note.  This blog sight is experiencing some serious technical issues.  I will try to resolve them.

Vacation! 1 more chance to enter

25 of the 30

 

The final post to the 30 day challenge is a collage of paintings.  I picked 25 I wanted to highlight.  If you would like to learn how to make this collage and see the other collages  Leslie Saeta gives instructions in her post today.

 

 

Some of my small early oils, now dry went to the Key West Art Center yesterday.

Smathers Beach and Blue Lagoon framed
at the Key West Art Center
 

Don't they look polished in the plein air frames?

 

I guess this gives you one more chance to enter for the give away.  I will draw the name tomorrow.  But as the title of this post says,

 I am going on vacation!

 

I will announce the winner, then you probably won't hear from me for a while.  Winning pic will probably ship when I return.

I am having a give-away!

Here is how it works.  Leave a comment on my post and you will be entered to win.  I am going to give away one painting a week for the duration of the 30 Day Challenge, (the month of September, 2013). If you comment daily on my posts then you can be entered up to 7 times to win.  The winner will have their choice of any unsold painting of the week. 

Those of you who subscribe by e-mail to this blog can either reply to the e-mail, or comment and you will be entered.

Please note this drawing is going to be casual.  I am not hiring any fancy auditing company to do the selection.  It is going to be a plain old pieces of paper in a bowl thing.

If you are the winner your painting will be shipped to you after it has dried, which can take one to two weeks with oils

To see more of the challenge paintings click here.

Day's End, day 30, 30 day challenge

Day's End, acrylic on paper, 8 x 10 inches
day 30, 30 day challenge
SOLD ©Maggie Ruley 2013

 

 

 

It seems appropriate to end this challenge with a sunset.

I want to say, thank you, to all of you who have encouraged me this month.  I love the conversations we have had and I hope they continue.  I know I spent a whole month talking about me, but I want you to know that what you have to say is really important to me.

 Really, really,

Thank you!

I will draw the name for this week's give away some time on Tuesday.

And thank you Leslie Saeta for hosting the challenge.

I am having a give-away!

Here is how it works.  Leave a comment on my post and you will be entered to win.  I am going to give away one painting a week for the duration of the 30 Day Challenge, (the month of September, 2013). If you comment daily on my posts then you can be entered up to 7 times to win.  The winner will have their choice of any unsold painting of the week. 

Those of you who subscribe by e-mail to this blog can either reply to the e-mail, or comment and you will be entered.

Please note this drawing is going to be casual.  I am not hiring any fancy auditing company to do the selection.  It is going to be a plain old pieces of paper in a bowl thing.

If you are the winner your painting will be shipped to you after it has dried, which can take one to two weeks with oils

To see more of the challenge paintings click here.

Sailing on home, Day 13, 30 day challenge

Sailing on home, oil on paper 6 x 8"
day 12, 30 day challenge
$40 ©2013 Maggie Ruley



 

 

Well, when I realized I was a day behind in the challenge all of the palm tree starts I had been fussing about became a blessing.  I had a lot of framing to do today and still wanted to catch up with the group.  So I grabbed 2 of the palm tree starts and my oil paints and gave my self a time limit of 40 minutes each.  This is the first of today's 2 paintings. To see more of the challenge paintings click here. 

 

And read below to find out how to enter the drawing for this week's give away

I am having a give-away!

Here is how it works.  Leave a comment on my post and you will be entered to win.  I am going to give away one painting a week for the duration of the 30 Day Challenge, (the month of September, 2013). If you comment daily on my posts then you can be entered up to 7 times to win.  The winner will have their choice of any unsold painting of the week. 

Those of you who subscribe by e-mail to this blog can either reply to the e-mail, or comment and you will be entered.

Please note this drawing is going to be casual.  I am not hiring any fancy auditing company to do the selection.  It is going to be a plain old pieces of paper in a bowl thing.

If you are the winner your painting will be shipped to you after it has dried, which can take one to two weeks with oils.


Pink Cottage, Day 1, 30 Day Challenge

Pink Cottage oil on paper 8"x6" ©2013 Maggie Ruley SOLD unframed

 

Pink Cottage is my first painting for the 30 day challenge.  I might want to work on it some more.  But this is as far as I am taking it today.  I did use the odds and ends of paint left on my palette from today to lay in some colors for future paintings.  It feels good to have the first painting done and future paintings started.

Pink Cottage with study

 

To find out more about this challenge, or to participate or to see paintings posted by the 300 or so artists participating in the challenge

go here

 

NOW,  move your eyes to the right, now up a little, that's it, and notice that my Etsy store is open.  Try the link and if you notice any problems with the store, please let me know.

 

And THANKS.



First studio Work

 

First finished painting from the new studio.  I think I'll call it "light as air"  because that is how my studio feels.

 

 

 

All photos of me hard at work taken by fellow TSKW artist Pam Hobbs.

Muted Monday (OOPS)

 

Muted Monday means I'm not going to talk a lot, I'll let the photos do most of the work.

 

I made the move last weekend and this is where I hang my studio hat now.

To visit come to:

The Studios of Key West

600 White St.

Key West, FL 33040

 

upstairs, last door on the left and on 'til morning (to paraphrase Peter Pan).

Everyone have a great Monday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post Script:  After I posted this I realized I screwed up the dates.  For some reason I had been thinking it was Sunday when I wrote this and that you would be seeing it on Monday.  Oh well, mea culpa.

Stars on the water

This painting was started last fall and it has been sitting on the easel daring me to try and finish it. So I worked on it yesterday, thought it was finished, saw some things I didn't like and worked on it again today. Now I think it is finished, but I will look at it a couple of days before I'm sure. It is a large painting 30" x 40" and I am looking forward to taking it into the gallery.

The edge of paradise

The compostion of this painting breaks a lot of "rules". The inverted triangle shape created by the palms is almost smack dab in the middle of the canvas and the right palm is leaning and drawing the viewers eye out of the picture frame. I decided to emphasize the uneasy-ness of the palms by painting them in strong hot colors that are the opposite of the very plain and calm background. I find the tension between the foreground and the background visually compelling. Let's hope the gallery visitors think the same.

"The Edge of Paradise"
28" x 36"
$625

Miriam's Meadow

"Miriam's Meadow" is one of my revisionist landscape paintings. It was started on site in Miriam Good's meadow on Lower Sugarload Key in 2008 and then finished in the studio. I thought it was finished but there were areas that bothered me that I just didn't know what to do to correct them. Last Thursday our Sugarloaf painting group headed back to the site, so I took the painting out there and with Jim Salem's (our instructor) help I finished it. I added some more reflection in the water and I added some levels of interest in the area between the tree groupings. This painting is large 40" x 30" on canvas. I am going to put some edging strips on it tomorrow. I haven't decided whether it will go in 7 Artists or the Key West Art Center.

Miriam's Meadow
40 x 30
SOLD