Christmas Greetings

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted on this blog. The last group of paintings seem ancient to me! In the last several weeks, I painted 12 new miniature Old Master Reproductions in preparation for Christmas giving to premier at The ART Lounge Gallery's FIRST anniversary blast. We are very fortunate to have a group of artists who celebrate each others' passions in art and who support each and every member of the co-op. Thanks for a wonderful YEAR ONE!

After that, I dove right into a church project for the Our Lady of Guadalupe Celebration, of which I am a committee member. I created a huge staging area for the weekend celebration with the assistance of my husband, daughter, son and nephew. The project was 12'x30'x40' and was central to the celebration as the setting of Mt. Tepeyac, at which the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe took place.
Finally, I am getting ready for Christmas. Need I say more? I hate shopping as a rule, but love buying for others, so Christmas shopping is always a joy to me. There is something magical about finding just the right present to show love and appreciation for those who share in my life. That being said, I want to wish each and every one of you the Merriest Christmas ever and a prosperous New Year!

DOG DAYS, BUSY DAYS

"The Family of Dogs" Oil 22X28
Wow, Fall already!  It seems the Dog Days of Summer have taken their toll and I am behind on painting.  I will have to step it up in the next two months!  Meanwhile, all was not lost.  I have actually been working, just not so strenuously.  I am posting a few of them here.

"Cat-itudes" Oil 22x28
Speaking of Dog Days, for the sake of bi-partisanship, we will include cats here also... I recently painted two large pieces to exhibit at the Walden Lake Hospital and Pet Resort, making a total of six for the exhibit hanging through the end of October.

"Precious & Durango" Oil 14X18
I had lots of fun with LouAnn Watson's photo reference, which she generously allowed me to use in painting "Precious and Durango."

"Nash" Oil 14X18
Each third Saturday of the month Plant City has an antique car show.  The ART Lounge Gallery has a booth set up at the show and we take artwork from the gallery to display there.  I painted the Nash grill for our display next month.  All of our artwork is not car related....there are spouses of car buffs to consider, but we like a few pieces to reflect the event of the day.  October is scheduled to have a "Swap Meet" in conjunction with the classic cars, and is expected to be a record-breaking event!

We are having our quarterly Downtown ART Walk this Saturday, September 25th.  We always enjoy these events, creating our art on the sidewalks and meeting people, answering questions, selling!  It's a great way to reach out to the community and spark their interest in ART.  We will be demonstrating/painting from 9am-5pm, so if you are in the area, come and see what is going on!

July 11-17 in Paint

Maya at the Park Oil 11X14 NFS
Last week my family took the opportunity to visit a well loved county park in the area and we all enjoyed the dappled shade and sand hills at the outskirts of the park. This is Maya from one of the photos I took while there. It captures her joy of nature. From the time she was small, our large backyard was her domain and we are happy to see that has not changed.


For purchase information, please contact me at:  bryantstudio@gmail.com

I have always enjoyed finding the "cast aside" items and making something beautiful of them. Old trucks and cars are great for this and I just loved how the rust played against the brighter blues of this old truck, and how the flat tires just made it feel restful.


Puebla Oil 8X10 *SOLD*
I can't remember where I got this photo.....I only have thousands thanks to the digital age! It could be a wet canvas reference, and it could be one Mike took when he went on a trip to Texas, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado a few years ago. I thought the intense blues and oranges played so well off each other and I pumped up the intensity even more.


Ribbons and Lace Oil 8X10

Mike snapped this photo at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Festival held December 12th here at the Plant City Stadium each year. She was preparing for her turn with a group of children performing folkloric dance for the crowd. These children work for months perfecting their steps and timing and do a fantastic job. It was nice to catch her in a quiet moment.

Whew! Another week down! Then it begins again..........ain't life GRAND!

July 4-10 in Paint

Summer Series "Shell" Oil 4X4
This is a fun time for being alive... family,Summer sun, good friends and paint! I couldn't even try to get away from painting if I tried... I have one more little shell painting for the Summer Series for The ART Lounge Gallery, and I have completed four others.


"Jennifer" Oil 16X20
Jennifer is my niece who lives in Georgia, and I begged her to let me paint her Facebook profile picture. She is such a beautiful young woman and the pose was striking. I painted this online as a demonstration on ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/debra-bryant/v3 If you go to the site and scroll through the archived video's there, you can view the sessions. Painting on Ustream is pretty new to me and I am still trying to work out the kinks of the camera functions and placement, and I am enjoying it. The difficult part is to speak as if someone was watching the demonstration, whether they are or not!


"Prayerful" Oil 11X14 *SOLD*
I wanted to try a different technique with my painting of the Dalai Lama, called "Prayerful". In it, I used a mottled foil leafing to enhance this painting. Gold leaf, although beautiful, would not have had the same effect which I wanted to achieve, which was of an indistinct patina on the disc behind the monk. The little wisp of smoke from an incense burner was an afterthought, and was devised to break up the empty space to the left. I was happy with the loose painting technique and the atmosphere, combined with the gilding.


"Meditating" Oil 12X16

I have worked on a few pieces lately with the spa, yoga, zen thing in mind. One of the pieces is a yoga pose, borrowed from a friend. It had an interesting negative space, and I really played up the light and color factors, so, although it has a serenity to it, it is still very vibrant and energetic.


"Family Reunion" Oil 8X10


"ART After Dark" at The ART Lounge Gallery is tonight and every second Saturday. If you are in the area, join us for wine and light refreshments and view the newest artwork on the walls of the gallery. We are located at 119 E. Reynolds Street in Plant City, Fl. and the open house reception is held from 6-10pm. I have hung 20 new paintings this month! Come by and have a look!


"Artichoke" Oil 8X10


Next week I will begin the Student Scholarship Workshop at the gallery, instructing 4 area high school students in a four week class on oil painting. I am very excited to be teaching this class, and look forward to meeting these young artists and offering them instruction and encouragement on their future careers... Exciting!

"Sophia"

This is Sophia, 11X14 oil on panel.  She is a lovely little angel cherished by her Daddy, Wilson.  Last week I painted her with the intention of putting her photo and painting, sort of a "before and after," for an advertisement on my portrait commissions.  She will be the first in a series of print ads in the local Monthly Savings Magazine, whose circulation reaches all of Brandon, Valrico, Lithia and Bloomingdale areas, approximately 150,000 homes.  Now is the time to put ideas of Christmas commissions out there!  I am excited to have this marketing opportunity and look forward to a long and strong relationship with the magazine's publisher.  Thanks Wilson!

SPRING MEADOWS

"Spring Meadows"  Original oil painting, 8" X 10"
For purchase information, please contact me at:  bryantstudio@gmail.com

Summertime is here! We have been picking beans from the garden, blackberries for cobbler, planting more flowers in the garden and preparing new planting beds...oh, and taking photos in the garden for possible reference. Deluged by all the craziness of Spring, I have cleared some clutter in the studio, prepared umpteen panels for painting, planted, nurtured, and generally created a more serene space in my life.

I finished the self-portrait I began on my visit to Susan Carlin http://www.susancarlin.com/ in San Antonio. The reference photo was taken by her charming friend Ugur, who skillfully captured a great reference in one shot, and was delightful company as we painted. Ugur is a highly skilled Graphic Designer and Photographer. Thank you Ugur! The photo is priceless to me.

Yesterday, I put finishing touches on 4 paintings that have been sitting around the studio, and totally reworked another. I framed, tagged, inventoried and prepared them for exhibiting at The ART Lounge Gallery for the month of June. It was a very productive day.

I think I need more frames! Ha!

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SELF PORTRAIT

Finished today........maybe. You know how it is...........

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Although the studio clean up is not TOTALLY what I want, I can't stand not painting any longer. I have ideas churning around in my head, and have got to start working with them. My intention is to begin a new piece, and work on some unfinished business..... Paintings which have been sitting around in the ugly stage need to be worked on and finished or tossed and begun again. That is always a tough decision for me. That is why I needed the time to clean up and develop a plan of action.

We had a yard sale recently and some of my studio clean-up included old painting props I no longer intend to use. You know how that goes.....get rid of it, then you plan a painting and that's the ONE element you need! Well, I will just have to live with that. I could no longer live with the clutter. Oh, I still have clutter, it's just more easily contained now.

Mike and I will probably head out one day this week for a photo op. You just can't have too many reference photos! One day soon I would like to do some still life set-ups outside on the patio. I think it will be a challenge to get the set-ups done in natural light. Previously, I have always set up my still lifes in a box arrangement with a spotlight on them. I want something fresher this time. I will just have to see how that works out and let you know.

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I have kept a closely guarded secret for months, and now, am able to reveal it...

This is my painting to be used as the cover art for a new historical novel, which released this month to book stores and online sales venues. Ambassador International Publishing's best-selling inspirational fiction series by award-winning author, Ruth Carmichael Ellinger is releasing its third novel in the Wildrose series. "Sword of the Wild Rose" will be distributed to international markets, as well as in the United States.

Our collaboration began when Ruth, a local author, attended a function at Center Place Arts and Civic Assn. in Brandon, Fl. in December. I had a display of my artwork, titled "The Masters as Teachers" on exhibit in Mook Gallery there. Impressed by the subject matter and painting style of the oil paintings, and discouraged by the prevalent use of graphic art designers and their inability to visually capture her ideas, Ruth contacted me with the suggestion of creating the book cover she envisioned.

Delighted with the project, I used the text of the manuscript as my primary inspiration for the painting. I also drew upon my research into vintage period clothing, as well as the Davidson family history and colonial historical references in compiling the piece.

I painted two oil sketch drafts, depicting elements designed to capture the heart of the story. From among these, we chose the strongest visuals and worked out their placement. These decisions made, I then worked at capturing the essence of the story in pictorial form.

I am pretty sure I don't have to say...........I was ecstatically happy to work on this project! I am even happier still, that I was able to keep the secret from Mike until I could put the book in his hand! Ha! :)

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"ART After Dark" at The ART Lounge Gallery, held monthly on the second Saturday, although always an enjoyable event spent with colleagues, friends and art-lovers in general, held a bonus for me.

Cheryl Kuck, correspondent for the Tampa Tribune, and a wonderful artist herself, and her husband Walter attended the event. Cheryl's success as a gallery owner and art columnist are well known in the area. Although I hadn't had an opportunity to speak to her for some time, Saturday we had a delightful conversation about art and artists in general, and, as always, I found her well informed, educated, perceptive, and enlightening. She really struck me with a comment she made concerning artistic growth. To paraphrase, she said, "Sometimes an artist has a great idea......and has the same idea for twenty years..."

That immediately brought to mind, visions of several contemporary artists, whom I greatly admire, whose bodies of work, for the last few years, all looks the same.....same figure, same model, same color palette, same textures........same, same, same... Some of these artists' work is extremely lovely, and I hadn't previously thought about "sameness" so much as "style" when viewing their work, until now. It was in the midst of that conversation, that I realized that although their artwork was beautifully and well executed, the artists themselves had ceased to grow.

Maybe they had found a safety zone from which they were not willing to venture forth. Perhaps, the monetary gain or the recognition of style was too flattering to resist. So, now, my thoughts revolve around this question: have they sacrificed a large portion of originality, creativity and artistic growth for the sake of the coveted "style" with which most artists seem to be so concerned? I don't know the answer. I am still very much in an evolution myself, when it comes to my own direction, learning and "style". I can guarantee this about myself; I will never view that often elusive and frustratingly difficult to achieve "artistic style" with the same awe and yearning as I had previously.

Anyway, wherever this process leads me, I hope to always keep Cheryl's seed planted firmly in my conscious mind as I make my artistic choices, and I hope never to cease to grow in technique, "style", and especially ideas. Thanks Cheryl!

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*SOLD*
New artworks at The ART Lounge Gallery are going up this weekend.  Featured this month will be the top winners of the Strawberry Festival Fine Art Show, sponsored by the East Hillsborough Art Guild.  We are excited to have these works of art exhibited in our gallery!  If you are in the area, drop in for a look at the local talent.  :)

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I love Gallery days!  I painted this little 8X10 painting, "Day Labor" today at the gallery, and started another.  Friends stopped by and we enjoyed their company until time to close.  It was a good day...  :)

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*SOLD*
Today I painted at The ART Lounge Gallery, this little portrait, which is a study in cool fleshtones and backlight.  The Fl. Strawberry Festival is over and I am eager to get back to painting MORE!  I did get to demonstrate 4 days, which was very nice.  Anytime I can paint is a good day.  I am working on 8X10 portrait studies, faces.  My goal is to sharpen my drawing (with paint) skills as well as to master a variety of fleshtones.  I believe quick studies are the best way to achieve this.

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Today I demonstrated at the Florida Strawberry Festival using a WetCanvas photo reference.  More people who came by were amazed with my use of the laptop to pull up the reference and paint from it.  I know there are many of you who do the same.  It saves my eyes and I can enlarge, reverse image, reduce saturation for value studies....on and on.  This is an 8X10 in oil on masonite panel.  I may do a little more work on the blanket across his shoulder, but my aim was to get the pose and the COLORFUL face and water jar.

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Each year the Florida Strawberry Festival hosts a Fine Art Show, sponsored and staffed by a group of volunteer East Hillsborough Art Guild members and their friends.  It is a nice show, raising funds each year to benefit our student scholarship program.  There were some fine entries this year, as in the past, and I try to take the opportunity to demo at least a couple of the 11 days of the Festival.  I am posting the demonstration painting from this morning.  I used my photo reference of a young girl for the pose and fleshtones in this 8X10 oil painting on masonite panel.  I am happy with her as a 3 ½ hr. study, so I think I am going to frame her.  Honesty is her name.

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After working at the Strawberry Festival most of the day, I came home to a surprise...my fun online art buddies had taken a 2-hour online painting workshop with Jonathan Hardesty on Saturday morning.  He recorded the session, so I was able to go online this evening and "catch up" by using his photo reference of his lovely wife Marie (DROP DEAD GORGEOUS EYES!), and painted a nice little study.

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Quick studies can be so much fun! If they don't turn out, no problem; you don't have a lot of time invested in them. I personally enjoy the freedom that one thought gives me. It allows me to just enjoy the process and I usually learn a thing or two along the way. It's also a great stress reliever! This is the process I used for "Her First Rodeo" painted from one of my photos, in under two hours. It is obviously a quick sketch, and not a finished portrait.

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The entire country has had strange weather this winter, including central Florida.  On several occasions the growers resorted to spraying the fields with water to protect the strawberry crop.  I slogged through nearly knee deep icy water in the fields to get photos, and put together a couple of those shots for a painting.  This is my entry for the Strawberry Theme art competition at the Florida Strawberry Festival, "Protecting the Future".  While you are enjoying the festival, don't forget to drop by the Art Show, located at Gate 5, and St. Clement's "Make Your Own" Strawberry Shortcake booth, located at Gate 9!  

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I finished my entry for the Strawberry Festival Art Show today, so to celebrate I painted this little two hour study.  I love jumping right in to quick studies (thank you Craig Nelson) immediately after a complicated piece!  It revives me right away!  "Her First Rodeo" is 8X10 oil on masonite.  Fun stuff!

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The mission and flight patches from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space flights on my painting of Moon and starfield.....just for you Mike!  ;)

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I thought December was busy, but it seems "catch-up" has caught up with ME!  This painting I managed to get done this week, and I am working on ideas for others, but research is time consuming.  This painting is a backdrop for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo mission patches which are a part of Mike's collection of NASA memorabilia.  It is a tribute to hope, courage and ambition.  I will post a picture of it with patches mounted soon.

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Hope.........finished.  This little girl took a little time, using three photo references, and a lot of decision making, but worth the effort.  I softened the redness in her cheek and punched up the light a little more on the wave of hair since this photo.  I am entering her in a juried competition this month.  I just need to get a better photo.  We'll see how that works out.  One never knows........

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