Pumpkin Painting Giveaway Last Day

Hello friends!  After supper tonight, I'm planning on using the random generator to pick someone from the comments on this POST.  Above are the three paintings you can choose from (unless they sell from my Etsy shop today.  So, click here if you are interested.  It really is beginning to feel a little like fall this week.  I have apple bread in the oven and a friend coming over for tea, yay for that.

A Blank Canvas

Sometimes there's nothing scarier than a big blank white canvas.  Well, I got rid of the whiteness anyway.  This week the plan is to begin some larger work that I have been mulling over for a while.  I'm thrilled to have a fairly open schedule this week!

Don't forget to check out my painting giveaway.  Your chances are good since I only have 12 people commenting so far.  Details are here:
http://pollyjones.blogspot.com/2011/09/pick-your-pumpkin-painting-giveaway.html

Pick Your Pumpkin Painting Giveaway!

It's time for my second annual pumpkin painting drawing giveaway!!  I have painted several this year, trying to get in an autumnal state of mind in spite of the heat.  This year I'm going to do it a little differently.  The person picked from the random generator (I love that phrase) will get to choose a pumpkin painting from what I have left in my Etsy store that hasn't sold by that point....and I have several.  People, I still have to try to sell these things so I didn't want to take any out of the store! Just trying to pay my paint bill, you understand.  Friday, October 7th I'll do the drawing.  The rules are below:


1. Either subscribe to this blog (from upper right sidebar subscribe box) or sign up to Follow (also at the right sidebar but further down) If you already get emails or follow, then just go to number 2. 

2. Please make a comment under this post.  I'd love to hear your favorite part about fall!

3. To double your chances you can also sign up for my Facebook fan page (use the button on my blog sidebar or click here.  I use FB for notifying people of sales, sharing links to videos and random comments about my art.

4. If you have any questions let me know at pollyjonesart@gmail.com! 

 6" square acrylic and canvas.

6" square mixed media painting on Etsy here,

Pickle Polka original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

8" square colorful original mixed media painting.  Sold

I like to stare at pickle jars. You should try it some time. I can't quite capture the ambient color of the juice with paint. This (really colorful) piece has some vintage Golden Encyclopedia paper in it....some of it covered up. I especially like knowing that it has "Winged Victory of Samothrace" echoing the slant of the pickle spears on the right. A triceratops skeleton is covered up on the left.

Four Little Pumpkins original paintings by Polly Jones

I've been busy today.

Garlic Half Light original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

6" square acrylic and paper on canvas. SOLD

Life would be pretty dull without garlic.

Hope Bouquet original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

6' square original painting.

These little flowers were hiding in our garden, surviving this long, hot, dry, summer. They were hope giving.

Circus Pumpkin original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

5" by 7" acrylic and mixed media on canvas. SOLD

It finally cooled off a bit around here. Praying for the people in danger of fires throughout Texas, especially near Austin.

Thinking About the Milky Way original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

11" by 14" acrylic mixed media still life painting on canvas. SOLD

Today I got a reprieve! I was planning on mowing the lawn but couldn't get the mower to work; so painted instead.

Yesterday I had begun this one and quite hated it. It struck me last night, while looking on Flickr at some abstract work by Mayakonakuamura that I really needed to pay attention to surface and texture more. So that's what I tried to do today and was happy (not ecstatic) about what happened with this little pear painting. The title comes from the collage paper from The Golden Book Encyclopedia on the milky way. We went to The Great Sand Dunes and the mountains in Colorado a few weeks ago. Wow, it was amazing to look at the night sky away from city lights. I was so glad when the random paper I picked up to add to my pear had a bit about the milky way in it.

Half Full Blue Willow painting for Africa

6" square original painting on canvas.

I put this up on The Daily Paintworks Challenge for Africa. The UN has said up to 400,000 children in the Horn of Africa could die without aid and up to 11 million people require food assistance. This auction's purpose is so that all proceeds except shipping costs are donated to help out the hunger crisis in Africa. Here's where you can see my auction listing and Here is where you can see all the paintings in the DPW challenge. So go and bid why don't you!

In and Out Clementines original still life painting by Polly Jones

I just added a new version of the clementine painting on top here. Can't figure out how to move my photo to the bottom.
















5" by 7" acrylic on canvas. Available on SOLD

We've had over 50 straight days of above 100 degrees here in Abilene. All that sunshine has been great for lighting up still life set ups, but, we so desperately need rain.

I had good news today that Linda at River Oaks Gallery sold one large painting and three small ones! The large one, "A Romance" was a little hard to say goodbye too even though I've learned to let go of my work. It makes room for new work... both literally and emotionally.

Lady Like original still life painting by Polly Jones

5" by 7" acrylic on canvas.SOLD

Cherry Cup original mixed media still life painting by Polly Jones

6" square acrylic and paper on canvas. SOLD

                                                                               




















                                                                                                 

Lemon Nest original still life painting by Polly Jones

6" square mixed media acrylic on canvas. SOLD

These were what was left after a lovely salmon dinner the other night. It kept distracting me, so I had to paint it.

11" by 14" acrylic mixed media on canvas. For sale on  SOLD

I'm shifting my viewpoint a bit, wanting to look from above instead of the side lately. One of my favorite books on Bonnard by Julian Bell, was inspiration for this one. In writing about "The Red Checkered Tablecloth, he says the grids of the tablecloth Bonnard uses "often recedes in perspective to make a slight but interesting tension with the picture's flatness."

Very Yellow Teapot original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

8" acrylic and paper on canvas. SOLD

Here's a better photo today. It seems I've lost my ability to concentrate this week. I have been back and forth from the easel a million times checking on my Pandora to see who was singing what, checking email, Facebook, real mail, and eating cherries and making more ice tea. It takes a lot of ice tea these days since my studio is the hottest room in the house.

Back to Painting

My closeup photograph of the yellow teapot painting in the middle didn't turn out well, so I'll just post this wall one for now. It feels good to be painting after some time off to do other things such as washing windows, time with friends and celebrating our anniversary.

I had thought when I got back to work that I'd focus on doing larger, botanical image based pieces. In fact, I told my daughter that I might be through with still life! Apparently I'm not, since that's all I've done this week. More tomorrow.

Most Quiet Need original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

18" by 24" acrylic and paper on canvas.  Sold

This painting is from the spring time when my irises were blooming. It wasn't quite finished and I already liked it a lot, which made me cautious about finishing. I really wanted to keep it fresh. It felt great to get back to the studio today. We had been on a lovely trip visiting family last week. The title comes from a line in the famous poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "How Do I Count The Ways." I had randomly used a dictionary page that was about her and her husband Robert, also a poet.

A Clam and a Whelk mixed media drawing

These painting/drawings came about from a wish to be on the beach. I have a big collection of shells that I sometimes use with children, for drawing from. They get so excited and passionate about them, holding them, listening to the big ones and looking them up in the identifier book. I am convinced that holding shells is some of the best available tactile therapy there is. Several of my shells have pencil smudges on them.

These 8" square mixed media paintings on canvas. SOLD

Real Flowers original mixed media still life painting by Polly Jones

11" by 14" acrylic and mixed media collage on canvas. SOLD

I like painting flowers from life and also flowers that are in patterns on cloth that other artists have designed. It's really fun to do both in the same painting sometimes. If you click on the image you can see some of the collage areas better.

Watercolor experiments and a challenge

So, I've been talking about taking risks, here are three more small ones. The top painting I did as part of a challenge over at the Daily Paintworks site. This is a blog of wonderful daily painters that I follow and they post challenges on occasion. Click here to see the "Stacked" challenge that I submitted my "One of Each" painting on the left. It's 12" square. SOLD
Below are a couple of watercolor efforts that are just practice pieces. I had bought a set of old watercolors at an estate sale in the cutest tin that I had to try out for fun. I'm now remembering why I haven't done more watercolor in my life. It is really hard! Any one else have war stories with watercolor painting?

Texas Peaches, Bing Cherries and Blue Willow original painting by Polly Jones

Texas Peaches SOLD.  Bing Cherries is sold. 8" square on canvas.

I know I sounded silly yesterday, posting about risk taking by using beige. I just feel I've gotten into some habits which I need to challenge more. Yesterday and today I worked on these blue willow pieces. Of course, when trying to get the right reds I had my usual old timer's rant about how alizaron crimson is not the same as it was thirty years ago. It's just not as rich as it used to be. The big challenge for myself here was not to draw my composition with vine charcoal on the canvas before beginning the painting. It was fun and felt surprisingly different. I also just threw out the idea of using collage with it. I've seen a lot of art lately using map and text in it and am doubting my use of it for now, trying a go of just simple painting again. Opinions?

Sleeping Flower original mixed media still life painting by Polly Jones

12" square original mixed media painting. SOLD

I know, this is rather radical for me to be using beige. I really had to step out of my comfort zone. It's recently occurred to me that I haven't been taking as many risks as I need to for my work to go forth. This was just a small risk for now. The title comes from an Emily Dickinson poem called "The Sleeping Flowers," here.

Strawberry Shimmer original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

5" by 7" acrylic and mixed media on canvas. SOLD

Well, we have had a major week with Marissa graduating and lots of family in for a lovely visit. It was a special time that we are so grateful for.

After finishing this painting today I stepped back and realized how much pink I've been using lately! I was happy with this one because it reflected an optical quality that was going on in my still life set up. For me there is a jump between the text and the paint that was similar to the shimmer of light on the strawberries and the restaurant china bowl.

Lemons on Brown Transferware original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

8" square original mixed media painting on canvas.SOLD