A Change in My Blog

A couple of months ago I moved my websdite to a new hosting site, Fine Art Studios Online. The service includes a blog, but I continued to use my Blogger account for my blog and linked it over. I have decided to begin using the blog that comes with my website. This will require you to go to the new blog location at www.karenbudanfineart.com/blog and once again sign up for an RSS feed to continue receiving new posts in your e-mail. I apologize for any inconvenience.....but this will give you access to other sections of my website quickly if questions arise from reading my blog entries. I posted my latest entry this morning about my weekend at the Scottsdale Arts Festival. Please check it out!

Happy Days!

I have been very frustrated in the last few weeks that my schedule has kept me from focused time at the easel. All the activities I have been consumed with have been great experiences that I very much wanted to engage in.....but I have missed painting. I participated in an art festival in very cold and rainy weather....but I still enjoyed talking about my art with the hearty souls that braved the elements. I also coordinated a week long workshop for the Arizona Pastel Artists Association with Richard McKinley. I have worked with Richard for a few years now but each workshop is a great learning experience. This one was no exception. I have also been preparing for a workshop I am teaching this next week. All of this will be culminated with two art festivals the next two weekends. All of it great......but it is not the same as being able to spend time at the easel.....and I can't wait to get back to my painting. So in the midst of all this hectic activity I received a letter in the mail today that put a big smile back on my face! My piece, "Radishes" was juried into the Pastel Society of the West Coast's Pastels USA International Pastel Show. I am thrilled as I am working towards signature status in this very prestigious pastel society. One becomes signature by being juried into three Pastels USA shows. I now have two of the three as this is the second year in a row that I have been juried into the show. With this great news I can relax and enjoy the next few weeks of non-easel based activities. Life is good!!

Arizona Pastel Artists Association Spring Juried Show

I just received notification that all three of my entries for the spring juried show in Sedona were accepted! I am tickled as Richard McKinley is our judge and I deeply respect his opinion. This was a hotly contested show as we had more entries than for any show in the past. I was just hoping to get one painting in.....so the notification was definitely a nice surprise! The three pieces juried in were "Pear Study", "Red Roses", and "The Line Up". The show will be judged for awards while Richard is here for our workshop at the end of the month....but we will not know the results until the actual show the last two weeks of April. Talk about building anticipation!!!

Radishes

"Radishes" is the latest artwork to leave the Budan easel. I planned to leave fruits and vegetables for awhile.....but I had this piece in my mind and decided to bring it to life before moving on! This is the first painting of vegetables that I included any of the grocery store labeling....but I thought it added a little interest to this composition. This is an 18 x 24 piece....and required the use of a lot of red pastel!! Good thing I had just gotten all my new Ludwig pastels won in the Pastel Society of New Mexico national show. Now I am headed back to my new series called "Fun and Games". "Marbles I" was the first in this new series....but there is more to come! Enjoy "Radishes"!

Festival of Fine Art

My first art festival of 2011 is just around the corner. I am participating in the Sonoran Art League's Festival of Fine Art the weekend of Feb. 18th through the 20th. Stagecoach Village in Cave Creek is a great location for an art festival and I have my fingers crossed for good weather! If you are in the area please plan to come and enjoy the festival. I will have some of my newer paintings with me that I would love to have you see. As you can see, my painting "Artichokes", was one of the pieces chosen for use in the advertising for the festival.....always a compliment! I hope to see you there!

Marbles 1

I have always been fascinated by some of the pieces people have done with marbles.....so I decided I wanted to do one. I loved the colors of the marbles themselves and even more I loved the reflections in this setup. It is a small piece....6" x 6". I created it with an upcoming miniature show at a gallery in Scottsdale in mind to possibly enter. It came out to my expectations so I think I will enter it and see what happens!

Chile Peppers

Chile Peppers is the second painting that I started during the Hidden In The Hills Open Studio Tour and Sale. I had fun with the reflections on this piece. For me the paintings come alive when you start adding the highlights and the lights in general. This is a 12 x 16 painting that I wish I had done in a larger format. Maybe I will still do that at some point. Enjoy!

Exciting Night!!

In a previous post I had mentioned that I had both of my entries successfully juried into the Scottsdale Artist's School Best and Brightest Show. I had applied for the last two years and did not get in. At that time I was doing landscapes. Since then I have switched to still life which turned out to be my genre! Last night was the opening reception. Bob and I arrived to a crowded reception to find that my piece, "Market Colors" won an Honorable Mention! To top it off.....both of my pieces had red dots on their labels meaning they were both SOLD! They sold during the VIP preview for the reception. "Market Colors" was purchased by one of the Scottsdale Artist's School Board of Directors.

Definitely an exciting night!!!!

Final painting of 2010

I know this is January.....but I did not have time to do a posting prior to leaving for our Hawaii trip over the holidays. I was running around getting last minute things done.....one of which is getting this piece to the framers to take advantage of their sale pricing on framing. This is my final completed painting for 2010. I have another piece that is close to completion but will be finished in 2011. Both the pieces were paintings I worked on as a demo of pastel painting during the Hidden in the Hills open studio tour and sale. It is fairly easy to do the initial layers of a painting with constant interruptions, but when I get to the point of final layers and bringing the painting together I need to focus. As a result I planned on starting a piece each of the two weekends. This piece is titled "Apple Slice". I had a lot of fun painting the cut portions of the red apple.....it was easier than I thought. The slight browning effect was actually achieved with a yellow green color! I was pleased with the results.

This piece and the next piece of chile peppers, which I plan to finish in the next few days, may be the closeout of my "fruit and vegetable" period....although I can't say fruits and vegetables may not be a component in future paintings. I have a hankering to paint some still life pieces that are southwest themed. I have a few ideas floating around in my head that I am excited about. Stay tuned to see where it goes.