Gloria J Zucaro's "Celebrate"

8.5"H x 11"W

Pastel on Cardstock with Sparkling H2O's and Clear Glitter.

Linking to Jenn's last Artist Playroom of 2012.  Tonight's the night!

Happy New Year everyone!

Click on image for close-up!

Gloria J Zucaro's "Wistful Snowman"

Hello Paint Party Friday friends.  Well the big day is almost here and I will be taking some time off for my Christmas preparations and celebrations.  I have a cute palette knife snowman today.  He is in oil on a 10"H x 8"W stretched canvas.  He is wistful because he thought we were going to get a really nice snow of 6" for the Christmas week.  But alas we only got about 1/2" and all the rain froze instead!   I know I should be happy, but when you live in Chicago, snow is welcomed for the holidays(by most) and ice is much more treacherous.  I really got a lot of art done this week and posted on the 17th all about working on some Artist Trading Cards, my journal page for Fall Fearless & Fly, and my new stencils from Stencil Girl some designed by Jessica Sporn  and making my tangled designs into coasters for gifts for friends.  Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and wonderful holidays for everyone.

 

No Words...

The school shootings are such an unbelievable heartbreak.

 I feel so devastated, sort of like I felt after 911.

 A great sense of sorrow.   My heartfelt sympathy goes out to the town, the families, the children of Newtown and around our saddened nation.  

Gloria J Zucaro's "The Morning Grind"

My entry for Paint Party Friday this week is a pastel I did while up at The Clearing in August.  

I never got around to posting it.  This is from life, a still life set-up done down at the Old Schoolhouse where we usually have our studio.  I always think of it as more like a chapel because of the high ceilings and tall windows.  

You can see two photos of the schoolhouse (from their website) below my painting.

 Isn't it beautiful!  If you ever want to take a great workshop, this is a great place to go.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Trip to MMOA"

Three of my artist friends from The Hoffman Estates Art League came over to my house at about 9AM Saturday morning.  I had been getting the house ready…all the outdoor decorations up, and the two small trees, inside, the Santas on the mantle.  They loved my house(or so they said! J)After the "tour" we drove up to the Milwaukee Museum of Art.  We went to the new exhibit called “Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough”.  There was only one Rembrandt, but it was a self-portrait of himself at age 65.  He posed with his brushes and was all about showing the tools of his trade.  Very wonderful and awe inspiring to see in person.  The rest of the exhibit was other Old Masters paintings from a collection from the Kenwood House in London. Apparently the house which is open to the public and free, is being redone.  New floors, etc. so they decided to show the collection here in the States.  The collection will be shown in only four cities.  Exhibition Itinerary: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (June 3–September 3, 2012); Milwaukee Art Museum (October 12, 2012–January 13, 2013); Seattle Art Museum (February 14–May 19, 2013); Arkansas Arts Center (June 7–September 8, 2013).                                             See some art below the text.

Himself!

A Dale Chihuly Glass Sculpture on Main Level

Really great docent Geoff Simon who told us about this Picasso.  Picasso had just started this painting when he looked out his window and saw that the street was filling up with Allied soldiers as well as the French citizens.  He knew immediately that something dramatic was happening and put the date  13 .11. 44 on the bottom left corner.  He didn't sign the painting with his usual signature until it was actually finished.  

This is a Chagall that caught my attention

Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867–1947)

Girl in Straw Hat (Femme au Chapeau Rouge), 1903

Thanks to Sharron Boxenbaum for remembering the artists names and titles of these two paintings

 Jules Bastien-Lepage (French, 1848–1884

Le Père Jacques (Woodgatherer), 1881

 

The Museum itself is amazing!  The new part is all white marble floors and brilliant white walls and ceilings and is shaped like a giant bird.  The ”wings” going out from it expand three times a day.  Unfortunately we missed the one at noon because we didn't know about it and were in the middle of the exhibit.   See these pictures! 

View as we arrive

 Inside Main level(2nd floor of 3)

Looking Toward Lake Michigan

 Right side small wing with coffee shop for coffee & scones, etc.

 View out other end toward E. Michigan St. pointing camera almost straight up

A lower perspective same view

View down opposite side wing to older museum building exhibits at end(Dark area).  Both gift shops are on left side as you go down this hall.

 Inside one of the exhibit areas(Cubists) with Geoff(a docent) Sandy Schmidt(front), Sharron Boxenbaum, the President of the Hoffman Estates Art League (carrying purse over shoulder & gift bag) and Maria Vera.  I took several pictures in black and white for drama.

 We looked in a small gift shop of items typical of English lifestyle, and the larger regular gift shop.   We ate lunch about 1:30 in the café there.  The menu and food were themed with the show.  A picture and history of Kenwood  House on the Menu, then Fish & Chips, Bangers & Mash, and Pasties, etc. on the menu.  After lunch we looked at the impressionists, cubists, expressionists, Pop Art, etc.  We left about 4PM and got home about 5:15.  A great Day

Gloria J Zucaro's "Sunshine for Julie"

This is my latest painting, which I am thrilled to say is going to a good home, with an artist and friend.  

I am posting this for the Paint Party Friday Challenge.  

Thank you Kristin and Eva for hosting.  

I hope you will visit their site to see what the accomplished artists have done this week.  

Click on image to enlarge.

12"H x 9"W Original Oil on Canvas Panel

SOLD

Gloria J Zucaro's "Second String"

This is my second attempt at Laura's stringless challenge.  

This one was very random, just kept going.

Click to enlarge photo.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Stringless Diva"

This is my challenge post for   
Weekly Challenge #97: String Theory v. XX -"No Strings Attached"  to quote Laura " Start in one spot, on the edge of the tile, and work your way out building tangles off of tangles - or use tangles to divide your tile - like hollibough or crescent moon.  Or begin in the center and work your way out, which works AWESOME as a Zendala - or some other awesome way i haven't thought of.
So try your hand at it this week - Creating a tile, zendala, or ZIA without using a string.  How does the lack of string make you feel? are you blissfully free? Or are you blocked? Or a mixture of both. "

Here is how I started.  I am not sure if this is considered a string?  It is not connected, maybe broken string?

But it turned out like this!  I think Santa needs some dental work!

Oh well next time.  I felt "lost in space!"

Gloria J Zucaro's "In A Nest Of Leaves"

8"H x 8"W Original Oil on Raymar Canvas Panel

$55.00 Framed in Floater 
To Purchase- PayPal Through Daily Paintworks

This is my little bird figurine from my sister-in-law.  He is sweetly seated in a little pile of leaves. I again use orange and aqua as my choices for a crisp Fall day.  

Gloria J Zucaro's "The Harvest"

6"H x 6"W Original Oil on Panel

$45.00 Framed    

To Purchase, PayPal at Daily Paintworks

It is part of my Fall series with leaves.  Here my empty little flower pot collects the falling leaves, a harvest of leaves.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Cachepot & Pumpkin"

My post for today is an impressionistic still life with a very pretty and ornate cachepot.  For some extra seasonal interest, I placed a mini-pumpkin next to it, reflecting the same color palette.   It is an original oil painted from life on canvas sheet.  The framed size is approximately 8"H x 5"W. 

Click on image to enlarge.

$65.00  To Purchase-PayPal through Daily Paintworks

Gloria J Zucaro's "Changing Season's"

8"H x 8"W  Original Oil on Raymar Panel

$55.00 Framed   S&H to your ZIP
To Purchase-PayPal Through Daily Paintworks

I painted this from life.  It is a bronzy orange metal pumpkin that is open in the back for a candle, and has a beaded stem and some embedded rhinestones or beads in the pumpkin body, along side a large lush sunflower.  The sunflower closes out our summer season in Illinois and welcomes in the Fall.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Journal Page 4"

Today I am posting my fourth journal page entry for Fall Fearless and Fly.  Here are the prompts for this challenge...

Headline Prompt:  Security:  What makes you feel safe and secure?  What rattles your sense of security?  Where do you go for comfort and refuge?

Color Prompt:  Cool colors (blues, greens, violets, etc.) 

Quote Prompt: You can't make a place for yourself in the sun if you keep taking refuge under the family tree.  Helen Keller

My page uses prompts one and two.  My security is rattled by fear of not having enough money.  I was married for many years, then divorced about 15 years ago.  As a  young girl of the 40's & 50's, I did not work when I got married, but was fortunate enough to be able to stay home and take care of my three children.  When I divorced I received a trust which was totally invested in the stock market.  Needless to say that comes with a great amount of insecurity and through the various recessions, has not grown at all, the principal being eaten into! What does money mean to me?  It means choices.  That has always been my life motto, freedom of choice.  

I try to remember that God has always taken care of me.  I feel closest to God when I am out in nature, represented by the leaf below.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Thanksgiving Zinger"

Here is my submission to Paint Party Friday for this week.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Front

Today's' post is for the Diva's challenge of using the tangle named Zinger originated by Maria Thomas.  "Zinger" is the name of the tangle shown here that has a "stem and then a circular shapes that encircle but decreases as it flares outward.  I incorporated a Thanksgiving turkey along with the Zingers!  This is the front and back(Below) of a 5"H x 7"W greeting card and comes with envelope.  I may add some watercolor to this, maybe along the bottom and the "sky" area.   What do you think?

This is the back

5" x 7 " Ink design on Watercolor paper greeting card.

Click on image to enlarge.

May be framed in standard 5 x 7 frame.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Fall Table"

This is another painting that I reworked today.  I am on a roll now!  As time goes along your skills improve as long as you keep practicing and learning.  

Since I didn't post the "before" painting of my "Golden Opportunity"  with the crow and pumpkin, I  will show you this painting previous to changes.  I had a few people who requested seeing both before and after.  I think I will also post this one to Jenn's The Artist Playroom.

Be sure to see what the other participating artists have done this week.

This painting is an original oil on stretched canvas 10"H and 20"L

(and already framed, before I started the redux).

Click on image to enlarge. 

Below is the "Before" somewhat blurry photo.

As you can see, way too much green, too much coolness in temperature.  In my "new" version I added turquoise, violet, red, Alizarin, Caribbean Blue and placed them in more impressionistic strokes. I also added some warm into the background area to merge the top and bottom areas of the painting.                                                  

Gloria J Zucaro's "Seeds of Life"

I am adding this to Jennifer Mclean's Thanksgiving themed challenge this week over at The Artist's Playroom.  I actually did this last year, but it is perfect and I am busy getting ready for Thanksgiving, and for get-togethers with friends and a returning college grandson!  

I used an 18"H statue for my model.  I have an Indian woman, and a male and female Pilgrim, too.  I put the smaller set on my kitchen window sill and the larger on the fireplace mantel.  I have a great big turkey-shaped metal serving tray and sundry gourds and pumpkins around.  

My title relates to the fact that both the seeds of the sunflower and pumpkin may be eaten, and have some protein as well as other nutrients.  And the pumpkin has many ways of being served and feels"substantial" whether soup, breads or muffins, as squash or pie.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Gloria J Zucaro's "Golden Opportunity"

This my entry for Paint Party Friday, a weekly display from about 85 artists from all over the globe.  The site is hosted by Kristin and Eva,  Thank you, Ladies!
My painting today has undergone many changes.  I first painted it about 4 years ago.  I had all cornstalks in the background, and a very dark black shadow under the crow and all strokes on the pumpkin going one way, and a stem bottom showing on the pumpkin towards the right side of the canvas.  On Monday of this week Susan Ploughe who is one of the instructors at Mainstreet Art Center (where I go to paint with my artists friends a couple of times a week) asked us to all bring in a couple of our "duds", the paintings that did not work out as planned.  So I took my crow and pumpkin.  It was predominately orange and yellow over the whole painting, the pumpkin, the ground, the background of cornstalks.  There was some green in the leaves and some of the cornstalks, but otherwise all orange & yellow!  Susan had a sneaky idea up her sleeve!  She had us trade our paintings with someone else and we were each to work on the other person's painting, so that the painting would be looked at with a new perspective.  Susan told us that if we didn't like what the other person did with our painting we could just wipe it off with turp, since all our paintings were dry long ago.  Well, I worked on Corrine's Napa Valley painting and she worked on my crow.  Corrine merged all the cornstalks together with some different background colors that were impressionistic, and the painting was so much better, but it was still oranges, yellows and greens.  After I went home, I thought about it and decided that blue might be good with the orange, since they are compliments.  So today I changed the shape of the pumpkin, changed the direction of the strokes on the pumpkin, lightened the really dark shadow, as suggested by Ann Feldman, added many different colors to the leaves, made the broken piece of pumpkin shell the right value, and got rid of all the orange in the background with sky blue.  Oh, what a relief it is! ( I am singing this part!) LOL!

11"H x 14"W Original Oil on Stretched Canvas

Gloria J Zucaro's "Christmas Postcards"

Last year & this I have made my Christmas designs into post cards for mailing to friends and family as greetings.  It sure saves on postage!  I made my cards the standard 4 x 6 inches with a dividing line on the back, just like a regular postcard.  The fronts are glossy, and the backs are mat for easier writing with pen. Make sure that you check with your post office, it might cost you more if you want to send a 5 x 7 postcard either because of being over-sized or just more postage.  I tried to get Christmas "Forever" stamps, but they don't make them in Christmas designs.  So I took the ones that they had, but they are Aloha shirts.  I looked on-line for Christmas postcard stamps, but the USPS doesn't seem to have any.  I might be stuck with a conflicting message!  Winter/Summer!  Here are the cards I will be sending out this year.  I am sharing these with Jenn's The Artist Playroom 

     Church w/Star                                                      Floral w/Star

Snowman or Skater

Santa

These are all 4" x 6" and if you would like to buy one, they are $1.00 plus postage to send to you in an envelope of 45 cents. Would you like a stamp(Aloha) already on it? Add 32 cents with Aloha stamp. So $1.00 postcard, $0.45 cents S&H , $0.32 Aloha Stamp on postcard.

Option 1 $1.00 USD Option 2 $1.32 USD

Gloria J Zucaro's "Tinkering Squared"

This tangled tile is in tribute to the Disney character, "Tinkerbell".  Our guest hostess  on the I Am The Diva site, Courtney Franz thought it would be fun to celebrate the  November 18 anniversary date of 85 years of Mickey Mouse.  Mickey was first introduced by Disney along with Minnie in "Steamboat Willie" in 1928.

We were to use, Mickey, Minnie or Walt Disney/Disney as our prompt.  My favorite Disney character has always been Tinkerbell.  I started by dividing my Zentangle tile into 8 sections. Then I drew in the center piece which replicates the smaller of Tinks' wings.  The larger wings were next, extending out each spoke.  Then Tinkerbells' magic wands, her eyes in the border, and symbols of her shoes with the big pom pom balls.  I filled in around some of the wands with auras and some of the shoes with dark areas. I added an extra black border in   PS Elements so that the white area on the edges would show up better, the actual tile ends at the outer edge of the "eyes".  This was really fun, thanks Courtney!   Be sure to go see all the other imaginative entries on the Diva's site.

Weekly Challenge #95: Guest Post - "Mickey Challenge"

3.5" Square Zentangle Watercolor Paper Tile

$4.00  S&H 2.00

Gloria J Zucaro's "Winter Field at Sunset"

Tonight I worked on this pastel for Jenn's The Artists Playroom prompt of a "Sunset" theme.  A couple of weeks ago I painted my "Evening in Door County", but then I found this reference in my photo library.  I love to go for drives in the country in the late afternoon when the sun is starting to set.  I have a friend who lives about an hour away and sometimes I drive out through the cornfields to see her.  I always take my camera to get pictures of the countryside and the old barns that are fast disappearing.   It is so calming to get out of the traffic and built up areas.  Sometimes I just park my car on the edge of the road and roll down the window and sit and listen to the crows or other birds, an occasional bark of a dog, or the braying of a cow as the sun is sinking and twilight comes.  It feels primal to me and helps me realize the things I really value.

11"H x 16"W on Canson Mi-Tientes Pastel Paper.

Please buy a painting if at all inclined from the Daily Paintworks Auction Site to help hurricane victims   100% of the money will go to them, as all the artists involved have donated their paintings.  

And don't forget to stop by The Artists' Playroom to see all the creative entries!

Gloria J Zucaro's "Fone Home"

This is my entry into the Paint Party Friday site for November 9th.

There are many wonderful artists displaying their artwork every week, so surf on over and get inspired.  

I am also asking all of you to go to the Daily Paintworks Hurricane Relief Auction and pick a painting to buy.  ALL the proceeds go directly to help the victims of the hurricane.  The auctions of paintings have raised over $5,000. so far.

Well, here it is.  I finally decided how I wanted to finish my fantasy/sculpture painting.  A fellow artist, Corrine Murphy gave me the neat idea of having my "contraption" landing and making a crater, so voila!   Then I made the planet look as if it has atmosphere, added Saturn back in and I am happy with my final result.  Click on the image to enlarge.

24"H x 18"W Original Oil on Stretched Canvas