Catching up with pet portraits...

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I'm way behind on my pet portrait and illustration commissions...catching up this week: Preliminary sketches above for Pippin, an Irish Jack Russell pup and Izak, a very sweet shepherd who sadly passed away this past year. I generally start by making drawings from their photos in my sketchbook, then I pick the best one, scan it and digitally clean up the lines, add the name and colors before the first presentation to my client. From their feedback I make any neccessary edits and color changes before actually painting the portrait on canvas. Here is a good link to my process, links to completed Pet Face and Narrative Scene Portraits and more info on how you can Order a Portrait of Your Pet!

Art Re-Treat

Back from an amazing art retreat weekend in rural Wisconsin with Rachel and Erica ..and remotely our dear friend Lois Keller. 

Rachel started this amazing new series of paintings and created several lovely water colors...

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Erica pulled this one out of her hat...this large piece consists of 10 separate panels:

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Lois shipped us a box of treasures, included for each of us was a lovely drawing (this is the one she sent for me) with sentiments and her wishes for each of us and our creative lives for 2008.

And these are some of my pieces - I did paintings on cardboard:

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These 3 women have impacted my life and art in so many ways, we have a very magical connection that has only strengthened over the last 7+ years. I'd love to share more as so many wonderful things transpired...but I'll just have to leave you with these snippets since I'm scrambling to get myself and things together before I leave Wednesdayfor my trip up to Minneapolis for the Uptown Art Fair. Not an easything since I've had a non-stop whirl wind of fun, adventure and travel over the last few weeks. I feel so lucky to be taking all these trips and for the chance to reconnect with so many wonderful friends and family.

From the archives...Still Life With Pears.

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At a recent art fair I ran into some lovely customers that I have not seen in quite awhile. This is a commissioned painting that I created for them back in 2004: "Still LIfe With Pears". I started drawing still life compositions at an art retreat with my friends Erica Huntzinger and Rachel Weaver-Rivera in 2001...that was the start of a whole series of new work. Tomorrow I head up to WI for another long over due art retreat weekend with them. It's exciting to know that some other new theme may develop on this trip so many years later...

Back from the farm...

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And just like that it's over....was it a dream? A beautiful week of blue skies, big puffy white clouds, endless gorgeous hilly back country roads, cows, pigs, goats and corn. I wish I could hold on to this feeling of completeness and happiness. No tv, no computer, a lot of times no phone (my outdoor studio at Castle Rock State Park had no cell phone reception). But it wasn't all sunny skies for me. I had some very real creative challenges and no where to run away from them...I seriously considered driving back to Chicago one morning. But I stayed and battled it out with myself and am very happy with the few pieces that I finished...I think what I accomplished out there mentally in a week would have taken me 3 months here in my studio with all its distractions.

The other magic that happens as an artist at a program like this is you

are PRESENT the WHOLE time, I mean visually and creatively, MENTALLY

PRESENT. Everywhere I went and every road I traveled I was scanning the

amazing lush green vistas all around me...appreciating every field,

cow, pig and hay bale..stopping, sketching, taking photos.

The community and group of folks that make up this organization (The Fields Project) are so amazing, they are like a second family after my 3 different years of participation in the program. I also met a group of wonderful artists from around the country and a few right here in Chicago (I had this silly idea that I knew all the aritsts in Chicago!)

The field sculptures this year were so vivid and beautiful thanks to a new grass field and all the rain of the past few weeks. Another huge highlight was Cathi Bouzide & Danny Mansmith's collaboration on the wrapped corn bin. PHENOMENAL!

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I'll post more photos and notes soon but in the mean time I did upload my photos to my FLICKR page so please check them out.

Thursday in the studio...live

As I mentioned the other day, I've been using Gawker to capture my live painting sessions in the studio....the hard part is the editing with imovie and then getting all of that to show up here, Typepad had good instructions. Kate and Rich and of course Lynda.com have both taught me a lot...I'm using Viddler.com to host the video. So here goes the first one: Music: "Run On" by Moby from Play:The B Sides

KC ...my afternoon at the easel

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We head to Kansas City at the end of this month to do the Prairie Village Art Show. I was very happy to be one of the 90 artists selected from over 600 that applied. In conjunction with my new road trip series of paintings I also want to create similar works that encompass  places & landmarks of specific cities and neighborhoods (stay tuned for Chicago neighborhoods this summer!). Talented artist & my good friend Laura Nugent (who resides in KC and will also be exhibiting at the show) supplied me with a list of such items and with the added help of google images for reference I created this composition. I even taped it's creation with a webcam but you'll have to wait on that as I'm still challenged when it comes to editing. And of course I must finish this painting, (which I am confident I will do soon) now that I have this ability to document it. Curious? I'm using Gawker.

Artist Statement.....I finally wrote one.

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I only accomplish these important things when I really don't have time. I should be packing as I'm heading out of town in the morning for my 4th annual Birthday Adventure...Premise: Go to sleep or wake up someplace you have never been on your birthday! This year I will go to sleep near Lake Wenatchee in the Cascade Moutains of Seattle at my brother's new cabin!

So back to the statement, the deadline for Chicago's Public Art Portrait Project is Monday, I just couldn't pass it by. The Proposal required a Design,Concept Statement, Resume, Slides and...sigh, an Artist Statement. I have been putting this off for too long...instead using a weird bio/statementee thing. So tonight I did it...please note this project does not involve my animal imagery so I did not include anything relating to the animal art or mission. That will be an altogether separate piece. When I have more time I will created a combination statement that ties it all together. Enough talk, here it is:

When I paint, I feel like I am on an adventure, the blank canvas or board is like the open road. It’s easiest to take a route I know well but most satisfying when I have the courage to go down a path I have not traveled before – that’s when my most interesting compositions emerge.

Based on my adventure theory, I guess it’s not surprising that many of my paintings include roads and narrative landscapes. These painted stories include a visual vocabulary of beloved shapes and patterns that make up my contemporary folk and urban pop art style. I have a constant source of imagery influenced by my dreams, daily sketchbooks and my precious adopted dogs.

Raised in a small Wisconsin town, I always dreamed of living in the big city. The energy and vistas of Chicago’s more industrial, urban views constantly inspire me. My style was surely influenced by a childhood of endless Sunday mornings sitting in a Catholic church staring at the stained glass windows.  My color sense further developed every Christmas as my Mother allowed my Brother and I to mix our own frosting colors for holiday cutout cookies. Those colors still make up my palette.

Making art and seeing the joy it brings to other people inspires me, and keeps me moving forward in life, always excited to create something new.

-Anne Leuck Feldhaus

I would love your feedback. If you are looking for tips on how to write your artist statement I highly recommend visiting the very helpful sites of Alyson Stanfield, Molly Gordon and Arianne Goodwin. And most definitely check out the Smartist Telesummit for statements and so much more.

Color....finally!

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I'm excited to finally be making progress on my road trip paintings. I started them last fall after our October trip to Alabama. I have been contemplating the color for a long time, but I see now that it has been worth the wait. Okay..who am I kidding, I have been scared to add color, I forget that if it doesn't work you can simply paint over it!

The ceiling is really low so I placed them on the easel horizontally... grumbling as I did it (I know there is a big lofty studio out there just waiting for me) I realized that it's probably a good thing for me to do now and then compositionally. I also work upside down from time to time.

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The red border was a bold move for me but I think it really works.  I'm hanging a show next weekend at Flourish Studios and would love to have these paintings done in time...you know me and a deadline!