Linda Halcomb's Blog

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July 10, 2011 July 11, 2011

Filed under: Acrylics,Daily Post,Drawings,Watercolors — lindahalcombfineart @ 8:09 am
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No paintings today…just great news. As you may have noticed I have not been posting or commenting much lately. Well my youngest daughter, Kimberley, was married yesterday. She waited to marry so this was a very special day. The ceremony was in the gardens at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the reception was in the Garden Terrace building. It was an incredible, happy, special day.

True Love

Robert Clark changed his name to Robert Indiana when he moved from his hoosier home to New York. But he never forgot us and we never forgot him. The IMA has one of the largest collections of his work, including this sculpture that says it all…

The images so far are lovely. Maybe they will inspire to focus on happy, joyous and beautiful paintings or drawings. I know I certainly have not stopped smiling.

 

July 4, 2011 July 5, 2011

Filed under: Acrylics,Daily Post,Drawings,Watercolors — lindahalcombfineart @ 5:39 pm
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I have had a “room of my own” but it has been full of furniture intended for other purposes and in a room that used to be a small dining room. Last winter I bought a Cheap Joe’s taboret and I love it. It is robust and the drawers slide so easy. It inspired me to buy some attractive boxes to organize my art materials – one for watercolor, one for drawing, one for acrylics and one for all the other stuff. One thing let to another and I recently asked my daughters and husband for gift cards from Cheap Joe’s so I could get the matching drawing table. It arrived last Friday and I spent the weekend organizing and sorting and throwing out. I love the table and have painted my first painting on it (which I will post tomorrow). I thought I would show you “Linda’s Room” at the Halcomb house. I even hung some of my own art along side that of Monet. I love seeing other artist’s work space and feel really lucky (after having spent 30 years painting on a kitchen table off and on) to have this space. I hope some of you will share your space as well.

My Desk

This photo shows the small dining table that I use for a desk. Also the firewood holder that my brother made and I now use to hold my large pads, drawing boards and sheets of paper. You can just see a 4 pound toy Pomeranian furball behind the music stand I use as a “living with it” easel.

Studio 2

For this photo I’m standing where the music stand is. I’m going to put a small table with a plant or lamp or a small light weight rolling cart with drawers between the chairs. Love my Monet! Especially in the winter!

Studio 3

Here is my taboret and table. I love them! This was taken before I inaugurated the drawing table. You can see a couple of the four bookcases in the room. I have sixteen bookcases total and I think that’s why we never discuss moving.

Studio 4

Nuff said!

 

 

Remind me again! End of Spring Challenge June 19, 2011

Filed under: Acrylics,Daily Post — lindahalcombfineart @ 2:35 pm
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I thought you might like a second reminder and also some inspiration!

Hi all you creative types! Last year we did three virtual paint-outs here on WordPress and boy were they fun. I am issuing the call for our first paint out of 2011. I am a devoted reader of Oprah magazine and this month I was captured, I was enchanted, I was gripped by six words from a poem by e. e. cummings. I am a farm girl who grew up among the green fields and forests of Indiana. The words that captured my imagination are “the leaping greenly spirits of trees”. I would like to offer these words as the inspiration for our first paint out. I hope everyone reading this realizes that the “Paint Out” is open to all artists whether you paint with a brush, a needle, or a word processor.

On the last day of Spring, Monday, June 20th, please post your creation on your blog and leave a comment on my post (the one with my contribution!). If you are not a blogger and would still like to participate, email me your creation and I will do a follow-up post with your work.

Thanks to all who join the community and accept the challenge. As inspiration I offer the following:

The oak is called the king of trees,

The aspen quivers in the breeze,

The poplar grows up straight and tall,

The pear tree spreads along the wall,

The sycamore gives pleasant shade,

The willow droops in watery glade,

The fir tree useful timber gives,

The beech amid the forest lives.

 by Sara Coleridge, Trees

 

Here is a painting I completed late last summer. It is a HUGE old oak tree in our neighborhood. It is so old, so large and so weathered that it has become an icon. The neighborhood newsletter is entitled The Tree. Hope this gives you that last little bit of inspiration that pushes you to completion. (or post something you created before the challenge was issued – just have fun with this!)

The Giant

 

 

 

June 10, 2011 June 12, 2011

Filed under: Abstract,Acrylics,Daily Post,Watercolors — lindahalcombfineart @ 7:37 am
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Now, as I move on to my “greenly reaching trees”, I want to thank all of you who have provided friendship, positive thoughts and support over the last few months. I feel blessed by your kindness. For me this has also been a period of growth. I feel like many of my paintings were created by a spirit flowing through me. Now that we are in a watch and wait mode I thought you might enjoy seeing my first and last paintings.

Blood Flow - First of the Cancer Series - 8" X 10" Acrylic on Claybord

What a change ocurred over the next three months.

O Happy Day - 12" X 16" watercolor on CP Kilimanjaro Paper

I’m sure this will not be my last painting inspired by cancer but Ken and I are now grateful for a pause so we can relax, rejuvenate and enjoy the summer for a few weeks.

 

 

 

May 4, 2011 May 5, 2011

I have really been out of touch for the last few days and missed all the activity on WordPress. I have been prepping for a new show at Orchard Park Presbyterian Church In Carmel, Indiana. Yesterday afternoon we hung the show and the contact, Rachel, at the church was incredibly experienced and supportive.

Hanging at Orchard Park Church

They have two 13 foot hanging strips and my show includes 18 watercolor and 1 acrylic paintings, one ink drawing and one graphite drawing. Two small paintings are displayed on a lovely side table along with information about me and my guest book. The show is a mix of my older work and my recent paintings that are inspired by Ken’s battle with prostate cancer. The show will hang for two months. Ahhh, now I can sit back and relax for a day or two!

A better shot of just a few of the paintings hanging

 

March 24, 2011 March 25, 2011

Filed under: Abstract,Acrylics,Daily Post,Uncategorized,Watercolors — lindahalcombfineart @ 7:45 am
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Ken will start a new treatment program next week and, while he has been having lots of blood drawn over the last few months, that will increase significantly as he goes through the next several weeks. I have been thinking about blood, blood flowing out of his body and blood flowing back into his body. I painted this as I played with these thoughts.

Blood Flow Out, Blood Flow In

The painting has collaged strips from the product information sheet. Maybe it is my focus on geometry and maintaining an optimistic attitude but the painting doesn’t communicate emotion to me. I started in watercolor and finished in acrylic paint. I am not sure if I will keep this or try to recover the surface and do something else. Either way, I’m glad I did this painting. It is putting me more in touch with my feeling.

 

 

January 1, 2011 January 2, 2011

I have finished my Three Red Tulips watercolor…for now. I am putting it under a mat so I can see if it needs additional work. I am pretty happy with it at the moment. I am going to paint this a second time making two changes. First I want to work with a pastel palette and intend to make the tulips pink or yellow…probably yellow since I will learn a lot by painting shadows on yellow tulips. Second, Wric recommended that I paint the tulips (the main objects) before the background so I don’t struggle to make the objects look “up to” a dramatic background. I am going to follow that recommendation which I thought was very smart (gave me a duh moment!). So it will be paint tulips, mask tulips, paint background, remove mask and work entire painting. Thank you Wric for the recommendation!

Just a comment…the image I’ve included is scanned. When you see the actual painting the color transitions in the leaves and stem are smooth, not delinated like they look here.

Three Red Tulips - Final

Thoughts for 2011…I want to spend time focusing on landscapes this year – both realistic and abstract, both watercolor and acrylic. I want to continue my attempt to learn Sumi-e but with more dedication this year. I want to improve my skills as I learn from and am inspired by my fellow artists. I will continue to experiment with techniques, subjects and materials they explain so generously.

 

2010 in Review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2010. That’s about 26 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 155 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 344 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 488mb. That’s about 7 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was September 21st with 201 views. The most popular post that day was Reminder – End of Summer Art Challenge.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were WordPress Dashboard, carolking.wordpress.com, en.wordpress.com, bethparkerart.wordpress.com, and lesliepaints.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for abstract paintings, sumi-e, dance sketches, abstract, and linda halcomb blog.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Reminder – End of Summer Art Challenge September 2010
19 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,

2

March 11, 2010 March 2010
15 comments

3

Artist’s Statement and Short History January 2010
7 comments

4

The Family January 2010
1 comment

5

Family Redux February 2010
2 comments

 

December 31, 2010 January 1, 2011

As the old year ends I want to thank all of you who have visited my blog. When I started my blog on January 1, 2010 I had no idea that the experience would add so much richness to my life. Thank you all for the fun, the ideas, the criticism and the friendship. This is my 158th post for the year. I am not an everyday “poster” like I had hoped but not bad either.

As part of my last post for the year I wanted to show my final version of the Hawaiian Headland collage painting . After my post of December 7th, I decided that it had too many problems and that I had to go back and make additional changes. The primary irritant was the lack of connectivity in the gullies running down the hillsides. How did they start? How could they start with horizontal flow? So I did additional painting, matted the piece and stuck it in a frame. Then I lived with it for a couple of weeks. If one of my paintings can make it through the “living with it” period without making me itchy to pick up a brush, I know it is complete. And as any artist knows…our paintings always look better “cleaned up” by matting and framing. Now I am truly satisfied…a good way to start the new year.

 

 

December 27, 2010 December 28, 2010

gbc Gallery Show, November and December, 2010

gbc Gallery Show

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday everyone. I hope your holiday was safe, enjoyable and that we were warm and cozy if you were caught in the blizzard that hit the east coast. Today is my husband’s birthday so  (once again) I will not have much time to paint. But I do have something to share.

I finally have a few photos of my solo show to post . I have 40 paintings in the show and they range from realistic to abstract and include drawings in ink and charcoal and paintings in watercolor and acrylic. There is even a little use of pastel thrown in.

gbc Gallery Show

gbc Gallery Show

The show ends this weekend so I wanted to post some of my photos for you to see before it ended. This has been an excellent opportunity for me to obtain feedback and I believe I may have sold  three or four paintings. The three little black and white paintings have sold as a group and one of my little florals has probably sold.

gbc Gallery Show

 

 
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