Paintings From Poppie Series I Now Available as Museum Quality Giclee Prints

All the paintings in Poppy Series I are Now Available as Museum Quality Giclee Prints !! So, if you missed purchasing the original or wanted it in a larger size, your time has arrived!

The popularity of The Poppy Series paintings has allowed me to offer high quality giclee prints of all the paintings in Poppy Series I through my gallery at FineArtAmerica. There will be a permanent link in the side bar to my FineArtAmerica Gallery. Paintings from Poppy Series II. will also soon be available as prints.

Each painting is available in 3 sizes, (Sm. Med. Lg.) at very affordable prices. You can choose from a variety of papers and canvas, as well as matting and framing options, along with the option for several styles of gallery wrap canvas.

Paper
Premium Archival Matte Paper
Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper
Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper
Watercolor Paper
Cool Tone Picture Rag
Somerset Velvet
Canvas
Bulldog Glossy Canvas
Bulldog Matte Canvas

Stretching
Canvas prints may be stretched on stretcher bars to reproduce the look and feel of an original painting.

Framing and Matting
There are thousands of combinations of frames and mats which may be purchased with each print

Purchasing
Once you have finished selecting prints and choosing accessories, its time to checkout. Checkout occurs via a secure page on FineArtAmerica.com (SSL encrypted). You can pay for your purchase using any major credit card (American Express, Mastercard, or Visa). During the checkout process, you will specify the shipping address where the prints should be delivered. FineArtAmerica.com will then calculate the applicable shipping cost and add that to the total order. Once you verify that all information is correct, the order is submitted for processing.

You will then receive an e-mail confirming you order was received and is being processed.
At this point, the production wheels are set in motion, and our staff begins the process of printing, stretching, matting, framing, glazing, protecting, boxing, and shipping! All framed orders are shipped in heavily-protected cardboard boxes. Print-only orders are rolled and shipped in cardboard tubes. Most orders ship within 1 - 3 days. All orders are shipped via UPS Ground (except Hawaii and Alaska). At the present time, FineArtAmerica.com will only ship orders to the United States and Canada.

As soon as the order ships, the you will receive another e-mail with the tracking information. In addition, you can login to your account on FineArtAmerica.com at any time in order to view his/her purchase history and the shipment status of each purchase.
Depending on the location of the customer, the print(s) will arrive within 1 - 5 days, and the process is complete!


Return Policy

FineArtAmerica.com offers a 30-day "no questions asked" return policy. Customers can return their purchased prints within 30 days of the date of delivery and receive a full refund of the purchase price (minus shipping costs). The returned items must be shipped back to FineArtAmerica.com in the original packing materials, and the customer is responsible for the return shipping fee. Returns are coordinated by contacting support@fineartamerica.com.

Orchard in Spring Impressionist Painting

Orchard in Spring

About This Painting:
Media: acrylic
Size: 8 in X 6 in (20.3 cm X 15.2 cm)

How to Purchase:
This painting is sold

No Eye Has Seen

No Eye Has Seen, acrylic, 20x24

This was a very enjoyable piece to paint, seemed to flow right out of me. I had to crop the bottom of the photo a little because the easel was visible, so the composition actually extends another inch or so at the bottom showing a bit more of the marsh grass on the right and more of the cloud reflection on the left. In person the cloud has more of a luminous yellow glow to it than you can see in the photo, so nicer in person than what you see on the screen. Enjoy!

Flanders Field

Flanders Field, 30x30, oil

Here's a recent oil painting. I really like this large square format, it makes for an interesting composition. This painting will be featured on the cover of the February issue of The Art Guide Magazine. The Art Guide is a regional magazine featuring art, artists and galleries in the CT, RI, MA and NY area. Poppies and fields of poppies have been a recurring theme in my work this year. You can find more of them in my gallery at the Daily Painters site here.

Exploring the Seasons in Acrylic

Morning Meadow (spring), 6x8, acrylic

Poppy Morning (summer), 6x8, acrylic

Autumn Leaves (fall), 9x12, acrylic

Frozen Edge (winter), 6x8, acrylic

I've always been intrigued by acrylic paints. They seem very modern, comtemporary, edgy and 20th century. I've seen stunning acrylic paintings and some absolutely horrendous monstrosities. I've seen the most intricatedly detailed and accurate wildlife art, some beautifully expressive impressionist work and some wondefully textured almost sculptural abstact works as well. The colors seem vivid and saturated and the perks of soap and water clean up combined with their quick dry time add to their appeal. On the down side they never seem as full bodied, lush, buttery and rich as oil paints. Quite frankly many brands sem plastic-y and cheap looking. Creating soft atmospheric passages seem to take an entirely different working method than in oils because of the quick dry time so that's both a pro and a con). Lastly, and most unfortunately many collectors seem to prefer oil paintings and prices for acrylics are often lower than for oils. However, I believe that over time that will change.



So what am I doing in this series of new paintings? Well, playing around, experimenting and having fun for starters! I'm using a new type of acrylics, Chroma Interactive. These relatively new paints are meant to stay workable longer, while still drying much quicker than oils, and they definitely don't have that plastic-y look or feel. Combined with some Golden soft-gel and some of the mediums designed to go with these paints I'm getting some very impressive results. I don't know if I love them enough yet to completely abandon oils but I'm going to be doing my small daily paintings with these for the next few months to see if I can really produce acryloic works that ae essentially indistinguishable from my oils. Stay tuned for more results.

Paintings BIG and small

Golden Days, oil, 24x36

Evening Falls, oil, 24x36

Luminary of the Autumn Night Sky, oil, 30x40

Whirl the Seasons Round, oil, 12x16

Beach Path in Winter, oil, 9x12

It's always fun to shake things up a bit and working both large and small is one way to do that. The two small paintings here are not really that small considering that I often work 6x8in. But they are considerably smaller than the first three pieces. Students often ask me whether it's better to work large or small; the answer isn't really one or the other. There are things to be learned and gained from both. Small gives you the advantage of tackling all the major problems of a painting in a single sitting. Composition, value, color, brushwork, as well as painting method can all be addressed in a small work. Each time you work through those challenges you grow a little as an artist. So, a large painting may take you three weeks to finish and you've worked through one set of problems, but if you were painting smaller perhaps you would be able to accomplish six paintings in the same span of time and you would have had the experience of working through six sets of challenges. The more experience you get the better your painting skills become. Painting small allows you to produce many works in a short amount of time and gain experience quickly. This is often helpful for beginners. However, there are limitations to what can be done in a very small work, particularly in the area of expressive brush work and some of the finer points of creating a painting, like edges, subtle shifts in color and value,detail and complexity of composition. More intermediate level painters may find it most beneficial to tackle some larger canvases in order to pursue thise particular elements. And while small works may be little gems, large works tend to have the wow factor and command attention with their sense of presence. If you'd like to push youself a little then gradually change canvas size, either larger or smaller. Once you become comfortable with the next size up or down, go to the next size. Eventually, you'll find that you are comfortable painting any size. Inevitably you will have your favorite sizes and that's fine, but when you get into a rut it's nice to be able to break out a little bit and get the excitement flowing again.

As always these are available for sale. Golden Days and Luminary of the Autumn Night Sky are currently at Gallery at 85 Main Street, Centerbrook, CT. Send me an e-mail for purchase information. jan.blencowe@comcast.net

Also don't forget the HOLIDAY SALE at my website http://www.janblencowe.com/ there's a whole gallery of work on sale 50% off until Jan. 30th, 2008.

Indian Summer Paintings

Autumn Dunes, 8x10, oil

September Beach, 8x10, oil

Butterflies Paradise, 6x8, oil

Oh boy, there is some really amazing color and texture going on out there this time of year. Late summer weeds and wildflowers have burst into bloom, grasses are going to seed, shrubs and bushes are bursting with berries and trees with nuts. The sun, though at a lower angle in the sky, is still bright and casts a warm, mellow shawl over the landscape. I find the dunes to be particularly beautiful at this time of year, sporting reddish and purple grasses. The last painting was a spot that had weeds and flowers in abundant profusion and attracted butterflies by the dozen what an awesome sight!!

INDIAN SUMMER

Emily Dickinson [1830-1886]

These are the days when birds come back,

A very few, a bird or two,

To take a backward look.
These are the days when skies put on

The old, old sophistries of June,

-A blue and gold mistake.
Oh, fraud that cannot cheat the bee,

Almost thy plausibilityInduces my belief,
Till ranks of seeds their witness bear,

And softly through the altered air

Hurries a timid leaf!
Oh, sacrament of summer days,

Oh, last communion in the haze,

Permit a child to join,
Thy sacred emblems to partake,

Thy consecrated bread to break,

Taste thine immortal wine!

Plein Air Paintings to End Summer and Welcome Autumn

September Field of Trees, oil, 16x20, $500

Path Through the Cedars, oil, 8x10, $200

Headless Scarecrow, oil, 8x10, $200

Some Thoughts on Green

Another summer is coming to an end and that means I've completed another season of studying the color green. Plein air painters often dread this color. It completely dominates the landscape throughout the summer and if not handled correctly the results are a disasterous painting. Ask me how I know this LOL. I keep a little journal with musings about art and life in it. Here's a recent entry anout the color green:

I watch as the clouds form and reform behind the treetops. I study the color of the trees. They're green of course....but no, I look at the green plastic pitcher on the deck. It's bright yellow green. I compare. It's not anywhere to be found in the trees. Only the sunlit grass comes close and even then the red-brown of the earth shows through causing an orange glow beneath the green grass. I look at the deep green of the chair cushions, what we might call forest green, yet I don't see that in the trees either. How is it that this common color of the landscape is so elusive, so un-nameable, and if un-nameable how can I capture it with paint?

How indeed?

Hours of careful observation, and much time spent painting outdoors.