"Storm Warning"

..............................................sold
8"x10"
oil on linen

Painting the Town!

this is the third attempt at the show. I think some things are better and other things will improve but it's a learn as you go process, but that's what's fun about painting and that's what's fun about TV on the internet. As for the continuation of the mini art lesson, if you click here on this past blog post -chiaroscuro- you can see further what I'm trying to get across... all things said I think I like the painting more than the show! ahahahahh!! oil on linen, 24 by 40

"Central Park in the Snow"

................................................. sold
8"x10"
Oil on linen

I was planning to list this painting next week, but after two days of snowing in NY, this scene looks the same as Central park looks today. I decided it’s right time to post.

disaster master copy!

Here's an intro I shot and edited together for the painting I'm going to start on Painting the Town this Friday, a "(disaster) Master Copy" of Jacopo Bassano's Flight into Egypt. I've always been a fan of this painting and look forward to paying homage to it, and learning from it, with paint!

"Best Coffee in Town"

...................................................sold
8x10 Oil on linen
.
This is the first of nine paintings I’m planning to list on eBay. This little painting was a challenge because of the size and so many details.

8x10

I’ve received many requests for small size paintings from people who like my work but can’t afford large pieces. Last month was a perfect time to give this idea a try since I was busy with my job and didn’t want to start anything time consuming. Choosing between eBay's popular 6x6 and anything larger I decided to go with 8x10 oil on linen. I‘ve finished nine paintings. The first of these will show up on eBay on Wednesday February 24 at starting price of $100.

Painting the Town #2

This is episode number 2, another show Painting the Town! I was a little worried how things would go without John, but I've done 20 minute portraits before at shows and Nathan is a good friend plus we had the footage we shot at Tommy's Burgers so that made me feel better. Enjoy the show! by the way here is a shot of the portrait, it looks like Nathan a bit, maybe a little bit bent here and there! ahahah!

One More against the Filthy Addiction to Smoke (see below, below, and below)

By the Three Little Sisters, who sadly were subjected to second and third-hand smoke (the kind that clings to houses, furnishings, art, little animal lungs, little child lungs, and disgustingly, the clothing, hair, and breath of smokers, even long after their last cigarette or cigar). Incense also stinks.

In the apartment complex next door one of those horrible smoke/fire alarms that can bust everyone's eardrums has gone off, just as I was completing this post... The power of blogging!

These are Sculptures of My Two Sisters and Me Coming Out Against Smoking

The photos were taken by Rafael Landea, an artist in his own right, and they were creatively worked up by me.

They were shown at Expressions Gallery in Berkeley, where they created quite a stir. In post below they valiantly speak out against the filthy habit of smoking, especially near innocent non-smokers.

Frankly I'm Disgusted That I Would Have Had To Post This Where I Live

To all my neighbors,

Some of you are new here. Some of you who are new may not realize that it is against Oakland housing law to smoke on the premises, anywhere on the grounds of this building. Please will you all leave this posted so everyone knows.

All of us living here would like to be comfortable. That means we wish to open our windows for fresh air anytime we feel like it. There is a ninety year old neighbor living here. She served in WWII. Doesn't she deserve to be comfortable? Others do not smoke and do not wish to breathe in second-hand smoke, nor should they have to. Others are artists and they do not wish their artwork or their furnishings to stink of your smoke.

I believe that there are times for radical honesty, and this is one. I have asthma. I smell the smoke from anywhere in or around this building. It makes me cough. It gives me headaches. It stinks.

More radical honesty: My mother recently died a horrible torturous death from Lung Cancer. She had smoked for 35 years. She weighed 60 pounds at the time of her death. She had tubes coming out of every part of her body. She was delirious, and like many smokers, in denial about the cause of her illness right up until the very end. It was not pretty. I will go so far as to say that the death of my mother was about as ugly as death gets.

Do you know that even third-hand smoke (the kind that clings to insides of houses, in hair, on skin and worst of all on the breath of smokers even when they are not smoking, even when it has been hours since the last smoke) can be deadly? These are the latest findings.

I am an artist, so I have tried to be a little bit more casual and creative than this posting is, but sadly there are perhaps a few of you (judging by the different brands of butts I find on the ground here) who continue to smoke even though I have spoken to you, and left other notes here as well as little butt installation artwork on this table. Both have been promptly removed.

Please do not remove this note. I have more, and I will replace it. I need for everyone to get the message: DO NOT SMOKE ANYWHERE NEAR THIS BUILDING.

For all of the above reasons, please also do not burn incense.

Thank you for your cooperation in this very important matter,

Chandra

Cleaning out my Etsy STore!

I'm cleaning out all of my old work from my Etsy store. It will all be retired and go into storage after this last listing. I think I have grown quite a bit in my art since most of this was made and it's time to lay it to rest. I'm also drastically discounting them so that hopefully it will get a last chance to find a new home. The older pieces I will be discontinuing are:

All of my framed mini collages. They used to sell for $45 each. They are now $30. (this is a steal as I paid $20 each just for the frames)

My two wax pieces. Which were $129 each. Now $65 each.

2 Fine people. Was $35. Is now $20.

Penmanship was $55. Now $30.

My hanging ATC's and few journals on the site will also be going. I'm looking forward to bringing new stuff I've been working on soon. Out with the old, in with the new.

Visit my store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SarahWhitmire

Thanks guys,

Sarah

tommy's original, eagle rock

This is a classic building and a perfect time of year to paint it. I went out there for a chili-cheeseburger, fries, and an iced tea, and then ran across the street and painted for a few hours. I'm really pleased with how this one came out! oil on canvas, 12 by 24

Lets Paint the Town!

here's a new show John and I are starting, and here's the first shot at it. We're blocking it in, as they say. Us having fun and painting... work in progress

the smithsonian castle

The day after the storm was Sunday and I was scheduled to leave that day, but nature and the airlines had other plans and I was going to be there until Tuesday now. But you know what, the day after the snowstorm was amazing! I'm glad I was there to get to paint the sun and snow. I don't get much of that being from Los Angeles. So here's the Smithsonian Castle. A passerby was so enamored with the painting that he bought it the next day, how cool is that?! Thanks RW, you helped pay for the trip! Here's a picture he took of me painting on the spot. acrylic on panel, 9 by 12

blizzard en plein air in DC

I was en plein air out in the snow in front of the capitol building during the blizzard on Feb 6th trying to capture the color but failing. Not because I couldn't paint what I saw but because of the 'slow-dry' acrylics I was using. They were perfect the rest of the trip, but in the snow they were total failure. The wind blew the snowflakes and they'd stick onto the wet paint surface, then the flakes would melt back into water and drip off the canvas panel taking the paint with it. I tried painting for an hour but realized what was happening and decided to save what I had and go home, it looked good! Also my good camera froze up so I couldn't get a decent photo. But the relentless snow on the long walk back to the hotel washed the entire painting off and in laughing frustration I flung it into a snowdrift. It's somewhere on Pennslyvania Ave washed away. These are the only shots I have of that day, I asked a passerby who took pics of me with my camera phone. It was a surreal experience!

winter in Washington!

Wow what a crazy week it's been. Nothing went as planned, but I had a tremendous time in he storm of the Century! That was a lot of weather for someone born and raised and living in southern California. Wow! It was really an awesome experience. I have a bunch of posts lined up so I'll start with the first painting I did the day after my arrival on the 3rd. I'd met up with friend, artist, curator, great guy Trevor Young late night Wednesday and he gave me some "must see" museums and paintings, so Thursday was packed. First I went to the National Gallery and got reacquainted with some of my favorites there, and the east Wing with the "Small French Paintings" show was one incredible painting after another. Then I went to Dupont Circle I saw the Philips Collection which I'd missed the first time I went to DC. Amazing! Some of my favorite Daumiers, and four paintings by Dufy, who I'm a huge fan of, that I was told had been in storage for years! After all that painting I was dying for some plein air and since I had my mini backpack mobile studio with me I wandered around until I stumbled across the Bremaster's Castle and knew right away I wanted to paint it. I took a camera phone pic of the setup. acrylic on panel, 9 by 12 ...more posts later...

self portrait in DC

I'm in DC! Having fun meeting great people, seeing great art, painting, drawing, enjoying the snow! I'll post more later. I have limited internet and computer, but here's a composite shot of my trip sort of. It's a self portrait of my hotel room bed...