Thank You

The art show at Darien Rowayton bank is over. Thank you to everyone who took time out to go see the display. For those who weren't able to get there, watch for news of future shows or contact Patricia Creedon

Art Show Coming Up!

Here is a detail of one of the pastels in the show.

Paul's Representative, Patricia

Guest Blog: Why I represent Paul Creedon, Fine Artist

In 2010 I started a freelance graphic and web design business called Pat Creedon Design, Inc. I came up with the name (mine) and had it incorporated. The plan was to market my extensive abilities at branding and creative concepts to help small businesses grow. I got quite a few clients once word got around. I designed a menu, several business cards, several websites, postcards, PowerPoint templates, Social Media graphics, and logos. I also signed up with a few creative staffing agencies that placed me at area corporations for onsite stints. And I worked freelance for my previous employer. I even did some work for non-profits. Overall it was a sucessful company and still is nice to have as a sideline and back up to the fulltime employment I was offered in May 2012.

So why did I change my business model to focus more on Paul Creedon, Fine Artist? First and foremost, he’s my husband! But beyond that I am a great fan of his work. I always have been. But his recent work in pastels is really fulfilling his potential in my opinion. I want everyone to see it. To see it is to love it. Though many art collectors are drawn to a more abstract style and Paul may never achieve trendiness, he produces consistent, high-quality art for the lover of colorful, recognizeable still lifes and landscapes. If you fit that bill then welcome. Paul has a wonderful personality that really comes through in his blog and his art. Get to know him here and on Twitter, @pecreedon. I will be designing his branding and promoting his art to galleries and by entering local art shows. So look for his work on a wall near you or better yet, purchase a Paul Creedon for your own wall! To do so, simply email me, Patricia Creedon. Samples and pricing will be sent away!

Creating Art Without Time Travel

Since I have been working on landscapes for the past several weeks, it's obviously time  to talk about a still life again. This one isn't in an art show; I just am fond of it. It isn't perfect; I would do the wood table in a different way if I had a TARDIS* and could go back and rewrite time. But that would mean crossing my own time stream, which would blow up a third of the universe, so it will have to stay as it is. I can't change it now because the picture is already in a frame.

Doing a still life with glass is not as hard as it seems.    

Making the glass bud vase seem transparent was the primary temptation, er, I mean challenge in this one. People get scared at just the mention of painting a clear object with the background showing through. They shouldn't: mostly you just blur whatever's behind the glass and throw in some highlights and a reflection or three and you're there.

Still life with glass vase.

I gave the background some texture by cross hatching with pastel pencils, and by smudging the parts where it would show through the vase introduced a sense of the glass's smoothness.

The importance of the pastel painting's background

I made the background lighter in tone on the right hand side in order to balance the dark shadow cast by the vase. The background is dark on the upper part so the red rose would look more prominent. The heavy highlight on the nearest edge of the vase leads your eye up to the rose, and corrects what might otherwise be a very strong tendency pulling the viewer's eye to the left. And besides, highlights are cool. The lighter area in the middle of the vase's shadow is the light source shining through the glass, and is also meant to correct the pull to the left.

Was I thinking about all of this while making the picture? Of course not. Don't ever believe art teachers when they tell you the artist thought of all this before they started painting. The painter is just fixing the mistakes he makes while doing the project. The successful works are as much a product of luck as of anything else. You never see the stuff that doesn't work.

*if you are not a fan of Doctor Who... well you just should be.

Upgrades in the New Model

Was it last year's model or this year's?

The picture below is similar to one currently in a show. It has a tarnished piece of copperware, a dark background, and a copper spout curved toward the right side of the piece.

I went looking for a scan of the one in the show and found this. But it didn't seem right. Then I remembered the piece in the current show was completed at the last minute before another show several months back and there hadn't been time to scan it before it was framed.

Sure enough I checked the picture on my website, and it showed a similar, but better painting, and yes it was in a frame.

So what was this one? An earlier experiment concerned with the same themes which went in a different direction and then got pushed (literally) to the back of the closet. I did a newer version honing in on the same obsessions and forgot about the earlier one.

An artist's obsessions

What obsessions? Well, I love the look and feel of copper and the reflections created by other objects on it. The faint hint of tarnish on the short watering can later became a big spot of tarnish on a tall watering can. The wine bottle made it in again because I just thought I could do a better job with it, and the candle stick snuck into the right hand side of the newer version to echo the tarnish blotch of the taller watering. The red cloth got unfolded because it seemed too busy in the earlier piece.

Still, I had forgotten that I did the earlier painting. Possibly the little disappointments hung around in the back of my head for the rest of the year, and got a redesign at the end of it. They do it with cars every fall, why not with paintings?

Paul has a Still Life in an Art Show

You'll want to see this in person!

Go visit it at the Carriage Barn until October 3rd. It's the Member Show for the New Canaan Society for the Arts and if you click on the link you'll get an idea of the space and the hours. Drive in either driveway of the magnificent estate owned by the town and you'll find the carriage barn next to the powerhouse theatre and both are to the left when facing Waveny mansion. The artist members all get to enter one piece at no charge and no commission so the art can be very affordable. So do your walls a favor and go pick up some fine original art today!