Monday, October 7, 2013

2014 Calendars!



2014 Landscape Calendars are ready!



After *gasp* 5 years, you all know what you'll get:

      - 12 high-quality digital prints of original oil paintings.

      - Unbound pages perfect for framing for a month or a lifetime.*

      - A new, colorful landscape to enjoy each month!




Just like last year, this calendar is on a matte paper so you can write down all the parties, birthdays, holidays and art openings you need to remember.




Again, there are two sizes - the traditional 8.5" x 11" for $35 and a mini 5" x 7" version for only $18.

Here's where you can get yours:

My Square store
  (This is my favorite online option, but don't tell the
    others)


Or pick one up at the following events (more info in the sidebar):

   - Windswept Studios during NH Open Doors
     November 2&3

   - Art in Action November 9&10

Want more options? Contact me and we will work something out!

*Either calendar will fit in standard frames. If you would like a folded plexiglass frame for your 8.5" x 11" Calendar, you can get one from me for $12.


Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Artists Buying Art


Benson I, painted from life by Karen McLain
© Karen McLain, posted with permission of the artist

I went to the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen's Fair yesterday. I go with my husband every year and we usually buy things. 

One year, we didn't buy anything - not one thing! And I felt very sad on the drive home. I don't let that happen anymore. This year, we more than made up for that sad year.

I am on a buying kick, I guess. A couple of weeks ago I bought myself the present you see at the top of the post.

It is a painting by an artist named Karen McLain. I have known of her work for a few years now, and when I had a chance to buy something, I kinda jumped on it. Since I ask all of you to buy my art all the time, you should know that I am a collector too. And I will treasure this piece for a long, long time.

Back to Karen and the painting I just bought - she pre-sold some pieces for a trip she took into the wilderness to paint wild horses from life. You read that right. She lived in a camper and set up an easel near these animals and painted them. 

Karen sent me some links to video she shot out there:



 
Honestly, capturing these animals in paint from life seems like magic to me. The horses in her pieces are breathing and alive and have individual personalities. Only a huge amount of technical skill and knowledge could produce paintings that seem this deceptively free and loose.

Karen is my “Painting from Life Hero”. (I told her that on facebook once.)

I could probably write more about Karen and her horses, but the best way to experience these paintings is by going to her multiple online sites and marveling at them yourself. Enjoy!







Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Update on the Auctions

© 2013 Hannah Phelps

Bright Marsh
4" x 6", oil on canvas
SOLD to a lucky bidder in a Facebook auction

For about six weeks, I have been running auctions on the Hannah Phelps Fine Art Facebook page. Before I get too far into this, I would like to thank everyone who participated in those auctions and bought paintings! 

The auctions have gone so well, that I am going to continue to do them. 

Here is what will stay the same:

* The paintings will come from the HP Brushworks blog. The Brushworks paintings are basically daily paintings - small pieces that were probably completed in one day.

* The auction will last about a day on Facebook and then go to Daily Paintworks, so Facebook fans get a chance to buy them without joining Daily Paintworks.

* Bid by typing your price in the comments section under the post. You can bid as much as you want, but each bid must be in whole dollars. Any thing less than $1 will be considered a non-bid.

* Winning bidders have to email me (hannah@hannahphelps.com) so I can send them a Pay Pal invoice. I can't assume that Facebook will allow me to send folks private messages - EVEN if I am replying to something that was sent to me first.

* Domestic shipping is an additional $7. International shipping is $25.

* The paintings are not framed.

I am changing a few things:

* The minimum bid is going up. You knew $1 per square inch wouldn't last forever! The minimum bid will be in each post.

* I am going to post whenever I want, which will include weekends. 

Thanks again everyone! If you have any questions, please ask me! You could post inquiries in the comments section here or on the HP Brushworks blog or on an auction post on facebook or email me.

Let the bidding continue!




Thursday, June 13, 2013

Do Red Dots Make You Green with Envy?

Art pieces that recently found forever homes.
 
These paintings and prints were recently purchased by some astute and sophisticated folks with very good taste. 

Thank you collectors!

If you are thinking, "Hey, I wanted that!" about one of the prints, you can have one too! Contact me to talk about adding one to your home.

If you are thinking that same thing about a painting, well, you can't have that exact one. But you could have an original of your very own. Join the auctions on facebook or Daily Paintworks to see what paintings are available for you.

(You can see a preview of upcoming paintings on the HP Brushworks blog.)

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

A Jigsaw That Came Together


Marsh Spring
© 2013 Hannah Phelps
jigsaw relief, edition of 10, 4.5" x 11"


After another couple of days of work, this edition is done!

I tweaked some of the colors and if you compare the print above with the proof I showed you in the last post, you can see that I adjusted some of the shapes too.

I am using a different type of paper than I usually do. This is a Japanese paper called Kinwashi. It is nice and thin, so it was easy to transfer the image with my trusty wooden spoon. It also has small, stiff fibers in it. I don’t know why, but it does give an extra texture to a design that might end up looking a bit flat. I had to watch out when I printed it though - a couple of them gave me splinters!

From a painting I created long ago - maybe 2009 - to this print. Not a quick process, but a worthwhile one!

Monday, June 3, 2013

Grey Matter, Now In Color

Block and proof on newsprint.

Remember the weird pile of grey stuff I showed you a few weeks ago? I can now show you what it is and what I am doing with it.

The substance itself is a very pliable relief printmaking material called soft kut. I don’t know exactly what it is - it feels rubbery.

The softness is great for two things. First of all, it takes less strength to carve an image into soft kut than in wood or even linoleum. So if you, say, have an arm injury, maybe you can still make some prints.




 Block pulled apart so you can see that each color is a little piece.


It is also ridiculously easy to cut a block into pieces. A zillion little tiny pieces. Plus, the stuff bends and stretches, which means it can be finagled back together again.
 

  Close up of block pieces.


The first jigsaw I ever printed was using this stuff. It was a jigsaw and a reduction color print.

But for this one (and a print I showed you a few weeks ago), I kept them to one layer and added a white-line element to the design.

Traditional white-lines use woodblocks and watercolor and are “inked” with a brush. (Remember this post about how I make white-line woodcuts?)

For the soft kut white-lines, I use rollers and waterbased printmaking inks. (Specifically, I use Akua intaglio, in case you are interested.)

The little shapes are individually inked and then reassembled. Then the entire image is printed at one time by laying a piece of paper on the block and rubbing it with a wooden spoon.
 
Each color needs its own roller. I took this photo after 
I cleaned up and put plastic wrap over the ink and rollers.

This print isn’t finished. Because of all the little pieces, it has already taken two solid days of mixing ink and "proofing", or making test prints. Now I am in the evaluation stage - I have the proofs and I am deciding what to do next. I will post the final version of the print once I have one!



Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Well Armed, Part Deux


© 2013 Hannah Phelps
Met
oil on canvas, 4" x 6"
(translates to a $24 reserve bid....)

Last week, I told a little sob story about how my arm was in bad shape for a few months.  I ended by telling you that I started painting daily.

Sometimes I finish a piece in one session, but usually I work on it again sometime within the week. If I am having trouble with something, that is ok - I put it away and paint something else.

The guidelines I told you about last week helped me just paint. Since I was relaxed and having fun, some of these paintings turned out quite nice. Better than nice, really. Many of them are great little paintings. Some of them even seemed ready to share.

So I started a new blog for them, hpbrushworks.blogspot.com. After a few weeks of successfully posting dailies there, I joined a site called Daily Paintworks and offered them for auction.

Then I realized "AHHHHH! What about all the folks who have been following me here and on facebook who might want them? Shouldn't they get first crack at them? And why make them join a whole new website like Daily Paintworks?!"

So I thought up a new plan, just for you:

From now on, before I post a painting on Daily Paintworks, I will post it on my facebook page

For the next month or so, it will be available for auction for 24 hours with a reserve price of $1 per square inch (that is 20% of my normal price for a painting). You all bid in the comment section and the winning bidder will be determined at the end of the 24 hour period.


$1 minimum increments for bidding are required. Anything less than a dollar will be considered a non-bid.

That winning bidder will need to email me with their email address so I can send a pay pal invoice (or discuss other payment options) and their shipping address. If they don’t within three days, the next highest bidder will be contacted and on down the line. 

Note that domestic shipping is $7. If I see you often and can just hand you your painting (you know who you are) we can wave the shipping fee.

All of these paintings are unframed.

If no one buys it on facebook that day, it will go to Daily Paintworks with a higher price tag.

The Brushworks blog is a little ahead of us, so you can go there and see a preview of what is available. We will catch up by mixing existing paintings with brand new ones for a little while.

Any questions? 
Ask here in the comment section below; or
Ask in the facebook comment section; or

Ready?....We will start on Monday, June 3 at 8 am.