new cat series

I've been working on these little guys for my friend.  Having had a special kitty many years ago, I appreciate what he means to her.  She's chosen the first one but the other 2 are for sale and I already sold 2 others before I had a chance to scan them.  I didn't know kitty pictures were so popular!

Visit my website or my facebook page: 

maryquintrall.com

facebook.com/quintrall.art

Spring is a'coming!

As with everyone else I know, I don't update my blog as often as I know I should. Thanks to those who stick with me and rest assured, even though I don't blog, things are happening.

After my show at Tony's/Harris Ave, I put some work up at the WAG art market in Fairhaven. It's a tiny bit of wall space but I'm glad to be represented in Bellingham. Love it there. After I hung that, I went over to a Lot of Flowers and bought a Ben Mann Calendar. Love it!

I'll be in 2 spring shows and am getting my application together for the studio tour in July. Getting juried is so cool and also so scary. Rejection is never fun and risking it is risky. But it makes getting in pretty sweet. Cross your fingers.

Follow me on facebook too! http://www.facebook.com/quintrall.art

edited 7/23/12: I still have a little bit of wall at the WAG market in Bellingham, through August.  Come check out the market, it's lots of diverse local artists in a co-op setting.

The other day I hung my work at Harris Ave Cafe (Next door to Tony's Coffee)

I love Fairhaven (Bellingham). I could hang out there every day. It's beautiful and diverse and fun and scenic and they have gelato.

I've had a few cafe shows and the logistics of hanging are always challenging. This is the first time I used monofilament. Some of the screws the work hangs from are facing down. As in from the ceiling-like. This would seem to make gravity a problem but it worked out. The coffee shop was open but the cafe was closed. I prefer closed because I hate asking people to move so I can hang my work when they're just trying to enjoy their coffee or get some work done themselves.

Well, it's up, thanks to my assistant who checked for level while I was on the ladder so I didn't have to climb up and down that many more times. Phew!

So, go get a cup of local joe and check out my show.

http://www.harrisavecafe.com/

http://www.maryquintrall.com/

Winter is here again. Oh no.

I love doing shows. Even when sales are down. People say the nicest things.

Buying gifts at a holiday show keeps your money in your community and supports a small business person. I hope you'll look for one in your community.

My garden is usually teeming with poppies in June but this year something went wrong. Maybe it was the weather. Maybe my chickens ate them. (Because that happens. I have to wrap my pretty garden in not-so-pretty chicken wire for most of the summer and since summer was late this year, so was I.) But I did get a few plants sprung up and one of them is very happy and not even in the usual garden. It jumped the walk and planted itself in the most inhospitable thing that could be a flower bed it could possibly find. It had been a volcanic-rock-covered, no-respectable-plant-would-grow-roots-here kind of spot, but I'm glad the poppies found a home there. The sun hits it from the opposite direction as the usual garden and the light can be very dramatic. As it is my custom, I wanted to get some poppies painted this summer and summer was slipping away. This one started out with grey background and red poppies placed with authority. Sometimes you have to boss a painting around. Then came the blues and yellows, which together, of course, made green. I scratched in some stems and splashed in some light. It must have worked because it sold the first time I showed it. (thanks to my buyer!) Selling a piece its first time out made me feel like I know what I'm doing at least some of the time. Note to artists afraid to show your work: hardly anyone ever says if they don't like something. Showing your work is the best experience to keep you showing. As Nike says, just do it.

Your average Tuesday in the studio

Okay, no days are average. Some days are very productive and some are frustrating. Some days I can sweep the dust off the floor or tend the garden outside the studio doors and talk to the chickens and watch the birds and fiddle with the music until lunch time.

Yesterday was productive. I finished a painting that I started a year and a half ago. (these things happen) I posted a pic on facebook.com/quintrall.

Today I've been stalling. The house needs cleaned. The chickens need fed. Maybe the afternoon will be better but there are no promises in the studio.

fun in the studio

My studio is a happy place. Good vibes only, please. I love to go there. It makes me happy. If I head to the studio in other than a happy mood, the silly things I keep there make me smirk. If you missed the tour in July, you'll be happy to know you can make an appointment to visit my studio. I'll probably make you a cup of tea. I love to hear about your relationship to art. Do you make it? Do you buy it? Do you love it like I do? But mostly, I hope we laugh.

How long have you been painting? She asked. I never know how to answer that question. Forever? I mean, does finger painting in grade school count? Kinda. How about watercolors in highschool? Maybe. How about the acrylics I played with in my 20's or the craft paint I fiddled with here and there? I don't know. I've been putting quality acrylic paint on quality canvas for just 4 years. But before that I struggled with watercolor (again) and of course, I sketched and did other creative things, dabbling in a long list of arts and crafts, really, forever. So, when I'm asked how long have I been painting, the easy answer is 4 years. But it doesn't give a hint to the real, lifelong longing to be an artist or the pursuits that have built the foundation for the work I'm doing now. So, for me, it's not an easy answer. And I still don't feel like I've answered it.

Sneak Peek

I've been working on expanding my price points before the summer festival season and the Studio Tour (www.skagitart.com) and this fun collection of 6x6 paintings on paper is part of my effort. The paintings tell the story of a life lived in a flower garden. I've also had my first prints made and continue to work on expanding my collection. To see more, please plan on visiting the studio July 16-17. Take the link for more information.

Now, I know people are reading this here bloggy thingy but as you can see, I'm sadly lacking in followers. Don't be scared, click "follow"!

Gearing up for summer shows is keeping me really busy and it seems like spring hasn't even sprung yet! I have 4 applications on my desk with stamps on them, ready to go out Tuesday and other opportunities are presenting themselves on a weekly basis.

I'm loading up on inventory, bought a good tent, looking at gridwall. I'm almost ready to go!

But formost on my mind and the minds of 31 other artists is the Skagit studio tour. Mark your calendars...July 16-17, you're invited to visit 23 studios including mine. For more information, go to skagitart.com, follow me here or on facebook, or sign up for email notices at maryquintrall.com

Spring flowers

It's tulip time in Skagit county. Tulip festival means fun events like art shows and the street fair, which is my favorite event. (It was awsome this year as always-Someday I may participate and not just shop!) It also means art at the Winery. tulipvalley.net This is a co-op show, which means the artists are the workers. Not in the winery, they have their own learned staff.

The sun is out and with it brings the fresh colors of spring. It's been blue and grey for a really long time, which usually doesn't bother me. I like blue. But it's been a reeeaaalllly long time. I long for the hot colors of the tulip fields when the sun beats down on the flowers and you can spot the red and yellow ribbons on the landscape from miles away. Of course come August, I'll be complaining it's too hot, but we'll save that for August. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the bright spots in the weather, which actually make the downpours more enjoyable too. There is literal light at the end of the figurative tunnel.

And the Winery show goes on! It's been extended past the end of April through Mother's day and if all goes well, will be open weekends through the end of May as well.

This was taken last weekend in Skagit County right before sunset. On the cloudiest days we tend to get a shot of sun as it hits the horizon, leading us to believe it must always be sunny in Anacortes. I'm bummed I didn't get my horizon straight. Guess that's why I'm not a photographer.

I hung a cafe show yesterday. It's my second self hung show. The first one was so easy, aside from the nerves of being the first. This one. .Well, let me tell you what I learned.

1. When you scout the space, measure and check the hanging system thouroughly, and count the hangers.

2. Small paintings look miniscule on large walls.

3. Bring more tools and tape, wire, museum putty than you can imagine needing.

I'm so thankful I had help. It was so awkward working around people trying to relax in their favorite spot. I felt like a complete jerk when I asked someone to not sit there as I was just about to get that corner done. It took 2 hours because I didn't know enough about the hanging system and had a whole different arrangement in mind. Well, it's up and it was a learning experience. I also learned that I can take critisism without feeling too badly about it. An old man said to me he found one of my paintings "irritating". I'm not sure what he meant, except that he didn't like it. And I'm okay with that.

Winter has been fun around my house. The birds are so active if you just feed them a little bit. We've been putting out peanuts and mixed seeds and then we sit back and watch the sillyness. I'll be hanging my collection of small bird paintings as well as pieces from other collections at the Mount Vernon (WA) food Co-Op February 1st. Come by for a cup of their yummy soup or a latte. My paintings will be there through the month.

I have been doing this bazaar in Clear Lake WA for years. I started doing stamping and scrapbooking with a dear friend. We had lots of fun together. She made the cutest little candy ornaments. The kids loved them. My son got involved and made some treats and launched his young career as a photographer. I've since moved on to paintings and my friend has moved on to grandkids. It's still fun but a little more serious since obviously, I'm trying to launch a serious career. I love to shop this bazaar as much as love to meet potential clients and fans and visit with old friends.

Some of my favorite vendors include one that makes felted wool slippers. I hesitate to share this one because sometimes she's out of my size before I get there and so advertising for her isn't always in my best interest. ;-) Another is this found object bird house maker. They're so cool and fun to look at. To my shame, I've never been able to choose one. A local cheese maker also has a booth here every year and I look forward to my little container of cheese curds which I will hoard in my booth and try not to eat the whole thing before the day is through. There are always bead jewelers and fused glass makers, people that work with clay and wood, and everything is affordable and good quality.

The bazaar is a fund raiser for the school so there are raffles and concessions. Christmas music plays in every room and the halls are crowded enough to force you to slow down. Every nook and cranny of Clear Lake Elementary will be filled with crafters, artisans, and cooks.

Clear Lake Elementary, Clear Lake WA. On HWY 9. 9-3 Saturday Dec 4th. Hope to see you there!

Plein Air Paint Out Bellingham opens Friday November 5 with an artists' reception. Come and see what happened to this canvas. www.bluehorsegallery.com

360 degrees of subject matter and the birds kept calling my gaze upward.

Another plein air day!

This plein air stuff is starting to grow on me. I even got my picture in the paper! You can see me in the background between the artist and her canvas. ;-)

This is me at Holly and Commercial in Bellingham, WA on a cloudy day in August.

Plein Air painting

So, I went out and painted in public for really the first time. I mean, I've painted in public but sort of incidentally. The point of this outing was actually to paint in public. The event is called Plein Air Paint Out, organized by Trish Harding of Studio UFO in Bellingham.

Now, in case you're an artist considering an event like this, go for it! How liberating to know people are going to look at and judge your work and there's nothing you can do about it. It's done. And you know what, it doesn't hurt so much. I actually got a lot of nice comments and really, who's going to say something mean to your face. And realistically, no matter how accomplished an artist you are, you aren't going to appeal to everyone all the time anyway.

Over the next several weeks, I'll be tweeking and trying to perfect the paintings I started. Perfection is always just out of reach, but we must reach for it. The show starts November 5 and I'm excited to know at least one of my canvases will be hanging at the Blue Horse gallery for most of the month. I'll be there for the opening night, I hope you will too.

Hop over to www.maryquintrall.com and join my mailing list to get info and reminders!

Every summer this garden by my studio explodes with poppies, snap dragons and other assorted happy inspiring flowers. Every summer I can't help but try to capture the drama. A collection of poppy paintings can be seen at www.maryquintrall.com