Newest Painting, Tigers...

Completed a painting recently as a commission for my daughter's boyfriend who loves tigers. A bit out of my recent focus, but good to do to keep my painting muscles flexing...oil and cold wax on canvas, 20" square...

Two new works at Expressions Gallery, Berkeley

Expressions Gallery, 2035 Ashby Ave., Berkeley is launching a new show "Simply Divine" the opening is this Saturday, December 13, 2008 from 6-8PM. The theme is religious and spiritual diversity in our culture. Check out the Expressions Website for directions.
The show runs through February 6, 2009. I have two pieces in the show. ReUnion is one and The Ladder is the other. The Ladder is shown on a previous blog. You can also check out the images on ChristineRossiArt&Ideas

City of Berkeley Hosting Art

The City of Berkeley is hosting art on loan from Expressions Gallery's "Industrial Art" Show. I have three photographs that will be on display from November 12 through the end of February at the Planning and Development Department, on the second floor at 2120 Milvia Street in Berkeley, CA.
They are hosting a reception on Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 4 to 6 PM. Come by and take a look!
My pieces are "Barn Silos" 1, 2 & 3. Most of the artwork (including mine) are for sale.

Shown: Barn Silo 1

Box Art Auction to Benefit Pro Arts

Donated Piece: The Ladder:Apologies to G. Dore 16 X 29 mixed media combine

The Pro Arts Box Art Benefit Auction takes place on November 4th also. The proceeds for this auction benefits the Youth Fellows Initiative. To learn more go to www.proartsgallery.org

Visual Aid's Big Deal Art Auction

Donated photo Moss Point 11X14 Archival giclee print

I have donated a photograph to this auction which raises money for artists with life threatening illnesses.For more information go to www.visualaid.org

Time for Change

Now that the election is behind us and hope is in the air. Time to look at the art world that is not part of the big money scene. Those of us that are suffering through the beginning of a very bad time for the arts in general. I have donated art to two auctions taking place this coming weekend. One is to benefit artists with life threatening illnesses (I do not include myself in this category since I am pretty healthy right now), and the other to a very special organization that will be fighting for its existence in the up and coming year, ProArts of Oakland. Check out the next two posts for details on both of these important events.

Check out Web Pages

I have updated my web pages with artwork that you may or may not have seen.
Check out my website: Christine Rossi Art and Ideas
You can also view my work on the Ovation TV website (which has photographs as well as paintings). Just click on: Ovation TV Community: cmaerossi
If you don't get to my page, just type in cmaerossi into the search function.

...and one more...

This one evolved out of earlier, more tame "Cassandra" paintings.
"The Prophecy of Cassandra"
Oil on Canvas.

More new stuff

The second painting is slightly "three dimensional".
"Crosses:Hills" inspired by the crosses on the hill in Lafayette, CA.
Oil and recycled wood on canvas.

New Paintings, in a slightly new direction

The month of August has been busy, have been working on new paintings that are slightly different for me. Still representational, but more abstracted. Two "landscapes" and an abstracted figure based on an earlier more representational piece.
I have entered them in a juried show...we will see if anything gets in...
Here goes:
This one is called "Crosses:Bridges" oil and casein on canvas.

Crosses-Bridges

A study for a more abstract painting that started out as a landscape.
Casein and oil on Canvas.

Black and Red Poppies

I like to practice painting techniques with an occasional still-life. The poppies are from my garden. Medium: Casein on oil

More Dogs

Photos I took in Alameda in February of some of the local canine inhabitants.

For Pat, Ted and Evie

For Pat, Ted and Evie, who I met at the Alameda Art and Wine Festival,
I am posting some art with a "Doggie" Theme. Sketch of my dog, Punky and an ad I did for a wonderful dog named Romy.

Art from the Old Country

This piece was inspired by a photograph of my grandmother and her older sisters posing for a formal photograph. I think the photo was taken to send to my grandfather and great grandfather who were living in the U.S. so that my grandfather could pick a wife from their home village in Italy.

More Mythological Work

This piece was finished just before the ProArts open house.
It is part of the continuing work on the reinterpretation of ancient mythologies.
This piece comes from the middle eastern ancient Mithraic tradition. The god Mithras fighting and slaying the bull of heaven. Mithras was a solar diety who became very popular in Ancient Rome as a patron god of the soldier. His origins were in Persia and appropriately the images have a kind of resonance for what we are doing to the planet and to each other every day.

More Family Paintings

I finished painting these two paintings almost simultaneously. I knew that the portrait of the "Flapper" was from a photo of my husband's grandmother. I didn't realize that the other photo I used was of the same grandmother as a little girl. I loved the way she was wearing the bow and the jewelry, very seriously involved in her presentation. I titled this "Bows and Beads". I love doing the paintings from old photos. Some are very blurry or faded and all are sepia or black and white. I have not had any hand colored photos, so I get to imagine the colors that would have been worn or in the background. I try and understand the period as well as the people involved and try to find a way to allow their spirits to flow through the art.

ProArts East Bay Open Studios Last Weekend

Photo: Barn Silo Altamont, NY

My Studio is opened on Saturday, June 14, from 11AM until 6PM. 1361 Berkeley Way, Berkeley. Number 48 on the ProArts Map. Check out the ProArts Website

Encaustic Painting difficult to Photograph

I have been trying to photograph my encaustic paintings with little success. The wax has a transluscent effect that give the pieces great depth but it is next to impossible to capture the feeling of the pieces. I think I have solved the problem with photoshop but I have to
re-photograph everything which will take a while. This piece was painted last fall. I think I finally have a photo that looks somewhat like the painting!
Come and see them in person during the East Bay Open Studios, June 7 & 14th 11AM to 6PM.

Pro Arts East Bay Open Studios

Check out the Pro Arts Website for more information about the up and coming Open Studios and related events in June.

Painting Experiments

Have been busy experimenting with a looser, more impressionistic look with thicker paint and no glazing. The still lifes have been more successful, the landscapes more challenging. I have revised a couple of older experiments.

A busy spring!

Things have been very busy, so no posts recently. I have been gearing up for the ProArts open studio in June and trying to enter some competitions, as well as take some classes in an effort to expand my horizons and my techniques. I have work in the Alameda On Camera 2008 Show in the Frank Bette Center, and will soon be moving over to Perforce Software Corporation in Alameda. It is only the second time I have exhibited straight photography. Well they are giclee prints on watercolor paper but they are still photography as opposed to Photobased artwork.

So Much to Do So Little Time

I currently have art in two spaces, Expressions Gallery in Berkeley and The Frank Bette Center in Alameda and I am in the process of launching the first Major satellite show for the Frank Bette Center at Perforce Software in Alameda called "ShowCase Alameda". It includes works from 13 FBCA artists who work in photo-based mediums, all source material from the 2007 "Alameda On Camera" event. The artists have been encouraged to expand the work that they submitted for last year's show. I had so many of my own images to work from but I am pretty much sticking to the baseball league theme that I started with last year...another encaustic painting and the addition to straight photography which is pretty scary since I don't consider myself a photographer!
This year's Alameda On Camera challenge greeted the particpants with more rain, just like last year. I really went out on a limb and decided to work exclusively with photography...okay, so I messed around with photoshop a bit and I am making giclee prints on watercolor paper, but it is still photography rather than painting. I am excited to see how this all works out.

Another Horse

This is a drawing I did for a logo. I am starting to like drawing horses and riders.
Haven't done it in a very long time. Working on some encaustice paintings that will incorporate the drawings.

Horses, Horses, Horses

Another horse drawing. Thanks to Debbie Hansen of Hansen Images for the original photo.

Horses, Horses, Horses

I have resisted drawing and painting horses for a long time, even though my friends have asked me repeatedly. So I have started. This was a gift to my friend for helping me out in my times of need.

Vision and Revision

These evolved out of a project for the 5+5+5 show in the signature gallery at the Frank Bette Center. The finished piece is an oil painting based on the same theme, the myth of Apollo and Daphne. I chose to use the california landscape and the oak trees as the
embodiment of Daphne. The medium is a combination of my photographs, hand made paper and encaustic paint on masonite.

New Still Life Paintings

I have been experimenting with still life compositions and styles over the past few weeks. Maintaining the "mythology" theme. "Hermes and the Green Faery". The other is a bit more benign, "Winter Fruit and Lantern".

New Work

Just finished this landscape for a client and delivered it this week. I love the look of the coast live oaks and the texture and shape of the california hills. I have started a series of landscapes with the oaks and hillsides, some in oils and some in other mediums. There is a feel to the land and the vegetation that inspires me to let my vision run wild.

Family Christmas Present

The latest painting is of my husband's great uncle playing the banjo in his Sunday best. Taken at the turn of the 19-20th centuries. I gave it to him for Christmas.