Jul
8
2010
My apologies for not posting lately but life has been a little hectic and I haven't been painting a lot--so nothing to post. . . We have been on our two week motorcycle trip out West, riding about 5,600 miles covering 12 states. Whew that's a lot of miles not to mention beautiful scenery!!! In Yellowstone we were camping in Bear country, facing cold weather and possible snow before going South to Southern Utah. I love to visit our National Parks so we went to Yellowstone, Zion, Bryce Canyon and Arches National Parks. They are so beautiful and if I could I would like to see ALL of the National Parks in America. How many are there???
I went to a local dance studio, Dance Images, and took pictures of a few classes--Jazz and
Ballet so I have lots of material for future paintings.
16 x 12 oil
no comments | posted in figurative
May
22
2010
After my show at the Capitol last Summer, Kathy at Dance Images was kind enough to let me display my "dance" paintings in her Lobby. I thought the "dancers" would enjoy and appreciate them. I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon taking pictures in some of her dance classes and learned what a challenge it is to get a good shot of dancers in motion. I'm used to models holding poses so this was a good lesson. Out of 500 pictures, I managed to get some good ones for future paintings--fortunately. I wanted to capture the teacher in action although it was a challenge to paint the mirror image of her.
My husband and I are preparing for our big motorcycle trip next month. We are going to the mountains (Wyoming and Montana) to Yellowstone National Park (my favorite place) and Glacier National Park. This will be a different trip for me since we will be camping instead of staying in hotels---hmmmmm. Right now we are trying to figure out how to get a mountain of stuff in our little storage compartment (lol). My goal is to have enough room to pack a few art supplies but I may have to give up my makeup.
no comments | posted in figurative
Mar
10
2010
This is my latest painting of Fred and his Grandson walking on the beach in Florida. I would say that this is what being a Grandparent is all about. As usual my photography is a little suspect--please ignore the "glare". Getting back in the studio feels good after my little break.
7 x 5
no comments | posted in figurative
Oct
28
2009
20 x 16
Rhonda Hartis Smith © 2009
I observed and took pictures of a pre-ballet class and even though this is a small portion of the dancers, they were all so adorable. I'm sure there will be more of these paintings since I love to paint dancers! I'm not used to painting in such a high key but it was challenging for me.
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Sep
12
2009
After the show at the Capitol last month, I pondered on what to do with my ballerina and flamingo dancer paintings. I wanted them to be shown in a setting where they would be enjoyed and maybe even inspiring to those that love dance! Kathy at Dance Images in Bowling Green was kind enough to let me hang my "Dancers" at her dance studio. I've also taken pictures of some of the classes there and I have some wonderful shots that hopefully will become paintings.
Here is another ballerina painting from the Capitol Show. I chose this pose because of the light and the gracefulness of the dancer.
7 x 5
Rhonda Hartis Smith © 2009
no comments | posted in figurative
Sep
5
2009
This is my study from a couple of weeks ago from my Live Model Session on Monday night. This was challenging for me because doing the whole figure instead of just the head required a lot of drawing and measuring to get the proportions right. Because of the time constraint, I was not able to develope her head as much as I would normally. The very last touch was her toes!
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Aug
28
2009
This is a quick study (about 30-40 minutes) of a model from life. I was pleased with it but I had wiped down the three previous attempts at other poses. I think it took me a little while to get warmed up.
Rhonda Hartis Smith © 2009
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Aug
11
2009
7 x 5
Rhonda Hartis Smith © 2009
Anyone that follows my blog knows that I love to paint Ballerinas. So here is another one of my favorites. I think for me, it's all about the shoes in this painting.
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Aug
6
2009
I've already posted one of these but decided to post the series of 4 dancers. I love red-I believe I interited this love from my Grandmother Mazie that loved red and purple. She would always use lots of color in the quilts that she made. She made me a brown & white quilt (at my request) and for years she said it was the ugliest quilt that she had made--ouch!
I was striving to lay the paint on thick and to show movement in the paintings.
7 x 5
Rhonda Hartis Smith © 2009
7 x 5
Rhonda Hartis Smith © 2009
7 x 5
Rhonda Hartis Smith © 2009
7 x 5
Rhonda Hartis Smith © 2009
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Jul
22
2009
Faye and I were "Posing" in front of the Gallery in a spare moment during our opening reception. We had a wonderful crowd and lots of fun.
I named this painting "Practice Makes Perfect", another one of my ballerina series that I did for the Capitol Show.
7 x 5
Rhonda Hartis Smith © 2009
no comments | posted in figurative
16 x 12 oil
