tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77517756984849617652024-03-12T21:15:47.775-06:00Travels to the EdgePaintings in oil by Linda Lucas Hardy - The original title of this blog was, "Little Gems From Triple "A" Gallery". I decided to change the name.Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-89056146771757796372010-04-18T15:57:00.021-05:002010-04-19T07:54:51.422-05:00Jury's Top 60 Award....<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Out of the 392 paintings selected for <a href="http://www.greenhousegallery.com/index.html">Salon International 2010</a>, the Salon International Jury chose what they considered to be the top 60 pieces. My piece "Radiance" was one of the 60 chosen. I considered just getting in this show an award. I don't have the words to express how I feel about being in the top 60. I am thrilled....<br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7jQs9PScXH3H2Nit_THvdca0-ZIglG4uZnsZIQ-eYhqGRrrgqKP11FeT5Mi_vARv0WcRK2CrtKk11ULAOxcDhGhc57MLw5vR212gqq0161dM5XGx3Fcj5ms0Ppmg2CAVGEYn5YsB-B2Gu/s1600/si201000155l.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7jQs9PScXH3H2Nit_THvdca0-ZIglG4uZnsZIQ-eYhqGRrrgqKP11FeT5Mi_vARv0WcRK2CrtKk11ULAOxcDhGhc57MLw5vR212gqq0161dM5XGx3Fcj5ms0Ppmg2CAVGEYn5YsB-B2Gu/s320/si201000155l.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461585083587635058" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >"Radiance"</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">We left for San Antonio about 9am Thursday, the 8th. It took about 8 hours because we wanted to take the back roads. It probably took a couple of hours more than had we gone through Austin, but then again Austin has some of the worst traffic conditions in the country, so who knows. The wild flowers, and especially the blue bonnets, were in full bloom.</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >There were interesting sights other than the flowers. I do wish I'd taken a picture because we saw "Mater" parked at a gas station in one of the little towns we went through. I'm not kidding! Someone had taken their old pickup and made it look like the character from the movie CARS.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >We arrived in San Antonio at the home of our friends about 5pm. For dinner </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Mike and Elizabeth</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" > took us to one of their favorite restaurants. Of course I can't remember the name but they specialize in Persian food. Before the meal they brought out a huge piece of flat bread and a dipping sauce made with spices and olive oil. The spices smelled heavenly.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The salads were beautiful and everything tasted wonderful.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The following day we went to the missions. There are a lot of them around San Antonio with remarkable history's. The largest being San Jose. While there, John said he saw a woman over in a corner painting. That perked my interest, but when I looked she was gone. A little while later I saw her so I walked over to say Hi. Life can be so funny. Can you believe it? I knew her and of her. Well, we'd not actually met. She was in charge of bringing artists in to do demos for the Richardson Art Society so we'd exchanged emails. Unfortunately she was out of town when I did my presentation, but just about everyone in the Dallas/FtWorth area knows Cecy Turner. She said she was in town for the Salon International banquet and artists reception. Small world. After exchanging a hug I left and continued to take pictures however very few turned out. The light wasn't great for picture taking but the weather was wonderful for wandering around San Antonio. It was unusually cool which I appreciated very much. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >That evening John, Mike, Elizabeth and I went to the awards banquet. This was the first time I'd ever been to the Greenhouse Gallery however I've known about it for years. This is also the first year they'd had the banquet at the Gallery so everyone who attended got to see the show before dinner. They gave us an hour to look then gently prodded us toward our tables. Who cared about eating. I've seen a lot of art shows and all of them are incredible, but I've never seen one that had nothing but oil paintings. There was just something different about it, the paintings seemed to glow. Maybe it was the varnish. Anyway, seeing them for real and not in a magazine or on the internet makes a huge difference. I was impressed. After seeing the quality of the work I was embarrassed. I could not see my work as qualified to hang there with all the rest. I never did get used to it. I also met quite a few people who's names I was familiar with but for some odd reason could not picture their work. Anyway, as I said, who wanted to eat. Surprisingly enough the food was remarkably good.</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The judge was Everett Kinster. He was a hoot, funny and entertaining. I did not envy him having to pick winners from this show. Not only was it huge and impressive, 392 paintings, but he had to narrow it down to a few.</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Many of the winners were not there nevertheless the banquet was full to capacity.</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Whew!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The champagne artist reception was Saturday from 5 to 8. That was fun. The gallery was packed, people were milling around and paintings were selling. One couple bought six that I know of. Who knows where they stopped. Again I met some wonderful people. By 7:30 our friends and my exceptional husband were exhausted, as was I, but they had to drag me out. I still never felt like I saw the whole show.<br /><br />Sunday morning John loaded the truck then asked the dogs (our Yorkshire Terriers) if they wanted to go home. Bossy Belle insisted, but she's demanding about everything and Bazil in his easy going way had to be helped into the truck. We decided to go through Austin on the way home, we'd seen enough flowers, but it was still early Sunday when we went through. I tell you, I'd hate to see Monday morning on the Austin freeway. We got home at a decent hour but I came down with something Monday and started sneezing my head off. I felt lousy for days. I'm feeling better now, a week later, and it's raining so here I sit. By the way, I'm no longer on the edge, I'm somewhere completely different, and quite frankly, I'm glad to be here.<br /><br />Hope you are all doing fine and painting happily...<br /></span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-54141710023710960582010-03-11T14:39:00.006-06:002010-03-11T15:22:36.638-06:00It's titled "More Than Coming And Going"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi01czIwj9fyEpEdcEkGx8ZjpsNu6RrRwxxuhnACXFAwrfHOvlHQwR4hPqrHVQJEfRTN4ZFldueOiWSyubaUi64OJzleVYcm91oMSTy9d52B_iWTAVugPgGlzvWI6FqAn749wRaSsTeCvIv/s1600-h/Copy+of+More+Than+Coming+and+Going.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi01czIwj9fyEpEdcEkGx8ZjpsNu6RrRwxxuhnACXFAwrfHOvlHQwR4hPqrHVQJEfRTN4ZFldueOiWSyubaUi64OJzleVYcm91oMSTy9d52B_iWTAVugPgGlzvWI6FqAn749wRaSsTeCvIv/s320/Copy+of+More+Than+Coming+and+Going.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447479032019836818" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >This is my latest oil painting. Well actually I finished it a month or so ago. I'm well into another one. Anyway, this one is 24 x 36" and if you didn't know it, it's Venice. I've never attempted to paint anything this big but I managed without having a complete breakdown. Just kidding. I really did enjoy painting it. It was the 18 x 24" of a house boat in Seattle that turned me upside down. Funny how when you do something that's really difficult, but you keep at it, everything seems downhill after that. I planned to take it to Southwest Gallery but decided to enter it in a show first. I'm waiting to hear back.<br /><br />So what am I painting now? Cows...I know, I go from Venice to cows. There must be a story behind this right? I was on my way to Plano one Tuesday to teach my class when I happened to glance over my right shoulder. What I saw was a photo op that I could not resist. And let me tell you, sometimes you only get that one opportunity. The sun was coming up, there was a heavy fog, the colors were beautiful, I was in awe. What's more, I have not seen those cows in that pasture since, much less fog, so I'm happy, and it's smart, to have a camera with you everywhere you go.<br /><br />Because of that day however, I bought a new camera. My little Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX3 has always served me well but I realized a 3X zoom was not enough. I'm actually working from the photo that taken from the greatest distance and it's not very good. So I bought another Lumix. I got a DMC ZS3 which has a 12 X zoom. Woo Hoo! So if those cows ever come back I'm ready. Other than being a little bigger and a little heavier it fits in my purse just fine.<br /><br />As soon as I'm finished with my cows, I will post it....stay tuned.<br /></span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-5546102296607919522010-02-03T16:30:00.014-06:002010-02-03T17:43:28.250-06:00I am soooooo excited....!!!!<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >As you can well see I have not posted here for quite some time. It's not that I have not been painting, I have been, diligently, I just wasn't pleased with the results for about half of 2009. So what was I to say and what was I to show? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The biggest problem I discovered was I'd been fighting myself. It wasn't until I decided to let what I know about colored pencil transfer over into what I did "not" know about oil. Once I decided to approach oil like I do colored pencil, oh my, things got much easier. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >So even though things have appeared quiet, a lot has been going on. One year has passed since I started this adventure. At last I am comfortable. I'm no longer perching precariously on the edge and I have a sure path to follow. That kind of change is always exciting but that's not why I am posting and that's not why I said I was "soooooooo excited". I am sooooooo excited because two of my paintings have been accepted in the very prestigious <a href="http://www.greenhousegallery.com/si/">Salon International 2010</a>.<br /><br />I have viewed this show on line for years but could never enter because it's a competition for oil paintings only. When saw the deadline for entering was coming up fast I had a choice to make. I </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >still needed to tweak "The World Outside Your Door" and </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >lacked a few days finishing "Radiance". I felt a bit rushed and not really ready but I've always believed there's no time like the present and nothing ventured nothing gained.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTOgQnGoi3_reV7_C_Cw59oeNZtIutvLj-sYOf_Wwz3jn6YFERV6qzMIDxGFrjsdeI1nr6CmwKDPCaViB2cqcBTlp7puTLOu4Efhcxi7wHTj7B6k3BMe-CbC2teRbPFxDhtNLwggB5lbzL/s1600-h/The+World+Outside+Your+Door.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 241px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTOgQnGoi3_reV7_C_Cw59oeNZtIutvLj-sYOf_Wwz3jn6YFERV6qzMIDxGFrjsdeI1nr6CmwKDPCaViB2cqcBTlp7puTLOu4Efhcxi7wHTj7B6k3BMe-CbC2teRbPFxDhtNLwggB5lbzL/s320/The+World+Outside+Your+Door.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434163754423004098" border="0" /></a> "The World Outside Your Door"</span><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI_RedjTZj4sEu6xCgrA4hYoh_2BJhByIIg4iB3NUO_QPgN9aSKb-rlDIwn2ZkMsYjMgjnWYYugTqj1DcWZZNvQAsxHLhRPHf0nHs8a4hNvQkl0RUoe7A79CKtxfWdBcXCXNKcGBETZ9LD/s1600-h/Radiance.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 236px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI_RedjTZj4sEu6xCgrA4hYoh_2BJhByIIg4iB3NUO_QPgN9aSKb-rlDIwn2ZkMsYjMgjnWYYugTqj1DcWZZNvQAsxHLhRPHf0nHs8a4hNvQkl0RUoe7A79CKtxfWdBcXCXNKcGBETZ9LD/s320/Radiance.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434163743636911426" border="0" /></a> "Radiance"</span><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Anyway, here's the letter I received:</span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Dear Friends,</span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: arial;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: arial;"> </p> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" > <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;font-family:arial;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;font-family:arial;"><br /></p></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;font-family:arial;">I want to take this opportunity to say that each one of you who submitted entries to Salon International 2010 is to be commended for your part in creating the largest number of entries submitted in any single year in the nine-year history of the event<span style=""> </span>-<span style=""> </span>almost 1,300 entries!</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;font-family:arial;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: arial;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: arial;">You are also to be commended for creating the strongest group of entries in the history of the event.<span style=""> </span>Of course, this creates a much more difficult task for the Jury and Judge, but that’s a good thing!<span style=""> </span>Because of the strength of the entries the Salon International 2010 exhibit will be the largest ever<span style=""> </span>-<span style=""> </span>almost 400 paintings!<span style=""> </span>This exhibit will be truly spectacular.<span style=""> </span>I promise you it will be a visual overload!</p></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" > <p class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></p></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><p class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Again, I thank each one of you for your part in making all this happen and for creating another successful Salon International exhibit.<span style=""> </span>Together, we will continue to grow this exhibit and to make it the largest, most respected and most prestigious of the juried exhibits.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style=""><span class="401230118-02022010"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" face="arial" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style=""><span class="401230118-02022010">Warm Regards,</span></span></p></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" > <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: arial;"> </p> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jim</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><br /><span style=""><span class="401230118-02022010"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; font-family: arial;"><span style=""><span class="401230118-02022010"><span style="font-weight: bold;">So there's been a lot of screaming, jumping and yahooing around here the last few days. I call it the happy dance. I'm sure it's a sight to see. My husband seems to like it......he followed me back to my studio and said he wanted to see it again.<br /></span></span></span></p><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Now it's time to get them framed</span></span><span style=""><span class="401230118-02022010"><span style="font-weight: bold;">,<span style="font-family:arial;"> boxed up and shipped out to San Antonio. The exhibit opens and will be on the web site April 10. Woo Hoo!</span></span><br /></span></span></span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-65471081163101785382009-03-21T08:46:00.008-06:002009-03-21T15:15:24.920-06:00Habits for Success....<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >I copied this quote from a Robert Glenn newsletter and thought you might benefit from it as I did. It struck a chord in me especially since I've been frustrated because I have not been painting. I haven't been able to find the time. Maybe this is why.... "I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half the things you do you might just as well turn over to me and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly. I am easily managed--you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons I will do it automatically. I am the servant of all great men, and, alas, of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a man. You may run me for a profit or run me for ruin--it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. Who am I? I am a habit!" by popular business coach John Di Lemme </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >When I get new students I know I can not count on them until they make a "habit" of coming to class. If they make class a priority they generally stay, if not, they drift away. I see that and I know that.<br /><br />For the last three years or so it's been easy for me because I love what I do. Loving what you do can certainly be an incentive. I'd be in my studio at 9am and many times I would not leave until 9pm. Not that I was doing art for 12 hours, please don't think that, but it was always something art related. Now I seem to be doing stuff that's art related but not the art. It's interference...I'm letting unimportant things interfere with my time...well some of them are important, like taxes.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Part of the reason it worked for me was because I always knew what I was going to do next. In fact I usually had the next piece started before I finished with the one I was working on...so I never stopped. I had momentum built. I was focused and ready before I ever walked through my studio door. But now it seems like there's always something other than art that<span> </span>has to be done which keeps me from getting back in the habit. I'm not complaining, at least I hope I'm not complaining. I have a great place to work, the light is great, I'm happy, healthy and comfortable...it's just...gettin back in the habit and doing the things that have worked for me in the past. Why does that seem so difficult? I ask the question but I know the answer. Hummmmmm, habit. I'm in the habit of doing other things.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Anyway, I'm determined to get back in the habit of doing art. I do think determination is a huge part of it. Once I made the decision to become a professional artist I never lacked in determination. </span>I guess that means it takes a decision, determination and commitment then the habit develops. Sounds good to me! So I'll be back on track soon. There's just a few other things however that I...."have" to do....hahahahahaha<br /><br />Esoterica: John Di Lemme was a 24-year-old stutterer working in his family art gallery who dreamed of becoming a motivational speaker. Over a seven-year period of hardships, challenges and obstacles, John focused on his dream and ultimately built a marketing team of over 25,000 representatives in 10 countries. His idea was simple: with the right habits one could see progression to a higher state. In the words of the great art mentor and teacher Robert Henri, "If a certain activity, such as painting, becomes the habitual mode of expression, it may follow that taking up the painting materials and beginning work with them will act suggestively and so presently evoke a flight into the higher state."<br /></span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-85363175485560292382009-02-21T16:46:00.006-06:002009-02-21T18:09:11.757-06:00My studio's new look...<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >It's been so long since I've posted anything on this blog you are probably wondering what happened to me. It all started when I said I wanted to replace the floor in my studio. You know how one thing leads to another. Before the floor could be redone I was told the ceiling should be painted and the walls, then the floor...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >So in early November I moved everything out of here. Let me tell you, I knew ahead of time that I had a lot of stuff but I was still amazed at the amount of stuff I had. The worst thing was it had no place to go where it would be organized. You know how it is, you put it somewhere then you can't find anything or it's buried under tons of other stuff. In order to get to something I had to move something, then if I wanted out of the room, of course I wanted out of the room, I had to move things back. Before I knew it, it was Christmas. That was not a problem. The problem was my husband and I got sick over the Holidays. Sick enough so that it took about six weeks before we were better. During that time John worked on the studio some but the going was slow. After I felt a little better I made a concerted effort to get back in here but everything had changed. I didn't have a clue where to put anything, further more thinking about where to put it took a lot of effort and a lot of time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >As you can see I finally did find a place for everything and I could put my hand on anything except for my trash bags. I looked everywhere for days but could not find them so I gave up and bought more. Yep, you know it, as soon as I used one I found where I'd put them.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >At last everything has a home and I am delighted with the results. I absolutely love to be in this room. Hope you like it too...</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinhUfvDJRJhgBU9z0gT545IUXQA-2z2H5NdSV0dkSSn0HA5d468wAW1Z7XrXN7DvSS9nxbeexiT4YDzsNCu8lmDVoR7LU2oBW5-hRr6wIbdJeN4XlflYAdgdL14Z9Evkx2Dg_7ujrhrarh/s1600-h/1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinhUfvDJRJhgBU9z0gT545IUXQA-2z2H5NdSV0dkSSn0HA5d468wAW1Z7XrXN7DvSS9nxbeexiT4YDzsNCu8lmDVoR7LU2oBW5-hRr6wIbdJeN4XlflYAdgdL14Z9Evkx2Dg_7ujrhrarh/s320/1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305386462588045970" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >As you can see, this is where I keep my magazines, props and colored pencils. I bought the Prismacolor display case when an art store in the DFW area was going out of business. It sure has come in handy.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFKyNtmP1EkzBYmqLBQi53GxS0HWek6MYjNPbkv_IerW-sia2SOEwYdUT1UZ41hgzrk1OQiDxy-akiwCcD4pW_M1JEQ97f23bUNCLIZ2GpDtELTFG8c0AKFQAiXZZCGkxzQK6Q1dke2_cm/s1600-h/2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFKyNtmP1EkzBYmqLBQi53GxS0HWek6MYjNPbkv_IerW-sia2SOEwYdUT1UZ41hgzrk1OQiDxy-akiwCcD4pW_M1JEQ97f23bUNCLIZ2GpDtELTFG8c0AKFQAiXZZCGkxzQK6Q1dke2_cm/s320/2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305386459633221650" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >My oils are in those cute, ice blue ,filing cabinets. They come in four or five colors but I picked that color because, well because I liked the color. I was also concerned that red or green would somehow reflect color in the room. Anyway, I found them at the Container Store in Plano. They would also be great for storing colored pencils. </span> </div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy8n5inLP5kUsvNDxY3LuDRa54idqfFquGXdVB540TDNVoRjJA0AEj_mp3puBTongGgsqUdfMQVTcHrq1oQZ8iG1sELa4Zsxxc2K13pI3vbNRFsZZJGdEGH_NGL0-5wTu7jAyYcuS-BUrg/s1600-h/4.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy8n5inLP5kUsvNDxY3LuDRa54idqfFquGXdVB540TDNVoRjJA0AEj_mp3puBTongGgsqUdfMQVTcHrq1oQZ8iG1sELa4Zsxxc2K13pI3vbNRFsZZJGdEGH_NGL0-5wTu7jAyYcuS-BUrg/s320/4.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305394242314572642" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >This is my office space. The photo below shows where I spend a lot of my time, at my drawing table. </span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Upf24W5k-fcc0qLIOutK0GCHcz4zi_MSjwpTTpQeFMx5TIuYtU59Y39hQSjkD_EE2kY-PuRFKlT_LcSGRRsKMY7uX2PGBiRy09jD2enUQAw781gtFsoOEahkYqX9kvvz_hUjsMqNdHrt/s1600-h/5.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Upf24W5k-fcc0qLIOutK0GCHcz4zi_MSjwpTTpQeFMx5TIuYtU59Y39hQSjkD_EE2kY-PuRFKlT_LcSGRRsKMY7uX2PGBiRy09jD2enUQAw781gtFsoOEahkYqX9kvvz_hUjsMqNdHrt/s320/5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305386456676565346" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >My drawing table is solid wood. It originally belonged to a Jr College. I bought it at an antique store in Gilmer, Tx years ago. The store was closing for the day and they did not want to move it back inside. I think I paid $10 for it. The top of the table raises to about a 45 degree angle. I work on a drawing boards so I can turn the picture upside down, sideways and any other way I can get to it to work more comfortably. You can see two of them in the upper right hand corner of the picture.<br /><br /></span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-26926722881893197322009-01-19T16:07:00.000-06:002009-01-19T16:08:37.284-06:00Online magazine article....<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">The following is an article that appeared in the January 2009 issue of the online magazine CreateBetterPaintings.com. I am really sad to report this wonderful magazine will not be published any more. I feel so cheated since I only found out about it about two months ago. Anyway, I thought you might enjoy reading the article....Linda<br /><br />LINDA LUCAS HARDY: SMALL TOWN GIRL</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Living in a tiny town with no professional mentors around may seem like an obstacle for an aspiring artist, but Linda Lucas Hardy reveals how any artist can still make it big in spite of limited resources.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;"> We've all heard this story: Young woman loves art but gets married and starts raising a family instead. Art gets pushed to the back burner until the children are older. And finally she has time to focus on mastering her craft and building a career as an artist. Most such women then rely on their fellow artists and local arts organizations for additional help. But what happens when that same woman finds herself living in a town of only a thousand residents with no other professional artists to turn to for education or advice? Linda Lucas Hardy would say that it's still entirely possible for a woman like that to succeed as long as she has drive, passion, confidence, and ambition. She is that woman, and she's living proof that dreams can come true.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Reaching Out for Education</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">When the youngest of her seven children started school, Linda found she finally had time to get back to the passion that has held her captive since her own childhood: her love of art. A neighbor suggested they take a class together at the nearest community college, and Linda jumped at the opportunity since it was a long distance away and they needed to carpool.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">A year later, a new community college opened up closer to home, which made it much easier for Linda to continue taking college courses in art. Naturally, juggling her art with caring for her family required a great deal of perseverance. Ultimately, it took her eight years to complete her formal education, but it was worth it. Along the way, Linda discovered the medium of colored pencil, which has since become her favorite. "I love the control that colored pencil offers," she says, "especially because I also love well-defined realism. I am a pencil artist, plain and simple. Now I can't even talk without a pencil in my hand."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">In addition to her formal education, Linda has continued to pursue informal opportunities to learn, primarily through taking workshops with artists such as Carrie Ballantyne and Sherrie McGraw. As they do for all of us, taking workshops usually means travel, which is a sacrifice of time and money for most artists. But Linda encourages all aspiring professionals to take workshops since they offer a chance to develop and enhance skills, get other types of advice from modern-day masters, and network with peers.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;"><br />Finding Her Personal Style</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">However, to some degree, Linda believes, all artists are self-taught in that much of what we learn is what we discover in the course of doing our own work in our own studios. Linda's methods are a product of trial and error, working with various materials, making mistakes, and learning to solve problems that then become good practices. "Mistakes bite hard," she says. "I don't like them. Nobody does. But if you pay attention, a medium will teach you." By doing her own work on her own time, she's established, for example, that she prefers to create artwork using exclusively Prismacolor wax-based pencils on fine, 800-grit UART acid-free paper.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Once, in the process of trying to disperse the wax bloom that often emerges most visibly in the darker pigments of wax-based pencils, Linda went over the pencil with an old, stiff brush. Not only did it get rid of the bloom, she discovered that the brush helped to work the pigment down into the fibers of the paper, thereby eliminating the fine specks of white that often show through even multiple layers of pencil applications. Now Linda uses a brush all the time to achieve that smooth, polished look that is the hallmark of her personal style. She starts by transferring her image with graphite transfer paper, then works each area separately from the darkest areas to the lightest values, developing each area to a fairly finished degree. A final finessing of the details and highlights followed by a coat of Krylon UV-resistant spray complete her paintings.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;"><br />Landing on Still Lifes</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Even when it comes to her choice of subjects, Linda feels that her small town life has somewhat limited her ambitions. "What I'd really like to paint is people because you can express so much emotion in figurative work," she confesses, "but in a small community like mine, I've found it very difficult to approach people and find models. Most people don't understand what I want from them--they feel they have to pose for me, as for a portrait, when what I want is something more candid and real."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Once again, though, she hasn't let this obstacle stop her. "I've had to learn to make do with what I've got or I can't do anything at all," she says, now laughing. "Pears and apples don't ask you what your motives are or look at you real weird, so it's been easier to work in the still life genre." Interestingly, Linda has now developed a signature series of works involving fruits and vegetables wrapped in plastic bags, which are just as much about the human experience as any figurative work could be. She explains, "The plastic bags remind me of the facades we all try to hide behind. We think we're doing such a good job of masking our little deficiencies and minor little secrets, but in actuality, we're all exposed."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Over the years, Linda says, she has shot and stockpiled literally hundreds of photos that she would like to develop into paintings someday. "I'll never run out of ideas," she says. "I use this very easy and free software program called Picasa, which is available through Google, and it's just great for storing my digital images and doing a few modifications to them before I paint them."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Showing What She's Made Of</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Eventually, Linda acknowledged that she was going to have to take some initiative if she was going to get her artwork into the public eye. Since there weren't any local opportunities, she cast a wider net. She noticed, for example, that the Bosque Conservatory in Clifton, TX held an annual competition. For several years she studied how that competition was run. Eventually, she entered and won, learning--much to her surprise--that she could have three works accepted instead of only one.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">They say that knowledge is power, and Linda went about learning as much as she could about the art business through all sorts of varied avenues. She joined a regional arts organization, and listened to her peers there. She also tapped into the power of the Internet and the national artists' magazines to find competitions to enter. "I often didn't have the money to enter shows, but I did it anyway," she says. "I decided to enter the big money shows in particular, not because of the awards offered but because of the level of competition. I knew that if I got in, it would validate my work."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">One of her earliest big goals she set for herself was to gain the recognition of her fellow colored pencil artists by getting involved in the national organization called the Colored Pencil Society of America. She was terribly disappointed when she was not accepted into the CPSA show the year it was held in Fort Worth, Texas, which was probably the closest it will ever be to her own home, but she made sure she attended the exhibition. "That was the first time I had ever seen other artists' colored pencil work!" she notes. "I was like a kid in a candy store." Today she exhibits with them regularly, and last year she won the CIPPY award and the EXXPY award--the two highest awards CPSA offers--in the same year, which was the first time ever that someone had done that. "What thrilled me more than anything was when I was invited (they invited me) to teach a workshop at Nationals," she says, still relishing the moment. "That made me cry. Somehow that validated me and all that I've been trying to accomplish."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Chances to sell her work in her own town are non-existent, so here, too, Linda has had to take the initiative to find gallery representation. She took herself down to the oldest and largest gallery in Dallas. "While I was there, I asked the salespeople if they took colored pencil art," she recalls. "They said no, but just to be polite the director suggested that I bring some pieces in ‘some time.' When I got home, even though I didn't really feel ready, I thought, well, when is ‘some time'? So I set up an appointment to take my work in the following Friday!" Linda ended up leaving several pieces at the gallery that day, only to have to wait two long months for a decision from the director. In fact, it wasn't until she tired of waiting for an answer as to whether she was going to be accepted and went to the gallery to retrieve her paintings that the director agreed to sell her work. She's been represented there ever since, and was recently invited to show her work at a second Texas gallery as well.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Learning to Fly</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">"Living in a small town and being virtually the only trained professional around has meant that I have had no mentor, no sounding board," says Linda. "Everything I've done, I've been flying by the seat of my pants because I haven't had anyone to guide me." Yet by paying attention, asking questions, networking beyond the confines of the city limits, and most of all persevering steadily and enthusiastically, Linda has made a successful career out of her love for painting. "I have such an amazing passion for art," she says. "I can't really explain it, except that it's something that I can't not do. I can't live without it."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Jennifer King</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Editor-in-Chief</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">www.CreateBetterPaintings.com</span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-84349441449608665532009-01-12T10:39:00.003-06:002009-01-12T12:29:33.575-06:00The New Reality - The Frontier of Realism in the 21st Century<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5MZxwUYFj_mQ_VYE2lt5aOKndwj7mETlzya8t6Ls9ROV-DzatNcHyXlFBwKpaFind4rywfDQDLwLryI4-VRxPbeD34RXeDpiGWpY4b6iAG8XVVgjBSVPOKYFwEt-MsEFAWDgVpskrPFgm/s1600-h/Copy+of+RW+Norton+Art+Gallery.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 171px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5MZxwUYFj_mQ_VYE2lt5aOKndwj7mETlzya8t6Ls9ROV-DzatNcHyXlFBwKpaFind4rywfDQDLwLryI4-VRxPbeD34RXeDpiGWpY4b6iAG8XVVgjBSVPOKYFwEt-MsEFAWDgVpskrPFgm/s320/Copy+of+RW+Norton+Art+Gallery.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290448303050224306" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >R. W. Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport, LA</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Yesterday my husband and I drove to Shreveport, LA to see the International Guild of Realism's traveling exhibit titled </span><span style="font-family:arial;">''The New Reality: The Frontier of Realism in the 21st Century"</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. Not only were we impressed with the show we were very impressed with the Gallery's permanent collection. Even though it's called a gallery it's more like an art museum. So if you live anywhere near Shreveport it's definitely worth the trip.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">If not you'll find the current tour schedule at the bottom of my post. Maybe it will be somewhere near you.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQXGsZJJB1Nw4Yn35heSPWYE8BT__yF-oe3MEoOHT8vXv5nOLW0K6wQ0UYhQo74EVBj3Xh808A2ItEhI623RO-nt-OQzHIlut_ATTcaJTyYa_BC0jYKP19_mc8fPFqDlW1qoMtq9MUVDkn/s1600-h/Copy+of+Now+You+Know.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 186px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQXGsZJJB1Nw4Yn35heSPWYE8BT__yF-oe3MEoOHT8vXv5nOLW0K6wQ0UYhQo74EVBj3Xh808A2ItEhI623RO-nt-OQzHIlut_ATTcaJTyYa_BC0jYKP19_mc8fPFqDlW1qoMtq9MUVDkn/s320/Copy+of+Now+You+Know.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290448301167386706" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >My piece titled, "Now You Know"</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >which is on exhibit.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >''The New Reality: The Frontier of Realism in the 21st Century" International Guild of Realism</span> </div> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br />“The New Reality: The Frontier of Realism in the 21st Century” is the first traveling museum show of this century to not only look at the state of Realism painting around the world, but to also compare those artworks with their historical predecessors.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Fifty-six artists are represented with sixty-five paintings from the United States, Canada, The Netherlands, Korea, Russia, France, Iceland, Romania, Norway, and Finland in this juried show organized by the International Guild of Realism.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">The exhibition looks at such media as oil, acrylic, egg tempera, graphite and colored pencil to give viewers a snapshot of how Realism artists are approaching their art form today.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Each artist was asked to identify one historical painting that can be used by museum attendees to compare and contrast today’s work with the pioneers of this art technique. The artists cited such predecessors as Ingres, Da Vinci, Dürer, Vermeer, Harnett, Constable, Memling and Dali as starting points for their current work as they explored still life, landscape, figurative and even trompe l’oeil art forms. In some cases, the contrast between the old and the new is startling; in other cases, one can almost see the apprentice soaking up the Old Master’s techniques for modern visuals.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Each of the sixty-five contemporary paintings can be directly compared with an historic Realism painting.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">Each wall label features an image of a related historic painting.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">If you'd like to see some of the pieces on exhibit <a style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);" href="http://www.realismguild.com/Showcase.html">CLICK HERE</a> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;">Not all the pieces shown were in the show but quite a few of them are.</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Keeping it Real: “The New Reality: The Frontier of Realism in the 21st Century</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >December 16 – February 15, 2009</span><br /></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />This is the first traveling museum show of this century to not only look at the state of Realism painting around the world, but also compare those artworks with their historical predecessors. Fifty-six artists are represented with 65 paintings from the United States, Canada, The Netherlands, Korea, Russia, France, Iceland, Romania, Norway, and Finland in this juried exhibit organized by the International Guild of Realism. The exhibition looks at such media as oil, acrylic, egg tempera, graphite and colored pencil to give viewers a snapshot of how Realism artists are approaching their art form today.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">This month the R.W. Norton Art Gallery is hosting, “The New Reality: The Frontier of Realism in the 21st Century”, a juried collection of paintings by the members of the International Guild of Realism. The title of this exhibition cannot help but raise the simple question, why the “new reality”? What happened to the old one? The prevailing view for centuries was that art was the result of careful craftsmanship representing a heightened reality to evoke an emotional response and/or express a theme or story. Then came the Romantic Age, and with it the reassessment of the artist as less a craftsman than an (often misunderstood) individual with a unique form of expression. Artists began to take a more painterly approach to their work, using loose brushwork and bold colors to develop expressive, individualistic styles that resulted in works like Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People and Turner’s Ulysses Deriding Polyphemous. As photography usurped the role of replicating reality, painters like the Impressionists began to refine art to its essentials, focusing on the manipulation of color and light. The Modernists who followed them pared the image down even further, focusing on elements of form, volume, line, and color to the point of abstraction. Then, in the early 20th century, the Dadas, with Marcel Duchamp’s readymades and other innovations, refined art to the realm of the metaphysical – art was no longer about the object, or even the depiction of the object – it was about the concept in the mind of the artist and the interaction between that and the audience.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />As execution became less important to the process, craftsmanship of the kind expected from artists ranging from the Old Masters to 19th century academics often fell by the wayside. However, in the late 20th century, a backlash against abstract and conceptual art began. Many artists began to embrace concepts and techniques borrowed from older masters. Thus was born the International Guild of Realism in 2002. The founders began by clarifying the number of styles they felt fit under the realist umbrella, including classical realism (ranging from the Renaissance Old Masters to Courbet) and extending to contemporary styles such as trompe l’oeil, photorealism, surrealism, and super-realism. The one thing common to all of these artists is the element stressed by Guild member Benjamin Orozco Lopez of Mexico: “The most important thing about the Guild is that we are a big group of artists who glorify the values of craftsmanship, which has almost been lost in modern painting.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">For this exhibition, selected artists are required to cite the example of an Old Master or other Realist painting which helped inspire their own in either theme or technique. However, while they may borrow their style or technique from the Old Masters, they are all determined to create an expression of their own contemporary world, including other styles of art as well. Kolbjorn Haseth, for instance, admits a debt to abstraction as well as realism in his landscape, The Colour Gray: “The massive rock on the right meets us like an abstract image, and had to be balanced with a more interesting area to the far left . . .” And while George Gonzalez’s still-lifes and trompe l’oeil paintings capture contemporary, often mundane objects, he also draws inspiration from a diversity of predecessors ranging from Mannerists to surrealists.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Other Guild artists have more allegiance to specific schools of the past. Damon Denys admits, “My first love was the paintings of the British classicists and romantics of Victorian England,” while Bryce Cameron Liston is equally clear about his debt to academic artists: “Inspired by 19th century artistic values, I traveled abroad to study first hand, the works of artists such as Waterhouse, Bouguereau, Gerome and Tadema. It is important to me to keep alive what these and other artists like them were doing.” Another inspiration for the new realists is the 17th century golden age of Dutch and Spanish masters. A still-life artist like Grace Kim echoes the concerns of the 17th century Dutch masters, saying, “Although my subjects are often what appears to be simple flowers and fruit, I always see something unique and beautifully complex and intricate in all that exists in this world.” Cuban artist Jorge Alberto admits, “My paintings spring from a life-long fascination with lighting and how light affects mood . . . I take inspiration from the 17th century painters, like Caravaggio, Velasquez and Ribera, emulating the strong use of lighting contrast so evident in the work of these masters.”</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />In their veneration for the Old Masters, some of the Guild artists even borrow their materials. Mark Thompson specializes in egg tempera work and etchings, admitting, “I have long been fascinated by the beauty of line and the work of the Renaissance and pre-Renaissance masters. Etchings are essentially the distillation of balance and rhythm, volume and line in a medium over 400 years old.” And artist Lee Alban actually grinds his paints from powdered pigments and prepares his canvases by hand the way the Old Masters did. Still others have learned how to incorporate the Old Masters techniques into new media. Arlene Steinberg works in colored pencil, but that hasn’t prevented her from taking inspiration from the technique and styles of Renaissance painters.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />While many if not most of these artists draw from the distant past, there are some distinctly 20th century forms of realism, the most prominent of which is the one wrought by a 19th century invention – the camera. Photorealism requires the painter to create a work so detailed and precise that it replicates the effect of a photograph – craftsmanship of a very high standard indeed and which draws perhaps more than the others on the availability of modern inventions and techniques. Kory Fluckiger, for instance, “has developed his own technique of watercolor painting in which he airbrushes the background to highlight the colors in the foreground, so that the painting appears to be a magnificent photograph.” Fellow photorealist Anne Kullaf has found her work compared to Edward Hopper in its grasp of light as well as its ability to raise the mundane world to the sublime nature of art.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />This is only a fraction of the artists whose unique visions and superb executions are represented in the exhibition. Fifty-six artists from nations including America, Canada, The Netherlands, Korea, Russia, France, Iceland, Romania, Norway and Finland have contributed 65 paintings to the show. While they all share a common goal, each of them has a unique vision and style in which to depict the world around them. Charter member Lorena Kloosterboer explains that while abstraction and modernism have dominated recent art, she, like her fellow realists reject the idea that their work is “unevolved”, declaring, “One only needs to visit one of our exhibitions . . . to appreciate the incredible array of exceptional Realism.” </span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />With this in mind, the R.W. Norton Art Gallery invites you to join us for “The New Reality: The Frontier of Realism in the 21st Century.” </span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Everl Adair, Director of Research and Rare Collections</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" >Museum Tour 2008-2010 of Art by Realism Guild Members - </span><span style=";font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Current Tour Schedule</span></span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" ><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wichita Art Museum</span><br />Wichita, Kansas: April 27, 2008 through June 22, 2008<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Springfield Museums</span><br />Springfield, Massachusetts: July 13, 2008 through September 7, 2008<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Springfield Museums</span><br />Springfield, Massachusetts: September 28, 2008 through November 23, 2008<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">R.W. Norton Art Gallery</span><br />Shreveport, Louisiana: December 16, 2008 through February 15, 2009<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">J. Wayne Stark Gallery, Texas</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">A&M University</span><br /> College Station, Texas: August 9, 2009 through October 18, 2009<br /><br /></span> <p style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><span style=";font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Museum of Texas Tech University</span><br />Lubbock, Texas: November 8, 2009 through January 3, 2010</span><span style=";font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum</span><br /> Wausau, Wisconsin: June 27, 2010 through August 22, 2010<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Indian Hills Community College</span><br /> Ottumwa, Iowa: September 12, 2010 through November 7, 2010</span></p>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-14460093274354274542009-01-09T11:02:00.004-06:002009-01-09T11:08:36.041-06:00You are invited to join Ann Kullberg, Pat Averill and I in May on an Alaskan Cruise...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHRAn-FEKtiqrHokhDe1sqXAOu5Ws7YAXuEjmVfV_0UrwElRbwFnjdAhCTB-wRY_jf0BR8Z3-MQdSaO-mBNxWvdbzhY9726jxQadZgdvLFRhbCVYD1aOTeQe4XE7jJhat0z_mHVzfbfvgB/s1600-h/ad+image.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHRAn-FEKtiqrHokhDe1sqXAOu5Ws7YAXuEjmVfV_0UrwElRbwFnjdAhCTB-wRY_jf0BR8Z3-MQdSaO-mBNxWvdbzhY9726jxQadZgdvLFRhbCVYD1aOTeQe4XE7jJhat0z_mHVzfbfvgB/s320/ad+image.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289340686371888498" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Come join Nationally acclaimed colored pencil artists Ann Kullberg, Pat Averill and I on a 7-night Alaskan Inside Passage Cruise aboard the Star Princess May 24 - May 31, 2009. The class size is firmly limited to 30. This Alaskan cruise fills quickly so book soon!</span><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 153, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 204, 204);font-family:arial;" ><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 204, 204);font-family:arial;" >COLORED PENCIL ON THE HIGH SEAS WORKSHOP</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-family:arial;" > <span style="color: rgb(102, 204, 204);">- $1029 - INCLUDES ALL THREE WORKSHOPS</span></span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />(inside cabin/double occupancy. Group rate available for guests not taking workshops.) </span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >For more information </span><a style="color: rgb(102, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;" href="http://www.annkullberg.com/cruise_home_alaska.php">CLICK HERE</a><br /><strong style="font-family: arial;"><strong></strong></strong><br /><strong style="font-family: arial;"><strong>To register or for cruise information: 1-800-253-0116</strong></strong><br /><strong style="font-family: arial;"><strong></strong></strong></div><strong style="font-family: arial;"><strong><br /></strong></strong><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >To see how much fun last years Caribbean Workshop Cruise was click </span><a style="color: rgb(102, 204, 204); font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;" href="http://www.annkullberg.com/cruise_carib_photos.htm">HERE!</a><br /></div>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-82871951617438856062008-12-15T10:24:00.002-06:002008-12-15T10:29:33.051-06:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIdVBdVsRWdba6LN1EmZ3jaSnRb44O_vZJUAiiK3dsBASSomWlS2gFvCzr20D8fbfR08unThKsqX7ln9LQ8NaLd_Vl5M_Qm_KvrjtsALWN93arFdT5ruER7WWneHdC2f4f875YWsouW64p/s1600-h/merryxmaswithbows.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 54px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIdVBdVsRWdba6LN1EmZ3jaSnRb44O_vZJUAiiK3dsBASSomWlS2gFvCzr20D8fbfR08unThKsqX7ln9LQ8NaLd_Vl5M_Qm_KvrjtsALWN93arFdT5ruER7WWneHdC2f4f875YWsouW64p/s320/merryxmaswithbows.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280054009845541458" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" >I hope each and every one of you have a joyful Christmas & and Happy New Year!</span></span><br /></div>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-36687472395770033862008-11-12T08:39:00.005-06:002008-11-12T10:24:42.265-06:00I like what I do and I like the way I do it, but is that enough?<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about what appeals to me in the work of others. Of course that's very broad. However in doing that I started thinking about my own work and whether or not it would appeal to me...as if I were not me but someone else. I really haven't gotten very far along that line but I'd like to know what it is about the works of others and if those things are appealing enough to cause me to change the way I do things. I have reached the conclusion that I need to go further with this line of thinking and perhaps move a little closer to the edge. I doubt I'll ever go over but I'm convinced I need to take a look...</span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-39918015314225533962008-10-09T18:35:00.007-05:002008-10-09T18:54:53.420-05:00Update...<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">At long last the Small Works North America 2008 Exhibition is up, minus a few pieces that is. Apparently they've been waiting on some of the artists to give them the asking price for their work. Anyway it is on line now if you'd like to see</span>.</span><a style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 204, 153);" href="http://www.smallworksna.com/default.asp"> Small Works N A</a>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-43021989947146358812008-10-02T14:32:00.002-05:002008-10-02T14:35:47.721-05:00"Two States of Being" - 8 x 10"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTca9VZrEf2MEbfwJs9EZng8wY-jgxn332ZYXqb8DlJGYhLMP-NMLpb1N-SFOkr1W4DwEw1xfj8R_0Ce5_A_Buex1PL_eGgr7jr7xShsJ8EbFQbIUaviOwam6NLVm9VMSrXDB_8C1kyNI/s1600-h/Two+States+of+Being.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTca9VZrEf2MEbfwJs9EZng8wY-jgxn332ZYXqb8DlJGYhLMP-NMLpb1N-SFOkr1W4DwEw1xfj8R_0Ce5_A_Buex1PL_eGgr7jr7xShsJ8EbFQbIUaviOwam6NLVm9VMSrXDB_8C1kyNI/s320/Two+States+of+Being.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252641776237809394" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I've been invited to participate in an upcoming show at the</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.wallyworkmangallery.com/"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"><strong>Wally Workman Gallery</strong></span></a> in Austin. This is the first of three, maybe four, pieces I'll be sending.</span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-78765669617504560942008-10-02T14:27:00.004-05:002008-10-02T14:38:19.120-05:00"The One I'd Choose" - 8 x 10<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1rsWF1Da0B98ZSDxtU9D5-fdwIlLvUwNXwCyNaKxZEQG2rqsUxzEptlPvg8BTmkfS9UKaHrOjs09VnrU8MS14WCdbyEJiZeNTxHqgeCe6pbfENsF94mzrj4rDXYzD_YWq25dsJ3ahDJrI/s1600-h/The+one+I%E2%80%99d+choose.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1rsWF1Da0B98ZSDxtU9D5-fdwIlLvUwNXwCyNaKxZEQG2rqsUxzEptlPvg8BTmkfS9UKaHrOjs09VnrU8MS14WCdbyEJiZeNTxHqgeCe6pbfENsF94mzrj4rDXYzD_YWq25dsJ3ahDJrI/s320/The+one+I%E2%80%99d+choose.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252640705736648594" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Like the painting above this too will be sent to the show at</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.wallyworkmangallery.com/"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"><strong>Wally Workman Gallery</strong></span></a> in Austin. I am very pleased with how they both turned out....<br /></span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-46183549773349000032008-09-30T21:19:00.018-05:002008-10-02T13:03:01.595-05:00I am so excited....!!!!!<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >I got an email tonight saying, " Congratulations! Your painting, <a style="color: rgb(255, 204, 153);" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQm8wgjQtgCzCbtnuf_7qmDqsy9SvhxCPOPZ8u8Ndb-TF6Vw1agF9HS7V3ann32xmENmknv6D0hWcGcCXVc8zm0LnmiLoM1KB7It-Vz99LjL1gmtHARtH6HX13872vs3xbCByipweCz317/s1600-h/red+peppers.JPG">”Lost In a Dream”</a><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 153);"> </span>has been selected as part of Greenwich Workshop Gallery's 2008 Small Works North America Exhibition and Sale." Was I ever surprised. One of the reasons for my surprise is that </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >I'd inadvertently submitted the same piece twice which prevented me from entering another one. After that I was locked out. Because I couldn't go back I wasn't sure if I'd finished the entry process. Also the notification date came and went six days ago. Now you know why I was so surprised and happy when I heard back from them. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The really scary part is I was about to delete the email because it came into my mail box in the spam folder.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" > </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >This certainly is not my first competition, far from it, but it is the first "oil" painting I've entered in a juried show. I couldn't be more pleased!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The show was supposed to be on line by October 1st but they must be running behind. If you'd like to see the show click the link below...if it's not up keep checking back. They will eventually get it posted.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 204, 153);" href="http://www.smallworksna.com/default.asp">Small Works N A</a>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-84430711647788209022008-09-29T07:40:00.007-05:002008-10-01T15:29:33.958-05:00"From the Garden of Dreams & Desires" - 11 x 24<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsv5yIpuJcQB6SKqa43bw11I7x-ob2VwrK66zbC-SvxILlhMkleupNCbDNNEbc71jnaA2eL6u5g1jDipRf0p458bAYq0l2zWabIwtS0wZ1LPcIfy4mTW38YJ-P3K-OhL0qEpKrZ1kFrpOU/s1600-h/Copy+of+From+the+garden+of+dreams+and+desires.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsv5yIpuJcQB6SKqa43bw11I7x-ob2VwrK66zbC-SvxILlhMkleupNCbDNNEbc71jnaA2eL6u5g1jDipRf0p458bAYq0l2zWabIwtS0wZ1LPcIfy4mTW38YJ-P3K-OhL0qEpKrZ1kFrpOU/s320/Copy+of+From+the+garden+of+dreams+and+desires.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5251422520142214290" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >I taught a workshop in Ohio in early June. The Peonies were just beginning to bloom so the hostess of the workshop put a few in a vase so we could enjoy them during our lunch. After wards when everyone had gone back to work, with a purpose, my camera and I and went back upstairs. The light was streaming through the window. Because the table cloth was pink the colors were amazing. I took dozens of photos. I especially liked this shot because of the shadow so I cropped it down for emphasis. I could not get the colors exact for posting so if the shadow in the painting appears to be warm and red on your monitor, it's not, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >it's very cool.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" > To counter balance the coolness in the shadow I painted the foreground a warm pink.</span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> My husband doesn't particularily like the colors but I love them....</span><br /></span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-11024369477866994542008-09-15T20:29:00.005-05:002008-09-30T21:49:32.857-05:00"Sentimental Reasons" - 9 x 12"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3RZmtre2S6RWX4Klzs3qLbXE-kB9XeF2_HfLbMqkzB91XSKbfXzfuHlW5iG41IpOtMTk1dbLxiwCqYo8qaDVe-CAdGNMHf7WtQSujd3u2-aoxndPU0pQYA8XFInPm1T1GJX4f5w5ESZC3/s1600-h/untitled.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3RZmtre2S6RWX4Klzs3qLbXE-kB9XeF2_HfLbMqkzB91XSKbfXzfuHlW5iG41IpOtMTk1dbLxiwCqYo8qaDVe-CAdGNMHf7WtQSujd3u2-aoxndPU0pQYA8XFInPm1T1GJX4f5w5ESZC3/s320/untitled.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5246425356488431730" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cherries! I just want you to know I have painted cherries and I have not been successful so I've continued to paint cherries and I'm still painting cherries. Oh yeah...I can paint a cherry now. It's funny how you think you know what something looks like, especially something so simple, but I learned something, I had no idea what a cherry looked like.</span><br /></span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-14028301247341528882008-09-15T20:22:00.008-05:002008-09-30T21:50:08.482-05:00"Go Your Own Way" - 9 x 12<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEVZhLhl0slaUOmZob_eikszFvSo1xbPLUitA6CMiZWb5dp_fGVgrkjUodLK-YN8xrijoAOpdaKTcTuNwVwrPN1M3AGO7zH-vKb1WKtrF-p-l4OcnAI2G9HSwd-s2uAlGI71c_QeUgbk1u/s1600-h/grapes+in+bowl.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEVZhLhl0slaUOmZob_eikszFvSo1xbPLUitA6CMiZWb5dp_fGVgrkjUodLK-YN8xrijoAOpdaKTcTuNwVwrPN1M3AGO7zH-vKb1WKtrF-p-l4OcnAI2G9HSwd-s2uAlGI71c_QeUgbk1u/s320/grapes+in+bowl.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5246425115369492178" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >I feel like the slowest painter in the world but maybe that's only when it comes to actually finishing one. I finished this one and the one above but have eight others I'm working on...hum....maybe that has something to do with it. Anyway I guess eventually it will seem like I finished all eight at once.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >I'm going to say the same thing about grapes that I said about cherries...I'm going to keep painting them until I know what they look like.</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-40871806134016875082008-08-13T17:35:00.010-05:002008-09-30T21:50:26.019-05:00"Mid-Summer Beauties" - Oil - 12" x 9"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOsGdGZqgfixG_YWUASnKptAYJReU_tq_zKkNvCb6uTZPF8N4q7_XtFNP_M1f2c9vbIlMo8wsabkEubBoiZCFWKvHkjqlTaatEpdVsd7YTzuzVBm-C2fWQzeOd1sG33VID1zmph540mtEU/s1600-h/_MG_5681.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOsGdGZqgfixG_YWUASnKptAYJReU_tq_zKkNvCb6uTZPF8N4q7_XtFNP_M1f2c9vbIlMo8wsabkEubBoiZCFWKvHkjqlTaatEpdVsd7YTzuzVBm-C2fWQzeOd1sG33VID1zmph540mtEU/s320/_MG_5681.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234134653714660562" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >I'm really excited about this one. The shadows were a challenge but a lot of fun to do because of the many colors. I created them with a series of transparent glazes which I felt would keep them from looking heavy. The shadow from the basket photographed lighter than it it really is. I did some tweaking but still did not get it right so I guess I'll be taking more pictures.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Anyway, I think this is my favorite piece. I did paint over my name though. I'd signed in the upper right hand corner but, after seeing it on the computer, didn't like the way it looked which means I'm going to have to sign it again...somewhere more pleasing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If you are interested in purchasing this piece please contact<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><a style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0); font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.swgallery.com/">Southwest Gallery</a><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"> </span>- 4500 SIGMA at Welch - Dallas, Texas 75244 - 972.960.8935- 800.272.9910</span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-30181869080648327932008-08-08T07:56:00.004-05:002008-09-30T21:50:44.347-05:00A couple of quotes by Rainer Maria Rilke<span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Always trust yourself and your own feelings, as opposed to arguments and discussions. If it turns out that you are wrong, then the natural growth of your inner life will eventually guide you to other insights. Allow your judgments a silent, undisturbed development, which, like all progress, must come from deep within and cannot be forced or hastened. Everything is gestation and then birthing. To let each impression and each embryo of a feeling come to completion, entirely in itself, in the dark, in the unsayable, the unconscious, beyond the reach of one's own understanding, and with deep humility and patience to wait for the hour when a new clarity is born: this is what it means to live as an artist."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. Believe that with your feelings and your work you are taking part in the greatest; the more strongly you cultivate this belief, the more will reality and the world go forth from it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Have a really great day!</span><br /><br /></span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-18660914414664943512008-08-04T16:36:00.004-05:002008-09-30T21:51:02.071-05:00"Lost In a Dream" - 9" x 12"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQm8wgjQtgCzCbtnuf_7qmDqsy9SvhxCPOPZ8u8Ndb-TF6Vw1agF9HS7V3ann32xmENmknv6D0hWcGcCXVc8zm0LnmiLoM1KB7It-Vz99LjL1gmtHARtH6HX13872vs3xbCByipweCz317/s1600-h/red+peppers.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQm8wgjQtgCzCbtnuf_7qmDqsy9SvhxCPOPZ8u8Ndb-TF6Vw1agF9HS7V3ann32xmENmknv6D0hWcGcCXVc8zm0LnmiLoM1KB7It-Vz99LjL1gmtHARtH6HX13872vs3xbCByipweCz317/s320/red+peppers.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230779677769816626" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >I cannot believe how long it takes me to do a painting. I was sure I'd have these finished weeks ago. It's not that I haven't been working on them, the problem is getting them exactly like I want them. Anyway, hooray! I've finished two! I guess you can tell I love the dramatic.<br /><br />I will not be offering these on Ebay. I plan to enter this one in a competition, the rest of them, when finished, will be going to Southwest Gallery.</span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-70529405104204107142008-08-04T16:21:00.005-05:002008-09-30T21:51:16.876-05:00"When I'm Blue" - 9" x 12"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFv_uBZaVVAqjKGVtPkZnahewHy1cxbpifbC8P2pOcyPTTHrkuLzol5gpcan-DBqe9AHqiZMowh53_RC7NTM2qRBj0Wwu85da7mMLka-sD0tIjZD34g6CBNLLF8K6xAtBcvstmRO_KpVL/s1600-h/grapes.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFv_uBZaVVAqjKGVtPkZnahewHy1cxbpifbC8P2pOcyPTTHrkuLzol5gpcan-DBqe9AHqiZMowh53_RC7NTM2qRBj0Wwu85da7mMLka-sD0tIjZD34g6CBNLLF8K6xAtBcvstmRO_KpVL/s320/grapes.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5230777242264771586" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Ah grapes...maybe grapes are not hard to paint but like everything else, I tend to make them difficult. Nevertheless I am happy with how this piece turned out. I'm especially pleased with the shadows.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >If you are interested in purchasing this piece please contact <a style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);" href="http://www.swgallery.com/">Southwest Gallery</a> - 4500 SIGMA at Welch - Dallas, Texas 75244 - 972.960.8935- 800.272.9910</span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-15413178426007099052008-07-30T10:30:00.006-05:002008-08-10T09:00:04.582-05:00"Just Like the Morning Sun" - Oil - 6" x 8 " SOLD<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirQCkTv1g42TaJaNLxR8D4gkmRDJX8O04zsSPp6dw-vFnt-aGIbn4wf1fmSvktDl2oe66HhBIscDNV-6gvbkxlsuxQWQogjCi0UakYyXSJRKyu_3gVZyZBaOYqIYfSI-dfvyq50ca8RSpI/s1600-h/Just+Like+the+Morning+Sun.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5228830011054905362" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirQCkTv1g42TaJaNLxR8D4gkmRDJX8O04zsSPp6dw-vFnt-aGIbn4wf1fmSvktDl2oe66HhBIscDNV-6gvbkxlsuxQWQogjCi0UakYyXSJRKyu_3gVZyZBaOYqIYfSI-dfvyq50ca8RSpI/s320/Just+Like+the+Morning+Sun.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">This is the second orange pepper that I've painted. I thought this was such a lovely thing with the reflections and all which make it appear to be very shiny. <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160267041669&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=006"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"><strong></strong></span></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"><strong></strong></span>As always, thanks for looking.<br /></span></div>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-41350307698661199172008-07-30T10:16:00.009-05:002008-08-24T09:48:45.543-05:00"Having Fun With Red & Green" - Oil - 6" x 8" - SOLD<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHaK75rHXcqfZhWSkZ0pIuN_-6UJqv0Q4_wPy7olaG7TWE122gmbeswHex7PhB8wKDaoGj1by2SXfeKk-K1ENYGuxXqe2QtE9iIJC2MN9Xnulwb-vT_NGjPv06j2Pc3VzPNhMSB1QC_gOp/s1600-h/Having+Fun+With+Red+&+Green.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5228826425302732034" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHaK75rHXcqfZhWSkZ0pIuN_-6UJqv0Q4_wPy7olaG7TWE122gmbeswHex7PhB8wKDaoGj1by2SXfeKk-K1ENYGuxXqe2QtE9iIJC2MN9Xnulwb-vT_NGjPv06j2Pc3VzPNhMSB1QC_gOp/s320/Having+Fun+With+Red+%26+Green.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">That's a fact...I was having fun with red & green. I actually did this piece twice because I liked it so much. I did the first one in colored pencil which you can see </span><a href="http://www.lindahardy.com/"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);font-family:arial;" ><strong>HERE</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"><strong> </strong></span>and this one in oil. I guess I was playing with the complementary, not just in the obvious colors but mixing the two in the shadows. <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160267043125&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=006"><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"><br /></span></strong></a></span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-13578631014962340482008-07-30T10:11:00.009-05:002008-08-10T09:00:45.186-05:00"Just Peachy" - Oil - 6" x 8" - SOLD<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfryQPX9i0naoVy5me6zJxQZ_BxtcKgHNNdxYCAubkT2BgOgybm55XFoiob_-YPH8cQnDh62tQOpXWwihbFPnaVwrcRy3KO8d-4dzxsaMpvqvPwxWDFk53MmhJOybOy-fJPDZ4m9N3qWee/s1600-h/Just+Peachy.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5228825145584445618" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfryQPX9i0naoVy5me6zJxQZ_BxtcKgHNNdxYCAubkT2BgOgybm55XFoiob_-YPH8cQnDh62tQOpXWwihbFPnaVwrcRy3KO8d-4dzxsaMpvqvPwxWDFk53MmhJOybOy-fJPDZ4m9N3qWee/s320/Just+Peachy.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family:arial;">I couldn't resist this plate but I found it to be a little more difficlut to paint than I though. Nevertheless, I'm happy with how it turned out. And it looks like I'm still playing with compliments. I actually didn't realize that until I posted "Having Fun With Red & Green". I was going to hang on to all three pieces but decided to go ahead and list them on Ebay. Since I am now painting 9" x 12"s I may not be lisiting any more small paintings for a while. <strong></strong></span></div>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7751775698484961765.post-29132262219413287302008-07-21T21:43:00.015-05:002008-07-24T15:02:39.105-05:00Here's some exciting news....<span style="font-family:arial;">I've been invited to demo at Southwest Gallery's 2008 Summer Art Festival. Events include gallery artists painting (I'll be working in colored pencil) and sculpting on-site, as well as jewelry, a painting trunk-show, live music, food and fun! </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The other artists who will be participating are:<span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=2&artist_id=198"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Tony Bass,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=7&artist_id=442"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Lynwood Bennett,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=2&artist_id=17"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Gene Brown,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=7&artist_id=42"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Fran Di Giacomo,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=7&artist_id=96"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Manuel Garza,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=7&artist_id=532"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Jonathan Hardesty,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=7&artist_id=56"><span style="color:#9999ff;">R. W. Hedge,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=6&artist_id=102"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Robert Hogan,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=7&artist_id=133"><span style="color:#9999ff;">George Kovach,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=7&artist_id=279"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Kyle Polzin,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=2&artist_id=9"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Tony Saladino,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=2&artist_id=13"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Paul Walden,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=7&artist_id=127"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Kay Walton,</span></a><span style="color:#9999ff;"> and </span><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/artwork.aspx?style_id=2&artist_id=14"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Mark Whitmarsh</span></a>. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If you live in the DFW area or somewhere nearby come visit. I'll be there Saturday & Sunday August 23-24, 2008 - from 1-5 pm</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.swgallery.com/"><span style="color:#9999ff;">Southwest Gallery</span></a> - 4500 SIGMA at Welch - Dallas, Texas 75244 - 972.960.8935- 800.272.9910</span><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;"></span>Linda Lucas Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07253938111098982311noreply@blogger.com0