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Dear Art Friends,

This is an introduction to my art blog. I have wanted to do this for a long time because between commissions and large gallery paintings I do little oil sketches of ideas for future paintings or just small things of beauty that strike me at odd moments. Because I paint every day, after a while, these little canvases add up. So I thought I would share them with you. I will be sending them out about every week or two. If you enjoy them, please forward them to friends on your email list. If you do not want to be bothered, no problem just cancel the blog.

So, please consider joining my weekly newsletter (see link below).

Thanks, Nancy Paris Pruden

BIG PAPI

10/31/2013 11:52:12 AM | By Nancy Paris Pruden | Comment on this

BIG PAPI!

The Boston Red Sox just won the World Series last night at Fenway Park and if you haven't heard, you really should get out more! The best part about it is that last year the Sox finished LAST place and are only the second team in history to come from last to first in one year. This amazing turn around was due in part to this man, David Ortiz,aka, Big Papi, who at 37 is the 3rd oldest World Series MVP in history! The win at Fenway Park was the first since 1918 and a sorely need boost for Boston after the Boston Marathon tragedy. In game 4 with Boston down 2-1 Ortiz gave a speech in the dugout that the team said turned them around and they went on to win games 4, 5, and 6! He also hit 2 Home Runs in the Series and batted in 6 RBI's with a Series batting average of .688. However; most important to me is in a team full of beards, his is AWESOME!

On a painting note, I have really enjoyed doing these little figurative studies which were painted on previously painted boards. I covered the failed painting with Burnt Sienna and used the texture from the painting underneath. Dragging a loaded brush over the surface with a light touch will achieve this effect.

Base Hit!

10/30/2013 8:49:48 AM | By Nancy Paris Pruden | Comment on this

It started with the Braves

Growing up in a family of girls, our Dad was a football fan but baseball... not so much. Therefore it was not until college living in Atlanta, that a date took me to my first Braves game and I fell in love. Not with the boy, with the game. After college, a sorority sister of mine dated a Black player, which caused quite a stir in the Kappa house as you can imagine. However, I got to know him and he was a very gentle mountain of a man unlike some of the frogs I was kissing at the time. Anyway, baseball really is a game of strategy, and if you don't believe me just Google "Baseball Strategy and you will get books devoted to it. Things like: When to Steal 2nd, When to Steal 3rd , When to Double Steal, When to Tag Up to Second, When to Tag Up to Third, Attempting a Sacrifice Bunt, Attempting a Suicide Squeeze. Oh MG! We're going to Double Switch and employ a Hit and Run!

Baseball even has it's own language and it is certainly NOT for dummies! I think it's Divine!

World Series, Series

10/26/2013 9:53:37 AM | By Nancy Paris Pruden | Comment on this

World Series Series

I am so pumped with the match up in this year's World Series, that I decided to do a series of paintings from photos shot off the television. I mean what could be better than The Red Sox and the Cardinals? Two classic old baseball teams duking it out and really showing us all how the game should be played. I was born in St. Louis,( my mother's family arrived in the 1840's ) so would root for them, but my son-in-law is such an ardent Red Soxs fan...well you got to go with The Sox! Anyway, Baseball fans are a special breed, have you noticed? They are passionate, but with manners. I mean there is no brawling or shouting obscenities at a baseball game. These are Family people with lots of grandfather's bringing their granddaughters to the game. And there is strategy and lots of statistics to go with the Fast, Slow, Fast pace of the game. Kind of nerdy; a little like chess, but plenty of time to get a hot-dog, and popcorn, and peanuts. But besides all that, Baseball is a game played by Men, not Boys so you get to know the players as people. They stick around for Years!

I hope my enthusiasm for the game shows in these little paintings. My little tribute to the Grand Old Game!

Sonoma at Sunset

10/23/2013 4:33:36 PM | By Nancy Paris Pruden | Comment on this

Abstracting the Landscape

" It's just Shapes"! A landscape painter friend of mine said that some years ago, but as we all know, saying and doing are 2 very different things. However; with this plein air oil sketch I kept muttering that to myself as I stood looking at a sunlit mountain with trees below in front of a pond. Abstraction does not come naturally to me but the design and color of this scene struck me as pleasing. Matisse use to cut out his shapes in flat colored paper. Maybe making Art is just a puzzle... but whatever it is; it can become addictive! Last week was the Birthday of one of my favorite wits, Oscar Wild, and he said, "Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has ever known." Einstein (who's Birthday I share), said,"True Art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist." What ever Art is... thanks for looking and listening.

Fredericksburg Sunday House

10/15/2013 9:29:55 AM | By Nancy Paris Pruden | Comment on this

Texas Pioneers

Fredericksburg, a charming small town in the Texas Hill Country, was first settled by German immigrants in the late 1840's. The immigrants were liberal, well educated, Germans who were fleeing the harsh social, political and economic conditions that lead to the Revolution of 1848 in Germany. The fertile valley situated between 2 creeks; Baron Creek and Town Creek, and surrounded by 7 hills was the perfect location for a farming community. The town was named to honor Prince Frederick of Prussia and a treaty was signed with the Comanche Indians to mutually share the land coexisting in peace and friendship. The settlers built small houses in the town of Fredericksburg so the families in outlying farms could spend the night on Saturday night and go to church on Sunday, hence the name, Sunday Houses. Today the town continues to encourage the preservation of these historic houses, most of which are made from local stone and the oak trees from this lovely part of Texas.

Fredericksburg Morning

10/9/2013 9:06:05 AM | By Nancy Paris Pruden | Comment on this

Foreground Phobia

It's interesting how often you encounter the dreaded "Foreground Phobia" in paintings. You see a beautiful scene of misty rolling hills and trees that slowly shed their veils of atmosphere as they approach you, and then... Nothing! This happens to me all the time! Some people just naturally look out to the horizon, an area a long way off for their inspiration. Lets call these people "Seekers". Then there are people who see what's near to them first, and if that is interesting then they will start there. Let's call them "Realists"; seeing the world as it is and not as they hope it will be when they get there. Anyway, I fell into Foreground Phobia with this painting and only got myself out by inventing a field to direct the eye back to the center of the painting, but a stream would have worked too. Another option is to throw a shadow over the ground in the lower half of the painting so your eye jumps over the shadow to the light. As long as you get the viewer to travel through the painting instead of stopping at the back or the front you will have a successful composition and that is what I learn by doing these little paintings!

Lavender Field near Fredericksburg

10/4/2013 5:34:51 PM | By Nancy Paris Pruden | Comment on this

Mixing Lovely Grays

One of the most sophisticated but misunderstood colors an artist can use in a painting is the color Gray. Using complimentary colors is key to mixing grays that sing, and although a little tricky to achieve, it is not rocket science. Take Orange and Ultra Marine Blue. Mix about 2 parts blue to 1 part orange, then take a little bit of that mixture plus white and see what you have got. If it is too brown, add more blue, if too blue, add more orange. You now have a mixture that can be added to whatever color you are using to Gray down that color. So, why do we want to do that? Because as colors recede, say in a landscape, they become grayer and lighter. An easy way to achieve this effect quickly is to mix different values of gray on your pallet before you start painting. Then just mix that into your local color and Voila, the trees recede!

In the painting above I mixed Orange and Blue to get the colors in the clouds and then added that plus white to gray down the trees in the distance.