I Draw and Paint Stories
I signed up to participate in the Sketchbook Project’s “Infinite Sketch.” You get a 6×9 postcard with some art supplies and you create a segment of a creature that will connect to another artists’ segment, and so on. One artist gets selected for the head and another gets the butt. I’m somewhere in the middle but that’s ok, less pressure on me.
This is my body segment; a duck footed caterpiller.
My show was up for a month and a half but regretfully, it’s over. It was a lot of fun.
It was on exhibit at the Patchogue Theatre for the Arts. We get a lot of great shows at the Patchogue Theatre. For those of you that didn’t see it, it was whimsical and charming.
Now that it is no longer hanging, I will share some photos of the exhibit. This is the lobby when you first walked into the theatre.
The two end cats are portraits of my mom’s cats. They are 24x 30 and the two middle pieces are 30×40.
On the back wall of the theatre, there 9 other pieces. These were along the corridor to the interior seating of the theatre.
Sadly, I forgot to take a photo of the one in at Roast. I’ll have to see if hubby took a photo of that one.
These guys nest on the East Coast. They are a summer staple along the New Jersey coastline. Growing up, we went down the Shore every summer and our summer days were filled with laughing gull calls.
Note: people from South Jersey and Philadelphia do not call it the “Jersey Shore.” 😱 We call it “down the Shore.” As soon as we hear the term “Jersey shore,” we have you pegged as not being from the Philly/South Jersey region.
Back to the laughing gulls….they come up early from the southern beaches and in late Spring you can hear them for miles along the Delaware Bay, it’s like one giant gull party. It’s one of the best sounds of the Spring. They nest in the salt marshes and their favorite natural food is horseshoe crab eggs. They’re favorite junk food is the stolen sandwiches from toddlers. It’s hilarious to see a small child running with food and a laughing gull dives and deftly snatches it from their hands. Priceless.
Here are two mixed media laughing gulls.
Enjoy!
Here is another recent painting for your viewing pleasure…..
It’s a collage/mixed media piece. 12×16
Here is a quick sketch I did this morning using the Sktchy app on iPhone.
The young man had a scrunched up face and it made me laugh. He was sketched in a drawing box that I have reserved in my morning pages.
Here are some of of the kitties I drew before finding the one I liked. The large one circled in yellow and then trying it out on a smaller piece of paper.
And one sketchbook page using that kitty shape….
The “Cats out of the Bag” show is up for a few more days. I am already jumping into new projects.
This is a recent painting that I submitted to a show. The original idea came from a stack of kitty sketches on index cards that I have been reusing this shape over and over.
I have many postcards that haven’t been posted on social media. Here are some from the past few months.
I tried to move on to other creatures but my mom was like “but I like the cats!” So I guess I am still doing cats even though I managed to sneak in a pig or dog.
I should do a video of my show before it comes down. Maybe I’ll pop over there tomorrow.
Enjoy!
For several months now, my cat postcard project has grown into a full show of 14 paintings. The largest are 30×40. They are at least 8 that I have not posted on Social Media.
The show runs until July 28th. One of the paintings is on display at a separate location, the Roast Coffee and Tea Company, a few doors down from the theater.
The image on the exhibit postcard was scaled up from one that I did last summer. The original is 4×6, the one below is 18×24. Two of the paintings that were completed are portraits of my mom’s cats, also created from postcards.
Creating large work from tiny sketches presented many challenges. I had to play around with the aspect ration to ensure my proportions were correct. Plus, scaling up meant I had to do more detail. Many of the original postcards were created with random bits of collage and it was impossible to scale up a tiny piece of collage so I had to improvise, a lot. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to my next project.
If you are in the area, stop by and see the show. Check in on Facebook at the Patchogue Theater and tag me!
More importantly, where’s Gina?
For the past few months, I have been working on a series of paintings for a solo show here on Long Island. There are 14 paintings that will be curated by John Cino, Curator for the Patchogue Arts Council. The paintings he chooses will be hanging in the Patchogue Theater for Performing Arts on Main Street and the exhibit will run from June 15th to July 28, 2019. One painting will also be on display at the Roast Coffee and Tea House, a few doors down from the Theater.
I just finished the last painting today. The paintings range in size from 11×14 to a whopping 30×40, which for me, is insanely large.
They are a variety of collage and mixed media. All are very different from all the other paintings I have ever done. Working large was fun, challenging, and quite a workout. Mark you calendars!
I will post more detailed information in a few days.
I have been busy working on a few projects that have deadlines, so I haven’t been on social media very much.
I finally tweaked this sketchbook so I could do the video of the completed book. This sketchbook is handmade. I usually use the Strathmore 9×12 watercolor paper for these 6×9 books. They don’t take much time to make and I love doing them!
The interior was done with pan pastels but I had to do the exterior with acrylic because pastels can rub off. That’s why there are dividers between the pages.
Enjoy the video!
Happy New Year Everyone!
I hope that everyone is enjoying the first few days of the new year. I closed the studio down for a few days so that we could just enjoy the holiday and hang out with family. (Don’t worry, mom was still getting cards!).
John and I went to Florida to see our daughter and other family members. It was nice and warm. We played card games like Cover Your Assets and Skull King. We were having a great time. We were thinking of extending our stay but we got a call on New Year’s morning from my father-in-law that the roof was leaking on our house.
Happy New Year, eh?
😱😱😱😱😱
He said the roof leaked all the way into the living room and basement….again😱😱😱😱😱
Our wonderful neighbors threw a tarp on the roof. We weren’t in Florida but for a few days and drove back up to NY that weekend (ugh). Today the solar people came to remove a panel to assess the issue. Apparently a RACCOON was trying to eat his/her way into our house. It somehow squeezed under the panel. My husband repaired the roof. Solar panel was replaced. Now we are on critter watch.
In the meantime, as promised, I added embellishments to my Kringle Kitty sketchbook. I created a video to show a flip through of the book and if you look closely your see that each page has something more 3D-ish added to it. I haven’t done many videos so forgive the abrupt ending.
Gina Lento: Fine Art and Illustration
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