Change and Upheaval

No more palm trees in my yard -- spectacular hardwoods and rolling hills  now surround me

Relocation has its own particular stress. A positive exciting time, new places, new opportunities, beautiful topography and a wonderful, dare I say, perfect house.  Such was my artistic life for the last 6 months. Rather than creating art I spent my months packing a house and unpacking a house. I found myself keeping company with  200 plus Uhaul boxes.  Bubble wrap -- certainly enough bubble wrap to encircle the globe at least once.  Rolls and rolls of packing tape.   I hate packing tape but I grew fond of the clear stuff vs the brown stuff as the months went on.

After decades in a warm, tropical climate we realized we had enough of paradise. Or at least paradise as tourists and developers imagined it. So we searched for 3 yrs and found a location that was right and comfortable for our life style. Quiet, surrounded by woods, mountains, lakes, and some darn good wineries.  All the details fell into place over a short period of time.  No worries -- I can pack and coordinate the moving of 2 home offices and an entire house.  Let's just say it all worked out wonderful but stress eating (and occasional day drinking) resulted in a comfy extra 10 pounds.

And now I am here. After 6 months of adjustment I am finally finding my way back to healthy eating and creating art.  

I am fortunate to have a spectacular location, quiet and with great opportunities to show my work in the region. More than that I have two spaces to work in -- a designated area for office cum watercolor studio and a room in a basement of oil and acrylic work where I don't need to worry about whether the paint dripped on the floor.

New work is slowly taking shape - looser, better composed, plus exploring some new methods.  I'm inspired by the local landscape as the seasons make themselves know but am also revisiting old memories that end up on canvas and paper.  

"Late Afternoon Glow" © Krys Pettit, watercolor on gessoed paper, 11"Hx15"W

"Red Bud Season" © Krys Pettit, watercolor on paper, 15"Hx11"W

I have been lucky to become part of a local art coop where I can show my work and was thrilled to be accepted in a state-wide exhibit showing in late summer/fall.

More than anything I am grateful. Grateful to have the means to be in a new location, to be excited by new places and opportunities and to have my life as an artist.  It is, indeed, all good.

Visit my website to see more of my work

https://www.kryspettit.com/

Follow me on Instagram to see work in progress, what inspires me to paint, and the most current examples of my artwork:

kryspettitartwork

Too Many Images Too Little Time

"Tools of The Trade"
iPhone Photo
Krys Pettit

Someone asked me what I like to paint.  I thought it easier to reply with what I DON'T like to paint. Because there are so many images, so many stories to tell with a brush that I don't feel I can express with words.

I've run the gamut of still life, florals, street scenes, landscapes, figurative, portrait, architectural detail. I've captured the steamy south, the clear and crisp southwest, the freezing and snowy north. Big cities, small towns, unknown roads to unknown destinations. I've painted oceans, lakes, skies, canyons, red rocks, fields, oranges, peppers, plums, geraniums, irises (no never a rose), old houses, new houses, windows, doors, fences, full figures, naked figures, and only faces.  Never an animal. Can't seem to capture those in my art. I've used watercolor, oil, crayon, charcoal, pastel, graphite, color pencil, pen and ink and at times a little spit and a thumbprint.

If someone looked at my body of work once I pass they would say, "She's all over the place.  Doesn't even look like its by the same artist."  And I say, good.  Let's just keep it that way.

For more of my work visit my web site at: https://www.kryspettit.com/
Or if you prefer follow me on Facebook and Instagram.  There is always something new and fresh posted there.  And no two are ever the same if I can help it.
Krys Pettit Original Artwork Facebook
kryspettitartwork

Watercolor Ain't For Sissies

Watercolor was once taught to ladies as part of their cultural training. And although watercolor has been used for centuries in illustrative and fine art it has never had the presence and strength in the world of collectors as oil and acrylic paintings. As a watercolor painter I find this remarkably sad but things are slowly changing in the art world.

Don't go thinking watercolor is a medium for delicacy and lady-like lyrical painting. There have been a number of strong watercolor artists, past and present that blow that theory away.  So many artists have made exceptional use of the watercolor medium that I was hard-pressed to choose which to feature in this blog entry.  I decided to highlight the ones that I feel influence my work and style.

JMW Turner
British romantic painter,  working in the 18th-19th century, he is credited with influencing the Impressionists in France many years later. I always felt he was instrumental in setting watercolors free to stand for themselves.  For more on his personality, rent the very British bio pic, "Mr. Turner."

"Fire at the Grand Storehouse of the Tower of London" Watercolor 1841

John Singer Sargent
Considered a leading portrait painter, in the late19th and early 20th century, Sargent had a way with watercolor that artists continue to study and strive to emulate.  His colors, techniques, his subject matter all work to bring watercolor painting to a new level.  He was, truly, remarkable.

"Corfu Lights and Shadow" 1909

Winslow Homer
Self-taught and producing his first watercolor painting in 1873, his later handling of medium was fairly modern.  He ventured out of his Maine studio and produced some monumental work while in the Caribbean and even visiting the Central Florida area in late 1800's and early 1900's.

"After the Hurricane Bahamas" 1899

Andrew Wyeth
Son of renown illustrator NC Wyeth, Andrew trained under his father from childhood and created strong images of his home landscapes in Pennsylvania and Maine.  This early watercolor was done when he was still in his 20's.

"The Road to Friendship" 1941

Jamie Wyeth
Andrew's son and also a spectacular contemporary artist -- check this video on Vimeo out to see how intense his work is -- on cardboard, no less -- no dainty strokes here.
Inferno

Dean Mitchell
A personal favorite and a constant inspiration as to how watercolor is done best.  Dean was born in the 1950's in a poor area in North Florida, and early on was encouraged by his grandmother to create art.  And create art he does.  And beautifully, often times painting the less than pretty parts of life.

"Debris" 2014

And To All A Good Night

I want to send you wishes of love, joy and peace for this holiday season.  Keep those you love close to you and you will never feel the cold winds on a Winter night.  See you in 2017!

"Silent Night" Original Watercolor
on Yupo Plastic Paper
Krys Pettit

I'm Exhibiting the Art League of Daytona through December 3, 2016

"Shadowed Memories" watercolor on paper

A few weeks ago I submitted my work to a wonderful exhibit here on our Florida coast and I awaited Hurricane Matthew. Matthew was not kind and the exhibit did not open as scheduled.  But now everything is back on track!
My watercolor paintings, "Shadowed Memories" and "Treacherous Landing" are exhibiting at the Art League of Daytona in the Members Showcase exhibit. This exhibit will be on display until December 3, 2016. 
If you are in the Daytona Beach area please stop by and view my work along with the other immensely talented members of the Art League. And here's hoping we don't have to worry about a hurricane again for a very, very long time.
Art League of Daytona

"Treacherous Landing" watercolor on paper

The Color Yellow

A yellow iris -- one of my few attempts at using primarily the color yellow.  That made me think -- why do I avoid it?  I was told paintings with a lot of yellow in them rarely sell.  And yet I have sold my share of work with a strong yellow influence.

I looked up the color yellow in Wikepedia where they wrote "...yellow is the color people most often associate with amusement, gentleness, and spontaneity, but also with duplicity, envy, jealousy, avarice, and, in the U.S., with cowardice." I always thought it a happy color and rarely think of cowardice or avarice.  Apparently the Chinese like the sunny primary, because they believe it is the color of glory, wisdom, and happiness.

Vincent van Gogh adored his yellows. The world adores and admires his sunflowers.  His positioned his lovely purple irises against a warm sunny background. "The Bedroom" has a selection of yellow furnishings one can hope brightened his day.  Did Vincent sell his paintings with predominant uses of yellow?  I can't vouch.  But I believe lovers of his art appreciate the happiness he was able to bravely and boldly communicated with this color.
Vincent can Gogh on Google arts

Visit website and see if you spot shades and tones of yellow in any of my landscape paintings.
Krys Pettit Original Artwork

Red, It’s Said…

Is the color of romance, danger, and power.  It catches your eye, whether it’s a beautiful woman’s favorite shade of lipstick, or the stop sign you almost missed.  It’s the color of apples, Valentine’s Day, blood, or a remarkable sunset. A red light can mean a sexy district in Amsterdam or a warning at a busy intersection.

Red is used as a focal point in art work.  Artists have been known to scatter points of red through their work to act as eye magnets, guiding your eye to take in the entire composition.  It is a highly visible color, second only to yellow.

I rarely use red in my work.  I favor the cool blue, purples and greens. But every once in a while I venture to the Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red, and Vermillion part of my paint box and add a little punch there and there.  Here’s a few paintings I especially like using my bright, brash member of the color palette:

       

                               


Google Culture focuses on the color red with 7 interesting factoids:

Red from Google Culture

Visit my website for an look of my red (and other colored) paintings.

Krys Pettit Artwork

Redo It's What We Do

Painting for me can be hit or miss.  The best thought out piece can look exceptional in my head and turn out to be as blah as cold oatmeal on a grey day when done.  And those cold pieces get tossed in a portfolio to never see the light in my studio again.

Recently I purged a number of old watercolor paintings that just were not worth keeping.  I do this periodically but this was a deep dark disposal of some fairly weak items.  I kept a handful to reuse to paint on the backs (yes we artists reuse and repurpose -- have been for centuries).  I looked over this marsh scene and decided it needed a bit of a makeover.

It's a nice little piece, nothing too fancy.  Capably done but, as a friend would say, "Meh."

Redoing a painting in watercolor is more complex than in oil.  It is difficult if not impossible to lift color off the paper after it has dried.  So in this case lifting to add more highlights was tough.  I opted to just saturate with more color and contrast and shadows.

"Sunset - Florida Marsh" 

Krys Pettit

Watercolor on 140# Paper

11"H x 15" W

I worked on tweaking it a bit for an hour or so, adding darker values, playing around with complementary colors, adding texture and depth.  A pretty, restful piece that captures the glorious colors of a Florida sunset.  A little less "meh" and a little more "nice."

Visit my website for more samples of the pieces that didn't make it to the recycle pile :) 

Krys Pettit Original Artwork

Where's the Fun in That?

I study with a very proficient oil painter once a week.  For me this is weekly journey of challenges and anxiety, reversing my thinking process of creating a piece of art in another medium.  After 20-plus years as a watercolor artist I decided it was time to step up and learn a new medium.

So when an associate happily told me to "Have Fun!" as I set off to my lesson I had to wonder if this was really a way to have fun.  Art, as much as it is a joyous activity, also can be hellacious on the creator.  When you begin making art you are just gosh-darned thrilled to put lines, shapes, color on paper or canvas. And it may be all you ever wanted to do.  But if you are really committed, dedicated to making art, those blobs of color will never satisfy you enough.

You want more. You want to get better. You discipline yourself to work daily.  You take lessons and read and learn from the masters.  You want to explore and perfect your way of telling a story. You challenge yourself.  You throw out more than you keep.  You wonder what the heck possesses you to keep doing this, to add to the stacks of paper and canvases, to the pile of curiously squeezed tubes of paint, to the seductive smell of linseed oil in your studio.  And often you ask yourself why you continue to do this.

Maybe this is my idea of fun.  With just a little insanity thrown in.

“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all.” Michelangelo 

Discover more of my work at my website http://www.kryspettit.com/

Endless Possibilities

Endless Possibilities

Colors in a tube.  Little morsels of visual joy.  Waiting to be opened, exposed, mixed, spread, splattered.  Creamy and watery, thick and gooey, dark and light.  Random ingredients in a planned recipe for art.  Choose one or all.  It's a visual feast.

Krys Pettit Original Artwork