Garden of Inspiration

This morning I was visiting with my BFF and fellow artist Trish and was reminded, as I am every time I visit her house, that she has the most AMAZING garden! And when I’m there I find myself remarking on all the beautiful things I see. In fact, her garden has been the source of many of my paintings.

I live vicariously through this garden, especially after I sold my house and have been dealing with rental gardens. I decided that the world needed to see just how amazing this place is. Of course I have a thing for succulents and well, this garden is full of them! I’m often lucky enough to get cuttings and I’ve donated a few of my agave pups to the garden. But what makes this garden is not just the plants…its the love. Trish imbues the magic into it. It doesn’t happen by accident.

The hummingbirds flock to the many feeders she provides, even the squirrels get fed apple cores that she places atop the walls, the bees get rescued daily from danger whether it be the pool or her herding me to the side so I don’t accidentally step on it. She puts cayenne pepper in the front garden to keep the dogs from doing their business in her garden. I admire her total love for nature. Today she educated me on cruelty-free products and was truly appalled that I was so uninformed! I learn from her every day. I enjoy all our “dates”, I’m lucky to have such a great friend!

She inspires me…the garden inspires me and I hope it makes you feel good too! Enjoy…

Disclaimer: My photos don’t do this place the justice it deserves but I’m sure you’ll still enjoy it! 🙂

Camping Adventures

San Simeon

Last summer we went on a camping trip to San Simeon. I was surprised at how cold it was, it was July and back at home in Los Angeles, it was HOT! I pretty much lived in my Uggs and all those shorts I packed stayed in the bag. The bright side is that it was a beautiful place. Our camp site was surrounded by mountains and nature. We had two snakes visit us and thought we might be getting some coyote’s visiting since we had 3 small tasty dogs with us but thankfully they stayed away.

Our trip was only 3 days but we managed to squeeze in sight seeing at Hurst Castle, we only made it to the visitor center since we had dogs waiting for us in the car but it was still impressive, we toured 3 wineries, had lunch in Cambria and my husband got so close to a seal that he could have been eaten! I was also determined to doing a little painting. We had rented the cutest vintage camper (www.happiercamper.com) that was just screaming to be painted. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to paint the camper but I took lots of photos and I will be painting it someday soon. Instead I took my friend Tom for a little plein air painting lesson and we had fun at sunset painting the mountains of San Simeon until it was just too windy and cold to stand it anymore. Did I mention, this is why I’m really not a fan of plein air painting? 😉  I didn’t get any photos of us doing our paintings but I have posted my painting on FineArtAmerica and prints can be purchased there.  Check out my mountain paintings.

Mike and the seal.

Cutest camper ever!

Mike the snake rangler!

Breathtaking views!

Happy Campers

Trying to spot a wild boar in the mountains

Just one of the beautiful wineries

Our campsite and the incredible view

Lighting It Up with Art Prints

I recently completed a project to furnish a local office with artwork. The company makes LED Lighting and recently changed management and along with the old CEO went the art that he owned.

One great thing about this office is the colorful walls which create a beautiful backdrop for my art. I was very happy to be selected to provide art for their buildings.  All in all they acquired over 40 pieces for their two buildings including some custom pieces including this one titled, “Light Up The Night”. This colorful view of the Downtown Los Angeles skyline at dusk was created for their main lobby. It was printed on metal and is 5 feet wide! The painting looks stunning printed on metal and creates a more modern look while not requiring framing.

Light Up The Night – Acrylic on Paper

You can find more of my city paintings that are available on canvas, metal, acrylic or on archival paper at FineArtAmerica.com

Just to give you a taste of how it turned out here is a collage with photos from the office along with the happy customer!

If you’d like art for your home or office, feel free to contact me! www.athenamantle.com

– Athena

A Succulent Affair

I admit that I have an obsession with succulents. Thankfully, its not a fatal attraction. Its hard to kill one…even the leaves will start growing roots! My attraction has produced several paintings. If I get a good photo sometimes I paint it more than once.

I like to experiment and use different mediums, change the composition, and see what I can do with it. Sometimes, the combination is so successful that I produce a series using the same concept but with different photos, like my Shadow Dance series. I have this amazing agave that is producing pups like crazy. I took some photos of it and the shadows on all the pups just really stood out and when I painted them, they turned into the focus. These little gems are painted on an upcycled panel from an art crating warehouse that ships art for museums. I love these little panels. They are covered in a brown paper that I primed so I could paint over it. The brown paper is what you see in the background.

Another painting I’ve done 3 different ways is the Prickly series. I just liked the photo so much that I kept painting it. The first one I painted is the pastel on black paper in the middle. I love the texture in that paining. The second one was a commission that I did and its a very large oil paining (3’x5′), the details and soft color changes in the agave’s petals are beautiful, you can really get lost in it. The last one, on the right is my most recent rendition. I have been working on a series of small paintings on paper with acrylic. With all the different mediums and surfaces, the effect produced is entirely different.

I was asked to paint a series of my agave and succulents on paper for a show at the Rebecca Molayem Gallery this past July. I had seen some new paper from Arches at Blick that you could paint with oils on without any additional prep work. So I bought several sheets of it and created these paintings.

The original paintings are available on my website athenamantle.com. You can find these and my other southwest prints on FineArtAmerica.com

Vintage Cars

I’m not sure why but I seem to have an obsession with vintage cars.  I guess they are more interesting than your average modern car.  They have interesting shapes and colors.  I would love to have one but fear I wouldn’t like the lack of modern niceties that come with cars these days like um….power steering, seat belts, power windows, oh and my favorite feature, power locks. My favorite thing about my Prius isn’t the gas mileage, but that is nice I admit, its the keyless entry.  I hate searching in my purse for keys!  I love that my car knows I’m there and unlocks the door for me!  But you don’t want to know how lazy I am so let me tell you about my vintage truck paintings.

Somehow I am always finding cool vintage cars in my travels.  I think its one of those things that when you like something you see it all around.  I’ve managed to get some great shots of these cars and make paintings of them.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  There is one location in Lyons, Colorado that I took several shots of and ended up making 3 paintings from.  I’m not sure if I can squeeze out one more but it was just such a great subject!  That blue truck made it into all three! Here they are in the order they were painted:

Here are some more of my vintage finds…

My Wood Block Print Adventure

I’ve been working on a different technique these past few weeks. I have done wood block prints in the past for images for holiday cards and such but decided to see what I could do to turn my painting images into 2 color block prints.  The results were pretty cool.  Well, at least I think so! 🙂

So, first I had to create my image and carve the wood block.  I decided to use the two paintings that I had with trailers in them. They have a nostalgic feel and I just thought they would read well with only 2 colors. I took the images in the computer and converted them to black and white and then reversed them. The image will print opposite so if you are trying to create an exact image it has to be flipped so everything is opposite. Then I used graphite paper to draw/trace the image onto the the linoleum wood blocks and voila!… its ready for carving.

This is a painting called “Retirement Plan” that I’ve carved into a wood block.The next one is called Happy Camper and the unfinished one on teh right is Fresh Paint. I haven’t had time yet to finish carving that one.

I completed the two campers for a show I had last weekend at SOPA Studios in South Pasadena.  I got some nice feedback on them so I’ll definitely do some more.

After I carved the blocks I had to test the print to see if I needed to make any adjustments to my carving. You can see here, there were some problem areas that I needed to adjust before the print would work.

In the shadow area I’ve lost the bottom of the trailer. I needed to make the lines a bit thicker so they will show a separation in the ink.  So, I carve some more…

Then I retest…

Then I retest a million times more because I seem to be having problems with the ink consistency.  So I give up for the day and take my work an art meeting to get help from the experts who do this print making all the time.  I discovered several possible problems:

• Oil based ink is better because it has a nicer consistency, it goes on better and gives better prints.
• My paper needs to be softer, lighter even.  I was testing on copy paper then did some on watercolor paper (this is too rough for the print) although I was told if I used hot press it would be better.
• But the BIGGEST mistake I was making was trying to press the print from the backside like this…When I discovered this I had to laugh because it was so silly!  I hadn’t worked with these big blocks for so long I’d forgotten that I laid them on top of the block and pressed the paper to it.  This was THE reason my prints weren’t coming out right. It wasn’t the ink or the paper! Although those things may contribute to a nicer print, it wasn’t what was ruining it!

In the end, I got two decent prints in time for the show…

What do you think?  I’d love to hear your feedback!

Art Marketing Secrets Revealed

Marketing can seem like an impossible task to an artist. Artists want to be painting or creating, not promoting.  I understand this, really I do. But on the other hand, those creative instincts that make you an artist make you a perfect Marketer.  When I left my job as VP Marketing for an Inc 500 company in 2010 and went back to my art roots I decided to embrace the fact that if I was to be a successful artist I would also need to continue using my marketing skills.  I guess once you have a marketing mind, you always have it.

My goal is of course to be successful as an artist but also to help others be successful. I hate to see artists giving up and going back to their jobs so they can “make money”. Where is the fun in that? Being a business owner of any kind is challenging and that’s exactly what you are when you are an artist. I hate to tell you this but its true. And what would happen if a business owner didn’t promote or find customers? Absolutely nothing! They would be out of business pretty quickly.

The good news is that like anything else, marketing is something you can learn. It does take some effort on your part but the good news is that I’ve spent that last two years researching on the best ways to market as an artist and how to get to the top of Google. Everyone wants their name in lights, right? Ok, well maybe not in lights but you want your customers to find you and reach out to you.  That is what I”m going to show you how to do.  I’d call this Marketing for Dummies but that wouldn’t be accurate.  It’s more like Marketing for Smarties (smart artists that is), those that are brave dedicated and determined to be successful.  But don’t let this intimidate you.  You don’t have to be a techie or know anything about marketing. You do need to follow instructions (there are actions involved, it’s not magic) and have the drive to persist until you accomplish what you set out to do.  If this sounds like you, I hope you’ll join me.

I’ll be giving a seminar at Modest Fly Art Gallery in Tujunga, California on August 5th. If you can’t make it but want the information, let me know.  Sign up early and save!

To Your Success in Art!

Oh, and this is for Technorati to register this blog: code XYYYTT8JEKJJ

SoPas Gallery The South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce

Invites the public to attend
Saturday April 21, 2012, 6 to 9 pm
Opening Reception for the Artists
“SOPA at SoPas”
A Juried Show of Recent work by
Artist Members of SOPA Studios

Mitch Braiman, David Graves, Zanda Hudson, Jack Jones, Karen Keiffer, Athena Mantle, Alice Marsh, Lisa Marsh, Harry Nickelson, Christine Prentice, George Ramirez, Jacqueline Rosen, Joseph Stauffer, Benjamin Wheeler

Show runs April 18th through May 12th, 2012

Sponsored by SOPA Studios, SPARC (The South Pasadena Arts Commission), and SoPas Gallery

To Benefit the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce Annual Arts Scholarship

1121 Mission St., South Pasadena, CA 91030 (626) 441-2339

Salvation Pinto by Mitch Braiman

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 to 5, or by appointment.

Just California

This Saturday will be the final day of the Just California exhibit at McGroarty Arts Center.  Come out and see the great artwork and enjoy the art fair featuring 45 artists!

Here is a little video of the exhibition made by curator, Monica Hicks….

Just Californa Exhibit Tour

My Agave Is Your Agave

The month of December proved to be a popular one for agave paintings.  I painted this commission of a blue agave for a collector in Scottsdale.  My largest one yet at 36″ x 60″. I have to say I was a little sad to send it off not having gotten much time to enjoy it myself.  But alas, I make paintings so others can enjoy them so off it went!

 

Just before Christmas I sold my Blue Agave Family painting to a native plant lover from LA’s  Westside.  Its always exciting to be found through Google – ahhh, the power of the internet!  I couldn’t have been happier to deliver it to it’s new gorgeous home.

Because this painting had been hanging over my fireplace for me to enjoy, I had to replace it before the company arrived for the holidays!  I found the largest canvas I had and painted a replacement, finishing just 2 hours before throwing a holiday party. Whew! I couldn’t bare the thought of a wall devoid of art so I painted this 30″ x 40″ foxtail agave alla prima!

If this is any indication of whats to come,  2012 will continue the agave trend as I gear up to paint more of this series.  A few of my agave paintings have been selected for Margaret Danielak’s upcoming show “Red” at the Pasadena Women’s City Club.  The opening reception will be Thursday, February 9th from 6-9 pm.  160 N. Oakland Avenue -Pasadena, CA  91101

Viva Agave!