Monday, April 27, 2009

Pink Light


Pink Light
8x10 Soft Pastel on Art Spectrum Color fix
by Tom Willa
$65 , $75 framed
April 27th the day after Arts Unlimited art show, it was a very comfortable location at the Taste of the Landing in Renton. We had space in a vacant commercial building with plenty of space. Everyone was most pleasant, the number of people was okay, the reality of showing at a combination event was no sales for us. Our 10x10 space was expanded to 15x10 which makes everyone a lot more comfortable. The hard part about a day like that is getting motivated to paint,again. This made me realize why I paint is to capture the beauty, presenting others with my view of loveliness. So that hurdle seem to vanish quickly and quietly this afternoon. The last couple of days I have been thinking about this painting while getting the framing done. So today I was very enthused about it. I actually did this sitting down on a very small board as an easel. I used a new set of faber-Castell 24 soft pastel Sticks basic colors which I picked up at Daniel Smith while getting framing supplies. I enjoyed painting the blossom on flat surface first because all the pigment stayed on the surface which allowed me to use some nu-pastels to blend them in. I worked the background keeping with the style of my tulip series which turned out pretty good. Finally I need to set up vertically on my easel to make some texture strokes, touch up and additional blending. I may add a few more paintings to the series because I enjoyed doing this paintin a lot and we went for a nice walk and saw some more really beautiful blossoms.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Pink Delight


Pink Delight
4x6 Photograph
by Tom Willa
Today I spent most of the day in the framing workshop preparing The Arts Unlimited Art Show Date: Sunday, April 26Time: 10 am - 4 pm (there will be a 5K race that starts at 9:30 am)Location: The Landing is located off exit 5 on I-405. It's a new urbanvillage development in Renton - just south of Lake Washington.The Arts Unlimited Art Show is scheduled to be located in an empty retail-space on block east of the intersection of N 10th Street and Logan Ave N at the round-a-bout.
I needed to get several pieces into frames. My commitment to painting had to go to the back burner for a couple of days. I have decided to post a photo from my visit to the garden this morning. I will work on turning Pink Delight into a painting once I get all my framing for the show completed.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Royal Reds


Royal Red Tulips
8x10 Soft Pastel on Art Spectrum Color fix
By Tom Willa
$65 matted to fit 11x14 frame
We had another sunny day. Spring may have arrived. Here is number three in the tulip series. I am working on getting my fuchsia recovered beside painting these days. I have decided that I am going to do a give away once I finish this series of tulips. My plan is to post my the details here and on my face book wall. I let you know how to sign up once I get the next two paintings create. Have a great day, stay healthy, be happy.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Floating Tulips

Floating Tulips
9x12 Soft Pastel on Art Spectrum Color fix
$50
by Tom Willa
Today was an uplifting experience. I have been hiding away from the easel, I'm glad to be back. One could consider this my second in a series of painting about tulips. Tulips are huge here in the Northwest, they are short lived but abound around the Sound. My goal is to paint 5 in this series so keep you eye out.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Tom Willa, Graphics

CD Cover
by Tom Willa
It is spring, some days here in the Northwest. I painted a couple of fuchsia paintings last summer. I used the photo as a reference. I applied for a graphics job last week, I am thinking about posting an online portfolio. This creation is a little tidbit I made a couple of days, ago as an asset for that. I want it to be attention grabber also it should represent what I see as beauty. The photo is good, vertical text for effect, with contact info, a basic three layout. I like the photo series a lot. One or a combination of them may become an inspiration for a large studio painting.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Gathering Glass Artist, Cross Processed

Gathering
Photograph
By Tom Willa
This photograph was tweaked to resemble cross processing from back in the days of wet processing. It was a practice which added saturation to the blacks and caused some shifting in other colors. I also am trying to figure how to create a glass blowing photo alblum in Picasa, making them available on my blog or from my facebook. It is kind like driving somewhere knowing where you want to get with any specific directions.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Spring Tulip

Spring Tulip
8x10 Soft Pastel on Art Spectrum
By Tom Willa
$65
I have been doing some juggling of priorities in the last week. This is my studio painter creation, after ignoring the easel for more than a week I have spent many hours defining this painting. I jumped into on Monday got it to a point yesterday. Today I have obsessed on it to the point where it is wise for me to sign it and put it out of sight. I hope you all enjoy the flower, have a great week.

Jade Plant


Jade Plant
16x18 Digital Vector Image
By Tom Willa
Yesterday, I bartered this beautiful black and white Jade Plant Image for some barbering.
Creative bargaining

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Architectural Rendering

4613 231st Avenue SE
Issaaquah, WA 98029
Photograph
By Tom Willa
This morning while we checking out the local Library hours I saw an architectural rendering of the facility. It struck me that I could accomplish the same effect with one of my images using Photo Shop. A little bit of filter, duplicate layer and some blending options, this is what I came up with. This is one of David J. Edwards listings now on the market. I had to postpone my photo shoot of Ian to next week due to some scheduling conflicts. I should grab some food, seek some wisdom and be happy.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Beth and Brian

Beth and Brian
4x6 Photograph
By Tom Willa
Happy Couple having a good time, this is one of the shots from a couple of weeks ago. I used a 85mm lens as a prime which really had me doing a lot of backing away from people. The formatting on my camera turns that into a 127mm range. I am enjoying the 50mm this week as a prime. I am scheduled to take some photos of Ian working as a pastry chef, tomorrow so you may see some more photography this week.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Focus

Depth of Field
Photograph by Tom Willa
Today I was working with the 85mm lens at Avalon Glassworks . It was an interesting experience Hugh was working with Sean a fellow glass artist at an open house event. I got some great shots which will probably make their way into paintings or some photographs. The glass studio seems to yield interesting creations for me as a photographer. Avalon Glassworks Studio was a very pleasant experience in West Seattle if you in the Northwest you should stop by. I am going to let the photo speak for itself my wrist seems to be paining me at the moment. Have a great week

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Collage some more

Glass Blowing Collage
By Tom Willa
Yesterday, I wrote an article for Biznik about Photography. One of the elements of good composition photographic technique was not placing a single subject by itself in the center of an image. This collage seems to be the exception. Alix is the star surrounded by several other photos. I used Picasa to generate it. Next time I may explore the envelope capabilities a little more.