Anne Leuck Feldhaus Adventures & Art

From the archives...Still Life With Pears.

At a recent art fair I ran into some lovely customers that I have not seen in quite awhile. This is a commissioned painting that I created for them back in 2004: "Still LIfe With Pears". I started drawing still life compositions at an art retreat with my friends Erica Huntzinger and Rachel Weaver-Rivera in 2001...that was the start of a whole series of new work. Tomorrow I head up to WI for another long over due art retreat weekend with them. It's exciting to know that some other new theme may develop on this trip so many years later...

secret project...deadline looms

More to be revealed at a later date....

Back from the farm...

And just like that it's over....was it a dream? A beautiful week of blue skies, big puffy white clouds, endless gorgeous hilly back country roads, cows, pigs, goats and corn. I wish I could hold on to this feeling of completeness and happiness. No tv, no computer, a lot of times no phone (my outdoor studio at Castle Rock State Park had no cell phone reception). But it wasn't all sunny skies for me. I had some very real creative challenges and no where to run away from them...I seriously considered driving back to Chicago one morning. But I stayed and battled it out with myself and am very happy with the few pieces that I finished...I think what I accomplished out there mentally in a week would have taken me 3 months here in my studio with all its distractions.

The other magic that happens as an artist at a program like this is you are PRESENT the WHOLE time, I mean visually and creatively, MENTALLY PRESENT. Everywhere I went and every road I traveled I was scanning the amazing lush green vistas all around me...appreciating every field, cow, pig and hay bale..stopping, sketching, taking photos.

The community and group of folks that make up this organization (The Fields Project) are so amazing, they are like a second family after my 3 different years of participation in the program. I also met a group of wonderful artists from around the country and a few right here in Chicago (I had this silly idea that I knew all the aritsts in Chicago!)

The field sculptures this year were so vivid and beautiful thanks to a new grass field and all the rain of the past few weeks. Another huge highlight was Cathi Bouzide & Danny Mansmith's collaboration on the wrapped corn bin. PHENOMENAL!

I'll post more photos and notes soon but in the mean time I did upload my photos to my FLICKR page so please check them out.

Urban House Bird Painting...Live

Music by Kelly Joe Phelps: "The Black Crowe Keeps Flying".

Thursday in the studio...live

As I mentioned the other day, I've been using Gawker to capture my live painting sessions in the studio....the hard part is the editing with imovie and then getting all of that to show up here, Typepad had good instructions. Kate and Rich and of course Lynda.com have both taught me a lot...I'm using Viddler.com to host the video. So here goes the first one: Music: "Run On" by Moby from Play:The B Sides

KC ...my afternoon at the easel

We head to Kansas City at the end of this month to do the Prairie Village Art Show. I was very happy to be one of the 90 artists selected from over 600 that applied. In conjunction with my new road trip series of paintings I also want to create similar works that encompass  places & landmarks of specific cities and neighborhoods (stay tuned for Chicago neighborhoods this summer!). Talented artist & my good friend Laura Nugent (who resides in KC and will also be exhibiting at the show) supplied me with a list of such items and with the added help of google images for reference I created this composition. I even taped it's creation with a webcam but you'll have to wait on that as I'm still challenged when it comes to editing. And of course I must finish this painting, (which I am confident I will do soon) now that I have this ability to document it. Curious? I'm using Gawker.

Murphy & Dudley Digital Sketch

In case you all think I've stopped painting I thought I would mention that I am working on several commissions. Most are in the sketch stage but this is the one I'm about to paint. My customer is Stacy of ZuZu Petals, they design adorable invitations, stationery and note pads. This is going to be a happy memory painting of her family's beloved hounds Murphy & Dudley. Dudley used to smile with all his teeth...It's a fun composition and I love the colors she chose. If you are interested in a Pet Portrait please visit my website! you can also see examples on my Pet Portrait Blog.

Here's a peak at her the ZuZu Petals website:

Artist Statement.....I finally wrote one.

I only accomplish these important things when I really don't have time. I should be packing as I'm heading out of town in the morning for my 4th annual Birthday Adventure...Premise: Go to sleep or wake up someplace you have never been on your birthday! This year I will go to sleep near Lake Wenatchee in the Cascade Moutains of Seattle at my brother's new cabin!

So back to the statement, the deadline for Chicago's Public Art Portrait Project is Monday, I just couldn't pass it by. The Proposal required a Design,Concept Statement, Resume, Slides and...sigh, an Artist Statement. I have been putting this off for too long...instead using a weird bio/statementee thing. So tonight I did it...please note this project does not involve my animal imagery so I did not include anything relating to the animal art or mission. That will be an altogether separate piece. When I have more time I will created a combination statement that ties it all together. Enough talk, here it is:

When I paint, I feel like I am on an adventure, the blank canvas or board is like the open road. It’s easiest to take a route I know well but most satisfying when I have the courage to go down a path I have not traveled before – that’s when my most interesting compositions emerge.

Based on my adventure theory, I guess it’s not surprising that many of my paintings include roads and narrative landscapes. These painted stories include a visual vocabulary of beloved shapes and patterns that make up my contemporary folk and urban pop art style. I have a constant source of imagery influenced by my dreams, daily sketchbooks and my precious adopted dogs.

Raised in a small Wisconsin town, I always dreamed of living in the big city. The energy and vistas of Chicago’s more industrial, urban views constantly inspire me. My style was surely influenced by a childhood of endless Sunday mornings sitting in a Catholic church staring at the stained glass windows.  My color sense further developed every Christmas as my Mother allowed my Brother and I to mix our own frosting colors for holiday cutout cookies. Those colors still make up my palette.

Making art and seeing the joy it brings to other people inspires me, and keeps me moving forward in life, always excited to create something new.

-Anne Leuck Feldhaus

I would love your feedback. If you are looking for tips on how to write your artist statement I highly recommend visiting the very helpful sites of Alyson Stanfield, Molly Gordon and Arianne Goodwin. And most definitely check out the Smartist Telesummit for statements and so much more.

A Busy Weekend...

On Saturday I hung my show in Fluorish's Fine Art Gallery with the help of my trusty assistant Kate...

it's a beautiful space with great lighting and very high ceilings and the nicest staff you'll ever meet. My opening will be on March 15th and will be on all day event from Noon-7pm...a family day with lots of activities.

On Sunday Rich & I ventured to Merrillville, Indiana to purchase an amplifier...it was a business trip for both of us as I took advantage of being the passenger and sketching the journey to and from Chicago. It's landmarks and unique signs that make the paintings fun and familiar, not so many left around any more. One of my favorite local land marks was the  Magikist Lips sign....I remember as a kid driving through Chicago visiting from Wisconsin, how cool my brother and I thought that sign was. Sadly the last Magikist sign came down in early 2000. It was the logo for a carpet cleaning company...which I just learned on wikipedia, I would have thought it was for something more fun, like those goofy wax lip candies we used to buy at the  dime store.

I'm starting to dream up other ideas for these road trip paintings. I'd like to make a deal with the tourism bureaus in every state and do a cross country road trip, sketching my impressions into paintings that they could use for marketing their state....we could rent an rv so and bring the dogs with us, I hate leaving them behind when we travel. Sounds like big fun to me, I love the open road!  Here are Sundays sketches, kind of murky...I forgot to bring a good sharpie and had to use an old stubby one found in the bottom of my purse:

The negative for the day was this horrible, mostly unmarked, detour for I-65 going south...this added much time and many miles to our little excursion. You know something is wrong when you stop at a toll booth to ask for directions and the attendant hands you a flyer as though she was expecting you.

Color....finally!

I'm excited to finally be making progress on my road trip paintings. I started them last fall after our October trip to Alabama. I have been contemplating the color for a long time, but I see now that it has been worth the wait. Okay..who am I kidding, I have been scared to add color, I forget that if it doesn't work you can simply paint over it!

The ceiling is really low so I placed them on the easel horizontally... grumbling as I did it (I know there is a big lofty studio out there just waiting for me) I realized that it's probably a good thing for me to do now and then compositionally. I also work upside down from time to time.

The red border was a bold move for me but I think it really works.  I'm hanging a show next weekend at Flourish Studios and would love to have these paintings done in time...you know me and a deadline!

How does it feel when you create?

Excerpt from an email interview I had 2 yrs ago:

1) How does it feel when you paint?  What do you enjoy most about the process?
It feels like an adventure, the blank canvas or board is like the open road - it’s easiest to take a route you know well but most satisfying when I have the courage to go down a path I have not travelled before – that’s when my most interesting compositions emerge. I love each step and am often tempted to leave it as is, but then have to carry through with my process: the rough black sketch of my initial composition...the abstract color field created after and then bringing it all back into focus with black line.

2) How do you feel when you've successfully completed a painting? I feel a giddy happiness, a sense of accomplishment and sometimes a sense of surprise and wonder that I did it.  It gets me excited about the endless possibilities of unknown creations ahead...

3) What does "successfully completed a painting" mean to you? 
It means I’m experiencing the feelings in #2!  Sometimes it takes several days, weeks or months for me to really appreciate or fully see what I have created. I have plenty of unsuccessful pieces around – but these are critical as the most treasured advice I ever got was “you have to make a lot of bad art in order to get to the good stuff so you better get to work!” ...George Cramer, my Sculpture & Foundry Professor and mentor in college.

4) What three words describe how you feel about your work?
Happy, hopeful, grateful...

If you are still reading this...Now it's your turn, tell me how you feel when you are creating... be it art, writing, cooking, gardening, etc.

Brutus....inspired new portrait design!

I've been working with a wonderful new customer on this handsome sweetie's sketch all week...he lives in Alabama and his name is Brutus. He is a rescue and has brought much joy to his new home and canine playmates. His owner told me that he loves pig ears and I thought hmmm..those aren't going to look so great in a painting, so I thought of the cute little pig with words and pulled this design idea through for his other favorite things. I love it, this is part of the fun of doing commissions it makes me think 'outside the box', well I guess I tend to think 'in the box' with my style...but you know what I mean!

I hope to meet Brutus in person next year if I get back into the wonderful Kentuck Art Fair again.

#10 is my Nemesis...

I get lots of emails from other artists looking for tips and help. I have collected a great referral list of sites and other inspring artists to check out among them is Keri Smith...she posted the list above on her Wish Jar Journal and I had to laugh when I read it because I happen to be having a miserable artist's week: Numbers 1,3,5,9,10...especially 10. I'm not supposed to feel this way in January, this should be free and easy catch up time but instead I feel like I'm never going to get caught up.

On a positive note here are some very helpful resources to check out:
www.artbizcoach.com
www.artbizblog.com
www.another.girlatplay.com
www.kerismith.com
www.smartist-telesummit.com
www.cherylphelps.com/workshops.html
www.artmarketing.com/books
www.karenrossi.com/faqs-licensing.htm
www.maryengelbreit.com/ForArtists/GettingStarted.aspx
www.porterfieldsfineart.com/howtolicenseyourart.htm
www.surtex.com
licensingshow.com 

p r o c r a s t i n a t i o n . . .

I'm so close to being done with my holiday commissions (5 already shipped)....it would really only be what? maybe one or two more hours of work and I would be done. (this photo was from yesterday, can't show you the piece with the name just in case) These last 2 are not being picked up until next week. But how can I truly relax and enjoy the holiday if I know I'm not really done? I'm so tired, burnt out I guess - Rich reminded me that I have not had clay class or any other non-commission related creative outlet so yeah, really unbalanced at this point. Looking forward to making gingerbread houses with my Mom on Christmas Eve Day, our every other year tradition when we spend Christmas together...these will be houses 5 & 6, we get better every year. Next year I would like to design and bake my own house, we use the prefab kits but add our own decorations. The other thing I'm not doing that I should...and must! get my images up on the ispot illustration website. I signed up and paid for this almost a year ago and if I do not get my images uploaded I forfeit my money and page! How could I have waited this long? well..give me a deadline and you will see. 

Okay, I went back down and 'finished' the painting, took the photo to email to my customer and just as I was turning out the light to come upstairs I glanced at the sketch and realized I did not do the  bone pattern border! argh?! so that's it for tonight, I'm going to make myself a little drink and relax with my sweeties. Bone pattern tomorrow...

Live from my sketchbook...

I'm trying to better utilize the hundreds of images in my sketchbooks,
this was a randomly selected page. I think the cat in the sketch
looks more interesting, kind of human...but I'm happy with the
painting too. Think I can challenge myself to do one of these a
week? It's always fun to go back and visit all those pages and
see what was going through my head at the time...

Same time last year...

I started this painting last year after we had accepted
an offer on the sale of our old house. I knew they
were going to tear it down, I was not quite ready to
let it go...or finish the painting. It's back on my easel,
we'll see how it goes this time...

Working Weekend...

It's that time of year when all I want to do is revel in the fall weather but it's a busy time for me art wise with lots of events coming up and work to do... but I did squeeze in some fun, a great night on Friday first going to the Pilsen East Art Walk to see my dear friend Erica's exciting opening at Margin Gallery: there were tons of people out and art studios and galleries open all along Halsted Street and into the neighborhood, lots of good energy and interesting art and fabulous art studios to see. Later met up with Rich & friends at their great new practice space just blocks from our house off elston. I was hoping to get back to Pilsen on Saturday to see more art...but it didn't happen.

I did manage to finish up several paintings and prepare all my tags and pricelist and bio for my hanging at the Starbucks in Roscoe Village tonight....it's always that deadline that makes it all happen. I could have hung a bit more than the 20+ paintings but need enough work to take to the Kentuck art fair in Alabama later in October. I've included a few of the new finished pieces and the upgrade I made to my "Corn" painting from the Fields Project, I decided to mount the canvas on MDF, it really adds a certain something. It is a bit abstract...but I like it.

Brilliant Hues...

I'm having great fun with this painting...I would have to say the most fun since moving to this new space almost a year ago...just playing with color and composition, not trying to control everything. I guess I was afraid I had lost that "  ?  " ...I don't have a word for it..I'm just really glad it's back and hope I can keep it going. This is the kind of painting that I would do in my old studio when I would work until 3 am...go up to get ready for bed then have to run down one more time before going to sleep to take a peek because I was so excited about what had transpired on the canvas and needed to see it one more time. An amazing feeling...and a huge relief as my inner critic never seems to shut up, I've had a momentary reprieve.

A new painting in the works...

New Paintings in Progress...

Last week I started several new paintings on some very nice wood cabinet doors...this one came from my sketchbook. When the power went out, I lost my last minute 'super anne' power painting time which I needed to finish pieces for the Bucktown Art Fest...hopefully I'll have them completed for the Lakeview East Art Fair on Sept. 8-9th. Note to self, procrastination painting not always a good idea.

57th Street

 

I had my first outdoor art fair of the season over the weekend at the 57th Street Community Art Fair. I finished several paintings in a mad rush on Friday prior to packing up the truck. I am a master procrastinator. I love starting new paintings, but the best chance for me to finish them seems to be a deadline, a commission pick-up or looming show date. The hard part is that it's not just finishing the painting, then it needs to be varnished, titled, labeled, inventoried, hanging hardware attached and packed. On these occasions I dub myself "SuperAnne", as I am able to accomplish a weeks worth of work in a day or two. My studio looks like a disaster area as all of this activity ensues, and usually remain this way until I have a client visit.

It was very hot and humid but sales were very good on Saturday and we actually lucked out with the weather as it rained a lot in some parts of the city. I met some wonderful new customers and heard a lot of great dog and cat stories as I always do at these shows. Two women I spoke with are very involved with Greyhound rescue and told me about GreyhoundsOnly.com - they help find homes for retired and injured racing dogs. These are the kind of groups that I really want to help, I would love to design fund raising posters or tshirts for them to sell. Also met some wonderful artists - check out this great leather and metal jewelry by Molly Bitters. And more press, I was interviewed by the City of Chicago's Streetside Studio, at some point this will video should be viewable online.

Hyde Park is very beautiful as is the drive down on Lakeshore Drive - strange to see it from the truck as only one week ago we were out there on our bicycles during Bike the Drive. We only live about 3 miles west of Lake Michigan yet rarely seem to get over there - it's so beautiful and big sky and water and green space...every time I'm there I vow to visit the lake at least once a week, and of course several usually go by before I find my way back.

I'm now trying to catch up on all the email and paper work that a show brings with it.   

Face Lift...

So I ended up putting my week's painting hours into home improvement projects - a chair and bench that I'm going to spruce up for summer deck use (I built the bench one Christmas many years ago visiting my friend Dawn - it was a family project we made about 4 of them I think.) I had drawn designs on the bench probably 7 or 8 years ago and am now going to finish it with color...I'm sure I'll come up with some fun patterns for the chair. Hopefully can finish by Monday for a little bbq we are having, but we'll have to see see how much energy I have left after Bike the Drive tomorrow morning.

My main project of the last 24 hours was painting Rich's music mixing room for him - it looks GREAT, he does so much for me and is so supportive of my artistic endeavors. I want him to have a room that he loves to work in and a place to keep his equipment - he's building a storage piece to fit in under the slant of the ceiling. It was fun transforming this small space from what I call "masking tape yellow" to this cool "durango blue" - that was the paint chip color. He wears this shade of blue a lot too...I got him some really cool record album frames to showcase a few of his favorites from his enormous collection.

I had a little fun on the walls before I painted over it...I did leave him another little love note painted in the back of his closet.

Strolle....

well...i guess i'm not doing so great with that getting in the studio to paint thing. it's been a crazy week, the tribune coverage actually worked out very nicely as i sold the featured painting and i've received several checks for postcard requests.

so what i did do was finish a commission - this is Strolle, or Strolch - a schnauzer owned by a very nice german couple here in chicago who also have a home in Germany. last  year i painted their irish wolf hound: Gorda.  i put a lot of time into the sketch process going back and forth with edits for the client. once the sketch is approved i project the image onto the canvas as shown above on the left (you can see my little projector in the background). this saves me much time when it comes to recreating the proportions. next i go in with color ...essentially blurring it and finish by bringing it back into focus with black paint.  so i did work on some other paintings already in process...i can never work on just one at a time and i hate to waste leftover paint.

day 2 in the studio

Perhaps this blog will not only help me to better document my work - but actually DO the work. My new goal, post 2 entries each week featuring work done in the studio. It will keep me accountable and keep me painting. I know my posts are pretty 'dry'. For someone like me who wears her heart on her sleeve, I feel very self conscious sharing in this format, maybe this will take the edge off.

So, I'm really happing with how these paintings are progressing and am very tempted to leave them in the 2nd step phase of my work which is basically color fields - my final process is to go back in and re-outline all with black paint...stay tuned. (just wanted to add that the size of the painting on the easel is 24"x48" and the top right 18x24 and the one on table 8x24 or so.)

The Joy of Painting...

Lucky me, I got to paint today! (this does not happen often enough, I seem to spend all my time and energy in my office running my art business.) I started three new paintings based on images I created on clay tiles...I can't wait to get back at it tomorrow. I hereby declare my intention to start spending a lot more time in my studio...hold me to it. Commission paintings don't count!