Painting On Air

Turning Twisted Painting Problems into Successes!

L Diane Johnson — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:47:26 +0000

TODAY I BOUGHT AND INSTALLED a new 150 ft. garden hose. The shiny new green bundle looked like a cinch to install and use right away. NOT. The easy part was attaching the hose to the spikot. But the next hour felt more like an upper body workout than a nice smooth project. You should have seen it. I confidently started to unravel the series of kinks quickly. I had a rhythm going. Yeah! But about half way through I noticed that I was de-kinking in the wrong direction. With all the hose I needed pulled out from the neatly stacked roll, I started from the roll and had to counter twist. Thus creating a big-BIG mess. An hour later, I had finally gotten all the kinks out and had what looked like a straight hose. I ran water through it and all was well. But what a job. It reminded me of painting…why painting? Can’t tell you how many times have I gotten into a a mess of a painting, losing direction, structure – just a big mess diminishing any hope of creating a successful picture. While the hose was tough to untangle and make right, it seems more [...]

Recommended Webinar for Artists

L Diane Johnson — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:24:59 +0000

PAINTERS AND COLLECTORS, a little urgency here. One of my colleagues Larry Seiler has put together a great series that is coming around again. He is an incredible painter – inside and out - and I never hesitate to tout his teaching/painting expertise to any of my readers/students/colleagues/collectors. Here is the information for this online event: “Event Description: WetCanvas Live…is hosting my series once again on foundations in painting, and many improvements to painting…”For Reasons Paintings Work”…a series that was presented this past October. It will be a one hour session, five sessions in total…offered Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6pm to 7pm EST…using Go To Meeting…will be live. There will be a question and answer time following. You my go to this link to register… Larry Seiler’s … “For Reasons Paintings Work“ Dates will be, March 6th, 8th, 13th, 15th and the 20th… Best to You all in Painting and Collecting, Diane

Historical Painting Donation – Revolutionary War

L Diane Johnson — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:49:24 +0000

SATISFACTION COMES IN MANY FORMS. For me, it is for the benefit/pleasure of others, historic events/artifacts, and more. My collectors are dear to me and they carry (as with all original art they own) today’s heritage into the next generations. It is rare that I donate paintings. From experience, I know that if I give one; then all are gone. It’s just my way. Many artists have expressed to me that I am art and “sales savvy.” In truth, I would like to give rather than sell every painting I create. While not practical to eating and housing, it is my heartbeat. Some of you have seen this painting before. It is of a Revolutionary War era house that I lived across from during my formative years, and my parents through many more, now just my father today. It is an incredible story. I know this a long preface, but I want it documented that last week I gave a piece to my hometown museum. If you read about the painting itself at this link, you will understand why. There is another piece I have donated this year…will tell you about that one after I post a demonstration for you to [...]

When The Chips Are Up!

L Diane Johnson — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:44:15 +0000

COLOR CHIPS AND SAMPLES take many forms in many industries, including architecture/building. I am used to small samples for fine art paint brands, PMS colors for graphic design, paint chips for my walls, and more. While visiting a new construction site for an outdoor street-type mall including Target and other stores, my husband and I had a momentary “wow” moment. In the distance were the biggest paint chips/samples we had ever seen. Just for scale, you can see them here with tiny me in the shot. We got a good laugh from seeing these huge swatches. They were easy to read and view for more than 1/4 mile. I understood perhaps why and what they were for. I switched my eyes back and forth between the swatches and the buildings (which were partly finished) and noted a few things. The painters could get a quick glance at the code of color for mixing. Decorators could glance and tell which colors would look good for primary or trim. And the best of all to my mind is that as the sun moved the colors changed (so too, with fine art painting) so the “powers that be” could tell how the overall [...]

Solo Exhibition at Liberty University Art Gallery

L Diane Johnson — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:33:16 +0000

SO MANY FOLKS have inquired and responded to my invitational solo show that I am re-posting the information. You can preview a sampling of paintings in the exhibition here on my site. Many are new pieces, others are from across my career, including some on loan from corporate and private collectors. Show Description & Preview: Impressions: Plein Air & Studio Exhibition & Sale; click on individual paintings for larger images and details. Radio Interview: MP3 Interview with The Liberty Journal program. (~14 min.) Where: Liberty University Art Gallery Student Life & Academic Building, Room 111 Lynchburg, VA Information: 424.582.2111 Runs through November 3d. Enjoy!

How to Make a Virtual Show Using SlideShare

L Diane Johnson — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:46:13 +0000

MANY LETTERS AND COMMENTS HAVE come in from folks wanting to know about how I make the slide shows I’ve post here and my other sites. You can view this one (the first I made 3 years ago) , then I’ll tell you how it was created: L Diane Johnson Landscape Painting Sampler View more webinars from L Diane Johnson HOW TO: • This slide show using Slideshare.net a great little free tool. • First make an account for yourself. • To make your first slideshow, create still images as individual pictures, or as I did, by making a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. • Once you have all you images or presentation file, upload all to your Slideshare account. You can move slides around to reorder them and even add music if you like (be sure the music is used by permission.) If you have prepared individual photos, you can use Slideshare’s text tools to add copy if needed. • Take a few moments to read the instructions on “how-to”; then the process becomes very intuitive. • Slideshare also allows you to copy/paste code to embed into your web pages and publish directly to selected sites. Lots of fun and [...]

Back in the Painting Saddle

L Diane Johnson — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:38:47 +0000

Landscape Painting Demonstration by L Diane Johnson View more webinars from L Diane Johnson I AM BACK. Many of you know I broke my wrist last August, so I have been mending and not here on the blog much, nor painted either. Here is a little slide show of my “coming out” to give a demonstration in Acrylic to a group of nearly 50 people on Monday. It is about how I start a painting. I have lots of news and views for you, but will start with this little demo. Enjoy!

A New Year & Resolutions

L Diane Johnson — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:24:48 +0000

HAPPY 2011 TO YOU ALL! Yet another decade has passed and we launch into a new one. “Do you make New Year’s Resolutions?” I used to but between all the holidays and resolutions it tended to give me what they call the “holiday blues.” For several years now, I have tried another approach. While Christmas and Easter are the most important holidays for me personally and spiritually, I had to find a way to overcome the hubbub of all the visiting and other activities related to celebrations. What is it? I treat every day as any other day. Doing this keeps me from the ups and downs that can come and scuttle my ship. It has worked great for me and has relieved me of so much self-imposed pressure. And when I resolve to do something, I just do it. As of December 1, I had nothing on my 2011 calendar. Suddenly, I have 5 events already on the books for this year including painting in NJ, GA, AL, NC, SC, NY, jurying exhibitions, teaching and more. I had expected this year to be a nice open year, but now I have a nice grouping things coming up! How do [...]

Paintings Just Sold

L Diane Johnson — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 22:20:51 +0000

THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE THE SALE the following pieces to long-time collectors as well as new during November!

Reemergence of Plein Air Magazine?

L Diane Johnson — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:35:15 +0000

THOSE WHO KNOW ME know that I am not one to meddle nor engage in rumors; but am getting hints here and there that PAM may be making a come back! I surely hope so! And if it does I’ll be as happy as a pig in mud, or is that “an artist in paint?” Either way, if you get a sense of something happening don’t hesitate to post here.