Giselle's Musings

"Morning Walk ll" & "May I Join You?"

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:50:00 +0000

"May I Join You?' 6x6" oil on hardwood

Morning Walk ll 6x6" oil on hardwood

Thought I would post these two tiny paintings I did today of some intriguing seagulls I was watching one day at the beach. It's almost like they are people sometimes walking the shore and interacting as if chatting! Hope you enjoy.

Finished version for "Morning Trio"

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:42:00 +0000

"Morning Trio" oil on canvas 48x 36"

Yay! I finally finished my first painting of 2012. Started getting a bit concerned when I kept having to repaint the sand, argh. For the love of life, I just could not get the right color mixture going. As usual ended up wasting a lot of paint. I'm starting to realize I don't trust what I see on the palette totally until I see it as a whole on the canvas up next too the other colors already applied. Makes perfect sense now of course after much trial and error because colors are affected by their neighbors. They play tricks on you! Whatever, I now realize why some artists especially when working on a larger scale do a smaller exercise first with their color choices set--Ahhhhh haaaaaa. You live and learn right. Anyway, hope you enjoy. Below is also the rest of my process. Didn't include all of the sand color choices so as not to bore you!

SOOOOOOO bad! and not even finished

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 05:29:00 +0000

Work in Progress "Morning Trio" By GVM oil 48x36"

I have been sooooo bad about getting back to the easel. Goodness gracious if it wasn't one thing going on it was another, speaking to the choir I know. Regardless, I can't tell you how great it is to be back blogging again and more importantly having something to blog about! It's as if the holiday season just devoured me whole around late Nov and decided to spit me back out in January! What can I say I have no excuses other than what a lot of people experience this time of year- busy, busy and more plain busy. On another note, I started this painting a few days ago and am about 2/3rds of the way done. It's a morning scene on the beach down in Bethany where I vacation. Love it when it's quiet and bright- no crowds. Just want to add a few more tones/textures to the sand and paint the chairs in. They will have a bunch of bright spunky, hot stripes which will hopefully pop nicely. Below you can see my process for the most part. This is the largest canvas I have ever worked on at 48x36" and takes a good getting used to. It's a wonderful way to change it up a bit from the miniscule little 8x8 " boards I was working on recently. Hope you enjoy! Will post final by Monday hopefully.

"Sunnyside Up" with painting process

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 03:48:00 +0000

Here's a gentleman I observed from afar poolside, soaking in all the rays. It was sweltering that afternoon and you could just feel the sun baking him. I of course remained under my much appreciated umbrella. He reminded me of an egg frying in a pan- hence the title. Thought I would post my process this time around since I don't always photograph it. I'm working on a new, much larger scale this week and I wanted to see if my strategy would change? It didn't. Same thing just more of it! The only big difference I think is that my smaller pieces end up looking much more impressionistic. This is I guess because the size of the brushstroke is that much larger on a small canvas verses a big one. Yes I even ended up using about the same size brushes. I worked on this painting for the last three days. Very different from whipping a piece out in one afternoon. Hope you enjoy it I know I had a blast painting it!

"In The Pink..."

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:43:00 +0000

"In The Pink...." oil on canvas 8x8" by Giselle Vidal McMenamin

Yes her bathing suit matched her cell phone. Never seen that before. And all that PINK! I thought the hot, potent colors on display here would be a good challenge for me to try to capture so I dove in. I actually wanted the pink towel to"pop" more because it really was such a lush, vibrant color. The two horizontal strips of lavender on either side of her hat across the very top of the canvas are still bugging me in terms of their value but enough is enough! I don't want to fuss anymore with this one. I was getting to the point where that never ending struggle with not knowing when to stop started showing its nasty teeth. I did stop and ended up having a lot of fun painting the her in addition to wasting a TON of paint trying to figure it all out. Much is learned along the way right. Glad to say I have another painting to add to my beach/cell phone series I can send down to the gallery. Happy with this one. Hope you enjoy. Comments always welcome.

"Order Here"- Keeping it simple

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:35:00 +0000

"Order Here" oil on hardwood panel 8x8"

So wonderful to spend the entire afternoon painting! I decided to focus on getting this piece done in one sitting so simplified the composition a bit. In the past I've always been afraid of leaving things out thinking the painting might not read correctly or lack interest. I soon realized my efforts to include everything and try to make it as perfect as I could made me incredibly F-R-U-S-T-R-A-T-E-D and bored me terribly! I feel I can move more fluidly through the process if I'm really happy with what I'm about to paint composition-wise and color-wise, "du-uh" like my kids would say. In other words, I have to love what I'm doing in order to keep the muses involved.
Anyway, this one is an addition to my summer series although Halloween and a recent ice storm up here in the northeast have come and gone. It's also my subconscious wishful thinking to be back at the beach I love so much in the summertime.
With the recession in full swing and the US economy in dire straights lately, I am attempting to make a comment on investing in the American economy with the "Order Here" sign above the lady customer and the the prominent US flag hanging proudly. The latter was actually much higher in the photo reference so I lowered it to include more of it. Don't know if that came across clearly because the critics floating around my studio at times only look for visual faults and forget to see anything else! I won't mention any names. Just kidding. Let me know if you initially read it that way or didn't at all? Hope you enjoy regardless fellow bloggers. Comments always welcome.

So proud and honored

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:19:00 +0000

Atelier Gallery Charleston

I'm very excited, to say the least, that I'm officially on the Atelier Gallery website. If you click on the link above you'll go to the Charleston artists gallery page. It's in first name alphabetical order. The other artists represented are really unbelievably talented individuals. I'm really so very honored and proud to be among them.

"Undercover"

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:14:00 +0000

"Undercover" oil on hardwood panel 8x8"

Ok so I have to change tracks for now and continue with my beach series. Hoping to move these along to the gallery down in Charleston. The theme just works better there so my little candies will have to wait. I even shot a bunch of still lifes of my favorite treats to have them ready to paint- colorful Lifesavers, scrumptious Reeses's peanut butter cups, and some good old reliable Wriggly's gum. Hopefully I can get them in before Halloween!!
Anyway, the piece above is of a woman reading poolside down in Bethany Beach, DE. I just couldn't get over how her hat covered so much of her!Thus the title. The color was glorious so I took some pics. I purchased a tube of Winsor Newton Cobalt Turquoise Light series 4 and went to town on the hat. Love,love, love that color. Mixed it with a tad of Manganese blue ( another favorite) to get some of the darker shades. On to the next piece! Hope you enjoy.

Atelier Gallery Charleston!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:30:00 +0000

I am totally thrilled to announce that I officially have gallery representation now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was contacted last week by the gallery owner of Atelier Gallery Charleston in South Carolina. She was interested in showing my "peoplescapes" or "scenarios of life" like I like to call them now. I am really very excited at the prospect of being part of such a wonderful gallery in such a great location. I can't tell you how busy I've been preparing my images and fine tuning my bio! Should have my promo stuff up on their site soon. Anyway, just had to let you all know and say thanks for your encouragement and contiuous positive feedback. Back to painting now!

I made the cut! I made the FAV15% in the September 2011 BoldBrush Painting Competition!

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 03:19:00 +0000

"Morning Glory" oil on panel 8x10"

My painting "Morning Glory", was selected as part of the FAV15% (jury's favorite 15% of the entries) in the September 2011 BoldBrush Painting competition sponsored by FASO ( Fine Art Studio Online).

Here's the link to view the FAV15% paintings, including mine "Morning Glory":
http://faso.com/boldbrush/fav15/65

As per Clint Watson, software Craftsman and Art fanatic, the honor means that I might be featured in http://informedcollector.com in the coming months! Yay!

M & Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmssss

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:09:00 +0000

"M & Mmmmmmmsss" oil on canvas 5x7 "

Yes I'm a Forty-something Candy-aholic! There I've said it and proud of it. That feels great to throw out here in this blogland. I mean what was I hiding anyway? My deep love of all edible treats colorful and tasty? My insatiable need for that late night chocolate FIX! My passion for the sweet, crunchy and delectable sensation of devouring M&Mmmmmmmssss by the handful? Nothing to be ashamed of I say. In celebration of the upcoming Halloween season I'm not going to pretend this time around that I don't enjoy these wonders any less than my kids do so I'm dedicating a series of paintings to some of my favorites. The posting prior to this entitled "I Took a Bite Out of My Still Life", of a Hershey's Almond Bar, is my number one favorite!!!! Anyway, this piece was a lot of fun to do, well with the wonderful easy round colorful shapes to paint I can't say that I struggled with it too much. Tomorrow I'll paint another treat so YAY! to all of you candy lovers out there!!! Hope you enjoy.

"I Took a Bite Out of My Still Life"

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:45:00 +0000

"I Took a Bite Out of my Still Life" 8x8" Oil on hardboard

I had a pretty decent still life set up for today's painting session with a Halloween theme in mind- candy, pumpkins, some pretty colored leaves, even an orange colored drop cloth for dramatic effect, then I got hungry. I kept looking at one of the chocolate bars in the set up and couldn't resist!! I opened it took a huge bite and put it down so that I could readjust everything now that a piece of my plan was missing!I ended up liking the way it looked sitting there on my drafting table. The rest is history. Hope you enjoy I know I did!!
Comments always welcomed.

"Summer Reading"

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:05:00 +0000

"Summer Reading" oil on canvas 7x5"

I was going to paint another beach scene today but felt like a change of pace. I did a close up on this teenager who works as a restroom attendant in downtown Bethany Beach where I vacation in the summer. She was on a much needed break sitting on the wooden stairs leading to the beach nearby when her orange Tshirt caught my eye from a distance. I thought it was so cute that although she couldn't enjoy the beach she found a spot to escape to for a while. She was completely immersed in her book not looking up for some time. I had a heck of a time getting the orange to look bright enough and am not sure if I'm a 100% with it but I feel if I do more it will look overworked. It'sso tempting sometimes to keep going but it's never even near perfect so I let it be. Plus in this case my son's bus was arriving from school so I had to stop! Hope you enjoy. Looking forward to blogging more this evening and checking out everyone's artworks. Comments always welcome(-:

"Under the Weather"

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:55:00 +0000

"Under The Weather" 12x9"

I can't tell you how much fun I had doing this piece. It was one of the few times I had a plan and what I envisioned as the outcome actually came to fruition!! Yay! -that usually doesn't happen for me in painting or life in general as a matter of fact but that's a whole other conversation for a whole different kind of blog right. Anyway, the gent in this scene was soooooo way out there sleeping on the beach. I don't think an earthquake could have shaken him from his perfectly balanced body on his perfectly balanced chair snoozing away. It was picture perfect with the sun up above all warm and cozy on him like a blanket. That's where I thought of my double entendre for the title. Him laying there under the sun- under the weather, get it, hope so! Much fun was had. Back to painting now. Comments always welcome.

"You Talkin Ta Me?"

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:43:00 +0000

"You Talkin' Ta Me?" oil on board 7x5"

Don't know why but every time I looked at the photo I took of this seagull I kept thinking it was asking me the famous line from the Robert DeNiro movie, Taxi Driver, "You Talkin Ta Me?" Just another personality stricken seagull I guess! This one was kind of looking up at the sky and back at me when I snapped the picture. I am assuming it was making sure I wasn't getting too close and trying to scare me off with that tough look on its face. Didn't seem to want to move from its spot. Probably had its eye on a juicy french fry dropped nearby. I thought it was really fun to watch and figured it would make for a good painting. It was a pretty quick sitting well with no formal background just the wet sand and a few pebbles scattered about. Hope you like. Comments always welcome.

Ladies In Waiting

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:15:00 +0000

"Laidies in Waiting" oil on canvasboard 7x5"

Great to be back painting! This is my DailyPaintworks Challenge entry for this week. I've been so bad not participating enough but found this week's challenge to be my cup of tea- a peoplescape painting- yay! I zoomed in on the photo (see below) they had posted that you are suppose to interpret to come up with an interesting composition. I was intrigued by the fact that these two ladies were sitting on the steps with the same relationship to each other as the top section of stairs in the piece has to the bottom section- that is staggered to the right. I think the repeated positioning of the figures and the stairs emphasizes them more?- or not- I guess that's up to the viewer! Anyway, it was a bit of a struggle to get those stairs to look old worldy and weathered from so much traffic so I hope I pulled it off. Also, I loved the fact that the bottom girl has a cell phone in her hand- that's a theme I've been focusing on a bit. I've done two other pieces this summer. OK so I'm off to Daily paintworks to post. Hope you enjoy.

For a couple of birds I thought these two had quite a bit of character!

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:46:00 +0000

"Straight & Narrow" oil 6x6"

"Morning Walk" oil 6x6"

The top one kept giving me the cold shoulder and the bottom one was too busy to standstill for a picture! Running out the door for dinner, no cooking tonight- Yay!! Will post more Monday. have a great weekend.

"Open Invitation II"

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:27:00 +0000

"Open Invitation II" oil on panel 6x6"

And above here is the second of the two paintings I finished today. It's the "sequel" and I don't know if that's the right term to use here but it is "Open Invitation II", sequel to Open Invitation" that I did a while back
( below). The first one below is of a yellow umbrella with a nice big shadow under it and nothing else. Just a space reserved for someone wanting to relax. Just like this one in version II there are no figures involved just the serenity of a quiet space ready and waiting, chair and all.

First one "Open Invitation"

"Summer's End"

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:25:00 +0000

This is one of two small paintings I started and finished today (amazing to me usually I do less) that I've added to my ever growing beach series. I titled it "Summer's End" because that's exactly what these beach toys reminded me of when I saw them abandoned by the water's edge. A few weeks back while on vacation down in Bethany Beach I snapped a few reference photos of toys scattered about and zeroed in on these because of their bright, new colors and the way the sun was hitting them so strongly. Loved that. They repesented to me the forgotten days of summer. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one I know I had a great time painting it.

"Whistle Blower" by Giselle McMenamin

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:14:00 +0000

The title for this one came to me the minute I took the reference photo. Much too easy! A whistle blower, that's someone that spills the story, let's everybody know something's gone wrong, won't keep quiet to play it safe- a lifeguard in many ways. Never playing it safe- ready and waiting to jump in and save someone's life. Thank goodness for them right. Anyway, I love the beach and really enjoy watching the guards close up shop at the end of the day. Their signaling, flag flapping and arm movements all baffle me except for the the long whistling they do when it's time for them to leave and swimmers take their lives into their own hands. This guard in particular had the perfect stance and was just about to blow his whistle for the 6pm closing. I used a type of white in this one that absolutely drove me crazy- it's called "mixing white" and has a super loose consistency. I mean super loose. It really only worked with my thickest opaque colors. Anyway, it was basically my only frustration. I had never used it before and never will again! In the end I got it to work for me and feel good about the outcome. I video taped the entire 2hr sitting for this piece from start to finish and am now working on finding a simple to use video editor. Not an easy task for the computer novice. I'm determined though and look forward to doing a time lapse on this experience adding background music and eventually uploading it to my YouTube channel.

Made My First YouTube Video!

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:01:00 +0000

OK, so my video is only 3 min and 26 secs long but it took me looooooooooonger to make than it takes me to paint a picture! Had a really neat time putting it together using Aquasoft video maker. Cannot for the life of me remember where I found that in cyber space but it's here and working and I'm excited! I think the best part was hunting for the music to go along with it. If you're a fan of classical Spanish guitar like moi you'll like it. I used a piece played by John Clarke called "Pursuit of the Cygnus Thief", just beautiful and the perfect quick pace to keep my images flowing smoothly. Check it out.

"The Fashionista Phillies Fan"

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 23:54:00 +0000

"The Fashionista Phillies Fan"
Oil on panel 5x7"

When I saw this gentleman from afar on the beach one day, the first thing that came to mind was the word fashionista. He was so intriguing with his Phillies Team hat and matching rich, lush, red towel and swimming trunks. Such perfect harmony of colors to get lost in to paint! Red is one of my favorite colors by the way so this scene was for me. Anyway, I had a very good time executing this one. Not too many struggles other than getting the ear to look like an ear! That happens to me often but has gotten easier with practice. Hope you enjoy.

"Cruisin"

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:44:00 +0000

"Cruisin" oil on board 5x7"

Had so much fun painting this one! I promised myself I would stick to a minimal palette so as not to get overwhelmed. I tend to jump around a lot when I can't mix the right color and instead of starting over I keep throwing more into the pile making a huge mess for myself and a muddy looking painting. That's what happened to me with the last piece "It's all about Communication II". Anyway, this is yet another work to add to my beach series. This gentleman was sitting pretty high up on a dune away from the crowds and seemed to be wanting to touch the sun with his face. At the distance I was and angle all you could see in the background was ocean so I fell in love with the whole scenario. Hope you enjoy and thanks for stopping by. Comments always welcome!

It's all About Communication ll"

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:36:00 +0000

"It's All About Communication ll" oil on panel 8x8"

Here's another close couple communicating! Could not get over their simultaneous lowering of the sunglasses to see their phones. Saw this painting in my head from the getgo and feel this theme is something I want to pursue. I took forrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrever and some to complete this piece. Can't tell you why all I know is that I kept reworking it until i got it where i felt comfortable. The color values were off and I struggled horribly with the initial drawing. You'd think after drawing and painting for so long I'd have it down to a science! Some paintings are like that I guess and some I finish in no time. Anyway, I'm happy with the end result. Hope you enjoy.

Watcha Havin' ?

noreply@blogger.com (Giselle McMenamin) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 20:03:00 +0000

"Watcha Havin'?? oil on canvas 8x8'

Soooooo happy to finally have a new painting up!! Had been falling behind on my artwork and have just this week gotten myself back on track. No excuse really, just the usual work/family distractions like everyone else. Anyway, this piece titled "Watch Havin'? is done in oil and is another addition to my beach series.
One of my favorite things to do while visiting Bethany Beach is to sit in the middle of the downtown boardwalk and do some serious people watching and picture taking. I especially get a kick out of peoples' relaxed moods. Oh, that- not a care in the world kind of slow, strut, with that laid back, tossled hair, shorts and Ts look is something I like to capture in my work. It's quite contagious too.This young woman on the left was taking her sweet time deciding what to get and the funny thing was nobody seemed to mind!!! There were quite a few more people on line that aren't visible here. Will be putting this one up for auction on Ebay this Sunday 9/18. Hope you enjoy!!