Rhonda Hartis Smith

Floral Painting called "Brenda's Garden"

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 12:11:00 +0000

This is a 16 x 20 studio piece I did from a small field study called "Brenda's Garden". So much fun to do due to the abstract qualities of the plants.

Brenda's Garden

16x20 Oil

Acrylic Abstract Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 12:57:00 +0000

I didn't really plan on taking an extended blogging break but here I am years later posting on my poor neglected blog! A lot has happened since my last post, mainly retiring from the Corporate World a little over a year ago. Time really does fly. Here are some acrylic abstract portraits that I did last Summer. Love doing these because they are fun and colorful. The size for each of these is 20x20.

Gouache & Acrylic Pet Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Kentucky is in the middle of a heatwave along with everyone else. Hopefully it will cool off a little bit soon! I've been painting small pet portraits, only 6 x 6. These are out of acrylics and gouache paints which are water based. Using the water based paints are a big adjustment for me since they dry so quickly but it's fun to try new mediums. Edges are a challenge also, I like to blend them more but it's dry before I get ready--must work faster!!!

Last night I took my first pottery class, it was very interesting and relaxing at the same time as I watched the potter's wheel turn. I'll take pics next week and post.

Amos

My Lucky Dog!

Mattie

Mocha Pie

Duke

Catherine

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 01:33:00 +0000

What attracted me to Catherine was the way she was so lit by the sun. My poor husband took many pictures of me painting this because I wanted to do a stop-action video to play for a festival I was attending. I'm sure there is a simpler way to do it but the only equipment we had was a camera and of course our computer! He did a great job with it and deserves a pat on the back for his patience.

16 x 12

Rhonda Hartis Smith

Pansy Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 03:43:00 +0000

We have had such a mild Winter in Kentucky that my Pansys survived and bloomed all Winter long--amazing!!! It's been such a beautiful Spring with everything blooming, roses, wisteria, pansys, lilacs, iris and of course the dogwood trees. This painting was done from life and right after I painted them, I planted them.

Acrylic Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:05:00 +0000

I wanted to do some "funky" "fun" portraits for gifts using Acrylic Paints. Since I use oil most of the time, there was an adjustment for me--the paint dried very fast. By the time I finished the last one, I was working much faster! These are only 6 x 6 and were lots of fun to do.

Portrait of Sloan

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:29:00 +0000

My latest portrait--Sloan. He is such a sweet little boy, you just want to hug him!

12 x 16

Rhonda Hartis Smith

Emma's Portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:23:00 +0000

Spring has turned into Summer then into Fall, where have the months gone? This is the my latest portrait--Emma. I wanted the focus to be her sweet smile. Hope I succeeded in some small way.

8 x 10

Rhonda Hartis Smith

Sunflowers

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 23:26:00 +0000

It's been so long since I've posted anything that I'm afraid that I don't remember how! Time seems to fly and before you know it, Spring has passed and Summer is almost gone. I have been painting some but just not posting. Since my last post many months ago, I have attended a Portrait Conference in Atlanta Georgia, which was fantastic, and took a watercolor workshop plus a caligraphy workshop. So time marches on and all I need to do is practice! In about a week, I am heading to the Peninsula School of Art in Wisconsin for Landscape Boot Camp taught by Dawn Whitelaw. I am very excited about this but also a little apprehensive about anything that says "boot camp". Dawn is an excellent teacher and I am sure I will learn lots.

I did a couple of Sunflower Paintings that were pretty large for me (14 x 36). They look great in their new home. Here is the first one.

Spring Fever!

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:43:00 +0000

Spring is so close I can feel it!!! I am so excited because it seems like we had a long cold Winter with several snowfalls which is very unusual. A couple of weekends ago, my husband and I took our motorcycle out of hibernation and went on a little adventure to one of my favorite spots--Sulphur Well, Kentucky. There are two reasons I love this place, #1, The Lighthouse Restaurant--a delightful place that serves family style home cooked meals and #2, the Buela Villa Hotel. The Buela Villa Hotel was open from 1903 to 1969 as a Hotel then a Boarding House. The going rates were $5.00 per week back in the day. There is the main structure then there was a separate building that was on stilts and housed a bowling alley and dance hall. Sounds like a fun happening place in it's time. My source for most of the information is from the Metcalfe County Geneology Page. Visitors came to the area to drink the sulphur water believed to have medicinal properties. The water contains sulphur, magnesium, salt and iron--yummy! There is still a stream so next time I'm there, I'll try the water (maybe).

Remains of the gingerbread on the old dance hall/bowling alley.

The Buela Villa Hotel in it's present state. Just a little rickety.

Inside one of the rooms. They were fairly small with a little room between two big rooms (bathroom???). All of the wrap around porches have collapsed but I can imagine the guests sitting out there, drinking the water, taking it easy. . .

Rough River, Kentucky
Went on my annual retreat with several family members and friends of family. We had a weekend of quilting or whatever you wanted to do. I did a little quilting, a little painting. . . and a little bird watching! How often do you get to look at the lake/river and see an Eagle? What a beautiful sight.

Amelia was running around the cabin in her tutu so of course I had to paint her since I do love to paint ballerinas!

5 x 7

Rhonda Hartis Smith

Winter Be Gone!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:04:00 +0000

Last week we had more snow! The snow button on my car does ok with snow but forget about ice. If this keeps up, I'll need to get a 4 wheel drive vehicle again--ouch! Fortunately, it has warmed up this week with temps in the 50's and low 60's, giving us a hint of Spring--just enough to start my Spring fever. The last signs of snow have disappeared now and hopefully we won't have any more. Here is a view from our back yard--I love to watch the cows.

Here is another portrait that I did in December. This was done from a very small picture. Her mouth was a challenge but felt like I finally captured it.

5 x 7

Rhonda Hartis Smith

portrait of Mallory

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 04:10:00 +0000

This is the second time I've painted little Mallory, I love her bright blue eyes. She is quite the model and so much fun to paint.

5 x 7

Rhonda Hartis Smith

Pet Portrait for Kellie

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 14:58:00 +0000

This is a Portrait for Kellie of her little dog. I'll have to fill in her name later (temporarily lost it). I thought she had the sweetest expression on her face--especially her eyes--that I hope I captured. Today is 1-1-11, ready for a new year and a new decade. Hope you have a prosperous, productive and Happy New Year!!!

7 x 5

Rhonda Hartis Smith

Little Sloan

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 15:10:00 +0000

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season! I'm off work this week and will spend the week sewing window treatments for my son, Justin, who has been patiently waiting. . . I am looking forward to 2011 and to see what the next decade will bring. I feel very blessed and am very thankful to be able to paint, work, sew, cook--to do what I want to do. I did make one New Year's resolution but forgot what it was, oh well, I still have a couple of days to come up with my list. This year we had the first white Christmas in 15 years! We were very excited and it's so beautiful.

I've been busy with Christmas commissions and one of them was little Sloan. I love the colors of his outfit, what a cutie and so much fun to paint. I did two of these as gifts.

5 x 5

Rhonda Hartis Smith

Value Study Still Life Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 12:24:00 +0000

It's bright and early on a Saturday morning, drinking my first cup of coffee then I'm headed out to the Studio to finish a couple of paintings this morning and hopefully start a few more this afternoon. I have nothing on my agenda this weekend but painting, ahhhh life is good! This painting is in my current show at The Gallery at 916 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I love the graphic quality of the fabric versus the flower and vase. With that in mind, I decided to paint this in gray tones using about 4 to 5 values.

8 x 6

Rhonda Hartis Smith

Lemons Still Life & Home Studio Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 14:12:00 +0000

6x8

Rhonda Hartis Smith

I painted this still life while in Nashville, TN for the Peggi Kroll Roberts Workshop. Workshop during the day, painting for the show at night. I've been spiffing up my Studio preparing for the Studio Tour (details below).

Next weekend I'm participating in the World's Greatest Studio Tour and Art Sale. If you are in the area, please come and see me. The hours are Saturday, November 6, 10am-5pm and Sunday, November 7, 1-5pm. I have participated in the past but this is the first time I've actually been in my Studio. Over 30 artists are on the tour and many sites will have refreshments.

Shadow Strut

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 04:51:00 +0000

16x20

This is one of the paintings that I did for our upcoming show. I was in Key West in February and saw this cute bird just walking on the sidewalk. I think the shadow shape on the sidewalk appealed to me the most.

Angela Kuprion. . .Helen Nash. . .Marian Pacsuta. . .Rhonda Hartis Smith
The Bluegrass Painters showing at The Gallery at 916, Bowling Green, KY opening on Friday, October 15, 2010. The exhibition will be up for six weeks. If you are in the area, please stop by on Friday night for the opening that is in conjunction with the Gallery Hop, we would love to see you.

Last week was such an exciting week for me, starting with a PeggiKroll-Roberts workshop in Nashville, TN beginning on Sunday through Tuesday. Such a great Artist and teacher! We began the week doing 1 minute drawings and value studies with live models. Peggi gave us several exercises and tools to use to become better Artists--now it's time for the work to begin, about 10,000 hours should do it! I'll post more about the workshop later with some of my exercises.
The whole week was a week of celebration because the American Impressionist Society had their National Juried Exhibition showing at Richland Fine Art in Nashville. So many talented artists from all over the US entered works of art that were just beautiful. A special Congratulations is in order for two of my friends that were accepted into the show that had around a thousand applicants, Marian Pacsuta and Faye Phillips. What an honor!

Back from Chicago

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 02:40:00 +0000

My blog posts have been very sparse lately but now that Summer is winding down I'm in the Studio more. A couple of weeks ago my friend Angela and I went to Chicago, IL to take a week long drawing workshop from Henry Yan at the Palette and Chisel. His book is "Henry Yan's Figure Drawing Techniques and Tips". It was very inspirational to watch his demos and study his drawings which were so well done and beautiful. Of course I already knew that to draw well you must practice and practice then practice more.

Angela and I had to eat at Gino's and have their famous Chicago Style Pizza!

The view from our Hotel--if you look closely between buildings you can see our Lake Michigan view (lol).

Yes I am still painting, here's my latest 3 hour head study from Monday night.

Young Ballerinas in Class

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:13:00 +0000

My apologies for not posting lately but life has been a little hectic and I haven't been painting a lot--so nothing to post. . . We have been on our two week motorcycle trip out West, riding about 5,600 miles covering 12 states. Whew that's a lot of miles not to mention beautiful scenery!!! In Yellowstone we were camping in Bear country, facing cold weather and possible snow before going South to Southern Utah. I love to visit our National Parks so we went to Yellowstone, Zion, Bryce Canyon and Arches National Parks. They are so beautiful and if I could I would like to see ALL of the National Parks in America. How many are there???

I went to a local dance studio, Dance Images, and took pictures of a few classes--Jazz and
Ballet so I have lots of material for future paintings.

16 x 12 oil

The Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 02:44:00 +0000

I've been doing a little gardening lately. This isn't my first garden but is my first in a long long time. It has been enjoyable to harvest the fruits of the land and just being outside listening to the birds chirping. Here are a few pics. . .

Any gardening experts out there? I have some little holes on my cabbage plants. I've seen a few rabbits but I think they're innocent! Until next time. . .

The Dance Teacher

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Sat, 22 May 2010 13:07:00 +0000

After my show at the Capitol last Summer, Kathy at Dance Images was kind enough to let me display my "dance" paintings in her Lobby. I thought the "dancers" would enjoy and appreciate them. I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon taking pictures in some of her dance classes and learned what a challenge it is to get a good shot of dancers in motion. I'm used to models holding poses so this was a good lesson. Out of 500 pictures, I managed to get some good ones for future paintings--fortunately. I wanted to capture the teacher in action although it was a challenge to paint the mirror image of her.

My husband and I are preparing for our big motorcycle trip next month. We are going to the mountains (Wyoming and Montana) to Yellowstone National Park (my favorite place) and Glacier National Park. This will be a different trip for me since we will be camping instead of staying in hotels---hmmmmm. Right now we are trying to figure out how to get a mountain of stuff in our little storage compartment (lol). My goal is to have enough room to pack a few art supplies but I may have to give up my makeup.

Sheila

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Thu, 06 May 2010 01:40:00 +0000

I've been working very hard on this miniature portrait of Sheila, only a 5x7. I had to buy extra small brushes for this one, not to mention using anything small and pointy for the eyes. I'm doing a series of three paintings for Sheila's Mother, two sisters and one brother. Although Sheila is a grown woman now, her sweet smile as a child is still reflected in her smile now.

7 x 5

Rhonda Hartis Smith

Preparing for Drawing Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Sun, 02 May 2010 03:58:00 +0000

This has to be a record-setting weekend for rain! The sound of the rain was so good this morning that I slept in, which is very unusual for me, then I took an afternoon nap. . .I think you can see how productive I am this weekend.

I did manage a 30 minute drawing in preparation for a workshop I am taking in August with Henry Yan--a week long figurative workshop in Chicago at the Palette and Chisel. I am very excited about it because I certainly need it as you can see. I did a little charcoal self-portrait so it will be interesting to see how I progress on these 30 minute drawings. I don't think the lighting was a good fit for me--may have to adjust that in the future and maybe I should fix my hair, get new glasses. . . I really am not angry, just concentrating. The good news is -- I am always available for a 30 minute drawing!

3 hour head study from last Monday night

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:32:00 +0000

Well I've been missing a little while because I have Spring Fever! Our weather has been so unseasonably warm and beautiful that I just have to spend all my spare time outside. I've planted a little garden and I have lettuce and radishes sprouting already. Having lots of fun but not painting much.

Last Monday night we were fortunate enough to get to paint one of our favorite models--Roxie. She always wears the neatest costumes (she makes many of them) and as you can tell green was the color that night. Roxie is so talented that she even made her hat which was beautiful but I didn't quite capture the beauty of it in 3 hours. I'll try to do better at posting but I still have to paint my porch, plant flowers. . .

Exploring Color Workshop with Lori Putnam

noreply@blogger.com (Rhonda Hartis Smith) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 12:45:00 +0000

Last weekend I attended Lori Putnam's Exploring Color Workshop in Franklin Tennessee. Lori is a very talented artist with a wealth of knowledge. I've spent years attempting to "paint what I see" and although I still need to work on that, now I have set personal goals to gain knowledge on color relationships, design and composition. This particular workshop concentrated on color relationships only, not composition or drawing or design.

Lori uses a limited palatte, I also use this most of the time.

Lori lecturing and giving us an assignment on color schemes and mood schemes.

Below is my Exploration 1--a painting based on using two colors on the color wheel, without regard for subject. We just picked a spot in the room and painted it using 2 colors. In case you can't tell from this picture, I chose orange and green. The subject is believeable even though you are using colors that you wouldn't normally use--such as a purple apple still reads as an apple--regardless of color.

Below is my exercise on color relationships. Note the pinkish color in the middle is the same on both exercises but appears to be different because of the colors surrounding them.

The next painting is my exercise on schemes and mood schemes. We got to choose from a basket what colors we were to use and to paint from the gray slide (see Lori's pic above for our reference). My painting was based on a "natural" color scheme. I have several of these exercises to do and eventually I want to work through all of them.

I liked Lori's workshop and teaching style so much, I have signed up for her Weekend Warrier Painting Workshop in April.