Changing it up... A New Option for a Stuck Painting

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One of my students who has been working together with me in the studio for some private sessions came to me stuck in process on a number of large paintings.

The one thing we noticed together as we looked through the stack of unfinished pieces was that she was tending to make the same marks and gestures, again and again. Adding more and more paint, but never accomplishing her goal to complete the piece. This is common in painting when we don’t stop, step back and ask ourselves; ‘How Can I do this Differently?’.

This same concept also applies to our lives. If we keep doing the same things again and again, we are likely to get the same results.

Our job is to change things up!

One recommendation we came up with together was instead of applying more paint, how about this time we remove paint.

Did you know that you can sand acrylics? Yup. They need to be dry and you can use paper sand paper or an electrical sander like I am doing here in the picture. I suggest you wear a mask, but its fun and can create some really cool effects and definite takes the painting down a whole new path!

To your creative success,

Deb

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'City Through The Fog' New Painting

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'City through the Fog' 9x12x1.5" mixed media on wood panel. Copyright Deb Chaney 2018. Original available date of post $372 info@debchaney.com prints: https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-City-Through-The-Fog/499285/4235594/view

This Little Gems Series Painting is in preparation for teaching the upcoming 3 day workshop in September ' Creating Encaustic Effects with Acrylics' Workshop details here: https://www.debchaney.com/events/

What happens when you love your daughter so much!

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Recently my daughter decided to completely re-do her room. While she was in the renovation process, she came down to the studio and asked me if she could please put a painting of mine in her room. Let's just say I was totally taken aback in a good way... My teenage daughter wants to showcase my artwork in her room! Whoah! Biggest complement ever!

That said, we couldn't find anything to meet the colours she wanted: light green/turquoise, white and gold. So I ended up creating an original 24" x 24" piece here with dictionary collage pages of words she'd chosen embedded into it.

The piece is called 'Happy' and will be in Ruth's permanent collection, for which I'm honored! 24" x 24" x 1.5" Mixed Media on Canvas. (c) Deb Chaney 2018. I will be having prints made, they will be available through HFA Custom Fine Art Services in Vancouver and also on my website Saatchi Online Gallery in the near future.

'Happy' 24 x 24 x 1.5 Mixed Media on Canvas (C) Deb Chaney 2018

'Happy' 24 x 24 x 1.5 Mixed Media on Canvas (C) Deb Chaney 2018

Up close:

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This Week Deb Chaney Featured Artist: Saatchi Online Gallery HomePage !

Saatchi Online Gallery Home Page - Weekly Featured Artist Deb Chaney 2018

Saatchi Online Gallery Home Page - Weekly Featured Artist Deb Chaney 2018

Thank you Saatchi Gallery for featuring 'Content Right Where I am' on your homepage this week as part of your selected art collection. I am honored and grateful.

Here is the painting 'Content Right Where I am' triptych i of iii  23" x 30" Mixed Media on 300 pound water color cold press paper (c) Deb Chaney 2017.

'Content Right Where I Am' iii of iii (c) Deb Chaney

'Content Right Where I Am' iii of iii (c) Deb Chaney

'Walking on the Moon' New Little Gem Painting

'Walking Walking on the Moon' 9 x 12 x 1.5 " mixed media on wood panel (c) Deb Chaney 2018

'Walking Walking on the Moon' 9 x 12 x 1.5 " mixed media on wood panel (c) Deb Chaney 2018

'Walking Walking on the Moon' 9 x 12 x 1.5 " mixed media on wood panel (c) Deb Chaney 2018. $372 original available date of post. Prints are available at: https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Walking-on-the-Moon/499285/4235502/view

This painting and the past few Little Gems pieces on wood are my process preparing to teach my upcoming workshop on Whidbey Island in the fall:

Sept 21-23, 2018

Tuition: $500 skill level:  all, some experience with acrylics recommended

This is a fun and experimental class for artists eager to create paintings using transparent and translucent layers of acrylics and mixed media.

Using gels, mediums, and pastes; we will drip, pour, scrape and etch; adding and removing parts of layers to create intrigue and texture in our paintings. Artists may incorporate collage, use stencils, and sketch or paint any scene or object that inspires them. The focus of the workshop will be to learn how to create layers that look like encaustic (wax) using various polymer mediums with acrylic paints.

Students are responsible for their own paints, mediums, tools, and substrates. A comprehensive materials list will be provided.

Some experience painting with acrylics is a plus, though beginners will not be turned away, this workshop may be overwhelming for an artist who has no experience painting with acrylics.

Register here: http://pacificnorthwestartschool.org/product/chaney-deborah-creating-encaustic-effects-with-acrylic-polymer-mediums-sept-21-23-2018-tuition-500/

Here is the painting up close:

'Walking Walking on the Moon' 9 x 12 x 1.5 " mixed media on wood panel (c) Deb Chaney 2018

'Walking Walking on the Moon' 9 x 12 x 1.5 " mixed media on wood panel (c) Deb Chaney 2018

10 Ways This Artist Makes Multiple Income Streams

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One of the artists I am mentoring emailed me this week with this question;

"Deb, I remember you mentioned that you believe it is possible to create a multi -teared business as an artist selling and offering a variety of products and services that generate income for me?"

Here was my answer: Yes, its really smart to have multiple sources of income doing this business of being an artist. Especially when you can leverage one image to make you money in various ways. I do this myself and have streamlined my business as an artist in several ways;

Full article here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/18714792

Thank you Jack!

Deb Chaney in her home studio in Coquitlam, BC working on a mixed media painting on paper

Deb Chaney in her home studio in Coquitlam, BC working on a mixed media painting on paper

Big Thank you to Jack Lew!

Thank you Jack for coming to the studio last weekend and taking several hundred photographs of me working in process on various layers of my mixed media paintings. I'm really appreciative of your time and the beautiful photos that resulted. Thank you.

Seen in Above Photo: Part of my painting process involves taking away paint. Here you can see me using a pot scrubber to take paint away off this painting. I'm working on Arches 300 pound water colour paper which is tough and can handle the adding and subtracting of layers which can get quite rigorous at time! This painting in process is part of my Fragments of Life Series which can be seen here: https://www.debchaney.com/medium-works/ 

Artwork for Rent with Community Art Vancouver

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Thank you Vancouver Community Art for featuring me & my artwork on your site and for helping artist such as myself increase our income for our artworks via creating rental opportunities ! 

This past week I had the pleasure of meeting with Vancouver Community Art Founder, Gary Parker, who has a passion and a vision to help artists get their artwork out into the community and also support them to be re-numerated for their work via rental income for displaying their artwork. It's about time! Gary, Thank you, artists need more win-win opportunities like this!!!

So often in the past artists put their artwork up in coffee shops, don't make any sales, and receive nothing for sharing their beautiful work, while the store owners benefit from free decor. In our conversation togehter, Gary told me how he started Community Art to create win-win scenarios for artists where they can show their artwork and receive compensation even if the artwork does not sell. 

I have chosen to submit several Fragments of Life Series of paintings to have available for rent with them, you can see the full selection here: https://communityartca.com/search?q=deb+chaney 

Thank you Community Art for featuring me on your site and for helping artists such as myself increase our income and make a living doing what we love!

(Gary, next time we'll get a picture of us together!!! :0)

Featured above: Fragments of Life #23  - 23" x 30" Mixed Media on Panel. (c) Deb Chaney This original artwork by Deb Chaney  is now available to rent through Vancouver Community Art!  communityartca@gmail.com

HFA Newsletter Feature: Artist of The Month

Big thank you to HFA Fine Art Services for their mention of me as feature artist in their recent newsletter.

If you didn't get their newsletter, here's what you missed:

We had the pleasure of meeting  Deb Chaney, the latest addition to the HFA Artist Program, at the Interior Design Institute of British Columbia’s “Gatsby Goes Rogue Gala.”  Hosted at Rogue Wetbar, the IDIBC invited their sponsors to mix and mingle dressed in their finest roaring twenties threads. Deb introduced herself; a contemporary artist who merges spirituality with physicality. It took little time to see why Vancouver City Buzz and Culture Trip had named Deb as one of the top 10 Contemporary Artists to watch.

Deb’s work begins with a blank canvas, a palette knife, heavy body acrylic paint and the compelling need to create. Her work is multi-layered and textured, using a variety of mediums from embedding collage, sand and polymer, to gestural markings in pencil, conté, pastels, stamping and even spray paint. Her soul is on full display as she channels the challenges of daily living: feelings of beauty and pain, freedom and frustration, growth and stagnation. We thoroughly enjoyed combing through Deb’s catalogue of work and we are sure you will too.

Without further ado, we present to you...

DEB CHANEY

8" x 10" Mixed Media on 300 pound Paper. Full Moon Frog Pond Series -- See more paintings in this series click here.

8" x 10" Mixed Media on 300 pound Paper. Full Moon Frog Pond Series -- See more paintings in this series click here.

'Integration' 48" x 48" x 1.5" Mixed Media on Canvas. Pure Abstraction Series. Original Available Prints Contact: info@customartservices.com

'Integration' 48" x 48" x 1.5" Mixed Media on Canvas. Pure Abstraction Series. Original Available Prints Contact: info@customartservices.com

'So Crucify Me' Little Gems Series 9" x 12" Acrylics on Loos Canvas. See more in this series click here: Little Gems.

'So Crucify Me' Little Gems Series 9" x 12" Acrylics on Loos Canvas. See more in this series click here: Little Gems.

'Freedom' 60" x 40" x 1.5" Mixed Media, Acrylics, Collage on Canvas. Original Available for Sale or Rent. Prints contact: info@customartservices.com

'Freedom' 60" x 40" x 1.5" Mixed Media, Acrylics, Collage on Canvas. Original Available for Sale or Rent. Prints contact: info@customartservices.com

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For prints, reproductions of Deb Chaney's artwork contact:

HFA Custom Art Services.
1497 Adanac Street
Vancouver, BC
V5L 2C4
www.customartservices.com
www.hfacustomwallmurals.com

 

 

 

 

'I Need To Let Go And Go Deeper Into The Wild Unknowns Of Abstraction' diptych ii of ii

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'I Need To Let Go And Go Deeper Into The Wild Unknowns Of Abstraction'  ii of ii (diptych) 23" x 30" Mixed Media on 300 pound paper. Original and Prints Available.

I've had my daughter helping me these past few weeks uploading artworks up to my Saatchi Online Gallery Account. This series Raw Expression in particular, she uploaded all the paintings that are there so far... there are a few more from these series coming. Then one night she sent me an email with the subject line "Surprise!". This beautiful installation image above was the contents of the surpirse email. She found a program online using her iPad in which to place my artworks in rooms! What a wonderful gift!

its a dyptic, one of two, and you can see the other partner painting here: https://www.saatchiart.com/art-collection/Painting/Raw-Expression/499285/224004/view

Here is a close up of the painting:

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