Who Ate the Grapes?

"Who Ate the Grapes?"

6x8 acrylic on canvas

Available through DPW gallery/auction

This is my submission to Art Challenge Gallery's April challenge called "Missing Pieces." The group of artists who participate in this challenge are all members of the Art Challenge Group - and the collection of pieces can be seen by clicking here. The monthly challenges on this site are very thought-provoking. Rather than offering a photo for interpretation, artists are given an idea or concept to design for. And the work varies from stained glass, mosaics, paint, draw, mixed media. It's a great group & I'm glad to be a part of it. It is run by Rusty Harden who is a wonderful artist - check out her mineral paintings, fantastic!

This painting also ties in with an ongoing project I am now a part of. The SVAN art group I belong to have re-opened their gallery on Main Street in Northville. It's a collection of wonderful work from artists of the area. The gallery is a storefront that is now being used to showcase the work on a rotating basis. It is open Friday nights & Sat & Sun. There is such a variety of work housed here: woodworking, weavings, paintings, mixed media's, sculptures, carvings, pottery, silk scarf paintings - just to name a few.

In order for this gallery to be open on the weekends, they have asked that those of us who are displaying work volunteer to staff for 2-4 hour intervals. This gallery is upstate NY where I spend some of my weekends, so for me, a standard schedule is not possible. I told them I would periodically contact them when I think I am going to be in town. This past weekend, I spent 2 hours on Saturday. It's a quiet time, sitting & waiting for people to wander in (I think it will be busier in the Summer months to come). Since my painting time is so precious to me, I thought I would setup to paint when I am on duty there (probably once a month). And to do that, I need to start to paint as a plein air painter.

I purchased a relatively inexpensive easel that is portable, lightweight and sturdy enough to handle my work (Michael's, 40% on sale plus a 20% off coupon!).  I had priced some of these easels online & found them to be a bit expensive, especially since I'm starting this with the idea of using it once a month. Now I am using this easel - sort of taking it on a test drive. I've been painting a series of small paintings (4x6) to test. It takes a little to assemble & dissemble, but I'm getting better at it with practice.

The key is to paint in the storefront window - it may entice some people to come in. And I get to do some painting during my 2-4 hour times on duty! A win-win!

This is the first of the small series, more will be following. I plan to matt these so that they can be nicely framed. And they will all be for sale on DPW.