from Artpromotivate - 103 topics to write for art blogs

I am not a consistent blogger. I write occasionally, like when I begin a new painting or when its finished. I also have my Recipes for the Starving Artist and an occasional spotlight on an artist I find interesting. I'm looking for ideas and this article showed up as a tweet from Artpromotivate 103-topics-to-write-about-for-art-blogs
Here are a few from this article. Gotta do some of these!

1. Artists you admire, and why.
   
2. A recent painting, drawing, sculpture, etc. you are working on.
3. Why you decided to become an artist.
   
4. Topics about your art creation process.
   
5. Lessons you have learned as an artist.
   
6. Tips on art promotion.
   
7. How you choose your painting palette.
   
8. A slideshow of your art.
9. Blog your favorite artist quotes.
   
10. Quotes that inspire you.
    
11. Tips on using your sketchbook

Hurricane Sandy Art Show at Bergen Community: I may do my own paintings

Hurricane Sandy left a huge mark on New Jersey, not just the ravaged Jersey Shore, but also on how our electronic lives were disrupted. I took many pictures of people sitting on the floor huddled around the power ports at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus. The 3 malls in Paramus had their own power supply so people flocked to them to have what I called Post-apocolyptic Electronic Campfires. Never thought about trying to paint some of them until this article appeared in The Record of North Jersey about a Hurricane Sandy Art Exhibit  at Bergen Community College. I will have to do them faceless, which is a style I like. This will enable viewers to put themselves in to the picture. Maybe create my own sub-genre.
There's a great photo of the huge waves from Sandy surrounding the Ocean Grove fishing pier which I thought would make a great painting. but never did it. I may attempt that, too. Stay tuned!

Recipes for the feeding of a starving artist - Butternut Squash Ravioli

Okay, we've bee working hard on our visual art lives, so its time to contemplate that other art - cooking! I've made this dish - Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce once or twice. Delicious! It may seem like cheating to use wonton wrappers instead of pasta, but it works! There is also a version with sherried onion sauce  thats great, too. Just serve them with toasted walnuts or pecans and dried cranberries! Yum! The recipe Butternut Squash Ravioli
and the picture

The Van Saun Park Art Show on 10/12/13

Every year for a long time, the Van Saun County Park in Paramus, NJ has had an Art in The Park show, a place where local aritsts can get together for free and display their works to the public and maybe sell of few pieces. It was on Sat 10/12/13 . All during the week, the forecast for for a cloudy, rainy day. I posted on FB asking for prayer that it would be a nice day and it turned into a beautiful day!

A couple of my friends were also in it: John Dunic is a friend from all the way back in grade school who has always been into artistic ventures. The sand mermaid that he made at the senior picnic in 1971 is still remembered by many. The was his umpteeth show there. Anothe friend was Mary Taylor one of my favorite local Christian singer/song writers and a great artist. A few of my friends showed up to support me but did not get any sales. There did not seem to be much selling going on. Its a free juried show, which is a rarity. I enjoyed talking to a number of other artists and it seems many people liked my work. I am charging about 200 dollars for my paintings and in their opinion, thats just about right! I got alot of good tips on presentation and a few other things.

A this point, I am including the culinary side of my nature by saying the food options were nonexistant and needs to be addressed! I would be nice if some of those food trucks could be available to show some of the culinary arts along with the visual arts. Here are a few pictures
Here's my section

 here's Mary Taylor's section. My favorite of hers is on the upper right - "Living Room Dancer"

and John Dunic's section

and here is Jeannie Weiss seeing the painting "Sailing Into An LBI Sunset" I did from her photo (as detailed in my last post

New painting: Sailing Into An LBI Sunset

11 x 14 oil on canvas board.
This is the second painting in a new painting category of ocean sunsets. My longtime friend Jeannie Weiss and her family have a place on the bayside of Long Beach Island (LBI) on the Jersey Shore. They are always posting sunset pictures taken from from their deck. This one just insisted on being painted. so I did. My technique of getting the transition on the water between bright sunset colors and dark ocean needs work. I mentioned this when I posted the picture on my FB pages, so I'm sure I'll get some links from my friends list. As usual, I've created  some products on Zazzle - mugs bags and postcards

here's the painting

 and heres the orginal

currently on my easel - an LBI sunset

This is from a photo a friend Jeannie Weiss took from her back deck on Long Beach Island in NJ. I need to get some practice with my sunset paintings and this one she posted just screamed to be painted. I'm just beginning work on it

New Painting: Herring Cove - Nova Scotia.

Two of my favorite subjects to paint are fishing village scenes and Nova Scotia, which is full of them. Herring Cove is at the entrance to Halifax Harbor. As usual, check my merchandising section at the top of this blog for any products from Zazzle, Fineartamerica and Imagekind. Enjoy!