La Jolla Festival of the Arts – June 22-23, 2013

I and my booth full of paintings are traveling next to the La Jolla Festival of the Arts. I did this annual show only once before, several years ago. It’s about time I went back, don’t you agree?

Unlike my last time there (when I took the photo above) the show is now held in a grassy field. I think that’ll be nicer.

And hey lookee, the local rag chose one of my paintings to feature in their calendar section. Whee! I’m famous! (click to see larger)

La Jolla Festival of the Arts
June 22-23, 2013
10am – 5pm Saturday & Sunday
Warren Field, University of California at San Diego (click for map)
3453 Voigt Dr., San Diego, CA
Paid admission, free parking

I’m in booth 903 but there aren’t 900 artists at the show. I’m just located on Row 9, which is the last row.

Here’s a detailed map of the show layout (click to see):

Beverly Hills Art Show – May 18-19, 2013

I’m showing my art in the beautiful Beverly Hills Art Show this year. Held in a lovely park in the heart of Beverly Hills, this is easily the best Los Angeles outdoor art show. It’s well worth visiting if you’re in the area.

This is a highly competitive show for artists to get into. I’ve shown here before, but I don’t get accepted every year! So I’m very happy to be back this year.

And of course this show is local for me, so no traveling and no hotels. I get to sleep in my own bed. Ahhhh! That’s nice.

See you there!

Beverly Hills Art Show
May 18-19, 2013
10am – 6pm Saturday & Sunday
Santa Monica Blvd & Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, California
Free admission

Look for me in Booth 401, in the end block at the east end of the show.

Scottsdale: When you gamble, sometimes you lose

I was so excited to do the big art show in Scottsdale, Arizona. (The Scottsdale Arts Festival, March 2013)

Some sad, soggy art.

It was a gamble. I knew that. Coming from out of state meant my travel costs were high (there’s no such thing as a cheap hotel in Scottsdale). But it’s such a great show! Everyone says so. I did a lot of research, read lots of reviews, both from artists and from patrons. It sounded perfect. I was ecstatic when I was accepted to participate. It’s not an easy show to get into; the competition is pretty fierce. I was really looking forward to this great show I’d heard so much about.

Note: when a patron says a show is “great” they mean that the art is of consistently high quality and the show is a visual treat. When an artist says a show is “great” they mean that art collectors come to the show and buy lots of art. Usually the two overlap to a high degree.

I had very high hopes for this show.

Unfortunately, my hopes weren’t matched by reality. Frankly, I lost my shirt on this one.

The weather was against us for 2 of the 3 days. Cold winds and rain doused us all day Friday and most of Saturday. That surely dampened spirits. Oh yeah, and it hailed on Friday. Twice.

But actually a lot of people came to the show, in spite of the rain. (They did all leave when the hail started.) And even more people showed up Sunday when the weather was nice. It got quite crowded. So I can’t blame the weather. Plenty of people showed up, more than I expected.

It just wasn’t the right crowd for me. I gave it my best shot and lost. Sometimes that happens.

The good thing is there’s always another show. Up next for me is the Beverly Hills Art Show, May 18-19, 2013. Also a gamble, but at least I get to sleep in my own bed. See you at the show!

2013 Scottsdale Arts Festival March 8-10

I’m going for the best. It’s my very first out-of-state art show, all the way in Scottsdale, Arizona. There are a lot of art shows in Arizona (no, really, a LOT) but by all accounts the Scottsdale Arts Festival is the best. And only the best will do! So I’m off to Arizona!

My art and I will be in booth 32. Come take a look! It’s going to be a beautiful show.

The 2013 Los Angeles Art Show

I scaled back this year. I opted to attend only one big January art fair, the LA Art Show (under new management). I decided to skip Art LA Contemporary, held in Santa Monica the same weekend. The third big contender from last year, the Affordable Art Fair, skipped Los Angeles this year after last year’s splashy debut. Which just shows how fluid the art market really is. I wonder if it will come back, or if they’ve given up on Los Angeles altogether.

So, this year’s LA Art Show, held as usual in the downtown convention center, backed off its grandiose “3-in-1″ claims from last year and was truly just one big show. There were internal groupings, much as in previous years, but it all flowed together.

As usual, I started in the traditional-art (i.e., dead artists) side of the hall and worked my way to the contemporary side. I snapped fewer shots this year. I’ll show you just a few select favorites.

On the traditional side, not much really grabbed me this year. It looked a lot like previous years. But I did find a few rare Pointillist paintings, a style close to my heart since I too paint with dots. Two Pointillist pieces I particularly liked were by Jac Martin-Ferrieres, shown by Kendall Fine Art from Atlanta, Georgia. Interesting to note that these pieces date from the 1920s, well after Pointillism’s original heyday in the late nineteenth century.

Jac Martin-Ferrieres, “Paris, la Seine, Notre Dame,” ca 1920, oil on canvas, 18×21.5 inches, price not shown (Kendall Fine Art).

Jac Martin-Ferrieres, “La baie de St Tropez,” 1921, oil on canvas, 14×17 inches, price not shown (Kendall Fine Art). This piece shows an appealing merger of the older Pointillism style with a modern 1920s-era aesthetic. I find it fascinating.

As a transition between traditional and contemporary, this large piece struck me as very Matisse-like, and quite appealing:

Damian Elwes, “Marrakesh,” 2001, acrylic on canvas, 48×72 inches, shown by Denenberg Fine Arts of West Hollywood, California. It can be yours for some $300,000 or $400,000. (Sorry, I don’t recall the exact figure posted.)

This brings us fully into the contemporary section. There was lots of Damien Hirst on this side, but I managed to mostly ignore it.

In a mood for simple shapes and large compositions, I found a few pieces I really enjoyed in the contemporary section. I liked the large-scale paintings exhibited by Winterowd Gallery of Santa Fe, NM. Even though the works are all by different artists, I thought they looked good together:

Below left, two pieces by Cecil Touchon caught my eye, “PDP 588″ and “PDP 575,” collage on canvas, 66×44 inches each, $18,500 each, shown by Timothy Yarger Fine Art of Beverly Hills:

In a similar vein, here is Caio Fonseca, “Pietrasanta C11.55,” 2011, mixed media on canvas, 34×34 inches, $42,000, offered by Abby M. Taylor Fine Art of Greenwich, CT and New York:

Going even more monochromatic, this painting all in black uses only texture to masterfully create an image of waves:

Karen Gunderson, “Hudson Moment,” 2008, oil on linen, 40×40 inches, $20,000, offered by Waterhouse & Dodd of New York and London.

At the extreme far end of the show were clustered the galleries from Asia: primarily South Korea and China. The work shown here can be pretty varied, but I found a few pieces to like.

This Chinese artist assembles highly photorealistic images of children out of large patches of flat color in a large-scale pixelation or Pointillist approach. Naturally, it appealed to my Pointillist heart. Here’s a closeup:

Li Yueling, “The Future Ahead of Me,” oil on canvas, 120×150 cm, $15,800, offered by Nancy’s Gallery from Shanghai, China. The artist is a fellow from Beijing, according to the gallery representative I spoke with.

One of the biggest showcases of Chinese art was to be “China Fusion,” a large pavilion meant to show the work of several Chinese artists working in an east-meets-west aesthetic. However, when I was there (the first day of the 4-day show) there was little art to be seen in the pavilion, and most of it was on the floor. Clearly something had gone horribly wrong. Instead of “China Fusion” I called it “China Confusion.”

Late in the day I saw people scurrying back and forth, carrying paintings into the pavilion, and one fellow hurriedly hanging the works:

Someone there told me the shipment had gotten hung up in US Customs. “Maybe ship earlier next time,” I suggested brightly. I’m sure they greatly appreciated my sage advice.

One artist’s work, miraculously already hung and even labeled, caught my eye. Another nod to Pointillism:

Bai Hongwei, “Flower and Bird No. 2,” 2012, oil on canvas, 50×60 cm, $7000, shown in the China Fusion pavilion. I liked the subtle colors and the way the bird was picked out in an orderly grid against the looser background. A nice melding of East and West.

Hiking in the New Year

I’m not “ringing” in the New Year, I’m “hiking” it in! Getting out and tramping around is how I get inspired to paint.

After abundant winter rains, southern California greened up. This is as green as it gets!

Cheseboro Canyon after the rains.

Yeah, it’s still pretty brown out there. That’s why I like to spice up the colors a little in my paintings. (Maybe more than “a little.”)

“A Touch of Sun” by Barbara J Carter, acrylic on canvas, 11×14 inches

If you missed seeing my art in 2012, fret not. I’m planning to get out and exhibit more in 2013. Being on my mailing list is the best way to get reminders about my shows. Click here to join, and I’ll see you at my next show!

Silverlake Open Studios Nov. 10-11, 2012

An annual tradition, I’m showing my work at the Silverlake Open Studio tour this weekend, November 10-11, 2012. That’s the Silverlake neighborhood in Los Angeles.

Now, my studio isn’t in Silverlake. I sneakily get into the tour by showing at a friend’s studio, which is in Silverlake. Fred Chuang has graciously given me space on the tour for several years now. Here’s the street view:

Fred and I hang our work side by side and then hang out together all weekend. It’s a very casual, drop-in kind of event. We’ll have drinks and munchies, including Fred’s famous turkey chili (mild by default, but possible to hot up with optional saucy additions). Fred’s lovely dogs will be on hand to greet everyone (and beg for chili). It’s good, relaxed fun. I hope we’ll see you there!

Silverlake Art Collective Annual Open Studios
Saturday & Sunday
November 10-11, 2012
12 noon to 5pm
2974 Waverly Drive, Los Angeles, California