Daily Paintworks Gallery

 My Daily Paintworks Gallery is temporarily closed!  I plan to open it again in the spring.  

A recent ceramic vase I created in my Vases With Faces and Hats series.  

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©

To contact me about a painting:  debzbox@earthlink.net

Fall Drawing Class 2023

 

I had a lot of fun in my fall drawing class!  These are some samples of my students work.  I threw a lot of challenges at them, the first two lessons were all about line then we moved on to values, negative space, comparative measuring, modified graphs, cropping and composition.   Our last drawing was an exercise on toned paper with two colored pencils.  They did great, didn't complain or fire me.  

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide

© by each individual artist

New Drawing Class

 

My fall virtual drawing class through Rumriver Art Center starts September 25th.  I have some fun things planned including a toned paper drawing with two colored pencils.  Toned paper is one of my favorite drawing techniques and it's also an eye opener for beginning students.  While planning the class all these ideas started keeping me awake at night on ways to incorporate the orange colored pencil in other drawings, finally I had to say stop.  Well it is fall and it's all about the beautiful fall colors right.  

You Betcha!

Oh and thank you pixabay.com for the photo reference!

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©

Vases With Faces and Hats

 

So this is how I've spent my summer so far!  No painting and totally consumed by my hand built ceramic class.  The workshop ended with still two pieces, tiles, yet to be fired.  Before the workshop began I planned out six pieces in color then stressed out trying to complete all of them.  The little textured vase was unplanned using up leftover scraps. Take away #1, don't give yourself unreasonable goals.   Once you have everything built, which is no small task, then you have to figure out the underglazes or glazes which ever you plan to use.  Yes there is a difference, I won't bore you with the details.  I could write a book on using underglazes.  Take away #2, the colors usually never turn out the way you planned.  I learned a ton in this eightweek workshop at the Rumriver Art Center, so eight classes in all but just as many open studio days.  While I was working on my seven pieces the other students were slamming out pots right and left and some really cool stuff.  It was overwhelming at first and it didn't help with my anxiety.  Take away #3, which I try to teach my drawing students, DON'T COMPARE, good advice for myself.  I'm super happy with my little pieces, maybe especially because they aren't perfect and highly recommend Rumriver Art Center and all their many wonderful art workshops and classes. 

https://rumriverart.com

I'll be teaching another virtual drawing class through Rumriver Art Center starting the end of September, more on that later.

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©

Summer Buffet

Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas, 12x16 inchesThis piece was painted awhile back for a show with a food theme.  I thought showing fair food was a clever idea, plus I painted fun fair images on two sides of the canvas such as pronto pups and cheese curds.  It didn't go over real big for the show, most of the paintings were classical food images.  Recently I pulled the painting out to rework a few areas adding admission tickets to the third side of the canvas.  I'm not sure if I posted this piece before but it works better now and will be for sale in a new show coming up in September at the Rumriver Art Center's Johansen Gallery, Anoka MN.
Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©

Curious Koi

 

NFS, 6x8 inches, Acrylic on a linen panel

I painted this awhile back from another pixabay.com photo reference.  Something bothered me about the painting so it was never posted.  I never planned to work on it again but one day the problem suddenly emerged, a bothersome tail.  So tail fixed and it's ready to find a home.

This has been a summer exploring hand built ceramic pottery.  Feels so good to be challenging myself in a new creative way.  That said it's also been frustrating, working with clay is a lot harder than it looks and is taking me ages to finish projects.  So I'm taking a break from painting for the moment enjoying some 3D creations.

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©

Grandma Time

 

My niece who is now a grandmother for the first time asked me to do a grandson painting for her.  She sent a couple of photos to choose from, this reference I knew in my heart was the best but the prospect overwhelmed me.  I had to pump up my confidence and really I thought what's the worst that could happen, a ruined  panel and a bruised ego.  Been there, done that.  Making some changes from the photo reference, I pumped up the color a bit and removed some clutter from the bottom with a few other minor changes.  The photo reference was beautiful telling such a sweet story.  Sometimes you have to put your big girl pants on and move forward, I'm glad I did.

Congrats to my niece, what a blessing to hold your new little one and show him the world.

Deborah A. Kirkeeide ©