Winter Tips for staying motivated to Paint and Create!

1. Try doing six to nine mini-paintings (6" x 6"). Divide paper into 6-9 chunks or squares with 2" spaces around each chunk. Let yourself go-- paint, draw, scribble, work fast, set a timer for no more than five minutes per square. See what ideas emerge and where you can go with this. You may surprise yourself.

Here is an example of mini-paintings that started as five-minute studies and evolved later to more finished pieces:

2. Found Object Mark-Making--You can use pine cones, sticks, tennis balls, twigs, leaves, anything you find around the house. Dip an object into ink or pre-mixed paint, and start laying the objects down on paper or canvas. See what images and textures appear and where you can go with them. Try different colors, look for varied textures, and different shapes. A great starting place to inspire future paintings!Coming soon on my website, more tips!

Check out my new website at http://www.deborahbriskerburk.com/

Happy Holidays!

Paintings in Christmas Show at Philip Morton Gallery, Rehoboth, De.

If you happen to be in Rehoboth, De. this year for the holidays, you can stop by the Holiday Show at Philip Morton Gallery.

47 Baltimore Avenue

Some of my work is part of the exhibit, along with many other talented artists.

Show Closing and Holiday Musings

Framer’s Choice Gallery Show will close on Thursday, Dec 9th @ 5pm.
The experience showing at The Framer’s Choice Gallery was very positive –the opening was wonderful. I enjoyed catching up with old friends and meeting some new art admirers. The exhibition was hung very well by the owner of the gallery, Steve.

Thoughts at the end of the year turn to what I will focus on in my art as the New Year approaches. The plan is to continue working on the figurative form and expand even further toward abstract. Images from my travels to Spain, Italy and Tunis continue to percolate in my mind. Even during our current cold snap in D.C., my thoughts are heated up with the intense Mediterranean sun. Rich corals, flame reds, honey oranges and coal browns are swimming next to cooler purples, shimmering turquoises and royal blues… It should be an interesting surge into the next period of artwork.

Show Closing This Sunday, Dec. 5

This Sunday is the final day for my exhibit at the Framer's Choice Gallery in Gaithersburg, MD. If you haven't had a chance to stop by I hope you will have an opportunity to do so. I would like to thank everyone that took the time to view my work, you helped make this show a success!

Also, I am very excited to be launching my new website, http://www.deborahbriskerburk.com. Check it out to view and order artwork and find out information about upcoming events and exhibits!

Last Weekend's Opening

Thank you to all who attended and helped make the opening a success at The Framer's Choice Gallery in Gaithersburg, Md. last weekend! If you were unable to see the work, hope you can stop by. The show will continue to run through December 6.

Upcoming Show at Framer's Choice Gallery

ON THE STUDIO WALL—The Final Stage of the painting of a female form.

Title: “Recumbent Reflection” 30X41 is complete. I filled up the form with swathes of color; balancing bright against neutrals-sharp line against soft; evoking a mood of joyousness, light and buoyancy. I crafted an expression that reflects an inner presence of alignment with self…art here is an extension of an emotion of serenity. I’ve added more grays, blacks, sharper lines and more warm green.

ON THE STUDIO WALL--Working on the Painting in Progress

Each week I am explaining my process in painting the piece on my studio wall. I am posting an image that will show the progression from week to week, as the work unfolds. It is beginning to enter the final stage. I am continuing to fill up the form with swathes of color; balancing bright against neutrals-sharp line against soft; working on evoking a mood of joyousness, light and buoyancy. I am crafting an expression that reflects an inner presence of alignment with self…art here is an extension of an emotion of serenity. I’ve added more grays, blacks, sharper lines and more warm green. Her face is not yet complete. Final touches are still needed to make the piece complete.

ON THE STUDIO WALL

A weekly look at the progression of a new painting. Here is a snippet of my newest piece of work. My process in this piece is to contrast warm grays against bright cool colors of the model’s body. I am working from a sketch that I composed from the live model. Her pose got my adrenaline flowing. The sketch is only a jumping off point. As the piece progresses, the composition will evolve and “fill out”.
I have not given this piece a title yet. I usually wait until it is completed to decide on what the work is “saying” to me.

Travel and Art…Ideas from Tunisia and Painting at Sea

I visited Tunis this summer from a cruise ship and was struck by the contrasts; from the market shapes and sounds, where the booth owners were hawking their wares; abundant in everything: people, spices, sound and sights…exciting and a bit anxiety provoking too. And, it was hot, desert hot. At the highest point of the market, I climbed to the top of a building filled with middle eastern rugs and stepped onto the terrace and saw the world, teeming below.. Then, off I headed, to the calming hues of the sand and sea, a beautiful enclave of beaches and hotels.

By the time I returned to the ship, my head was swimming with color, sights, sounds and textures of city, market and shore. The next day I spent on deck with my pencils, paints and paper sketching, painting abstracts in cools, then warms for paintings to create in my studio. There is nothing like the smells and feelings of a foreign place to incite the senses for new painting ideas.

Women as subjects, and the “ideal” proportion

I paint women, both nude and clothed…and I find that I often need to “doctor” up the proportions to fit into what looks right “proportion-wise” to me. But, has this-my viewpoint- been affected by our society’s dictum of the “ideal” women’s size? This brings me to the concept of what is the ideal? There are simply too many to list here and, of course, this depends on who is looking….

Emergent Streams, canvas 34"X44"



Welcome to ArtRainmaker!

I'm an artist who creates paintings and drawings about the human figure surrounded by abstract swathes of color. Occasionally, the abstract areas become new ideas for paintings in themselves.In this blog, I will be "musing" about my latest artwork, how I derive my ideas, and my experiences during the process of creating.

The picture above is a painting called "Emergent Streams", a mixed media piece which was inspired by my trip to Santa Fe last spring. The colors of the light and the texture of the mountains worked their way into this piece!