KENDALL KESSLER'S OIL PAINTING DIARY

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Scammers Working Harder and Harder to get my Money and You have to eat the Box...

Scammers are working so hard to get my money.  I get a bunch of the- give me your address, I will send you a certified check, and my private shipper will get the painting scams, every day.  I know I shouldn't respond but I send them this to shut them up which usually works.  I only take Paypal and I do not accept any kind of private shipping arrangements.  If you give me your address, I will mail it UPS after the money has been transferred from my Paypal account into my banking account which takes about four days.  Now some of them are saying all right, I will put the money in your account and send my representative to pick it up.  I'm not clicking on any of them from now on.  Scammers are so easy to spot and I'm not talking to them anymore.

One commercial my husband is so sick of is the one that claims eating a certain kind of breakfast cereal will help people lose weight.  These cereals are so light you could have a grocery bag full and not think anything was inside. They are balloon grains you can put on your newspaper and still read it.  They are so light that you would have to eat the paper it comes in and the box before you felt like you had anything to eat. Sure you lose weight.  You didn't eat anything.

Be sure to check out my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art America.  Here are the ones starting tomorrow.
Sell Art Online
Art Prints
Sell Art Online

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Sold two more Prints and We may have to give in...

Sold two more prints and I am pleased that this is the first time for both of them.  I hope patrons will broaden their selections so more and more of my work is reproduced and enjoyed.  I am in nineteen states, Canada, Germany, and Australia right now.  The recent prints have been to California and Virgina where I already have  a lot of prints and originals.  As I have said before I want to cover the world!

A while back I mentioned that we did not have cable but finally gave in when the digital take-over took away our stations.  I never thought we would give in but we do want some channels, especially PBS.  I have always dis-liked air conditioning for many reasons.  The main one is if you have air conditioning then you don't ever want to go outside.  If you don't have it you get used to the heat.  The other reason is I am such a cold person that for everyone to be comfortable I have to freeze or bundle up.  I think this summer has changed my mind.  We have active solar but are thinking of getting a heat pump to use for the dog days.  I told my husband the other night that it was so hot I wished I had a valet and maybe he could do that for me.  He said he could be a varmint or a vagrant but never a valet.  Talk about a crazy request.  I guess the heat is getting to me.


Sell Art Online
Sell Art Online

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Something Completely Different and They are on Parade...

I am pleased to introduce my non-objective work.  Most people call this type of art abstract.  I don't care what people call it, I just hope they will have a great visual experience  when viewing them.  Most of my life I have been painting representational oil paintings so these paintings are something completely different for me and I am pleased with them.  They are in a new gallery on my website called The Center of my Mind.  These paintings are my unique expressions of color and texture that I put into all my artwork. But these don't have any recognizable objects so the viewer either likes them for how they appear as artwork, or they don't like them. Their decision is based on the visual arrangement rather than on what they like to see.  We all have visual biases.  Artists call this kind of artwork music without words.

I will be adding two more soon.

The ants are on parade again.  No matter what I do they stream in and go about their business.  I have ant traps out.  I make sure all crumbs are up and food is put in a plastic bag and taken outside.  I have tried natural remedies.   The only thing I have not been able to do is convince my guys to not put anything in the trash that was with-in a yard of food.  I've done everything, Mom, but they are still here!  I have decided to give up.  I just wave at them and I think some of them wave back.  I don't even check to see if they have their green card. We are one with the ants.
Photography Prints
Photography Prints
Sell Art Online

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Sold Another Print of Reaching Out and New National Holiday!

Just sold another print of "Reaching Out" to a great patron in Universal City, CA.  This is now my number one best seller.  "A Break in the Clouds" is second.

I am pleased to add the last of my three new large paintings.  I love the shore and wish I were there right now.  This painting was based on a morning photograph I took under unusual atmospheric conditions that I enhanced in the painting.  This painting is a celebration of color and brushwork that has a mesmerizing quality about it.  The light is moving in and out of a hazy morning and the warm/cool color relationships are like jewels shimmering on the surface. The painting has a visual energy that seems to burn from with-in.  As I mentioned before I have been told by many artists and patrons that my work is like that of Van Gogh's work because of the burning intensity in the colors.  I do greatly admire the effect he got with his impasto layers.  It is stunning.

There are so many political campaign commercials on right now that it is becoming extremely tedious.  My husband and I are so tired of them.  We can hardly get to the mute button fast enough.  We have decided that this country can add another Holiday and call it National Hot Air Day.  It can be celebrated with fog horns the day before the election and the day after.



Be sure to check my Limited Time promotions on Fine Art America.  Three landscapes this week.  Two Blue Ridge Mountains prints and one Pawleys Island print.
Photography Prints
Sell Art Online

Friday, July 13, 2012

Check out my Best so Far! and If a Small Dog can do it...

Out of the three large paintings I just completed, "Isle of Palms Sunset" is my favorite.  More than ever before I have brought nature indoors.  This is an extremely intense vista of the canal side of the beach where the water was lit up with the sunset.  My exuberance is in every brushstroke and every color nuance.

Lately on TV there is an advertisement for some sort of mesh to attach to doors so people won't let the bugs in while they go in and out of the house.  It is done with magnets and the manufacturers proudly show a small dog going through the mesh and then it closes back.  My husband said if a puny little dog can open that mesh then I bet three mosquitoes could hold it open while a whole hoard flew in the house.  Don't think so but he sure did paint a funny picture for me with those words.  Who is the artist in this family anyway?  Writers sure can do amazing things with words.

Be sure to check out my large canvas print specials in the Limited Time section on Fine Art America!


Sell Art Online
Sell Art Online
Sell Art Online

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Check out my New Painting and Yeah Baby!

I have been working hard on three large paintings that I have finally decided to cry uncle on.  I like them and got most of what I was after, but as always, they are never good enough.  They will look a lot better later.  I am now immersed in what some artists call "Pure Art".  Representational art has always been my thing but this is a great experience to just react to the colors, textures, and forms for their own sake and not referring to objects in the real world.  Music without words!

This first painting is "Summer Trail".  This is loosely based on a photograph I took of a grass path and wildflowers at Rock Castle Gorge on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I am very pleased with the surface quality of this painting and the intricate small brushwork.  What can I say?  I hope people will appreciate it.


I play the piano every day.  It is just part of who I am.  My family has a lot of artists and musicians and I was privileged to spend a lot of my time growing up with both of them.  As I have said before I like all kinds of music but I especially like classical. Baroque music flips me out and I love to play it.  The other day I was playing a very energetic piece by Handel with a loud, strong finish.  When I was done my husband said Yeah Baby!  I really felt the energy in that one.  Not, I don't like classical music, too many notes, or just sounds like noise to me, but Yeah Baby!  Now that is what a pianist wants to hear!

Be sure to check out my specials of Fine Art America in the Limited Time section.  I will have three up by Thursday.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Artists have Trouble Washing their Hair and You probably will run out...

When I was in college I remember one of my professors talking about one of his professors who was extremely dedicated to creating excellent art.  He was so involved with his artwork that his hair was hardly every combed.  His life was a frenzy and he lived to paint, a phrase I use to describe myself.  Back then I was dedicated but I didn't live to paint.  Now I understand what that man went through.  There just isn't enough time.  Art is a jealous lover and the thought of washing my hair is a real pain. I get to it but there just aren't enough hours in the day.  I wonder if I will ever stop saying I need more hours.  Oh well, got to wash my hair.

As I have said before, I try to include something funny and I mostly rely on my husband for humor.  Sometimes I come up with something but most of the quips are his.  I write them down so I won't forget them and I am ahead of schedule right now.  I mentioned that to him but I also told him to keep them coming as I may run out.  He said I probably would run out on him because he is punning me to death.  Not so!  I love puns!


Don't forget to check out my weekly sales on three of my popular works.  The sale is about 40% off the regular price!  You can see them by going to kendall-kessler.fineartamerica.com and go to page two of the Limited Time selections.


Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Can't Wait to Post Them and Should they really be Advertising Bacon?

Just about to the end of three large paintings I have been working hard on.  They never look exactly right and I always think at the end I can do better but that is the life of a painter.  We have to learn to live with a certain amount of failure and try hard to keep from going nuts.  It is quite a balancing act.  These are a lot closer than any I have done so far so I am proud.  My next paintings will be completely different.  I am going to take a break from representational art and do some non-objective works.

One of the fast food places is advertising bacon, bacon, bacon and more bacon to customers.  I think our obesity rate is around 30% right now.  Wouldn't it be to everyone's advantage to emphasize the items that are good for people and low in calories and fat? Are we going for 50%?  If we keep going the way we are going people will be too fat to get in the door.  My husband said not to worry, they will find a way  to roll in and get that bacon burger!

Don't forget to check out my Limited Time Promotions on FAA and have a great 4th of July!
Art Prints
Photography Prints