I've been a bit out of touch.  Life has thrown me some curve balls and some lemons lately, just as it does all of us throughout our time on earth. 
 
Not many know that I have suffered from a monkey called depression for the last 30 years...I'm only talking about it as I think there are more of us out there than we realize.  Those of us who struggle everyday to put a smile on our faces and keep trying to ask, "..and how are you doing?" instead of dwelling on our own sadness.  It sometimes becomes overwhelming and unbearable and I call it lovingly, "The Rabbit Hole".

Well, I'm happy to finally say that I am emerging from "The Rabbit Hole" and am ready to face life again and am ready to pick up my paintbrush again after a few months of not being able to do what I love.

This evening I received the great news that a painting I submitted has been selected to hang in our Colorado Senator's office, (Michael Bennet),in Washington D.C. for the next 2 years.  It's just the medicine I needed!

Tomorrow morning I'm heading to the Pacific Northwest on a road trip to Portland Oregon to visit my daughter and her family and to deliver the detritus of a lifetime that she has left to reside in our home since she moved out 16 years ago!  ...another cathartic moment I'm sure :)

I've packed my plein air "stuff" in hopes that I get inspired on the trip and will post as...and if...it happens.  Wish me luck.

My car is packed and loaded..everything bagged tagged and framed!  FALL FEST and MEET THE ARTISTS is happening this weekend in Frisco, CO.  I'm praying for good weather!  NO RAIN DANCES, PLEASE!!!

18 Frisco restaurants will be serving great food... and amazing artists, (blush) will be exhibiting at the Frisco Historic Park.  10-6 Sat. and 10-5 on Sunday.  
Come out and enjoy some great music and fun...it's a great family entertainment day.

ALSO....just in case you're interested I'll have lots of new paintings and my OUTDOOR ALL WEATHER ART will be available along with giclee prints (I'm selling the prints for half price...I''m not going to do prints anymore!).  I'm also bringing a collection of my studies which are priced at bargain prices...and they are all originals!
Come by and say hey!

What a pleasure to be commissioned to capture these three children in paint!  I thought some of you might enjoy being taken on the journey I embarked on as I brought to life these kids from a 15 year old photograph.  My client lives in Holderness New Hampshire and after viewing other portraits I had made decided that she wanted her favorite photo of her children painted.  It is a 16x20 oil painted on an archival canvas panel. 

The first step was to make sure my client understood that I am not a photorealist painter, more impressionistic, and that in my portraits I am trying to capture the essence of the subject...a mood.  She then emailed me a digital image of the photo.  It was old and discolored with a greenish cast and I worked with it in photoshop and then we embarked on a discovery list of eye coloring, skin tones, hair etc. ...AND personality traits.

The second step is to get a feel for their faces and for this stage I did a pastel portrait of each one. My client then looked these over and made suggestions.  She ended up purchasing these, too, in addition to the commisssioned portrait.  They are usually just for my reference as I'm not a "pastellist" by trade!

During the third stage I made what is referred to as a full size "cartoon" that I used to transfer the children to the full sized canvas.  It is a simple line drawing that helps me make sure they are all in the right proportion.

Moving on to the fun part!  I painted what is called a "grisaille" of the children.  A grisaille is a black and white and grey rendition underpainting.  This technique is older than Methusala.  It is then painted and glazed over with color.  I find it useful when doing portraits as many "problems" can be worked out before using color.   My client looked this over and more small changes were made.  In the meantime I live with the painting everywhere...it rides in the car with me...it sits on the hearth in our living room...in the kitchen, just about anywhere I spend time.  I find that glancing at it helps me find "problems" that need fixing. My husband thinks this stage is pretty entertaining, LOL.

Here is the grisaille with the painting and glazing stage partially done...

This last series is to show you the progression from the first color/glazing stage, the second color/glazing stage and the final painting.  Through each step I "lived" with the children as I did with the grisaille.  They feel pretty much like part of my family by now :)

In the 1st painting I pretty much followed my grisaille underpainting...after my "living with the painting" stage I found many changes to make and or tweek. 
Image sent to client for input. 

Changes made in #2
I had made the background and red of the chair too kigh key (or too bright in value), so I glazed over the back ground and chair to bring down the values so that the children became the main focus...not the bright background!
I also toned down the value of Mackenzie's green romper.
Their skin tones became more developed and I worked on shaping and defining their "body parts"... Mackenzie's left eye needed to be lowered, Natalie's left leg needed to be made less important as did her shoulder/left arm, which needed to be slimmed down.  Natalie's jumper needed be shaved down as it went into her back and the arm holes.  
If you look closely you'll see even more subtle changes.
Now I "lived with them" again to decide if more things need to be changed.
Images sent to client to see if she had any more thoughts and helpful artist friend collegues for their input.

The final painting in #3
I glazed in warmer skin tones...softened cheeks and their lips and added more definition to their hair.  I brought down the back ground value a little more and added more shading to their clothes....AND THEN I SIGNED IT!

I sent my client an image of the final painting...and I'm happy to report that she is thrilled and loves it! YAY. 

My goal is to capture the spirit of the subject.  When working from an old photo it is sometimes hard for the client to separate characteristics that they see in the grown up version from what had been captured in a momentary flash of a camera bulb many years ago. 
 
The hard part for me is to understand the characteristics of the subject without any real contact besides the photo.  
It is so important to hear stories from the client to help me get a better understanding of the feeling/personality needed to be found.  
Mackenzie's heart shaped lips and beautiful green eyes, Natalie's "Natatude" ...and their obvious love for their little brother, Baker.  Thank you Sue for your delightful input.  You made it possible!

I HAVE TIME TO SQUEEZE IN A COUPLE OF COMMISSIONS BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS OR FOR VALENTINES DAY  ...BUT HURRY AS THIS IS A COMPLICATED PROCESS! 
If you are now inspired to commission a painting or have questions please contact me...the following photos are of past portraits and commissions.
Email is the best way:  [email protected]

Crazy busy...I think that's what they call a good complaint! 

Three days after returning from my month long "European Vacation" I set up a tent at the Summer Art Market in downtown denver.  It was the month of June...Saturday was beautiful, but Sunday it was like a hurricane came through town!  Made me remember why doing tent shows on the street can be such an iffy proposition!  BUT...I had a really good time talking to people and reconnecting with customers!

June 23-28th I was an artist for the Douglas Land Conservancy's First Plein Air Invitational.  There were 18 of us that were invited to paint on the private JA Ranch and a beautiful private piece of property that had amazing views of the valley and hoodoos across the road.  It was magical.  What was even more magical is that 7 of the 9 paintings I completed that week were sold!  Whew...It blew me away.

A couple of weekes later in July, I had committed to paint in another plein air invitational event for the Continental Divide Land Trust called, "Wild About Colorado" held in Breckenridge, CO.  This time there were 16 invited artists and we were able to paint in parts of our county that are normally closed to people "like us" :)  This time 3 of my 7 paintings sold...once again amazing!  
 
I love that that both of these wonderful organizations raise money through these kinds of events to help keep land wild for future generations.

August 18th-22nd I'm off to Chicago where 6 new reproductions of my paintings are being unveiled at a show on Navy Pier for, West of the Wind Oudoor Art, an International wholesaler of Outdoor Art.  This amazing company has now licensed 50 of my paintings.  It's really fun to go and meet with their customers and explain how I created the original pieces of art.   Sort of a different version of singing for my supper :)

September 6-7th I'm going to be putting up a tent again, (keeping my fingers crossed for good weather!), on the streets of Frisco, CO.  It is a Meet The Artists event sponsered by the Summit County Arts Council.  Great art, music and fun...come on out to the mountains and join me.  I have lots of new paintings to show and I'll be bringing some of my paintings that have been made into outdoor art with me, too!

September 15-20th I'm off to Chicago again to shake hands and sing for my supper with customers of West of the Wind Outdoor Art.  This time it is casual furniture buyers I'll be communing with.

I've finally had time to spruce up and update my website, so if you're inspired to see new paintings etc....visit my website:
https://www.mariannaduford.com   

If you're inspired leave me a message or connect with me on facebook..."like" my art page and you'll be kept "abreast" of my shennanigans!
https://www.facebook.com/mariannaduford


Ciao, over and out till next time!

May 4th I journeyed to France and then Italy with a group of women, some of which I've been friends with for over 30 years...all connected  by the circus we had businesses at the Colorado Renaissance Festival.  Women with free spirits and strong personalities and a common love for each other.  We  gathered in Paris for 4 funfilled shopping and sight seeing days.  I was able to paint only one morning, the first one, as it poured rain every other day we were there.   It was a  painting  of the Luxembourg Gardens and I set up under a tree as it was misting and spitting rain.  I was set upon by a group of about 30 Japanese tourists and am in about 100 photos...eeeegads!

We had a journey that went down the road less travelled as our dear friend , Sharon Tysseling, suffered a brain hemmerahge only 6 days  into our adventure, the day after we journeyed to Isle sur la Sorgue in Provence.  Thankfully one of our crew, Leslie Harris, spoke fluent French and was able to go with the ambulance along with Sue Pappas and Marla Ferrara to be with her as they sped her to the hospital in Avignon.  There they made the decision to air flight her to the hospital in Marseille where they performed emergency brain surgery to relieve the pressure of an enormous brain clot.  We had to call her husband, Mark and tell him what had happened.  He flew to Marseille the next day where endless days passed at we all tried to navigate a medical system in a foreign country where the doctors and staff spoke very little if no english.  I try to put myself in his shoes and wonder how I would have been able to do what he had to do if he hadn't had the help of loving friends to help him through this horrific experience.   Mark arranged to have her flown home by medi jet where they said there was just too much damage and he had to remove life support.   It has been an unbelievably sad trip and I lost my heart for painting although I did do a small one of the pool house in the gardens of the villa we rented the day of her stroke while waiting for phone calls.


We continued our trip as we all knew that Sharon would have wanted us to go on and flew on to Venice for 3 wonderful nights and days.  What an amazing place.  We took the boat to the Island of Murano that is famous for its exquisite blown glass where I managed to throw up my easel an paint from a bridge for a glorious 1.5 hours....some much needed art therapy.  We then traveled on to the island of Burano, famous for it's lace.  It is without a doubt the most colorful and wondrous city I visited and it' now on my bucket list to go a paint there for a week!

Our trip together ended in Venice, but Sharon and I had arranged to stay for another 9 days of travelling.   We had rented a car to drive through the Le Marches of Italy and were planning of painting and moseying through the vast countryside of this amazing part of Italy.  We were going to hook up with lifelong friends of Sharon's from Canada in Ravenna for this last part of the trip..It was something I had to face doing on my own and I was scared to death of having to drive from Venice to Ravenna by myself...Italians are famous for driving like bats out of hell and my lat experience of driving here wasn't what I would call good!  I rented a GPS and she became my friend as I only got lost about 10 times, ha!


Sharon's friends, Rosanna and Jeff Langer, ended up being amazing traveling companions.  They shared my obsession with maps and history and their unfettered joy of the trip was refreshing!  We could also share our deep sorrow at losing our friend and each night at dinner we filled a glass of wine for our unseen friend.


We spent the last 4 days of our trip in beautiful Orvieto where I finally found my heart again and was able to start painting again.  Day before yesterday I woke up and was me!...I felt like I had found an old friend and went outside at 7am and painted the view of the backside of the Duomo from our terrace.  Later we found our way to some hot springs near San Casciano di Bagno...after getting lost about 30 times where I did a little watercolor sketch.  2 in one day!!!
I was joined yesterday by a young woman,Kelly Medford who lives in Rome, to paint in Orvieto.  It was probably my best day as I woke up and finally emerged from the dark cloud off pain that has filed my heart the last few weeks.  She also went with us to return the rental car to Hertz to help translate as we had acquired a rather large crease AKA a puncture in the front of the car!  AHHH!   They didn't even say anything,  I guess it was considered normal wear and tear here!  YAY!


I 'met" Kelly on a FB group page called Plein Air Painters...what a wonderful tool the internet has become..


Below you will find images of the paintings I managed to do on this trip...I brought enough supplies to do 30, as you will see that didn't happen.  But I learned so many other things...The graciousness of strangers, not to take for granted even one day the people you love, patience and that I can be a really irritating PIA sometimes.  Ahhh humbling to find our at 62 that there are still lessons to learn.


Thank you, if you made it to the end of this...Ciao!

Our group of seven ladies arrived in beautiful Sorgue on Saturday in great anticipation of a shopping extravaganza in our beautiful little town.  Our private villa is in the center of the town and we can walk everywhere right out our door!  The Sunday market is famous and is the biggest one in Provence.  

6 days into our adventure after nonstop Parisien rain we are in sunny Provence!...but it was raining this morning AGAIN!  Just a light consant sprinkle, not enough to keep us from shopping :)     but enought to make it hard to set up an easel.  Our beautiful villa smack in the center of beautiful L'isle sur la Sorgue is in a walled in privet park setting (just for us!) with a beautiful pool.    The sun finally appeared and I painted this lovely little garden hous that is next to the pool...while I drank the leftover wine from lunch.  Fabulous!!  Hoping tomorrow is another sun filled day

I'm in Paris with 6 fabulous girlfriends  from my Renaissance Festival years...32 years of fun and frivolity with a sprinkle of business mixed in!    We landed yesterday morning after a long all night flight.  
After finding our beautiful apartment and getting settled in we walked the streets of the Latin quarter to stay awake and adjust to the 8 hour time difference.   
What fun getting thoroughly lost in its' winding streets we stopped for our 1st, (of what will surely be many), glasses of wine a a plate of pate and cheeses...divine!  We meandered through the beautiful Jardin de Luxembourg where I found the spot I painted at this morning.  
Last night we gathered a picnic of sandwiches on baguettes and a couple of bottles of wine from our neighborhood grocer and journeyed via bus to the Seine to feast our eyes on the beautiful river as the sun set and the many lights started to glow into the waters as night time descended.  It was lovely and made complete by a few handsome, young derelicts wanting to party with the old cougars that just got into "town"....we made our "excuses" and toddled home.  We must have walked for miles yesterday and every part of my body ached as we all hit the pillows.
My eyes flapped open at 6:30 am...I packed up my art backpack and headed out IN THE RAIN for the gardens and parked under a tree to paint my first "masterpiece" of the journey.  I felt a part of this amazing city...not dressed up with my painting togs on and my hair in a braid with a mug of hot coffee to sip on as I made my way to my idea of the start of a perfect day as my friends slumbered on in our cozy apartment.
Stay tuned...there will be more to come as it is only the beginning of this journey.
Adieu 

I'm going to be painting in Paris, France (Luxembourg Gardens area) May 5-10, then in the Avignon/L'isle sur la Sorgue, Provence area till the 16th.  Heading to Venice for 3 nights and then traveling through the Le Marches,Italy the 19th-22nd.  Then will be in Orvieto, Umbria for the next 4 nights.  
I'm hoping to hook up with some other painters as I'm traveling with a non painting group and if you're a painter you know how hard that can be!  I'm really excited to be hooking up with plein air painter, Kelly Medford in Orvieto...but there are lots of other days :)  
Let me know!  email- [email protected]
This is me painting in Valle di San Martino, Italy years ago and the studio painting that I did from my plein air watercolor!  Can't wait for new places and experiences! 

I made some "secret" goals this past New Years Day.  Secret as in I was afraid to say them outloud...but I wrote them down.  I've never done this before.
 
According to the experts of making good things happen in your life you need to visualize what you want.  You need to believe in what you want and most importantly you have to believe it's what you deserve.  In the meantime you also need to take deliberate steps to help these goals come to fruition. 

This is the good stuff that has happened since then!
1)  My paintings are moving in the galleries that are carrying my work.  
2)  I have a one person show hanging in the Summit County Commons in Frisco, CO.  
3)  I was accepted into "The Summer Art Market" June 6th and 7th at the Art Students League of Denver.  
4)  I was accepted into an art show in Salida, CO for July, (I had to decline the invitation as my family is coming to visit the same week!)...but it wasn't a reject letter!  
5)  I was selected to be one of 16 invited local and national artists to plein air paint for the "WILD FOR COLORADO" event held in July in Breckenridge, CO.  An art event that benefits the Continental Divide Land Trust of Summit County.  
6)  I just recieved an invitaion today to be one of 16 locally and nationally renowned artists to plein air paint for the "Capturing the Beauty of the Open Land" event for the Douglas Land Conservancy, Douglas County, CO.
7)  I'm getting to go to France and Italy for the month of May to paint, drink wine and enjoy life with 6 of my girlfriend "homies" from my Renaissance Festival days.

I do have a point, believe it or not.  Its been a long road since I started following my dream of being a full time painter, a road sometimes filled with doubt and anxiety.  There are over 4 million artists in our country alone.  How do you "make it" and how do you make it happen?  Where do you set the bar on what you consider success in your chosen field.  Most of society bases success on how much money you make and unfortunately many artists think you have to be poor to make your dreams come true.  I've been reading like crazy and attending seminars and listening to webinars and some of their advice is finally sinking in and I've finally started putting it into my daily life.  

It's a little like the children's story of "The Little Engine that Could".  The little engine is having great difficulty trying to make the top of a huge hill and says, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...I KNOW I CAN!  I'm turning 62, (jeeze), this year and my career in art is finally going somewhere.  I've stopped sitting in my studio waiting to be "discovered".

OLD HABITS DIE HARD and that voice in our head that murmers and fills us with doubt is hard to silence.  It's hard to stop giving credence to a lifetime of self doubt and to start thinking and making positive things happen.  The first step to making these changes is to write what you want to accomplish down and keep that list where you will see it often and then stop wishing and hoping and start taking affirmative action to help make the list reality.

I need to thank all of you that have been supportive and those of you that have become collectors of my art.  You have all been a HUGE part of this journey and hope you all stick around for the ride.  I even have to thank those of you that have had words of criticism as even that has helped shape my path.

Wishing you all a fabulous day and a fabulous life...I can't wait for the next good thing to come down the road!

I'll be posting paintings and blogging while on my trip to France and Italy, (when I have wifi) ...check in to see what happens!