I’ve just finished my latest painting in the “In Our Veins” series! The title is “Interconnected” and is an acrylic on canvas, 6″ x 6.” Yet again, I took some photos along the way as I was working. I must admit they are not the best quality photos, though, since I didn’t mess with the settings on the camera and some are blurry, most are crooked. Yikes. And to think I had to take a photography course back in college… just goes to show if you don’t use it, you lose it. Which is why for the final photo, I rely on a professional. Anyway, this blind old bat much prefers working a few inches away from a canvas with a teeny tiny paintbrush. For a closeup view of the final painting, you can view it here: http://www.amyguidry.com/interconnected.html.
Initial sketch on canvas for “Interconnected” by Amy Guidry
Beginning stages of initial paint layer
Initial rough layer of heart and sky are complete
More progress in the intial rough layer of paint
Finished with the initial rough layer; now adding more paint to the sky
Adding more paint to the sky, layer upon layer, to build it up
Sky is finished; adding detail and the next layer to the right mountain
One of my medical reference books
Mountain on the right is finished, working on the left mountain
Mountains are done, now working on the next layer of the heart
Adding more color and detail to the heart
Heart is finished, now adding more layers to the water
Still adding to the water, building up color and detail
Final painting- “Interconnected” by Amy Guidry; acrylic on canvas; 6″ x 6″; (c) Amy Guidry 2011
I hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day weekend! We’re actually having some nice weather here for a change after Tropical Storm Lee. Over the weekend, my work was featured on Empty Kingdom. This is actually the second time I’ve been featured. Some of my earlier work appeared there almost a year and a half ago (how time flies…). This feature includes work from my “In Our Veins” series including some of the newest paintings from that series. You can check it out online here: http://www.emptykingdom.com/main/featured/amy-guidry-revisit/.
"Zachary" by Amy Guidry; acrylic on canvas; Collection of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
I’m excited to announce that my painting “Zachary” will be in the upcoming “Portraits and Their Stories” exhibition at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. “Zachary” is part of the museum’s collection and will be amongst the many other portraits in their collection (including Grant Wood of “American Gothic” fame) as well as some pieces on loan. “Zachary” was one of my portrait series paintings done during 2005-2006 (which you can view a few of on my Facebook Fan Page). The exhibition will be up September 24th, 2011 through January 15, 2012- ample opportunity for those of you in the Midwest to see my work in person. For more information on the exhibit visit the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art website at this direct link.
I send out an email newsletter each month, and I thought it might be helpful to those of you who don’t yet send a newsletter or are contemplating taking on such a project, to post some tips. Also, for those of you that do send newsletters, you may find some new ideas to help increase your subscriber rate and boost their enthusiasm. So here goes:
-I’ve posted a screen grab of one of my newsletters here to give you an idea of what I do. If you visit my website, www.AmyGuidry.com, you’ll see that I have kept the overall look the same as the website- color, style, logo, etc. This aids your branding campaign in that the visuals are associated with you and identify you in the minds of others.
-Frequency is up to you and you may want to experiment with this depending on how much you produce/exhibit/etc. I like once a month with a concise list of everything I have going on.
-Use a compelling subject heading, not too long- maybe 6 words or less. I like to focus on my “big” news to catch their attention.
-Photos are a must even if you are only discussing exhibits or articles. People are visual creatures so include photos of your new work, or studio shots, exhibition opening photos, installation photos, etc. If you are published in a magazine, include photos of that as well. Same goes for awards or certificates.
-Text should be concise and interesting. Try not to just state facts, which can be hard to do if you are announcing an exhibit but add some points of interest or amusing anecdotes wherever possible.
-Put your biggest news at the top of the newsletter. Unfortunately, you’ll have some readers that just skim through your news, so you’ll need to get their attention first thing.
-Add your other links at the bottom of the newsletter. If you are on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn, etc.- include those links. Your most interested fans will scroll all the way down to see them. Otherwise, you don’t want to distract your readers and lead them away from the newsletter too quickly.
-Limit outbound links to 3 or less. If you give too many links for people to visit, you’ll overwhelm them and they probably won’t go to any.
-Key time to send? According to marketing experts and my own personal experience, Tuesday-Thursday are your best bet. Send during the day, anywhere between 10am Pacific time to 3pm. I think I get more response in the afternoon, but again, try this out yourself and chart what gets you the most response. Monday is a no-no because people are bombarded with new email that built up over the weekend, whether they are at home or at work. Friday-Sunday, people are out enjoying the weekend.
-Have a signup page for your newsletters on your website. Let people know what they will be receiving and how often.
-Include a link to your newsletter signup page in all your correspondence emails.
I’ve recently finished another addition to the In Our Veins series! My painting “Fleeting” is now online- it is an acrylic on canvas, 8″ wide by 10″ high. Since the series deals with the life cycle and our role as well as impact on it, I thought this piece would be fitting given it is an example of the brevity of life. The moth plays an integral part since I have always had an interest in butterflies and moths and how short their life span can be (depending on the species). They are so delicate and beautiful, and only on this earth for such a short while. Which really is a metaphor for life in general- though many of us take it for granted and feel invincible. The pregnant woman is no one in particular (in reality there was no model- she is completely made up), she is a mother or will be, she is nature, she is Mother Earth, she is giving life, while the moth represents life.
I have posted the progression of this painting from start to finish- sorry for the cruddy photos- all were taken by me except the final one (which is why it was taken in good lighting on the proper setting and the colors look more accurate). View a larger version of the finished piece online at http://www.amyguidry.com/fleeting.html.
Almost forgot to take a photo- “Fleeting” original sketch on canvas; by Amy Guidry
Roughed in the first layer of paint for “Fleeting”
Background is finished; Adding another layer of paint to the figure to further develop
Adding another layer of paint to the moth to further develop
Adding another layer of paint to the face, cleaning up and adding details
Adding more color to the hair and fine details; Developing figure with another layer of paint
More color and detail to figure, focusing on the hands
Hands are done; Starting to develop the moth with another layer of paint
Adding more detail to the moth as I add the next layer of paint
“Fuzzy” part of moth complete- stripes are next
Stripes are done as well as further development of the shadows underneath
“Fleeting” by Amy Guidry; acrylic on canvas, 8″ x 10″; (c) Amy Guidry 2011
Perfume Bottle drawing by Amy Guidry; SOLD; Done when I was 16 years old
I recently posted a few photos of work I did as a kid up through high school. Funny, it never occurred to me that someone would be interested in adding one to their art collection…I guess because even though they are art, somehow I only considered work done during my “professional” years to be of interest. That is until someone expressed interest. I was also surprised by the enthusiasm people had over these once I posted them to my Facebook “Fan Page.” Even though they were all pieces I did on my own time, they were still part of my “sketchbook” assignments (even though they were not just simple sketches) which I had to turn in weekly to show that I was working on my art. This was standard for those in the Talented Art Program. Every week I would show what I worked on, usually adding more to the same drawing, and wait for approval. In some ways, it’s not all that different from how things are today. So I think this serves as a great reminder that we shouldn’t be so critical of our own work- on the whole, if it’s good, it’s good, no matter how old it is, no matter the imperfections that we think we see, no matter how many times we had to start over. No one else sees that, they just see a great work of art.
NOLA Defender- "The Art of Mortality" by Kathy Rodriguez
Kathy Rodriguez wrote a great review of the “Artists Who Wish They Were Dead II” exhibit for the NOLA Defender. The show is up now through September 3rd at Barrister’s Gallery (where you can see my work) and UNO St. Claude Gallery- both on St. Claude in New Orleans. You can read the article at this direct link: http://www.noladefender.com/content/art-mortality.
My work is currently on exhibit in “Artists Who Wish They Were Dead II” at Barrister’s Gallery in New Orleans. The show was guest-curated by artist Dan Tague and is up now through September 3rd. I attended the opening reception the other night at Barrister’s which was held in conjunction with UNO St. Claude Gallery. If you would like to view my work in person, it is at Barrister’s Gallery now through September 3rd. More photos will be added soon at http://www.amyguidry.com/events.html.
Artist Amy Guidry with her painting “The Wild West” at Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans
Artist Amy Guidry with guest-curator Dan Tague, “Artists Who Wish They Were Dead II”
Installation view of “Sequence” by Amy Guidry, Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans
Installation view of “Vulnerable” by Amy Guidry, Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans
Artist Amy Guidry and her painting “Sequence” with Jessica Goldfinch
Installation view of “Artists Who Wish They Were Dead II” at UNO St. Claude Gallery
I just posted some work from my childhood and teen years on my Facebook Fan Page. I thought it would be fun to share on here as well. I have been digging up older work for future projects- videos, mainly- and came across some fun pieces. Of course I then remembered some pieces that I haven’t seen and don’t actually know what became of them. As a kid, I gave away drawings, plus I think teachers ended up with some. So I have some more digging to do apparently. Here are a few of my finds (click on the photo to see the entire image):
St. Tammany Parish Fair poster- 1987. My design was picked as the poster winner for the fair that year.
16 yrs old- pastel pencil drawing of Madonna
circa 17 yrs old- charcoal drawing of Chris Cornell
circa 13/14 yrs. old- charcoal and oil pastel of Donnie Walhberg
Early high school- maybe 13/14 yrs. old- watercolor and pencil still life
Repeat performance (posted this one once already)- I was 16 at the time- pencil drawing of Ralph Lauren’s Safari; SOLD
And if you’d like to see what I’ve been up to lately, visit my website at www.AmyGuidry.com.
If you follow my Facebook page, you may know some of this news already, but I haven’t posted about it here yet. One of my paintings was used for the filming of a book-turned-movie titled “When Angels Sing.” The painting that will be featured is “Wisdom” from my “New Realm” series, which you can view here: www.AmyGuidry.com/Wisdom.html. I’m extremely honored to have my work included in this film.
“When Angels Sing” is based on the book by Turk Pipkin and is directed by Tim McCanlies. The film will star Connie Britton, Harry Connick Jr., Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson, Turk Pipkin, Frankie Jonas, Chandler Canterbury, and Fionnula Flanagan. Musician appearances include Sara Hickman and the Jonas Brothers. Filming has already wrapped up and the movie is scheduled to be out this holiday season 2011.
