Art Friends, November 15, 2007

Hello Everyone,

Unbelievably, the holiday season is upon us. I know this only because of the many holiday happenings that involve the arts. Here is a sampling. Be sure to look for me --

Holiday Art Postcard

Red and Green Cookies
© 2007 Barbara Sistak Baur

This is a new work and I created it especially for holiday postcards, which are at the printer as we speak (or write). The reverse side says: "Have a cookie. (Have two.) Happy Holidays".

For the first time, I am offering my holiday cards for others to purchase. I have packaged 8 postcards for $10 (plus $2 postage and handling). If you would to take advantage of this, just pop a check in the mail (use the Island Lake address below). I will send them off to you right away.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Warmly,
Barbara Sistak Baur, Artist

Now Online http://barbarabaur.blogspot.com/
-- A new figure drawing – click the Figure Sketches Art topic.
-- Resume and Artist's Statement. I put this there for easy access by others. Click on the topic Resumes and Such.

Barb's Blog
Fresh Paint! - Paintings, Sketches and Studies
http://barbarabaur.blogspot.com/

Yes, please go ahead and forward this to a friend.

Feedback and correspondence are always welcome.

If this email has been forwarded to you and you would like to continue receiving Art Friends, click barbarabaur@comcast.net and type "Yes, Art Friends." On the other hand, if you would like to stop receiving Art Friends, I understand. Click reply to this email and just type “unsubscribe.” Thanks for your friendship!

Art Friends and all images are ©2007 Barbara Sistak Baur and all rights are reserved. If you wish to copy this material to other publications or mail lists, great!! Just let me know so I can give you permission. Thanks for your respect.

Barbara Baur Art
Lively, Textural, Vibrant
3404 Highland Dr.
Island Lake IL 60042
and
2944 S. Harlem #4
Riverside IL 60546
708-372-2798
barbarabaur@comcast.net

Holiday Art Postcard

Red and Green Cookies

© 2007 Barbara Sistak Baur

This is a new work and I created it especially for holiday postcards, which are at the printer as we speak (or write). The reverse side (see below) says: "Have a cookie. (Have two.) Happy Holidays". For the first time, I am offering my holiday cards for others to purchase. I have packaged 8 postcards for $10 (plus $2 postage and handling). If you would to take advantage of this, just pop a check in the mail (email me for my Island Lake address, if needed). I will send them off to you right away.

Studio Cat

Geechi Portrait, 9"x12", charcoal on paper, in sketchbook
©2007 Barbara Sistak Baur

Hello Everyone -- I have cat who basically lives in my studio. Her name is Geechi (first syllable rhymes with “glee”; second syllable rhymes with “me”).

My studio cat sits in a chair next to my easel. I trip over it sometimes but she likes to be by me and I like to reach down and pet her. From time to time, a cat hair will get into a painting. I also have a chair for her next to my office chair. She follows me to my desk there. We also have a special place in front of the studio tv. I have a small sofa and a cozy blanket. Both of us often snug up there for some late night relaxation.

Because she is a studio cat, she is often my unwitting model for warm-up sketches that I do before I begin work. Of course, the problem with animals is that they don’t like to stay still. So it is very difficult to get a long sketch – with them awake, that is. I can get a longer pose if the cat is not aware of my presence or is ignoring me. Here is a portrait I did of her in charcoal. She was very tired so I was able to get a longer pose – but not so long that I could actually get her body.

I know I am writing in the present tense but the very sad news is that recently I lost my studio cat. She just got old and sick. She was 13.

So I went through my old sketchbooks and found several “attempts” of sketching her. I enjoy looking at them and so have posted them online. Some are line drawings with pen and ink and others are charcoal. It is an interesting collection of parts and pieces of cats in a variety of media. To see them, click the Studio Cat topic.

Art Friends, October 31, 2007

Hello Everyone –

Does anyone NOT like chocolate cake? I don’t know why it took me so long to do a chocolate cake. Probably because I didn’t see a good one until now.

Chocolate Cake, 9”x12", acrylic, $300, framed.

© 2007 Barbara Sistak Baur

I decided to focus on the one cake, as I have been doing recently. When you work on a single item, the shape takes on a new importance. In addition, this allows me to experiment on the background with shadows and highlights. Notice how the light on the bakery pan follows the cake. The chocolate color lets me use warm hues. I also had to experiment with new techniques to apply the long green ribbons.

Warmly,
Barbara Sistak Baur, Artist

Now Online http://barbarabaur.blogspot.com/
-- I have just completed another commission – this is a painting of a dream house. To see it, go online and click on the Commissions topic.
-- I have started a new topic, Event Pics. When I am at a show, I try to remember to take some pictures and post them online. New today are pictures of the Chicago Art Open and the Fall into the Arts festival at the Walkup Heritage Farms in Crystal Lake. Go online and click the Events Pics topic. And, if you see me at a show, remind me to pull out my camera, will you?

Now On Display
-- Lemon or Cherry? is a bakery painting that is part of the Village of Algonquin Public Art Display. This will be on display until November 2008. It is being shown at a public school so it might be hard to see. But, if you want to view the painting, go online and click the Bakery Art topic. Scroll down until you see it.

On the Easel
--Another commission –This is an expressionistic painting of a vintage tractor. It is really different and I love doing it. I can’t wait to show you when it is done.
--The Friends of the Algonquin Public Library have commissioned two of my art tables with a library theme. I am just getting started on those. More on these as they progress. In the meantime, to see an art table with car art, go to my car art blog, http://baurart.blogspot.com/ then click the topic Car Art Table Top.

Barb's Blog
Fresh Paint! - Paintings, Sketches and Studies
http://barbarabaur.blogspot.com/

Yes, please go ahead and forward this to a friend.

Feedback and correspondence are always welcome.

If this email has been forwarded to you and you would like to continue receiving Art Friends, click barbarabaur@comcast.net and type "Yes, Art Friends." On the other hand, if you would like to stop receiving Art Friends, I understand. Click reply to this email and just type “unsubscribe.” Thanks for your friendship!

Art Friends and all images are ©2007 Barbara Sistak Baur and all rights are reserved. If you wish to copy this material to other publications or mail lists, great!! Just let me know so I can give you permission. Thanks for your respect.

Barbara Baur Art
Lively, Textural, Vibrant
3404 Highland Dr.
Island Lake IL 60042
and
2944 S. Harlem #4
Riverside IL 60546
708-372-2798
barbarabaur@comcast.net

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake, © 2007 Barbara Sistak Baur, 11"x14", acrylic, $400

In my on-the-shelf paint box, I found a never-opened tube of "structural" paint I picked up some years ago. It came with plastic tips like the kind you get with cookie decorators. The idea is you replace the cap with a tip and then squeeze the paint into the shape you want. And as luck would have it, the tube I found had orange paint! Okay, I said to myself, this should be just the ticket for me since I was in the middle of doing a Carrot Cake, shown here. I am pleased with the resulting carrots and thought I had solved my textural shaping problems. Unfortunately, this paint is no longer made -- so it is back to doing it by scratch for me!
Here is the pie part of "Carrot Cake." It has lots of volume.
This piece has some wonderful texture. Here is the signature.

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake, © 2007 Barbara Sistak Baur, 9"x12", acrylic, $300

A chocolate cake is one of my favorites. I liked the green trim on this cake. I found this cake in a small restaurant in Wauconda, Il.Here is a close up of the topping and cake itself.

Here is the signature. I am working on combining my new name with my old name. I acquired the new name only last year.

Art Friends, October 15, 2007

Hello Everyone,
In my on-the-shelf paint box, I found a never-opened tube of "structural" paint I picked up some years ago. It came with plastic tips like the kind you get with cookie decorators. The idea is you replace the cap with a tip and then squeeze the paint into the shape you want. And as luck would have it, the tube I found had orange paint! Okay, I said to myself, this should be just the ticket for me since I was in the middle of doing Carrot Cake, shown here. I am pleased with the resulting carrots and thought I had solved my textural shaping problems. Unfortunately, this paint is no longer made -- so it is back to doing it by scratch for me!

Carrot Cake, 11"x14", acrylic, $400

©2007 Barbara Sistak Baur

Carrot Cake will be shown this weekend at the Fall Into The Arts Festival this Sunday, Oct 21, from 10am to 4 pm., at Walkup Heritage Farm & Gardens, 5215 Walkup Rd., Crystal Lake, Il (half mile north of Rt. 176). The art sale is a benefit for Pets in Need Midwest. I will have a booth and will be showing many pieces of art. The setting is a beautiful little co-op farm with pumpkins, corn and fresh veggies. Come out for some fall fun and art.

Warmly,
Barbara Sistak Baur, Artist

Now Online http://barbarabaur.blogspot.com/
-- 2 New Bakery Paintings. I have included close ups of the textue. Check them out – click the Bakery Art topic.
-- New information on how to obtain an artwork. Click on the How to Purchase topic.

Now On Display
-- Fall Into The Art art sale to benefit Pets In Need Midwest. Sunday, Oct 21, from 10am to 4pm at the Walkup Heritage Farm and Gardens, 5215 Walkup Rd., Crystal Lake, IL. For more info: www.petsinneedmidwest.org and www.walkupheritagefarm.com
--Grand Bakery at the 10th annual "Chicago Art Open," from October 4, to October 27 on the second floor of the Iron Studios, 3636 S. Iron St. in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood. Sponsored by the Chicago Artists' Coalition (CAC). http://www.caconline.org/ArtOpen.asp

In The News
I sent a simple little press release to the local paper in Riverside, IL, The Landmark, and they decided to do a feature article. It turned out to be really nice article with some great pictures. Here is the link:
http://www.rblandmark.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=3046&TM=85091.52

On the Easel
I am working on two commissions right now -- both of them gifts for spouses. One is a rendering of the house the couple will build in the north woods. The other honors a favorite vehicle -- a classic tractor! Fun!

Barb's Blog
Fresh Paint! - Paintings, Sketches and Studies
http://barbarabaur.blogspot.com/

Yes, please go ahead and forward this to a friend.

Feedback and correspondence are always welcome.

If this email has been forwarded to you and you would like to continue receiving Art Friends, click barbarabaur@comcast.net and type "Yes, Art Friends." On the other hand, if you would like to stop receiving Art Friends, I understand. Click reply to this email and just type “unsubscribe.” Thanks for your friendship!

Art Friends and all images are ©2007 Barbara Sistak Baur and all rights are reserved. If you wish to copy this material to other publications or mail lists, great!! Just let me know so I can give you permission. Thanks for your respect.

Barbara Baur Art
Lively, Textural, Vibrant
3404 Highland Dr.
Island Lake IL 60042
and
2944 S. Harlem #4
Riverside IL 60546
708-372-2798
barbarabaur@comcast.net