Teresa N. Fischer: 2013

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Carrot-O

20" x 20"

oil on panel
SOLD

Inspiration can come from many areas.

I knew I wanted to paint a marvelous carrot.

I had been thinking about the orange colors

leaning to the reds, and the wonderful

playful greenery for a while.

But what did I want to do with it?

What did I want to do to take it to the next level?

My inspiration:

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa

by Katsushika Hokusai

Museum of Fine Art Boston

Born in 1760, Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese artist

in the Edo Period. His life's work is an amazing study

of design, line, and composition. Here is a link to his

known works: Katsushika Hokusai

His woodblock print seen above

"The Great Wave Off Kanagawa"

was an inspiration for Carrot-O.

Those that know me well, know that I love the

puzzle of figuring out how to set up my compositions

once I have sketched them out.

Next I will show you how I set up this painting.

Sooooo. . .

If you do not want the magic spoiled

I would not go further here.

I used wire to get the cut carrot

in the circular shape I was looking for.

I was able to move and slide the

carrots to get just the right spacing.

Then everything was tied up,

even the greenery was tied and stitched

to get it in the shape I was looking for.

I was really looking for the greenery to create a wave.

Wonder what a carrot looks like

after it has sat around the studio a bit. . .

nice and shriveled.

Finished painting. . .

Carrot-O

20" x 20"

oil on panel

Detail from painting.

Carrot-O

will be showing at

Elliot Fouts Gallery

15th Anniversary Show

January 4th- February 6th, 2014

Sacramento, CA

Elliott Fouts Gallery

Friday, November 22, 2013

Small Works, Principle Gallery

Proud Mama

11" x 14"

oil on panel

Henny Penny

14" x 11"

oil on panel

Circus Dog

16" x 12"

oil on panel
SOLD

Principle Gallery

Small Work Show

opens

December 7th, 2013.

I am honored to be featured among

Michael Lynn Adoms, Jorge Alberto, Rett Ashby,

Mia Bergeron, Candice Bohannon, Ryan Brown, Casey Childs,

Scott Conary, Elizabeth Floyd, Kelli Folsom,

Felicia Forte, Douglas Fryer, Greg Gandy,

Lisa Gloria, Tanya Harsch, Tara Keefe, Jeremy Mann,

Brian Martin, Lisa Noonis, Larry Preston, Cindy Procious,

Paula Rubino, Robert Stark, and Terry Strickland.

For for information visit

www.principlegallery.com

208 King Street

Alexandria, VA

703-739-9326

Henny Penny

Henny Penny

14" x 11"

oil on panel

HenCam

Children love chickens.

They are puffy soft when they are chicks,

and very humorous when they are grown up.

For a while we lived next door to some chickens.

I will never forget when our daughter,

who was maybe 1 1/2 years of age

discovered that chickens, well, that they poop.

For some reason she couldn't believe it.

That was her favorite funny line for a few years,

guaranteed to get a belly laugh out of her.

I started to think about pull toys.

They were created for small children

so they could walk their little animal friends.

Then I wondered. . .

Would people walk real chickens on leashes?

That is the next step to the pull toy.

Walking the real thing right. . .

Chicken walks on leash in Austalia.

Yes, yes there are people who walk chickens on a leash.

Pictured above is a chicken from Sydney, Australia who is walked.

This chicken also looks simular to my Henny Penny.

I also found an article at Blue Egg Blue Egg

that tells you how to train

your chicken and what kind of harness to use.

The toy featured in my painting is the

1958 Fisher Price Cackling Hen No. 120.

When you pull her along her wings flap and she cackles.

Mine is missing her pull string.

I really like the idea of painting these toys as a portrait.

The same way one would paint a portrait of a person,

cropped to the shoulders, trying to capture their personality.

In the case of these toys, showing their wear and tear and age.

Moo

oil on linen

One other time I painted a toy portrait

in this way. Above is Moo from 2011.

Henny Penny

14" x 11"

oil on panel

Henny Penny

detail

Henny Penny

will be showing at

Principle Gallery

Small Works Show

Opening December 7th, 2013

208 King Street

Alexandria, VA

703-739-0528

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Circus Dog

16" x 12"

oil on panel
SOLD

Growing up we had a lot of animals around.

A pet dog Frank, a kind of grumpy Irish Setter,

and barn cats who I think would have done anything

for food that wasn't mice or dry cat food.

I was so intrigued about circuses,

especially circus dogs and circus horses.

I gave up on Frank learning tricks.

We later got a little dog named Buttons.

She was very smart and learned many tricks.

SO fun. She would sit up, beg,

roll over, and play dead. I felt especially proud when

I taught her to jump through a hula-hoop.

I would have her perform for my parents in the living room,

with me pretending to be in the circus.

It was great!

Hey Rube Circus

This is what the Ringling Circus Museum

has to say about the history of circus dogs:

"Performing dogs were often strays or purchased from the pound, because these mixed breed dogs were usually very intelligent and learned tricks quickly. The dogs traveled in special accommodations. Wagons 99 and 98 were designed specifically for the dogs, with each animal having its own space in the wagon. In between performances, the dogs were kept in outdoor kennels."

Terrierman's Daily Dose

A Diamond Fell From the Sky

I may not have a dog that knows how to jump rope,

or a circus horse to do riding tricks on,

but I have not lost hope of either.

A girl can still dream.

But I do have my toys for creative inspiration.

This red circus dog is a 1950's Cracker Jack

toy prize made by NosCo. Cracker Jack's had a whole series of circus animals and acrobats.

Setting up for this composition

I made the flags and created the

box with the curtains.

completed painting

Circus Dog

detail from painting

Circus Dog

will be showing at

Principle Gallery

Small Works Show

opening

December 7th, 2013

208 King Street

Alexandria, VA

703-739-0528

Monday, September 30, 2013

Crash Landing

16" x 20"

oil on panel

Wind up toys date back in history. Karl Grod, a German inventor, created some of the first in the 15th century.

They were called liquidation toys at the time. Also in 1509 Leonardo da Vinci created a lion liquidation toy.

Wind up toys were initially only for royalty. By the 1800's

wind up toys were created in greater numbers and at lower costs. European toy manufacturers created the first mass produced tin toys in the late 1880's. They were popular over the next 60 to 70 years and manufactured in a number of countries.

(History of Wind Up Toys)

In the 1950's a small alkaline battery was introduced and was used to run toys inner mechanisms. This took the popularity of wind up toys away for a good 20 years.

This brings me to the little guy in the picture above.

In 1977 , Tomy of Japan created their first plastic wind up toy,

the Rascal Robot.

This company had the ability to build precision plastic gears

and parts very small which was great for wind up toys.

They were able to reduce the size of the gear box and spring drive. Over the next six years Tomy created wind ups that could walk, back flip, and swim while shooting water. I still remember getting a back flipping dog wind up when I was younger that truly amazed me. (Plastic Wind Up History)

I got to paint my little robot once before for MicroVisions,
a scholarship show for the Society of Illustrators.