Beverly | Beverly Shipko, Artist

The Sheer Joy of “Just Desserts”

October 5, 2014 by Beverly

I recently rediscovered a part of myself when I gave my “Just Desserts” painting demonstration and art marketing talk to the Scarsdale Art Association.

The experience of speaking about art was so much fun that it took me back to my life as an Art History Teaching Fellow at the University of Michigan. I loved it then, and as I found out, I love it now.

The difference was that this time I was speaking from an artist’s perspective, rather than an artist historian. This was a major shift as I found out years ago from many art students in my art history class, who groaned loudly every time I began talking about any topic from ancient to medieval art.

My original plan had been to be an artist and to support myself as an art history professor. That was before a depression hit Detroit in the 70s and art funding dried up, so I went back to the drawing board to sketch out a new marketing career. With this lecture, I came full circle.

The challenging part of this particular presentation was the painting demonstration, which meant I had to talk and paint at the same time (think of President Gerry Ford, also from Michigan, who reportedly found it hard to walk and chew gum at the same time…).

Since I usually paint while listening to classical music by my favorite composer Aaron Copland, it took some adjustment to painting while answering many thought provoking questions from an enthusiastic audience. I was up to the challenge and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

For all you artists out there looking to exhibit and sell your work, I offered up a few art marketing tips – definitely a subject for a separate blog post. For now, the best advice I can give would be to start by picking something you love as your subject, with a personal story behind it that is easily communicated, and focus on getting a cohesive body of work together that is linked visually or conceptually before going to galleries or other organizations. Becoming an expert in that area and developing a niche that is distinctive and memorable is a good thing.

And how did the afternoon end? With desserts, of course.

Thank you to the Scarsdale Art Association for inviting me to speak on “Just Desserts” (and for helping me revisit the Fountain of Youth for one afternoon). Thanks to everyone who came out and supported this event, and to Jackie Lupo of the Rivertowns Enterprise for this terrific article.

I got a kick out of the first line: “Breaking into the art gallery world is no piece of cake.” So true.

In the future, I want to pursue lecturing about art, and capturing the joy that goes into it. I hope to see you all again soon at my next talk – wherever and whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Upcoming “Just Desserts” Talk and Painting Demonstration

September 4, 2014 by Beverly

Have you ever wondered how this drawing becomes that painting?

You are invited to a behind the scenes look into how I turn a drawing on canvas into a finished oil painting. I am excited to announce that I will be giving a demonstration and talk to the Scarsdale Art Association this coming Saturday, September 6th from 1-4 pm on “Just Desserts” at:

The Girl Scout House

37 Wayside Lane

Scarsdale, NY 10583

Since I am known as The Oreo Lady, I am going to demonstrate the artistic process by painting this Oreo on a 24 x 36 inch canvas – my biggest one yet! My favorite part is building up the texture by piling on the paint, so I’ll start with the crumbs and white filling.

Of course, we will be serving Oreos and other desserts at the reception afterwards. It would be rather frustrating if we were all salivating over the painting and didn’t have anything to eat…

I will share a bit of my own background in advertising and marketing, how this has been instrumental in promoting and marketing my own dessert art, and answer your questions.

I hope all of you will learn a few tips that you can use in the art world. So come on by this Saturday, September 6th.

The entire event is free. Registration is not required. Parking is available at the Girl Scout House and in the lot next door.

I am looking forward to seeing you!

Artist of the Month

September 1, 2014 by Beverly

Who among you doesn’t like to win?

Bonnie and I were shopping at my favorite art supply store, A.I. Friedman, when we saw a sign announcing a monthly contest with the prize being a $250 gift certificate to the store.

We started talking about why I haven’t entered before. After all, what do I have to lose.. the prize?

When an email arrived a month ago announcing the A.I. Friedman August Pop-Art Contest, I knew I would enter one of my dessert paintings, which have often been described as “pop”. Immediately, I thought of Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans and decided that I should enter a branded painting with a familiar icon. I settled on Dunkin’ Donuts and I had these two options:

I decided to go with the first painting, the classic box of Dunkin’ Donuts, since it felt more graphic and pop in spirit. I entered and completely forgot about the contest.

While recently coming back from a long weekend in Martha’s Vineyard, I checked my email and unexpectedly saw a subject that said, “Congratulations! You Won!” I let out a yell from the gut that scared my husband, who was driving, and started grinning from ear to ear. Of course, Jay wondered what the fuss was all about. I was just plain happy, excited, and proud to be recognized.

I immediately began thinking about the red Old Holland oil paint I wanted, but had put back on the shelf after getting sticker shock from the $50 price tag for such a little tube. Now I can purchase the red paint without feeling guilty. I can’t wait until my next shopping trip to the Port Chester store to browse for new art supplies. Thanks again A.I. Friedman!

For all you artists out there, Happy Entering! You never know what can happen.

Facebook Murals

August 10, 2014 by Beverly

As artists, don’t we all have dreams of striking it rich by painting masterpieces that become famous and are auctioned off at astronomical prices? Artist David Choe actually lived this rags to riches story when Facebook went public in 2012. In 2005, David painted graffifi-style murals at Facebook’s first headquarters in Palo Alto, CA, although he is infamously quoted as saying the idea of FB is “ridiculous and pointless.” Rather than taking cash, he took payment in shares which are reportedly worth $200 million. Smart guy!

Our recent tour of San Francisco’s treasure trove of murals set the stage for our private tour of the current Facebook Headquarters in Menlo Park, where I got to see David Choe’s past and present murals first hand. While the complex includes over 20 buildings, we went into just a fraction of them in two hours. I was told that an art tour of just FB murals would take more than a day. When you walk into the main lobby, this huge, imaginative, quirky, celebratory and just plain fun David Choe mural greets you.

Here’s another view since my camera lacks a wide angle lens to capture the entire wall in one shot.

On the back wall, we found this one which inspired my fish bump with a friend.

I found David’s signature in the corner near this creature reminiscent of something out of Monsters, Inc.

The tour guide reported that this more conservative creature wearing a tie was started by Mark Zuckerberg himself, beginning with the head, and was finished by David.

Of course, a Facebook mural tour wouldn’t be complete without an official Facebook Wall. Here we are with our host for the day, Jay’s bridge partner, Ed.

While everyone else was eating ice cream at the Sweet Stop (one of many retail restaurants on the fb campus), the tour guide took Jay and I to see the original David Choe murals I had asked about earlier. I was surprised to find two relatively small, vertical panels depicting a face that had been removed from its original FB walls. According to Choe, “They cut the walls out of all my paintings and sent them to Facebook offices around the world.” He called himself the “most highest-paid decorator alive.” These two works were completely different from anything I expected after experiencing the lobby murals, but then these panels were executed in 2005 and taken from their original site. As you all know, artists evolve and their style changes – a fact that somehow escaped me that day.

After seeing the second set of Choe panels, I wondered what would come next, and FB did not disappoint. It was this mural, known as the Facebook Zipper, which certainly popped from a distance as we entered another gigantic warehouse-like space. It is really a terrific illusion, isn’t it?

FB didn’t stop with painted murals. Say hello to this Lego mural and go back in time to your childhood.

Following our trip to Legoland, we came across something quite different and peaceful. I got a kick out of this mural for a number of reasons: the whimsical subject of two painters plying their craft on each other, the soft drip technique that made me want to try it, and the dramatically contrasting colors.

Then I found this mural near the office of Sheryl Sandberg (FB Chief Operating Officer since 2008), whose 2012 book “Lean In” was intended to help professional women advance their careers. I wonder whether her kids had anything to do with this one, and what this will be worth someday….

Just a random mural at least partially painted with a spray can.

I was gratified to see that Facebook is making a commitment to supporting and mentoring young artists – as well as geeks. We toured the print shop, which is home to a group of upcoming residential artists.

Here is some of their handiwork.

Thankfully these souvenir posters from the shop made the trip home safely.

Finally we returned to where we started, with Facebook goody bags in hand, feeling a bit like celebrities receiving their gift bags at the Oscars. Well, not quite since they included shirts, caps, and flash drives instead of luxury items.

Words can’t describe the rush we experienced on the FB tour of a facility packed with creative, dynamic murals and permeated by a mindset of endless possibilities. But I think this sign does the trick!

The FB motto on this mirror in the Sweet Stop Cafe sums it up more eloquently than I ever could.

Just in case you are struggling to read this – it says Livin’ the Dream.

San Francisco 16st Avenue Tiled Steps Project

August 4, 2014 by Beverly

After spending a successful afternoon looking at San Francisco murals, our public art tour continued the next day with a visit to the San Francisco 16^th Avenue Tiled Steps Project (at Moraga and 16^th Street). My husband, Jay, and I wandered around numerous winding roads looking for vibrant mosaics when we arrived at this bland-looking set of stairs on an overcast day, and began to wonder why this was even on our sightseeing list.

Since we were there, we decided to drive around to the bottom of the steps, and found a plaque commemorating the completion of this project – and got our first glimpse of what was to come.

We learned the 163 step mosaic project was initiated as a community effort by the Golden Gate Heights Neighborhood Association in 2003, and supported by a number of private and public groups and contractors, from the Mayor’s Beautification Fund to the Union Bank of California. With the help of KZ Tile, who generously agreed to set the finished tiles into the steps, this group project was completed by the team in 2005.

Over 300 neighbors worked on this project in some capacity, with 220 neighbors sponsoring hand-made tiles of fish, animals, and birds imprinted with their names. The swirling patterns of vibrant blue strewn with aquatic life were an exciting surprise – so different from anything else I had ever seen. The way the individual steps fit together with such precision when seen from the bottom was nothing less than spectacular craftsmanship!

In this series of steps, patron names are inscribed in many of the fish.

As you walk up the steps, the energy shifts into a quieter design which made me think of a distant shoreline.

The colors became more intense and brilliant as we passed through a flower garden of custom shaped tiles. You can see more names, like those inscribed in the flower petals on the left of the bottom step.

Here’s a closeup of a tile with two squirrels munching away, sponsored by a couple.

I was mesmerized by the grand scope and vision of the project, the strong visual impact of the shifting perspectives as you make your way up the steps, and the surprisingly personal nature of this piece of public art. I found myself reading the inscriptions and hypothesizing what the patrons were like, based on their choice of tiles. Here names appear on the plants (maybe vegetarians with luscious gardens), animals (families with pets like the turtle), and birds (people with birdhouses in their backyard)

As we made our way up higher, the viewpoint shifted again so we were walking into a flowing stream of blue water cascading down the steps.

The variety of flowing blue colors and a myriad of marine life transported us to a delightful aquatic world.

Walking up the 16^th Avenue Tiled Step Project – obviously a labor of love – is a unique outdoor experience that fits in with the quirky character of SF Bay Area. It felt monumental, like a modern day version of ancient Roman mosaics from Pompeii.

Good thing we stuck around and explored!

San Francisco Mural Tour

July 14, 2014 by Beverly

I have a new appreciation for public mural art after a recent vacation in the San Francisco Bay Area – a blend of everything from folk art to graffiti seen from multi-cultural viewpoints.While my husband, Jay, and I visited a number of museums, some of the most dynamic and unexpectedly powerfully art was outside!

Our self-led mural tour started the first day at Coit Tower with its recently restored indoor frescos by 27 on-site artists dedicated to equality for all. While waiting in the elevator line, we got a good look at these more traditional images reflecting the influence of Diego Rivera, a prominent painter who led the Mexican Mural Movement in Mexican art, and who received several SF commissions including one now at the SF Art Institute. Rivera’s original mural at Coit was destroyed to make room for an image of Lenin. As you can see, rural and urban industry was an important theme here.

As the week progressed and we spent more time outside, and we started paying attention to outdoor murals like this in Chinatown

One afternoon we went to Clarion Alley Murals in the Mission District, the area with the highest concentration of murals in SF. The Clarion Alley Murals Project (CAMP) is an artists collective first formed in 1992 to help other artist create murals in Clarion Alley and surrounding areas that focused on the theme of Central American struggle. Here we see one of the more visually complex works referencing film.

Popular icons were often incorporated, as in this simple but moving tribute to Michael Jackson so appropriately executed in “Black or White”.

You can see how the quiet Michael Jackson memorial stands out when surrounded by murals packed with large splashes of intense color.

This thought-provoking mural juxtaposes a beautiful image with eery creatures and a reinterpreted Uncle Sam to make a statement. How do you interpret this one?

Then there were images of pure poetry.

Next on our agenda was The Women’s Building Mural, which is striking in its creative design and strong integration with existing architectural elements, literally wrapping around them. You can read more about this multi-cultural, multi-generational collaboration of seven women artists in 1994 here.

Murals were everywhere in Mission and we made a number of unplanned photo stops on the way to Balmy Street, including this recreational center.

Like Clarion Alley, Balmy Street was covered in murals!

Here’s one of the most hauntingly beautiful creations on a garage door.

Occasionally, we found murals like this one which incorporated iconic images from famous works of art, like Picasso’s epic “Guernica”. Which elements do you recognize?

On our way to dinner in North Beach, we came across this vivid depiction of life in the countryside outside of the US.

A few blocks away we found this tribute to contemporary jazz in the US. Never a dull moment!

For those of you who have the opportunity to visit San Francisco, I would suggest taking a Mission District Mural Tour offered for free by SF City Guides, which came highly recommended. Or look for another tour operator. There’s so much to see that a tour guide with expertise would be welcome.

Our newfound awareness and admiration for this popular and fairly commonplace art form in SF gave us a context for the murals we encountered during our upcoming Facebook Tour, which will be the subject of one of my next posts. To be continued…

Bites in Print

July 7, 2014 by Beverly

Today’s blog focuses on various ways to execute bites from Oreo Cookies. If you were expecting bites from The Vampire Diaries or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you may want to look elsewhere…. I finally took the plunge into the whole new world of prints, opening the door to a new area of exploration – along with a new gallery in California and a July group show in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

After working almost exclusively in oil for many years, I began a series of 6 x 6 inch Oreo cookie drawings. Since it is easier and quicker to draw than to paint (think no messy oil paint brush cleanup!), I am able to explore a larger variety of possibilities and whimsical compositions using this particular icon. Here are 10 drawings in cello bags, along with some of the original subjects.

My initial concept was to make prints of single original Limited Edition Giclée Art Prints based on the Oreo drawings, like this one.

©Beverly Shipko, 2014, “Carol’s Oreo”, Limited Edition Giclée Art Print, 100% Rag Paper, 8 x 8 inches

While looking at the initial array square Oreo drawings on the table (shown above), I started playing with the tiles and arranging them. A composition eventually emerged. For the next two days, I intermittently rearranged the drawings, when I finally realized I was looking at my first composite print of 9 Oreo Cookies called “Oreo Mandala”. “Oreo Mandala” made its gallery debut at SuperFresh Food Art Gallery in Novato, CA, which Jay and I visited on the first day of our recent San Francisco trip. Let me introduce you to one of the co-owners, Jennifer Carden, a California food stylist, who coincidentally went to art school at SUNY Purchase. It’s a small world!

Don’t you just love the big fork next to the Oreo print?

Imagine being in a room surrounded by exquisite food, without gaining any weight… I have Cristine Kossow, a fellow food artist who I met through our local Art Card Group, to thank for telling me about this gallery.

Now that I am officially an artist who works in print, there are a plethora of opportunities to exhibit prints and drawings that were previously unavailable, such as the PaperWorks 2014 juried show at Upstream Gallery in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, currently on display.

PaperWorks 2014 featured in the RiverTowns Enterprise – with a delicious surprise!

The two Oreo prints accepted into this exhibit are part of a series showing participating entries from my Oreo Cookie Contest, held during the RiverArts Open Studio Tour a few years back. Since the “biter” of the bottom Oreo neglected to leave their name, this “portrait” is titled “Oreo Cookie #2 – Anonymous”. The top print, “Oreo Cookie #8 – My Bite”, was my own contribution to the series and thus is my Oreo “portrait”. Can you see the resemblance?

Stop by the Upstream Gallery before July 27^thfor a closer look!

Thank you to all my loyal fans who have encouraged me to stretch, to be more adventuresome, and to try a new media. In other words, thanks for inspiring me to take a bite out of life!

Grounds for Sculpture – Seward Johnson Retrospective

June 17, 2014 by Beverly

A picture is worth a thousand words in this instance. See for yourself and see why I am so looking forward to the “Seward Johnson: The Retrospective”, featuring more than 287 of works at the Grounds for Sculpture in Trenton, Jersey, which runs through September 21st, 2014. Here is a sampling of the permanent collection from a recent visit.

Our version of Munch’s “The Scream”

Lunch with my new friends in Renoir’s “Boating Party”

More food in Edouard Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe.

Jay waiving from Monet’s “Garden at Sainte-Addresse” – the scale of which is mind-boggling.

Finally, a suitcase my husband can’t lift in Grant Wood’s “American Gothic”

With even more Johnson sculptures than ever before in three new indoor shows, this is going to be a spectacular day! The art historian in me gets a big kick out of seeing his re-interpretation of so many iconic images – an experience I that I highly recommend to all of you.

This will be a show with something for everyone. Savor every minute of it!

The Ultimate Obsession in Serial Imagery

June 10, 2014 by Beverly

Since I am fascinated by the concept of serial imagery, I went to see Peter Dreher’s show at the the Koenig & Clinton Gallery in Chelsea. I am pleased to tell you that I loved this show, felt it rightfully earned its star status in the New York Times, and am still thinking about it long after the show came down.

It was a quiet and subtle show but somehow very effective and powerful in its simplicity. The name of the show, “Day by Day, Good Day”, is rooted in Zen Buddhism’s meditative and contemplative approach to the world and everything in it. For over 40 years, Dreher painted over 5,000 glasses at different times of day, and 150 of them were shown here. Each work in the series is exquisitely painted.

When I entered the exhibit, I went right for the wall of glasses above. My daughter, Bonnie, on the other hand, let the row of glasses draw her around the room.

Some are painted during the day, some at night. This one captures an intriguing reflection that made me think of sunset.

Markedly different in tonality, this group was painted at night.

If you look closely above the glass, you can see how the artist scratched a unique code into the wet oil paint on every canvas.

Dreher himself says that painting the glass “is the only place and the only hours in my life when I really feel quiet. Maybe I don’t make the impression of being unquiet, but I am.” While I agree with him, I also felt really quiet and present while experiencing this show, which is maybe what made it such a gift.

What do you think?

OK Harris Works of Art – The End of an Era

June 5, 2014 by Beverly

When I was in Soho last week, I was feeling a little sad and nostalgic because OK Harris had closed after 45 years. I missed my old routine including a regular stop at OK Harris, either to drop off new work or simply to view the five compelling solo exhibits which were typically mounted throughout the year in this huge space – a forerunner to the Chelsea museum-galleries. When I brought my family with me, everyone always found something that appealed to them. I particularly loved seeing the stable of food artists, such as Ralph Goings.

This probably shouldn’t have surprised me since I attended the 2012 memorial service of Ivan Karp, the founder and director. What a marvelous tribute it was to Ivan, a charismatic person and giant in the art world! Ivan helped launch the careers of pop artist such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg as co-director of Leo Castelli Gallery from 1959-1969. Then Ivan launched his own gallery in SoHo , the first one on West Broadway. Ivan continued to uncover and mentor new artists throughout his entire career, and I am proud to say that I was one of them.

OK Harris was at the forefront of the Photo Realist movement, and was one of the first galleries to exhibit the work of Duane Hanson, one of my all time favorite sculptors. I remember the first time my daughter, Laura, confronted one of Hanson’s guards posted in the gallery.

The memorial service was packed full of video clips and interviews, one of my favorites showing Ivan and Andy Warhol having a great time. Another memorable moment was when Jim Zagat gave Ivan, a connoisseur of food and wine, credit for suggesting the concept of a restaurant guide at dinner one night. To my delight, I just found the service online.

The visual introducing the memorial service show silhouettes of Ivan smoking his ever-present cigar. OK Harris was probably the only art gallery with a cigar store in it. In fact, I first introduced myself to Ivan in the cigar store in 2001, which led to my first show with the gallery – and I still think of Ivan every time I see someone smoking a cigar. The details of that first show will be the subject of a future post.

For now, I want to express my appreciation to Ivan, Ethan, and Marilyn Karp, and the rest of the OK Harris team, especially to Suzanne Kreps and Rick Witter, as well as Ana Menezes and Amy Fishman, for their friendship and support for over a decade. I have nothing but good things to say about all of you, the extremely high quality of the numerous OK Harris shows that I savored through the years, and the professionalism of the gallery – of which I was honored to be a part.

Thank you, OK Harris!

Irresistible Chocolate Factory in Chelsea

June 1, 2014 by Beverly

Given my sweet tooth, love of all things chocolate, and previous job as an Account Executive on the M&M Mars Account, I couldn’t resist going to this show featuring a recreation of the Columbina Chocolate Factory at the David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea. The artist, Oscar Murillo, collaborated with Colombina, one of the premier food companies in his native Columbia, to make this happen calling this exhibition “A Mercantile Novel”.

When my daughter Bonnie and I walked in, it smelled and looked like the M&M Mars candy factory I used to visit in Hacketstown, NJ. Bonnie looked very happy, perhaps pleased that we were looking at REAL chocolate rather than paintings of chocolate!

This is an exhibit where you can touch and participate. Tens of thousands of candies are being produced and given away for free at the gallery and Columbina, certainly a way to get their name out there to American consumers. Visitors and volunteers are invited to take smiley-faced packages of chocolates and give them to people throughout the five boroughs, embracing the diversity of NYC communities. A part of me loved the unexpected novelty of this show, and the other part felt like I was participating in one giant advertisement for the company.

While we were visiting the gallery, we ran into a tour of smiling and engaged participants. Unfortunately we arrived near the very end and missed the commentary. At home, I found an interesting UK article showcasing photos of the 13 Columbian factory workers who were brought over for the exhibition.

At the end of the tour, the guide offered to take photos with the visitors. Of course, I had to take him up on the generous offer… Later on, I found out he was Jerry Salz, the esteemed art critic for New York Magazine (whose reviews I has read religiously through the years) and Pulitzer Prize winner.

When he asked me who I was, I told him I was Beverly, the dessert painter, and showed him a postcard. He looked at it, threw up his hands, and exclaimed, “Just accept this show! Accept it!”. I really wasn’t sure what he meant. How do you interpret this?

Attention all chocoholics: You can still stop by and get your own chocolate snacks through June 14th, 2014. Enjoy!

Philip Pearlstein 90th Birthday Party

May 18, 2014 by Beverly

I was so excited when my friend Anita called and invited me to a very special event celebrating Philip Pearlstein’s 90th birthday. Anita is a long-time friend of Dorothy, Philip’s wife, and was kind enough to call and ask if she could bring an extra guest to the opening of his new show at the Betty Cunningham Gallery in Chelsea. Philip Pearlstein is a force to be reckoned with in the art world as a painter with works in over 70 museums around the world and a professor at Brooklyn College for 25 years. He is a renowned realistic figure painter who helped breathe life back in the Modern Realism movement – for which I am eternally grateful given my love of realism.

I first met Philip over 40 years ago when I was a college student on break from the University of Michigan. After seeing an ad featuring this giant nude cropped at unusual angles, I decided to go to the opening at the Donald Morris Gallery, in Royal Oak, Michigan. I was bowled over by a few rooms packed full of large, still in-your-face images of realistic nudes, and told him so. The 1970s paintings were quiet and almost monochromatic, but forceful and energized by patterned rugs and fabric furniture, and unexpected reflections. Even back then, I recognized that these images were impactful and iconic. Little did I know he would keep painting nudes for the rest of his career. When we met this time, I had something a bit personal to talk about.

When Philip got up to thank everyone for coming and give some brief comments, I saw a woman wearing a hat walk right up to him and start taking photos with her phone. At first, I couldn’t believe how bold she was. Then it turns out she was the next speaker. That’s Audrey Flack, a good friend of Philip’s and pioneer of photorealist painting, whose work is owned by major museums such as the Met Museum, MOMA and Guggenheim. The room was packed full of famous people in the art world , if only I had known who they were…

While I was speaking with Philip’s actress/playwright daughter, she told me her father still paints every day for at least 4 to 5 hours. This fit with what I was seeing – a vibrant man, with a twinkle in his eye and a dry sense of humor too, who looks absolutely amazing at 90!

I will always treasure the catalog that was given out which paid tribute to Philip’s entire body of work, as did the cupcakes from Eleni’s Bakery with photos of his paintings on top.

The show included large format watercolor and oils which gave some insight into how Philip works. When I asked him whether he painted the watercolors first, Philip said he did because he wanted to see if they were worth the time to invest in an oil painting. Here’s a watercolor that he apparently thought had potential. You can see for yourself how a larger, more complex watercolor rectangular composition with two figures evolved it into a more focused, square oil painting with a single figure.

As you can see, Philip Pearlstein is still going strong at 90 and is officially my new role model! Move over Wayne Thiebaud….for now, anyway. If you’re a Pearlstein fan, I think this is a show you can’t miss. Happy BIrthday, Philip!

A Loyal Fan

May 10, 2014 by Beverly

Let me introduce you to Blake “The Biter”, one of my greatest fans, who entered my Oreo Cookie Contest this year and in the past. You can see how much thought and care he has given to his bite, and how proud he is of his entry, which broke into 3 pieces and has plenty of crumbs (we like crumbs!)

Blake and his father stopped by early Saturday, the first day my home studio was open, to take a bite. Then they came back late Sunday afternoon to check out the competition. I don’t think Blake was happy to see so many other entries, and he sure did analyze them carefully. Good luck, Blake!

The Team

May 9, 2014 by Beverly

As in most successful endeavors, there is a support team who works behind the scenes. A special thank you goes to my family for their help on my Open Studio weekend. My husband, Jay, cheerfully ran a seemingly endless list of errands leading up to the event, and my youngest daughter, Bonnie, handled many of the numerous nitty gritty details and helped keep me organized (the teacher in her came out!).

Given that I am a food painter, no occasion passes by without serving food. What do you think we offered besides Oreos? Desserts, of course! Bonnie was in charge of the edible food (how did that healthy looking fruit sneak onto the table?). She is an accomplished baker, as you can see from the Chocolate Cherry Trifle hanging on the wall that she whipped up for me to paint.

Finally, I want to thank Maritza who helped with the setup and graciously manned the Oreo Cookie Contest table for two days.

You all made a great team and I couldn’t have done this without you!

Oreo Cookie Contest

May 8, 2014 by Beverly

To all of you who came to my Open Studio and enthusiastically “took a bite” to enter my Oreo Cookie Contest, I want to thank you for your participation and wish you good luck!

Now the process begins to select the top Oreo Cookies finalists. It will be particularly challenging this year since there were so many contestants with creative ideas on how to bite an Oreo. There are almost too many great choices – if such a thing is possible.

The first step is to perfect the lighting across the Oreos. My favorite paintings usually have dramatic interplay of lights and darks along cracked surfaces – and lots of extra crumbs! Then I photograph each cookie for safe keeping.

After many years of painting Oreos, I have found that having a visual record of the initial concept is important. The light in my studio changes dramatically from morning to afternoon, shifting the highlights and shadows, which is not optimal. I have new empathy for the French Impressionists who started their outdoor paintings in a particular place at a specific time of day, and then went back daily at the same time to the same spot until they finished.