Mary Sauer Art

Nelson Shanks at Berry-Hill Galleries

2012-02-11T12:42:00.001-08:00

I made it down to the show last day it was up--yesterday with just enough time to see the work and get some shots of the paintings. I especially liked this life sketch of Pavarotti.

I loved looking up closely at the way he painted hands and faces. This hand below was to me really fantastic.

Poster Design

2012-02-06T21:29:00.000-08:00

I've been having fun lately making this poster for our local church boy scout troop. I've been manipulating textural effects with multiple layers to get a sort of "grunge" effect. Plus, I couldn't help but add the little scouts saluting to the flag. Aren't they so cute? Anyway, if you are interested in buying a print, let me know and you will be helping a scout go to summer camp this year.

Head Painting at Grand Central Academy

2012-02-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

This is another 3 hour pose in my class with Rick Piloco. This is taken about 3/4 of the way through. At the end of the class, I added more color to the hair and face, but that will be posted soon! This class is so fun.

Weekend Head Sketch

2012-02-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

Started a head study this weekend.

Open Figure Drawing at the League

2012-02-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

This is a new drawing I completed last night at the art student's league of New York. It was a three hour pose and I used nupastel sticks as well as paper towels, a kneaded eraser and pan pastel blending tools.

Grand Central Academy Painting this Week

2012-02-04T12:16:00.000-08:00

This week in Rick Piloco's class, I started this head painting using two twenty minute sessions to create this grasaille and the rest to add color.

Nupastel sketch drawings

2012-02-04T12:07:00.001-08:00

Drawing at the Art Students League

2012-02-04T12:03:00.000-08:00

This is another 20 minute drawing from Dan Thompson's class at the Art Student's League.

Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, CA

2012-01-21T10:11:00.000-08:00

Here's my painting from the show and other pieces from opening night:

Bryan Drury DEAN PROJECT 2012 Show

2012-01-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

I got to check out this show and take some shots of the absolutely amazing detail Bryan put into these paintings. I hope you will be as blown away as I was. Everything from color and temperature shifts to form and proportion is absolutely amazing.

Weekend Painting

2012-01-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

New Figure Painting

2012-01-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

Lauren, detail

HUNTER COLLEGE MFA THESIS EXHIBITION 2012

2012-01-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

Amanda Valdez

Matteo Callegari

Tim Donald Webster

"The Portrait Sketch" class by Richard Piloco

2012-01-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

My first day of class at Grand Central Academy was really cool. My teacher, Richard Piloco did a beautiful three hour head study demonstration in oils and large round bristle brushes. He likes to mass off large shapes and values, beginning with midtones, and slowly add detail and variance in color/value. I was really jealous of his Manet bristle brushes. The bristles were extremely long and extremely soft. He did a large part of the demo using a size 14.

Gustav Klimt

2012-01-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

I love the paintings of Gustav Klimt. The Neue Galerie recently acquired this portrait. I was able to get this one shot of it on my phone before the security guards stopped me and let me know there was no photography allowed. Luckily it came out ok! I found out that the first Friday night of the month is free to get inside the museum, except be prepared to be waiting in a line outside for at least a half hour!

The MOMA has this piece of Klimt and I got to get some detail shots of the women.

Willem de Kooning at MOMA

2012-01-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

If you are in NYC and have a chance to go the MOMA, get there before January 9th when this show comes down. Unfortunately photography wasn't allowed for the actual paintings, but this wall had six black and white reproductions of some of my favorites from his retrospective show. When I saw these images without color, I was really moved to see how bold his strokes were and the overall rhythm of dark to light values. When I saw the paintings in full color, some of this beautiful and daring brushwork to me seemed to get overpowered by the saturation of color choice. Truly inspiring.

NoMAA Grant

2012-01-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

Excellent News! I just found out that I will be receiving a NoMAA Grant from the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance. For the grant, I will complete a series of five new paintings this year and have the work exhibited in NYC.

Vine Charcoal Sketch

2012-01-01T19:01:00.000-08:00

This is the underdrawing for a new painting I'm starting. Usually I do an underpainting in raw umber paint on the canvas with linseed oil, but this time, I wanted to dry vine charcoal sprayed with fixative. I liked drawing on the stretched canvas and how much more durable it felt than paper, no matter how many times you rubbed off an area. The colors in this painting will be really exciting to paint--the background has whites and light pear-colored greens combined with her skin, which has really strong pinkish hues to make a beautiful complimentary color palette.

2012 Collector's Choice at Sylvia White Gallery

2011-12-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

I just found out that my painting, "Genevieve" will be in this upcoming show in Ventura, California.

Please plan to join us for the opening reception

Saturday, January 7, 2012 3-5pm

(Detail of cat)

January 4-February 11, 2012

For this exhibition, Sylvia White has invited several of the gallery's collectors, from all across the United States, to review the artist submissions and select their favorite work. Each collector was allowed to select up to 10 pieces. It was for many, the first time ever they were allowed to "curate" a show. Over 2000 images were received from almost 500 different artists. The 47 artists with the highest number of votes were invited to participate in the exhibition.

Congratulations to the following featured artists:

Tor Archer, Leora Armstrong, Seda Baghdasarian, David Bender, Ashlie Benton, Tanmaya Bingham, David Bogus, Holly Boruck, Yvette Brown, Suzie Buchholz, Seder Burns, Dennis Carrie, Michele Chapin, Carlos Cordova, Coral DeWilliam Studer, Sonya Fairbanks, Emanuela Harris-Sintamarian, John Haverty, Sandra Heard, Laura Hering, Gjon Izano, Richard Jenkins, Kurt Jordan, Masha Keating, Chad Kipfer, Helen Klebesadel, Ann Knickerbocker, Deanna Krueger, Kyenan Kum, Yachi Lai, Nori Lupfer, Evani Lupinek, Marcia Middleton, Nancy Mintz, Neil Murphy, Idelle Okman-Tyzbir, Claudia Pardo, Randi Reiss-McCormack, Samuelle Richardson, Naomi Ruiz Ortiz, Mary Sauer, Aida Schneider, Victoria Selbach, Stephen Spiller, Lillian Winkler, Nancy Youdelman

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

I sketched and created an illustrator file of this image for the December/January edition of the Inwood 1st Ward Newsletter.

This past week's work

2011-12-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

I started a graphite head study on bristol vellum. This is after 2 hours. I'll be posting again after the next session.

It's amazing all the different colors and temperatures you can achieve by painting white objects on white. I also like the creepiness of the pose and how I blurred the face out. I was especially inspired by the work of Willem de Kooning and I wanted to incorporate more looseness and abstraction in the strokes.

Variation on the same theme. I want to do a series of these. This one the pictures look much more greenish blue and yellow than they actually are. I'll post something better soon.

All of these little sketches are painted on 9x12" canvas paper, which is really absorbant. For this last one, I brushed a thin layer of linseed oil over the top to help soak it up before I began to lay on the paint. I also liked how brushing it on over the underdrawing smeared it a little in some places. Unfortunately none of it ended up showing through in the final image, but I'm hoping to do some more experimentation with that in the future.

Better photo of a painting

2011-12-25T12:27:00.000-08:00

I keep looking at this painting, thinking I should really finish painting the hands and dress, but just as it is, I am very happy with how it turned out. This is one of those paintings that you get afraid that if you work on it any more, you'll just mess up what you have done already.

Portrait Commission

2011-12-25T11:58:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest portrait commission, Cache.

Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches

David Zwirner Gallery: Michael Borremans The Devil's Dress

2011-12-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

David Zwirner Gallery: Neo Rauch Heilstatten

2011-12-08T18:59:00.000-08:00

Iconomancy at the New York Academy of Art

2011-12-08T18:47:00.001-08:00

This was a really great show and I was glad to get to the opening.

This piece wasn't in the show, but a great painting that I saw in the upstairs studios.

Small Works Exhibit

2011-12-08T18:36:00.001-08:00

My still life painting of the red hair dryer made it into the Art Student's League of New York's "Small Works" show and will be on display until January 19, 2012 in the Manhattan Borough President's Offices.

Here are some more pieces that I liked from the show.

by Margaret Montgomery

by J. Abrahams

by Leslie Shufer

by Steve Ross

"Neither Do I Condemn Thee" 24 x 30 inches, oil on canvas

2011-11-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

This painting depicts John 8:1-11, a story of Christ's forgiveness.

I'm happy with how this composition came out and the lighting on the figures was really fun to paint. I'm still trying to decide about the background and how to simplify the rock shapes to create a less competitive space for the figures.

Beginning a new children's portrait

2011-11-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

Here is the beginning stages of a new children's portrait. I began by drawing the form in raw umber, letting that dry, and then laying down the color, all the while refining the drawing as I go. I'll post better pictures as I work more on it.

Dan Thompson Figure Drawing Class

2011-11-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some quick sketches from Friday nights at The Art Students League.

I know this is hard to see, but my teacher Dan Thompson sat down and demonstrated for me his approach to getting a gesture in graphite. He prefers H or 2H pencils on Strathmore drawing paper. He uses points of measurement to get accuracy including a backdrop of doors that gave you extra intersecting lines to grid the figure as you draw.

My newest painting

2011-09-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

Genevieve

oil on canvas

30 x 40 inches

Jenny Saville Opening at Gagosian

2011-09-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

These were some of my favorite drawings from the show.

Painting a Peony for Garnet Hill

2011-09-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

This week was really fun. I got to take a day to paint a backdrop to be used in a photo session for an upcoming Garnet Hill catalog. I had one day to paint this eight foot tall flower in acrylic.

This studio space in Chelsea was incredible with amazing natural light and beautiful NYC views from the thirteenth floor.

Finished backdrop painting. Can't wait to see what images turn out from the photo shoot. Check out the website at

http://www.garnethill.com/

Some Design Work

2011-08-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

Here is a poster I recently designed for a recital. I liked this painting in this postcard design so much that I did a painting of it for myself. I would like to credit the original artist, but I don't know who painted it. If anyone knows please let me know!

New Drawings from The Art Student's League

2011-08-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

10 minute gesture

Here are some various 1 minute gestures, 10 minute poses, 20 minute poses, and sustained poses in my June class that I took from Leonard Gervits of the Art Students League of New York.

20 minute pose

For this 20 minute pose, I started over rather than re-working the image above more.

I did the same for this drawing.

These were 2 minute gesture drawings.

2 minutes

1 minute

2 minutes

These three drawings were each 20 minute poses. I liked having the freedom to come back to the same pose three different times and alter things on a fresh sheet of newsprint each time rather than erasing away and trying to rework from the original image. I liked different parts of each and I found it nice to do everything I could in only 20 minutes.

final 20 minute pose of this series

20 minute

I am excited about the looseness of the edges in this drawing.

20 minute

1 minute

20 minute in conte on smooth newsprint

1 minute

5 minutes

2 hours

20 minutes

Cecilia Beaux

2011-07-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

Cecilia Beaux is one of my all-time favorite artists. Here are some of her paintings that I particularly love. Enjoy.

40 minute head drawing

2011-07-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

A head drawing from Leonid Gervits figure drawing class at the Art Students League of New York. You can see how humid it is out here by how many wrinkles there are in the paper. I will be posting more drawings soon.

character designs in illustrator

2011-07-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

I'm trying out some fun little tap dancing bee designs for a possible children's book market. Let me know what you think.

These were fun to work on too.

Recent Illustration Job

2011-07-09T14:36:00.001-07:00

I was very excited to see these two products by Johnson & Johnson in Target the other day. Last summer I created the leaves and lotus images in illustrator and this was the first time I saw them printed on the actual labels. Very exciting!

Emergence Visual Arts Exhibition NY, NY

2011-07-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

The show had a great turnout of work and was a success opening night.

My two figure paintings are hung next to each other in this picture.

I really liked these couple of head studies.

Samuel Evensen curated the show and amazed everyone by this stunning piece he did.

"Look Up" show

2011-04-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

I donated a painting for this benefit for NoMAA, the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance in the Moet Hennessy Building in Chelsea, NY.

Here is my painting.

New April 2011 painting

2011-04-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

oil on canvas 30x40"

NoMAA Benefit Auction Painting

2011-03-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

This figure painting is after 2 sessions. Hopefully it will be done soon.

Women in the Heights Group Show

2011-03-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

This is a group show in NYC that a painting of mine got into. The show is up from March 3 until April 30, 2011.

Group Show "Single Fare 2: Please Swipe Again"

2011-03-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

This is painted on an actual metrocard that I used to get on the subway for the show "Single Fare 2: Please Swipe Again" that opens in Sloan Fine Art on March 17, 2011.

Check out the blog at :

http://singlefare.blogspot.com/

And here are the pictures from opening night. My piece is above and to the right of the group of mostly yellow and blue cards. It was really neat to see the way they were grouped and organized.

These next few are some that I really liked from various artists that live here in NYC.

This was my favorite grouping of paintings--all figures in different lying poses. These were done by Samuel Evensen.

As you can see, so many people turned out for the show that not only was the gallery packed, but people were basically blocking the street for traffic outside also--sort of like Black Friday at Staples.

2011-02-28T10:12:00.001-08:00

1 hour poses

2011-02-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

Little Aspen

2011-01-28T19:07:00.001-08:00

"Team Work" Group Show

2010-12-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

Here I am with my painting "Le Cherubin Reverie" opening night of the group show "Team Work" in the Allan Nederpelt Gallery in Brooklyn.

detail of the face

There was a great turnout.

Francis, an aerialist put on a stunning performance dressed as a lobster.

Me with Eva, the curator of the show.

New Drawing

2010-10-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

July 2010

2010-08-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

"Olive" oil on canvas 24 x 30"

detail

Jonah

Children's Oil Portraits

2010-03-19T10:39:00.001-07:00

detail

Eldon
9 x 12" oil

I love the way the red in his shirt reflected back up into his cheeks.

Here is first the under painting and then the finished piece.

Levi II
9 x 12" oil

Cache
18 x 24" oil

11 x 14" oil

Melissa

A New Underpainting

Cayden
18 x 24" oil

Miles
11 x 14" oil

Emma

11 x 14" oil

Luke in progress

Luke
11 x 14" oil

Levi
11 x 14" oil

Nupastel Sketches

2010-02-14T16:45:00.000-08:00

Melissa
18 x 24"
pastel

Addy
18 x 24" pastel

Christian and Andrew
18 x 24" pastel

Andrew
12 x 16" pastel

Christian
12 x 16" pastel

The Egberts

16 x 20" pastel

Emma

18 x 24" pastel

Cowboy
18 x 24" pastel

I got the chance to visit the Bodies Exhibit after hours and draw from this real human skeleton.

Levi

My husband David was kind enough to pose for me while listening to "Ender's Game" on tape for this two-hour study.

"I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands"
22 x 30" pastel

"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God"
22 x 30" pastel

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth"
22 x 30" pastel

This was a 20 minute pose in Richard Hull's figure drawing class. I really liked how the edges turned out.

Here is a drawing by David Kassan of me. Using a product called Pan Pastels, he drew me for a demonstration at the 2010 Portrait Society of America Conference in Washington DC.

Still Life

2010-02-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

I set up a few objects around my apartment for doing still life paintings in oil. I'm happy with how the colors turned out and the different light reflections from the metal and glass surfaces.

This one is still in progress

Painting

2010-02-11T22:14:00.000-08:00

The Evening of the Her Dreams
18 x 24" oil

Untitled
18 x 24"

Angel of Patience
18 x 24" mixed media

Angel of Humility
18 x 24" mixed media

16 x 20 " oil

This was a life painting done from Richard Hull's figure painting class. The model posed 6 hours a week for about three or four weeks as we painted her.

Still in progress.

Lady with Horn
18 x 24" mixed media

Thomas S. Monson portrait in progress

Heather
16 x 20" oil

Heather was an excellent model. When I made it to this point in the painting, my teacher Robert Barrett suggested I stop and leave the painting alone before I over-worked it, even though we were only at hour three of twelve for this pose. I can't remember what I did for the remainder of the time allotted to paint the model.

Erin
9 x 12" oil

For this and the next painting, I was working with the artist William Whitaker in doing a series of head study paintings. Bill introduced me to using frosted mylar as a painting surface after he photographed both Erin and Anna to use as models. Frosted mylar is more commonly used for drafting or engineering applications. The mylar is great because you can tape it to black gator foam board and have instantly a gray toned surface to paint on and when you're finished, it is thin as a sheet of vellum for storage.

Anna
9 x 12" oil

Young Civil War Soldier
24 x 36" oil

Sam Houston
9 x 12" oil

This, along with the next three, was done from an old daguerreotype where I had to paint in the colors based on my experience from working from life.

Untitled
9 x 12" oil

Untitled
9 x 12" oil

Eliza
9 x 12" oil

Fox Hunt
16 x 20" oil

A fox hunt scene done by commission after Gainsborough.

Plein Air Paintings

2010-02-11T16:46:00.001-08:00

This is the view looking out of my in-law's house in Leona Valley, CA.

For this view, I had to sneak through a barbed wire fence, brave some staring cows and climb a mountain. It was worth it.

I did this and the next painting in a plein air painting class taught by Richard Hull. Our location was off Geneva Road in Provo, UT. It ended up that one of days we were out painting that a bull escaped the barbed wire fence and took off down the country road toward us! Luckily, some police reinforcement and the owners of the farm arrived to handle the situation, so no one was harmed.

I really recommend reading "Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting" for anyone interested in learning about how to paint in the great outdoors.

This is off of Old State Street north of Springville, Utah. I did the whole thing with my palette knife, rather than my paintbrush.

Center Street in Historic Provo, Utah

Graphite/Copy Drawings

2010-01-31T22:43:00.000-08:00

This and the next two drawings are copy drawings that I did in the studio of William Whitaker. For the first two, I picked drawings by Charles Bargue and spent about 3 months a piece doing an exact replica drawing in graphite. This was an excellent exercise in learning about edges, accurate drawing, sensitivity to value, and persistence. For the drawing of the standing figure, I worked from my own photo.

Museum Art I Love

2010-01-31T22:30:00.000-08:00

These photos are taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery and the Getty Museums of Art.

Life Painting Studies

2010-01-22T14:08:00.002-08:00

This is probably one of my favorite three hour pose head paintings. My teacher, Don Seegmiller, taught me a lot about simplifying down to a limited palette of only a few colors: payne's grey, white, yellow ochre, cadmium red and alizarin crimson.

Six hour study

I did the following two paintings during a portrait painting workshop taught by Bjorn Thorkelson. He invented a really excellent measuring system called Accurasee for artists to use while painting or drawing from life. This involves using a grid to transfer what you see in life to your work in a way that helps ensure accuracy in drawing in a super quick and easy to use method. You can learn more about it at: http://www.accurasee.com/

Six hour study

Adrian Gottlieb was a guest artist in my head painting class at BYU on this day. We all painted for about 3o minutes and then he did a painting demonstration for the rest of the class. I love Adrian's paintings: http://www.adriangottlieb.com/

Illustrations

2010-01-22T13:59:00.000-08:00

Done in illustrator

Cinderella has just lost her glass slipper. This was an assignment for an illustration class taught by Greg Newbold. You can see his work at http://www.gregnewbold.com/index.php

An assignment in watercolor from Robert Marshall's aqueous media class. It was neat painting all the different textures.

An illustration depicting Emma Smith as doubt afflicts her as a demon in the night.