The Artwork of Dana R. Frech

Details

2011-07-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

Now that my piece has dried a little, I carve some details into it.

I'm inspired by nature and plants.

Ceramics

2011-07-19T09:14:00.000-07:00

I am so happy to have begun creating pottery on the wheel again!

Now that I have a membership in this new pottery studio, Monday is my pottery day.

Eiffel Tower Construction

2011-07-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

I love to build things in my studio!

This is an Eiffel Tower kit.

Thumb Lamps

2011-06-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

It started with one little Thumb Lamp that our friend Norm bought while on a visit to Israel. He asked me to make several similar Lamps so that they could be given out at a Church conference.

After many phone calls, I finally found clay that was a similar color. Then I worked the clay (wedging). This removes air bubbles that would make the clay explode in the kiln :(!!!

I practiced making the lamp top. I individually rolled and attached each line of detail.

I guessed that the lamp had to be about an inch bigger than the original because it will shrink as it dries.

The clay has to dry just a little so that it will be strong enough for me to make a lamp. I placed it on forms so that it would dry in the proper shape.

For an entire month, every single piece that I made cracked!!!
I threw them in a plastic bag and tried a gain. I must have made over a 100.

There were many late nights.

Then, I made a mold by pouring plaster over a pot that I had placed in a tinfoil lined box.

The mold worked!!!!

So, I made several. I also made a lamp-base mold.

I had been told that the clay would stick to the plaster and would not come out of the mold. I found that when I coated the mold with butter, the clay came out easily.

Yayyyy!!!!!! This one looks good.

The clay sits in the mold until it is slightly dry (leather hard), then I can remove it.

Too dry: it will crack. Too wet: it won't hold its shape. Very delicate!

I work on the lamps during the day. Every night, I wake up in the middle of the night to check clay dampness, and to work on the pots. Then, I go back to bed.

Now, I can make lamps.

Here I am trimming the edges off a top, after pulling it out of the mold.

I prepare the edges and put liquid clay (slip) on them so that the top and bottom will stick together.

Everything has to fit together nicely. Next, I will add the handle.

After the assembled lamps had rested and dried a bit, I cut a hole for the wick.

Now, any little bumps and imperfections need to be carved off (cleaned.) Each pot will be cleaned for 45 minutes to an hour.

I carved trees on the pots that were my own particular design.
Lots of cleaning.

Through out this project, I have been washing my hands in a bowl of water because the clay would stop up the sink.
The water is poured in the back yard.

My lamps are looking good!!!!

I check them regularly to make sure there are no cracks.

Clay cracks easily, so it must dry slowly and evenly.

Finally, the big day arrives!!! After weeks of phone calling and asking every one I know, I have found a kiln! Days before the conference, Larissa Chadwick kindly fired the lamps at the Blacksburg YMCA's brand new ceramic facility.

The day to pick up my lamps comes. For the first time, I hold the completed lamps in my hand...they look really good to me!

They came through the process without any cracks. Amazing!!!

We deliver the pots to the Princeton Calvary Chapel conference.

Dressed in a Jewish robe and yamaca, Norm holds his new Jewish thumb lamp for the first time.

This is why I create art.

Each family at the conference received a lamp to encourage them to be lights in the world.

There were applause :)

Moments like this mean a lot to me. I love to create:)

The Unveling

2011-06-04T21:31:00.000-07:00

Now that the rip had been repaired, it was time for the Easley Painting unveiling.
Mr. Olive, President of Bluefield College, and I lifted the veil from the painting.

The Easley family members applauded: the rip is totally gone!

Tyler Easley looked at the painting thoughtfully. Earlyer, he had shared memories of his uncle.

I talked about where the rip had been, and about how it had been repaired.

I showed the patch on the back.

When our dinner was complete, some people posed for pictures.

Mr. Tyler Easley made the painting come alive for me because he looked so much like the image on the canvas. It was fascinating talking to people who had known the painting's subject, or "Uncle Milt," as they called him.
Mr. Easley has done so much for Bluefield College by helping build the Easley Library, and the Easley family in general has done so much as well, I was glad that I could do something for them. Thank you.

Dollhouse

2011-04-16T22:28:00.000-07:00

Between projects, I take a short break and build. I love to build dollhouses. This is a shop. It will be a bakery.

See those tired eyes? Yep, I'm a real artist. Lots of work and little sleep: that's the artist's motto.

Special Delivery

2011-04-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

Now that the painting is done, I delivered it to Mr. Shroyer and the Easely Library. Mr. Shroyer said,"Where's the hole, Dana?" It meant a lot to me that he approved my work.

I showed him were the patch had been placed.

I showed where the hole had been.

We carried the painting upstairs, so that it could be stored safely. Soon, it will be hung in a place were it can be seen and not touched.

Done

2011-04-16T21:43:00.000-07:00

I put one last coat of varnish over the whole thing to even out the colors on the painting surface.

Done. Yayyyyyyyy!

More Work

2011-04-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

I really want this painting to be smooth. I went over the rip with a nail file again.

Sand Away Your Troubles

2011-04-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

Jan showed me how to sand down areas of the rip that were sticking up.

Here I am sanding the painting smooth. This is a nail file. It has very fine sand paper.

Now it's time for more color matching

and painting.

Jan makes cookies on her student's birthdays.

Some day I am going to grow up to be just like Jan.

Shots and Gum

2010-10-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

All I have to do is look at a shot and I am as nervous as I was when I was a child in the doctors office.

The shot that we gave the Easley Painting today will make it better.

We used a needle to inject more glue into the rip on the painting. Then, we forced the rip edges flat by pressing them.

Then, we dealt with a surprise: gum!

Someone had stuck gum to the back of the painting while it hung in the library. It blended into the canvas color. We noticed the gum when we were transporting the painting and it stuck to something!

After glue and gum, we were back to color matching

and paint application.

We can now see the progress from when we first put the patch onto the back...

until now.

Things are looking good, and we are on our way to being done with this restoration.

Re-touching the Painting

2010-10-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

Here is the Easley Painting now that we have done a little work on it. We will still be spending some time putting more layers of paint on certain places, but the painting is coming along very nicely.

I'll tell you about what we have done since the last blog.

Here you can see the patch that is now on the back of the painting. After several days, the glue on the patch was dry enough to begin work on the painting front.

Here is the painting front. The rip edges came together very nicely. There is some discoloration, but this is normal.

You can see a closeup of the rip.

Here I am carefully cleaning the painting.Jan is a color matching genious: she mixed colors to match the paint on the portrait.

Our mixed paint was applied to the scar left by the rip.

Here you see first a picture of the rip without paint.

Here you see a picture of the rip with the first layer of paint.

Here I am covering areas rubbed by the painting's frame.

After the first layer of paint.

Edge before paint.

Edge after paint.

There will be more paint applications over these same areas, once the paint has dried. Another area that can use our attention is the varnish. As you can see from this close up, the varnish has flaked off in large areas. This gives the painting a splotchy appearance. This often happens over time and will be easily fixed with a thin layer of varnish.

Repairing the Painting

2010-10-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

To make a patch, Jan and I cut a small square of canvas and pulled out the strings along its edge.

Then, Jan used a paint brush to apply a thin coat of rabbit glue to the back of the painting.

After this, our patch was placed over the hole.

At this point, we worked to lay the threads of the patch flat before the glue could dry.

Finnaly, we placed a piece of wax paper over the patch and put a pile of books on top of it, to ensure that it would dry flat.

A Painting to Repair

2010-10-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

Walter Shrower, Art Department Head at Bluefield College, has asked me to repair a painting of Mr. Easley for the college library. This repair was lovingly requested by an Easley family member.

The painting has a rip in it.

I wrap the painting to keep it protected, then, I cross the college campas with it. I'll take it to Jan's house and she will work with me to repair it.

Pictures

2010-09-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

Here is Don Elmes taking pictures of my painting at the Appalachian Art Center. He uses a special flash to help him get the details just right. This time, I asked him to take pictures of the painting in the frame and out of the frame because of the project I am working on.

After he takes pictures, he crops them and touches them up on the computer. Now, the photos will look just like the painting.

Apalachain Art Center

2010-09-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

Lately, the Appalachian Art Center has been photographing my paintings. In exchange for this service, I have been helping to paint the new signs that will advertise this gallery.

The signes have been made into small sections. All the small sections will be joined together later when they are installed outside the art center.

Here I am standing next to my chocolate box painting and its new photograph. They do a realy good photography job here: their art pictures are very clear and well lit.

Prerogative Magazine

2010-09-06T11:44:00.001-07:00

Here I am with editor of Prerogative Magazine. She is holding the magazine and I am holding my painting. It was really special to open this magazine and see a picture of myself and a picture of my painting inside. I cryed joy tears. I couldn't belfieve my eyes.

Baby Painting

2010-08-31T07:48:00.000-07:00

I have a whole list of commissions to work my way through. This first one is for a women's magazine called "Prerogative." I was really excited when I received the invitation to be Prerogative's Feature Artist. I had been wanting to do a painting of my sister's children and this was the perfect opportunity.

I drew the picture onto my canvas and indicated every value. Then, I sprayed the drawing with fixative.

My painting went right over top of the drawing.

Before lending it to the magazine, I put the painting in the Chatauqua Art Festival and it won a ribbon. The painting had been completed in a month. I rushed so fast to finish the artwork that I was still painting my signature on the bottom as we were getting ready to carry it into the show!

Movin' On

2010-08-31T06:39:00.000-07:00

Now that we had graduated, it was time to move out of our studio space at the college. This is were we used to work and display our art.

Friends, like Ben, helped.

The move was bitter-sweet because we were excited to be moving on, but we were sad to leave all the good times that we had been experiencing with our college friends.

The space looked so empty, now.

Next year, other artists will be working here.

Time for us to make more art in our new place.

Graduation

2010-07-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

As the school year came to a close, our college had an award ceremony. I was given four awards and Jerry was given three.

Then, it was time to graduate. Walking across that stage to recieve my BA in Art was one of the happyest experiences in my life. It was worth all the work. Sharing that experience with Jerry made it even more meaningful. Also, our family came from four hours away to be with us. This ment a lot to us. [In the picture, you can see our friend Page Morrison, Jerry, and myself.]

My Show

2010-06-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

My show was a great success and it was very fun. Lots of people came. I really enjoyed talking to them.

As you can see, paintings were on 3 walls.

The fourth wall had photos (like the ones above and below) that showed my painting process. These process photos were similar to the ones in this blog.

This painting and a painting of a box of chocolates were baught by this man - Richard Hypes. He came back on another day and we snapped a photo. Most of the other paintings had already been sold before the show was hung.

Close To Nature

2010-03-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

As I photographed a Mountain Lion, I suddenly became awair of a presence. I looked directly next to me and my eyes met those of one of the Lions. It was trying to sniff me from the other side of the glass. It was inches away from me. The only thing protecting me was that glass. There are moments when nature feels a little too close.

Zoo Pictures

2010-03-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

Jerry and I recently went to The Asheboro Zoo and The Richmond Metropolitan Zoo.

We took pictures of the animals.

This was a fun adventure.

Play Photos

2010-03-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

I put in 9 hours of photography a week for my photography internship. I’m working with the college newspaper, The Rampage.

Jerry is usually taking pictures right alongside me.

Here, we are taking pictures of the college play, A Blythe Spirit.

Paint Everywhere

2010-03-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Our days are so busy that I find myself fitting art into every free moment. Here, Jerry got in the car and discovered me painting. I wish that I could buy more time to do it all. Happily, graduation is just around the corner. After that, things will be a little less stressful.

Terracotta Warriors

2010-03-08T20:52:00.000-08:00

Today, Jerry and I rode the metro into Washington, DC.

Jerry had written on his hand, so that he would remember to bring the tickets. We were going to the new Terracotta Warrior exhibit that is being held at the National Geographic building.

After standing in line for a while, we made our way through the amazing exhibit.

The recorded ture explained how the soldierers had been found:

In China, some people were digging for a well in a field. Instead of finding water, they ended up unearthing the tomb of an ancient emperor. This tomb was filled with hundreds of terracotta soldiers, horses, and other figures.

After seeing the Terracotta Exhibit, we visited some of the other museums in the area.

Looking at all these things is very inspiring. I can't wait to get back to my studio and start working on art.

Lantern

2010-02-28T22:44:00.000-08:00

As snow fell softly around me, I captured this image of icicles forming on a lantern at my College.

1920's Coal Car

2010-02-28T21:34:00.000-08:00

I recently finished a 1920's coal car for Camp Coal Creations.

When you look at this sculpture, you can see how important the little details are to me. I studied lots of pictures to plan the shape of the car. As I carved, I tried to create the various textures of wood, metal, and mud that you may have seen on a real coal car. As a finishing touch, I pressed real stick pins into the metal supports to give the impression of nails. I felt that the only thing that could look like real coal was coal, so I found small pieces of coal in the fish section of the local pet mart and glued them to the inside of the car.

A mold will be made from this sculpture. Then, lots of coal cars will be formed from the mold.

Camp Coal Creations celebrates our area's coal heritage by forming their sculptures using resin that has coal dust in it. When this sculpture comes out of the final mold, it will look like it has been carved out of solid coal.

In the 1920's, the real coal cars would have been filled with coal from the mines. Then, they would travel on train tracks to various destinations. Coal from our area, may have ended up in places all over the world.

Camp Coal Creations

2010-02-28T20:52:00.000-08:00

We recently visited Jean Battlo at Camp Coal Creations.

Here, Jean showed us how a dremel tool is used to clean sculptures after they have been taken out of a mold. She even let us try our hand at the process.

Jean also showed as around their newly renovated workspace and gallery.

Be my Vallentine

2010-02-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

Here, you can see progress on one of my most recent paintings.

I went mini with this one: it is 8 by 10.

Guinea Pig

2010-02-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

Around Christmas time, we realized that there was something wrong with Patty.

She seemed very tired.

We visited the Vet.

The vet said, "I'm afraid it's cancer."

The vet said she could remove the cancer with surgery.

The surgery was successful.

After a couple of weeks, Patty was playing and eating again as if nothing had happened.

I know that Patty would like to say, "From the bottom of my little, guinea pig heart, thank you very much, Vet:)"

Gingerbread House Competition

2010-01-22T14:04:00.000-08:00

Jerry, Cousin Erin, Friend Amanda, and I went to the Gingerbread House Competition that they held at George Washington's Birth Place, Ferry Farm. This is something that we love to do every year.

The theme this year was historic houses.

People have amazing imaginations!

Christmas Windows

2010-01-22T10:53:00.000-08:00

At Christmas time, Jerry and I love to visit Old Down Town Fredericksburg, Virginia, which is near our home. Here we peek in the windows of historic shops. The charm really shines out at night when the tree lined streets are lit up with Christmas lights. These are the streets that Washington and his family members walked. In fact, Georg Washington was born on the other side of the river, at Ferry Farm. His mother and sister lived in Fredericksburg. President James Monroe had his law practice here. Also, President Lincoln visited here to give a speech to soldiers after they had battled on the streets of Fredericksburg during the Civil War. At that time, Clara Barton had been nursing troupes in this city.

We love to look into the decorated store windows of Fredericksburg.

I love the mouse scenes put on every year in this set of windows.

Hair Cut

2010-01-22T10:44:00.000-08:00

Jerry and I have been growing our hair so that we can donate it to Locks of Love. Soon I will post pictures of our hair after it has been cut.

New pots

2010-01-17T20:21:00.001-08:00

Here are some of my new pots. You can see how small they are when you look at them next to a regular object - like a pencil. So small!! So Cute.

Here is a picture of me working on one of the pots. You can see my reflection in the mirror that I use to help me see the side of my pot as I work.

Christmas time in Bluefield!

2009-12-06T19:16:00.000-08:00

I love it when it snows in Bluefield! It is so beautiful! The snow kept falling for several hours and I don't know how much we got, but it sure was a lot! And it was the good kind too! :)

This is the "pizza-oven" kiln, hehe, I call it that because it looks like a pizza oven! :) It takes a lot of pots to fill this bad boy up!

Professor Walter Shroyer and I worked together on some firings.

After filling up the big "pizza-oven" on Saturday we came back on Sunday, after Church, to do a raku firing! The little pots are so small! Oh dear! I'm always afraid of them breaking...:/

After we fire them in the lil'raku oven we put them in trash-cans filled with sawdust and paper to burn over night.

Oh, and this is inside of the lil'guy! Hehe!!! :)

Well that's it for now! I'll show you all more in the morning when I get up! Time for bed!

Sleep, sleep, I got to go to sleep!

The LATEST!!!

2009-11-29T19:46:00.000-08:00

So what's new with the Chocolate Box Painting? A lot! As my husband walked in the door tonight the first thing he noticed was how the candy with the bite in it looks like it is popping out from the surface. Whew! That's a good sign! Here's a close up of it and you can see the close ups of the different textures!

Just as with the baseball player and all of my paintings I'm using the blow up photo for scale, the smaller photograph for reference and the actual object for greater accuracy.

And of course! The Guinea Pig Pattie is with me! LOL! However the only advice she has for me: "get me a carrot"! LOL!

As soon as I can get all of these pieces 'lifted up' in a three dimensional look then I'll add in the black background and the contrast will make these pieces just pop-OUT!!! :)!

Heading into the LAST WEEK OF CLASSES!!! AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

2009-11-29T19:24:00.000-08:00

So it's the last week of classes coming up and you can bet that we'll be in the art building for a very long period of time each day!

Before you ask, no we DO NOT awake at 4AM! That's the time we got home from the art building two nights ago! LOL!

Here are some of my new Ceramic pieces:

Carousel Box that when put together will go around in a circular shape!!!! :)

SEE!!! :)

And of course, we don't just work at the art building we eat, sleep and practically live there!

Late nights

2009-11-22T16:04:00.000-08:00

Lately, we have had a lot of late nights - or all nights -- at the art building. Creating art takes hours and hours of work. Here, you can see Jerry catching a few winks before doing more work.

More Steps

2009-11-22T15:55:00.000-08:00

The latest work on my painting.

Good Enough To Eat

2009-11-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

One of the things that we did this week was to deliver my painting, Good Enough To Eat, to the cafe that displays some of our work -- along with the work of other artists.

Ornaments

2009-11-22T15:44:00.000-08:00

This week, we finished making Christmas ornaments that the school had ordered for the college staff. Professor Shroyer, his wife Linda, and I have been working on this project for months. I really like how the ornaments turned out!!! It was a fun project!

Working Away!

2009-11-15T17:10:00.000-08:00

Sunday evening! I've been working all week on this painting, and it's coming along. Color matching is a careful process that can be a chore at times, because brown is a very difficult color to duplicate. Unfortunately, the photo does not show you the variations of white.
Also, during the week, I made this little bar that rests above my painting about 1/2 inch. Now, my hand won't be resting on the painting itself! Whew! Let's get back to work!

Jerry's Show

2009-11-13T19:04:00.000-08:00

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Jerry's show, Iraq War: An Artist's Journey, opened on Wednesday.

Here he is at the show. He is talking to WVVA Channel 6. You can see some of our friends in the background.

The show was a great success!!!! 80 to 100 of our good friends and fellow artists came by.

Friends from school and Art Club.

Kerry Hatton

Gary Bowling and his wife, Debbie, with Jody Queen.

Our art teacher, Walter Shroyer, talking with Patch Whisky.

Town Councilman and Mentor, Pete Sternloff.

Jody Queen and his wife, Vicky, sponsored the show and brought delicious food!

This is one of the paintings that started it all. It was inspired by our last, "Goodbye," before Jerry left for Iraq.

It was an inspiring night!

New pots

2009-11-13T14:45:00.000-08:00

These pots came out of the kiln this week. You can see how small they are by the quarter that is next to them. I shaped them on the pottery wheel by forming them around my finger.

Here they are with one of my bowls. As you can see, some of these pots were formed from the blue clay that I make. The clay becomes dark blue while it is in the kiln for the second time.
Of course, the bowl is one of the pots that I made a pattern on carving with a carving tool.

My Art Study Group

2009-11-13T14:28:00.000-08:00

This is my Art Appreciation Study group, we meet once or twice a week. Since we were studying for a test, I figured that we would all remember details about Van Gogh's painting better if we painted one of his paintings for fun. We also played cards with information about artworks and did a color wheel exercise. I really believe that people learn better from play!

One of the things we did this week.

2009-11-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

Lidia is writing a news paper article about us.

Progress

2009-11-09T04:33:00.000-08:00

After four days in Kansas, we got up Sunday morning at 4:00 and flew to Georgia, then, from Georgie to Virginia. What did I do as soon as I got home? I painted: art is our life.

Jerry playing with the guinea pig

2009-11-01T18:54:00.001-08:00

Here is Jerry showing Patty her reflection in the car window.

A show is coming up

2009-11-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

This week, Jerry and I picked up my painting from Dr. Bascom’s house. When she bought the painting from me, she offered to allow us to borrow it if a show came up. We will be dropping the painting off at a show on Monday.

We’ll store the painting with my other paintings until Monday.

The latest work on my chocolate painting

2009-11-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest work on my chocolate box painting. The chocolates are really starting to look like chocolates. Yummm!

This is the inside of my freezer. I store my pallets (disposable plates) in here when I am not painting. This will make my paint last longer. As I make a painting, my freezer slowly fills with pallets and various containers that contain paint which has been mixed into all different colors.

Scholarship Winners

2009-10-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

I wan a special scholarship!

Here I am with other students who wan various scholarships.

We were sent to Forrum College, on Oct 20th, for a special dinner and congratulations.

Adding to the Painting

2009-10-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest progress on my painting.

As you can see, I am now putting the second layer over my under painting.

I use the photos that I took and the chocolates that I made as reference.

My guinea pig slept on blankets on my lap.

College Open House

2009-10-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Jerry and I set up a table at the College Open House. We are trying to encourage students to sign up for Art Club and trying to let future students know that college can be fun. Our table had my pottery on it. My icecream sunday painiting was on an easil behind it. The art club sign was in front of the table. We had panflets on the table.

For these Open Houses, Jerry and I always do some kind of art.

Mat Moore pretending to paint Dana's painting.

We talk with people who come to our table.

Photography Show

2009-10-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

Here I am, on Wednesday the 14th, preparing to be part of a photography show. I looked through thousands of my photos to choose five. Choosing was really hard. Here are some that I liked.

This is a bison.

This is a medical helicopter.

The Treasury of Atreus, in Greece.

I did this one in sepia tone for the show.

Family Life

2009-10-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

Bath time for our Guinea Pig.

(And you thought that all we do is art!)
I am giving this bath at 5:00 in the morning after getting home from the Art Building.

Owl sculpture

2009-10-17T18:13:00.001-07:00

A school ordered a sculpture of their mascot: an owl.

A mold of this sculpture will be made, and then lots and lots of sculptures will be made from that mold.

Making Blue Clay

2009-10-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

One of the unique things that I make is blue clay. Here, I am weighing dry clay. The amounts must me precise. I will put blue coloring and water with the clay in a bucket and let it sit for a while.

Now, I can mix up the ingredients.

I love power tools!!!! Try using this mixer in your kitchen. You could make a lot of pancakes!

The clay must be put through a fine screen to get out large peaces of grit and to break down clumps.

I press it through the sifter.

You're allowed to get dirty when your an artist.

The clay is poured onto a cloth that has been stretched over a frame. It will dry for one or two weeks.

It must be mixed every day, so that it will dry evenly. I will put it in a plastic bag when it is firm enough to be made into pots.

Making pottery

2009-10-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been enjoying making very small pots. Here I am making a small pot at the wheel.

You can see that I throw off the hump, that is, I put a big lump of clay on the wheel and then make the pot from a small piece of it.

After making the pot, the pot is allowed to dry. Then, extra clay is cleaned away. I am wearing earphones, here, because I recorder myself reading my class notes and then listen to them as I work.

Here, I am carving on a bigger pot. This is something else that I like to do. By the way, this pot is made from the blue clay that I make.

Pots ready for the kiln.

Here, my pots have been placed in the kiln along with pots from other students.

Now that the pots have been fired and taken out of the kiln, you can see that some of them are made from blue clay.

Jerry pretends to drink from a dish.

The post are washed and allowed to dry.

Now, I can paint the pot bottom with clear wax and paint the rest of the pot with glaze.

Museum Trip

2009-10-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Looking back through my pictures, I found the photos of our September 27th trip.

Jerry and I borrowed our school van and took the Chines exchange students from our school to visit the Taubman Museum Of Art, in Roanoke.

This was one of the more rewording things that I have done since coming to Bluefield. We asked them a million questions about their home. They asked us questions, too. Maybe, we will go to China some day!

Here I am standing next to a Rockwell. I can't believe we have one so close to our home!

On the Air

2009-10-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

Today, we went to radio station 1440 AM to talk about my husband Jerry's art show.

We sat with awesome radio show host William Paine during his show "Radio Active" for an hour and intermediately answered various questions about our lives and about Jerry's art.

It was a great adventure.

Beginning the Painting Process...

2009-10-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

This past week has been one busy week for us, but we managed! :) So here's an update on the latest of my "Chocolates" piece!

Just as with the baseball player, I used an acrylic burnt sienna underpainting to help with developing the values of each piece. This is a great way to start your painting!

Also, similar to my baseball player painting, I used both enlarged photos and small photos that I had taken as reference. One of the pictures is used to help with color accuracy (the smaller one) and the other is for proper proportions (the larger one).

In the wide angle shot above, you can also see that my little guinea pig helper was back again to give me company and advice! LOL :)

Also, you'll notice that the original chocolates and box that I made are on the table with me for reference. It is handy to look at a real object!

Drawing chocolates!!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-26T07:57:00.001-07:00

Here I am drawing chocolates onto the canvas. To get this smooth surface, I had to apply many, many coats of white paint (gesso), and spend a million hours sanding this white paint.

Heart to Heart; building my canvas board

2009-09-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

After hours and hours of cutting and sanding

I primed first one heart and then the other.

Now, I will have a smooth surface on which to paint my chocolate box. I will use my photos of the chocolates that I made to help me create my painting.

Building (not stretching) the Surface! Oh Boy!!!

2009-09-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

This week, I focused on printing reference photos that I had taken and making the heart shapes that will become my canvas.

Now that I had my photos and materials, I built the heart shape using very thick wood for the sides. I felt that the wood should be hollowed out to make the painting lighter, since a solid block of wood is soooo heavy.

The guys at the local "Wood-Mart" helped me to find a strong blade that would cut thick wood without breaking.

I cut the face of the heart out of primed masonite. I like to paint on this stuff because it is very smooth.

I used a waterproof wood glue to fasten the face to the sides.

A pile of books and a clamp put enough pressure on the box to give the glue a good seal.

After the glue has dried, I will refine the shape of the boxes. I can cut the best heart shape when both wood pieces are solidly fastened together.

Starting out!

2009-09-04T21:45:00.001-07:00

My next painting will be a box of chocolates.

This will go allong with my series of paintings that features enjoyable foods.

I have always loved the delight that food has brought - not only to myself, but also to others. Everyone knows the tingling feeling you get when you bite into a strawberry

or the sensation of a wet juicy orange

and we all know just how much of a smile a banana split will bring you!

Well, to continue on with that line of thought, let's meet our newest member!

To prepare the still life for my next painting, I taught myself the art of chocolate making.

Here are peanut butter shapes for the inside of my candies - I also made pepermint flavored ones. After I made these shapes, I dipped them in chocolate.

As with everything else I do, I like to control the elements as much as possible - along with the detail. It would be so easy to just buy a box of chocolates, but then I wouldn't be able to call it my own creation. When I make the candy myself, I can say that I created every bit of my art piece! :)

Slow and steady wins the race! Here I am drizzling frosting patterns on my delectables! >:)

YUM!

Below is the piece that I will be painting! Oh BTW I even made the box from cardboard, silk clothe, ribbon and real roses from Wal-Mart!!!

I'll keep you guys posted! See ya' next Friday! With love, Dana :)

The American Past Time

2009-08-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

Oil on Canvas, 16 x 20 By Dana R. Frech

Recently Dana recieved a commission to do a portrait painting but this time the portrait did not include a face. Instead, the painting was of a young man we attend school with. His girlfriend asked Dana to do this particular pose. The ironic thing about this photo she asked us to work from was that Dana had tooken the photo herself! The girlfriend had found it on Facebook.com! Which is always nice because we do not like working from photos by others.

So anyhow, Dana accepted the job and the results have recieved a lot of praise and rave reviews. In my opinion this is by far her best work! I absolutely love it. So, in this blog we're going to show how she made the piece.

As with all her paintings, in the beginning, Dana will do a light contour sketch to mark out positioning. Once she has the whole picture drawn out, she will then put a layer of acrylic burnt sienna over the entire canvas -- to help identify the value scale.

Once she has the value scale in place, she will begin a slow process of glazing thin layers of pait. She prefers the glazing method because it is better for achieving depht. The first layer of color is in a pure form and is not mixed.

At this point, she will start working on a chunk of the painting. The helmet goes first and after just one sitting it looks almost done but it will be awhile until she considers it finished. Then she moves to the jersey and and flesh tones.

If you look at the neck you notice the flesh colors and then a 'black' like color next to them. Those 'black' colors will serve only as the shadow from the bat, but the 'black' is not black it is a dark cool colored flesh tone that helps to keep the unity of the skin on the neck.

The next phase after tackling the body is the background where she will work on the figures on the field and signs in the outfield. Now, on the photos below you'll see her with two photos: one is in her hand and the other is above it. The one above is a "to scale" photo that is the same size as the painting. The photo above however has a horrible color quality and only aids her in determining size - much like the sight-size method. The one in her hand is for achieving the best color quality.

After many days of going over the painting with various details, Dana will then put the finishing touches on the helmet. The helmet is absolutlely stunning with fine details from the American Flag to the sticker residue - it is all there! The people who ordered it were very happy to take it home.

Blueberries and Strawberries!

2009-08-11T09:12:00.000-07:00

The images shown are of a painting I did earlier this year. The title of this painting is "Blueberries and Strawberries" and was sold to Dr. Bascom!
This painting spanned a 4 month time period and is one my all-time favorites!

In the beginning I do a contour sketch of the objects to help get my placement right.

Then I start laying out glazes in very thin layers to help build up color and depth.

I don't drop a a lot of paint into my paintings I like to use thin layers because each coat helps to compliment the other giving a lot of depth and value to each object. Also I do not use black in any of my paintings because nothing is completely black and the method I use gives the objects a greater sense of depth.

To the right you'll see that I am also holding a photograph. The photograph is one that I took and I feel very strongly about that - to me art has to be something that you did and if you choose to work from a photo then it should be your photo.

Also the fruit by the time I was done would be rotted! LOL! So anyhow I will setup the composition and then take a photograph to capture the positioning of the fruit. Afterwards I then use the photos as well as actual fruit for color reference.

Keep in mind, that sometimes these photo sessions will take a long time and even as many as 200 photos will be taken before a final composition is settled on.

So after the many layers of paint and value building I set out to add in the final details. Details are funny - everyone thinks that is the first thing! When really it is the last thing to worry about.

After hanging in two juried shows and being published in the Bluestone Review, this painting has sold and here is a pic of me with the final piece and the customer - Dr. Cindy Bascom!

Welcome to my new BLOG!!!!!!

2009-08-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! On here you find out about the lastest works and updates about my work! Stay tuned more to come!