Acorn Mirror, 42" x 44", acrylic

Four Fish, 36 x 46, acryic on canvas

Temple of the Self Imposed, 42" x 36", oil on canvas

The painting is what I call a pinacle work. It is the end and the beginning of a series carrying images and symbols forward.

Depersonalization, Acrylic, 36" x 42, 2008

 

This image is another in my Earth Objects Series.  This is a self portrait.  

Yellow Pod, 50" x 50". acrylic on canvas,

This pod image is one of my series images called Earth Objects.  I will be posting more of these as I progress with the series.  

Christmas Lights, 14" x 14", oil on canvas

This painting took all week to complete so I feel good about posting it as a 4day daily. It is also 4 x's the average size of a daily painting with usually is 6 " x 6". That said, I have not been posting as frequently these days due to illness. I hope to get back to regular posting next week. Have a great weekend.

Red White and Blue Birdie, 8" x 8", oil on canvas

I didn't realize how patriotic this work was until after I painted it.  Must be all the political chatter that is going on around me these days.  Can't seem to get away from it.  This does display my patriotic side. 

Two Purples and a Birdie, 8" x 8"

I really enjoy painting these ornaments. Glass is soothing. This is a good subject matter.

Christmas Ornaments, 8" x 8"

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Its Christmas in Halloween or something like that! I am inspired by Sarah Sedwicks christmas ornaments.

Train Station, Vienna Virginia, 36" x 20"

This is the old train station in my home town. The station is now part of the WO Railroad bike trail. I live on the bike trail and commute every day into town on my bike. When I was a child the railroad tracks were still in place. This is the heart of Vienna--located on Dominion and Church Street. Come visit sometime!

Recent News

Life has been a bit on the busy side lately--as in my other job--"that darn economy thing we are all contending with".  I have been working on a painting that is taking many days to complete.  I hope to finish it today so I can begin my daily paintings again this week.  If you have any suggestions for images, I am open to them.  I have been thinking about some Christmas images. 

Complexities, 15 x 42", oil on canvas

This series of images just painted is really a single painting. It was an experiment to see if the three would work together. I like the idea of multiple views on a single picture plane. Each pod is individual and distinct. There is a solitude to this work and a quietness about how I approached the process. To see things from all sides before making a decision--that is what I am thinking about today. Life is an unveiling of the conscious and subconscious mind as well as a simultaneous act of mindful living.

On the Side, 13" x 13", oil on canvas

Outercore, 13" x 13", oil on canvas

The outer core of the seed pod has many grooves and crevices and wrinkles. It reminds me of of my humaness.

Inner Core, 13" x 13", Oil on Canvas

This week I am back to work on my "earth objects" series. This is the inner core of a a large tree pod collected during a walk in the woods last week. I plan on painting it from all angles and the middle seemed the natural place to begin. The natural design is of interest to me. The inner core- like the inner mind-is complex with many twists and turns. I ponder these thoughts today as I am painting.

Regular Posting

Joan will begin posting her paintings again on a regual basis this week. She has been feeling very under the weather due to a tic bite--and all the antibiotics she has had to take for it. Thank you for participating in my blog and viewing my work. This week I am working on a series of seed pods found on my daily walks in the woods this past spring.

Train, Train, Take Me on Out of This Town, 20" x 20"

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There was a song I listened to in High School about a train taking me out of this town. Guess I won't be rolling anywhere on this caboose. Have a great day and enjoy the view. We townies sure do!

Pink Rose in Creme Bottle, 9" x 10"

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Today I wanted to paint a beautiful rose to symbolize my love for painting and the life that I have. Pink is the known as the color of unconditional love and I wanted to express that feeling today. To love the self unconditionally is a challenge in this life. Without this love of self how can one love others. To Love and To Life!

Out of Town

Joan has been out of town for several days and will post again tomorrow.

Gourd & Jug, 6" x 7" , oil on canvas

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Each one of these paintings seems to flow one after the other. I don't know why they relate to each other, yet are so different or why I choose certain colors. One has to pay attention to their moods to try and figure that out. Try not to read too much into these paintings. They are really just exercises in value and color.

3 Gourds, 6" x 6", oil on canvas

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These three gourds were so wonderful to paint today. I set them up next to my table and they were at the perfect height for looking down at them. The small green one in the rear is my favorite. My hubby has been suffering with a herniated disc, so painting is interesting these days. There are a lot of stops and starts as always in my day, but it seems to not change my rhythm as I find myself thinking about my work when I am away from it and what colors are needed. Painting is the type of work that one needs to be a good decision maker-I have decided. You have to build from the bottom up and that requires planned decisions.

Gourd & Jug, 6" x 6", oil on canvas

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The gourd came out better than I anticipated. I really liked the bumpy texture. The flower is from my front garden as are the geraniums and black eyed susans. I have hundreds of flowers in my gardens around the house. I was able to take many photographs of the bike trail yesterday. I also got some interesting shots of the vienna train station and red engine. This gourd symbolized my move into the fall season. Its also my birthday season--October and the air is smelling crisp once again.

Flower in Jug, 6" x 6", oil on canvas

Today I approached the painting process plein air. I like the results. Usually I will paint from a photo that I have altered in photoshop to get the values I want. I found myself looser and more willing to work in a traditional approach. I have been watching some of the other daily painters videos online and found them educational. I took a walk after painting and was inspired by the landscape around the WO bike trail. I grew up playing around creeks and in the wooded areas of Virginia. I have been planning to paint them for quite a while. Perhaps tomorrow is a good day to start stretching in a new direction. Just keep truckin onnnnnn.

Green Jugs, 9" x 9", oil on canvas

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What a long strange trip its been. Painting green jugs. It makes me think about what I do. I am an image maker. Thats what I do-not who I am. I make images and put them on view. You are a viewer and you view. I hope we can come to a meeting of the minds. Enjoy---and listen to the Grateful Dead. They are definitely image makers of a different wave length.

Geranium Kiss, 9" x 9"

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Often in painting, I remind myself that the areas left unpainted are perhaps the most ambiguous. Just like in life, when things left unsaid become obscured. I ponder these things as I am painting today. I am thinking about my brother Joe. I am proud of him and who he has become as a man. I would like to dedicate this painting to him. Love you bro and thanks for looking out for baby James!

Milk & Cream Bottle, 9" x 9"

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These milk bottles are a staple in my home. We buy milk, cream, cream cheese, cheese and butter from a local dairy. Usually we purchase it at the farmers market, but they deliver during the winter months. The importance of these products are that they are organic. I am committed to using only organic products for my family. These bottles also evoke a time in my life when the milkman delivered milk daily to our door. I have also changed up my size again. I feel most comfortable painting 8" x 8" format.

Coffee & Cream, 14" x 15"

This painting is considerably bigger than the ones I have been painting. Since I am used to painting on a large scale, I wanted to challenge myself with a daily image that is larger than the standard image of 6" x 6". Needless to say it was a challenge. The cream jar is from our local dairy and is filled with creme from heaven with the thickest plug I have ever seen. Caution--use sparingly or face the "fats"! I think I will go back to a smaller scale tomorrow. Probably 8" x 8" is the biggest I should go for one day--otherwise it gets too chancy to finish "the daily painting".

My Ya it's a Papaya!

 

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Its a good day in the studio.  The papaya definitely has some color in it.  I left out the seed because my kids didn't like the way they look--kind of like fish eggs.  Definitely not pod like at all. 

Chocolate Cupcake

What a blast it was to paint this chocolate cupcake. I wanted to keep it loose since yesterday's pancakes were so detailed. I plan on doing a series of cupcakes. What is your favorite flavor?

Bear Cakes

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Aubrey loved these bear pancakes. I had fun making the butter shapes.

Morning Coffee

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Coffee originated on the plateaus of central Ethiopia. By A.D. 1000, Ethiopian Arabs were collecting the fruit of the tree, which grew wild, and preparing a beverage from its beans. I love drinking coffee in the morning--but it usually ends up making me have fog brain by noon. This yellow cup is my favorite cup to drink hot beverages with. I am spoiled because we have a local dairy that delivers fresh cream and the cream plug is so thick on top that it seals the cream. Italians like expresso coffee. I usually brew coffee in my machine with expresso grind. Tomorrow I plan to switch back to my jasmine green tea in order to avoid the coffee blues at mid morning. Tea caffeine doesn't seem to have the same let down as coffee. I like Numi brand tea--they sell jasmine pearls by the pound- online- and it smells heavenly.

Aubreys Pancakes

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My 4 year old son , Aubrey, loves to eat pancakes. I make them for him just about every morning--and would you believe I don't use a recipe. As a matter of fact, most things that I cook I make up as I go. It is an Italian thing. I know the right amount of liquids, fats and rising agents a pancake needs, but do I measure--never. Sometimes I add stuff like bananas, oats, cocoanut and pecans. It depends on my mood and what I have available on hand. What do you like to add to your pancakes? Don't forget "real maple syrup". We only use the real stuff around here and forget chemicals, I am an organic girl.

Mango Tango

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Every day seems to be a fresh start in the studio as I approach this process. These mango's fell off the pallette and onto the canvas in a burst of energy this afternoon. Mango's really appeal to me because they look like large pods and have big seeds inside. I really enjoyed eating this mango before I painted it. I made a meal of it.

Milkweed Pod, 6" x 6", oil on canvas

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I really enjoyed painting the shadows in this painting. The milkweed has lots of small jagged points on its skin and makes for interesting brush stroke. During my walk today in the woods, I did not find any pods, but am reminded of the beauty of the woods and the creeks that my lab loves to play in. I hope to get some of these images on canvas soon.

Pod Pile, 6" x 6"

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These are the pine pods that I collected from the woods yesterday.  I tossed them onto the drawing table and they landed in a perfect composition.  Can you believe that.  Now only if these guys were all dices with the numbers seven on them.  Today I ran into another pod, but it was during dog retrieval.  My chocolate lab, Vira likes to run off whenever somebody leaves the gate open.  I chased her into the nearby field behind my house and right before my eyes was the next gift for tomorrows painting. 

Feedback

I would relish some feedback from any of the images posted.  Do you like the pods?

Pod #2

Todays pods are more to the point that I am trying to state in this work. The colors and the texture seem to pop out better than pod#1. I was being too careful yesterday. I find myself being careful a lot with these smaller works. As I stated yesterday, I find these pods or rather they find me during my morning walks. Today a group of pine pods--the color of muted citrus green--showed up at my sons soccer game. I walked into a grove of trees and there they were--dappled around a maple tree. At first I was puzzled and wondered if they were maple pods, but quickly figured out that it was the nearby pine trees that delivered these latest gifts. I plan on painting the group of pine pods I collected today during tomorrows daily painting session.

Pod #1

Over the past several years, I have been working on a series called "earth objects". The objects, usually pods, are collected during my walks through the woods in the early morning. The series can be found on my website: joanmariegiampa.com This magnolia pod is from a huge tree in my backyard. My first painting of the image, Ipod, 30" x 30", acrylic on canvas, was chosen for the Mid Atlantic Painting exhibition at Mary Washington University this past January. You can read about the exhibit and see the work on the website.

Lime Strand

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What a day in the studio. I am painting limes again and this time I am responding to "Kiwi Train" a post by another daily painter Carol Marine--one of my faves-because I really dig her brush stroke! I think I am finished with the limes for now as I need to get some red back into the picture. I am having a lot of help with still life set up from my younger son, John-Nicholas. He brings me things to paint and even sets them up. I have a few more magnolia pods today in my studio because he and his brother Aubrey were kind enough to go out in the rain today and collect them for me. The magnolia pod is one of my earth objects that I paint. So if all goes well, I hope to paint some tomorrow.

A Couple of Limes

A couple more limes today. I really enjoyed painting these juicy limes. The colors and brightness are refreshing and make me happy

Lime and Bananas

Bananas

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The studio was good to me today. The painting went well and I felt much looser than I did last week. I am still getting used to such a small format. I am working on my Ebay store so I will cast a bid option on this painting soon as well as put new for sale signs on the previous images. I thought my block image was uniqe, but when I googled paintings of toy blocks I found out that some of the other daily painters have been painting blocks as well. I like painting glass and fruit so I think I am going to continue in this direction for now. I also like painting realism. It is refreshing to paint what is in front of me.

I am off to the Beach for a week!

Virginia Painters Process Unveiled

Today the studio was black. I spent the entire afternoon navigating in the " DC parking lot" in route to Fredericksburg, VA. I delivered paintings for an upcoming exhibition at Dupont Gallery at Mary Washington University. I will exhibit two works from the earth objects series, " Purple Pod", and "Yellow Pod". This show--originally curated by LeighAnn Chambers--Rawls Museum Fine Arts  in Courtland, Virginia,  is showing for a second time this year.

"Blackeyed Susan"

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Today was rainy and thundering. My electricity went down and technology went with it. I kept painting this small vase and blackeyed susan flower. I really enjoy painting flowers and vase

"A Couple of Tomatoes"

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If my Italian grandfather, "SP" (Santo Peter) saw this painting, he'd say Joan... those are a "A Couple of Nice Tomatoes". Personally I prefer to be called a peach!