Portrait of a Belgian d’Anver Bantam (aka Chicken!)

by In Materials and Techniques Tagged , , , , , , ,
Belgian d'Anver Bantam, oil painting on copper by Rebecca Luncan

Belgian d’Anver Bantam, oil painting on copper by Rebecca Luncan
4″ x 4″

 

A New Series brings new challenges and a new style of frame

I was excited to realize that this is not only my first painting of a chicken, but my first painting of any bird! It was a wonderful challenge to create volume from all those feathers, and I look forward to painting more birds. Anyone out there want to commission me to paint your special feathered friend?

The artist Rebecca Luncan and her painting of a Chicken - May 2016 oil on copper

The artist and her painting of a Chicken

Custom Frames for Into the Country

The multi-talented Daniel Carrillo, owner of Gallery Frames in Seattle, made custom frames for this series. If I can’t do it myself because of time or lack of proper equipment, Dan is my favorite framer in Seattle. I’m very thankful that there is a framer in town that can actually cut such tiny frames (most can’t!) with such a high degree of workmanship.
Custom frames by Gallery Frames for "into the Country" miniature painting series by Rebecca Luncan

Custom frames by Gallery Frames for “into the Country” miniature painting series

Besides being a fantastic framer, Daniel is also a very talented photographer. His recent work makes use of antique photography methods such as Daguerreotypes and wet plate collodion Ambrotypes. Take a look at his website to see some of his beautiful work.

 

Seattle Magazine Feature

by In Publications Tagged , , , , , , , ,

seattlemag-weba copy

Check out the April edition of Seattle Magazine!

I am pleased to be featured in the April edition of Seattle Magazine.

When I sent my husband out to grab a couple extra copies, he sifted through the contents page but couldn’t find any mention of Rebecca Luncan or any Monthly Miniatures. Then he noticed the in-progress photo he had taken, very large and high on the page where he expected just a line of text!

Thanks to Haley Durslag for her very kind words about my Monthly Miniatures, and for plugging my other artwork and commissions, too! I so appreciate all the support for the Paintings of Rabbits series of Monthly Miniatures, and I hope the new series gets just as much love (or even more)! <3

‘Into the Country,’ a New Monthly Miniatures Series

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Sheep painting

 

Miniature Portrait of a Miniature Cheviot Sheep

The Miniature Cheviot Sheep is an old breed of sheep that ranges wild across the hilly interior of Britain. As a lineage preserved distinct from modern, meat-producing breeds (including other Cheviot breeds), they are known for being hardy and wild, and their wool is prized for its warmth and durability due to its crimp. Very few Miniature Cheviot Sheep exist in the Americas, and my mother-in-law Margot keeps them because she values their ability to lamb and thrive unassisted. They are fast and agile, with intact instincts for motherhood and self preservation, and they were difficult to photograph!

Artist with baby sheep

Me and one of Margot’s Easter babies from a couple years ago. They’re softer than you can imagine!

I grew up on twenty acres with all sorts of creatures. When I was still very young, my father was disabled by multiple sclerosis, so my memories of the animals he kept are childlike impressions, images and feelings without stories attached. I don’t remember why we bottle-fed baby goats (my sister does), but I do remember how the goats looked and sounded. Memories of those days are warm and fuzzy in every sense, and they are all bundled up tight with memories of my dad, who also introduced me to art. Now I have a mother-in-law, Margot, with her own farmyard animals, and these animals still bring me a sense of warmth and love and the endless wonders of childhood.

“Into the Country” is my second series of Monthly Miniatures, in which I plan to develop one of several ideas sparked by painting “Paintings of Rabbits” (the first Monthly Miniature series). Each month will feature an animal from Margot’s animal family, in a style inspired by classical Dutch portraiture, with naturally-lit subjects against a dark, simple background to emphasize and personify the subject.

Rabbits in retrospect, looking back from the final Monthly Miniature painting

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Rabbit Painting

A Forest Still Life, after Matthias Withoos, March, 2016, oil on aluminum, 4.25″ x 3.25″

With the first year of Monthly Miniatures finished, I have more to paint than when I started

I often begin a series of paintings with a plan in mind, so although painting itself an act of exploration, I know roughly where I am going, so to speak. My Monthly Miniatures turned that process on its head, since when I began, I did not have a plan so much as a commitment: to make one miniature painting each month, for a year. It was only in the second month that I even decided to focus on rabbits.

Having so much freedom was hard at first, but trellised by limited structure, ideas continued to emerge and branch as I worked through the series. I began to realize that I could push my ideas further by taking my rabbits out of the studio and into new and imagined places, which in turn can creative narrative, or even pay homage to an artist or tradition I admire.

Now at the end of Monthly Miniatures: Rabbits, I have a few themes I am eager to develop in future work, and it feels great. Although the work makes no strong statement as a series, it became surprisingly meaningful for me, all by approaching the work more as a notebook or conversation than as an essay or a speech.

Charlie stands in for a 17th-century mushroom

Moon Rabbit, miniature oil painting of white rabbit by Rebecca Luncan

Moon Rabbit, oil on aluminum

Following from the painting, Moon Rabbit, I’ve placed Charlie in a romantic setting from a work of art I enjoy (“A forest floor still life with a frog and mushroom, mountains beyond”). As you can see, there is no mushroom but a rabbit instead.

The last of my first Monthly Miniature series pays homage to the 17th Century Dutch painter Matthias Withoos. I love Withoos for his naturalistic paintings, full of botanical specimens and insects and animals of all sorts. Withoos trained all seven of his children how to paint – even his daughters. It was expensive to give your children an education in the arts in the 1600’s and if you were lucky enough to be a woman trained in the field, you often worked in your fathers or husbands studio and your work was attributed to them. One of Matthias’s daughters Alida, however, is one of the rare women artist who had success creating artwork under her own name. Part of her success was likely from the fact that one of her biggest patrons, Agnes Block, was also a woman.

What’s next for Rabbits and Monthly Miniatures?

My studio walls are still covered in rabbity mockups and drawings. Although my commission schedule will keep me busy, do expect to see more and larger rabbit paintings and drawings the next year or two. As to the Monthly Miniatures, next week I will announce the new theme that will encompass the next 9 months and finish out 2016. Check back for details!

Two very different approaches to painting the landscape

by In Materials and Techniques Tagged , , , , , ,
trees

Left: Landscape in the nursery, Right: Vigil (in progress)

A playful mural and a very serious oil painting

For the last two months, I’ve been working hard on two very different projects featuring landscapes. The landscape doesn’t often play such a primary role in my artwork and it’s turned out to be a fortunate coincidence that I’m working on both of these paintings at the same time.

 

WIP-Vigil-Barn2

This is a painting featuring my sister-in-law Molly, the second of a planned series of five (check out the first painting in the series, Vigil). In this painting, she surveys her property on the outskirts of Seattle. In terms of hours, I’d say it’s just over half done, and although I’m feeling good about my progress, it’ll be a while before I can call it finished. But I finally feel like I’ve got the sky figured out, after going back and forth between it and the trees session after session.

 

mural1

This landscape painting couldn’t be more different from the first one. It’s a mural I painted for the baby’s nursery (I’m in the ninth month of pregnancy!) with the help of several friends. It has been quite a learning curve for me, since I normally paint small works in oil, typically referencing a photograph closely, whereas this is a full-height, wall-to-wall painting in acrylic, stitched together on the fly from many images, views out the window, and even painted from imagination.

It has been really interesting to compare the very different ways of going about the actual painting process, and very freeing for me. I am noticing changes lately in how I approach my work, as I become more spontaneous and intuitive in both the planning and execution of my paintings. In the oil painting above (Molly looking into the landscape), for instance, my head is spinning trying to keep track of every little tangled branch, and I am coming to realize that maybe they don’t all need to end up in the painting at the same exact location as in my source image. I’ve been working so closely from a reference for my paintings for so long that I don’t allow myself much freedom. But it feels like such a relief to think that I can still look and reference this image, but rely a bit more on my intuition in future.

I hope you’ll keep an eye out for a more in-depth post about the mural and to see how the oil painting turns out!

New Monthly Miniature Series, Into the Country

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New Model!, Photo by Evan Grim

An eager model (we’ll have our people call your people, Martin)

Next up for the Monthly Miniature 

I have fond memories of the animals my Father kept during my childhood, from bees to pigs to chickens (and yes, rabbits). So when I first met my mother-in-law Margot, I was endeared by her own small farm. Having animals “in the family” now bridges my adult life with my childhood.

This second Monthly Miniature series, called Into the Country, will feature subjects from Margot’s menagerie. Each month will feature a different kind of animal, painted in the style of the classical Dutch portrait, with a simple, dark background to emphasize the subject. Even without picturing their environs or activities, I think you will find these creatures to be very expressive all on their own.

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Moon Rabbit, A Miniature Oil Painting and My Journey from the Studio to a Land of Myths

by In Inspiration Tagged , , , , , , ,

The Myth of the Moon Rabbit

As I paint the rabbits in this series of Miniatures, I am also researching their historical role in artwork and mythology. I am especially captivated with the many stories that connect the rabbit with the moon. This month, I am paying homage to this cross-cultural body of mythology.

Busy Bunny, An Example of Virtue and Hard Work Across the Globe

Rabbits do like to keep occupied. Mine busy themselves remodeling their cardboard condos. But cultures around the world have had different ideas about what the rabbit in the moon might be up to.

Asia

A Japanese story written during the late Heian period (794-1185) has him pounding mochi for rice cakes (you can find the story in the anthology Konjaku Monogatarishū). In a Chinese story, he is mixing the elixir of life for the moon goddess Chang’e.

The root of those and other Asian myths is the Buddhist story from Jataka tales (Tale 316),

circa 4th century BCE. The tale opens with the deity Brahmā (Hindu god of creation), coming to the Earth in disguise as an old man. When he begs for food, four animals offer to help: a monkey, an otter, a jackal and a rabbit. The monkey brings fruits, the otter fish, the jackal steals a lizard and a milk-curd for him, but the rabbit only has grass to offer. Knowing that the old man can’t eat the grass, he instead offers himself and jumps into the old man’s fire. The deity then reveals himself and quenches the fire before the rabbit is burnt. He is so touched by the virtue and self-sacrifice of the rabbit that he carries him to the heavens, leaving his likeness upon the moon to remind us of his noble example.

South America

From the opposite side of the globe, a similar Aztec myth features the god Quetzalcoatl, who makes a journey on the earth as a man and finds himself unable to find food or water after walking a long way. Just when he thinks death is certain, a nearby rabbit offers herself as food to save his life. Moved by the rabbit’s offer, Quetzalcoatl elevates her to the moon, then lowers her back down. Her shadow remains on the moon for us to remember how a little rabbit touched the heart of a god.

Adventure and Fertility

And other myths connect the rabbit with the moon as well. Native American (Cree) myth describes the rabbit as an adventurer that visits the moon with help of a friendly crane. In Chinese folklore, the rabbit is so prolific that they can conceive with just the touch of moonlight.

My Muse, the White Rabbit

Rather than feature my rabbit in her ‘natural environment’ (i.e. the painting studio), this month Eleanor dashes into a romantic, otherworldly nighttime scene inspired by German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. I am studying his work for a series of portraits, and his dramatic cliffs made a home first in my imagination, and now in this latest miniature.

My Ellie has been fixed so she won’t be doing any reproducing, moonlight or not. I also have my doubts that she’d impress the gods with shows of selfless generosity. Stealing her brothers treats is one of her favorite pastimes. In this painting, though, she is my Moon Rabbit, running wild and free. Who knows how far she can go!

Though the original painting is sold, you can still get greeting cards of all of the rabbit Monthly Miniatures in the series in my Store.

The Business of Art, 2015 Retrospective Part 3 of 3: Selling Artwork

by In Art Business Tagged , , , ,

Facebook original painting auction

Facebook painting auction

New ways artists can sell artwork online

Originally, my website was set up like most artist sites. If you were interested in purchasing one of my paintings, you would be instructed to contact me or the gallery that represented me – the end. There was no indication that any specific paintings on my site were available for purchase, much less a purchase button. Doing research into how I wanted my site to look I found some amazing artists and I was tempted to purchase artwork myself, but even I never wanted to contact the artist! It seems obvious, but having a clear price list and detailed process outline for commissions and a purchase button for completed paintings, makes it so much easier for you to even begin to think about bringing one of my paintings into your home. It’s the way I would like to purchase a painting so it makes sense that that’s how I should be selling them.

Making artwork clearly and readily available was the first step. But if no one sees my website, no one knows my paintings are available. It was time to take another step and venture into using social media and marketing to help sell my paintings. With the help of posts from sites like artbusiness.com, I’ve been learning, among other things, better ways to optimize my images and text so that I come up in google searches more often. This has helped me get painting commissions from people that never knew my work before. Also, allowing you to click a purchase button directly from my Newsletter, and putting new works up on Facebook has made a huge impact on my sales. I even ended the year with a successful art auction on Facebook. I’m used to the old gallery situation, where I meet people in person and putting a painting up on for sale Facebook really took me out of my comfort zone. My end goal was not only to sell the painting and raise some money for two well deserved charities, but also to expand my audience.

I love selling paintings. I know that’s a silly statement, but it’s true. Selling paintings means I can work a little less at my day job and still pay the bills. Which in turn means there are less compromises in the studio and I can spend more time making paintings I don’t currently have time for.  Selling paintings also means these paintings are going out into the world to be enjoyed instead of being stored in my studio. I’m thankful that you appreciate what I’m making enough to bring my paintings into your home and take such good care them.

Where will 2016 take us?

February is already almost over and I’ve been busy ironing out my plan and trying to take into account a new addition to the family. Even with this addition, I expect much of the same from last year, with a few little steps ahead (and maybe even a few leaps!). I’ll be starting a new Monthly Miniature series in April, plan to finish some larger figurative paintings this year and have room for just a few more commissions in the schedule. I’m also going to try to post as consistently as possible and have two new venues for you to learn more about my paintings – a short video published on Vimeo and my website by Aaron Boruget from a recent studio visit, and an upcoming article about my paintings in the Seattle Magazine in April.

I am taking into consideration that a newborn will likely throw a wrench in the works, so if I fall short on my plans, please forgive me! I promises not to be late with your commissions though.

Monthly Miniatures - Rabbit oil paintings by Rebecca Luncan

Part 1 of 3: Planning Paintings

Rebecca Luncan Instagram account

Part 2 of 3: Communication

Visit Rebecca in the Studio!

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Seattle independent filmmaker Aaron Bourget has edited a video from a recent visit to the painting studio.

It’s difficult to be in front of a camera (especially when 6 months pregnant!) and Aaron really helped make me feel more comfortable. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into what’s hanging in the studio, and what I’m working on!

Thank you Aaron!

The Business of Art, 2015 Retrospective Part 2 of 3: Social Media

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Rebecca Luncan Instagram account

Instagram

The world of Social Media and where I fit in as an artist

Painting I know. I’ve been doing it for years and that is where I’ve always felt I’m at my best, even when I’m frustrated and flailing around. The world of social media is new territory for me and new is a bit scary and intimidating. I started by doing lots of research, then jumping right in. Albeit I did jump into the shallow end of the pool. I wrote about some of my early experiences with the social media rabbit hole in this blog post half way through my first year of blogging. Many basic social media concepts, are still quite basic for me half a year later, but I’ve found that progressing at a snails pace and biting off what I’m comfortable with plus a little more every few months is helping me grow and it’s keeping me from giving up.

I don’t think social media is absolutely necessary for every artist but I’ve been very surprised at all of the benefits I’ve discovered so far.

One of the benefits of engaging in social media is that once you’ve made your plan public you are held accountable. Even though I often have my doubts whether anyone is paying any attention, I do take my commitments very seriously and try my best to meet them, even if all you readers out there aren’t really holding me to them. I found it interesting to look back and realize that the experimental and figurative paintings I worked on last year didn’t get much if any mention in my social media accounts. I was much more driven to finish paintings that I felt a publicly accountability for such as the Monthly Miniatures and my commissioned paintings and I didn’t give the rest of the paintings the same attention that I feel they deserved.

Another great social media benefit is forcing yourself to consistently write about your artwork. This is the dreaded part of being an artist that most of us despises. Why do we have to explain ourselves in words, when the whole point of what we’re doing is communicating an idea visually? By making this a consistent part of my weekly schedule, it’s helped me better understand what is important to me about my artwork and where I want future paintings to go. I think that this will ultimately help me make better paintings. I’m curious where the experimental paintings mentioned above may have taken me if I had worked out the ideas more fully in all of my different social media outlets.

What else have I’ve learned? I learned that you like to see paintings evolve and not just the finished piece. I always think of the middle stages of my painting as the awkward part and never shared that part of the process until this past year.

My biggest challenge: consistent posting. I’m currently posting on Facebook, Instagram, this blog and sending out a monthly newsletter. Though regular posting is great for so many reasons (keeps things fresh for you, it’s easier for me to write when I make it a steady habbit, and it’s supposed to keep the SEO chugging along), it’s really hard to make the time. On average, I’ve been splitting my schedule pretty equally between studio time and business time but new habits are difficult.

Engaging in social media helps me get closer to achieving both of my artistic goals: to make good paintings, and make a living doing what I love. This leads me to the upcoming post “The Business of Art, 2015 Retrospective Part 3 of 3: Selling Artwork”. I hope you’ll check back soon and and learn how social media is helping me find homes for my paintings in ways I never would have expected.

 

Facebook original painting auction

Part 3 of 3: Selling Artwork