Munich painting: a sunny day at Cafe Nymphenburg Sekt, Viktualienmarkt

Cafe Nymphenburg Sekt at the Viktualienmarkt, 50 x 60 cm, oil on canvas, ©2012 Julie Galante.

The daily paintings in my studio these days are all about sushi, but the larger works on my easel are mostly new Munich scenes. In this one I tried to capture a bit of the jumble of colors and shapes that is the Viktualienmarkt on a sunny day. Viktualienmarkt is the big outdoor market in the center of Munich. In addition to vendors of fruits and vegetables, cheeses and meats, there are a couple of kiosk cafes and shops strewn about. Cafe Nymphenburg Sekt (named after a local sparkling wine) stands in between flower vendors and fresh produce stalls, and is a popular place for a coffee (or something more intoxicating) on a beautiful day.

I stop and take pictures almost every time I walk through Viktualienmarkt, usually a couple times per week at least. I blend right in with the numerous tourists who are also snapping away.

Tags: cityscape, Germany, Munich, oils, painting

Daily painting: inspired by sushi

Sushi Rolls on a Red Plate, 20 x 20 cm, oil on canvas, €110, ©2012 Julie Galante. Original painting available on Etsy.

Despite all the yummy spring fruits and veggies that are showing up at the farmers markets in Germany these days, I have been struggling to find something that interested me as a still life subject. Then the other day I was leafing through my ‘painting ideas’ folder (just a folder on Aperture where I toss interesting things when I’m sorting through new photos) and was struck by a box of take-out sushi. Why not? I thought.

Box of Sushi, 18 x 24 cm, oil on canvas, €120, ©2012 Julie Galante. Original painting available on Etsy.

I was immediately in love with my new subject. So many great colors and textures! Luckily we are the weird type of people-with-blogs who photograph almost every restaurant meal before we eat it, so I was able to find some additional reference photos in my stash, too. But I’m fast running out! If you find yourself eating sushi sometime soon, and happen to have a camera on hand, feel free to send me a snap or two, and maybe your lunch will end up as art. There’s only so much sushi my husband and I can eat…

My highly infrequent email newsletter will go out this week. Would you like to receive it?

Tags: daily painting, food, oils, painting, still life, sushi

Daily Painting: Zurich with another funny sky

Zurich Riverfront: Yellow Sky, 18 x 24 cm, oil on canvas board, €120, ©2012 Julie Galante. Available on Etsy.

We recently went on vacation (Italy – yay!), and before we left I found myself with a motley assortment of colors still wet on my palette. Hating to let good oil paint go to waste, I challenged myself to use up the remaining blobs in a new daily painting (without squeezing any new paint out of tubes). And here we have it – yellow sky, green water, and all. Hey, it’s fun to challenge myself to work within certain constraints every now and again.

I didn’t do this on purpose, but it just so happens that the last time I used this Zurich photograph as a reference (way back in 2007), the resulting painting also had a wacky-colored sky:

Zurich – Red Sky, 40 x 50 cm, acrylic on canvas, ©2007 Julie Galante. [SOLD]

I haven’t been back to Zurich for a couple years now (we lived there from 2005-2007), so as far as I know the sky there really has turned yellow (from its previous red, of course).

Tags: acrylic, cityscape, daily painting, Europe, oils, painting, Switzerland, Zurich

Daily Painting: Munich’s Frauenkirche at Night

Study: Frauenkirche at Night, 24 x 18 cm, oil on canvas, €120, ©2012 Julie Galante.

Today I posted a few new little Munich paintings to my Etsy shop. I haven’t made many new daily paintings this year (focusing instead on bigger pieces), but they are so popular with collectors that the walls where I display them in my studio are looking quite bare. My goal is to have the daily painting walls repopulated with new work before my next Open Studio on June 12th. That reminds me: if you’ll be in Munich on June 12th, I hope you’ll come by my Open Studio! Details to come.

Tags: cityscape, daily painting, Munich, oils, painting

Daily painting: Munich’s Gärtnerplatz

Munich study: Gärtnerplatz, 18 x 24 cm, oil on canvas, €120, ©2012 Julie Galante. Original painting available for sale on Etsy.

Oh hi there. I just realized that it’s been a while since I updated this blog. Rest assured (all 5 of you reading this) that I am still here, still painting. A couple of commissions have been keeping me busy, plus I’ve started on a new group of Munich studies (like the one above) to develop ideas for some larger paintings.

My next Open Studio is scheduled for Tuesday, June 12th. If you’d like to be on the invite list for that event, please sign up for my mailing list.

Tags: cityscape, daily painting, Germany, Munich, oils, painting

A look inside Mixed+Media

Munich: Marienplatz, 10 x 15 cm, mixed media on watercolor paper, ©2012 Julie Galante. [SOLD]

I had a wonderful time at the opening of my group show Mixed+Media on Tuesday evening. We had a great crowd, very engaged with the artwork. I had a number of encouraging discussions about my work, and even managed to sell several of the pieces I made for the show. Pretty much everything you could want from an opening!

A messy afternoon in the Hippodrom, 100 x 200 cm, mixed media on recycled drawing paper, €690, ©2012 Julie Galante. 

Some of the works of art on display had QR codes on their information labels. These codes could take a visitor with a smartphone to a web page with more information about the artwork or the artist. I had QR codes next to four of my pieces, and this is where they directed visitors:

Woman with DSLR
(More information about my portraits.)

Munich – Marienplatz
(I can’t seem to get Munich out of my art.)

A messy afternoon in the Hippodrom
(Some details about this piece and my strange Hippodrom fixation.)

Father Mathew Bridge, Dublin
(A couple quick thoughts about Dublin and why we’re seeing it at this show. )

The venue itself was a provisional space (aptly called “Das Provisorium”) . The walls were a little rough and unfinished, but on the plus side nobody cared how many nail holes we made in them. It’s not a venue where I’d hang my oil paintings, but for the purposes of this show it worked well.

Tags: exhibition, mixed media, Munich

Mixing things up

Untitled (in progress), 40 x 30 cm, mixed media on paper, ©2012 Julie Galante.

My studio looks a little different this week. The oil paints have been temporarily shoved to the side to make way for some new works on paper which I’m creating for an upcoming show. This particular piece is being created on top of a gouache painting I made back in 2009. My favorite part of working in mixed media is the layering of images and materials; I usually create a background pattern or texture upon which I add layers that define the final image. So far this portrait incorporates pastel, charcoal, and more gouache.

What’s your approach to mixed media?

Tags: drawing, mixed media, portrait, work in progress

Dirndl portraits: the goal is in sight

Dirndl Portrait: Kim (in progress, detail), 60 x 80 cm, oil on canvas, ©2012 Julie Galante.

I gave myself until the end of February to complete at least 10 (preferably 12) of these large dirndl portraits. It will be close, but I think I will make it. I have five that are complete and another six that are almost there.

I have had to be very purposeful about creating this group of paintings; working in series doesn’t come naturally to me. I think the paintings will make quite an impression when displayed all together, so I’m glad I’m making the effort. I plan to exhibit them publicly in Munich later this year.

Tags: dirndls, oils, painting, portrait, work in progress

Daily painting: Austria’s Oetz Valley

Ötz Valley, 18 x 24 cm, oil on canvas, €120, ©2012 Julie Galante. Original oil painting available on Etsy.

The pop-up gallery on Saturday was a huge success! (More details on that in an upcoming post.) This was one of the new paintings I had on display there, barely dry enough to leave the studio. It garnered some very good feedback (and a couple potential collectors), so I guess the treacherous journey across town was worth it.

I think this is my very first painting featuring Austria (although it has appeared in a lino print of mine). It’s about time Austria got a little of my studio time, especially since it’s a country I visit many times a year – most recently a couple weeks ago on a ski trip. I do love those Alps so.

Tags: Alps, Austria, daily painting, Europe, landscape, oils, painting

Dreaming of beer garden weather

Afternoon in the beer garden #1, 40 x 60 cm, oil on canvas, ©2012 Julie Galante. [SOLD]

Brrr! It has been extremely cold in Munich this week (-18c/1f most mornings). Maybe that’s why I was inspired to paint some beer garden scenes: I’m missing the days when you could hang out in the sun for an afternoon and still be able to feel your nose at the end of it. Munich is famous for its welcoming beer gardens (Biergärten): wooden tables, shade from tall chestnut trees, big mugs of fresh local brew. I’m looking forward to spending an afternoon in one sometime in the not-too-distant future.

My new beer garden paintings will be on display this Saturday at Munich Creative Group’s pop-up gallery. I’ll also be showing some paintings that better reflect the reality in the city this month, like this one:

Munich – snowy Odeonsplatz, 30 x 40 cm, oil on canvas, ©2011 Julie Galante. [SOLD]

Hope to see you there!

Tags: cityscape, exhibition, Germany, Munich, oils, painting