New Paintings in Progress

______SOLD

Promega Art Opening: 20 Recent Paintings through June 2

View of the Main Gallery

Very well attended opening!

Before the crowds

Viewers examining 'Turkish Tea Garden'

Erin, Jess, Katelyn (last show..photo by sarah plummer)

Portrait of Sara Wins Best of Show!

MADISON, Wis. - January 28
Katelyn Alain's oil painting 'Portrait of Sara' was awarded Best of Show at the State Street Gallery Juried Invitational. 'Portrait of Sara' was the big winner, while 'Crazy Dress' brought in an honorable mention.

Contact Me

Spring Exhibition Schedule

State Street Gallery
Juried Art Invitational Reception: Saturday January 28 6-9 PM 109 State Street, Madison, WI Come see this Juried Invitational of emerging artists! (Judges hand out awards at 7PM) UPDATE: I won Best in Show!!

7th Floor Gallery
Come see what 26 MFA candidates are working on! Visit the 7th Floor Gallery in the Humanities building on the UW campus between Feb 17- March 3. UPDATE: Thank you to all who came! Photo above.

Promega Gallery
THE BIG EXHIBITION of this year 20 paintings will be on view March-June 2 at the Promega Gallery in Madison. Don't miss the opening March 7 with great food, wine, and music! UPDATE: A success! Photos of reception above. Paintings up thru June 2..still time to come out and see it! MAP

Common Wealth Gallery
'Ten in Common' Group Show I will be showing new work at the Commonwealth Gallery from June 15 to June 29 along with 9 other area artists. This promises to be one successful exhibition! See our Ten in Common invitation!

Recent Work Publicity

Crazy Dress. A New Work

___________SOLD

New Paintings: Stacey and Sara

Both paintings are:
40x60 inches on canvas.

*Better photos will be added to my website soon.

From the closing reception of the CitiArts Gallery Show. 10-28-05






The little yellow sticker to the right of 'David' has the reference number 9 on it. Is that interesting to anyone? ;)

The steps to completing 'Sara' in my studio.

Self-Portrait as The Artist

40x50 inches on Gallery Wrapped Canvas.

Figure is life sized. She is painting a painting. The painting in the painting is a work in progress. The actual painting is now finished.


Click the image to enlarge and see details.

Ambiguous #1

Expressionistic Self

40x40 inches. Oil paint and sand on gallery wrapped canvas.


Click image to enlarge and see texture.

Background ideas and richness of color...

Sometimes I stare at this Sari and wish that I had the ability to paint it the way Vermeer might have. Even though I may be lightyears away from painting that way, I'd still like to try to use it as inspiration for the background in an upcoming set of portraits.

The MFA and the Number 9

I am so excited to have ended up here in Madison working toward my masters in fine art. My fellow grads are a very nice bunch and so are my professors. Although my days are long, and my classes are a lot of work, I am glad I'm here.

Today I was assigned a STUDIO. Out of 10 students vying for their favorite studio by luck of the draw, I was number 9 when my chip was pulled from the hat. That meant I was next to last in the lottery. But seeing that number 9 made me calm and collected. 9 is my incredibly lucky number. Ever since I was born the number has followed me around like a secure reminder of who I am. It makes me realize that I'm in the right place at the right time as it shows up again and again. I was born on 9-19-1979 at 5:29 in the morning. The number has been with me from my softball jerseys to my seat numbers on airplane flights, and in the most bizarre places. Even my random phone number has a 79. So here it was again today as I held the token that would hold the fate of my new studio. The number 9.

The New Table

I'm feeling overly cautious about creating in my new home. Maybe I'm just not ready to start serious paintings here. I will be assigned a new studio on campus within the next couple of weeks. Can I wait that long? I soppose I'll feel in flux until my schedule and studio space are set in stone. I would like to just let loose and create like a madwoman...but i'm holding myself back. I wouldn't want to get paint all over our new beautiful and clean apt...patience...
Now I must prepare myself for an evening suit-and-tie event with business students. What world do I live in?

I have been thinking about the color RED and feel inspired to investigate the richness and depth of RED in a painting. The color RED has been associated with anger, fear, fiestiness, fire, blood, etc.
However, what thoughts and feelings would it conjur up as the focal point in a painting of an everyday object with no emotional overtones? Will it simply be considered decorative? Will it hold meaning purely based on our associations with this color? Does the object matter?
Technically I'm interested in exploring tone, depth, and contrast through glazing and mixing.
This will be a small side project to keep me thinking and exploring the use of color in my paintings.

New Home, New Studio, New Ideas...

I've been busy unpacking, but will be back 'up and painting' very soon.

'The Nestmaker'

________________________________________________SOLD

The black and white underlayer is the foundation upon which the painting is built.











A caulking gun is used to create texture on the canvas in certain areas.

Drawing from Bargue

Back to learning the basics, folks. I've temporarily dropped the Oil paints to pick up Charcoal. The figure painters from the 19th century learned anatomy from copying plates by Charles Bargue. I figured it couldn't hurt to do the same thing.
I'm hoping to learn a lot from it to improve the figurative quality of my paintings.

The Dark Cherry

Oil on Board. approx 5x6 inches.