More commission work from 2013 by Amy Lindenberger

A regular customer of mine from Mechanicsburg, David Gabel, is an avid and skilled photographer who spends a great deal of time capturing "just the right shot" of reenactors at Civil War gatherings. He wanted to give the images more of a period-correct look and asked me to do renderings for him. These are all 5" x 7" graphite and colored pencil drawings on Claybord. The reenactors all gave their permission to use their images but only for David's own personal collection, so these cannot be reproduced for sale but I wanted to share them with you here.

Walt Whitman (completed) by Amy Lindenberger

Sometimes I lose track of what I've posted, where...

I just realized that I never posted the completed version of this drawing (French Gray colored pencil on Canson Mi-Teintes paper), and I don't like leaving things unfinished!

In keeping with my Civil War themed artwork, I wanted to include a montage featuring Walt Whitman, best known as an American poet, but who was also a Civil War Nurse. The primary image is one of my favorites of him (I think he has such an interesting face!); the lower left image is based on one of the last photos taken of him, shortly before his death, and the other images represent his time spent working in and around the military hospitals near Washington, D.C.

7th PA Cavalry commissioned work by Amy Lindenberger

Another interesting commission piece I did in the latter portion of 2013 was this monochrome drawing (French gray dolored pencil on Canson Mi-Teintes paper) featuring a portion of the bronze monument to the 7th PA Cavalry located at Chickamauga National Battlefield in Georgia. This piece was commissioned by Larry Fryer of Woodstock, MD, and also includes an inset portrait of his ancestor, Isaac Marks, who served in Co. I of the 7th PA Cavalry. While I've done numerous commissioned portraits over the years, and even portions of three-dimensional monuments, I'd never tried to capture the raised surface of a bronze relief panel as seen here. I discovered that the key was in precisely rendering the varying depths and crispness of the shadows and highlights. It really gave me a thorough appreciation of the skill level of the original sculptor!

"Price of Freedom" diorama installation at the Gettysburg College Library, Amy Lindenberger

My other BIG commission for last year:

 

In the late summer/early fall I was contacted by a client of mine from California; his son attends Gettysburg College and my client is a frequent donor to the school. He had the idea of creating a diorama which would become a permanent installation in the college library, depicting the college campus in the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, focusing on "Old Dorm" and the surrounding grounds which became -- like so many other places -- a hospital.  My client hired an excellent diorama builder from Maryland, Don Griffin, to do the work.  It was decided that they would close one end of the diorama -- the end behind the recreation of "Old Dorm" -- and needed a backdrop of the sky and surrounding landscape.  In addition, they wanted the reverse side of that panel to contain a montage of significant players in that event, members of the college community, nurses, etc.  My client hired me to produce both of these panels -- "30 x 52" each -- to be completed in time for installation and unveiling to coincide with Dedication day events (week of November 19).

 

Below is the finished montage panel, along with two close-up views of the diorama itself, prior to the installation with the acrylic cover, and two more photos that show the back and front views (front views also show my scenic backdrop panel) of the diorama as it now appears, located just inside the main entrance to Musselman Library on the Gettysburg College campus. 

 

While I truly believe Mr. Griffin's diorama is by far the "star" of this installation, I was honored and thrilled to be asked to play a role and have my name on the plaque along with his, as co-creator.

 

Ride to Glory by Amy Lindenberger

This has really been a year of commissions, for me! Now, for my interests, this is a good thing, of course. But it can also mean that I'm not at liberty to post what I'm working on. Since this particular piece had its unveiling in late September, however, now I'm free to post it. This is a painting -- approximately 20" x 28", commissioned by the James Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio. They had always wanted a painting representing General Garfield's service at the Battle of Chickamauga (GA) during the Civil War -- most people think of Garfield as a president but aren't particularly aware that he was a general during that war. This was a challenge for me in many ways, because I don't generally paint battle scenes, per se; I tend to focus more on the "behind the scenes" people and events of the Civil War. Scott Longert, a ranger at the GNHS, did the bulk of the research for me, however, and served as my constant consultant as the development sketches and then the painting itself progressed. It is now on permanent display at their visitor center, and they have two different sizes of prints for sale. I was very pleased to be selected to create this piece for them!

Much appreciation for a great article! from Amy Lindenberger

Many thanks to Karen Hendricks of Hendricks Communications for her fine article about my work, on the Handmade in PA blog! Please check out this link to the article:
http://www.handmadeinpa.net/2013/06/civil-war-fine-art-beyond-the-battlefield/

Constructive Criticism Welcome!

As a 30-year career artist, studio work is what I'm accustomed to -- plein air painting does not come naturally to me. I think it's a great discipline and requires making decisions in a completely different way, so when I get the opportunity I continue to work at it -- I just know it's not my strong suit.  I watch other artists whose work I admire, ask questions, study their results, and I know what I WANT to do, I just can't very often make it work like I'd like. Eleven of us just finished the Plein Air Paint Out as part of the Gettysburg Festival, and I thoroughly enjoyed participating. I wasn't all that enamored with the pieces I completed, and about mid-week I decided to try something different. Since my training is in drawing and I know I often get too hung up on detail, I concluded I wanted to work in a way that wouldn't allow me to add any -- I worked with the Neocolor II Watersoluble Wax Pastels. I started with a couple of wet layers and finished with dry color application, similar to traditional pastel work. Below are my results -- since I know this group has a number of excellent plein air painters, I'd welcome any constructive criticism you're willing to give! They're both small - about 5 x 7. (I had to use an unconventional method to insert these photos; for some reason, I can't get them to upload from my computer, this evening, so if you can't see them well enough to comment, please let me know.)

Things Are Looking Up by Amy Lindenberger

It's been so long since I've posted -- life has been very hectic this year and I'm struggling to keep on top of everything. Better late than never, I guess...as far as posting is concerned.

Today's painting -- created in two types of water media (NeoColor II water soluble wax pastels, Derwent Inktense pencils) and ink -- was done at the Quick Draw event on the square in Gettysburg, part of the Gettysburg Festival. Quick Draw is a timed painting session; two hours start to finish. It's a lot of fun but a real challenge. I'm calling my painting "Things Are Looking Up" -- it shows a portion of the Gettysburg Hotel in the background, complete with 150th Anniversary banners.

Escape, by Amy Lindenberger

This new colored pencil drawing was based on some photos I took at the condo of my sister-in-law and her husband in Fort Lauderdale, FL. I loved the geometric design made by the stairs and shadow patterns, not to mention the curved stair railings. But since this is Florida and when we visited it was during the dreary (in northern climates) winter month of February, I decided to bump the colors up a notch. The whole thing -- the design, the vibrant colors, the warm weather, not to mention the fact that I limited myself to using just 12 colors -- represented an "escape" from the norm, for me.

Dusk at Devil's Den by Amy Lindenberger

I'm very pleased to announce that my watercolor and colored pencil landscape, Dusk at Devil's Den, was accepted into the CPSA (Colored Pencil Society of America)'s Explore This! 9 online exhibition. With this acceptance I earned my CPX Signature Status, and just received my certificate and pin in today's mail. You can view the exhibition at http://www.cpsa.org/view-explore-this-9.

Work-in-Progress: Study of Walt Whitman

Had a little time to work on this, in-between visiting with family and stuffing myself with Christmas cookies! Colored pencil on Canson Mi-Teintes board.

Witness Tree at Devil's Den by Amy Lindenberger

I mentioned in an earlier post that I've been in a bit of an artistic funk this year -- I keep working but often don't find the results all that satisfying. In an attempt to break out of this negativity, I decided to create a small landscape based on a portion of the Devil's Den area on the Gettysburg Battlefield. I had recently read an article indicating that the tree depicted here is one of the few remaining "witness" trees -- meaning, a tree that is confirmed to have been present during the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, and that is what spurred me on to choose this particular location.

Recently I received some very good news regarding this painting, done in colored pencil on PastelMat: it is one of only 101 works selected for the exhibition, America's Parks Through the Beauty of Art. In addition, it was chosen as one of the Top 50, and will be part of ...

a travelling exhibition, moving from Missouri to New York to Wisconsin, beginning in March. Folow this link to read the juror's statement: http://www.outdoorpainter.com/whats-current-and-whats-coming/americas-parks-exhibition-begins-tour.html. While I realize that being pleased with our own work is what's important, not the opinion of a juror, this was a welcome "shot in the arm" for an artistically-uncomfortable year!

2012 Christmas Card by Amy Lindenberger

I've been in an artistic funk for much of this year, I'm sorry to say. It's not that I haven't produced any work, it's just that what I AM producing hasn't quite felt right, even if other people seem to be happy with it. I'm working through it and am sure I will come out on the other side eventually, but having been a professional artist for thirty years, I have to admit this is the longest "drought" I've experienced. It's pretty uncomfortable.

But I have just created a new Christmas card for this season -- part of the series of cards I've produced for the Shriver House Museum in Gettysburg -- entitled A Christmas Surprise, that I'm pretty happy with.

And during this "dry phase" I also learned how to add PayPal buttons to my Christmas card pages, so if you're interested in these or any other of my Christmas cards, I invite you to visit:
http://www.civilwarfineart.com/CivilWarChristmasImages.htm.

Playing catch-up: one-day painting give-away

Way back on June 16, I once again participated in History Meets the Arts, a part of the larger Gettysburg Festival.  And as 2012 is the 150th anniversary of the second year of the Civil War, I created a one-day painting showing the Burnside Bridge at the Antietam Battlefield, since the battle of Antietam was fought in that year -- 1862. During the day, gallery visitors were encouraged to enter their names in a drawing to win the painting at the close of the day. This year's winner was a couple from Frederick, MD. All in all, it's a fun activity and spurs a lot of interest in history and my painting process, not to mention helping to build my mailing list. At next years HMTA event, I plan to focus on the Battle of Gettysburg, itself.

To see more of my work, please visit www.CivilWarFineArt.com

Sunset at Peter Frey Farm, Gettysburg, by Amy Lindenberger

Finished this landscape this past Sunday; it's approximately 8" x 10", Inktense watercolor pencil and colored pencil on white PastelMat. I really have gotten to enjoy this combination of ground and media for these landscapes! On to the next one...

Come Out to Mechanicsburg this Saturday!

This Saturday, May 19th, Mechanicsburg, PA is hosting its 11th Annual Art Walk and Wine Tasting from 1 - 5 pm. Mary Beth's gallery, Brath and Hughes Fine Art, is one of the locations where you can purchase your wine glass for the tasting, and I know Mary Beth will be out "on the streets" with other members of SVPAP, plein air painting. Since much of my work focuses on the Civil War era,  I will be hosted for this event by Civil War and More, located at 10 S. Market St. Don't know that I'll be able to leave that location and see everyone else, but I hope some of you will be able to stop by and visit me while I'm there!

http://www.mechanicsburgborough.org/PDF%20documents/Events/MAY2012ARTWALK.pdf

Drawing from (new!) life

It's taken me awhile to get this posted, but this is my one-month sketch of our newest grandchild, Evelyn Grace Harsh -- first baby for my stepson and his wife!

Good news!

This composition in watercolor pencil and colored pencil is one I had started nearly two years ago when Lyn O'Neal was seeking submissions for an exhibition she was hosting at her Lemoyne gallery, Art & Soul, of works inspired by the Gospels. I wasn't able to complete it in time for that particular show, due to some commission work that needed to take priority, but I did finally manage to get back to it and finish it this spring. I've titled it Ravens and Lilies: Consider These, based on a passage from the gospel of Luke, and I learned a week or so ago that it has been accepted into the Colored Pencil Society of America's 20th Annual International Exhibition, to be held this summer in Cincinnati.

I also learned on Monday that my mixed media piece, Departure, featured on this blog previously, has been accepted into the Adams County Arts Council's Ninth Annual Juried Exhibition, to be on display June 8 - 17 at Schmucker Gallery on the campus of Gettysburg College, in conjunction with the Gettysburg Festival. And I'd like to extend a warm "congratulations!" to fellow DPP members who also had work accepted into that exhibition: Sharon Benner, Linda Benton McCloskey and Charlotte Yealey. (Hope I haven't left anyone out -- I tried to check the list carefully!)

Dusk at Devil's Den by Amy Lindenberger

Over the winter I spent some time studying the work of Richard McKinley, a pastel painter who has developed a technique of working with an underpainting of either thinned oil paint, pastel rubbed to a smooth finish or blended with water or a solvent, or watercolor. I admire his work tremendously and decided I'd like to try to adapt his methods to my own colored pencil landscape paintings using watercolor pencil as an underpainting.

So here's my first attempt, based on some photos I took this past summer on the Gettysburg battlefield in the "Devil's Den area. The photos were quite dark and didn't show much color, so I had to enhance the color based more on my memories of what I actually saw as I was taking the photos.

Finish Line - a Plein Air Painting by Amy Lindenberger

My husband is a runner -- 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons, marathons, you name it. (I've tried to develop the running "bug" but so far it hasn't taken.) This past Sunday he ran the Towpath Half Marathon in Cleveland. Since it takes a while for him to run one of these, I decided it might be a nice time for me to practice incorporating people into my plein air work. This painting was done in watercolor pencil and ink. The trees in front are redbuds but I don't think I was terribly successful at capturing them.