A Day to Remember

Well, today was emotional. I thought I would start with that to shut down any outside ears that could not take this 'kind of talk'.....this AM was another demo by Mary Whyte. Fantastic street scene that captured the side of a parking garage (!) and turned from dull grays, into lively grays and then a few strokes of vivid color as she was finishing a street car.

We then went off to paint our own masterpieces. I found myself at the end of a dock, amazed at the fog as it lifted and then reappeared. I sketched the side of the pier and a large boat anchored in the bay. It was mesmorizing. I kept putting down my sketchbook to grab my camera for yet another photo as the fog showed another side of it's personality. Finally, as I was painting I found myself crying a bit. Yep, pretty sappy, but this AM was surreal. The smells of ocean water, fish, bakeries; along with the fog horns and the cool breeze was something I will never forget. Alright, the painting that I started is going along well, but I want to finish that later this week and enter the photo at that time.

This afternoon we camped at the Palace of Fine Arts. I DID complete that painting (probably because I didn't spend my time weaping!) and am proud of a more than a few aspect of this one. I have posted an actual photo of the part of the Palace of Fine Arts and my1/2 sheet painting. I hope you enjoy this.

Art on the Coast....

Day #1 of a workshop in SF with Mary Whyte. I am using a new type of brush and Mary's suggested palette. Workshops are usually intimidating and I found today to be par along this line. Mary's demo looked SOOO easy. No problem. Well, the 1st brush strokes of a background layer proved that theory to be wrong. After a couple of hours and mumbling something with more color that my painting, the attached photo is what I have to show for the day. Mary is smiling in the background, posing for this shot. She really is a good sport, artist and teacher. Soooo, I have much hope for tomorrow!

I would write more, but happy hour is well under way and I need to go get mentally prepared for tomorrow.

"Cheers!"

Monotypes, Mistakes and More

I went to my studio yesterday to pack for an upcoming trip. Two hours later I finished painting a fun, loose version of something abstract/floral on a Plexiglass sheet. I was in the mood to transfer this onto printing paper to make a monotype....Have I mentioned that I may be a bit ADHD when in my studio? After soaking and blotting the Rives paper I placed this paper over the Plexglass sheet, rolled the print with a roller and "Voila!". What?!? 90% of the monotype was still adhered to the Plexiglass. I thought about framing the darn Plexi, then decided that was not my intended goal. I shrugged, muttered something off-colored, then propped the offending Plexiglass in front of my painting table and pulled out an Aquaboard, then began to paint. I liked the design and wasn't going to let this attempt go to waste. The end result is shown here. I am going to experiment with this piece by coating with wax/damar varnish as if this were an encaustic. We'll see where my mind and this project goes from there.
OK, back to my studio to pack for that upcoming painting trip............

Glenda, Elizabeth, Karen and a colorful Elephant named Mena!

Well, it looks like there are four of us in this art group. However, the elephant was just a guest....This was taken at Arts On Grand in Spencer, Iowa at our reception a few nights ago. Delivering and hanging the show was hard work, but alot of fun. Arts on Grand did the managing/food/drink stuff and did that well. Our job was to deliver over 50 paintings (many large) and hanging them with levels (or whatever those devices are called...). I learned so much, was thankful for the help from the gallery and my art friends and from Jay (Liz's husband) who was a trooper and hung all of the paintings with us! I do think he may have been the reason we ran out of wine for a bit during the show.........OK, I didn't see him drink one drop, but just thought of that!

Spencer is a warm, cheery and upbeat town with interesting and kind citizens. I stayed at a B&B called The Wild Rose nearby in Spirit Lake and that was a bit of heaven. It was large, quiet, and my back porch looked out onto a water garden and a large pond. The breakfasts were wonderful and quick. I had a tasty, hot, egg/cheese dish with warm, home-made cherry scones on my 2nd morning. The rooms are comparable to the more expensive rooms that I have stayed at on the coast. Can you tell that I had a good experience in NW Iowa?

Paint On Our Shoes

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20108150301

Well, tomorrow I leave for Spencer with >20 paintings. Two art friends and I are being featured at Arts On Grand in Spencer, IA. We will be hanging ~45 paintings in aquamedia. I am both excited and nervous about this venture. There have been a few write-ups in local newspapers and I attached a short write-up that even made it into the Des Moines Register this morning. What a great surprise that was!

I think the issue that is making me most nervous is giving an artist talk at the reception. Gads, I really do NOT like public speaking. Maybe I could just prop up an easel and paint something. I did this yesterday and had alot of fun just painting and seeing people's reaction to my work.

Wish me luck!!!

It's Not A Bowl of Cherries...

I finished this still life and learned a thing or two. I went into this thinking this would be about painting some pears. Wrong! It was much more fun painting the cloth than those pears. I had fun drawing the cloth with watercolor crayons, then dropping in watercolor, letting the wet paint run over the lines and activating/or spreading the crayon lines a bit.

This still life and painting will be set up at our show in Spencer in a couple of weeks. It should be a fun addition to our paintings in the gallery.