Garden Shed Map Metaphor

This is a spread from my artists journal. We were asked to do a map

of how we see ourselves progressing in our journaling. I decided to

make the contents of my garden shed a metaphor for my journey.

New journaling class

Just started another journal (see pages below). This one was begun on a hike Sunday with the Master Naturalists. Beautiful day! Wonderful people! Great picnic after the hike! I'm also using this journal for an online course I'm taking with Cathy Johnson. There are about 95 people in the class from all over the world. Just looking at all the pages they post is a full time job! But it's so much fun. It's only for 6 weeks with one assignment each week but I have a feeling I'm going to be pretty busy. I'll try to post my homework here, too.

Journaling

Wild and Wonderful...

Great weekend in West Virginia. Good company, good food, warm fire, lovely hike. Entertained by busy chipmunks. I'm always inspired to paint the scenery up there. See the photos below.

West Virginia

Heady stuff...

I just got another painting accepted in a November show at FCCA. This one is themed "Secret Places" and I'm delighted to be part of it.
The openings last Friday were great fun and, as expected, I did a lot of running back and forth between galleries.
Took a workshop with Dave Daniels this past weekend. Learned some stuff, met some people, had fun. It's not a style I'm comfortable with and I felt like Dave was trying to make all of us paint just like him, which would be impossible, but I picked up a few things. It's fun to mix colors on the paper instead of on the palette. They stay rich and saturated and the blending together (using lots of water) creates surprises. Lovely couple of days at the beach.
This weekend is a long one so I'm hoping to be productive.
Later...

First Friday

I need to be in two places at once on Friday night but this is a good problem. It means I had work accepted at two galleries for October. I've mentioned the Regional show at the FCCA and today I heard that two works were accepted for the "About Face" show at LibertyTown. These two pieces are shown in earlier blogs below--"Rita" and "Judy." I submitted the 3 girls on the tractor but it was rejected. I think it might have been because all the other entries were a single person. It couldn't possibly be because the judge didn't like it!!! I'm honored to have 2 accepted.

I'm beginning to feel a little spoiled. Something has been accepted in every show I've entered so far. It's very validating and I'm quite humbled by it.

There's a workshop this weekend with David Daniels who does very vibrant, colorful watercolors so I'm excited about that. I'll let you know how it goes.

Below are the two paintings that were accepted in the Regional Show for October at the Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts. The opening is Friday, Oct. 2.
The yellow waterlilies grow in the goldfish pond in my backyard. The Shagbark Hickory grows on Pyne Mt., WV, where I go at least once a year to recharge my batteries. It's a magical place.

Pyne Mountain

Shagbark Hickory on Pyne Mt., WV

(detail)

watercolor on Torchon paper

Waterlilies

Waterlilies

watercolor on Arches 300# paper

Hollyhock

Watercolor on Arches 300# paper
8"x10"

detail of girl on tractor

Girls on tractor

Watercolor on Arches 300# paper

16"x20"

random thoughts...

I have been on a bit of a painting high lately. Just entered 4 pieces in a juried show at the Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts(the osprey, the water lilies, and the garden shed shown below, and one I completely forgot to photograph of a shagbark hickory tree that I started at Orkney Springs. Hope I will still have a chance to get a photo of it).

This weekend is the deadline for another show at LibertyTown called "About Face." I'm entering the picture of Rita and the 3 girls on a tractor. If there's time on my day off Friday, I might try to complete one more.

Then Oct. 1 is the deadline for another show at the FCCA called "Secret Places." I've got one done and 2 more almost finished so I anticipate I'll be working pretty hard this weekend.

I've sketched 9 more flower paintings from John Earl's photos so I'm anxious to get to working on them as well. Plus he has a photo of an old doorway that I want to paint. The hollyhock above is from one of John's photos.

So much to do, so little time. But what fun!

Rain with Osprey

This painting was done on the last day of the plein air class I took with Gwen Bragg through the Workhouse Art Center. We spent 4 weeks (one class per week) working outdoors and on the last day it rained! Fortunately one of our classmates had invited us to paint at her house on the Potomac River and she had a large, covered deck so we were able to paint the rain without having to get wet. The ospreys gave us quite a show and I often found myself just watching them instead of painting. I think this little painting was fairly successful nonetheless. I was told that Mount Vernon was directly across the river (right above the osprey) but it was so overcast that day we couldn't see it.

Rain with Osprey at Moss Neck

New stuff

The three flower images below were done from photographs that my co-worker, John Earl, took for an online photo course he was taking. He would come in every day with a new picture (they were concentrating on close-up photos of flowers) and I asked if he minded if I tried painting some of them. I had great fun doing it and have many more I want to work on. We've been talking about doing a joint show which would be lots of fun. I just have to try to keep up with him! Hope you enjoy.

Gallardia with Raindrops

From the collection of M. Rudzinsky

Rose with Dewdrop

Obedient Plant

Morning Glory

new work

Just finished these little flower paintings for an exhibit in Colonial Beach this month at the Wide River Gallery. They are small (about 3"x8") done with watercolor and ink. The opening is August 14th from 6-9. Stop by and see the originals.

Lacecap Hydrangea

From the collection of L. H. Glenn

Rose of Sharon

Iris

Sold to B.Lyons 2009

flower series

New work

Below are 3 new pieces that I did at Orkney Springs last week. I've got several more in various stages of completion and will post them as soon as they are done. Trying to get ready for a show in August and will be taking a plein air course at the Workhouse Art Center for the next 4 weeks. I'll post what I do in class as I do it.
I feel like each time I pick up the brush I learn something new. It's very exciting. I only wish I had more time but I've still got to pay for my habit. More later...

Greek Isle

This was done from a photo I took on vacation a few years ago. One of my work colleagues bought it. I found that amusing because I thought of it as my "warm up" piece. I'm glad he liked it though.

Judy

This was done from a photo I took of one of my classmates. She's a beautiful woman and I didn't do her justice but it does look like the photo.

Garden Shed

The assignment was to paint an interior. I decided to tackle my garden shed since I had a photo of it. I left out half of the clutter but it was great fun. I enjoyed the freedom of the piece.

It was the 3rd of June...

Remember that song, Ode to Billy Joe? I've had it rumbling around in my head all day. I just realized that I didn't paint anything (but some wrought iron garden chairs) in the merry month of May. Bad artist! June will be better. I'm going to summer camp in the mountains where I can paint my heart out and not have to cook, clean, answer the phone, turn on the computer... Can't wait. Hope to have lots of new stuff for you to see when I return in July.

Where did April go?

I can hardly believe it's almost May! It's so pretty here in the spring--I wish we could have about four months of April. I've decided to try to sell my paintings at LibertyTown Arts Workshop instead of on this blog but if you are interested in anything you see here, just send me a 'comment' and I'll let you know if it's still available.

Green Pepper

Watercolor on 300# Arches paper

for sale at LibertyTown Arts Workshop

Some exciting new things in my life lately. I was honored to be invited to join the North Windsor Artists. They are a small group of painters who have been working together for years. Two of their members have decided to give up their membership to pursue another gallery so I was invited to join North Windsor in the place of one of them. My friend Robyn Ryan will be joining as well. NWA has a long wall of space that they rent in LibertyTown Arts Workshop, a local gallery, and I will get to display my paintings there and hopefully, sell them. This means however, that the work I hang there will not be sold through this blog. I will continue to post my work here and if you are interested in purchasing anything, just leave me a comment and I'll get back to you. If it's hanging at the gallery, it will need to be purchased through them.

I have had a small piece (the green pepper above) accepted into the current exhibit at LibertyTown. It's a show all about food so my work is a natural. I was delighted to have a piece accepted. It's a fun show.

Making plans to do a workshop with Gwen Bragg this summer so I hope to get a lot of work done there. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, check out Robyn's work (http://www.rryan.myexpose.com/) and my BFF Jeanne Bauer (http://www.jeannebauer.blogspot.com/) on their sites.

Later...

Pear for Kathleen

Pear for Kathleen

Watercolor

5x7

SOLD

February 16, 2009

I can't believe I haven't posted anything for so long. I've been busy but haven't painted much. I have written an article for my local newspaper, and I took an acrylic workshop earlier this month. That was fun--we painted outside on one of those rare, warm February days. The most important thing I learned was I'm not a big fan of acrylics. I did get interested watching the instructor work in oil with a tiny palette knife though so I'm going to try that. My painting isn't finished but I'll post it when it is. Meanwhile, here's a pear that I did last month in watercolor.

More soon...