This is a drawing (with pencil and white watercolor pencil) on Canson paper that I did recently from a vintage photo. I have entered it for judging in a show titled "For and About Women" along with the three girls on a tractor (see earlier post). I was inspired to try this media after looking at a book of Da Vinci drawings.

Then, a cardinal!

Squirrel Antics

Happy New Year!

I hope you all have a wonderful 2010! I have been very busy with the journaling class and have now started another one called Sketching in Nature. I'm going to post some of my pages here as well as on my flickr page so I hope you enjoy them. I've found that working in a journal has given me a freedom in my work that I am very excited about. I hope it will translate to a full sheet of watercolor paper. I have two shows coming up this year (a 3-person show in June and a solo show in October) plus I'll be entering work in the local galleries throughout the year. I'm glad to have a full-time job in this economy but I find myself wishing for more time to paint.

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