I'm having an identity crisis.

This blog was started years ago before I retired and started working on who I really wanted to be. Because of that, there are several fits and starts, miscellaneous posts mostly about art, but now I'm thinking I might want to take it in another direction.
Sure, I'll keep posting new art since that's what I'm into at the moment, but I'm also thinking I might use this space to really blog about stuff. Maybe it will be important to me, maybe it will be esoteric, but I'm feeling like I either need to use this site or shut it down.
On the other hand, I don't want to write just to see my words in print. So it may not be a regular event. I'll try to blog only when I have something to say. And I'll try to keep it civil, though the occasional rant might be the order of the day.
Today for instance, I'm faced with frustration with being misquoted in the press. In the grand scheme of things, this isn't such a big deal. It's just that it's the 2nd time this month. I know, you're probably thinking any press is good press and in a way, that may be true. And in the first instance it really was just the reporter misquoting me and my opinion about something I spoke about in front of our city council. Nothing earthshaking and, as it turns out, I've decided I'm not all that opposed to what they are planning after all. But I spoke for less that 3 minutes and she got 3 things wrong! Plus she listed my address in the article. I thought this was taboo but there it was for all the world to read. Sigh. I didn't do anything about it but I know the reporter and see her now and then so I'll just mention it next time I see her.
Today's article was not misquoting what I said. It was more a case of a lack of fact checking. You'd think with all the noise lately about alternative facts, they'd be more careful when the had the chance. I did write the reporter immediately (well, after I ranted and raved a bit and got it out of my system) and she agreed to print a correction tomorrow but that doesn't change the fact that a potentially wonderful article is rendered somewhat useless to me as far as sharing it with the world goes.
Oh well. There are much more important things to expend my energy on. Like today I absolutely positively have to vacuum the house. The cat hair and dust bunnies are beginning to form a union.
Till next time,
Cheers!

54th Worldwide Sketchcrawl

Great group of Fredericksburg sketchers braved the chilly weather today to sketch downtown then celebrate Chinese New Year with a wonderful traditional meal served family style by Coco at Hunan Garden restaurant.

51st Sketchcrawl

We had 8 participants in today's International Sketchcrawl. Here are my sketches and those of the others:

Paula's:

Carol's:

Steve's:

Pat's:

Peg's:

Ruth Ann's:

Clifford's:

Mea culpa

I apologize the my followers for not keeping up with this blog. My only excuse is that I now have a new studio that is taking a lot of time. I'm teaching a lot and going in every day to paint. I also have a website where I'm better at posting current info about shows and classes. Hope you'll check it out. http://www.paularaudenbush.com

49th International Sketchcrawl

46th International Sketchcrawl

Sketched with Joel, Heather, and Casey in cold and sunny downtown Fredericksburg today.
Here are my sketches. The first two were done outside but when Joel's watercolors began to freeze, we moved inside and I did the third one from a second floor window.

6"x6"x6" Show

Here are the little oil paintings I am currently showing in LibertyTown's 6"x6"x6" Show:

 Autumn Field 3"x3" Oil on canvas

 Calm Sea 3"x3"  Oil on canvas

 Poppies 4"x4" Oil on canvas

 Southern France 3"x3" Oil on canvas

 Wheat Field 3"x3"  Oil on canvas

Whitecaps 3"x3"  Oil on canvas

Been playing with oils

I took a workshop the other day with Andre Lucero who lives in Goochland VA and is an wonderful landscape painter. He also does amazing portraits. I decided to try my hand at oils for the first time since college. They now make them water soluable so there is no smelly turpentine or linseed oil. Easy clean up too. We watched Andre demonstrate a plein air landscape then proceeded to do one ourselves. Here is my attempt:

It was really a lot of fun and I learned so much. I will probably do more oils but it takes some thought because it's totally backwards from the way I paint with watercolor.

Don Crow Workshop

I know, I know, it's been a while. But I'm back to my painting again and have been quite productive the past 2 weeks. I took a painting class through VCU with Don Crow and did a lot of self-exploration. One thing led to another and I got started in a new direction. I found that I was enjoying simple landscapes and was making them up rather than looking at a photo. This one was one of my favorites:

"storm's a-comin'"  11"x7" watercolor on Arches 300#  

 I incorporated the wash technique I learned from Iain Stewart in February and did a bit of wet-on-wet work using a credit card as a tool. Some of the fine details were done with a rigger brush.

The last working day of class I decided to use up some scraps of paper and made a dozen postcard-size landscapes. The sky was was done with a squirrel mop brush, applying color onto wet paper. The details were done completely with a rigger. I kept the palette in the pastel range for most of them and let the bottom color bleed into the damp sky. Nothing was planned ahead of putting color to the paper. I just let the marks and bleeds inform the picture. On some of them, I did nothing else. On others I added a bit of detail after the wash dried. I would love to hear what you think about them. They are so much fun to do and so very different from my usual illustrative, detailed style. They are all approximately 3"x5". Enjoy! (Be sure to click on them to see the image larger.)

 Landscape #1

 Landscape #2

 Landscape #3

 Landscape #4

 Landscape #5

Landscape #6

 Landscape #7

 Landscape #8

 Landscape #9

Landscape #10

 Landscape #11

Landscape #12

Show in Italy

As a member of FaceBook's Sketching Workshop, I was invited to submit a square sketch of a photo from a street scene in Pozzuolo, Italy. This is a community art project (local & international) in Palazzo Moretti. Thirty-two photos of a street view were transformed into 32 art pieces. Each sketch became part of a panoramic streetview exhibition in April and May, 2014, in Palazzo Moretti. Here is my sketch.

And here is the photo I was sent to work from...

Retired and lovin' life!

Some of you know this, but in Feb. this year I retired from my job as marketing director of a non-profit organization where I've worked for 12 years. Now I'm enjoying vacation mode and looking forward to more time to paint, garden and enjoy my family and friends. I've been working in my studio every day since I retired and am getting a lot done. Next up is a one-day workshop on Illustrated Journaling at Water Street Studio in Fredericksburg, VA. My friends Elizabeth and Lynette have graciously included me in their roster of instructors and I look forward to a long relationship with them. Here is the flyer for the workshop in case you would like to join us.

42nd International Sketch Crawl

It was far too cold to do an outside sketch crawl here yesterday. I was the only one who showed up anyway so I did a sketch of the coffee shop with my friend Risa. I'm probably going to add some color but thought I'd post the ink drawing anyway.