I've Been Painting. . .

But I've been working a bit more slowly as I learn to look more closely and paint more deliberately.  I've finished a couple of Charleston paintings.

Kiawah Marsh

Angel Oak

I've also been experimenting with drawing on plates.

And finally, I end the year with an art award from the LCAA Holiday Art Show (where I sold the space painting last year--at a loss)  I won the "Theme  Award" for my painting Freesia.  (The theme was "Joy.")

This painting had been hanging up in the Heritage Center for the month of November, and I was intending to pick it up to take home when I was there helping accept art for the show.  I found out that because I had gotten more than two sponsors for the show (I got three), I could enter one painting for free.  The easiest thing to do was to just enter this one.  And, voila, I'm an award-winning artist without even really trying.  There is a lesson in there somewhere.  It came with a $50.00 award, so this year, I came out ahead.
 

Autumn Pond

This is a pond near my house that I thought was a perfect representation of autumn.  I painted it in class so I could get some instruction along the way about brushstrokes and values.  I like the way it turned out, but I cannot take full credit for the water or the tree in the back--that is where I got most of my help.

Stained Glass--Sort Of

At the suggestion of Cricket (from Scrivner's) I tried simulating stained glass with flat glass marbles and resin.  It has potential, but I'd like to try it again.  The green in the background is not the color of the glass, but the grass outside behind the glass, which changes the look a bit.

Happy Halloween!

Boo to You!

Orchids

I did not get around to posting this on Paint and Draw Together in time, but I enjoyed painting it.  When I thought I was finished I took it to class and Mark Weber said the shadows needed to be darker--that the shadows ALWAYS need to be darker in a painting.  It made an amazing difference.  I wanted to change painting styles after doing two realistic works, so I am currently working on a very loose rendering of a pond behind my house.  The basics are in, but I'll see how far I get tomorrow. 

Saturday night, Meredith and I went to Waterfire in Kansas City.  It is a fabulous arts festival on Brush Creek by the Plaza that features artists singing or playing--everything from opera to jazz--on the bridges and on stages on the banks of the creek while 50+ bonfires burn in the water.  Stunning.

I've Finished My Class Assignment

 

This is my painting of Split Island on Lake Superior that I painted for my painting class.  It was slow and painstaking, but I learned a lot.  I'm ready to do something fast with big strokes for a change of pace.  After spending all that time looking at this rock, I've got Lake Superior on my travel list so I can see it in person.

October 2, 2012

On this morning I went to my third art class, and I finally got to paint.  It was much more methodical than I usually work, but I learned a lot.  I won't show what I'm working on yet, but, to my surprise, Mark Weber offered me the demonstration piece he did last week of a young boy.  I love it.

In the afternoon as I was working in the shop, I discovered that I had several missed calls from  my parents.  When I called them, I said, "Gosh, I've got a lot of calls on here from you, I hope it's good news."  My father answered, "It is not."  He told me that early in the morning my cousin, Nicholas Ivie, a border patrol agent in Arizona, was killed in an ambush.  I'm heartsick.  This morning on the news I saw footage of my Aunt and cousins who had traveled to Arizona to be with Nick's wife and children.  It seemed like this could not be real.  Then the reporter interviewed a spokesman for the family who said, "The Ivie family relies on their faith and they believe families are forever."  I felt the weight and relief of that simple truth.