Center square

How cool to see my painting on the poster.

Assignment

If I do not have an assignment, I do not paint.

I must push myself.
Here is my probably finished oil painting of the character I got for Babes in Toyland, Mary Mary Quite Contrary. Not perfect, but not too bad. I hope it will be dry enough on Monday when we turn them in. 

photo shoot

The art group is having another opportunity to paint some of the performers in a play, Babes in Toyland. Today was the photo shoot. Jane and Alan, the old lady who lived in the shoe, Mary Contrary, Lady Violet, and scores of other characters were there. Lucky me, I got to take pix not just of the one I will be doing but for a couple of the other artists, too. Here are my straight-from-the-camera faves.

those crazy kids

Some of the artists dressed up for Halloween.

notan?

A little art lesson. "Notan" (no tan) is a way of seeing lights and darks in a composition. Mostly black and white. This actually has a lot of tan, or gray, a midtone, so it is not really notan.

I'd rather be taking pictures.

Obviously. Today I am catching up on housework, but I am delayed by all the "creative" things I can do around the house. Hmm. What could I do with these interesting, broken old shells. Aha! What if I placed them against a black background and photographed them? So I arranged and snapped away. Most of the pics looked as if they were taken in space! I did not get a best or favorite, but here is one of them.

blue and green

From Nature's favorite palette.

photo of the day

Using a free photo editing app, I played with a pic I took today. Which one do you like better?

Arboretum Show

I have been excited about having art in a fun show this weekend. Last year I participated in a couple, but I really did not know what I was doing. Though I had decent results - some sold - I wasn't particularly pleased with the overall quality. This time I worked hard to make them better, to have some pride in the workmanship. I will have three hanging pieces, an oil and two nice photos, all framed well. But also exciting for me is that I am having "bin work" for the first time, ten unframed pieces that are in a folding canvas rack and will be for sale. Three acrylic paintings and seven nicely matted photos. Here is a pic of my bin before it left the house yesterday. The event was to start Friday, but since a big part of it will be outside, it has been postponed due to the weather forecast. Oh darn.. Maybe next week will be as beautiful as it was last year.

Growing

I have been in the studio this afternoon having a blast. The big place is quiet with only Amy and Todd up the hall cleaning their respective studios. My CD player has been blaring my favorite old singalong songs while I have puddled and painted. (Piddling is a good activity while waiting for paint to dry.) Amy who is handy with tools is going to help me make some necessary changes to the studio next week. Since I am getting more comfortable with the brush and the palette knife, paint and canvas, I need to have more places to hang my stuff, at least while it dries, not to mention display. I am becoming bolder!
In the dead heat of summer, the studio is too darned hot to be there, but the temp this week has been great. It may have been better to be outside at the beach, but I have brought the beach inside with my blue paintings. It has all been good.

still at it

The last picture I posted inspired me to keep going, so I have turned out a few more with the same theme. I am trying to be bolder with color. The style of painting is probably considered to be representational abstract. I am just glad to be doing something!

I'm liking 'em.

new one

Back in January Trip made me some stretched canvases to paint on, and they are so nice I have been hesitant to use them. What a silly I am. But today I decided to paint a light abstract water scene on one. It does not have the features - like a focal point or values - of good art, but I think it is not too bad.

Musee des beaux-arts Montreal

I had to leave without seeing everything, but I so enjoyed my time in this wonderful art museum today. Here is a girl perhaps copying one of the old paintings in the museum. A few years ago I learned that this is an art in itself, that old paintings fade or decay and copying is one way to preserve them. It is also a good way to learn.

a goal

A few days after I come back from Oklahoma, I will be one of the artists from the WAA whose work will be hanging in a local shop. My entries are all recently taken photos, and I have been on task getting them framed. The Hobby Lobby framers whom I have seen every day this week have done a great job enhancing the look of the pix. It is pretty amazing how first you have a photograph. Then you may improve it a bit like straightening, cropping. I don't have Photoshop so I just use what the computer offers. Then a mat around it adds a nice touch. And then when it gets in a good frame, that little picture you saw in the back of the camera looks so good! It is a little scary putting stuff that I have done out there to be critiqued, but I need to get over that.

an unexpected result

Last fall I participated in a "plein air paint out" only because it was at and for Wrightsville Beach. What a lot of nerve I had! I was way out of my league. When I saw the lovely pieces the more seasoned artists cranked out, I was so embarrassed! What would I do! Which would be more humiliating? To say I am not good enough, that I can't do it and quit? Or to ignore the risk and carry on? I opted for going through with it. On the second and final day of the event, I turned in my one small, simple watercolor of the beach, matted and framed by me. I took it to the nice coordinator and said, "Here. Do what you want with it." I have wondered what became of the little beach scene. Did they look at it scornfully then put it directly in the trash? Did it make it to a back wall of the small museum? Yesterday I got a sweet handwritten note from the director saying it had sold! I was so pleased. Now the WB museum is $75 richer, and my confidence is a smidgen higher. It was a simple little picture, but I admit it was also sweet. I thank whoever bought it.

Tuesday nights

The three hour life drawing non-class on Tuesday evenings is always enjoyable.
Here is one photo during a pose when the model was facing the other side of the room.
It wasn't actually that dark in there, but I like the look the camera made. Like a Rembrandt.
And another.

something is better than nothing

There isn't much going on at the un-airconditioned Studio 15 this week. Yesterday I picked up my toys (paints) and took them home, but have I used them? oh no. 
I did go to life drawing last night. I am always challenged by it. We have time limitations, but otherwise we have the freedom to portray the model anyway we like, any medium we like, and the artists are way above me in skill and know how. There is no learning if I am not around more accomplished people. Last night after the ten minute-and-a-half warm-up sketches, I used two mediums I had not really tried, gouache and oil pastels. This little pic is the head of the model in oil pastel. Pretty pathetic, I know, but I am trying to learn to show my work.

Favorite paparazzi shot of the evening

Coming along

It won't make its way into a zoology textbook, but the painting is coming along ok. Just a little more work, and then framing, and this sea creature will be ready for Ruby's wall. It is a 12x12 acrylic and on paper for acrylics. I am finding painting is fun and relaxing. 

Tonight I will be going to a critique at an art place I haven't been to. That should be fun and educational. 

A Commissioned Piece

No money involved, but Ruby asked if I would paint a picture for her room. She wanted an octopus and the colors of navy, aqua, and orange. I am giving it a try.

watermelons

I am pleased about the finished work - so much that I signed it. 

It is a 12x12 oil painting now drying in the studio.

Today we are open. I will be there soon. 

On the Easel

My plein air class has ended, and though I loved going to the various pretty places, I have determined that I do not want to paint outside. It is really hard to go to a place you have never been and without doing much assessment focus on one thing to paint. Not to mention the variable weather conditions. I am going to stick with studio work for now. This is what I worked on today.

4th Friday

A good 4th Friday. Most of us sold something. Me? Two photographs. I love it when someone likes what I have done enough to buy it. But not only do we sell art, we have great music like these jazz guys tonight.

girl with a camera

I was asked to take photos of the winners of a student art show that was held this evening. Of course I did. No great pix turned up in my camera, but I guess they will serve as a memory if the kids want them. Here is one that only you and I will see.

happy to say...

that my painting sold!
The one of the young man in costume for the Cats performance.
I felt it captured both the actor and the character he portrayed, and I hope he, if his family bought it, will enjoy it a long time. The play was wonderfully performed by the children's theater here.
It was not one of the first to be sold, and I was thinking of all the life lessons to be learned in the event it did not sell. But there are learning opportunities with the selling, too!

Pix from the tidal pool

on the easel

I had an 8x10 canvas that I had painted with bright green acrylic for some reason, so I thought I would use it to oil paint over. I found this photo that I thought would be compatible, so here goes. As you can tell, it is one of my favorite subjects. Mixing paints and coming up with the right color is a challenge. I will try to subdue the colors this weekend.

My Cat has left the building

The twenty or so artists who painted the "Cats" performers turned their artwork in today, and they are hanging in the lobby of the theater. They are adorable! What a great idea!
Honestly...I was pleased with the way mine turned out, and so was the subject who saw it today. Bustopher was a different sort of Cat, a larger, older, more dignified character, so I tried to paint him that way. Now I must start another painting. I have learned to take time and try to paint the best I can. It is a lot of work!

today's demo

Teacher Kevin is using the iPad for his reference photo in this painting of ocean waves.

to do list

At the ArtWorks, we are preparing for an art show. It will be the second we have hosted since I have been there. It takes a lot of work, the heavy kind.
On Wednesday I will be helping to hang the art. Hanging has become an interest of mine over the past year, and I hope I know enough to do an adequate job.
Then I will help with the reception on Thursday. I can usually do food without any worries!
There will be visitors in and around from Thursday to Sunday, so I spent some time cleaning my studio today. Another thing I have learned is that making art is messy.

an arty life

This morning was the third painting at the beach class, and we broke from Wrightsville and went to a tucked-away harbor on Carolina Beach. We set ourselves under a shelter/gazebo where the unexpected cold winds of May whipped us. I finally had the good sense to find a sunny spot out on the dock with a view I enjoyed, but I only sketched. I did take many pix of boats, though!
Here is one of the artists at work."

Earlier this week after lots of little changes, I finished my "Cat." It isn't too bad. I just hope it will be sort of dry by the time it is hung. In a couple of weeks when I attend the play, my painting and the paintings of the thirty other performers done by my fellow artists will be hanging in the lobby for sale.  I am so glad I chose to participate in this fun project.

Black Skimmers in Flight

Wet swan

lucky me!

I am blessed to be able to mentor in a small way this adorable and bright seventeen year old girl who has a strong interested in art. She is in something called "early college" but must finish a senior English project in high school, and that is where I come in. The study/project/paper she has chosen is about how to gets kids access to art education even though funding is waning. She had to have a mentor outside of school for it, and somehow it turned out to be me. She visited in my studio today, and I loved having her. I think we both enjoy our time together!

Painting

Over at the ArtWorks several of us were painting our cats today, and it was a lot of fun. I thought I would use watercolor but then decided to try doing him in oils on an 11x14 canvas. So far, so good. I took this pic earlier today and have done a lot since then. I hope I can get him finished tomorrow.

His name is Bustopher, and there is a whole song about him in Cats.

 

my cat

Using watercolors I have started playing with the cat assigned to me.
He was so adorable, and I feel bad he got a beginner painter.

Cats

What would I be doing this year if I had not joined the art association!
Here goes on the fun thing I did today:
The artists were asked by the children's theater people to paint pictures of the cast members who are performing in the musical "Cats" next month. When completed and framed, our paintings will then hang in the lobby during the show and be for sale. I guess they hope the parents will buy them.
Today the kids were in costume for dress rehearsal, and the group of us who volunteered to do this came at 1:00 to photograph them. It was organized, and we had already been matched up with our cats. The pix we took will be reference photos for our paintings.
The children were so adorable. The costumes, the make up! My oh my! Fabulous.
Here is one of those four to a square collages that I am fond of.

I hope my artwork of Bustopher turns out good.

Oil Painting at the Beach

What a wonderful time!
I hadn't planned on taking another art class, but this one was irresistible.
Going to the beach to paint en plein air once a week for six weeks!
I was in love with the idea of it.
This misty gray morning the six of us met at Wrightsville, the south end no less. We unloaded our copious art supplies on the sand and set up. Teacher Kevin has painted several really pretty beach scenes and demonstrated for us. He suggested colors to use in the sky, water and sand, and we started on our own paintings. Everyone had chosen a small canvas to work on.
Of course, I could have stayed there for the entire three hours just listening to the ocean and watching the changing colors of the sky, but getting to paint with the others was awesome, too.
Here is some of the group shortly after we got there. That is the Oceanic restaurant and pier in the background.

today

This morning I went to Studio 15 to finish my painting of my black cat. It is acrylic on a ten inch square wooden surface. The only part I have left is the mouth. But did I do it? Nope.
That was OK. There were people to talk with, and that was much more interesting. We did some  debriefing about the art show, sharing thoughts and accolades, and noting areas that can be improved  next year.
I have a memory of going to the art show during the Azalea Festival with my mother when I was a little girl, maybe age five or six. Back then the art was hung on the spikes of a wrought iron fence on a walkway between a church and another building. I remember looking up at the pieces while I held my mommy's hand. This show was a descendent of that remembered one, and I must be there when it takes place.

Two days down, one to go

Here are some photos from the second day of the art show. With many art pieces being sold, it has been a success already. As for me, I enjoy being in the old USO, the very place that held wonderful memories for my mother. I think she would like it that I am involved in art here.

Opening Day of the Show

The art works were judged and prizes awarded last evening. Today the judge, a fairly well-known artist who moved to Wilmington last year, took anyone who was interested on a tour to explain what attracted him to the various paintings that he gave ribbons to. (He is the gesticulating man in the center who has the eyes of the other people in the room.) People were curious and wanted to know. Now we do! If there were a hundred judges, each one would probably have come up with a different set of winners. Maybe that is one of the mysteries of art.

Much of the artwork produced around here is of the beaches and marshes, sea and shore birds, boats and harbors, beautiful skies, etc. Here is a collage of four such pieces.

Busy

I volunteer to do whatever I can in the art community. It is fun, I feel blessed to be able to participate, and I want to "go" as long as I am able. But tonight when the reception for the opening of the Spring Art Show was over, I had just about run out of steam. The reception chair decided "we" would be able to do it all ourselves - the elegant feeding of hundreds - so no catering was done. Several of us worked really hard on food prep, arranging, serving, socializing, and cleaning up, and it all went beautifully. When I got home I thought how much was accomplished and how cheerful everyone was while working. "Many hands make light work." I could talk for a long time on how it is different (and better) to work with artists on anything, but I really must get to bed. I have another long day at the show tomorrow.

Last pastel class

This afternoon was my sixth and last pastel class. At least for now.
I don't know how much I am into it. Maybe I like the oils better.
Whatever...I have had a good time exploring the various mediums.

Creativity

Today the artists who will have pieces in the Spring Show that will be held later this week in the old USO building brought in their work. My only involvement was to bring an oil painting for someone who couldn't do it because of work, that thing I used to do! I was glad for the reason to be there and see the impressive art that folks have done. Tomorrow the pieces will be hung, on Wednesday the judging, on Thursday the reception. Then the show until Sunday. Last year I was agog with excitement over it.

But before I went downtown I stopped by the ArtWorks to get a couple of little things done.
As I passed by Elena's place, I saw that her life-sized papier-mache Victorian girl was complete enough to be moved outside her studio to gaze through the window, which is intended to be her forever place. Isn't she beautiful! Elena has been working on her for a long time, building layer upon layer from scratch!
For now I will just post one photo, but I would love to show the details another time.

He is risen!



By Carl Block, a nineteenth century Danish painter.

Oil Painting Class Today

One of the other students brought in some objects for a still life, and I painted a portion of it.
Taking a picture of the finished 8x10 painting helps me to see what I did wrong and what I did better. I may do a few more little things to it.

At Airlie

A mother swan on her nest.



Movies about Artists

On Monday I went to lovely Thalian Hall to see Mr. Turner, a biopic about the famous English landscape painter JMW Turner. If I were a reviewer, I would give it as many thumbs up, stars or tomatoes as possible as it was a masterfully done movie on all counts. Earlier this year I saw Big Eyes, another well done, well acted movie. The artist Keane was the subject, and it was especially interesting from a psychological angle. Last year an individual, not a big studio, came out with Tim's Vermeer, a movie that seemed to prove that Vermeer's art was done by way of something called camera obscura, or as my daddy would say...it was done with mirrors. He still had to do the design and arrangement of subjects, but the painting was greatly simplified. Today I read about another art movie coming out, Woman in Gold, based on a painting by Gustav Klimt. I hope to see it, too.

Life drawing

Also called figure or figurative drawing. It seems to be popular in Wilmington art circles, but nudes have been primary subjects throughout the history of art.
Today in my pastel class, we had a live model, one of our teacher's favorite subjects.
Many beginner artists, like me, draw too tightly and want to draw or paint looser. She tried to help us loosen up by having us make swooping strokes with wrist and shoulder motions on big pieces of paper. I have a long way to go!