As the year ends

After the apple painting, I became involved in other things I enjoy more than art. Music especially. The upbeat and melodic cantata our group practiced and performed at the Lincoln Center was exhilarating. My head became filled with the singing of my part but also the rest, the solos and once in NYC, the strings. That was followed by an outstanding four nights of Christmas at First Baptist, performing on a stage filled with singers giving their best, and a big orchestra that would rival any. I took joy in being near the bassoon and the French horn. Then I had to get in all the other requisite music of the season. It all resulted in music overcoming thoughts of art in my brain! Now I am trying to get back in the art groove. I have to! In 2017 I am president of our art association. So not only must I produce at least a little art, I must also be responsible to about three hundred people.
Leaving what is behind, I (and all of us) go into the new year.

self imposed assignment

To be good at anything, we need to practice, practice, practice. Some people love to paint. I have met many such people since I have been in Wilmington! Occasionally I enjoy painting, but mostly I have enjoyed the luxury of retirement. I rarely paint and therefore I am not practicing or getting better. To fix the problem, I have given myself an assignment of painting fruits and vegetables A to Z using any medium. What a struggle this simple apple oil painting was! The main thing however is that I did it. I probably need to touch it up some, but basically I am sick of it so I am considering it (almost) finished. I will post others as I do them. I guess a banana is next.

A Friesian Cow

a big one

Since the seahorse in the previous post sold, I was inspired to do another, more ambitious one.
I wanted to make it cuter and more whimsical, but this is what I came up with. The main thing was that I had a blast doing it in my studio late in the evening when no one else was there. Listening to music, singing and dancing, spreading the paint around. Now that's living!

Look what made it to the Arboretum show.

New art

I completed four watercolor batik sea creatures, matted and wrapped them, and took them to Studio 15 today. This is a good medium for me, because there is no way to make it perfect, and it always has elements of surprise.

Catching up

Gee. It is past time to catch up on art stuff!

It is way too hot to spend much time in Studio 15. No AC there! Whew...

And I really haven't created anything that is finished and beautiful lately. 

But I am involved in art every day. Being on the board of the art assoc means I have to do a lot of communicating, and I like that. I am glad to be a small part of keeping the "club" running and letting people have opportunities to do arty things.
I also have photos hanging in a welcome center here, and some will soon hang in a gallery in Whiteville. 

My friend Elena is a glass artist. She started with mosaics and now does all kinds of complicated glass art. Today she showed my how to cut glass. Then I spread some acrylic paint on two small square panels. Tomorrow I plan to lay some of the cut glass on them and pour resin over all. I saw this in Florida while I was there in May. After watching how to use it on YouTube, I ordered the special epoxy after I came home. I tried it - messy - and the end product was cool.
Maybe they will turn out blogworthy. 

Sumi-e

This old Japanese style of black ink painting was new for me today. It was all about how to load the brush and hold the brush to make the strokes you want. Much more challenging and interesting than I thought.

Palette knife work

These abstract works came from the need to use my art supplies before buying more, and it kind of freed me to do what I felt. This is what emerged on one, and I like it.
I had old, used canvases that I spread paint on. A therapeutic exercise. Then I would spread on another color that would not cover every thing in the previous coat. Then another, and some scraping to highlight and perhaps an additional color until I felt I was on to something. Layered abstracts are like people in that we have many layers. You may wonder what lies beneath.
Not everyone will like abstracts, but I think they are fun to paint. And people look at them as if they are thinking...what in the world is that!

From photos to paintings

Occasionally an ArtWorks neighbor will use a photograph that I took and paint a nice piece of art from it. Here are two photos you may recognize that Jo and Cathy used as reference for oil paintings.
That pleases me to no end!

Update

The batik painting in the previous post sold. Also the painting I posted called Sunny Day has sold. That makes me a happy girl.
I am back from a trip to Blue Mountain Beach, one of serval pretty places along road 30A in the panhandle part of the Gulf.
It is home to many artists and galleries, and I got to visit a few. As a result I came home inspired to create and paint more. I loved talking to the gallery owners, the reps, and looking at the very different styles of art done there. Good ideas are still rolling around in my head, and I can't wait to get started.

Under the Sea

It won't photograph quite right, but you get the idea.

An 8x10 watercolor batik.

Something else I am trying

Watercolor batik on rice paper.

Pic is a little fuzzy, but that is ok!

Put it in a mat (6x6) and sleeve last night. 

I am going to keep doing it, because it's fun! Doesn't have to be exact. 

I love doing abstracts.

Here is one from today.
Acrylic 12x16

4th Friday tonight

Always a fun time.

 

Gull couple

Sunny Day

That is the name of this little acrylic painting I did today.

Majestic Beauty Hawthorne

This is one of many tiny flowers on a foundation plant in front of my house. 

bananas

 

Quote from Roloff Beny, a painter turned photographer:
“My photography is my greatest art.”

Art for Easter

By Fra Angelico circa 1440.
The Resurrection of Christ and the Women at the Tomb.

Link

A link to the demo from last week. Love it!
That is my pic in the middle.
http://www.chadsmithpaintings.com/incredible-wilmington/

painting outside

The judge of the upcoming art show was kind enough to give a free class/show/demo on plein air painting for anyone who wanted to come. It was sunny, warm and not too windy, perfect for being outside by the river for a couple of hours. I enjoyed it, but I also enjoyed the time I spent inside one of the restaurants watching the basketball game.

Working on a show

Some of the artists were working small today.
An art show of only miniatures is going to be held in Nags Head in April or May. Here is my neighbor Cathy working on a piece. It is not as small as Janet's though. Hers was only about 2x3!
I am thinking about entering, too.

Fourth Friday

Another enjoyed by all Friday night at the ArtWorks.
The music was provided by one of our favorites, a sweet man who by day is an activity therapist.
He sang and played his guitar, and eventually I made my way to the little stage and sang along with him. He didn't mind.
This is a picture of a visitor to Studio 15, a nice woman who stayed to chat about things, and said she loved the color of my door. Her vest even matched. She leaned against it and suggested I take a picture. The iPhone was all I had with me, but here it is. By the way, she asked me if I was from here and then said how much she liked my accent!

Mother's Seagull Flies

Finally. 

This was my mother's much loved bird that I claimed when she died. After a few years of neglect, she will now be a permanent part of my studio. 

a face

Since I have three more (paid for) punches left on my card, I decided to go to life drawing tonight. It is fun to go somewhere and focus strictly on drawing or painting or whatever, but I am not a huge fan of the art of nudes. I find myself wondering what led them to earn a few dollars posing for artists. I think of the needy nude models of Van Gogh's day, and then I feel bad for the models. I would just as soon sit in a room with a nice still life in the center, one with pears and watermelons, pitchers and bowls. To me, the outer shell of humans is not even nearly as interesting as their inner workings and their thoughts.
Enough of that . . .
I did the requisite gesture drawings and another whole body but then decided to do the face. It is drawn on watercolor paper, not a suitable surface, but this is my favorite outcome of the evening.

today's painting

My studio space is frequently in need of a re-do.
What did I know. A studio sounded to me like a place where people made beautiful messes. But I have found that most of the artists make their messes elsewhere and use their studio spaces as their own little galleries. Not wanting to be the most unkempt kid on the street, I am going to do the same thing. I have moved things around and out, but now it is looking rather dull. To perk up the place and tie some of the colors together, I painted this picture today using the wall and door paints I still have. I titled it "Rothko-ish" after Mark Rothko whose art I actually like and appreciate. Matter of fact, I like quiet, simple abstracts as much as I like any kind of art. The picture does not do it justice! Will try for a better one tomorrow.

winter tree

For some reason, I really like this photo.
I am fascinated about how the bare tree looks like a leaf, branches like the veins of the leaf.
Similar pattern.
I manipulated the background with the free fotor app.

Social Saturday

That is what Jenny, the girl on the left, calls it.
Since we are open to the public on Saturdays, we show up if we possibly can and have fun together.

committing

A New Year's resolution last January was to paint something every day. That lasted until January 10!
This year I am resolving to do the same thing. But to make me a little more accountable, I have signed up on a big website to post one painting a day for the thirty days of January. So far my pix look ok in the half inch square allotted! At least I am getting the juices flowing.

back at the ranch

It was good to get back to Saturday's Open Studios.
Here are some of us painting clay girls in Justine's studio today.
Justine is a clay artist whose work is sold all over the US, and now she is creating at the Art Works.
In a few weeks, she is going to have a special show, and lots of us were helping her get it going by painting/glazing some of her objets d'art. It was fun.