Finally...back to the posts! Maybe :)

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a watercolor workshop given by Myrna Wacknov. We talked about a lot of things that week, and one of those things was painting tissue paper. I love tissue paper in collage, but I've been informed that commercial tissue paper isn't light fast, and, instead, fades very quickly. So, when she mentioned that she painted her own, I listened to how. Tonight, I spent a few hours painting tissue paper--made a mess and covered myself with acrylics and ink, but I've got some really fun, unique paper.

1-2-08 Poor Harry! Third Act Hangs Their Show

Can you just imagine being one guy among 17 female artist, trying to "decorate" walls and hang a show???

Our Circle has been meeting for one year on January 10. What a journey that's been! First working the Artist Way book, then sharing Crones Don't Whine--this group has really bonded and shared some great experiences. And yesterday was another one! Who would have know how much we would grow to care for one another! Life is full of surprises!

The Seren-Dips Graduate!

Well, we've done it! Our Artist Way Circle officially graduated today, ceremony and all, and it was wonderful. This group of women has been "pure gift", and meeting with them and getting to know them over the past 3 months has been one of the greatest joys of my life. Each woman is a treasure! And we love ourselves as a group so much that we've decided to name ourselves the Seren-Dips (cute, huh!), and I have officially registered us with the Millionth Circle. If there was ever a forward-thinking group of women, this is it! :) Thank you Nancy Y. for having us in your home, and thank you Adalia, Annie, L'il Anna, Barbara, Ginger, Helen, Jeanette, Linda, Nancy S., Sharlyn, Sherry, and Tina for sharing your life with me. We are SISTA'S, and I love each of you a whole bunch!

A Wonderful Day

Back row, left to right: Helen, Sheila, Jeanette, Linda, Ginger, Nancy, Sharlyn, Adalia
Front row, left to right: Lil' Anna, Annie, Barbara, and Tina. We're minus another Nancy and Sherry--we missed YOU!

Meet a delicious group of women--this is our Artist Way Circle, a group of committed women (minus 2) who have met every week for 8 weeks so far. We are tapping into our creative side and becoming even more creative in our coming together to do it. Yesterday we took a "play date" and went to Houston to the Museum of Fine Arts to see the masterpieces of French painting on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art--the Impressionist period and more. I must confess that I've never studied the old Masters, much less seen more than photographs of their work, so I was like a kid in a candy store--actually, the feeling was much deeper, but I can't describe it. It was way more than I expected.

One of the first paintings to strike me was Marie Denise Villos painting of A Young Woman Drawing. The light was incredible, and her eyes caught mine as she looked into my soul. I was stunned, and could have spent more time just sitting and looking at her. It was as if she knew me--or she knew something about me that perhaps I don't even know about myself.

And I really enjoyed te nudes painted by Jean Disire-Gustov Corbet. He was a "bab boy" whose work was sometimes condemned for being "crude", all because he included the hair under their arms or because his paintings were more realistic. Several of us mentioned the fact that someone suggested he paint angels in one of his more sensual paintings--to help it be more acceptable, and he said he would, if they could show him an angel. I especially loved his nudes in and around water, and the one I saw of the lady with the parrot. Beautiful! And yes, sensual!

But my breath was taken away as I entered the room that contained Monet's paintings. I remember back when I was in high school--he's the only artist that I remember talking about, and I knew I liked his work. I imagined myself being an impressionist artist because of him. But you know, that was a long time ago, and sometimes I think I made it all up--but when I stepped into the room, I cried. It was like coming home in a strange sort of way. O my gosh, I loved his paintings. I loved the energy, the color, the brush strokes--and I remembered, "Yes, my memories were real, and he really was my inspiration."

I could go on and on, but I won't--instead I'll move us to the next part of the day. Annie booked us reservations at this lovely restaurant, and o my! We felt so elegant and so fabulously treated as we walked into this little restaurant on Alabama street.

Pure elegance, inside and outside. Annie had gotten reservations for us out on the patio. The sky was blue, the air was dry (for a change) and cool and clear. There was a magnificent fountain and lots of lush plants all around. The service was impeccible, and the food was absolute sheer delight.
I got a beautiful grilled salmon steak, served with a salad, wine, sorbet for dessert...and absolutely some of the best company anywhere. There was laughter and enthusiasm delight as we shared a long leisurely lunch with each other. We're already thinking about it--we really must take a trip together!

Thank you ladies for being a scrumptious part of my life! I love all of you a whole bunch!

Friday, March 24, 2007 Workshop Over

Today was the last day of our weeklong workshow with Ken Hosmer, so Tina presented him with a little memento of us...
a tee-shirt from Kitty's Purple Cow, in Surfside. Earlier in the week, he had painted a bull, and he dumped this incredible green right in the cow's rump, and it blew Tina away. Green's her favorite color, but--on a bull??? So we've been telling him all week that cows were purple, not green, and now he knows. If you take a close look, you can answer his question: Where's the center of interest?

I don't "do" flowers--I love the, but I have a horrible time painting them, so I determined to do flowers this week. I did one last summer, and two this workshop--I've doubled my flower production!
Not great, but at least they're done, and I "saved my whites" better than last year. :) Hopefully Ken will be back with us next January or February.

The Teacher Teaches

Meet Ken Hosmer, a watercolorist like no other! My first workshop was with him last year. He is the best teacher! He got so much knowledge, and a real gift for sharing that knowledge. He gives wonderful lectures them does magical demos. See the gorgeous yellow roses in the background?? He "demo'd" those for us yesterday. He's a very fast painter. I love to watch him work and to listen to him as he talks to himself. He demo'd cows for us Tuesday, roses yesterday and then today...
an absolutely lovely grandma hugging a puppy. He uses awesome colors that blow us away--and yet wind up looking "real"? He uses a different technique--he paints from dark to light. Watercolor us usually from light to dark with lots of layers, but he developed "backward" painting that's supposed to help keep the darks from getting muddy. Makes for very bold color. Tomorrow we get "critiqued", so maybe I'll have some shots of some of the paintings being done by the class. Although, you must remember--this is a painting style very different from what most of us have learned, so we'll all starting out very, very beginner. :)

Monday, March 20, Watercolor Workshop with Ken Hosmer - 1st Day

I took my first watercolor workshop from Ken Hosmer last year in Kerrville. He's a wonderful teacher--gifted in TEACHING--not just a wonderful artist, but he's able to convey the idea to the student and he knows so much! He took his first wc workshop in 1969--so, while I was busy having babies, he was painting. :) He was the first to introduce backward painting--watercolor painting from dark to lights, instead of layering color. He begins with a unique way to do the value studies with ink sketches, so that's what we did yesterday. I'm determined to do a floral, since they intimidate me so much. That's what I worked on today, but I got so involved that I didn't even think about taking a photo until I got home. I did the two florals yesterday in class and the figure sketch this morning about 6. That's my favorite time to do anything that takes brain work! :) If you are interested in doing wc, he's a wonderful teacher, and I recommend him highly. And it seems the others in the class are enjoying him as well.

Saturday, March 17, People's Choice Take-In

Meet the ladies who greeted me at the studio. I entered 3 paintings in our local People's Choice show. When I walked through the doors about 2:30 yesterday these ladies signed me up and put my paintings with over 60 others. Who knows how many more came in by 5:00. Meet, from back to front and from left to right: Adalia, Peggy, Norma, Marjorie, Theresa, Carol, and Joan--an effecient, well-oiled machine they are!

It was also the take-in day for the Texas City show, a "juried" show. I've entered a couple of paintings in that one, as have several other artists from our area. So, we'll wait and see how well we did, and how many of us get paintings in. We're a good group, so we should do well. I'll let you know!

My vision board

When we came back from the Land of Ease, where we watched The Secret, we came back ready to make our own vision boards, but I got side tracked last week and didn't get to do it. BUT I have spent several days now pouring over magazines trying to find specific dream to visionate. I ran out of space on one board and had to spill over onto another--and it has a little more room for all those future dreams. I had to keep reminding myself that my job isn't to figure out how or when or the financial part--my part is to dream. It was wonderful sitting for a couple of days with my little artist child within, listening to wonderful music and dreaming: the places I want to go, a passport with every page stamped, my dream studio, and still that little red volkswagon beetle--except I want the convertible top! a treehouse (believe it or not!) to live in, big cusiony furniture, light colored walls, lots of windows, color and flowers everwhere, actually selling paintings :), the whole 9 yards. If I saw a picture I liked that made me smile, I put it there. I could do this visionating thing for quite a while! I remember a day many years ago that I had quit dreaming. But it's been so interesting watching some of my dreams come true through the last few years--so now I dream quite liberally. Who knows what might happen!

Waking Up Creative Capacity

You know, there are just days that are pure gift! I love the day I get to talk to local 3rd graders about art. They're blank canvases, pure sponges, white pages--ready for splashes of color to be poured onto. It's so fun to look out and find all these eager little faces looking up to you. Some of them already don't believe in dreams, but most of them still believe. And all they need is someone to say, "YOU CAN!"
They are all so well-behaved, sitting Indian style in their neat little rows. Takes a minute to get them loosened up and talking, but it happens. I know teachers have to have order in their rooms, but man o man, I love to let them have a little time of "dis-order"! Not much, but enough to get the wheel turning and the minds exploring...
We took it a step further this year, and they got to put a little paint on the paper. I only have 45 minutes and about 60 kids, so by the time we get this far, we're already running out of time, and there is always someone who decides at the last minute that they really want to try it. Just a mark--their name is safe, simple shapes, but very bright colors! They like the brightest colors. They smiled, laughed, and giggled when I squirted water so we could watch the colors run.

We hve a fabric show up at the Gallery, something very different. I think the kids were impressed, especially with the story dolls.
It was so fun to watch the smiles creep onto the kids faces as they actually made their mark. Didn't have to be grand--even a simple mark says, "I'm here, and I can do it!"
Future artists! I showed them an acorn today and told them it wasn't an acorn at all--it was an oak tree...these are oak trees! Unlimited potential! I hope they took a little of that thought home with them. And thanks to Tina for helping today...out of all the pictures we took, no Tina! :( RATS! But she was there!

Meet Jean Weeks

Meet Jean Weeks, a lovely watercolorist from Bay City, Texas. She came and taught a Saturday Art Special at our local art league. She's a delightful lady, and I love watching her paint. It's "magic". :)
Beautiful! Can't you just hear the monkeys scrambling through the rain forest? How fun!

Crowns

Mother and I went to see Crowns, presented by our local Brazosport Center Stages, this afternoon, and it was a delight! The story? "a moving and celebratory musical play in which hats become a springboard for an exploration of black history and identity as seen through the eyes of a young black woman. After her brother is killed in Brooklyn, she travels down South to stay with her aunt. The conclusion finds the stand-offish young woman, whose cultural identity as a young black Brooklyn woman has been so at odds with the more traditional and older southern blacks, embracing hats and their cultural significance as part of her own fiercely independent identity. Gospel music and dance underscore and support the narrative" (that's the write-up out of program, in case you wondered!). The show was beautifully done, so funny in places that I laughed til I cried, then so moving in places that I cried again. Mother and I both enjoyed a Sunday afternoon learning about another culture, and allowing ourselves to be moved by someone else's story. Good stuff! And some really talented local folks! Congratulations on a job very well done!

Artist Way Circle

We have started an Artist Way Circle at our local art league, and we had our first meeting today. It was a beautiful group of women, all eager to come together and help each other live creatively. There was an eagerness to learn and engage that was palpable. I'm glad to be part of this group. It feels "alive".

Beginning collage

It's a cold, rainy, winter, Sunday afternoon. I've been wanting to try my hand at collage painting, so there's no time to start like the present. A friend suggested I cut out colored paper and objects, glue them to a hard-back surface, enlarge them to full-size watercolor sheets, and paint them. I've been wanting to break out of my box, so this sounds like it could be a start. It's intimidating--all the colored pages, all the pictures--my right brain hasn't clicked in yet. It's still trying to figure out what might work. But at least it's a move in a different direction. I understand that sometimes it takes H.C. Dodd a couple of weeks to work up a mock-up, so I still have time. Patience, Sheila!