Happy Birthday Jesus

We are moved and well on our way to being settled into our new home.  I'm so grateful we can celebrate Christmas dinner, here in our home with some of our family.  I created this card for the Gateway East Artist Guild Christmas card contest and it is sitting in my bottle brush creche.  It says it all for me this Joyous Christmas morning ....

A "Moving" Abstract!

My studio has been reduced to labeled cardboard boxes waiting to be transported this weekend on the U-Haul.    We should get possession of our new home on December 17th and as soon as I can, I'll unpack the boxes and work at organizing my new studio that is greatly reduced in size from what I've enjoyed here in this home.  It's good to have to go through and clean out what is superfluous and realizing that what I thought I couldn't part with, I actually could.  I look forward to a new beginning in my art along with our new life in new surroundings and discovering a new art world.

My last evening with the Gateway East Artist Guild in Belleville, Il, that has been a big part of my life for 9 years, was very special.  It was the annual Christmas Party,  My friends totally surprised me with a lovely framed collage of photos of the guild members and messages written on the matt that will hang in a special spot in my new studio.  I was also very surprised that that I was awarded with the Artist of the Year plaque. It was a great way to say good bye.

The house is all packed, so I had time to create a useful work of "art" - a layout of our new home, with scale to size pieces of paper that represent our furniture.  Hopefully this will make moving in easier!

"Moving" Art

Finally our house is sold and we have bought our retirement home and we're in the process of packing.  Going from a pretty large home to one that is half the square footage is a challenge and it's forcing us to downsize in a serious way!  It would be a lot easier to move if I didn't have so many watercolor and porcelain art supplies as well as all the paintings and hand painted porcelain.  No time for watercolors these days.  My art consists of packing and color coding the boxes to organize the move.  At least Duct tapes comes in a lovely palette of colors!

No Loose Ends

Abstract paintings are not something I've done very often.  I read something the other day from the Bible in the book of Isaiah that inferred with God, we won't be at loose ends.  We may be holding on to pieces of life like strings, ribbon or yarn,  that don't necessarily make sense in time in space, but in eternity there is a coming together.  It's like the perspective of looking at the two parallel lines of railroad tracts.  They don't seem to meet, but looking off in the distance they join as one.

Looking at this image may evoke other interpretations to someone else.  That's the beauty of abstraction.

Nature's Pallette

A couple of years ago during a trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan, I took dozens of photos of outstanding fall color.  From trees to fields to still ponds reflecting color like a palette, compliment and analogous color combinations were everywhere to be found.  God paints scenes for us in every season, at every hour of the day in  harmonious palette combinations that we have to study to reproduce. I decided to paint this on clayboard and I forgot what a delight it is to lay transparent watercolor on this surface. This was painted from one of those inspirations photos I've kept in mind to paint "one of these days."  Today was the day.

Re-creating

Edwardsville Art Center requested some smaller watercolors to have original art in the gift shop area.  So I went through the inventory I had on hand looking for autumn subjects that could be cropped and collaged from 16" x 20" to create 11" x 14" matted paintings.  I did enjoy re-creating from paintings that I enjoyed creating the first time!  Here are the results.

Athena - Dog Portrait

Painting animal portraits is a challenge because owners know their animals and it's important to catch the likeness.  After painting our own canine family member, Peaches, and the pair of kittens, I was asked to paint a portrait of this beautiful dog, Athena.  The reference photo was perfect inspiration and I enjoyed painting her with what I've been told is one of her favorite toys, a frisbee.  Apparently Athena is dealing with declining health and a friend of her owner wanted to offer her a gift to remember.  I hope when she looks at this painting that it will bring her wonderful memories of her cherished pet.

Greenville Art Walk

Friday evening is the Greenville Artwalk, in Greenville Illinois.  Get the details on the website and come on out! http://www.ocgart.org/artwalk_artists

Louisiana, Missouri Plein Aire Paint Out

What a weekend!  Five of us set out Saturday morning at 6:00am from Maryville, Illinois for the Louisiana, Missouri Plein Aire Paint Out.  We ladies decided we could write a book about our mishaps from our two cars being stopped at a speed trap in Foley, Missouri to the tune of $187.00 each,  to finding our way in the dark to our evening lodging destinations.  But we can still say we had a wonderful experience.  The Louisiana Chamber of Commerce organized this first ever paint out for their town and there was great community participation from a warm welcome to box lunches, a nice wine/cheese awards event to lodging in the homes of residents.  To top it off, my little painting of 3rd Street was purchased for $100 at the evening event.

Getting back to porcelain painting

Porcelain painting is where art really began for me over 45 years ago.  This summer I  set aside my watercolor brushes for a few days and painted a porcelain vase for a wedding present and these mugs for my daughter. The fragrance of the essential oils of lavender and cloves in the painting medium bring me back to the days when porcelain painting, not watercolors, was my passion.  It was interesting to see how my watercolor painting has influenced my porcelain painting as well.  For years it's been the opposite.

Along the banks of the Mississippi

Yesterday I joined a group of friends who paint with artist Gene Ursprung to paint plein aire at the Migratory Bird Sanctuary on the Mississippi on the Missouri side across from the Alton bridge.  What a wonderful spot that I didn't know existed.  There is a visitor's center built by the army corp of engineers, some picnic tables and plenty of sites to view the river and the migratory birds.  We didn't see birds, but we were concentrating on painting the sky, the shore lines and the poplars.  It's a place I want to take Steve and maybe Peaches to visit.

Fur Ball

Now I've turned to painting cats.  In my photo files I have pictures I took of these kittens curled up on a chair.  They were laying there in an apple farm market stand and I couldn't resist taking their photo, I just never did anything with it until now. Since I enjoyedpainting Peaches, I decided to see if I could paint fluffy cats.  It's a work in process, but nearly finished.

Peaches in the Pond

Now that I've taken courage in hand and painted Peaches once as a puppy, I decided to paint her as she is today, 2 1/2 years later.  Apart from being with her master,  Steve, her biggest joy is wading through Steve's fish pond and batting the frogs and goldfish.  They get away, but she loves to jump in and walk the length of the pond with her eyes searching every inch. She wades the 18 foot length of the pond walks around in the end, jumps out and heads to the waterfall end to jump in and begin all over again. She has a great time, but since she is an indoor dog, the battle is constant to keep her from smelling like the pond!   Today she was a bit obsessive/compulsive in her behavior, but it kept her from barking at me while I swam in our swimming pool next to the pond.   So here she is, Peaches in the Pond.

Life is a Bed of Violets

St. Louis based Gateway Pet Guardians is having a "Soiree for Strays" fundraiser for pet rescue.  I generally shy away from painting animals, but decided to take my courage in hand and try something I don't feel confident in painting.  Give me a rose - I can paint it in a 100 ways - a pet?  That's a different story.  But I took this photo of our darling Peaches, a border collie mix, the first day we brought her home from the St. Francois Society in St. Louis and her eyes in that photo always spoke to me.  I would take her on a leash out the front door because without a leash, she would go hide in the bushes.  On the leash I could keep her nearer to me as she adjusted to her new surroundings.  She loved laying in the bed of violets and painter's palette.   She was so shy and timid.....for a week.  Then she became the ruling royalty of the house (in her mind and in my husband's as well!)  Peaches is now two and a half years old and thriving, trying to energize her owners who happen to be senior citizens who love her dearly, but have a hard time keeping up with her energy level!

I could have chosen several titles for this painting - "Saving Miss Daisy" because that was her name when we adopted her, or "Peaches in the Violets" or "Home at Last" - but I think "Life is a bed of Violets" describes pretty well the life she now lives as part of our family.

The Haskell Playhouse

Yesterday I joined some other plein air painters and art instructor Gene Ursprung, and spent the morning painting the historical Haskell Playhouse in Alton, Illinois.  The playhouse was built for Lucy Jane Haskell, the daughter of Dr.William Haskell by her grandfather, John Hayner, a wealthy financier and philanthropist.  The grandfather commissioned an Alton architect to design and build this beautiful playhouse which is in the style of Queen Anne Stick,  for Lucy's 5th birthday which was July 29, 1985.  Lucy Jane Haskell died at the age of nine of "black dptheria' just four years after the playhouse was built.  Following Lucy's mother's death in 1932 the family home, 6.4 acres of land and the playhouse were bequeathed to the city of Alton to be used as a playground and facility for children.

We all enjoyed painting in the lovely surroundings until it began to get too hot and broke up our painting party and enjoyed lunch and art conversation around the table.  What a great day!

Mural Reception

There was a wonderful reception at Friendship House on Tuesday for the completion of the mural, On the Banks of the Wabash.  Many residents and friends attended as well as the local TV station.  A short human interest bite about the mural including and interview with mom appeared on three evening news broadcasts.  It was a great finish to a wonderful experience.

The Absolute Final Mural Photos

It is a challenge to take a photo of a painting 17 feet long.  This afternoon my mom and sister helped hold lamps to light the corners of the mural so we could get a better photo.  Then I took some final photos of the details of the painting adding St. Mary's Church and some wildlife.  This has been such a rewarding experience.  We are looking forward to the dedication coffee this Tuesday morning at Friendship House.

Creation of the mural "On Banks of the Wabash"

It is finished!  Mom and I spent eight hours today completing our mural project on the dining room wall of Friendship House.  There will be a reception next Tuesday morning, August 14th from 10;00 - 11:00 in the dining room to present the mural to the public.  The residents have given wonderful input all along the way.  Mom and I added things we had not thought of, wild turkeys, a cardinal, turbine windmills, and a vignette of Friendship House itself.  What a memorable experience to share with my dear mom.  Enjoy the photos.

Close up views of some of the details....