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.