"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.