I know why..... New Class Week 2

I think I know why I am not happy with my landscapes. TOO MUCH GREEN. Because of all the rain we have received in Ohio this spring and summer. Everything is way too GREEN. It is boring in art to have one color.

But I truly am enjoying the experience of making art outdoors and find it very peaceful.

Here is last night's effort.... now if I would have just moved the two trees to the right..... I do like the misty quality of the left hand side, where it recedes (as it should). I like the darks at the bottom of the forest. And my sky pretty much looks like it did after that huge thunderstorm went through.

New Class, New Medium

I am taking a new class this month, as a break from watercolors. The Delaware Arts Castle offered a class of "Plein Air in the Parks" with Angela Gage. We are meeting at a couple brand new parks in Delaware County. Last night, we were at Gallant Woods Nature Preserve. I decided to try my hand at pastels again. Its been nearly 35 years (WHAT?? has it been that long??) since I used pastels in high school. Angela has experience with pastels and she was very helpful getting me started again. Some of the other students used oils, pastels, and watercolors.

Here is what I accomplished and the photo I took of the scene. The paper is orange and you can see, it is not finished. I need to try to be less detailed and get larger swathes of color down.

Exhibit at Market Mortgage

I am having a duo exhibit with my friend Erma Pierce at the Market Mortgage on E Wilson Bridge Road in July. Market Mortgage graciously allows members of the Worthington Art League to hang monthly art shows in their lobby. We will be hanging our exhibit this Thursday. I will try to remember to take my camera for photos to post here, but if you are in the Columbus area, please take time to stop during normal business hours and view the show!

Painting of the Week - Metal Bowl with Grape Earrings

Painting of the Week - Cowboy Hat

Painting of the Week - Sun Dial

Getting Back in the Groove

Watercolor classes started up again last week. I started this in class, but didn't finish. Last night, I played around with adding soft pastels on top to finish it. I like it, but I need to loosen up and get that soft watercolor style back.

"Art" on You-Tube

This is really cute:

Gardening

Below is my veggie garden. Roma Grape tomatoes with basil and summer squash for me. Catnip and grass for Spanky.

Clematis on the garden gate.



Front porch shade garden.

Wegerzyn Gardens - Dayton Ohio

Wegerzyn Gardens in Dayton. Garden 'rooms' and Children's Discovery Gardens.
(As always, you can click on a picture to see a larger view.)

Drawing Class - Week 6

Last class. We were to make sketches from photos using markers and/or gouache.

Drawing Class - Week 5, Portraits

Doesn't look much like the guy in the photo for the assignment, but not bad.

Drawing Class - Week 4

I haven't had much to share from drawing class. Just alot of quick sketches.

I did this one last night at home. It was 'homework' for tonight's class.

Drawing Class

We played with charcoal last night. I had forgotten how much I enjoy using charcoal and pastels.

Spring At Inniswood Metro Park

Fun With Ebay / Painting on Hold

I had great fun selling my art quilts on Ebay. I sold a total of 41 pieces and although they didn't all sell for my market price, I am happy. Feels good to purge things that were just hiding in storage under the bed. I kept my favorites, of course.

Painting class is on hold. My teacher, Stan is ill and will probably need heart surgery in a couple months. Wishing him a speedy recovery. When time allows, I will get the paints out on my own.

Next week I start a drawing class with my previous teacher, Charlie. Looking forward to that and will probably post scans from that class soon.

Spring finally seems to be taking hold over Winter, so here is an old springlike picture of mine from Inniswood Metro park to brighten the blog.

What Happened?

Saw this light pole on Polaris Parkway and thought it was really funny....
'Did you see that? Somebody hit me!"

Painting of the Week - Blue Leaf Rose

Experiment with a neutral background and an unexpected color palette.

Widowed..... No, single

I have been a widow for 3 yrs today. When do I quit using the term 'widow'? Maybe today would be good. Just 'single' now.

Snowed In

And plowed out:

Painting of the Week - Black and White Study

Our task last night was to paint in shades of grey, which is more difficult than it sounds. I was happy with the result. Because I was working on paper larger than my desk color scanner, the first image is a merge of two color scans using Photoshop. The bottom two images are from my work network copier/scanner which scans only in a black and white, in different resolution. All are very interesting when viewed online. (As always, click on pictures for a bigger view.)