CHARLIE AND JOE

Nothing art related here – just a darling photo sent to me by my daughter.

This is a photo of her dog Charlie, my Granddog, (on the left!!!) – and Joe, her boyfriend. I think this is the cutest thing – and maybe I’ll paint it for them some day!

KILLDEER CHICKS

Killdeer are interesting birds – they make their “nest” by laying eggs on rocks and gravel, so we have a lot of them because we have lots (and lots!) of rocks and gravel! We had been watching a momma sitting on her nest – and she never moved whether the trucks went by, or the bulldozer, or the gator! Finally my husband informed me that Momma Killdeer had her chicks and I needed to come take some photos.

These are the photos – and yes, there is a chick in each one! And boy, are they quick! I took several shots of grass just trying to catch one of those little guys! Like baby chicks, killdeer are born “on the run” – and apparently with full plumage so they blend in for protection.

Enjoy – if you can see them!!!

GAYLYNN'S LEGENDARY SHOW!

Here is a photo of Gaylynn at her “Legendary Art Show”! The name comes from the complex where some of them live - on Legendary Way. (I get a giggle out of that name – makes me think along the lines of “the legendary Andrew Wyeth”!!!!! - but we can all aspire to become legendary, can't we!)
Anyway – very nice show with a good mix of mediums and styles. And it was nice to see Gaylynn’s paintings up close and personal rather than on the blog!!! She’s got some nice work! 
Re-met her parents and daughter - who was instructed to photograph me looking just like Raquel Welch - right down to the "Foster Grants"!
Sunday was a beautiful day here in the Greater Cincinnati area and I took my husband along for the ride. Of course he had to sample the vittles!! Then I had to treat him to a malted milk on the way home!
Art and food – doesn’t get much better than that!

NICK SIMMONS WORKSHOP

Well, if you ever need directions in Kettering, OH I can help! After being driven around there for 4 days this week I feel like I know the place – and it’s a beautiful area!
That’s where the Nick Simmons workshop was held – a great facility at Town and Country Mall – large, airy and well lit room with much natural light coming in through the plate glass windows fronting on the mall corridor.
Many thanks to Leonard Williams  for his hard work, as well as to Rosie Huart  and Karen Benedetti  – not only good artists but good bakers as well! Met several very nice ladies at the workshop, too, and reconnected with some others.
And it was so great to finally meet Nick Simmons in person!  I’ve heard so much about him over the past few years. (I have read articles about him and purchased his DVD – and he will have another one coming out soon!) He is a very giving teacher – no “secrets” held back. But just to make sure that I do not overstep my bounds - all I’m going to say is that I learned A LOT from this workshop (although you won’t be able to tell that from the paintings I made while there)!

My drawing taped and miskited

                                 

Working at it!

Also - seems that I left my SD card at home in my printer so I took an empty camera with me. (Not the brightest bulb!). These photos of my pathetic painting were sent to me by Rhonda so I could have something to show here!  We used Nick's reference and followed along - but, of course, they are all such different paintings!

You will have to click over to Rhonda’s blog to learn more of the specifics – she brought her camera and took lots of photos and you know what a great blogger she is!!!

We had a great time - learning, laughing, talking and eating!  My recommendations for any workshop (other than those that Rhonda spells out!) are to go ready to make a fool of yourself and laugh at yourself!  Sure, be ready to absorb what the instructor is teaching, but give yourself permission to have fun and not take yourself so seriously.  Absorb that special technique, the reason you came, and then figure out how to assimilate that technique into your own paintings.

My head is filled with ideas - we shall see how they actually come out on paper!

Friday I spent the entire day on the computer catching up with emails and other work related items, then off to a meeting in the evening. In other words, back to the grind!

BLOGS AND BLOGGERITES!

Joan Sandford-Cook
Joan hails from England and is not only a good artist but also quite a teacher. She always has some sketching and painting to show us, and she teaches all kinds of media – watercolor, pastel, pen and ink – you name it!! I love the travelogues of her part of England when she goes on a day trip. I always look forward to reading her blog.

Pablo Villicana Lara
Pablo doesn’t post often, but when he does you will be enthralled by his paintings - full of deep, rich color and vibrant sunlight and inspired by his cultural heritage. His portraits are spectacular!
You will be hard pressed to find a better watercolorist anywhere.

Gaylynn Robinson
Gaylynn doesn’t blog frequently, but when she does she will have something intriguing, uplifting or educational to talk about. I met Gaylynn at an art show where she was standing in front of my painting. When I walked up she introduced herself and told me that she admired my work and she frequented my blog. I was so excited – I had just met my first “bloggerite”!
Since then she has joined GCWS, taken one of my workshops, and we have seen each other frequently at other art venues and she has become a true Blog Friend!!!

BLOGS AND BLOGGERITES!

I’ll be at a workshop for the next few days – hope you miss me! In the mean time . . . .

In honor of my blogging friendships – from time to time  - I’ll be doing some short posts to feature my blog roll members (in no particular order!) If you haven’t done so already, check out their blogs.

Chris Beck
Chris is an accomplished artist and a signature member of TWSA, Watercolor West and Missouri Watercolor Society. She likes to paint small and I’ve been fortunate to see one of her paintings up close and personal!!! Amazing!!!
Apparently Chris is not busy enough painting and exhibiting – she also has TWO BLOGS! One is about her individually – “I’m Painting as Fast as I Can” where she shares her paintings and techniques.
The other is Brush-Paper-Water on which she so graciously features artists she knows and admires.
If you haven’t already done so – go check out both of them.

Jacqueline Gnott
I first saw Jacqueline’s work at the Madison, IN Chautauqua some years ago and have enjoyed her paintings ever since. If you enjoy photo realistic you will love her work - she’s GREAT! I was so happy to find her blog Realism in Watercolors and am enjoying seeing her daily paintings which are breathtaking. Recently she has begun painting in oils and they are just as spectacular as her watercolors – and I would not have expected anything less! Jacqueline also has begun producing videos so you can follow along with her as she produces some of her exquisite paintings.

Murr Brewster
This blog isn’t art related, but who cares!!  (Well, actually, it kind of is - she just paints with words instead of paint!!!)
 Murr Brewster blogs twice a week – and her posts are not to be missed! Put her on your blog roll and she will brighten your day! (DON’T DELAY, DO IT NOW!) And if you have never been to her blog, give yourself some time to go back over her older posts – it will be well worth your time! Just be sure that you are not ingesting anything while reading her blog, or you may find yourself in need of a damp rag to wipe up your computer area! She can be laugh out loud funny!

MY HOUSE SHOW

Here is an article written about the show I'm in at Art Beyond Boundaries:

http://www.adumbrationes.com/

After reading it I was impressed with myself!!!  (LOL)

YELLOW LILIES - FINALLY!

Here are the lilies – FINALLY!  They are finished as far as I’m concerned.
I did a value study (forgot to photo it, but I did really follow it for the violets).
Then I added darks in the rest of the centers, and added a violet for my darker areas as indicated in the value study, then let some of the violet run off the edges.

ANOTHER SHAKER VILLAGE

Just another quick post about the Shakers.

These photos are from the Shaker village in our area – about 20 minutes from my house. My husband and I had driven past these buildings a few years ago and I knew they were Shaker, but that’s all. Spending time in KY last week piqued my curiosity and we drove out there the other evening to take another look. I have learned that there is a group trying to restore the buildings.

At Shaker Village in KY there was a real village with most of the buildings in one central location. Here they are spread out into 3 separate “villages” a few miles apart, so I think it will be much harder for this group to get this organized for a tourist area. But, I love history and it’s really neat to realize that these buildings remain from the early 1800’s – there is even a cemetery that we will have to go back and explore.  And this building is the meeting house - single door (!) and one of the oldest brick Shaker buildings.

Just thought I’d share!

SHAKER VILLAGE

I spent 2 days last week at Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, KY with Rhonda and another friend. The trip involved a brown mouse, a heavy suitcase, lots of steps, lots of laughter, and getting lost several times – both in the Village which only has one main street (don’t ask!!!) and on the highway – due to a quirky GPS named Georgia!
The village dates from early 1800's to 1912.  The Shakers were innovators in construction and medicine, and the engineering of some of these buildings is amazing!
Even though we all went into and passed the same buildings and took lots of photos of the same things, all of our pictures are different (just like the same painting done by more than one person!) We also saw different items in some of the buildings and surprised each other when we passed our cameras around in the evening.
The weather was cool and rainy the first day, but we didn’t let that dampen our spirits. The second day dawned sunny and warmer.
I won’t bore you with all the details or all the photos (not enough room on the blog for that!!!), but here are a few you might find of interest.

One of the workers with a baby goat.  And, did you know that Rhonda can “bleat” just like a goat!!!

Looking down the middle of the street – that used to be KY 68 until the mid-60s when the village began to be renovated and the highway moved.

This is the main building in center of town - it is HUGE!  I climbed all the stairs to the top of the building which housed huge closets on the top floor for storing seasonal clothing - built in drawers and tons of pegs!  It also housed an infirmary, school room, kitchen and huge dining hall, and sleeping rooms - men on one side, women on the other. 

Beautiful double staircase in the huge and tall entry way; tall arched doorways to let in light and air; they even had windows in the closets to allow in light and air! 

Water house on left, which contains a huge round water tank up on stone pillars.  Water was pumped here and supplied the village water.  The water was inside to keep it clean; warm in winter and cool in summer!

The building on the right was the "brethren's" wash house.  We peeked in the door to see the old fashioned bath tubs (wonder how many others before us did the same thing!!!)

This building makes me think of the "log cabin" pattern that I used to make a quilt for my son many years ago.  I believe that it was also one of the dwellings.
The top photo is the meeting house - which has an unobstructed hall on the first floor.  The weight of the entire building is held by the huge wooden timbers on the 3rd floor, much like a suspension bridge!
This is where the Shakers held their meetings, which could range from 15 minutes or 23 hours!  They entered and sat on moveable benches and waited for "the spirit to move them".  We watched a presentation of one woman with an amazing voice who sang some of their songs and performed a few of their dances.  (The Shakers danced and sang for their worship and would allow visitors who sat around the sides of the hall).  When this woman performed the dance and stomped her feet, it hurt my ears.  She told us that there would have been hundreds of Shakers in that room at one time dancing - and that they could be heard 4 miles away!  They called themselves The Believers, but visitors who watched their dancing and "shaking" during worship coined the name "Shakers".
The floors in the building where we spent the night never even squeaked, nor did the stairs - after all these years (unlike the floors and stairs in my house!!!)
It was a lovely and informative and fun couple of days!

QUILT AND ROSES

NOTE: I realize that I’m jumping all over lately showing what I’m working on, but I’ve got a lot of starts that need to be finished, so I’m posting as I work on them – not very cohesive blogging!!! (sorry).
And I may be a bit terse in my replies, but I really do care about all of you who stop by here – just have a lot going on lately but still want to stay connected.

Talk about "speed kills" - you can see how slowly I'm getting my paintings finished lately!!!
This was another start from my fluid acrylics workshop at Cincinnati Art Club in February, and this one may be a keeper! I think it shows the softness of the folds of cloth and I made the roses red for my husband!

Red Roses on Grandma’s Quilt, Fluid Acrylic on 300# Arches

I also taught this painting at my recent weekend workshop, in case it looks a little familiar!