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Basic Drawing workshops in May

Monday, April 26th, 2010

Iris, 24 x 18 inches Oil Pastels on paper

Basic Drawing and Color Play

Workshops

Dates:
1) Saturday, May 15th 10:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
2) Saturday, May 22nd 10:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Ages: Young adult (16) – Adult – Seniors

Experience Level:
Beginners to Experienced Artists, maximum number of participants: 6

The Workshop:
We will sketch simple objects using a variety of loosening-up techniques, graduating to a more complex still-life arrangement, fun with color, then a longer study period in the afternoon.
Supplies:
Bring favorite reference photos or items that you’d like to study, sketchpad and supplies that you usually work with. A variety of papers and drawing supplies will be on hand to experiment with during class. Also bring beverage and lunch.

Fees:
Registration (pre-paid) – $50.00 Oxide Gallery 501 West Hickory St., Denton, Texas 940-483-8900

Registration Deadlines:
March 12th and March 19th – Maximum Students per Class 6

Dancing With Trees Art list for Madison, WI

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Paintings as shown are not to scale in comparison to one another

The Dancing With Trees Art Exhibition celebrates the importance of trees and forests throughout history, portraying their diversity and relationships through a variety of creative associations. Twenty three of the paintings in this collection are on exhibit in the Steinhauer Trust Gallery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, May 1st through June 30th, 2010. Opening Reception Saturday May 1st, 12:45 – 4:00 p.m.

All life forms on this planet proliferated, continue to flourish, and ultimately depend on the existence of trees. While the message is urgent, I consider humanity’s role on the planet as positive, with the statement that creativity is our greatest asset; that “Our carbon footprint is worthy”. Further, creative thinking is our most primal, yet highly advanced and ever-evolving contribution toward solutions to healing wrongs done and changing ingrained habits to ones that are more appreciative of the environment in general.

Purchase Art here

Norway Maple: finished, combined posts

Friday, April 9th, 2010

Norway Maple, 36H x 48W x 3D inches acrylics, gel paste on canvas, wrapped sides painted, navy colored narrow frame.

Thumbnails: Combined, edited posts of progression between Dec. 8th, 2009 – March, 2010. Started December 8th, 2009: modeling gel is available in varied textures, finishes and viscosity. Acrylics paint can be mixed with the medium or when dry paint can be applied over top. 3) January 18th, 2010: applying modeling paste to the base painting and sculpting with a small trowel.

Jan. 28th:– used a dry brush so paint would catch mostly on the textures, and kept the feeling soft. Intentions are to maintain the fresh pure colors. Studied from a distance for about a week after this stage to contemplate what the next move will be.

Feb. 27th: lighter background colors were added in order to open up the space.

Feb. 28th: Adding a solid patch of turquoise to lower left and some tiny details like that may ground the whole thing, but that’s about it; am leaving it out of sight for a while. This really is a carnival of color, I love it!
March 9th: Subtle changes since last post…have been working more on tones in the background which weren’t planned initially; I had hoped to use only pure colors without the usual layering, but it’s otherwise too hard to look at. Also am connecting a few shapes horizontally, and it’s almost “there”, but ‘2D Pinecone’ was started in the meantime to avoid overworking this.
March 6th: Thanks, Virginia for taking the time to write and digitize a detailed, objective critique. I sure appreciate your opinion about what might improve this.

Merging Visions Exhibition

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Milkweed Melody, 27H x 33W inches framed Oil Pastels on 140 lb cold pressed premium watercolor paper. Has brassy-gold frame painted with an extension of the drawing.

Partnering with poet Christina Smith and her poem, Earth’s Love Song Milkweed Melody is showing April 1st – 30th at the VAST (Visual Arts Society of Texas) and Denton Poets Assembly collaborative event, Merging Visions Exhibition, with art and poetry at both the Emily Fowler and North Branch Libraries, Denton, Texas. Opening Receptions Saturday, April 17th 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. at Emily Fowler and 1 – 3 p.m. at North Branch

Viper’s Bugloss

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Viper’s Bugloss, 18H x 24W inches soft pastels on paper.

It’s tempting to pick these for wildflower bouquets, but the plant is very irritating to the skin, so are best enjoyed left where they are, growing en masse in summer fields beside the highways in eastern Ontario, Canada.

I was curious about the name… according to the Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism edited by Michael Stuart (c. 1979, 1987 ISBN 0-9999-48911), they were formerly one of the most respected plants used for the treatment of viper’s snake bite venom.

Little pen sketch

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Marie Lake Campsite, Alberta, 8 x 10 inches pen on paper

Good things come in threes

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Cycad Fossil Chair, Salish NW Pacific culture wooden whorl replica Chair, and Ancient Mayan bowl replica refurbished vintage chair, 29 x 29 x 29 inches mixed media. Read the feature article.

On exhibit and available for purchase February 11th – 27th at Visual Image Fine Art Puiblishing and Gallery Juried Show, 14320 Midway Road, Suite 300, Dallas, Texas. Come and meet all the Artists at the Opening Reception this coming Saturday, Feb. 13th, 3 – 9 p.m.

Good Artist Pals also come in threes

Some friendships will last forever, and how fortunate that three of mine also happen to be artists! Listed in no particular order of favoritism, each are miles apart geographically speaking and personality-wise, but they all have one thing in common: they’ll tell it like it is if you ever need a good critique, and on the flip side of the coin: a smile, a boost of energy; encouragement. I’ve posted my favorite works created by each, and highly recommend browsing each of their websites..

a) Chris Bolmeier: Happy Pigs, Oil on canvas I met Chris on the internet three years ago through Robert Genn’s Painter’s Keys newsletters. Formerly an actress and professional singer, she’s not through yet with entertaining you through humour, song and paint. She often posts mini-videos of herself singing, and her artwork is pure, straight from the gut, and some of the funniest, most original material ever. I chose this piece to share as an absolute favorite, portraying fanatically goofy pigs because it makes me laugh…not just smile, but laugh Christerically every time I look at it. In my opinion her best work is of childhood memories, and some of the baffling stuff that originates from who knows where in the infinite canvas of her mind!

b) Karen Xarchos: Restaurant mural in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Karen and I were neighbors many years ago. We designed and painted murals together in the Ottawa area for a couple of years. Thank goodness for the internet, we’re able to keep in touch when either of us needs a good eye and some honest advice. Karen’s style and mine are vastly different; our pace, the style, the manner and we continue to learn so much from each other. She reminds me to slow down and smell the paint; her blending techniques are amazing.

Karen accepts commissions for canvas pieces like wall borders painted at home, then cleverly installs them with wallpaper paste so home owners can remove the work and take it with them when they relocate. My favorite work of Karen’s are the murals depicting work of the Masters, which are enjoyed by customers dining in many of the Greek and Italian restaurants in the Ottawa area.

c) Virginia Wieringa: Prayer, mixed media collage Virginia and I met about four years ago on an Artists’ interactive website, wetcanvas.com, and I think she still participates there under the avatar name “Veedubya”. I’m positive she’d love to meet you there too. Virginia has well-developed drawing and painting abilities and currently experiments intuitively with mixed media collage. Her work, no matter what the media, reflects her open-mindedness and strong sense of spirituality. Formerly an Art teacher, she’s fun to write to because she puts up with my inner-most silly self and doesn’t hold back her own. My favorite work of Virginia’s are the subtly symbolic collages, and some of the more vivid, energetic paintings that are about two phases pre-Realism.

Alberta Spruce

Friday, February 5th, 2010

Alberta Spruce, pen and ink, digital pen

I gave permission to a guy who was getting married and wanted to use it in a wine label for the special vintage he and his fiancé created for their special occasion. If people are so respectful to write and ask to use any of my art images, I usually say yes.

A Heart Filled to the Brim

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

A Heart Filled to the Brim, 36H x 48W x 2D inches, water soluble graphite, acrylics on canvas. On exhibit along with Polypore Fungi February through May at the Oxide Gallery, Denton, Texas

An excerpt from the song, I Don’t Believe by Paul Simon on the CD, Surprise:

I don’t believe a heart can be filled to the brim

then vanish like mist as though life were a whim.

Maybe the heart is part of the mist

And that’s all that there is and could ever exist.

A portrait of Alzheimer’s honoring my Grandmother, my Mother-in-law (whose portrait this is, and whose 80th birthday is in two days), and now recently my own Mother who is in the earliest stages; and with empathy for all those afflicted, including the families dealing with the awful emotional reverberations caused by this disease.

Here are a few websites providing information about Alzheimer’s Disease

http://www.alz.org/index.asp

http://www.alzheimersrxtreatment.com/learnaboutalz.html

http://www.alzheimers.org/

Learning to give critique

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Creating Art and talking about are truly two different ways of seeing; the theory of right and left-brain thinking is matter of fact. As an Artist it takes some effort to “switch brains” and reflect on the processes and progress of work in order to accompany my Art with writing on this blog, so I’m really impressed with the mature quality of the critiques given by students at Olive Stevens Elementary School of paintings on their school Art blog every month.

In collaboration with Oxide Gallery, the Denton school has started a blog where students – or anyone else actually – can give a critique of a different work of Art each month. This month the comments regard the recently finished Sounds of Silence, which is also at the gallery.