Merry Christmas

No, I didn't disappear off the face of the earth. There has been lots of travel and some commission work that I couldn't talk about. Then there was the daughter's wedding and all the preparations that entails. Oh, and the house fire two weeks before the wedding. There will be more on that later. There will eventually be photos but not quite yet.

There hasn't been much artwork being created in the past few months... the house has seen to that! We were struck by lightning in September and are in the process of rebuilding. Hopefully, all will be put to rights by the end of January and we can go home again. That day can't happen too soon!

Even before all of activities of the past several months, I contemplated making some changes in how, when & why I made art. There will certainly be some new art paths to be explored in the coming new year so some back then to see where this leads.

Until then, may you have a peaceful Holiday Season.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

Water Dance

This was the last watercolor batik class I taught. It is such fun to get to that embellishment stage and play with heat guns, embossing tools & stamps, scissors & glue! Takes me back to grade school fun - who didn't have fun with scissors, paper & paste? (class photo courtesy of Pam Richards - thanks Pam!)

What's Coming in July!

A few posts back I alluded to different projects in process. This is part of what has been in the works! I was accepted to teach at the Artist Expo Houston this coming July!! I have two classes scheduled and can't wait to get started. Margot has taught at this excellent convention every year since its inception and she will be having a booth on the trade floor as well as teaching. Would love to see you there!

Happy Valentine to You

In January, one of my painting chapter's members taught a workshop on creating your own lace patterns using found objects. This is what I did with that information and I am quite pleased with the results. Instead of using cream or white for the lace, I used the lightest color in the roses - a FolkArt color called Spring Rose. It gives a softer, more delicate look to the lace. There are also several weddings on the horizon so I painted this on a photo album cover. Wouldn't it be a great place to store all those wedding details?

So here is my Valentine to you!!

Cowgirl UP! for 2011

Happy New Year to everyone!

I love the change in perspective a new year brings! It isn't just another day - we tend to view it as a fresh beginning and a time of reflection. Perhaps we welcome it so due to the seasonal excess that has been happening for the past weeks.

So I want to make this first week of the year my point of "reflection" for the upcoming year. And I want to make my primary focus this year center on the idea of "creativity." Most of this focus will be on painting but creativity comes in all forms and I want to document my journey for myself as well as for you.

Last Painting Project of 2010

Is everyone done with their end of year painting? I just finished my last piece today. It will be a present under the Christmas tree. And I finally finished another bucket that went to someone special. This bucket is for my boss to take to his cabin. The name of the cabin is Cloud Crossing and has some of the features of the original bucket. Lordy, those things take awhile to paint!! Glad this one is finished and off to its new home.

May everyone have a special holiday season - see you in 2011!

Hugs from my house to yours!!

Student and Teacher

Being a student is just as important as being a teacher. And I try to take as many classes as possible so I can continue to learn. Classes might be on any topic - mixed media, oils, watercolor, fired glass - just about anything is fair game and what I learn while being a student hopefully makes me a better teacher. And teaching also helps me learn and increases my own understanding of the subject matter.

Our chapter was fortunate to have Janelle Johnson give a seminar in October. I was only able to take the one day but learned so much! Janelle is an excellent teacher and has an extensive list of colored pencil packets to choose from. And her hand dyed parchment paper is a lovely working surface - love it!

The best part? I have a finished & framed piece to call my own!!

Spooktacular 2010

I love dressing for Halloween and enjoy creating something unusual for the event. With luck there will be a party or two to attend as well. This year, we went as The Ghouls. Of course, I have to dress again for the kiddies!

New Roses

This past weekend our local painting chapter held one of our fundraisers - the annual container auction. It is always fun to see what artists create with a container theme and this year didn't dissapoint! I will show what I came away with a bit later but wanted to show part of what I created for my auction pieces. Here is a peek at what I created for this event.

Time for Plan B!

Saturday was my Harvest Moon class at Unique Glass Colors. I pulled in and there was a police car there with Harold, Margot's husband. Someone had cut the junction box power lines going into the building complex - evidently thieves had cut & stripped the wires for the copper content! This is such a horrible thing to deal with - the loss of time & energy to put everything to rights - plus the expense - is incalculable! My sympathy to them as everything is repaired!!

But what to do? I have students on the way!!! At first I was going to cancel the class & try to reschedule another day so I started calling my students. Nancy "volunteered" her cousin's house. And, since her cousin was already in the class, I took her up on it. Fortunately, the class consisted of Nancy's family so this solution worked quite nicely. Thanks Ann-Marie & Tim for such quick work making space for the class!

The class worked out fine & everyone had wonderful paintings at the end of the day! I love teaching this class - each painting is so different from the next.