Masquerade Rose Part IV

For the final reveal...

Painting from your own still life set-up is a wonderful challenge. It teaches you so much about problem solving. Color, object placement, lighting, line of design and more! Each painting is a learning opportunity. Try it sometime!!

UPDATE: This painting just won first place in the First Annual Kingslan Art Classic! I am so excited!!

Masquerade Rose Part III

The variety of masks we found in Venice was astounding! There were way too many to choose from. One of my most favorite looked like some sort of laser cut metal. The delicate & precise cutting was so incredible - and expensive. Oh well, maybe on my next trip. In the end, I chose this lace mask. It was romantic & elegant with a hint of sparkle. Plus it was a lot of fun to paint - challenging but fun.

Masquerade Rose Part II

There was a masquerade party on the ship the night we left Venice. It was really fun to see all the different masks that everyone found - such variety! This is another piece to the painting. The full painting will be revealed shortly!!

Masquerade Rose Part I

During our trip to Italy last year, we carefully selected souvenirs that would remind us of those faraway places. Some souvenirs were of the edible kind such as olive oil from Croatia - which was a pleasant & lovely surprise. Rome was more about shopping for our Catholic friends at the Vatican, but my hubby did find a nice piece of leather for himself. There was lace from Burano, glass from Murano, and Venetian handmade paper and masks.

Venice was by far my most favorite city. The romance of the gondolas, the mystery of the masks, all the bridges, palaces and secluded courtyards were magical. Extra thought was used in selecting those special souvenirs from Venice because I knew they were coming home to be part of some future artwork. This photo is a small portion of my first painting of my memories of Venice. The rest will be posted as though a mask were being slowly removed... to reveal the Masquerade Rose.

Margot's White Roses

This is a new necklace I created for Margot. It features two of her gorgeous white roses and will be offered for sale as she rolls out her new painting DVD on how to paint these roses. I've had the privilege of painting with Margot for years & she is an incredibly gifted teacher! And I am so grateful for her friendship.

The necklace is something I created with the new Patera jewelry pieces, combined with crystals & freshwater pearls. This particular necklace is a limited edition - there will only be 50 of this design created. So if you want a necklace (and/or the DVD) let me know.

Right now I have two looming deadlines for this week - gotta get back to it!!!

Magnolias - a New Twist

Creating a new piece of art sometimes takes a great deal of time & effort. Preparing to teach that same piece of art takes even more time - prepping a pattern, writing instructions, taking clear photographs, and sometimes assembling all the materials needed! If you are really lucky, the finished work turns out even better than expected & becomes versatile as well.

This happened with the magnolia watercolor. Besides being a nice piece of art, I found out that the design can be reversed and the pattern divided into two separate paintings. Not only that but the design holds up to being reduced to a miniature size for making jewelry. It won't be mass produced - just a few individual pieces hand made. So if you are interested, please just ask!

Magnolias

I've been working on some new stuff as usual. This is a piece I finished last week just in time to take to my local painting chapter for show & tell. It will be the subject of my next watercolor batik class for later this month.

It is hard to believe that July is here and nearly half over! Before we know it, school will be starting and the holidays will be upon us again. I sat down to update my calendar for the last half of the year and was amazed (and a little frightened) of just how much is already on that list. How far out do you plan?

Back from Peoria

What a whirlwind of a week! Although my plans to blog from Peoria fell through - the internet connection was very difficult! - we had a great time!! Margot, Penny & I had a 2 room suite at the Staybridge and were quite comfortable. We did manage to just about walk our feet totally off and kept some crazy hours. We met up with fellow chapter members and got to spend time with Kate, a former chapter member who now lives in Colorado - Hi Kate!!

Here is a photo of Margot teaching the tulip class. Margot taught 2 classes and Penny and I had a full roster of classes - Penny & I even had a Sharon Hamilton class together on Tuesday. We learned new techniques & even new words - my new favorite word is Orpiment - what it does to a painting is magic!

Unfortunately, none of us passed our certification boards - but it is a learning process for sure! I already have my packet for next year and am already thinking about how to approach the exercise. Hopefully the others will join me in trying again.

Peoria is quite a lovely small city on the banks of a beautiful river. There was a Riverfest going on while we were there - if only there had been more time to explore a bit. The three of us did make it out to a really nice steakhouse on Saturday night - with Kate & some other painters (there were 9 of us total). This was the closest thing to a real meal we had seen pretty much all week - lovely salad bar & steak! There were grill stations set up in the different areas - you could cook your own or pay a small fee & someone else would cook it for you. Needless to say, after being on our feet for days we all opted to have someone else do the cooking!

Everyone had a great time and is looking forward to next year's convention in Wichita. Come join us!

Off to Peoria!

The bee was quite fitting to represent what is soon to happen - members of our local painting chapter will be winging our way to Peoria for a very busy week.

Next week is my annual conference with the Society of Decorative Painters, so I will be blogging on the road. I'm rooming with a couple of friends, so it tends to be a fun "girl's getaway" with a lot of hard work involved! There are lots of classes to take, other artist friends to make or catch up with old friends. There are several of us waiting to see if we passed a certification board - we find out Wednesday morning! And, of course, shopping!!! Can't miss that trade floor. There are also lots of different parties and the banquet on Friday night.

Come along and get a taste of what convention is like. My plan is to take lots of photos & post every day, so let's hope the laptop cooperates and the camera holds out!

See you in Peoria...

June at Mind Wide Open

Found the time between deadlines to submit another entry into the Mind Wide Open challenge again. Gail hosts a really great challenge each month - she supplies the image & then the creative frenzy begins! I created the cover for a small journal. It is a perfect place to jot down those little sayings that strike your fancy.

Check out all the entries at www.mind-wideopen.blogspot.com & vote, vote, vote!!