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.

Harvest Moon Class

This is my next watercolor batik class - The Harvest Moon. I love this painting and have taught it several times before. It lends itself to many color combinations and sizes which is something not all paintings can do. If you are in the Orlando area and want to give this a try just let me know! Class is Saturday, Sept 25.

Octopus

So here is the big picture of the octopus - did anyone guess what it was supposed to be? This is a Prismacolor pencil drawing of an octopus from one of my husband's underwater photos. He was in the right place at the right time and got some great photos before Mr. Octo scooted back to his camoflaged lair.

Birthday Present

My hubby's birthday is today - happy birthday dear! To celebrate I have created a new piece of art just for him. What can it be? Check back for the full reveal tomorrow - he hasn't seen it yet!!

Sandy the Seahorse Watercolor Batik Class

There were six wonderful students for my watercolor batik class yesterday! And they all did a wonderful job! Don't you think so?

Pat & Jeanette came from the other coast to paint with us - thanks ladies!! Nancy B. & Nancy M. were there, as well as Julie K. & Ivey. And there was chocolate covered bacon passed around & sampled. I think the milk chocolate won out over the dark.

Next up? Another class on Thursday!!

Morning Glory Cabin

I grew up in SE Tennessee right in the foothills of the Smokies so the opportunity to paint those mountains was special. This is a commission I have been working on for awhile. It is a rather large galvanized bucket. The scene wraps all the way around and I was given a list of items the painting had to include - a fly fisherman, a bicycle, a golfer, the cabin & a painted sign, the barn and old bridge near the property and deer. Fortunately, I had photos provided for the barn, bridge & cabin. Everything else I had to research. The morning glories were easy. I've painted those before and Ginger Edwards' books came to the rescue for reference.

Landscapes are not my usual painting subject so this was quite a challenge. And each element requested had to help tell the story & make sense. Eventually, everything seemed to work out and the whole piece ended up like a "Where's Waldo" puzzle - some of the elements are really small but they are all there!

So this challenge is ready to go to a new home today... what do you think?