Wishing you blessings and joy!

Wishing you blessings and joy this Sacred Season.

May the New Year bring peace and 

contentment to you and yours.

::  ::  ::

My Fine Art website

I have updated my Fine Art website. 

Clicking on the image below will take you to the home page.

          If you would like to receive my Fine Art newsletters, click here to subscribe. 

Blueberry Dress

oil on panel  |  12 x 9

Another painting I have been thinking about for a long time. She loved being in this dress and the thought still makes her smile. The painting is a birthday gift that will be delivered when framed. Her birthday is the same week as one of her sisters, the model in Ready to Go posted on October 13th.

The models, Sophia in Ready to Go and Annalisa in Blueberry Dress, with Gala, their mom—who is also one of my daughters. Very good company!

46th National River Road Show — Baton Rouge

The Mid-Day Meal. posted on September 30th, is one of 75 paintings accepted into the 46th National River Road Show. The exhibition opens Friday, December 4th and runs through Tuesday, December 29th. 

Louisiana State Archives Building, 

home of the annual River Road Show

Ready to Go

oil on panel  |  12 x 9

Something I have been wanting to paint for a long time, quite long . . . she is now in college! The painting is a gift for her 21st birthday. It will be delivered when dry and framed. 

She saw the painting when she came to visit last week with her sisters. Huge smiles! All three of them like it.

They came with a combination of homework and sketchbooks. We spent the afternoon around the family room table.  

After a while I brought out some of my favorite art books to share. Great way to spend the afternoon.

The Mid-Day Meal

The Mid-Day Meal

oil on panel  |  12 x 9

Once a month I met with a few of my colleagues. We critique our recent paintings and have lunch together. Interesting conversation and much laughter seems to always be part of our time together. On this day, I loved the colors and shapes on the table, the trees outside and the body langue of two of my friends. Seemed like a painting to me.

Fast Break

oil on panel  |  8 x 10  

My intention was to paint players in motion. I was pleased with this attempt and framed it. The painting is now in the collection of the player in green—a gift on her 16th birthday. 

Katisha

 Katisha

oil on panel  |  14 x 14

Christine Goff as Katisha in the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society's Mikado, is one of the paintings showcased in the National Association of Women Artists 126th Annual Exhibition in New York City.

Maha Greetings

Maha Greetings

oil on panel  |  9 x 12

This is one of those paintings that slowly evolved. I wanted to create the atmosphere of this room, with the good company one finds here. It took a while to create something that pleased me. This does.

The painting has joined a private collection. 

Summer Impressions

Wu Cha: Afternoon Tea

oil on canvas  |  30 x 24

A WPW members show juried by Anne Schreivogl

June 5th - August 4th  2015

I have just learned Wu Cha: Afternoon Tea has won an award in this exhibition!

Opening festivities Friday June 5th

Private reception for WPW artists and guests  5-6 pm

Gallery Walk is open to the public 6-9 pm

Scott Milo Gallery

420 Commercial Avenue  |  Anacortes  WA  98221

Larson Gallery Visual Voices reception

Receiving Best of Show award for Namaste from Helen Drummond and Judith Heim.

Artists: Mia Schulte, Rita Gesinger, Yvonne Pepin-Wakefield, Judith Heim, 

Elizabeth Kincaid, Beverley Shaw-Starkovich, Nancy Rothwelll, Helen Drummond, 

Marsha Lippert, Marilyn Webberley and Carole Barrer. 

The photos in this posting are by Gary Miller. 

His book, Visual Voices, is a collection of photos from the 

closing reception of this exhibition on February 21, 2015.

 The book can be previewed or purchased by clicking here. 

Best of Show!

Namaste has won Best of Show in The Visual Voices exhibition,
Larson Gallery, Yakima WA. Exhibition information is given in the post below.

oil on canvas  |  36 x 18"  |  click on image to enlarge

Visual Voices

      

    

The Frye Cafe, Namaste and My Red Bow 
have been juried into Visual Voices. 

I have just learned Namaste has won Best of Show!

An exhibition catalog, Visual Voices: Women Painters of Washington, by David Lynx and translated into Spanish by Ricardo Chama, will be made available to participating classes in Spanish, English, Art, and Humanities classes. Library of Congress Control Number:  2014917019.  ISBN: 978-0-9894446-2-0

Larson Gallery | Yakima Valley Community College
16th & Nob Hill Boulevard | Yakima WA
January 15 - February 21, 2015

Closing reception for the public at the Larson Gallery 
February 21, 2015, from 3 to 5 pm.

::

Wishing you blessings and joy!

Wishing you blessings and joy this Sacred Season. 

May the New Year bring delight, 

abundance and contentment 

to you and yours.

:: :: ::

Around the World Blog Hop

I am honored to have been invited by my friend, Barbara Benedetti Newton, to participate in Around the World Blog Hop. I enjoy Barbara's work and the avenues it has taken—fashion illustration, then award-winning colored pencil and pastel works, and on to oil paintings. I am sharing two of her pieces below, a fashion illustration from long ago and a new landscape.

And now for the Blog Hop questions . . . 

1. What am I working on? 
I have spent the last year revising Books, Boxes & Wraps: Binding & Building Step-by-Step. More projects and illustrations, more working tips, tools and sources, long days at the computer, and at last, the second edition is available from my website, linked to the title above. The book is also available on Amazon in the UK and Europe, and will soon be on Amazon in the USA. I have just started to paint again and am absorbed in the wonders of color. Far Away, my first painting since the book, is now in the National Association of Women Artists 125th Annual Exhibition in NYC.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
My work differs from others of its genre because of how I sense my environment.

3. Why do I create what I do?
My creative work has changed several times over the years due to life circumstances. Soon after I graduated from college, I was offered two jobs the same week, one as an illustrator with a downtown Seattle ad agency, the other—an offer from the editors of Vogue magazine to be one of their models in the Vogue Fashion Pavilion the Seattle Worlds' Fair Century 21. I set artwork aside and took Vogue's offer and continued modeling in Seattle for six years.

During that time I had children. Oil painting had been my favored medium. However, with young children, I no longer had large blocks of uninterrupted time. Nor did I have racks where wet panels could dry out of reach of little hands. So my oil tubes and brushes went in a box in the garage for 16 years. I sketched in ink and watercolor and I took up calligraphy.

By the mid 1980's the children were older, my oil paints came back inside and I fell in love with color and light at a much deeper level. I strive to capture the beauty and joy in my surroundings through color patterns, values and temperature.

Century 21 in evening light

Hair  watercolor on paper

Sally's Roses   oil on canvas   22 x 28

Far Away   oil on panel   14 x 14

4. How does my creating process work?
It begins with heart-touching moments, the way colors change as light falls across objects, people, a landscape. In Far Away it was the shapes formed by the way she was sitting that first caught my attention. I also loved the color combinations and the negative space created behind her. She was so absorbed in the story, she was unaware I was watching her.

I shoot my own reference photos and also paint from life. I usually sketch the composition in thin paint directly on the panel or canvas. Sometimes I work out several compositions in rough sketches on paper first. I like painting wet in wet and just keep going. Sometimes I work on a piece for several days to a week. Then there are those times when a painting takes weeks or months to finish. I get to a point and know there is hope, but not quite sure what needs to happen next. At those times the best move is to set the work aside for a while. After I haven't seen it for a several weeks (or months) it is often instantly clear what needs to happen. That is when I continue.

And now, here are the artists I have invited to blog next Monday, November 11th.

1. Sue Gill Rose is an acrylic and watercolor painter and a dear friend. We met through Women Painters of Washington. I love the patterns she creates in her work. Each month we get together with several other artists, to critique each others' paintings, have lunch and share lots of laughs.

The Green Man

2. Faye Castle is a friend I met years ago at the Puget Sound Art League. We have spent many hours painting and drawing together from life: nude and costumed models, still life and landscapes. We have also sketched together in Seattle's famous Pike Place Market and coffee shops.

Destination, Roslyn on the other side of the pass