It’s Been Awhile

Donated to the Boatman Family auction and now in the collection of 

Dr. & Mrs. Phil Jackson.

Donated to the Kendall Ferrell Auction and Benefit.

Now in the collection of Greg and Stacy Cravens.

I have not posted in awhile - almost ten years! That’s a stretch of the words “in awhile”! During that time, there have been a few art projects here and there. I was privileged to teach children’s art to foster kids and other kiddos, as well as teach a couple of watercolor classes for adults. An illustration course through School of Visual Storytelling was a highlight for me to receive instruction in their Children’s Book Pro course, where we practiced our versions of known illustrations and learned how to develop our own characters, too. Currently, I am working on a children’s book and hired a fabulous young illustrator to help fulfill my vision of the characters and story.

My first Procreate efforts for Children’s Book Pro digital art practice 

inspired from the book Swashby and the Sea by Beth Ferry

A project for my watercolor students in one of my classes at 

The Artmakers’ Studio in Sulphur Springs.

Another project for my watercolor classes at The Artmakers’ Studio.

My digital art rendition practice for CBPro inspired by the characters in

Toot and Puddle by Hollie Hobby.

A handful of 150 hand-painted bookmarks for a local

women’s prayer breakfast.

A Time For Art ~ Cancun

I finally had some time to paint a little and tried my hand at plein aire while vacationing in Cancun.  Sitting poolside, it was difficult to hold on to the paper while the flower kept blowing away. Hats off to those who do this feat every painting! Speaking of which, my hat kept blowing off, too - though it was an awesome hat if I do say so myself.  Hopefully no flower experts will critique the accuracy of this hibiscus and the surrounding plant leaves!  Not enough time to finish it, but that's ok.  It just felt good to paint!

We celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary.  Married at just 19 years old, I've loved him my whole adult life!

A Tribute to Kitty Bradford

Kitty Bradford went to be with the Lord on February 11th, 2014, leaving a legacy of love and devotion to her family.  At 77 years old, she still worked and tirelessly poured out her heart to her husband, Newman, her six children, their spouses, children and great-grandchildren.  Miss Kitty also taught Sunday School to generations of children who learned from her faithfulness and from her beautiful spirit.

This painting is a gift of love to the Bradford family.

Keiko Tanabe

Watercolor artist, Keiko Tanabe, was in Dallas this past week to do a workshop and demo for the Southwestern Watercolor Society. Her technical skills impressed the crowd, both in her ability to mentally edit and merge scenes and to accurately draw on-the-spot without aids other than a pencil. Her palette, too, was minimal - both in size and quantity of colors. Observing her extraordinary talent of developing the painting from white paper to wonderful in less than the 60 minutes or so allotted for the demo, my conclusion was solidified that this humble, young artist is the real deal!

I first read about Keiko Tanabe in the December 2010 Watercolor Artist Magazine. It arrived at the end of October, and my mother and I chatted by phone from TX to CA about the article, both of us struck by the emotional quality of her scenes.  Unlike many artists' bland landscape or architectural paintings, Keiko infuses such a rich diversity with soft and hard edges, detailed and suggested form, and judicious selection of color and grays that the viewer is lured into the scene to imagine walking the streets, feeling the mist, smelling the wafting coffee, or hearing the sounds of the train rolling into the station.  To further enhance the enjoyment, Keiko writes a wonderful blog that gives stories of her experiences and interesting tidbits about the locations for her paintings.  The WA magazine article highlighted an example of her 4/1/2010 blog entry about the emergence of cherry blossoms in Japan.

Just a few days after reading the article, my husband and I had the pleasure of meeting Keiko and her son at the 2010 National Watercolor Society Annual Exhibition Luncheon in California where she received her NWS Signature status. She has continued to receive numerous accolades in the United States and internationally.

Here is a link to some of her amazing works, Belgian Landscapes, but don't fall in love with Ghent Belgium II  (featured left with the artist's permission), because we fell in love with it, too, and purchased it to proudly hang in our home. Links to other paintings of various locations are provided on the side menu of her blog so that you can own your very own Keiko Tanabe masterpiece!

 

NWS 2011 All Member Show

The NWS All Member Show was held in San Pedro from May 25th to June 12th, 2011.  Juror, Marciano Martinez, selected an excellent and diverse exhibition!! 

One of my favorite artists, Frank Eber, was represented with his painting, Lunch Hour, NYC.  Frank has been collecting honors around the watercolor world with acceptances in several shows including a win of the Anne and Samuel Seeman Memorial Award in the 2011 TWSA Exhibition.

Frank, Penny Hill, and I posed for a fan-club photo of Nick Simmons whose Fresh Sushi was displayed as part of the NWS Permanent Collection of former Annual Exhibition Best of Show Purchase Award paintings. (Photo courtesy of Penny Hill, Artist and Fun Person)

Many favorite artists were included: Geri Medway, Fealing Lin, George James, Eric Weigardt, Judy Betts, Nel Dorn Byrd, Keiko Tanabe, Harry Shields,  Tom Fong, ...many others.  The painting, Muir Woods, by Lei Chi was super impressive in its photo-realism.

Congrats to NWS and Joy Gonzalez for an excellent All Member Show!

A Bright Future

Our youngest son is one terrific kid.  We adopted him when he was just two days old and I'm humbled to be able to call him my son. He will graduate from high school in June, and we are so proud of him.  He's a straight A student since starting school and is talented at many things.  His witty personality lights up any room, but what we are most proud of is his character.  I honestly don't know what I'll do when he leaves to go to college, but I know his future is bright.  I caught this image of him while on a sunset cruise in San Francisco last year and have tried to portray it in watercolor. 

Dear Son,

I didn't give you the gift of life,

But in my heart I know.

The love I feel is deep and real,

As if it had been so.

For us to have each other

Is like a dream come true!

No, I didn't give you

The gift of life,

Life gave me the gift of you.

--- Unknown

Getty Up!

My husband and I spent this afternoon visiting the beautiful Getty Museum with our granddaughter.  We tried to make it a fun experience while sneaking in some art education.  Before the museum visit, I showed her photos of four different paintings that we would see: Wheatstacks, Snow Effect by Monet, Irises by Van Gogh, La Promenade by Renoir, Van Tromp, Going About to Please His Master by Turner. When we got the Getty, we started with an exciting tram ride suspended over the hillside. At the top, the docents handed her cards of other pieces to look for.  This proved to be a good interest-sparking activity for she was eager to embark on the hunt for the paintings and sculptures. Kylie and Uma both LOVED the Turner paintings.  I knew the trip was well worth it when she excitedly pointed out another painting in a different room - saying, "Uma, that's another Turner!!"  It was a new acquisition of the Getty called Modern Rome. I have a book about Turner by Michael Kitson that describes his use of light perfectly: To create a pattern of light and colour independent of solid objects was the great endeavour of Turner's last years.  And in order to extract the utmost from it, he sought out as many situations as possible in which light and fleeting weather effects took on a visible form: that is to say, in which they were not merely media through which objects might be seen but entities which became visible in themselves. Turner's magnificently portrayed light was a perfect pairing with Monet's experiments with haystacks. Examples of both from the Getty are in the photos.  We talked about how the artist used light to guide the eyes through the painting as well as soft/hard areas. I was so pleased when Kylie could show me the areas of other paintings where the light/dark contrast showed the center of interest.  After our indoor scavenger hunt, we walked around the azalea labryinth. Papa and Kylie got "into" abstract art, and we took time to stop and watch a hummingbird flitting around in the beautiful masses of Bird of Paradise on a city overlook veranda between the buildings. Our trip lasted about three hours, including a snack lunch, which was just about the perfect length for a six-year old's attention span and a tired Uma's energy span, as well.  We did leave time for a couple of rolls down the grassy hillside to finish off the day.  The Getty is FREE to all and truly amazing from start to finish.