Small Paintings - at The News Center in Easton, MD

One of the fun and interesting things about painting is to revisit old work. I tend to put old paintings aside in a pile or a box (out of sight).  Occasionally though, I get them out to remind myself that indeed I have learned something over the past several years!

There are surprises as I look at these old paintings - "That's pretty good. How did I do that? "or "That's embarrassingly awful. Why didn't I destroy that?" or "This one's not too bad. Is it fixable?"

Recently, the artists in the watercolor class that I sometimes attend started looking at our old paintings - particularly some that were just not quite right. They may have even been 'turnovers' - paintings we couldn't stand and turned them over to paint on the back.

Using a small mat, we went over each one with an eye to finding a small painting within the larger one. As we did this, an idea was born. What about a show/exhibit of small paintings? That spurred us on to look at more paintings and the show began to take shape!

I looked at several old paintings with new eyes and found some fun small studies. I reframed a few other things in a smaller format and am ready to go!

Here are three of the eight paintings I am putting in the show.

"Fall Tree" 8x10 watercolor

 Oops! Looks like I took this photo on a strange angle. Sorry . . .

"Spring Tree" 8x10 watercolor

"Garden Arch" 8x10 watercolor & ink

The show will be hung on Saturday, August 1 at the News Center  - 218 N. Washington St. (in the Talbottown Shopping Center), Easton, MD.  It will run for 2 months, so YOU have an opportunity to drop by and do a little early Christmas shopping!  Enjoy.

A Crinkled Tree

Warning - I'm still partially in my 'crinkled paper' phase. While I was doing all the abstract-playing-with-color, I was also wondering about drawing/painting a 'thing' that I could recognize.

I began again with very wet crinkled paper. As I may have said before, watercolor paint flows onto wet paper beautifully - laying down vivid color. When it dries, it usually becomes more muted. Since I wanted to try lots of colors, I decided to paint a fall tree. I stuck a practice mat on it just to see how it might look.

It was OK, but of course, I had to fiddle with it! The next day, when it was really dry, I added more paint and defined the tree a little more. It now looks like this!

Hmmm, interesting . . . I stuck it in a frame and will continue to look at it for awhile. I kind of like it.

ArtHunt - an invitation for fun!

It's now July and time for the St Michaels Art League's second annual ArtHunt! Seventeen of our artists have each loaned a painting which is now 'hidden in plain sight' in one of the seventeen participating stores in St Michaels.

All you need to do is pick up an ArtHunt card in one of the stores or at the Welcome Kiosk and find all the paintings. Each store will stamp your card when you discover a painting.

When your card is filled with stamps - take it to Justine's Ice Cream Parlour for a FREE treat. (Thank you, Justine's!)

And, why am I so excited about this? I have a painting in one of the stores. I'm not telling you which one. You have to find it.

"America's Favorites"  9x12 pastel   - unframed $150

 Here is what the ArtHunt card looks like. 

Grab a friend, grandchild or just anybody off the street and go on the hunt. It's only for the month of July . . .have FUN!

For more information about SMAL go to smartleague.org