Art Show & Sale this weekend!

Labor Day weekend is coming up - that means it is time for the SMAL annual Art Show and Sale in St MIchaels, MD. I have been a member of the art league for a number of years and have attended the show, but this year I decided to be one of the exhibitors!  Hmmm, what do I hang?

Since I have been 'playing' with different things this summer, I am going to take a leap and put some of the experimental paintings in the show. I really have enjoyed the crinkled paper paintings, so they will go in. I also scanned some old favorites and have printed them on watercolor paper  - they are matted 8x10 and will be sold as unframed prints.

Now for my newest crinkle . . .when we were in Vermont this summer, I was intrigued with the blueberry bushes at our rental house. The berries were in different stages of 'ripeness' and the colors were wonderful. So, my latest crinkle painting is called 'Blueberries.'

'Blueberries'   framed 11x14 watercolor  $175

The show is on Saturday, September 5 from 10-5 and on Sunday, September 6 from 12:30-5:00 under the tent on the lawn of St Luke's United Methodist Church - right in the center of town. Hope you will stop buy. You will find many very talented artists there to greet you.

Vacation = Grandchildren = Creativity

We have just returned from a trip to Vermont where we visited with two of our grandchildren. Twelve year old Kieran and I spent lots of time with his Kindle Fire and my iPad.

After patiently explaining some of the games that he and his friends play, he showed me a picture that he 'painted' on his kindle. I asked if I could post it - he said 'yes.'

I was impressed with what he had done and showed him a drawing app on my iPad. I had not done too much with it  . . . but he figured it out and taught me a few things. 

He wanted to do a self portrait. First he took a picture of himself and used it as the first layer. He then used the paint brush on the drawing app and voila! There he is.

He really had fun with it and worked with his sister Maizie to capture her, too.

As they say, "A fun time was had by all!" It's wonderful to learn new things from a different generation!

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

More softer edges

Yes, more crinkled paper.

While I was experimenting with the 'flowers' from the last couple of posts, I was also working on another painting. I wanted to try something with a little different look. I began again with a very wet piece of crinkled paper. I dropped some reds and yellows  - mixed them a little to get the orange - and watched the pigment flow around the crinkles. I love to watch the way watercolors find their way around the paper.

It needed some darks. I knew I wanted to do something unlike me. (I find myself always going to primary colors)  So instead of red, yellow, blue. . . I dropped some purples into the mix. And, then I let the colors explore the paper. The paper is still wet - the edges are beautifully soft.

I put it aside to dry. Normally, when watercolor dries the colors become more muted. Surprisingly, these colors stayed fairly vibrant. But, it needed something to bring it together.

Maybe some lifting of color . . . I wet my brush with clear water and lifted some straight lines. Hmmm, a good start - then I added two arcs. Interesting.

11x14 matted watercolor - untitled  $75

Maybe that's all that it needs . . . I might just let it be for awhile.

Possibilities - Chapter Three!

My last post was part two of my 'crinkled paper phase' . . .I keep experimenting. After washing off my last effort, I let the paper dry for a couple days and then went back to it today.

I think what I liked about it after washing it off was the softer edges  - the bolder colors were great, but there was something about all the hard edges that I thought I would like, but didn't. Hmmm, more playing to be done.

I re-wet the paper and began floating some darks around what I had thought of as 'flowers.' The edges did soften. I then added more color to the spidery starbursts! This is what watercolor does best - wonderful color surprises.

I tried cropping it a little differently and stood back to give it a look.  Now I am seeing colorful jellyfish floating in dark water - or maybe just fuzzier flowers?

8x10 matted watercolor - "Emerging Flowers"   $40

Any thoughts?  What do you see? Is it ready for a signature and frame?