Art Class Official

Now this.  This is what I call art.  One of my students brought super yummy whoopie pies for us all.  Whoopie pies on top of my Australian art towel on top of my art board.  Layers of love here.

Aren’t they beautiful? :)

Newest Painting Finished!

This little cutaway is your hint of the piece I finished last night. Can you tell what it is? Take a guess! I’ll reveal tonight.  I’m really excited about this one which I did in layers of glazing color upon transparent color.  It’s downright luminous.  My only hint is in a previous post where I showed my palette; I was choosing colors for this painting.  Now... if I can only get a good photo which is hard with all this rain.  My day’s work is set. 

Natural light is best for photographing art.  My natural light, outside, is not cooperating.  It’s raining. It’s supposed to rain all day.  We shall see what happens.  

The colors in this painting are really luminous and glow through each other; this being said, they are very hard to photograph.  Because I used the glazing technique (layer upon layer of glossy, transparent color, it reflects a shine back to the camera.  A professional photographer would set up his little reflective umbrellas and have the light diffused but I don’t have that stuff.  Professional photographers everywhere - I respect and salute you!  I just can’t afford you.  Blah.

All this to say, when I DO get good pics, they still won’t be nearly as beautiful as the painting itself.  They never are.

Newsies

You’ve got two last chances to see this fabulous show! NEWSIES! It’s been a smash hit.  There are only two more shows - tomorrow night (Thursday) and Friday. Even if you get spots in the nosebleed section, you’ll be glad you did.  Www.cythouston.org for tickets. 

Note the scaffolding which was raw wood.  They asked me to paint it to make it look like metal.  :). I like it!

You Need Art Classes!

Meet the artist responsible for this crazy feed.  Well, my HAIR is ready for school, now for the rest.  Still have wiggle room in some of my art classes.  Look at www.hisclasses.com and www.ttcclasses.org for class info, schedules and teacher info.

Self Portrait, Part Two

All right, here we go again! It seems that my self-portrait is, well, wordy, and I guess now’s as good a time as any to admit to you that this as well is one of my traits!

To pick up where we left off... my previous post ended after six books, and I’m working my way from top to bottom. 

Next, Designa.  Oh, Designa! A reference of classic design through the centuries, I have gone back to you again and again for years! I have become so rich because of you that each time I see you displayed in a bookstore I give a happy, contented sigh. You’re the best part of that Wooden Book bunch.

Soup for Supper? Yay! A children’s book with delightful illustrations that I’ve read to all our kids. I tried to buy it as we always used library books, but it was out of print.  Our oldest son actually found it - eureka - and gave me this most delightful gift! Now I have been reading it to my art students and this year had them copy some of Phyllis Root’s incredible work. Personally raising up a new generation of Phyllis Root lovers.

Okay, leaning on the stack, just trying to get into the picture, is Color.  Oh how I have loved this book.  When I get my art students busy creating I will often read to them.  Even with my high schoolers, if I say the phrase, “It’s story time!” they will give up a little cheer. Who doesn’t want to know that the color yellow used to be made from the urine of cows fed mango leaves, a beautiful purple or mauve was resultant from the massacre of millions of snails, or that wars were fought over a red made of bugs’ blood? Even today some of your makeup and some of the things you drink contain bugs’ blood.  It’s nice to know you’ve chosen organic.  :) And oh, how dearly I love the groans and horror rising from my students when they learn these wonderful things. Just makes me so happy.

Continuing downward we come to Bouguereau. Bouguereau is one of my favorite artists. Highly favored in his lifetime, his work fell out of favor when he died, and he was actually ‘rediscovered’ fairly recently.  Love, love love his work, and many artists I highly admire have also been inspired by him.

The Rembrandt. Note that it’s in Dutch. I picked this one up when we were in The Netherlands.  It represents several things.  He’s one of my Top Ten artists and he’s also Dutch.  As am I.  Two famous Dutch artists, right? :) I also chose the Dutch version because I love to figure out other languages. Call it a hobby.

A Passion for Colour.  This is one of the newest in my stack, but I cherish it.  I LOVE color!  This woman and I, yep... we’d be good friends.

Picasso Black and White.  A number of years ago the MFA Houston had this exhibit.  I thought, “...ah, Picasso.  But just black and white? They’ll probably have some little pencil drawings and some black crayon and it’ll be boring.” Oh my goodness I was so wrong! I went in planning on spending an hour and going to an appointment I had later on.  I staggered out after four or five hours totally missing my appointment and incredibly inspired! Those black and white paintings have given me a lifetime of inspiration!

Under that, Roger Dean’s Views.  Oh, Roger, Roger, Roger! How I have loved you since I was 16 and bought my first Yes album!  Your work! Your crazy, colorful, otherworldly abstract but totally representative work! Your analogous and complimentary colors.  I have both drooled over and been inspired by your artwork for all these years.  And I am very sorry and angry you didn’t win that lawsuit with the Avatar movie people stealing your inspiration as their own. Seriously. Anybody with brains could see you all over that movie.

Okay, one last book and I will post this so you can take a reading break! We end with James Herriot’s Treasury for Children.  We wore two of these out with our kids and I give this book now as baby gifts.  Anyone that knows anything about James Herriot will understand.

All right, that’s it for now.  You will find me working through the stack in my next post which will be Self Portrait, Part the Third.  See ya!

Meet the Artist

Just thought you might like to meet the artist behind this crazy feed. I put my hair up a lot at home, 1) to keep it out of my face, and 2) then I don’t have to fix my hair! Two really good reasons.  But some of my scarves are kinda cute so I decided to break free and wear them out in public.  Here I go! Don’t laugh when you see me, just nod and smile to yourself and think, ‘there goes one crazy lady.’ You won’t be far off the mark.

Honestly, it’s been a really tough week for our family with a few things, actually three (trouble often comes all at once,doesn’t it?) hitting us. Tough decisions to make.  But... I can be thankful for life and for this day, and remember to treat every single person I meet with special kindness. I can pray about problems, act, and then forget about them.

AND...I can put on my happy scarf and smile.