Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Remembering: Patterns and Meaning

This is Marion and Pearl the cat. Marion is on her way to grad school to be a Vet. Sadly Pearl is gone, she used to love to roll in the catnip in our front yard. I painted this picture for Marion as a graduation gift, we've known her since she was about 7, and have loved seeing her blossom into a wonderful young woman. I painted a picture of her and her brother right after they moved in. I really enjoy painting children, and find that that is a pattern in my life, so I have decided to continue on painting children.

Albert Camus said" A person's work is nothing but a long journey to recover, through the detours of art, the two or three simple and great images which first gained access to their hearts." I feel the colors could be a little brighter, I was trying to loosen up, my husband thinks it is great. He's great! Any comments greatly appreciated.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Chickens and Art and Thomas Keller

How does all of that go together? I ran across a quote from Thomas Keller, it is about cooking but could easily apply to art, from His French Laundry cook book. "When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy. That's what cooking  is all about." I got to thinking about this passage as I was trying to  paint the other day and becoming discouraged, and realized if you substituted art for food it makes perfect sense! So, I am posting my Chicken, not perfect but the attempt to paint it was fun and I did learn a thing or two. So here is my humble attempt at a chicken for the DPW chicken challenge. I tried painting it on a piece of canvas from a canvas pad, thought it would be easier to scan, and it was. Our daughter has just added some chickens to the family, so I hope to paint more.
Thanks for stopping by, look forward to hearing from you.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

When the Sun Shines in Seattle

This past weekend we finally had warm days and sunshine. I was inside working at the Washington State PEO convention. Some of you will know about PEO, a wonderful woman's organization that is dedicated to helping women through education. I love hearing about and seeing the women who have benefitted from our scholarships. The fellowship that this organization brings is wonderful. So, even though it was sunny outside I was happy to be inside helping and sharing with a group of wonderful women!
This little girl shows her enthusiasm for a sunny day by the lake. I want to take off my shoes and run down to the lake too, and enjoy the sailboats out for the races, see Mt. Rainier at one end of the lake and Mt. Baker at the other end. 

I am back to painting and hope I will be able to post more. Thanks again for stopping by and visiting, let me know what you think. Happy painting and happy summer.