At the Apple Store

Here we are at the Apple Store in Fashion Fair, waiting for our desktop computer to either be made well or deemed unsaveable! Hopefully, it will be fixed with the disc repair they are doing and, meanwhile, we are literally salivating as we play with the 27" iMacs! And wish for iPhone 4's and iPad 2's!! But, all in all, we are extremely lucky to have what we have.

The 27" iMacs are so beautiful and would be perfect for artwork and for Roy's music on Finale. Someday. . . . .

Well, I've written a very short blogpost while I've been standing here. I'll close for now and see what the outcome is for the old iMac. More to come. . . . . .

Busy, busy!!

How can so many days and weeks go by so quickly? Here it is the First Day of Summer and 103 degrees in Fresno, California. We've had an extremely cool early summer--in the 70's and 80's instead of the 90's and 100's. But that's all about to change. . . . .

I came back from the Robert Burridge workshop in February SO inspired and motivated to clean my studio (which I did!) and paint, paint, paint (which I didn't!). When I got home and started thinking about the studio, it was obvious what needed to be done. The sofa and the spinet piano which had been part of the furniture in the room for a LONG time now--20 years in the case of the piano!--needed to go. And go they did, about midnight one night, with only the 2 of us to move them to the other end of the house via a long hallway with a 90 degree turn in it. NOT an easy proposition! But we did it and the "new" studio plan makes so much more sense. I put tables and organizers where the 2 pieces were and in doing so was able to clear all 3 of my large worktables which had been neatly cluttered with a lot of supplies and materials. Everything was  all down the center of 2 of the tables, noticeably limiting the usable area to spread out large paintings on etc.

Taking Robert's advice to heart, I gave myself room to now spread out a lot of projects and opened up the space to working on multiple paintings at once. Yay, Robert! Thanks for the inspiration.

I added tables along the wall where I did have a sofa, for more work space. . . . .

I put a low table with organizers on it where the piano was. . . .

The 3 glass-topped work tables are now completely clear!  

Mother's Day Blog Hop

I'd like to thank Claudine Intner for inviting artists to participate in her Mother's Day Blog Hop event. I first met Claudine when we were fellow participants in one of Alyson Stanfield's online classes together. We learned about improving our blogs and increasing participation and this is certainly a wonderful way to do that. So, thank you, Claudine.

As wonderful as it seemed when I signed up, right now, I feel like Annie in the movie or play when she was bemoaning: "Oh, my goodness, oh, my goodness!" Oh, my goodness, what WILL I write about? This may be the least motherly, the shortest, and the furthest "off topic" of the
hops' posts, but here goes!

One of my favorite watercolor instructors of all time, Monte Guynes (now deceased), taught me a very valuable lesson. He taught me to always take everything back to the principles and elements of design when trying to solve a painting question, problem, or issue. He taught me to work loosely, wet into wet, and, as I dropped in the colors he taught me to think about dropping in (or painting in, if not wet into wet), a "Poppa Bear"-sized area of a color, a "Momma Bear"-sized area of the same color, and a "Baby Bear"-sized spot of the same color. Feeling a bit like Goldilocks lost in the woods, I followed his advice and as I've grown as a painter, I realize that what he was really teaching me was to intuitively use repetition and variation.

Repeating a color 3 times in 3 places in 3 different sizes helped unify the painting and insure that it was almost automatically harmonious. Not only applying to color, I learned to use a large circle, a medium-sized circle, and a tiny circle when choosing shapes for a painting--applying both repetition (of the shape) and variation (in terms of size). I also feel like Goldilocks, when I get it just right!

I can bring this mini-lesson to a close with an analogy that just occurred to me as I wrote this brief post. Agonizing over starting (just like I sometimes do when starting a new painting), I had an a-ha moment as I began the writing process--as mothers, we repeat ourselves over and over again to our children until the lesson is either learned or it isn't. And, as mothers, we try to vary the message over time so we say it in a different way so it suits each child or so the message doesn't become so boring as to eventually not be heard at all any more. In our paintings, we do the same things. We repeat what works or what we love or what ignites our passions. But we vary it so that it doesn't become boring for our viewers or for us as painters. As we grow in skill and technique and our interests change, we may stop repeating ourselves and change our approach completely.

To read the other posts in the blog hop and find some new and interesting blogs to follow, these people have posted or will be posting in days to come. Some bloggers have giveaways going and you can be part of them by following directions on the individual blog.

-May 1st - Claudine Intner http://www.intner.net/blog
- May 2nd - Melissa Liban http://melissalibanillustrations.blogspot.com/
- May 3rd - Lynn Krawczyk http://fibraartysta.blogspot.com/
- May 4th - Ishita Bandyo http://www.ishitabandyoarts.blogspot.com/
- May 5th - Jeri Greenberg  http://www.Jerigreenbergart.blogspot.com
- May 6th - Kathleen Mattox http://mixedmessagesbykathleenmattox.blogspot.com/
- May 8th - Amanda Ruth http://bunnycarrots.blogspot.com/
- May 9th - Judi Hurwitt http://approachable-art.blogspot.com/
- May 10th - Kathleen Murphy http://kathleenmurphydesigns.blogspot.com/
- May 11th - Hannah Phelps http://hannahphelpsgallery.blogspot.com/
- May 12th - Helen Hiebert http://helenhiebertstudio.blogspot.com/
- May 14th - Hannah Klaus Hunter http://hannahklaushunter.blogspot.com/
- May 15th - Claudine Intner http://www.intner.net/blog/

And now, look for repetition and variation here in "Alice's Adventure", a mixed media painting of mine that is a full sheet (30" X 22"), framed to 40" X 32". It started as a "doodle" and grew from there into Alice's fall down the rabbit hole. . . . .

The Art Stand Gallery Open Studio event this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday!

Double click on each image to view the entire document, then save and print if desired. . . . .

I will be back. . . .

. . . . .I will be back, I WILL be back! Just trying to get things all settled and finished up and then I'll get back to blogging again. The first thing I want to do is tell you about a new venture. . . . . and a couple of older adventures!

One of the coop galleries I am part of is The Art Stand Gallery in Minkler. It is at the corner of HWY. 180 and Frankwood Avenue, east of Sanger and north of Reedley. For many years, the Sherwood Inn Restaurant was a favorite dining spot for valley residents but it's been closed for several years now. The good news is that it will be reopening in the next few months as the "School House" Restaurant & Tavern. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? I'll keep you posted!

A whirlwind week. . . . .

It's been a busy week in Fallbrook, California,

at the Robert Burridge weekend. I haven't had
time to post a couple of photos of the jacket
that Mary Lee and I worked on last weekend
and will work on again this coming weekend.
We're still at the stage of sewing pieces onto
the sweatshirt with the shirt opened out flat.
We think we are almost 3/4's done with the
process.

"Snoozy Sunday" was "Sewing Sunday" today!

Mary Lee and I worked on the jacket from about 10 AM till 2 PM and it is now well more than 3/4's done! We think it looks spectacular and it is going together without any problems so far. It's really fun to apply color and think about the principles and elements of design without following a traditional "pattern". Very freeing, very creative, and an excellent project to do collaboratively. :)