Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Promoting Watercolor

I spent this morning at the local Hawthorne Park Activity Fair promoting watercolor. I brought my journals and did a little discussion of travel journals!

We had a pastel, acrylic, collage, china painting and clay among many others for new members to the park to look over. All the clubs (over 80) presented a booth. Amazing!

Can't wait to get into my studio and get going again!
It is 93 here today in central FL...quite unusually hot for this time of year. I pray that all of you in the Midwest are okay...we hear the weather is WINDY and so dangerous!



Monday, October 25, 2010

Just got back from 11 day trip cross country between northern Wisconsin and central FL (home). Many wonderful adventures.

A few of the sketches here out of my moleskin...Top one is from Horseshoe Curve in Altoona, PA last Wed and the second was my last sketch at the north woods cabin before we left.

I have missed following blogs and posting...hope to get my art stuff unloaded and back to painting now!

Monday, October 11, 2010

A Tribute to Cezanne

"He set out to reinvigorate painting and he did just that. The French artist became the conduit between the Impressionist past and the Modernist future that was fully ushered in by the likes of Picasso and Matisse, both of whom revered Cézanne’s work. But the subject matter that propelled such success in the artist’s career was oftentimes relatively humble—apples, figures in the landscape, and kitchen scenes."

Artist Daily blog talks about Cezanne today and I am reminded how wonderful his work was!!! Still Life with Apples was painted in 1879. "Artist Daily" is a nice blog...if you google it I am sure you can find it.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Having a little fun with Tulouse

On Wednesday it was the last meeting of the Manito Art League (Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin). Artist, Jane Schmaltz, presented the group with a wonderfully creative diversion between the meeting and the pot luck lunch!

She first created mini versions of several famous Tulouse Lautrec paintings. Then she cut them into pieces and then she took blank watercolor paper and enlarged the shape of the pieces (see below).

We each took several and enlarged them without knowing what the original was. We worked in all kinds of mediums.

Assembly came later.

It was a lot of fun. Thanks Jane!!!







Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A Canoe Ride in northern WI in October

Our canoe ride this afternoon was quite magical.
Little Lake Tippecanoe is settling down now to wait for winter.

The reds have turned to rust and the yellows have turned to pale raw siennas. Oak leaves in burnt siennas float down around us like confetti and float like a million tiny boats all over the lake.

A late turtle hangs out on a log and a lone eagle circles above us.

The sky is cloudless and a heavy silence lays over the lake...
A lone fisherman fishes in the cove as we paddle silently by. The loons are long gone. So are most of the ducks (we find a small flock of 7 still beside one of the islands).

Piers are piled along the shore line.
Somewhere in the distance we hear a hammer...a neighbor is putting on new roof before winter comes howling down the lake.

Most of us are summer folk...headed now to warmer climes. But about half a dozen homeowners stay year round. They split their logs now in preparation for the snowy days and make sure the snow plows and snow mobiles and skis and skates are nearby.

We make our tour around and between the islands enjoying the last of the water lilies and listening for the call of the geese.

We lean lazy on our paddles now and then and see the world upside down in the reflections. The sun beats thinly on our heads now with long shadows coming early in the afternoon as the days grow shorter.

We have a week to bid our lake farewell before we head to Florida for the winter. Today was a jewel to slip into the memory box.