Black Friday Offer

 

Special Black Friday Offer

 

If you are reading this, you are one of my friends

and I would like to extend a special gift to you

I will be offering a beginners oil painting class

at Missouri on Main

in St. Charles

on Thursdays from 1:00 - 3:00

January 7 through February 4, 2016

The costs of the class is $95.00 plus materials.

The gift is this:

If you sign up and pay for the class before December 25,

The cost of the class is only $90.00

PLUS

you will receive TWO prepared canvases

AND

one of my favorite brushes

FREE.

You can only sign up by contacting me at

paintdiva106@gmail.com

Hope to hear from you!



Lets hear it for the Whales

I wandered back into art journaling not too long ago.

Just couldn't stay away.

It's just too much fun and it really is a way I can find

my visual voice.

 

It reminds me how much I love the sea

and all the creatures in and around it.

That is where I come from.

I breathe better when I am near salt water.

I see things.

Everything.

It's life.

my life.

So the sea washes into my soul and out into my work

on a regular basis.

When I started to draw,

I drew light houses and sailing ships.

Then there were seashells and fishes.

Now I've traded my fins for feet and live landlocked

with only the river

to remind me

on those days when I need more wet than dry.

 

 

So my art journal holds these secret desires.

Poems and drawings.

I hear my mother singing this poem,

the way adults sing things to children.

Yes, Mother,

I will go down to the Sea again,

and dream of whales and storms.



 

Hello! Long time no write!

Well I am sincerely hoping to get back in the groove of

sharing my art work and creativity with you.

Sometimes, as an artist, we need to cocoon a bit,

wrap up and see what we really nee to see.

Actually, that's not a bad thing for anyone.

 

I began teaching again in St. Charles,

at Missouri Artists on Main,

an amazing gallery full of the most talented collection

of artists in Missouri.

They are also the most welcoming and inspiring

group of artists I have ever met!

 

Teaching again reminded me how very much I love

lighting up the fire of art

in others.

It's one of the finest things I've ever done

and I love doing it.

It's both an honor and a pleasure.

 

The other piece of treasure I discovered in my cocooning

is a remembrance of the wonder of drawing.

My pens and pencils have all come out of hiding and have been put to work.

Drawing is a wonderful meditative thing

that is far more than image making.

It's a spiritual thing that opens you up as it slows you down.

If coloring books do wonders for you,

you should try drawing.

 

Well I have plans.

I have dreams.

But I am going to save them for another day.

I haven't forgotten my paints.

You can see my oils over at the

Kirkwood train station through the end of the month.

I will be here more often,

with some surprises,

some new journeys.

I hope you will join me.



The wonder of Q-tips!

Chai Tea Roses

Click here to buy

It has taken me awhile to figure out how to do Winter.

Not easy for a woman who lived in the Southwest for oh so many years.

Boots, gloves, hats and scarves.

Grab what's needed to begin with,

then after ten years of ice and snow

I got the hang of it!

Now I have a lovely wardrobe of scarves.

I can match an outfit!

I was gifted with a pair of nice leather gloves, lined with thinsulite...yum

My boots are bright orange with yellow and gold flowers....

What can beat that?

Oh, maybe a cup of chai tea.

Yes, I am a coffee shop lurker,

but winter calls for a hot cup of tea,

with just a bit if sweetness

and something creamy on top.

Comfort is what dealing with winter is all about.

On the easel today I tried a new technique...

one I had heard about from several other artfolk.

I love working in an impressionistic style,

 but all those white mixed colors just looked heavy and chalky.

So I borrowed some Q-tips from my little bath sanctuary....

yes, it is a sanctuary, but that story is for another day.

I blocked in the painting focusing on where my darks and purest color would go.

Then a touched the Q-tip into some thinner and lifted out my whites.

Magic!

Just like watercolor painting.

In fact there is a luminescent quality about this little painting

I quite like!

I am teaching a watercolor workshop this Saturday

at the Green Door Art Gallery

and so I have been playing with my watercolors,

remembering why I love them so.

Flow and lift.

Wonders of color and paint.

Comfort in creativity...

while I sip my Chai.

Take a moment to fix yourself a cup of tea,

visit my website here

and treat yourself to a bit of color

of your very own.

I price my work so you can collect!

Come with me to Maui in February

Dreaming of Maui

Palm trees, rainbows, dancing whales.

NOT THIS YEAR.

Oh well, I decided to share Maui with everyone with a one day workshop at the Green Door Gallery in Webster Groves.

In the middle of the greyest, coldest February,

On the 21st.

From 10 am to 4 pm

There will be instruction on using watercolor and watercolor pencils in travel journals.

We will paint beaches, palm trees and maybe some dancing whales.

I will provide Hawaiian music, pineapple cake and macadamia nuts...

and we can dream as we paint.

I hope you can join me.Registration is through me.

$60 for the day.

A materials list when you register.

Call me at 314 - 780 - 8049

or email me at Paintdiva106@gmail.com

ALOHA!!

The men I love........

Dark Rose, 12 X 12 oil on paper mounted on artboard

purchase price $100 here.

Oh, the men I have been falling in love with!

Please don't tell my husband.

He just wouldn't understand (LOL)

Ok, the men I am so besotted with are artist/writers 

I am very excited about.

They are inspiring me to do better work, to work smarter and to give myself a bit of a reality check.

What more could a girl ask for?

My latest affair began while I was reading the recent issue of 

International Artist magazine.

I happened upon a James Gurney article on making videos of art.

That lead to looking him up on youtube to watch a video he had posted,

then three more videos,

Then onto his blog. 

I was falling in love!

I couldn't get enough of the man!

I was first impressed by his absolute generosity in sharing

his techniques and materials.

The videos were amazing.

I still can't figure out how he did the little steampunk style brass

tag he popped out of.

Great effect.

His hints on plein air gear and set ups had me taking notes.

I will be making some changes in my watercolor gear for sure!

Watching the videos, I learned that he achieved many of his detailed effects with watercolor pencils.

That was a real AHA ! moment

as I have had a 

passion for those pencils for some years,

using them mostly for creating small illuminations on

handouts during my meditation group.

Yes, I draw while other folks are meditating, but that is another blog post....

So I am overjoyed to learn a new use for those wonderful pencils!

What a great excuse to get a new painting started immediately.....

see why I am loving this guy!

Gurney's sense of humor and talent

just bowl a girl over!

I highly recommend his website, blog and youtube channel.

Not that I like to share my men,

but sometimes you just find something so delicious,

you kind of have to brag.

Oh, I did say MEN, didn't I.

Well yes, I am an inspiration floozy.

There is another in my life right now,

but that also is another blog post.

GRIN.

"Woodland Haiku"  watercolor

This autumn has been golden red magic.

I have underestimated the Missouri landscape terribly, thinking there wasn't much drama going on.

New Mexico and Arizona spoiled me.

I was blessed with time enough to wander,

dream and be inspired.

Inspiration came not only in packing up my

long unused watercolors and hitting the trails,

but poetry and haiku sang through my mind as I hiked.

I quickly learned to pack a journal as well as

a few apples.

Silence would surround me as a sank into

the process of using color and water.

eventually, the sound of the wind through dry leaves

began to enter.

Small animals began to come near.

I felt like I was in a Disney movie.

Enchanted.

I took the quiet home with me,

and shared it with a few precious friends.

My soulplace is so full of gratitude.

thank you

thank you

thank you.