Austin Pastel Society Fall 2014 Member Exhibition

Please come by the 2014 Austin Pastel Society Member Exhibition at the

 Northwest Hills United Methodist Church

7050 Village Center Drive

Austin, Texas

My pastel "Turtle Rock" is based on a photograph that I took at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center of a turtle sunning himself in the pond by the main entrance. 

Please join me at the

Opening Reception

 Sunday, November 9, 2014 - 12:15 - 1:15 p.m.

EXHIBITION RUN

November 5, 2014 - November 30, 2014

EXHIBITION HOURS

Monday - Friday 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Saturday - Closed

Sunday - 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

2014 Pearls People's Choice Winner!

My watercolor, Camion Fiore a Roma, won the 2014 Pearls Before Swine People's Choice Award here in Elgin, Texas this evening! It is a fantastic art show sponsored by the Elgin Arts Association and benefits the EAA Scholarship Fund for high school seniors who continue their college studies in the arts. The Silent Auction proceeds fund the scholarships that are awarded by EAA each spring at the Pearls of Youth Show. 

Please drop by 14 North Main Street in downtown Elgin on Friday and Saturday during the HogEye Fest from 10 am to 6 pm to take a look at the fine art in the show.

25th Annual Pearls Before Swine Art Show

Come to the 25th Annual Pearls Before Swine Art Show in downtown Elgin!

Thursday, October 23, 2014 Reception 6-9 pm

14 North Main Street

Downtown Elgin

The show may also be seen on Friday and Saturday, October 24th  and 25th 

 from 10 am to 6 pm

In this juried show, I will show 3 watercolors 

"Jack Too"                                           "For The Birds"                           " Camion Fiore a Roma"

Redeemer Presbyterian Church- The Hall: Evening of Art & Music

 Redeemer Presbyterian Church, in honor of their 20th anniversary, is sponsoring "The Hall: An Evening of Art & Music" and I will have 6 paintings in the Hall Show. Four of them are pictured below. It will be an exciting evening of art painted by Redeemer member artists and a jazz pianist. The event will be next Friday, October 3, beginning at 6 pm at Redeemer's campus at 2111 Alexander Avenue, Austin, Texas - east of IH 35 between Manor Road and MLK Blvd.

 Turtle Rock   
 pastel

                                                               Mesa Sunset    
                                                               watercolor





 Painted Bunting in a Stream
 pastel

                                                                               


                                                                                    Red River at Dusk
                                                                                    watercolor

Jack Too!

Here is a painting of our precious wire-haired fox terrier, Jack. The vet refers to him as Jack Too as our last dog, a sweetheart Boston terrier, was also named Jack. Jack Too came to us as a 7 year old dog with the same name as our previous dog and we didn't have the heart to try to change a 7 year old dog to a new name!

Jack is fresh from the groomer with a saucy red bandana around his neck. This was painted on Arches paper. I preserved a lot of white to accent Jack's eyes and beard. He is a lovely oatmeal colored dog with apricot and grey patches. 

Birdhouses over Spirit Card Traces

I painted this recently over a faint spirit card trace. Kathy Summers has taught a group to use "spirit cards" - free form background designs - as an additional design interest and color interest point for paintings. Painted on Arches 140# paper.

Paint Out on the Downtown Square in Georgetown

I joined a group of ladies in Georgetown, Texas, led by artist Kathleen McElwaine, on the square in downtown Georgetown as we painted the old Masonic Building. The Georgetown Art Center sponsored this first ever downtown paint out. Artists came from as far away as San Antonio to participate with local artists. It was great!

Pretty Birds for Outdoor Pillows

These 2 sets of birds, cardinals and a painted bunting, grace the covers that will be made into outdoor pillows and live in Georgetown. These were painted on Sunbrella fabric which was a challenge to paint on. 

watercolor botanicals

 These 3 watercolors of poppies, flame acanthus, and geraniums are going to be matted, framed and off to their new home in Georgetown.

These were done using Kathleen McElwaine's waterbrush lap system...works well for quick watercolors when out in the field or away from the studio, using a brush with a built in water reservoir and half pans of watercolor.

Martin Luther bronze bust by Carol Smith

This is bust #1/10 after the artist's proof of  Martin Luther by my friend and sculptor, Carol Smith. The artist's proof is in the office of Pastor Jack Smith of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. This casting is a gift to former RPC Pastor David Cassidy who now pastors in Franklin, Kentucky and is on its way to its new home.

Carol is a wonderful artist, this is her second bronze sculpture, you can see the other one in an earlier post on my blog. She also does graphite portraits and totally captures excellent likenesses of her subjects.

Carol's sculptures were cast at Deep in the Heart Art Foundry in Bastrop, Texas and it is an amazing place. Really exciting art going on there. Stop in and take a look at the sculptures that are outside waiting for delivery and there are usually sculptures in the office as well that you can take a peek at if you visit.

What Inspires You? My painting at Inspiration Gallery...

Dusk in Red River, New Mexico inspires me!

My watercolor is on display this summer at Inspiration Gallery at Riverbend Church,

4214 Capital Of Texas Hwy. N. (Loop 360), on the northwest corner of the intersection with Cedar St.

Stop by on Sunday morning and Inspiration Gallery is open and viewing the art on Sunday between 8:30 am and noon doesn't interfere with their services. Or during the week stop in to the church office and ask for Chris or anyone in the office and they will happily unlock the gallery for you to browse through and see my painting and a number of others by 

Waterloo Watercolor artists.

What inspires you?

Etched

This is a new art medium for me! Tonight at our Elgin Art Association meeting, Danica showed us how to do etching on mirrors. After applying contact paper over the mirror, smoothing out all the bubbles, we copied a picture onto the paper and cut out the etched portion with an exacto knife. After all the etched areas were exposed, we applied the etching cream with a brush and let it sit for 15 minutes. Washed off the etching cream and VIOLA! Our art is etched onto the glass. Great project! Thanks, Danica!

Mesa at Sunset - two views

Watercolor on Arches paper. These 2 views in bright sunset and mesa colors are a little different take on the same subject. The painting above is less detailed, more atmospheric. The painting to the left has more detail, still bright and vivid.

Chickens in Bastrop - on the transformer box!

Kudos to Bastrop for supporting art in public places!

I have been helping Elizabeth Sullivan, Elgin artist, paint her original designs onto electric transformer boxes. I painted these chicks - still in progress - and Elizabeth painted the eggs in a nest.

Here is Elizabeth Sullivan. Today she finished Zap, the rooster, and his sweet hen honey!

Here are the mostly finished chicks and the nest and eggs with a few feathers scattered about.

It is a gorgeous and fun design. I am privileged to be painting with Elizabeth - she is a talented artist and a super fun and funny person...just a delight!

Sunflower Bouquet

This bouquet of sunflowers wrapped in tissue is a watercolor. This "bouquet" is going to live in Georgetown, Texas with my friend, Keri - ENJOY!

Owl at LBJ Wildflower Center

This pastel of an owl that I started at the Maxine's Art Show last month in Elgin is finally finished. I photographed the owl last spring at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center entrance - for the 2nd year in a row, this owl was raising babies on the ledge right at the entrance to the center, well camouflaged by the rocks and hidden behind a cacti growing on the ledge.

Painting Elizabeth Sullivan's mural in Bastrop, Tx

Me  painting goats!

More  goats!

So much fun painting with my friend and fellow artist, Elizabeth Sullivan, over in Bastrop. It is a challenge painting on a large metal surface that can't be tilted like a piece of watercolor or pastel paper. 

Terry's Newest Quilts

Beautiful wall hangings

My quilting friend, Terry Linnemeyer of Sugar Land, has 2 new creations. 

The top one, a tulip wall hanging, was done in a quilter's class at Quilter's Emporium. 

The bottom hanging is a paper foundation piecing - 4 different designs.

The colors in the bottom one are a blend of sage green and wine red batiks with a floral print on a brown background.

Terry has a wonderful sense of color and balance - nicely done!

Elizabeth Sullivan's Bastrop Painting

Elizabeth Sullivan, Elgin artist and pictured in the top photo, was selected by the City of Bastrop, as one of the artists who are beautifying the electric transformer boxes around the city - she will be painting 2 of the boxes. The bottom photo is her original design that I painted today! I went down to assist her with painting and got to paint this side with buffalo, goats, a sun. Her side has longhorns and other cave painting-type designs. Elizabeth uses these gorgeous vivid colors in her paintings - turquoise, golds, oranges, browns. I will post more pictures of the finished box. These painted boxes will be a real treasure for the City of Bastrop, her citizens and visitors.

Flower Studies

Thistle - Red Poppies - Amaryllis

These three little flower studies were done on a travel watercolor system. I have a portable palette with limited color range (compared to my large studio palette), velcro work surface with a small pad of watercolor paper that stays put on the surface - and the brushes have a water reservoir so I can paint on the spur of the moment, no water bucket necessary.  After taking Kathleen McElwaine's workshop, I was inspired by her "bus painting" story. She devised a portable watercolor system - as I described above - and painted on her bus ride from Leander to Austin daily. I am going to try to redeem any downtime (waiting for an appointment, sitting in a meeting, etc) by doing little quick paintings. I am enjoying it so far. I did these 3 little paintings in 2 hours time while visiting with some lady friends at a fellowship guild gathering.

Wildflowers!

I painted at  Kathleen McElwaine's watercolor workshop in Leander today. She has a lovely style of painting wildflowers and cows using watercolor and pen & ink. Kathleen has inspired me to take a small watercolor pad and small palette and waterfilled brushes with me to paint while on the go.

Elgin Studio Art Tour 2014

Come by the Elgin Studio Art Tour to see me this weekend

I have cards and prints of my original watercolors and pastels

201 North Main Street

Saturday and Sunday

April 12 - 13

10 am - 6 pm

Also come see the Pearls of Youth Art Show on display as well. Elgin's finest youth artists ages K-Senior High School. Sunday afternoon, 2 pm, join us for an artists reception and the awarding of art prizes in each age group and senior scholarships.

Port Aransas Watercolor Workshop

Above: Mexican Street Scene


Right: Shrimp Boats in Repair











I attended Lee Ricks' watercolor workshop in Port Aransas, Texas last weekend. It was sponsored by the wonderful Art Center for the Islands and they have a great gallery and workshop facility right in the middle of downtown Port A.
 Lee is a very talented artist -he broke the paintings down for us, doing a demo of a section then observing and advising while we painted then moved on to the next section. Great way to learn and he was a good teacher.
My husband and son fished and my daughter in law painted a ceramic bank for the new baby coming in May. During the rain on Sunday, we visited the Aquarium in Corpus Christi before we headed home.
Port Aransas is always so inspiring for painting! Lots of color, texture, vibrant skies and water all around.

2014 Pearls Of Youth Art Show in Elgin

Pearls of Youth Merit Awards

Elgin Arts Association is sponsoring the

Pearls of Youth Art Show 

for area school children ages K - High School. The show is 

Saturday and Sunday, April 12 & 13, from 10 am to 6 pm both days. 

On Sunday, EAA will award place prizes for the art in each age category that the judges selected and two $1500 scholarship to the selected high school seniors who will continue their education in the arts. 

Please join us at 201 North Main Street in beautiful downtown Elgin.

Painted Bunting in a Stream - Pastel

My pastel of a painted bunting will be in the 

Spring 2014 

Austin Pastel Society Member Exhibition

at the 

Georgetown Public Library

from 

April 1 - 25, 2014

HOURS

Monday - Thursday 9 am - 8 pm

Friday 9 am - 6 pm

Saturday 9 am - 5 pm

Sunday 1 pm - 5 pm

Please drop by the library during the above days in April and see my painting and many other fine APS member paintings on display.

More Sunflowers...

More sunflowers, one of my favorites to paint, nodding towards the sun.

I used an interesting technique to capture the "grid" look of the head of the sunflower by painting over gauze with dark paint then letting it dry. Upon removing the gauze, the paint has flowed into the gauze lines and formed a very realistic dark grid pattern on the painting. If you click on the picture of the painting, you can see a larger version of it and might be able to see the texture lines.

Poinsettia

This highly stylized poinsettia captures a riot of color.

Calla Lilies

These calla lilies have employed several interesting background techniques. The painting starts out very wet with background colors being laid in. After it dries, I sanded watercolor pencils over a stencil then misted it - the stencil shapes stay put after they are dry. Then the "stripes" are painted in alternating colors and focusing on the paint color that is most predominate in it. Highlights are then painted on the white calla lilies.

Cruciform Sunflowers

This watercolor of sunflowers has a cruciform backdrop and an interesting technique of  adding texture to the background by sanding watercolor pencils over a stencil then misting the sanded bits of watercolor pencil with a spray bottle. After those bits dry  then another wash of watercolor may go over that texture without removing it.

Ballerina

Here is a free form watercolor of my friend, Lucretia, a dancer. I hope this captures the spirit of grace and charm that Lucretia exudes!

Going Green: Collage Workshop with Beryl Kerwick

This past Saturday with two artist friends from Elgin, we trekked out to Apache Shores on Lake Travis to join other Waterloo Watercolor Group artists to participate in Beryl Kerwick's collage workshop. We recycled old paintings and old papers into new collage pieces - it was a GREEN workshop.  Very enjoyable. Beryl is a fine artist and teacher. She shared some of her recent collage pieces with us, did demos, and encouraged us as we worked.

My Marbles

This little watercolor is a rendering of a few of my favorite marbles. I have a wonderful collection of marbles from my childhood days, from my brother, and some that belonged to my boys when they were young.  Marbles are works of art in themselves.