Hot Days

Pointillism Flowers
These hot days... all I can do is sit still and move as slowly as possible.  I'm taking my time to finish paintings and even slow down enough to try new things. (like the flowers above)  Not too much thinking today, I get hot doing that too.  I wish I had zinnias to paint, but it looks like I fed a rabbit family this year.  I have sowed at least 5 packs of zinnias and might have five starts to show for it.  But don't get me going because thinking about that gets me hot too.

3x3x3

Three Artists - Three Mediums - Three Works
No, we aren't a country music trio, we are a trio of artists.Several months ago Brad Edwards, photographer, Michael Bolton, acrylic artist, and I, watercolor artist got together and decided to do an art show unlike any other we've done.  I mean, come on, if you are like me, I've come to dread art shows.  The ones where you are intimidated by the stark white walls, okay wine and you feel more comfortable standing in front of the plate of cubed cheese than a painting. Yes, you know what I'm talking about it.  And as an artist, if I don't like going to them, why would I want to be a part of one.  So we decided to try something a little less intimidating and a LOT more fun.  Urban Chestnut Brewery is a new micro brewery here in St. Louis.  With an amazing selection of beers and tasting plates to accompany their great brew assortment.  Recently opened and in a fabulously renovated building - it was perfect for what we were trying to do - which was....
  • Have Fun
  • Make Art more approachable and available
  • Show our guests how each artists works and interprets what he/she sees
  • Support and express our vision for St. Louis - a city with immense history, beauty and potential who seems to be limping at the moment
So here's how it happened.  Brad took several photos of St. Louis and each of us chose one photo Michael and I painted the three selections using our method and style.  These three would be displayed at the brewery.  Then on the night of the show, we did a live painting and had a silent auction. 

Black and White Flight
This was my favorite painting that I did.  It was quite a departure from my normal more realistic paintings.  There are so many dilapidated buildings in St. Louis.  You can see that many of them where once quite magnificent and I look at them and see beauty and sadness.  I painted this from Brad's black and white image, and it was just too depressing for me to paint the image using greys and blacks.  I saw so many great textures and to me that's what made this interesting.
Relic
 and finally
Make sure you go to Brad's website to see the original images. 

This experience was really wonderful for me as an artist too.  Even though I love painting flowers, I found this to be a challenge I needed -- pushing me toward the abstract and to thinking about meaning and what my work says about the world around me.  I strongly encourage artists to collaborate when possible, it truly is a growing experience and I hope to help bring more of these types of shows to St. Louis. 

Ordinary Days

Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity.
~John Ruskin



I've been working on my garden, planting seeds and hoping and praying that all I plant grows.  I seem to have a great deal of faith when it comes to my garden.  Or, I just enjoy the surprises that spring out of the dirt - or in my case carefully prepared soil. I think the rabbits are enjoying some of these surprises too.  I actually threw a couple of stones at a rabbit hoping she would run off and not nibble on my flowers anymore.  She's eaten my verbena, my marigolds and my lillies.  She didn't budge.  And as my boyfriend said, "Who throws stones at bunny rabbits?" Well, apparently I do when it comes to flowers.  But the bunny didn't budge.  She loves them as much as I do.  I guess I'll have to plant more - some for me and some for the bunny. 

Springing Back

 

Phew, bet you thought spring would never get here.  I'm a little slow getting back to my art and my blog.  My plate has been so full.  I wish I could just take the peas off and hide them underneath the rim of the plate.  (Peas being the not so favorite duties of life.)  But the artist in me that needs color and flowers never really dies, it's just been dormant as I've had to tackle the peas on the plate.  But there have been some great new things as well.  I will share more later...