Turning the corner on winter

Everything is coming up primroses and with them the promise of 6 months of warmer weather.  Time to put away the wooly socks and gloves.  I love this time of year.  It makes me forget how long and dark winter is.

I also can be reasonably sure that Art-Startz won't get canceled again on account of icy weather.  Twice was enough.  I've reserved Sunday April 3 and Sunday April 10 for our next sessions.  We will use a watercolor wet-on-dry technique, mixing color on the paper, and try out watercolor pencils and crayons.  They're perfect for capturing the tulip fields.  Very fun!  Ready to paint?  I sure am.

Breaking Rules

I recently have discovered the artwork of British painter, Shirley Trevena.  I have purchased her DVD "Breaking the Rules of Watercolour" from Creative Catalyst Productions and have also purchased one of her books "Taking Risks with Watercolour" from Amazon.  Mixing paint on the paper rather than on the palette reminds me of the way I used to paint before I began glazing.  It's a much more spontaneous approach.  A chance to get excited about surprises.  A chance to suspend expectations.  A chance to throw exactness out the window.

Winter Art-Startz

The January session of Art-Startz brought a welcome dash of color to an otherwise gray day.  Sadly, snow dictated that we cancel the November and February sessions, but spring is coming.  Everyone was asked to bring 3 simple-shaped objects that they would find interesting to paint.  I brought a few of my own favorite things as well.  Already I think they have seen the positive effect of filling the whole picture plane, varying the size of the shapes and thinking about foreground and backgrounds.  So fun.

I am on the edge of a flurry of creativity.  Several wholesale card orders, the spring Antique and Craft fair in Lynden where Christa Warren will include my prints in her lovely display from her shop, Surroundings.  The Bellingham Farmer's Market is only about 6 weeks away for me and I have also committed to 5 large original paintings!  I'm honored to be asked.   Biting off more than I can chew?  Time will tell.  But hey, life is short and anything worth doing is worth overdoing.  I think Mae West said that.

Simple Stems

Spring is just around the corner.  The garden is showing signs of perennial life.  It wasn't such a bad winter here in the Pacific NW, thus far at least.  Winter is a time to paint new things for the farmer's market season coming up.  Life is getting in the way...as usual.  A couple of new card images have been accomplished.  Art-Startz #4 is coming up here shortly on February 27.  I am totally enjoying the time of artful exploration.  Can't wait to see what they paint next.  I hope they're doing their homework.

This painting is one of a series I plan to do, exploring refraction of stems in water.  My market "neighbor" displays her wonderful dahlias and lilies in these wonderful blue jars and I haven't been able to resist taking tons of photos.  Glass and water....what a challenge.

Bright Future

I'm intrigued with the idea of applying artwork to the OUTSIDE of a snail-mail envelope.  I'm pretty tired of all the window envelopes that fill my mailbox day after day.  Maybe my friends would appreciate a creative envelope once in awhile too.  It would tie in well with collage using my own artwork.  Hmmmm, another tangent.

2011 - Year of the Rabbit

Happy New Year! December kind of flew right by...like it does every year. With the new year comes renewed energy for projects. It seems like the perfect spot to make a new start on all the goals I didn't accomplish in the past year... or the year before that. This is the Chinese year of the rabbit. I have a feeling this is going to be a great year for the Whimsical Rabbit. I've already concocted several new artistic endeavors to pursue. Never mind that I won't make a dime from them or have no time to carry them out. It's the scheming that fuels my zest for the creative life.

Many Thanks

With the Thanksgiving Day festivities behind, I'm compelled to reflect on how very much I have to be thankful for. Twenty-two of the 24 members of the Dahl clan braved the snowy weather to gather and share food and fun and plans for midnight Black Friday shopping sprees. I'm thankful for the gainful employment that will prompt me to arise at 4:45 a.m. tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I won't be going on a midnight shopping spree tonight. My mother wasn't there, having passed away a decade ago, but her love and laughter was there amongst us. She is the reason we gather and enjoy each other's company as we do. I know she's smiling somewhere on the other side. Thanks Mom.