Happy New Year

I want to wish everyone a very happy 2013.  It is a time of the year that we reflect on the previous year and anticipate the new one.  Even though I'm not making any resolutions this year, I certainly know the areas of my life that I want to improve in. 

I know that I will continuing painting.  It is such a joy to me to find a subject that excites me, to plan the composition, to start loose and then begin to define my panting and then to see it develop a life of it's own.  It can also be quite a challenge as I am finding with my current painting!  I am passionate about my painting sometimes I feel a bit obsessed.

I sincerely hope that art sales improve this year for myself and all the other artists out there. 

I am going to make some changes with my blog.  I have some ideas in the back of my mind but haven't put them together yet.  I feel that I have been doing things the same way and it's getting a little stale.  It's time to refresh it!

I have to redo my website.  It is so old and it needs to be reborn.  I just haven't figured out whether to get it done professionally or to attempt to do it myself. 

I will be teaching only three classes a week this year.  The two classes that I am teaching at the Art Studio are going very well and I'm going to teach a beginning class at the Adult Learning Center.  I will still be doing some shows but I'm going to pick and choose them a little more carefully than before.  I just really need to slow down a little bit.  And that is something I just don't know how to do!

Happy New Year to all my family and friends.  I hope you have health and happiness and that you can continue your lives filled with a passion for something that brings you joy.

Poinsettia

I just want to say Merry Christmas to all before I'm caught in the last minute things to do for the holiday itself.  It has been fun sharing my paintings and my experiences as an artist this past year. 

I have not been as energetic as the previous years and must apologize for not keeping up my blog the way I would have liked too.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and enjoy your family and friends.

The Queen

Here's the Queen.  I painted her again for one of my classes.  Each time I paint her she looks a little better.  The photo is a little dark as I don't have that much sun.  I cannot wait to get a new camera.

I took another workshop with Suzanna Winton down at Art of the Carolinas.  I think she is a great teacher.  She has really been able to clarify the process she goes through when painting watercolor portraits.  I am anxious to be able to study with her again.

Katsartists at Santa's Stocking

Here's a photo of the booth at the Santa's Stocking Show last weekend where my students had a space to display their paintings.  I must say that they did a great job painting and presenting their work and everything looked great.  It was a wonderful weekend and they had many admirers.  I must say that I am so proud of them.  
Cherrie Hill was awarded First Place, Patti Holt was awarded Second Place and Pete Lothrop was awarded Third Place.  I want to thank Am, Robyn, Dory, Pete, Peggy, Cherrie, Joyce, Patti, Karen M, Karen H, Pete, Julie and Patty for participating in the show. 
Special thanks go to Mary Kay Holladay an artist friend of mine who did a great job judging the show. 
Thanks go to Babs and Nancy for volunteering to help tear the show down even though they choose not to participate.
All in all it was a great weekend!

Seashells I II & III

Here are some of my recent Seashell paintings.  These were alot of fun to paint.  I used different media to create textures on each of the shells including watercolor pencils, watercolor crayons, acrylic ink, pen and ink, gesso and elegant writer pens. 

I must apologize for not posting for a while.  Unfortunately life sometimes gets in the way.   I have been busy with shows and teaching and things in my personal life.  It has been a struggle to find  my motivation to paint.  I have been painting don't get me wrong, but I have started many paintings and not finished very many of them.  I am now trying to decide on subject matter for some new paintings for some shows in the new year and I have not been able to decide what to paint.  Do I paint subjects that I feel comfortable with or do I work on something that is a little more challenging?   I'm really not sure what direction my art is going in next.  Someone had  said that when you go through a period of time struggling with your art you are about to go in a new direction and make steps forward in your art.  I certainly hope that is what's happening to me!

Turning Leaves

I painted this painting last year and I don't think I ever posted it.  I pulled it out recently to frame for Occasion for the Arts.  I remember when I painted it I really enjoyed the fall colors both bright and muted.  It really was alot of fun.

Recently I lost all my pictures in my computer as well as my documents.  So I've been a little disabled in pulling paintings to blog.  I have been so busy getting ready for shows as well as starting my teaching season.  I have cut back my classes as I want more time to devote to my painting.  Right now I have four or five paintings that I need to get finished after the show is oover.

Next weekend I'm in Occasion for the Arts in Colonial Williamsburg, VA.  I am so looking forward to it.  I just hope that the weather is bright and sunny as it was in my Turning Leaves painting.

Seashells in the Sand

Here is my latest seashell painting.  I really enjoyed painting it from beginning to end.  I gave the sand it's texture by taking watercolor pencils and creating the spatter against a nail file.  I did this while the paint was still wet. I really enjoy the warm colors in the painting and must say that they stand out more in real life.  It was a fun summer painting.  (I still have more seashells to show you in the near future.)

Seawall Art Show

Come and see me at the Seawall Art Show in Olde Towne Portsmouth this weekend.  It should be alot of fun with many great artists.  I will be in booth # 51.  The weather should be great and you can take the ferry from or to Waterside.  I hope to see you there! 

Claws

I did this painting in the class I teach Friday mornings.  The photo does not show how bright it really is.  (It was a cloudy day.)  It was alot of fun and my students did great. 

I must apologize for not posting for a while.  I have been way too busy.  So I started wondering why I'm so busy when I'm only teaching two classes a week.  Then I mentally made a list of everything I'm currently involved in and I began to understand.  I am taking two classes on line and I will tell you all about them on a future post.  I am teaching two classes at the Art Studio which I'm slowly moving in to.  I am busy getting ready for the Seawall Art Festival and being I haven't done an out door show in a while I have a great deal of work to do.  I have to deframe paintings, have prints and notecards made, package and price all of them, frame paintings and go and all sorts of miscellaneous little jobs.  I'm trying to redo my website as well as make a brochure to give out at the upcoming show.  On top of all of that I am on the board of the CBAA as well as the membership chairperson and we have recently developed a new membership procedure that is more time-consuming.  And I have just begun being the recording secretary for the CBW and trying to learn more about the organization.  Whew!

I don't know why I do this to myself.  I just take on a little bit too much and I feel like I cannot get everything done.  I have done it for my entire life and I never learn my lesson.   Well one good thing is I am never bored!

Multi-Artists Paintings

 Here are the paintings that six of my students at the Great Neck Rec Center created.  It was a wonderful, fun learning experience.  I gave all the students a black and white copy of a tree and each person did the initial drawing.  Then they passed the painting to the next person to lay in the initial washes and they continued to keep passing the painting along.  So the finished products were all completed by the same artists.  They all look so different and unique. 

Bravo to Gene, Am, Linda, Jane, Robyn and Dory. They were so receptive to the project and did such a great job completing the multi-artist paintings.