Another scarf!

Here's another one of the scarves that I painted while at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Murphy.  We hung our scarves on the windows and doors for the "show-and-tell"session and for our teacher's demonstration. 

For some reason, I got "into" twin figures and panels of colors.  I think the double ladies will be a lot prettier once they are cleaned, ironed, and worn - and not hanging on a glass, classroom door!  

Silk Painting

My sister Nell and I just spent a week in a silk painting class at John C. Campbell Folk School in Murphy, NC.  We stayed at the Franklin guest cabin that we love which is fifty-minutes away.  We had so much fun - painting, visiting, sitting by the creek, and relaxing.  At left is one of my scarves.  It will of course look better after it is taken off the rack, steamed, dry cleaned, and pressed. 

Wayah Waters Guest Cabin

Last year, a friend of ours told us about a great little cabin outside of Franklin, North Carolina.  Chuck and I went and stayed there for his birthday, and I have been there twice by myself while Chuck was on business trips.  Over spring break, my sister and I went and stayed for almost a week.  It was great!  The cabin is right beside a rushing creek!  I took a photograph of the front and have spent the last couple of mornings working on this painting.  Hope it will give you an idea of what a neat little place it is. 

Kirk

I painted this about a year and a half ago.  I had seen a photo in a local state magazine of a young man serving coffee.  I loved his vest, the cup and saucer, and the dishes behind him.  So, off I went!  UNTIL I got to the face.  In the photo, the man was nerdy looking with glasses and a cone shaped hat.  I decided to substitute my son Kirk's face.  The photo I used for the painting was his senior picture.  You can see from the inset that he has changed quite a bit in eight years.  (It was also one of my first portrait attempts, and I made his face a little too dark.) When I finished the painting, I gave it to him.  Now, he has it out each time I visit him in Raleigh.  (Not sure if he gets it out only for my visits - ha! ha!)  He is, and always has been, one of my biggest supporters with my art.

Roughing it up!

I had a great time with this painting!  In one of the workshops I attended, I learned how to prepare canvases with different types of textures.   This painting was done on a very roughly textured canvas which was developed with a base of gesso and then a sprinkling of a sandy substance used by ceramic artists.  I loved this exercise because it gave me a chance to experiment with, not only the rough texture, but also with a soft wash and blending of the background.  I also had the opportunity to work on facial features and hands and to practice value and shading.  

Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries

The quotes below are from Robert Genn's Twice-Weekly newsletter.  I found them especially appropriate since that is exactly what I have been doing this past week or so.  The older lady at the left is one of my "small bets."  I only spent a few hours on her - decided I had learned all I could learn from it and moved on.  

"In Peter Sims' book, Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries, we see the value of making lots of small failures as a way to get to large successes. While Peter's book is mainly aimed at entrepreneurs, it's also of real value to us regular creative types. These days, cutting-edge gurus are passing the word around: "Fail often in order to succeed sooner."

When students are encouraged to do volumes of small items they become accepting-- even proud--of their failures and are more readily able to move on to ideas that work better for them. Simply put and perhaps surprisingly, less commitment widens opportunity. In a hundred small bets, a dozen or so often ring the bells. With this shotgun effect, even beginners are seen to produce gems. As the lady said, "It's better to have a small diamond than a large piece of glass."

PS: "Life is an experiment where failure teaches as much as success." (Peter Sims)"

Still Playing Around

I spent five hours at the studio today. First, I revised the picture below. The difference from last week's posting is that I cropped it by cutting off the right side. (The blank right side is no longer part of the painting - sorry the photo is not better.) I also added the indication of a face. I used pastels to make some of the highlights and shadows more pronounced

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Then, I finished the picture at the right. When I started with this one, the photo reference I used was of a model from the Springmaid workshop. She was a very, very heavy woman. I decided to put her on a diet. Last week, I had painted her in gouache. I was just not very happy with the flat look of the medium - so, today, I added highlights on her hair, shoulder, and arm, and put in darker shadows on her back. I used pastels - lots more fun

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Next, I did the picture above.  It has a water-color base with pastels on top.  I can tell that I am getting a little more comfortable with making lights lighter and darks darker.  The overall painting is not as light as the photograph looks.


Finally, I started a new pastel painting of an older woman.  Hopefully,  I'll finish it on Monday - just in time for another post before heading to Atlanta for the National Portrait Society's Annual Convention.