I went out to Lynda Nelson’s new Workshop and Gallery store to drop off some of my art which will be displayed and for sale there. She had brought in an old friend of mine. It was so nice to see one of my paintings, “Driving Durango”. Her husband asked, “Where are you taking our painting?” It was framed with a nice antique frame that fits the painting nicely.
I took in a bunch of the watercolors that are 18”x6”. They’re a fun size for landscapes.
Giclee print of “Oxen in Nauvoo Pasture”Original watercolor ‘Lone Tree in a Green Pature”Original watercolor “Storm Clouds Over Illinois Farm”Original Watercolor “Flat Top Mountain” by Sherry Meidell
You can check out these paintings at 6237 South Highland Drive, Salt Lake City.
I have a quote of Louisa May Alcott’s hanging in my studio: “Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and follow where they lead.”
First we have to see the possibilities, have the hope that we should pursue those possibilities, and head in that direction. When you are heading for a goal there are bumps, detours, train wrecks, and readjustments but like Louisa, if we can see our highest aspirations there in front of us, we should head in that general direction. Oh …….and then we should work.
“Looky There” Accepted into National Watercolor Society’s Membership Show
So the latest “thing” is getting rid of clutter and keeping those things that give you joy. Sometimes you have to share the things that bring you joy with others. If you’re an artist, you have to send those things out into the world for others to see. It brings great satisfaction when others see and enjoy what you have put into your art.
My watercolor painting, “Looky There” 21 1/2” x 29” is heading to San Pedro, California for the National Watercolor Society’s Membership Show. I tried to capture the feeling of this grandmother alone with her dog. I wonder where they are looking? And what are they looking at? There is a mood of being alone in her space and seeing more than what we can see. The show will hang April 4 through June 2, 2019.
P.S. I’m trying to clean out my studio a bit. There is a problem. It is filled with things that bring me joy
Robert Henri, in his book The Art Spirit, said, “To have ideas one must have imagination. To express ideas one must have science.”
One way to get the “science” is drawing the model from life. You will train your eye to see what is actually there. It is different from what the camera sees. The way the light hits the figure, the color in the shadow and the highlight is important to observe from life. And the model stands longer than those people that you sketch in your sketch book, giving you more opportunity to observe.
I love to hold my pencil as I am in the photo above. It gives me more freedom of movement. The sketch becomes more of a dance over the paper. It helps promote muscle memory. If you have sketched enough in your sketchbook, you can dive right into the sketching of the figure without intimidation. Think about angles and catching the pose of the model in a lifelike, not stiff pose. And watch for the time that the model sinks into the pose and it becomes more natural. Watch for those areas where the hair hits the shoulder or where the chin hits the neck line, anywhere one line hits another.
Capturing imagination in the sketchbook.
And what about imagination? Ideas float in and out of my head at about the same speed. So it’s important for me to capture those ideas and get them down in my sketch book. The ideas that I capture, lead me to other ideas. When I see the multiple ideas in front of me on the page, I can choose which drawing best fits what I’m trying to say. When you carry your sketchbook around with you and use it, your sketching and observational ability improves immensely. And you always have something to put those gems down from your imagination.
You can see from this photo that we are not quite cleaned up from Christmas but I did get “Elephants On Parade” framed. This is the first time I’ve floated a painting and it looks great. Willis Group made the frame and they do a wonderful job. A good frame can showcase a painting and keep your eyes in the painting instead of wandering off to look at the cookie your eating.
I guess the same holds true if you are giving a presentation. I’ll have to dress up a bit to give the art talk tonight. Or maybe not. Maybe I want people to be looking at the refreshments instead of the presenter.
All I need to do now is put the wire on the back. And the painting is ready to go.
Sometimes creativity is a combination of ideas that come together to make a new creation. Thing rumble around in your brain and at just the right moment they all come together and waalaaah (this is the American translation of the French word voilà) something new appears. I had these baby elephants in a picture book that I’ve been working on but they were not combined on the page.
My daughter-in-law (which they are all my daughters seeing that Dave and I had no girls) asked quite a while ago if I could paint a painting for the kids room. I said sure. The thought went in and out of my brain. When I asked what we could get the grandkids for Christmas, this year, my daughter said, “I know you’re busy but would you have time to do that painting of an elephant?”
When it’s just the right moment, the idea won’t rest and you just have to paint. And so “Elephants On Parade” came into creation. I had a great compliment from one of my students in my watercolor class. She had been to Africa and seen baby elephants at play, and she thought I had captured in my painting that playfulness she had witnessed in Africa. You create the art and then hopefully it brings joy and happiness to those who view it.
