Wyoming postcard

HILLSIDE SKETCH

I have been remiss! Time is flying and I'm not blogging like I used to. So many things demanding attention this time of year. This tiny watercolor is like August's last hurrah.

I'm hanging a big show of work tomorrow at the Wyoming Library and there are many details to address before we load the cars and go to hang it. Thankfully there should me many hands available! I hoping the world will slow down a bit and I'll have time to do more icons and other painting, not just framing and labeling and hanging.

I changed my whole wall at Fire and Water in Lowell too. Whew!

Emerging work

This is a 30"x40" painting. This is only the first layer. I just started pushing paint around and the figure emerged. I'm using an old set of MAX water soluble oils that I've had for a while but I really don't like- thought I'd see about using some of it up on an oil painting from years ago- redeeming both the canvas and the paint! Here are some details.

Fire and Water Glass Show

These are pieces I'm hanging today at the Fire and water Showroom for our show of the Beauties of Glass or would it be Beauty's of Glass?

I don't do lovely glass jewelry like Kathleen Mooney, but I have been interested in capturing the light through glass in many of my paintings.

Check the blog for more info.: www.fireandwaterart.blogspot.com

Golden

We've just returned from a trip to Golden, Colorado to escort our youngest to graduate school there. Not much art to post as a result, but lovely images and memories to inform future studio work. What a variety of landscapes in this world of ours!

REDEEMED 2

This is a recent piece completed on a piece of 300 lb watercolor paper I saw in the trash at a workshop. That stuff is too expensive to not have a second chance to I 'redeemed' it and obliterated what was on it under layers of paint. So I guess Redeemed has two meanings here.

It's the second painting in a series. I posted the first one July 2nd. That was painted to go in a frame I redeemed and repainted. Maybe all the pieces in the Redeemed series will mean salvation through Christ and new life for old materials considered worthless in another context and now worthy to be saved and honored! Whew! That's a little heavy!

TREES ON 56th version 2005

I thought this one was done in 2005, but I was wrong. There are some things I really like about it, but the following posts will show you where it has gone this week.

TREES ON 56th version b

TREES ON 56th version c

Almost there.

TREES ON 56th- final version

AERIAL VIEWS 2 and 11- 2005

This is the way these paintings looked last week. The current versions are in the following post.

AERIAL VIEW 2 AND 11 -2007

These are the updated version of paintings that have been hanging around since I thought they were finished in 2005- I think they're truly finished now. There are some things I liked about the first versions, but this is what staisfies me today.

new postcard

I've been working on a new postcard I'll send out to promote a solo show I'm having in the fall at the Wyoming Library. I spent hours this week with my friend Mary Andersen (http://www.maryeandersen.com/) working on a PowerPoint presentation of her work she's presenting at MANNA on Monday (www.mannagr.blogspot.com). We were laughing about how people think the life of an artist is all about pushing paint around and they don't see the bits and pieces that take up hours. Promotion, preparation, accounting, arranging for shows, applying for shows are the left brained part of this art business. Time to go push some paint around!!

VINEYARD

This is the last of the little postcard sized paintings I did up North. Not sure it's done, but I'm trying to avoid being too 'finished'. I've been working on a few things since we've come home, but they have not been photographed. It's been fun having this 'stash' of photos to blog from.

Here's a quote:

"When love and skill work together
expect a masterpiece." (John Ruskin)

I found that on the Painter's Keys this
morning and it's worth chewing on...
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HOLLYHOCK

Ah, summer!

BIRDHOUSE

Not sure that this is done.
Not sure it has to be.
It's just a record of a lovely day
up North in Michigan.

BIRD HOUSE AND HOLLYHOCKS

Another little sketchy watercolor.

ONE MORE SUNFLOWER

One more sunflower painting.
A long one this time.
I cut a mat and put it in a little gold frame and a and it's out at the gallery in Lowell.

Fire and Water ART
219 West Main

BEACH PATH

This is another of the little watercolors from last week - 4x6.

SUNFLOWER 6

This is the last of the watercolor sunflower series...for now. There may be some acrylic ones in the future. There are a few more coming of other subjects.

SUNFLOWER 5

This was done with watercolors and watercolor pencils.

SUNFLOWER 4

Talk about quick! My brush was a blur on this one.This actually looks like two separate pieces to me, top and bottom halves. There's something here that may transfer onto canvas or a larger paper, if I could keep it loose enough.

SUNFLOWER 3

Obviously I was having a good time with the sunflower concept. It's fun to work quickly.

SUNFLOWER 2

SUNFLOWER 1

This is the first in a series of tiny 4x6 and 5x7 paintings done in the last week during our stay at Camp Tosebo. I have a travel watercolor paint kit and it was fun to work in such a compact way in a lovely spot.

CAMP TOSEBO map and paintings

This is another postcard I'm working on for Camp Tosebo. This one is part them and mostly shameless self promotion. It's the map I drew and painted last year flanked by paintings I've done there or that were inspired in that locale. Some of these paintings are hanging in various locations at the Camp.

www.tosebo.com if you're interested. Great rentals available.

SPIRAL compositions

These are nonobjective and fun compositions I did to fit in three retro frames I came across. I did 4 compositions so I could choose the strongest 3 to frame. Any opinion?

REDEEMED 1

This is a new piece. There are more on my work station but this one is the first in this series

I haven't really done much that feels finished and decent in what seems like a very long time. I also have the frame and mat ready so I'm looking forward to having the satisfaction of seeing it all the way done!

The piece uses my 'vocabulary' of symbols in a continuation of the meditation of the mysteries of life.

Mary Katherine Conover at 17

Another charming photo of my mother-in-law.
She's 17 years old in this picture taken in 1937.

I haven't blogged regularly of late because of her recent death. So many things to be done. Many pictures are turning up that we haven't seen before. I'm organizing and archiving them and printing some for family members.

The process of looking back at a life well lived is a privilege and deepens my wondering about God and the way our lives are put together. What a mystery our lives are!

Mary Katherine at 6

This charming little photo was found in Fred's mother's effects. We think it was probably taken when she was five or six in 1925 or 26. What a glimpse back in time! She had that sweet charming nature even then!

POPPY 1 and 2

2- 6 inch square boxes

PORTAGE LAKE SUNSET

Sitting in HOT Grand Rapids, longing for Portage Lake!

SANCTUARY #3

Sanctuary #3 was purchased yesterday and is on its way to Canada. I was honored to meet Sylvia Keesmaat and her mother Irene Keesmaat who were in Grand Rapids to attend the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church. Sylvia included some of my work in a devotional booklet she edited for use with meditations about the use of the gifts of women in the church. Irene is also an artist and lives and works in Caledonia, Ontario. It was a delight to visit with them.

so nice

My mother-in-law died this weekend after a long illness. As I was talking to someone today at church, I was remembering how she was so terrified to go to the doctor or the hospital but then afterwards she would invariably say "Everybody here is so nice!"
I imagine her now, all 4'3" inches of her amongst the saints and angels, saying "Everybody here is so nice!" I like that image a lot! Thought you'd enjoy a chuckle along with us as we celebrate the life of that sweet woman who was niceness personified.

This is a sketch I did of her in the care center a few months ago.

Fire and Water business card

Obviously, I've been spending quite a bit of time with graphic design for the Fire and Water Showroom! Actually, I have done a few small pieces of my own art but none photo worthy as yet.

happiness is a journey

Happiness Is A Journey... Father Alfred D'Souza

For a long time is seemed to me that life was about to begin -- real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. GREAT quote! Don't know who he was, but that is some serious wisdom! Also attributed to him sometimes is: Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Dance as though no one is watching you. Love as though you have never been hurt before. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.

one more postcard

This is a standard size postcard I did for the Fire and Water ART Showroom. I find this a really fun process. Maybe because I'm so excited about the place!