Recently in Inspiration Category

 well - I haven't been working at fullspeed lately - so the July calendar is still a few days away!

So in the meantime - here are some photos of my dad's wonderful garden!

Some of us have gifts that the rest of us don't!!

Maybe someday????

thanks - merilynn

Well - I actually got back from New Orleans on Saturday afternoon - but for some reason it takes me a day to recover - then a couple more to catch back up any time I am out of town. 

I went to New Orleans with fellow painter Carla Myane - who is a wonderful watercolorist from Lockesburg, Arkansas.  We went to a workshop with Linda Kemp who works in a method of painting in the negative.  This really requires some thinking - You paint around the item to create the image - looks really cool and somewhat abstract - It is really more my style - it is more than just a pretty picture... more about design elements.

Here are a couple of photos of Linda demonstrating.  The first photo is of the underpainting with just a little of the layering of the negative spaces.  

 This next photo is a little further along in the process - more negative spaces identified - and more if the image is built.

Someday I promise I will get this photo insertion down a little better so they are the same size!!!!

Anyway - If you are interested in this technique - Linda's Book is Watercolor Painting Outside the Lines published by Northlight Books.

more about New Orleans - later

mj

One of my husband's friends asked me to look for a print for him of a tulip called the Sempus Augustus.  After lots of research, I discovered that a print of this tulip was as elusive as the original tulip that apparently caused a financial problem back in the 1600s.  Since he had a picture of it - and it looked fairly simple, I offered to paint one for him.  It was actually just a botanical look with no background and I could do it fairly quickly in watercolor.  I actually enjoyed doing it. - and he had it professionally framed at Stanhope's Art, Framing & Stationery!

 I also painted a few (20) tablecloths for the Women for the Arts Fundraiser "Party with Picassos".

Brent Stewart was doing the decor for the party and after he told me the 'grand plan', I offered to paint the cloths for him.  They were really easy.  The only hard part was figuring out where to lay 20 squares of canvas that were 54" each while they dried.  I think Brent said that they were planning on using them every year. I wish I had a photo of them at the event but all I have are some snapshots that I emailed to Brent so that he could see how they were going.

well - this was a little of what I have been doing the month of March as well as helping the 2 'celebrities finish their pieces for the event. - Though that took very little time - just one more thing to do!

well - later

merilynn

Tomorrow I leave for New Orleans and I am going to the Linda Kemp workshop.

Long time between entries - time just flies away from me!!

I have been busy gal - sometimes not accomplishing much and other times I get to check something off the 'to do' list!

I have finished working with one of the Picasso Celebrities. Party with Picassos is an event held by the Women for the Arts in support of TRAHC - better know as the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council.  Each year a 'celebrity' is paired with an artist to create a piece to be auctioned off.  Louise Tausch, an attorney, was one of my celebrities.  She professed to be totally untalented but she has created a piece which to quote her "ROCKS!" - Sometimes having never tried something is seen as lack of talent.  You never know what you can accomplish until you take a leap and try!! She did great!!

My other celebrity hasn't finished yet - but I am sure it will be done in time.  It is hard to get busy people together - scheduling!!!

I am working on the pieces and the scheduling for the April Art & Libation events.  This month was full every time and the first couple in March are already full.  We have space on the 17th and on the 27th so check your calendar and give us a call.

For April I have a landscape lined up and am working on a martini themed painting.  But the one i am most excited to do is an exercise call Collaborative Intuitive.  You will create an abstract on watercolor paper similar to the one shown.below.

It's an exercise that helps you realize that some part of your art is instinctive.  You wil have a great time!

well - back to work!

mj

PS - I emailed Paragon and a distributor to get input on whether I was on the right track about the kiln I wanted two days ago - no response from either ARGH!

Tonight was the Tuesday Gang  - great time and great lesson - this is my night to grow and learn - we are doing figure drawing - and we always have a few snacks - and a little wine - we meet at 6ish and none of us eat supper first so we just snack - mostly I am the snacker -

First we did some 10 second drawings - and as soon as he realized we were not quite that quick on the 'draw', he extended it to 30 second drawings.  I can hardly get an oval for the head and the torso done in that amount of time.So we moved on to 90 second drawings.  Not much time still -  But I need to be forced to get the basics down and not overthink - it is all about get a few lines in the right place and the proportions approximately right! - Finally we were working on a 30 minute drawing - more my regular speed.  I was so intent on my second glass of wine ( did I mention the 16 oz. styrofoam cups?)  - ok - I don't fill it all the way!!

But this is my night to relax - keep that in mind... anyway - my easel is positioned right by the snacks - I am sure I must do that on purpose ( note to self: move next week ) - have I made enough excuses yet?? - We had some wonderful cashews that I was so intently munching on.  My eyes were focused on the model and my paper - and still I was munching away.  Suddenly the cashew that I put in my mouth had a funny texture and no taste at all.  YES - I  had eaten a piece of charcoal!! 

Actually charcoal is not all that bad - and it was a really small piece - that is my excuse for mistaking it for a cashew!! - But I was so-o-o surprised and it was a little funny.  I have dipped my brush in the wine before - but not actually eaten art supplies before.

 - I guess this means I shouldn't relax quite so much on Tuesdays! - NAH!!!

The real lesson here is one that I well know: never eat in the same area that you work in - most art supplies are not healthy if ingested!

Still not ready to show off my figure drawing yet  - but later

 mj

Usually my Saturdays are spent doing all those mundane things that everyone has to do on the weekends - but today I was semi-caught up. 

 I spent part of the afternoon 'coaching' a celebrity artist for the Picasso's fundraiser for TRAHC that is held each year by the Women for the Arts.  I am actually coaching 2 celebrities - both very different in their approach to doing something so unfamiliar to them.  I am not supposed to let anyone see their pieces yet - it is going to be a surprise!!

I decided that the next major equipment purchase that I want to make is to buy a kiln.  I really love to play with clay though I don't have a lot of experince with it.  I think it is kind of all wrapped up in childhood memories of things I always thought I wanted to do but never really got the chance.  When I was young, we lived in Southern California.  I can remember that one of our weekend activities was to go down to Laguna Beach.  There used to be this old guy that always stood on the corner and waved at all the cars and as a sort of welcome to Laguna.  I think he was actually associated with The Pottery Shack that was a place I really liked to go.  On the weekends, their potters would be outside throwing on their wheels.  I always thought it was so neat.  I liked to just stand there and watch.

In college I did take one ceramic class where we did a bit of wheel throwing and slab building.  I also took a series of lessons on the wheel with Gale Gill, a local artist.  I came to realize that it takes throwing every day in order to develop all the right muscles and to create anything worth much.  Just like the piano, I did not have the time to devote to developing that skill. 

 So, "why do I want a kiln?", you ask.  Well I do like slab building.  A year or so ago I did some relief tiles that had a nose on each one.  Each nose was a different character type. One sold as an individual piece and the others sold as a set - I called it 'The nose have it"   So I want to continue doing body parts, etc.  So, I started saving my pennies - and I am almost there.  But in the middle of the night I had a reality check - I don't really know how to use a kiln nor do I have time to make anything big. Now I am thinking of getting a small tabletop kiln that I can learn to use and use always for small items.  I have realized that if I get a small kiln I should get one to use in multiple ways.  After two weeks of surfing the web and looking at books. I think I have decided to get the Paragon Xpress-E-10A. 

Well, a little bit more reading and I will be ready to plunge in!

Create a little somthing this week - have a little fun while you do it

mj

Part of all this writing is so that I can get all the kinks worked out in this blogging business.  Though I know I will never ever be an expert - Life is too short........

I have to mention my "fifteen minutes of fame" - it actually is over - but hey, let me mention it anyway!

Last year I was asked to prepare an exhibit for TRAHC to be displayed in the Regional Art Center's entry and hallways - (sorry to disappoint you, not the main galleries - but maybe someday!)  The exhibit ran from November 13, 2007 through January 6, 2008.  What you see in this photo is the signage and brochures they prepared to go along with the exhibit.  I called the exhibit "The Common Thread" because I included two works each by my mother Jane Stanhope Miller ( whose focus was figurative mostly) and my grandfather H.D. 'Baron" Stanhope (whose strong point was landscapes - he loved the mathematical aspects of perspective).  We did have a FABULOUS reception.

The piece that TRAHC chose for the signage shown here -is not one of my very favorites but they liked it.  It is a watercolor of a fuchsia that I photographed on my Dad's back patio. (Can you tell he doesn't live around here?) It was actually the first watercolor I had done in about 15 years. I really thought I didn't like watercolor, but I think I changed my mind!

As part of my getting back into art, our Tuesday Gang has been trying all kinds of media. We could call it being adventurous, breaking away, inspired....... or just really, really A.D.D.  We have done some on our own and have had guest teachers come in and 'inspire' us.  Nicole Brisco worked with us in collage, and then some cool creativity exercises.  Then we did watercolor on Yupo paper with Judy Wright Walter.  The art of mosaics was fun with Sheila Keever.  The last medium that we explored was pastel with Cindy Holmes.  Most of us had tried all these things before, but my theory is that you never stop learning.  Expose your self to many different artists and styles to help you develop.  You can take a little inspiration or 'how to' from each person to help you find your own voice.  It is a little dangerous to study under one person for very long, your 'voice' will resemble theirs.  We have been together for several years now and have become a very close group.  We have our own unspoken trust in each other and we are small enough to keep our schedule flexible.  I am afraid we are a very strong group of personalities but we blend perfectly.  We do not follow instruction well at all.  Our members are all very much in charge in their professional lives, so we like to be in charge of our art also. Our next guest 'instructor"  is abstract and figurative artist Gregg Coker. - Can't wait!! - He does things with encaustic that I have been dying to try - I may experiment on my own before the group gets to it.

Talk later - mzj

I feel like I am jumping in midstream....

at least in reference to this wonderful journey of creativity.

I am a novice blogger, but have been so intrigued by all the sites that I have visited in the past few months. I must admit to many interests aside from art. There is no telling where my wanderings online will lead me!

Just as a way of introducing myself, I am a third generation owner of an art related retail business called Stanhope's Art, Framing & Stationery. In years past, I have taught children's art lessons, as well as decorative painting. This was how I kept my skills going all the years that I was also a little busy raising children.

A few years ago, I joined a group of wonderful friends for some creativity exercises on Tuesday evenings as a way to get back into art for art's sake. We have had some wonderful times together and I have started getting back many of the skills that had gotten a little rusty. - More about these guys later....

I also work with a really creative gal named Blanche - It has been invaluable to have someone to help you work out those ideas that come to you! -

Blogging will be another form of therapy and I hope you will get a little something out of it.
I will also get a little exercise in grammar usage - You would not believe how hard this was to write without ending a single sentence in a preposition!!

well - more later
m