Me...Recital Time

In a land long, long, and really long ago....yes, I was a dancer....every Saturday, my friends and I went to Mrs. Wilhelm's School of Dance....and yes, I twirled a baton or two there, also. Simpler times, but not simple costumes. All I want to know is... what happened to that blond hair???? Oh, and let me give credit where credit is due... my Mom was my make-up artist and hair stylist...she still has style!

Another Angel...Penny McAllister

Folk Artist Penny McAllister passed away after a battle with Leukemia, life is so unfair. This Angel is for you, Penny, always an inspiration to me...my love and prayers to you, now amongst the angels...and you family. I will miss your whimsical world of creations.

Student Art Show Exhibit...

I finally got to go to the gallery that held our Student Art Show...and I photographed my 5 pieces in the show!!! It was exciting to see my art, framed, and hanging in a highly respected Art Gallery.

An Angel for Penny McAllister

If any of you know of Penny McAllister and her amazing folk art, or even if you do not know of her, please take a moment to say a prayer for her. She has a form of Leukemia and has taken a serious turn. Her work has been selling through Midwest of Cannon Falls. She has always been a favorite of mine...so fun and imaginative...what whimsy! God Bless You, Penny, and your family.

"Precious Darling," my BIG girl...

Isn't she lovely??? She was a skin and bones starving cat that had been a mama, when I found her...she was near dead. So I took her to the vet and had her stay for a bath and tests and brought her to her new home...it has been 4 or 5 years now...and she is well taken care of. I should have called her Sophia, she has Sophia Loren's magnificent Italian eyes! Mama Mia!

New Title..."The Better Half"

A friend in my Drawing II Class (the class this was created for) suggested a fabulous title...and of course, I asked his permission to use it. Yes... this was posted before,
but I felt compelled to reveal the new title...

"Precious Darling" class assignment

This is a Drawing Class assignment in oil pastel...not too thrilled with how it came out, my first attempt with oil pastels. Lots to learn. But that is the best part, discovering how I can use these new mediums I have been introduced to...
The model is my huge chubby cat named Precious Darling, I found her starving...she has made up for that over the years.

Quote...

"The faculty of creating is never given to us all by itself.

It always goes hand and hand with the gift of observation.

And the true creator may be recognized by his ability to find about him,

in the commonest and humblest thing, items worthy of note."

~Igor Stravinsky

Poetics of Music

Glimpses of Spring Around My Abode...

Got back to Parkersburg, WV, to see what has happened since I have only been gone 4 days!!! Lots apparently! Bulbs are starting to sprout and be proud!!! Love it..we had a fear the mighty Ohio River might flood and it is below range ...Thank God!!! It can sure change lives forever when it decides to take over...glorious and beautiful...but mighty, and never doubt it...I have lost many friends to it's water's.

FiNi~ no title yet...

I have been working on this particular still life since the beginning of the semester...but also working on two others during that time as well. Every time I'd go into the studio, the light was always different, the bottle had been moved, the fabric as well...so a lot of starts and stops and re-dos. Well yesterday, was my day to get it fini!!! The smaller one at the top is part of the project we had...to create a large painting of this still life and then take a section of our painting and paint it on a smaller canvas in a totally different manner...I love the smaller one so much, it is acrylic and the large on is in oils. No titles yet, but I will think of something...

Fly Renee, Fly...With the Angels

Our Dear and Lovely Renee has left this world. After a long and hard battle with cancer, the Angels finally opened their arms and lovingly carried her with them to a better place. She is an Angel among us...not suffering any more.
I am grateful for meeting her through this community of bloggers. You are all special, and Renee touched and was loved by so many, I know that is a comfort to her family and loved ones. I will miss her writings, but never forget her spirit, life, compassion, and strength.

Study Within a Study...

This green/blue section of a decanter is taken from a small section of a larger oil painting from a still life in painting class, (which is not finished and I will be there all day tomorrow finishing it for our mid-terms...) anyhoo ...I have posted the original in stages (but this is my latest) and needed to get a small section and go in any direction I wanted, style, color, medium...whatever moved us and here it is... Maybe I am broadening my horizons...hopefully... and experimenting with different styles....

So, I chose acrylic and painted over tissue paper on canvas board. Have no idea what to call it...which is so unusual for me...I give everyone great names for their pieces...all whimsical, of course.

WVU-P Student Art Show...

This small group pic is of me with some classmates from Drawing II Class, we have also been in other painting classes together. I took my camera and only came away with 3 pics!!! I swore I had more pictures taken with friends/artists...but it was a whirlwind of an opening at the Art Center Gallery of WVU-P Art Students, on Thurs, the 4th. And I must say it was a gorgeous show, such creativity and we all support one another and help each other, so important. Paintings, drawings, sculpture and ceramics...something for everyone...

The turn out was incredible and seeing everyone in their fancy outfits was too fun! Mine was called Vintage-Bohemian...the hat was to actually to cover some gray roots and under those lights, it could have been nasty!

Anyway their were lots of people trying to round up all the classmates for a group pic. I hope to get those copies. I am not good at taking pictures at such events, I am too busy talking to everyone!

Title: "Warmth"

This was a drawing class assignment using soft pastels...we had to create a landscape. Mine is a picture of a field in Tuscany. Would LOVE to be there...but this will have to do. It was difficult trying to keep the pastel from smearing all over, I did use a spray fixative, which changed the texture and colors a bit.

Title: "To Paint or Not to Paint..."

What a fun piece to create! It was a class assignment using trash, found objects, you get the picture...and incorporating them into a work of art with painting. I had the cool old frame and used a canvas board covered in tissue paper then splattered paint all over it. I grunged up brushes with gobs of gesso and paint and framed a palette of mine with a thrift store find frame in the middle of the madness. I really like how it turned out...not everyone's cup of latte' but that is okay!

Title: First Date

This was a class project in soft pastel with gesso...you apply gesso to paper (I used watercolor paper), but first mix acrylic paint into the gesso for a nice color. Once dry, you use your soft pastels and get some great results with the way the gesso texture comes through and the color underneath, too! I doodled some things sitting there trying to come up with something...and here it is. I call it First Date. Reminded me of people meeting someone for the first time and wondering...now what???

A Funny...

Time flies like arrows...

Fruit flies like bananas.

I was bopping through a thrift store and came across this book, Achieve Your Dreams, and it is full of sayings, like the above one I used. I love getting books from those shops, such variety and some treasures if you are lucky!