CoArts New Blog and 3231 Gallery and Edmonds Convention Center Shows

Fall brings gray skies, but paintings add color...

"She Knew"    10x10 Collage 2013 Copyright Delorse Lovelady

Two Shows 
I am in two shows this fall.  Please stop by and see the lovely art from the various artists in these two venues.  Splashes of color will lift away the effects of our perpetual gray Northwest days which have returned for the season.

NW Collage Society Juried Fall Show

Edmonds Convention Center

 201 Fourth Ave N. Edmonds, WA

 edmondsconferencecenter.com

Show dates:  Oct. 15 - Dec. 6, 2013

http://www.nwcollagesociety.org/ 

I have the collage "She Knew" (above) in the NW Collage Society show.  As you can see I have been experimenting again...

3231 Gallery

"Birds and Bugs" Show

 3231 Broadway,  Everett, WA

Show dates:  October 3 - November 30, 2013

I have two bird paintings in this show, one is acrylic and the other a monoprint.


Seattle CoArts
Our painting club is so much fun!!  We have a brand new website today and you can see our member's art here.  We have presentations at monthly meetings, retreats and workshops.  This kind of association provides so much enrichment, camaraderie and opportunities for members, no need to be a lonely artist.   Check us out and consider joining, or find an art club in your own community.

Art Show, Recent Paintings and Crows

Painting images, playing with paints, such a joy...

Art Show
The recent acrylic paintings above (5"x5") plus two more will be included in the annual by-invitation- only Kaewyn Gallery miniatures show.  Many talented local artists will display their small or miniature paintings which are ideal for gift giving this time of year.

 November 30, 2012 - January 8, 2013

"Miniature Masterpieces and More!"

Kaewyn Gallery

10101 Main St.

Bothell, WA

425-483-7385

Recent Paintings and Crows

"She Listened to the Soothing Songs of Her Friends"

Monoprint Mixed Media  12"x12",  Copyright Delorse Lovelady

The painting above recently was being shown at the Northwest Hospital Breast Center.  Earlier this year I was experimenting with monoprint techniques that I learned from local artist Lisa Snow Lady.  This one was difficult to photograph because of the shine of both the acrylics and gold leaf in the branch and circles.

 

While on another wonderful painting retreat in September on one of our NW islands, I painted the watercolors above.  I enjoyed trying out new shapes for the crows, trying to capture the gestures and behaviors I have observed.  Talented artist Bev Jozwiak shared some of her watercolor techniques, loose washy expressive painting. 

Retreat, Art Play and Sunday Meditation

Beautiful scenery, good company and blissfully painting...

Retreat

A retreat is a wonderful thing, good for renewing the spirit, getting away from the regular routines and events going on in life.  And so, that's what I was doing this last week in a beautiful corner of our Northwest.

I arrived a day late after recuperating from a three week trip to Texas followed by a short illness after returning.   I quickly immersed myself in the camp of good company of our painting club, and gave myself up to painting and experimenting as much as possible.  Our instructor was the talented Jennifer Bowman, a high energy acrylic painter.

Art Play and Experimenting
In 5 days I produced 12 small paintings, experiments in color, shape, lights/darks, subject matter, materials, and using a palette in a different way.  Jennifer showed me how to do the eye on a couple of the paintings and in two others showed me the use of dark and light passages.
Here are the results of my experiments with birds:

and pears, rooster and trees:

and tulips:

I chose this retreat in place of the Artfest retreat in March this year.  And as it turned out this was this last Artfest, so I did manage to go for one day only over to Port Townsend to take a great workshop from Lisa Bebi on painting and photography.  Here is a one sample from my several paintings in that workshop:

Sunday Meditation
The exquisite scenery of both retreat locations nurtured my soul.  Nature does that.  And the one day March workshop plus last weeks retreat will serve as inspiration for me as I try out  different things in my paintings.  I am going in the new directions as I wanted...and am seeing where it leads.

I wonder if every day, there isn't a "mini retreat" waiting to be found by me... an hour painting outside on our deck, meeting at a park with fellow plein air painters and sketchers, a museum visit, or just quietly studying and playing with the many photo's I've taken of places, examples.

Attic Babies, Sunday Meditation, and Wonder

You never know how much goodness a little peep will make...

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Photo

Attic Babies

Exactly one week ago I woke up to some very faint peeps... and they have gotten more insistent and loud as the week has progressed.  Yes!  Our woodpeckers, Northern Flickers are back!  While I am so happy to share in this joyful occasion, the nesting location is not the best... our busy little flickers took advantage of our absence on a road trip for a couple of weeks in late March to hammer a hole thru the top side of our 2 story house and establish residence.  So we will not disturb them, and hope for the best in our attic, to see the fledgings take off.   I read that both the male and female share incubating the 6-8 eggs which takes about 11-16 days before the hatching.  Then both parents feed them constantly til they leave the nest a month later.  So I'm guessing the launching date for the babies will be sometime around June 6...  

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Photo

I've attempted but missed photo's of the comings and goings.  I so wish I could photo the going's on in the nest, but will have to be satisfied with one of the adults feeding at our bird feeder.

 

copyright Delorse Lovelady 2012

Sunday Meditation
It's been a full week for me.  Connecting with friends, art groups, family.  I won an award for a painting!  And yesterday I had the thrill of meeting NY artist/author Seth Apter (so charming) and 5 other Seattle area artists in his new book at the book signing.  Yesterday one of the attendees was speaking about the effect of a few words of a teacher on a student.

So I remembered a couple of personal instances where someone shared some words with me that made a difference, "stuck".  And I wonder how much we all really hear in all the symphony of life that goes on around us.  I can't help but think it could be a few words from anyone at a certain moment when we really take it in and hear it.   Words and images are so important, conveying meanings and layers of meanings.   It's as important to notice what we are sending out to the symphony, as it is to stop and listen to what is coming our way.

Wonder
Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the little singing chorus of peeps, the new energy, spring, life, the growing of wings for flying on the tiny flickers, my attic babies.

Ten Woman Show and Crow Painting

Fall has flown, winter is soon upon us so we reach for all the brilliance we can...Art Show in Edmonds
I'm so thrilled to be in this show with my painting critique group! We have been encouraging each other monthly for a couple of years now, and this is our first show together. Do stop in and take a look. You can make an afternoon of enjoying art and the wonderful ambiance of Edmonds, as most of the downtown merchants sponsor artists and display their works of art in their shops. In addition, the Edmonds Historical Museum is just a block away with the PNNAG Needlearts Guild Fiber Show. And if you need a bite to eat, a delicious restaurant is Chanterelle's right on Main Street. If you know how to get to the Edmond's ferry, you can find this area, as it is only a couple of blocks up from there.

"10 Ladies Painting Present: Paint the Town Red!"

December 2 - December 31, 2011

Showing at:
Coldwell Banker Cain
108 5th Ave S
Edmonds, WA

And included in Community Event:
Edmonds Art Walk December 15, 2011 5-8p.m.

Crow Painting
I had a lot of fun experimenting with this piece, it is heavily collaged. It is one of the pieces I will have in the show.

"Crow Dances for the Planet " 12"x12" mixed media acrylic

copyright 2011 Delorse Lovelady

Museum Fiber Show, Mixed Media, and Sunday Meditation

Experimenting, playing with fiber, paper, beads, who knows what I'll create on any given day...

"Heron Whispers to the Moon" Mixed Media 8.25"x10.5"

Museum Fiber Show
This piece will be included in the upcoming show below. Be sure to add it to your calendar as it promises to be full of fibery goodness and wonderful creations from our guild members.

2011 Pacific Northwest Needlearts Guild Show
October 12 - December 31

Edmonds Historical Museum
118 5th Avenue North, Edmonds, WA

(425) 774-0900

Hours
Wed - Fri: 1 - 4 p.m.
Sat: 10 am - 2 pm
Sun: 1 - 4 pm

Sunday Meditation
It is a quiet day as I tend to tasks needing to be done, the cat is napping, my spouse is away for the day. The wind has been rushing and howling all day despite a partly sunny, partly cloudy threatening storm kind of day. Fall is definitely here, the leaves are beginning to turn and dance in the wind doing a ballet in the air. Nature makes my heart sing on a day like today...

"Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods."

Shapes, Crows and Bird Books

Focusing on shapes and silhouettes and birds...

Crow Series
This group of paintings was started in February. It began with the small painting at the top right. It actually was a crane and I disliked it a lot, proportions were off, colors were too much, it was sitting on my table in the studio, waiting. So, one day, I picked it up and started carving out a new shape with gesso and so on. I really liked the results, so I painted two more small similar paintings. Then came the bottom two which are about 12x12. I have since painted several more crows (inbetween doing some abstracts/collage), so I am continuing on in this series, exploring different ways to depict my subjects. I'm finding working on a series helps me really know the subject better.

This whole direction is probably a result of participating in my women's painting critique group monthly. One of my friends there always focuses on shapes in her wonderful oil paintings, and I guess the idea of focusing on the shapes themselves appealed, and made me look at subjects differently. Belonging to a small friendly and supportive group of fellow artists is something I highly recommend. The diversity of outlooks and styles (loose or realistic), and even media, as among us, we work in watercolor, acrylic, oil, pastels, collage and 3d paintings, is truly inspiring. I'm always looking forward to see what we will each bring to the next meeting - it keeps me painting.

Bird Books
To complement my continuing bird interest, I'm in the midst of reading "Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness" by Lyanda Lynn Haupt, a local Seattle author. This is a wonderful read about our urban crow friends with some lovely woodcut illustrations by the author.

And I've added to my Audubon identifying book on birds with two more great selections listed below. They are great inspiration for a fiber book on Texas birds that I am finally completing. It was a project started last year in April when I visited family there.

The National Wildlife Federation "Field Guide to Birds of North America" by Edward S. Brinkley - a terrific guide with lots of stunning photographs to help identify birds in our country.

"BIRDS of the Puget Sound Region" by Bob Morse, Tom Aversa, and Hal Opperman - I like this one as it's specific to my area. I've already used it to determine we've got "spotted towhees" hanging around our yard - gorgeous 8" birds with a dark black hood and tail, sprinkled with white spots on the black wing, and robin red sides and a white belly, red eyes.

Death Valley Desert, Wildfires & Gratitude, Sunday Meditation

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans”.... John Lennon
Time has moved by at warp speed and I'm realizing I haven't posted for over six weeks. So I suppose I've been taking a breath, or two, away from the little screen that captures my words and images and sends them to who knows where or to whom....

The Desert, Death Valley
I finally got my taste of "Southwest" kind of terrain. We set off on a two and a half week road trip (love them) which included the desert. Death Valley, always wanted to go, finally made it. And added this to my list of National Parks visited, I want to experience them all. How to describe something so vast and so diverse... let me see, did you know Death Valley has very high undulating sand dunes? And a 150 mile long valley floor, called Badwater Basin that has white salt flats on it? Yellow canyons colored like mustard. A canyon named "Artist's Palette" because of the colors - red, ochre, sienna, brown, black, turquoise, all mixed up, just like a palette against the cliffs. Volcanic craters. Mountains, with very high points to look down at the valley on several sides. Flowers. Lots of raucous ravens. An actual Spanish castle in the cliffs of a canyon. Slickrock, narrow canyon passages. And more.
It was very warm (for me) in March, mid-80's, I wouldn't dare wait any later to go. I have to say it was stunningly beautiful in it's starkness and harsh terrain. I love the wide open space, seeing forever, big skies, and all the other cliche sayings about that kind of landscape...... nature undressed, getting down to the bare bones of what's essential, and letting my artist's eye relish the colors, shapes, lines and dancing mirages..... I had fun with my sketchbook and paints. And I left reluctantly, but filled with inspiration.

Sunday Meditations - Wildfires and Gratitude
One day you are peacefully going about your life immersed into your world, your routines. And the next, nature throws some sparks your way, maybe sets a blaze into your world. And it wakes you up (again) to the enormity of our universe, of what a small piece of it you are, of the greater forces always present.

This past week nature stirred some massive storms in the Texas panhandle. Hot dry dusty wind, severe drought conditions with no rain in months, so conditions were ripe for the huge fires that raged across the plains, pushed by 60 mile an hour winds, no mountains or anything to stop them from advancing. There were many homes burned down and lives turned upside down.
Among the lucky, were my two brothers. They both live in the rural areas surrounded by pastureland and both had huge walls of fire raging nearby - one up to the back of the house (see photo's, courtesy of Jonathan Clubb) after it had eaten nearby houses, and the other, across the road from his house. Evacuations, road blocks. Lots of firemen. Very scary.
Foremost, I am so thankful none of my family was hurt. Or suffered the loss of their houses. It's a bit calmer today, but it will be a long hot nervous summer, if the drought doesn't get relieved. I imagine sending them some of our Seattle rain to ease the pain. Water is such a life giving fluid. So today, Sunday, it's a good day to be grateful for family, for rain and water, and the abundance of life and home sweet home.
Namaste

Crows, A Painting, and Flyways

Such smart interesting birds, I love to watch them...
Crows and a Painting
Here is one of my latest acrylic paintings... playing with shapes, colors, movement. I have a series of these going on now.

Crows are such a delight to watch, and I have that opportunity every day, as our house is in their daily flyway. Every evening about an hour or so before dusk, they are winging their way in our direction. They gather in the hundreds in the nearby park, the greenbelts, the lumber yard, the library, and their raucous chatter fills the air.

This is the view from our back deck, we happily have a small greenbelt adjacent to our backyard and the trees are often filled with the crows in the evening.
Sometimes when there are no clouds, we can even see the Cascades.....
An Artist's Life is Never Dull
In between the snow, and painting canvases in my studio, it's been a very busy time. I entered the Gallery North miniature show with 3 paintings, and submitted 2 digital entries for the Seattle Co-Arts juried show. Managed to meet with friends for painting critique, so fun and inspiring to see other's work, and helpful too. Played at sketching at a brewery with sketching buddies, stitched button pins with sewing friends... And now I'm volunteering as the Workshop Chair for Seattle Co-Arts so, have just set up two workshops and demo's with terrific artists for our membership.

Meanwhile, soon, we are off on another adventure, to visit a favorite town, Ashland, and perhaps venture farther afield into Nevada territory. So much to explore.

Fiber Art, Snow Geese, and Sketches

Enjoying nature, shapes, lines and colors.....Snow Geese
We headed north to LaConner on Friday to the Skagit Valley farming area to see if we could spot some snow geese or eagles. There were thousands of snow geese! And I counted 12 eagles. As always, I carry my sketchbook, and captured a quick sense of the shapes. Lately I am paying more attention to shapes in my paintings and perhaps these will end up more refined in paintings to come.
As far as the eye could see, white covered the farmer's fields. They did look like snow, and up close, lovely swan shapes with black tipped wings, honking madly. We were lucky to see this entire flock raise up as one, flooding the sky with beating wings, turning on a dime altogether, like one massive organism changing directions, here, then there, and turning back around and landing again.Fiber Art
I have been focusing on birds the last year. Two weeks ago I worked on a fiber/paper stitching project. Here is a close-up portion of it. It incorporates fabric, my sketch of a heron transferred to fabric, embroidery stitching, tea bag paper, beading and more. I'm not done with it yet, it's an experiment but I'm liking the mix of textures and the pale muted colors, different for me.We visited the La Conner Quilt Museum again. There's a wonderful exhibit of contemporary hand stitched items which I would post pictures of, but they weren't allowed. However, there were also some outstanding examples of crazy quilts from the 1800's, with their amazing quantity of handstitching on every one.
And a final quick sketch - from the turret window of the museum looking across the street.
Taking time for nature, art, sketching, stitching with good company, what could be more satisfying...

An Exotic Bird, Jubilación, and Granny D

"You have to keep the young adventurer inside your heart alive long enough for it to someday re-emerge.... Granny D
It may take some coaxing and some courage, but that person is in you always -- never growing old." Granny D

An Exotic Bird
"For me, the vast marvel is to be alive. For man, or for flowers or beast or bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly and perfectly alive." Al Purdy

We happened upon the wonderful parrot in the pictures on a stroll in a Portland park in July 2008. He was perched on his owner's shoulder. I have to wonder who owns who... Aren't we the ones captured by the wildness, that exotic beauty, the sumptuous colors? I couldn't resist taking several photographs. This one is for my current photoartjournal project on birds.

I will soon share more photos from a more recent trip I have been on... meanwhile...

Jubilación
I just passed my 6th anniversary of being "retired". It's hard to imagine it's been that long ago already. First let me say, I detest the words "retired" and "retirement" as they have a connotation, if not a stereotype, that seem to conjure up images of settling into a rocker for the final few days. Not that anything is wrong with sitting in a rocker, it just always seemed to me that it used to mean that life was almost over, and in our culture, you might become one of the invisible folks, the aging, that are not as revered as the youth culture.

Anyway, I happened upon the word for retirement in Spanish - it is "jubilación" -- jubilation!!! Jubilation in the English dictionary means: a feeling of or the expression of joy or exultation or shouting for joy. What a wonderful word to describe the next phase of life after work. Because, in many cases, I'm sure, people didn't do for a career what their "purpose" called them to do, but instead, perhaps as I did, fell into their line of work by accident or as a practical matter of making a living. So leaving and entering the next stage may be with some jubilación, as you become freed to do more of whatever your heart desires.

But, as with any change in life there is what I call the "land of in-between" where you have one foot in the past and one stepping forward into the unknown. I remember vividly my last work day having stayed late to "finish" things up, feel that completion, while everyone else had gone home. I had the card key pass that I left for a manager on her chair, then hesitated as I walked out the door for the last time without the key, knowing I would never go back in. I was closing the door on that world, a thirty-four year career, and walking into an unknown world.

There is that one moment of trusting the momentum of the step forward, and releasing the energy in the foot stuck in the past that propels you into the new. And suddenly, in a step, a blink... life is different. And you might wonder why you resisted at all. And you might realize that there you are, everything you were and are, is still there, the adventurer, the artist, the person with experiences that have prepared you with tools, still there. New and different, but still the same after all... we are such paradoxes. And that land of in-between is always with us as we shapeshift from one phase of life to another...
Granny D
Here's an interesting life story of "Granny D" who just passed on at 100, what an inspiring woman. I read about Doris Haddock a couple of years ago and was so impressed. She walked 3200 miles across the country at 89 years of age just to make a point, stand up for her beliefs and educate people along the way about campaign finance reform. And she even ran for the Senate at 94. Her autobiography, written with Dennis Burke, is being republished soon, "My Bohemian Century" with the subtitle "You're Never Too Old to Raise a Little Hell." Don't you just love that? It's on my list to read. And, we are SO, never TOO old if we stay awake to our possibilities........

Here's a You-Tube about her; copyright the Boston Globe and filmmakers:



And another; copyright Arts Alliance America and filmmakers:

Birch Bay Sketching and Painting

Fresh sea air, wispy clouds, people digging clams, crows, a peaceful day by the sea, just you and me...Birch Bay Trip
Another outing for the day, we headed north about 90 miles to Birch Bay almost to the Canadian border. It's a small quaint town where nothing is happening, and it's nice and quiet. And it has a wonderful park along the length of the beach and forested park area in the hills above the beach, a perfect place to sit and observe, take a walk, just be.

Above is one of my on-scene sketch paintings. For this one I did the sketch first, then laid down the paint over it. Sometimes I paint first and embellish with pen afterwards... this time the people kept moving and so did the crows, and I added a bit more color than the real thing. We do have a few brilliant days here, but often we have that NW gray overcast, and I may not want it to look photo realistic anyway, or sometimes I just like to make it up, imagine something a bit differently than what I'm really seeing.
Below is a photo I took of the same place I painted...
And below is the same Birch Bay beach but looking down the road, and even more colorful. This sketch painting I did in 2006 in my personal journal.
And finally, another sketch while riding along in the car....

Sunday Meditation - Crayola Bombs to You! Seascapes and Birds

“Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A Beauty Bomb..." Robert Fulghum
"And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air -- explode softly -- and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination." Robert Fulghum

I love this quote and thought it appropriate for the U.S. 4th of July celebrations. I prefer visualizing crayola bombs, happiness bombs, rather than the typical song about the rockets red glare and the real bombs bursting in air. Now don't get me wrong, I do love my freedom and also think people should be entitled to liberty no matter where they are. Maybe this is an artist's way of viewing the world, perhaps those of us who share our work are sending out little parachutes of happiness. Little parachutes of happiness are so needed to counter some of the war machine that continues to ravage some countries or squash individual freedoms, counter those that start unjust wars, and abandon human compassion... I suppose my writing today reflects the holiday and reading about N.Korea launching test missiles...

Painting Seascapes and Birds
Meanwhile, here are a couple of the dozen or more paintings that I have been working on for my upcoming art show in two weeks. This will be my first show that is not watercolors - instead, I've challenged myself to do an all acrylic or mixed media show. Acrylic has been a challenge as it has such different properties than watercolor, I love the thicker texture I can achieve, but I miss the washy looseness of the watercolors. And I haven't obtained an extender product yet, so I am painting very fast indeed, so that I can still get some blending done before the paint dries. The top one is 16x20 and I may call it "The Heron Sentinel" and the one below is 8x10 and is "Seascape #1". I may share others that have even more intense colors.Crayola Artist
I selected this interesting You Tube video - "Homage to Dan Marco - Master Crayon Artist" from Glen Welker, all art copyright the artist. Wonderful paintings of Native Americans set to soothing flute music. So this is an homage to the first Americans whose ancestors and descendants would have yet a different perspective on our collective history and independence.

Time Out for Poppies & Irises, Painting again, and Art-A-Day Heron

A busy day and I still deserve time out to enjoy the flowers in my yard...
I just love the beautiful colors and shapes of the poppies and irises blooming in my yard... I took time out from house cleaning today to enjoy them and then pull a few weeds too. Amazing what just a few minutes of fresh air will do, clear out the mind so I can go back in and do what needs to be done.

Painting and Art-A-Day Sketch
I've gessoed some canvases and today am starting a new painting in acrylic and mixed media. Lately my focus has been birds, so I will paint a heron similar to this sketch here in a 16x20 size. I will change it a bit, as after showing it to my friend, she suggested that it looks like the large heron is wearing slippers instead of standing over it's two babies... so I'll move them over. I thought that was funny, and not surprising since she does paint bunny slippers on some of her people. Here is yet another sketch of a heron, such gorgeous graceful birds. This is from my Art-A-Day journal, I find it is useful for practicing what I might later paint.

Monday Meditation - Peace on the Stream, Snow Geese, Zen Paintings

Birds never cease to fascinate, with their ability to soar above us on the wind currents...Experimenting with Acrylics
This is my experiment with acrylics and collage, I called it "At Peace on the Stream" (8x10 canvas). It was fun to do, but I find it challenging to work with acrylics. I like their thickness, and the texture I can get, but then I miss the fluidity of the watercolors and having them flow across the page... I also used heavily coated fabric to get dimension, and liked the effect of a piece hanging off the left edge. More experimenting to come.

Snow Geese
Meanwhile, here are some inspirational photos I used, these I took in the Skagit Valley north of Seattle this past year during the time of the snow geese. They are beautiful to watch, and to listen to their chattering honks.Zen Paintings
I took 5 mintues to enjoy the music of this video and a collection of Zen paintings from Rev. Yao Feng Shakya aka "The Sadmonk". I liked the simple renderings, especially the birds. The music is "Chuang Tzu's Dream" from Karunesh. Hope you enjoy.

Meditation Monday - Bird Sketch

Focus in with the eye, capture the line, the shapes, try to get the essence...
Sketch of a woodpecker from a picture done a couple of months ago. Lately I have been sketching lots of faces, which I will scan and post soon. Meanwhile, my meditation for today (tonight) is more sketching. I have some interesting postcards to use... Drawing can be such a relaxing thing to do... let the mind go and focus in, really observe, really see what is there.

Herons and Art a Day Journal Pages and Art Critiques

I love watching birds, so graceful as they dance in the sky... transporting me to imagined places with the flutterings of their wings and charming songs...
Herons and Art a Day Page
The quick sketch above is from my Art Page a Day journal I started last November. I sketched from this picture which I took...
The local herony which boasts probably 30 or more nests in the Swamp Creek area is visible from the Park and Ride in Kenmore. Herons are beautiful large birds with 7 foot wingspans. Their babies have just recently hatched and huddle under or near the parent while others bring in food. For the sketch I experimented with a new pencil I picked up while on my Pt Townsend art retreat, a Stabilo CarbOthello (available at many on-line art stores). It is an opaque erasable water-soluble pastel pencil. I had never heard of water soluble pastels, but you can use these like watercolor pencils, very fun.

More Birds - Art Page a Day
These 2 pages are a bit of whimsy created from junk mail advertising... you can find good color combination and interesting patterns in catalogs, good for playing and recycling into collage. I seem to have quite a few pages with birds on them. I think I will have to do Flickers.

Art Critiques
I have joined yet another group... I was invited to be in a group of women painters where we will be critiquing 1 or 2 art pieces at each monthly meeting. So off I went with 2 experimental pieces in hand last week wondering what to expect. There are 10 of us, some I already knew, a friendly group with different styles and mediums. Of course, I love looking at other's art, and the socializing so am thrilled to be joining this group. And the feedback I received on my 2 pieces did seem to confirm my own feeling about them. I took the acrylic mixed media portrait in the upper right corner of my April 15 blog post. I was told not to touch it, just frame it! The other piece was Pearl Rises Above the Monsters of the Deep acrylic/mixed media piece blog post of March 31. This one I have continued to feel needs more, possibly something at the bottom... and that is precisely the feedback I received as well as suggestions as to what might be done. I haven't worked on it yet, but am considering possibilities and will probably use Photoshop to test out possible changes before applying real paint or more collage...

I looked up art critiques on The Painters Keys (a good resource for painters, by the way) site and found an interesting story from Robert, the site owner, about how he posted a painting and asked for critique. He was inundated with all kinds of opinions, including many conflicting opinions of how to improve his painting. Here's my favorite comment on that experiment from a reader, Karl Leitzel about art critiques:

"The many contradictory responses you got, and these mostly from actual artists, vividly illustrates why we can't get hung up on one negative review of our work, or one rejection notice from a juried show..." "I always try to keep a lot of irons in the fire and applications and entries out there, so that the rejection letter one day is often followed by a glowing acceptance the next."

I think that's where I am these days... I paint or make what I want and I know some will love it and think it's good art, and others not. It's important for me to continue to paint or make what pleases me, or else, why do it? However, that said, I am excited to take a journey with these painters in this critique group, as I have been experimenting with many other media these last few years. So this will motivate me to paint more often again and continue my experimenting with mixed media, as well as my traditional media of watercolor. The value for me may be in the inspiration of a group and reminders to myself to think about the typical elements of design, unity, balance, etc., but not getting so lost in those to be formulaic and lose the passion of just throwing on paint if I want to! Share your thoughts on this if you wish.