Cherry Blossoms in their glory

Pink fluffly blossoms, so graceful.

Our cherry trees blossomed and were at their fullness about two weeks ago.  I love seeing the branches heavy with their floral pinkness shouting out their glory.

Alas, last Monday our trees began to rain...  the petals gently flowing down on slight breezes.  It seems magical to walk beneath the trees in one of the moments when the pink petals choose to let go and do their final dance to the ground.  And for a little while our driveway, flowerbeds, the road, the yard are blanketed in this wispy fairy pinkness, and I savor that too.  Spring is defnitely here.

Trees, Inspiration, and Art Show

Paying attention by practicing mindfulness, the small moments of happiness are everywhere to be found...

"Morning Joy Among the Trees #1"         12"x12" Acrylic

Copyright 2012 Delorse Lovelady

Trees and Inspiration

I continue my exploration of trees with paint.  There are endless possibilities of shapes and colors and moods.  These two paintings were done rather spontaneously on a Saturday morning, and I hate to admit, but for a painting exhibition with a deadline due the next day.  I don't usually wait til the last minute, but I had been having a particularly bad summer cold (thankfully gone) that affected my eyes.  Maybe it's a reminder to not labor so much on minutia or thinking when approaching the canvas.  Capturing a feeling or moment may be easier when we let go and let the brush and hand go where it will.

The inspiration for these paintings come from a certain walk that my spouse and I take occasionally.  It's a lovely hidden spot, a walking trail with lovely undulating trees along a small running creek.  So as I began to paint, I recalled the crisp air, the colors, the shapes, the enjoyment of the moment of walking with my best friend.

"Morning Joy Among the Trees #2"         12"x12" Acrylic

Copyright 2012 Delorse Lovelady

Gallery North Art Show

Both of the "Morning Joy Among the Trees" paintings will be in this show, do stop by, it is a lovely gallery set in the artsy community of Edmonds:

Plein Air Edmonds - Beauty of the Northwest Art Show

August 1 - 31, 2012

August 16, 2012 - Edmonds 3rd Thursday Art Walk

5:00pm-8:00 p.m

Refreshments will be served.

 

Gallery North

508 Main Street, Edmonds, WA

425-774-0946

Monday-Fridays from 11:00am-6:00pm

Saturday from 10:00am-6:00pm

Sunday from Noon-6:00pm

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.

Art Show, Trees and Whispers

Night whispers among the trees...

"Night Ceremonies #1"   16x20 acrylic

Copyright 2012  Delorse Lovelady

Art Show

This is a little late for posting, but I was pleased to be juried into the annual Seattle Co-Arts show.  The last day is tomorrow.

May 1-31, 2012

Seattle Co-Arts Juried Show "Eye of the Artist"

 at The Art Institute of Seattle, Burnley Gallery, 

South Campus, 6th Floor, 2323 Elliot Avenue, Seattle, WA

Trees and Whispers

"Night Ceremonies #1" is my latest in a set of two paintings on trees.  They were an experiment in faux monoprinting.  And I listened to the whispers telling me they wanted to be pink moving about in the night with the winds blowing around them...

Contemplation, Miniature Paintings and Art Show

I am painting and painting and contemplating...

"Contemplation #1 and #2 Diptyph 5"x7" Acrylic
Copyright Delorse Lovelady 2012

Contemplation
Two paintings that go together (or not), using my favorite undulating shapes and a sun. I was thinking about the desert scenes I had viewed in Death Valley last year. I loved the shapes, the soft colors, the faraway look, a place of silence to contemplate and be quiet. This could just as easily be a scene of a faraway sea in the distance, I like that it could be interpreted another way. These 2 will be in the show coming up...

Art Show
I'm happy to present 6 new paintings in this show. There are over 350 paintings by local artists painting in a variety of media and styles in this popular show. Please stop in and take a look, and enjoy the artsy little downtown of Edmonds!

Gallery North

Annual Juried Miniature and Small Paintings Art Show

March 1 - 30, 2012

March 4th Sunday, 1-4pm Artist's Reception, open to public
March 15th Thursday, 5-8pm, Edmonds Art Walk

Trees
Two more paintings in the show, lots of texture in these as I used molding paste, very fun to work with.

"Talking Trees #2" and "Starting the Conversation #2" Acrylic 5"x7"
Copyright Delorse Lovelady 2012

Art Show, Monoprints, and Trees

I listened and I heard the trees speaking of stories long ago...

Copyright 2011 Delorse Lovelady

Art Show
Many local talented artists will be represented at this show. My latest paintings above and below will be included. All paintings in this show are small or miniatures making them ideal for gift giving this time of year.

December 3, 2011 - January 25, 2012

"Miniature Masterpieces and More"

Kaewyn Gallery, Bothell, WA

Monoprints

These latest paintings are a result of experimenting with monoprinting after a recent class with talented artist Lisa Snow Lady. I may post my class paintings later. Monoprinting is an interesting technique and for me will take a bit more practice. It involves transferring and drawing an image onto a painted background. It's challenging trying to determine whether the paint is the right level of wetness to transfer but not totally blacken your surface. It's a surprise to see what you get as a result and moving towards more abstractness.

Copyright 2011 Delorse Lovelady

Trees
Trees are a recurring theme in my paintings. I love their shapes, the colors at different times of the year. I imagine they have been listening to all our stories, holding them, and are repositories like ancestors. They shimmer in the sun with diamond dewdrops, standing elegantly in their roots while reaching to heaven, and whisper to us with the wind.

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.

Fall Colors, Trees, and Camera Tips

Sometimes the colors are so luscious, I want to swim in them.....
Fall Colors
We've been out on several occasions lately just to see the fall colors of the trees with the leaves turning. We don't really have to go very far to see the changes. Amazingly beautiful reds, oranges, yellows - cast against blue/white skies and grassy greens... My photo's here are from a nearby park and along the side of the street. Great inspiration for painting!

The New Camera
Lucky me, I have been taking even more photo's, as I finally have a new camera, a Canon G-12 Powershot. If you are in the market, this is a terrific camera. It's the latest model called an "advanced digital point and shoot", that is, it has the features of an automatic, but also has many more options that a SLR would have, while maintaining it's compactness (14 oz). I did quite a bit of research before getting this camera and now that I'm using it, I can say, I'm glad I chose this one. No shutter delay, great low-light pix, a viewfinder and a move-able LED screen, shoots RAW, gorgeous sharp photo's. I will be discovering and learning quite a while what I can do with this camera!

I have to say, I balked at the 14 oz size at first when I was researching camera's because the one I've been using forever was only 5.5 oz. And, I have to have something that will fit easily in my purse and go with me everywhere... SO, I looked in my kitchen cabinet and found a can of artichokes that weighed 14 oz and put it in my purse to see if I could stand to carry that around. I am learning to carry less baggage around in my purse (and otherwise). The artichokes passed the test, hence the new camera!

There was one other camera that I liked quite a lot, a Panasonic Lumix, that was half the weight and size, but it did not have a viewfinder, nor as good a zoom. Otherwise it was comparable and is the camera that my virtual travel friends recommend. But for me, a viewfinder was a must, as often the LED disappears in strong sunlight, and a better zoom, well, what can I say?

Another tip, I bought my camera at Kenmore Camera, a great local shop in Kenmore, WA with very experienced people. An annoying thing I've found lately about electronic things, is that often you get an abbreviated handbook with the item, while the detailed handbook is on-line. When I asked about this, Kenmore Camera offered and printed out the 213 page Camera User guide for me (2 pages on each side, saves paper) -- so I can take it with me as I learn how to use all the features. I took the pages to Kinko's and had them coil bound for about $4 or so with plastic covers.

So, for researching which camera to buy, I used the latest Consumer Reports reviews- which I could access free from my local library. Plus a website called Digital Photography Review (http://www.dpreview.com/news/1009/10091412canong12.asp), among others. Hope all this helps anyone looking for a new camera.

Happy Picture Taking!