Art Adventure

We had a great time in Park City at the Meyer Gallery tonight.  It was Brian Kershisnik's opening night for his new show.  So many new pieces of work to enjoy.  Then of course hot chocolate and crepes!

Wallsburg Workshop

The show at the Terra Nova Gallery was a lot of work but, I'm so glad I did it. Many people showed up for the opening and it was fun. My photos of the paintings are still at the photographers. I'll post them when I can.

The first week of August Marie and I took a painting workshop from Linda Curly Christensen in Wallsburg. Each day we went to a different location to paint. The workshop was five days, about twelve hours a day.

The first day we painted on Linda's farm. Our lunches were brought to us and dinners were back at the studio and were very yummy and healthy.

The second day we painted in town at the Ford's fence with the beautiful hollyhocks.

This is Russell Rick's painting. He had quite a few nice paintings that week and kept us entertained.

Day three took us up into the high country to paint wildflowers. As part of the retreat, we took a trail ride on horseback. This was a highlight.

This was my horse. He really liked me and kept wanting to show me how well he could trot.

As you can imagine we saw some beautiful places.

I had to drive my Toyota through this river three times on the way up and down. The first crossing was rough with big rocks. One of the cars got high centered. The drive up was one of my favorite parts.

Day 4 was a great painting day. I loved painting the valley and gentle mountains. We were out in the sun painting for six hours. By this time we were use to painting out in the elements and it was not a problem, except when the wind was blowing. We just loaded things down with rocks.

The horse handlers all had matching t-shirts that read:

If You Are Good,

If You Are Really, Really Good,

If You Obey The Golden Rule,

If You Pray Daily.......

When You Die, You Will Go To.......

WALLSBURG, UTAH

After spending twelve hours a day, for five days, painting, listening to art lectures and critiques, eating good food and meeting new friends, Marie and I thought we WERE in heaven!

Terra Nova Show

This postcard is for the show at Terra Nova Gallery in June and July. I've been painting since January and just have a few more touch-ups before I'm done. I'll have nine paintings in the show. There are some fun ones that turned out well. Stop by and check them out!

A Quick Road Trip

My longtime friend Tawnie and her husband Al, who live in Sherman Oaks, rented a house near St. George for Christmas. Kathryn and I took a little road trip to see them before they left for CA.

It was so nice to see Tawnie's parents, get out of town and see some beautiful scenery.

Art Gals Christmas (Tamale) Party

For December's gathering we had a Tamale party. Laura makes a big batch of Tamales for friend's and neighbor's Christmas gifts and we had a great time helping her.

She appreciated the help as she was leaving to pick her son up from his mission three days later. We had lots of fun conversation and a nice dinner!

Art Night Out with the Gals

Our friend Sean Diediker had his book signing party on Saturday night. It was a great art night out. It is always fun to see our art friends. He signed our book "To the plein air sisterhood", which is better than "The sisterhood of the traveling pants" which is how he has referred to us before.

My Creative Endeavor for the Week

My friend Faunice loves flower arranging and teaches classes occasionally.

She invited me to her Halloween class. I had a great time and met people from my neighboring ward.

I learned a lot. My entryway may never be the same.

We Did It!

We are standing next to our paintings at the Terra Nova Gallery opening tonight.

Provo Plein Air 2010

A few days ago Marie let me know about the Provo Plein Air Event. Even though she couldn't participate with her busy schedule, I thought I would try it. Kathryn said she would try too.

This morning Kyle and I headed up the canyon to South Fork. He did an awesome job of helping me pack my stuff around and set up. He enjoyed being out in nature and getting a fair amount of reading done.

While he was up taking a break, I busily painted away. I happened to glance over in his direction to see if he was back yet and saw THIS about 25 yards away! It was HUGE!

After several minutes it was frightened away by the loud noise of the park workers on their big riding mowers. One of them rode up to us and asked if we had seen the moose. I showed him the pictures and he said that he thought it was the one that chases people around. But he said at first he thought it was the big black bear that had been up there last week.

I didn't have it left in me to stay much longer. We packed it up and headed down to the lake to meet Kathryn.

The animals seem less wild down there. So, I think I'll paint there all day tomorrow. The paintings are due Friday at 1:00 for the gallery stroll that evening at Terra Nova Gallery.

A Chance Encounter......Arts Retreat.....and Painting Today

Two weeks ago, on Saturday, August 28th, Marie and I headed up to Wallsburg to paint. We were joined by our other art friend Kathryn. She teaches art at a local high school. I was telling them that Linda Christensen painted some of the Oquirrh Mountain temple murals up in Wallsburg and I wondered if she had painted them in the old ward house turned Community Center.

Marie said, "Wouldn't that be neat if she saw us painting and stopped to say 'hello'? We got set up and within the hour a dark SUV pulled up and a woman got out and walked up to Marie and introduced herself as Linda Christensen! Yes! the very one! She talked with us and said that she would like to paint with us sometime and would show us some good spots!

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/56198/Art-missionaries-help-beautify-temple-interior.html

This past Friday evening we went over to Kathryn's house for the first part of our Artist's Retreat. Marie, Laura and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner of Thai food prepared for us by Kathryn. We ate until we were full to the brim, including strawberry birthday cake made from scratch for Laura.

We intended to paint on Kathryn's beautiful pastoral land near the bird refuge. It had been such a wild day for me that I just soaked it all in and watched Marie paint. Her painting was fantastic.

The next morning we headed out early for the 2010 Artist's Studio Tour in Spring City. Kathryn and her husband joined Marie and I this year which made it more fun. We ran into a number of our friends that had participated in the Plein Air competition.

It was a great show again this year. We heard that 70 painters had participated this year, which was up from the 50 from last year. Marie and I renewed our desires to be there next year. With my new enthusiasm for landscape painting, I went out painting today. I was grateful that Kyle joined me for support. (He was great fun.)

He snapped this one of me while I was hard at work. My painting isn't good by any stretch. But, I do think that a few things are beginning to work out a bit better. It took two hours to paint.
This might be the first plein air painting that doesn't get wiped as Kyle wants to hang it in his room!

Some Results

After returning from painting Saturday, my husband mentioned that he noticed I have kept working at plein air painting even though it is still frustrating for me. He knows me well enough to know that I don't keep doing things that I'm not good at for very long.

So, it is nice to finally see a little progress. The first painting is from May 15th when Marie and I went down to the lake. The second is from Saturday, August 14th.

We have also started going with a larger group of painters headed by a local professor of art. The group includes some very good landscape painters and they are generous with their help, which is really nice.

I'm still painting!

This plein air painting is really challenging me. I told myself that I was going to keep at it all summer and then decide if I would continue with it or not. It is strangely addicting. Strange because, it's so frustrating. Why do I keep going out?

Marie and I had planned on going Saturday but neither of us felt quite up to it. She works at BYU full time and can't go in the day. I'm really too chicken to go by myself so, I got Kyle to go with me Tuesday morning.
He was going to read while I painted but the biting flies were bothering him too much. It was nice to have him along.This morning he didn't want to go with me so, I went alone! It wasn't even that bad. The bad thing is my painting. I am learning something new with each attempt but, my future as a landscape painter is in serious jeopardy!

Week #3 -Back to the River

Marie and I went back to the Provo river. She wanted to work again on the painting she started when we were there before.

The goal of a plein air painter is to keep the supplies as minimal as possible. But, how could I pass up this fabulous canopy chair? I keep adding more every week.

So far my painting is still working. It just might get past the danger point of being wiped.

Marie's painting from today.

This is Marie's painting from down by the lake.

Week #2 -Down by the Lake

This week Marie and I went down by the lake. It was beautiful! We went later in the day and the colors became more vibrant as the sun was setting. The air was rich with the sounds of nature. Birds, horses, cows and airplanes, to name a few.

Many painters complain about the conditions of outdoor painting sometimes. So, we knew how fortunate we were to have the PERFECT painting day.

This week my painting was much more successful. I even began to enjoy myself a bit. But because I made a big mistake that I'm too embarrassed to reveal... I think this one will be a wiper.

Plein Air Painting - Midway

For Mother's Day my sweet husband gave me some new painting supplies. So, I got to go try them out this morning with my friend Marie. She has a bit more plein air painting experience than I do and agreed to go with me.

We found a nice place by the Provo river. It was good to be out with the birds and fishermen and the sound of the running river.

It was a great Saturday morning with hopefully many more to come this summer.

Spring City Studio Tours

Saturday September 12th was the Spring City Studio Tours.

I took my favorite little traveling companion (and her doll).

The plein air landscape show was quite impressive this year.

This year turned out to be different. It was more about the other activities. At the farmers market I bought a box of peaches for $10 and some delicious tomatoes from the farmer who grew them. I also bought some marmalade and jam from a woman who showed me which trees and bushes the fruit that she used came from.

Having attended this event every year, it was fun to have it a bit different.

The Workshop . . .

was a great time! Michael is a good teacher and I learned a lot.

He did a number of demos.

I really liked how he patiently took us through his process step by step.

He dubbed this workshop the "Cow Painting Workshop". Very cool!

Michael Workman Landscape Workshop

After wanting to do this for a long time, here it is! I'm so excited for this weekend!

A lovely morning was spent in the Jordan River Temple on Saturday with our dear friends Mark and Sylvia from Houston. Samuel, their newest addition, was sealed to them.

A New Book!

For Mother's Day I got a book I've had my eye on by Josef Albers. To Open Eyes was written by two of his students. I was interested in it because of his color studies. I've had an idea for years now for a color study I want to do. It will take quite a bit of time and effort, but I think I'm ready to work some more on it. It's progress will appear on this blog I'm sure.