An Inspiring Trip

Finding Inspiration

We live in Kentucky

We have a son living in Utah

Jim and I headed to Utah to visit said son,

relax and soak up the beauty there.

Here's the real reason we headed to Utah.

2 of our 11 grandkids live there and we miss them.

We also have a grandson who is a student at BYU.

So of course we had to visit him.

This was the view out the window of my son's home.

I took lots of pics of the beauty that I saw at every turn and I want to share them with you.

It was harvest time while we were there and there were lots of tractors, harvesters and trucks everywhere as farmers tried to get their corn, onions and potatoes harvest.  

The above tractor was set up to harvest onions.  

We didn't get to see that in action, but they were harvesting onions and potatoes everywhere.  

This was right out my sons door.  

For 48 hours every field surrounding his home was a buzz of activity.  You can see the truck with the lights on.  

It started early in the morning until late in the evening.

I love this building and I take pics of it nearly every time I go.

I drew this while I was there.

There are buffalo there as well and 

they are pretty interesting animals.

This was a fun quick sketch I did trying to get the dimensions/perspective of these giants correct.  

I photographed the roots of this tree because they are so interesting.  It really is part of the tree.  

I was in a museum in Salt Lake City and saw and loved this little scene.  Don't be surprised if it shows up in a painting soon.

 These are just 2 of the beautiful landscape photos I took while there.  Scenes like this excite every creative bone in my body and I 

can't wait to start working on this.

This was a small sketch I did trying to get perspective correct for a future painting/s.  This was such a jaw dropping view I know I will use it many times in the future.  

I won't paint it multiple times, but I will use parts of it and I will definitely look back at it just to get inspired again.

Utah is a dessert state, but there are marshes like this and I think they are beautiful.  This is inspiring to me as well.

I love to see the reflections in the marshes as well as the grasses.  

Jim and I hoped on the Trax, the light rail system that runs in Salt Lake and cities near by.  

We're country bumpkins and had a devil of a time figuring out how to pay to get on the thing.

In fact, a great young man helped us otherwise we might still be standing on the platform.  

Now this is totally inspiring.

It and many of its friends are on display in the Greater Cincinnati Airport.

How fun is this big guy.

Jim and I needed some rest and relaxation after spending months getting our house on the market,

endured a devastating flood event, not of our making and making all the repairs from that.

Seeing our son and his family was wonderful, as was having the chance to rest and recuperate.

We saw some beautiful scenery, 

enjoyed all the harvesting going on around us,

went to some of our favorite stores and restaurants,

and slept whenever we wanted.

Had no to-do lists.

Just enjoy our kids and the beauty available to all.

I feel like I'm rejuvenated and ready to get busy with all the activities I try to accomplish.

Thanks for stopping by today and

 let's paint together real soon.

Click HERE to get your printable of 

7 tips for mixing color.  Print this out and keep it near where you paint to refer to again and again.  Mixing color is a lifetime process.

Have you subscribed to my YouTube channel yet?

Click HERE to go to my YouTube channel and hit the thumbs up button and subscribe.  I teach a lot of beginning art lessons on this channel.  

Getting From Point A to Point B

Reworking From Point A to Point B

I've had a really great week and

 I wanted to share some of that with you.  

I had a mermaid class in my

FREE Facebook Group,

Painter Nation Homeschool Art Club.  

Click HERE to ask to join, answer the 3 questions

and I'll open that door just as soon as I can.

Last week in the Bucket List Artist Facebook group

 I taught how to paint rocks. 

 This week I finished that painting.

This is what the finished painting looks like.

Then I. had a painting I have never been happy with.

Loved the clouds, but. nothing else in the painting worked for me.  Yesterday I decided to work on it some more.  It's funny how you see things differently after a little while.  

Didn't like the background, the bales of hay, the road,

 the barn or the fence.  

I really didn't change that much, but I reworked the entire background of trees and bushes, giving them more definition.

The bales of hay were too green, although when hay is baled it is very green and then changes color over time.  But they were tooooo green, so I brightened up the part facing the viewer and tried to put the ones in the background not as bright as those in the foreground. I reworked the road giving it more definition in the foreground.  I brightened it up and added deeper ruts and more rocks.  I made the fence larger and gave them some weeds at ground level.  I also changed the roof on the barn a bit.  

Anyway, I'm happier with it now.  

Get my 7 Tips for Color Mixing printable which I referred to several times as I made corrections to this painting.  It was all in the values and color as it usually is.  

Click HERE to receive the 7 Tips for Color Mixing in your inbox.

Print it out and keep it where you paint because you will refer to it often.

Enjoy!

30 in 30 wrap up

30 in 30 Wrap Up

and what I learned.

This is not all 30, but I couldn't get all 30 on one. 

You have to be smarter than the template or program and I obviously am not.

Anyway, I learned a lot from this challenge.  One of the things was perspective finally started to come together during the challenge.  One of my favorites is the motorcycle because of the buildings in the background.  All of a sudden how to get the perspective correct came to me, after much study, practice and observation.  Then I did the city scape and after several failed drawings I realized where my error was and was able to correct it and paint that painting.  The boat brought it's own form of perspective issues, which I began to understand and was able to see clearly how to paint it.  I had a breakthrough while painting the bright red and yellow carnations and daisies.  The carnations and all its ruffles had always escaped me, and then after studying the actual flower I again saw how I could do it.  

Learning how to see is huge to an artist and I learned this more during this challenge than ever before.  I still have so much to learn about observing and seeing, but I feel like I opened a door to know how to do it and know what I'm seeing.

Thanks so much for following along during the challenge.  If you have a favorite I would love to know what it is. Just leave it in the comments. 

All the paintings will be on display during the month of October with an opening reception, Friday, Oct 3, 4-8 p.m.  If you're in the area, please stop by for food, friends fun and art.

You're the best. 

Flying without a Net

Flying without a Net

Creating art is normally a solitary pursuit.

You work alone for most of the time, sometimes days at a time.

Some people equate it to flying without a net.  

You know what you like,

the colors you like,

the subject you like,

BUT

and that's a pretty big but,

you don't know how your art will be received.

There are no focus groups,

no marketing surveys,

no product analysis

for art.

It is made because the artist has to make it, draw it, paint it, sculpt it, whatever it,

it has to be made.

Having said all that, sometimes you get some validation 

and it feels SO GOOD!

I went to Art in the Garden in Augusta, KY this past weekend

and I had a wonderful time.

 

This framed 10" x 8" acrylic found a forever home.

Here's a link to my facebook page to show Mary with her new hydrangea table.

These are two of the three paintings I did of Augusta scenery.

 

Walls of art.

 

The two paintings in the matts are two acrylic paintings I did on canvas paper.

I matted them and I love the colors in them.

 

 

Forever Pink was painted from a set up I did.

This is a vase I've had for 30-40 years and I love it.

We raise all these flowers.

 

Walls from a distance.  

Talking to lots of people about my art is validating in itself, even if no one else liked it.

But, when you hear great comments it is so good for your artistic soul.

Thank you to everyone who stopped and talked with me.

Thank you Barb Pask for coming the two hours to Augusta, KY.  It was so great to see you.

I'm sorry I missed you Missy and I hope you feel better soon.

I try to have a lot of variety in types and prices of art,

and I did sell 8 of my painted roof slate shingles. 

Art in the Garden has lots of great music, a variety of artists,

and a tremendously beautiful setting.

Never Stop Learning

We Should All 

Never Stop Learning.

 

These 4-H'ers are learning to paint in acrylic

and hopefully will go on to do great things at the

Carroll County Fair. 

 Here they are getting their backgrounds in.

They were learning how to create distance

and perspective with these landscape paintings 

using clouds, hay bales and a tree.

 All these students are local 4-H members in

Carroll County.

We spent several hours together last week.

I'm missing one girl, Megan and her painting,

but these are the rest of the students.

 Didn't they do a great job?

 

I was very proud of them and not only how hard they worked,

but how they helped each other.

 

Their paintings will all be entered in the Carroll County Fair

and the winner will go on to Kentucky State Fair in Louisville, KY

in August.

 

Good Luck to all!

 

Give them some love in the comment section.

 

 

Artful Campaigning

Artful Campaigning

My Son In Law, Eric Stewart is running for Family Court Judge

in Logan County, Ohio.

I am up at their home in Bellefontaine, OH working on the campaign for a few days.

(it's pronounced Bell - fountain).

Any way

today on the campaign trail,

I drove my 14 year old grandson around out in the county

as he knocked on doors campaigning for his father.

Isn't he just the cutest???

He has helped organize the routes of 36 precincts

with all the people who regularly vote in the primaries.

He has gone out every day to spread candidate love,

and flyers and signs everywhere,

after he has done early morning seminary,

practiced the piano and

done all his homeschool work

every day for weeks.

What we learned along the road today was everyone,

OK most everyone

has an artistic bone in them somewhere.

We were out in the county, not in a city or a town,

but out in corn and cattle country,

and we saw some really cute things people decorate their yards and homes with

to make it their own.

This super cute piece was made by a little old pipe smoking man out of tree bark and other scraps.

When I asked him if I could take a picture of it,

he wanted to show me the real animals he had in his little barn.

He had two little donkeys and one of them made quite the fuss when

we were introduced.

The gentleman was quite the character

but looking at his very neat little home and not a thing out of place barn,

you wouldn't know he had much of a sense of humor

until your eye caught this.

He had it outside on a wall of his garage.

The only decoration I could see,

but isn't it adorable.

 I don't know the story behind this little gem,

but it was too cute not to photograph.

This guy said his yard was a work in progress,

but let us add to it by putting a sign in his tastefully decorated front yard.

You can see the vibrant color of this log cabin barn quilt on this huge grain farm.

The world can never have too many guard dog gargoyles.

Industrial Yard Art.

I told you this was corn and cattle country, right?

Another success story,

as Caleb places another sign in this front yard.

Here's candidate Eric Stewart,

Future Logan County Family Court Judge.

It's late,

we're all tired,

but we've had a great day of campaigning

in the heartland. 

Thanks for checking in with us today.

 

Never Leave Home Without It

 I'm Not Talking About A Credit Card

What should you never leave home without?

You're camera, silly!

These were some photos I took near my son's home in Utah.

They will be used as painting reference in the future and I thought you'd like to see a few of the many I took.

 This is at a bird preserve near Tremonton, UT.

The birds on the water were splashing and squawking like crazy.

This old building is abandoned but its beauty continues to shine through.

At least to me.

That window on the right side of the building might have been the first drive through in America.

Everything about this building screams,

Paint Me!!!!

I'm sure they will all get their wish in the near future.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Creativity = Learning Experience

Creativity is a Learning Experience

To create something, anything,

a potholder,

a pillow,

a dress,

plant a garden,

make a bookshelf,

sculpt,

make jewelry,

paint,

it's all creative and it's always a learning experience.

Is there ever a point where you know it all?

I'd have to say no.

There is so much to learn and there are always new materials,

new brushes, 

new fabrics,

once you think you've got it, something changes,

you change,

you progress 

and then you find there is something new to learn.

In my quest to have my own in studio art school with me as the student,

I'm learning so much and always finding more things I don't know.

I've been working on animals and I painted my cat Purdy.

The painting is not very purdy, so you won't be seeing it.

Then I worked on tweaking another painting I did last year.

The reference for this barn is somewhere in Logan County, OH.

This barn is not quite abandoned, but almost.

It's an interesting structure and it was a frigid day when I was there and took this photo.

The painting is dark and foreboding.

It's a little 5" x 7" acrylic on a board and again I wasn't really happy with it,

so, I can't really say I tweaked it.  I basically started over with it leaving in the barn.

But of course I had to change the barn, at least warm it up a little.

It still looks old and cold 

but a little warmer.

As I said, I basically started over, but I learned so much about warming up snow.

Doesn't that sound weird.

Today I warmed up snow.

 

30 in 30 Challenge Wrap Up.

Looking Back on the Last 30 Days

I really can't believe it's over.

I made it through another 30 paintings in 30 days challenge.

This is the third one and before it began I was sure there was no way I could do it.

And yet, I did.

Need some proof.

They're not all on here.

The template I use for these does not have one with 30 spaces.  

But it has been great

and I learned more this time than the other two challenges I participated in.

I learned to draw or sketch out my painting first.

I changed the composition of several paintings once they were on paper and I could see some of the problems.

I learned a lot about brush strokes in oil,

I learned a lot about shadows in acrylic,

I learned to let go and have some fun.

I can almost look at every painting and point out something I learned.

I even have some I want to explore further and others I want to go large with.

This month has been stressful with the marriage of my daughter,

5 family birthdays, and the final days and death of my sister in law, Ann.

But painting every day actually kept me focused and on track to not waste my time.

Thank you all so much for following me on this journey, for commenting about my art and encouraging me to keep going.  Every single comment lifts me and makes me want to keep working.      

Day 26 Snow Day

Day 26 Snow Day

I've done pretty good so far not painting snow.

 But,

yesterday when I went to my studio to paint, 

I looked out the window and there was just a beautiful scene.

I can say beautiful, 

because I didn't have children home from school for the fifth day in a row

for a "Snow Day".

We have been inundated with snow, blowing snow, ice storms and extremely cold temps.

   Snow Day

7" x 5" acrylic on a panel

$50 + $6 shipping