Sketches, A Doll and Other Stuff

The Tuesday Painters group has been at a friend’s cottage overlooking Lake Michigan.  We’ve gone two weeks in a row and may go again this week…. If she’ll have us.  The cottage was her sister’s, another friend who lost her battle with cancer a few years back.  Four sisters had cottages on the ridge,  When Elaine died the other sisters fixed up her cottage and use it as a rental or for friends.  

There are great views of the lake, the beach and the pier from there and in this between season it’s an ideal place to paint and sketch.  It’s too cold to be outside and though the cottage has no heat we are protected from the elements and we dress warm.  We are taking advantage of it while we can; it will be closed up once winter comes.  

Last week I showed you the start of my Catrina for the Day of the Dead exhibit coming to the Gallery Uptown in November.  Here she is… finished and ready to be delivered.

And I got a few more of the small boiled paper pieces done.  These are fun little pieces to do and I still haven't decided what to do with them.

They make nice little gift tags but could also look nice as a little framed piece, or on a note card.  Does anyone have any other thoughts?

Day of the Dead & Some Boiled Paper

The Gallery Uptown exhibit theme for November is Day of the Dead.  I'm working on two pieces, this is one of them... in process...

 and a close up of her head...

The stuffing part is done, now it's time to add her arms and the trimmings.

Awhile back I did some boiled paper and while it was fun, I wasn't sure what I would do with it.  As I kept looking at them sitting on my table images began to appear.  I finally decided to play with them a bit.  Here are a few of those....

They're small 3 x 6 or 4 x 6 and I may use them as gift tags... or sell them as gift tags if I do this with all of the boiled paper I've done recently.

More Tuesday Painters

 A couple more of my Tuesday sketches...

Rosy Mound was buggy but fun sketches

Spring Lake Yacht Club and I didn't paint a boa

Painting with Tuesday Painters and Some Inspiration

My studio is getting a major overhaul.  There is constant clutter because of too much stuff so I'm pitching or giving away.  Of course, that also means I'm finding things I had forgotten which can lead to working on it and forgetting the overhaul.  This time I'm avoiding that.

However, I do still make some art.  I spend Tuesday mornings with some art buddies We gather between 9:30 and 10, paint, sketch or draw until 11:30, start packing up and go to lunch were we share for a friendly critique.  In good weather we are outside but rain and winter's cold keep us inside.  There are several indoor spots that welcome us.  Here are a few of my Tuesday sketches....

Another project recently finished.... a mosaic that the Visual Arts Committee at our church did based on this year's Lenten theme.... The Wizard of Oz.  Yes, sounds strange but think about it.  What did Oz tell all of them?  Basically the same thing Piglet told Pooh, "You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."  Every week the congregation got something to hold as they prayed after listening to the sermon, then they put it in the offering plate and we added them to our mosaics.  Here are the finished pieces planted by our patio.

And the inspiration, another reason to get the studio overhaul finished.  Our son was able to crew for a friend in the Clipper Cup, a sailboat race across Lake Michigan.  He took some great photos.  It's time to get back to some watercolor painting.

And I have to share a piece our grandson did... 

Leaves and Feathers and a Gelli Plate

Thanks to Teresa Morgan for her video showing how to do these....

After seeing the video I had to do some experimenting.  I collect feathers, love to sketch them, draw them, use them as a stamp or a mask or just look at them in a jar on a shelf in my studio.  They remind me of angels.... I'm also a believer in angels.

And that reminds me of a Mary Oliver poem that I love....

The World I Live In

"I have refused to live

locked in the orderly house of

     reasons and proofs.

The world I live in and believe in

is wider than that.  And anyway,

    what's wrong with Maybe?

You wouldn't believe what once or

twice I have seen.  I'll just

    tell you this:

only if there are angels in your head will you

    ever, possibly, see one."

I have them in my head!

100 Done

I finished the 100 Day Project.... this was number 100 done along our riverside boardwalk with the Tuesday Painters group.

These next two are also done along the river, one done in Portland and the other here in Grand Haven, same river.

This is one of the other days and the more I see of what I get when I don't use the spiral bound book the more I dislike the spiral for these.  

They still work well for sketching ideas so I won't throw them out but ...

I switched for my dailies and I also began to think about getting some of my wonky angels done, Christmas is coming so a few of my dailies are angels... 

or just the feathers

And once again I got sidetracked making little sketchbooks....

and then read a blog about glued books so had to try that...

It's not spiral and it lays flat, both pluses.  However, I'm not sure how well it will hold up.  I'm taking it with me when I go to Spider Lake for my annual art retreat with above mentioned friend Terry. She and I have been doing these retreats since her youngest and my only were in Junior High.  Now both of those boys are well into their careers and raising kids of their own.

An Artists Date and a Great Exhibit

My artists date this week was in a place most of you probably don’t know exists, and if you have heard of it you would not expect to see the gem that I saw there, unless you were from there.  I took in the current exhibit at the Flint Institute of Arts.  Hands down, the FIA is the best small art institute I have ever visited.  It’s definitely worth a trip if you are interested in art.  The current exhibit will be there until September 8.

I know I’m suppose to start with the who, what, when and where and all I gave you was the where.  But it’s been a long time since I’ve been to the FIA, I had almost forgotten what a gem it is. Had to give a shout out about it.

              Back to the exhibit…. Isabelle De Borchgrave, Fashioning Art From Paper.  She builds sculptures, out of paper she has painted, life size sculptures, replicas of the fashions of the Renaissance, the styles of the 1920’s and modernist costumes from the Russian Ballet.

And not just the cloths, the accessories too.  Some of the jewelry and all of the shoes are paper.

 Even the lace....

   

 Some jewels are trompe l’oeil, 

and some gowns have a combination of both

 And then there were the 1920's evening dresses 

 and every day dresses from an in between period

 and the costumes

It's a fascinating exhibit, worth a look.  I may have to go back for another look.