"Warm Welcome" . . . Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I am always amazed at how a deadline will get me moving.

It was the eleventh hour in December . . .  just days before Christmas . . . and I had not done a painting for my Christmas card. I hadn't even a clue what I was going to paint. I started looking through photos, searching for appropriate subjects and came across a photo of this lamppost in my front yard . . . "OK, Marsha, you have to make a decision. Cards need to be ordered tomorrow so you have to get the painting done TONIGHT!" 
 
This photo will do . . . in fact it is perfect!

This lamppost is even more sentimental now because it got mowed over by this gigantic dump truck last summer and "is no more" . . .

I miss that little guy . .  so I will paint him.
I got moving and had the painting done in an hour and a half.

Yep . . . I made my deadline . . . now . . . to finish getting the cards out . . . Why am I always running behind?

Capturing the Moment

Flowers are so beautiful when you first receive them . . . don't you just want them to STAY that way? Well that is just how I felt when I received these from my sweet R.J. Reynolds girlfriends. They gave them to me when we were all gathered at the beach a few weeks ago. . . it was a "thank you" for getting us back together after we had graduated, gone our separate ways, married, had our own families and were beginning to think about each other again. That was 20 years ago and we are still "re-union-ing" each year,  . . . and . . . with our past history and long-time bond, have grown closer than ever. I just had to paint these flowers to capture them forever. It was a quick pastel sketch on gray paper to capture the beauty and essence of these very special flowers from some very special friends.  

Apple Trees for Jonathan and Salem

Sometimes I put up the pastels and get out my acrylic paints. Acrylics (thinned slightly with Polymer Emulsion) is what I use for painting on walls. It is extremely permanent (as you know if it has ever dried on your clothes.) 

I first sketch out the larger shapes with chalk or pencil, depending on which shows up on the wall best. This gives me a guide from which to paint. Next, I paint the larger shapes and finally the details.

Years ago, I painted wall murals as you can see below. Recently I had a yearning to paint something in the room where Jonathan and Salem stay when they come to visit me in Winston-Salem. 
Some of the places where I have painted murals  are shown below.

. . . in the beach house shower dressing area . . . 

. . . in Allyson's nursery . . . 

. . . in Amy's nursery  . . . 

 . . . and a Venice scene for an Italian furniture company that was used in their showroom during Fall Furniture Market in High Point, NC  . . . 

Following, you will see the coastal scenery that I painted on the walls of my beach condo in 2001. I left the walls yellow as I thought it looked like a warm sunny day and the blue-green of the water stood out well against the warm background or sky. Seagulls and clouds looked down over the water and sand that was painted just above the baseboards in the halls and main sitting areas. Other coastal items were added where appropriate . . .

In the large master bath, the walls were a soft lavender which (along with some tropical bird border paper) inspired me to paint a rainforest scene with tropical birds and flowers. It was painted on 2 walls which surrounded the hot tub and on an additional wall above the towel rack. . . just fun for splashing around in the tub, relaxing and enjoying the beautiful colors of nature in the tropics.

The tropical idea was carried into the master bedroom over the bed. These birds, and the ones in the bath room, were painted from photos I took while on various dive trips.  Here you see the colorful Lorikeets from Australia (similar to a parakeet) and a couple of Red Macaws taken when I was in Mexico.

I guess I wanted to be sure I hadn't forgotten how to paint murals when I got this yearning to paint them again and, most specifically, in Jonathan's and Salem's room.  I've been trying to get the kiddos' room painted for weeks now. School starting, apples for fall and 2 little monkeys got me going. It's Salem and Jonathan's room when they come to visit Gommy.

 

It seems as though I just can't get enough, so I decided to paint one more mural . . . this time on the wall in the garage that leads into the art room where I teach both children and adult classes. The kids art work that was hanging had gotten so faded and buckled from the moisture. I was tired of looking at it, and I figured everybody else was too, so I took it down and painted this scene there instead. There is plenty of space on the side wall along with cork board for hanging art work. 

This is the wall you see as you enter the garage, and you can see the door to the art room. I painted this scene to look as though the road just continues back into the landscape. Who knows what you might find in there . . .  come on in . . .

So When Do Fall Art Classes Begin?

You will find below, the schedule and information concerning children and adult art classes for fall.

Children's Classes begin October 1 and are offered one afternoon a week, payable at the beginning of the month.

Adult Classes are ongoing, payable by the class, and you may join us at any time. You may work in the medium of your choice at whatever level you are comfortable.

To see more photos of some of the previous classes, check out the February 22 post, "Do I Teach Classes?"  Come join us for learning many new expressive techniques and ways to have fun creating our very own "masterpieces."

If you have questions please email me at mthrift@triad.rr.com or call me at 336-723-3748.

Hope to see you there.

Marsha

 

Learning to Play

Being still is not one of my best attributes. 

I was talking with a friend today about how she absolutely loves her job. She mentioned that she was a "calm person" who stayed "in the moment" not worrying about what happened yesterday or what would happen tomorrow.  I, the chronic list maker with a color-coded Daytimer, envied that. Her job allowed her to help people, be all that they could be, through a combination of good physical, emotional and spiritual health. I wanted to do that.

It occurred to me how art can do that for a person if they allow it to . . . we all have talents and are artists at something, be it cooking, gardening, raising a family, playing a musical instrument or sculpting our bodies. Mine just happens to be art — painting, drawing, etc. If we allow ourselves to have fun with it, play with it and enjoy it, the creative part emerges, and we are truly "in the moment."  With perfectionistic tendencies and a graphic design background, my art used to be extremely tight and very realistic. The process of creating was work, not fun, even though there was pleasure in the product or end result. We all know that feeling . . . our society encourages success and "results."

I will never forget the morning some years ago when I was painting a still life with my art group at one of their homes. Since I had a busy schedule that day, I knew that I only had an hour or so to work — really not enough time to do a "painting" . . .  so I told myself, "Today I think I am just going to "play with my paints and have fun." I totally had fun and was stress-free as I painted for fun and not an end result. I was pleased with my "playful" painting that day.

Another time several year ago, a different friend and I got together to experiment and have fun with some abstract and mixed-media art, an adventure somewhat foreign to me.  Once again, I found myself "in the moment," lost in time, and I had a fabulously fun time playing and creating.

The composition, color and design principles that had soaked into my being over the years came out, and I liked the results. What's more . . . most all of the mixed-media pieces subconsciously portrayed  an innate passion of mine, and therefore  . . . me, . . . a love for the water, whether swimming, scuba diving or relaxing on the beach. To this day, these are some of my favorite pieces because they are me and what I love . . . and I really had fun doing them.

Try getting out some big brushes, collage materials, paint and a canvas. Play with it, and see what happens. Don't try to "make" something . . . choose a picture, a shape, a texture, or an old piece of your art to start with. Continue adding things, repeating and balancing colors, shapes, textures and values. Nothing is right or wrong. Continue adding and working at it until you feel that "A-ha . . . I'm done with it"  feeling. If you become frustrated or "stuck," put it away and come back tomorrow with a fresh eye. I promise . . .  you will see it differently and either know that it is finished or know exactly what you need to do to it.

So . . .  all that said, I realize that I do my best work when I can trick my mind into the "play" mode. Even with my pastels, I "play" with the sticks letting one stroke scumble or glide over another to create sparkling textures and colors.

I strive to do this more, working a bit more detailed around the focal point where I want to capture the viewers' attention  . . . then I let the colors and textures for the remainder of the painting "drift" a bit and be looser and less detailed near the edges.

Sometimes I still struggle with "playing" and "being a child," but, when I can do it, it surely is fun and usually produces my best art. I am striving hard to "play" more. . .

What do YOU like to play with  . . . ??

"Every child is an artist.

The problem is how to remain an artist 

once he grows up."

                        -- Pablo Picasso