Surprise More River Rocks!

Or not so surprised...Just when I thought I'd take a break from painting river rocks, I decided to finish this large one I started quite a while ago. This is the largest river rock painting I've created at 30"x 22" - a full sized sheet of watercolor paper. It was a very meditative kind of painting to work on and I enjoyed it fully. Here is the progression through photographs. 

The final painting awaiting a snappy title. 

A New Year, A New Decade

2020 is here and I welcome the new year! I'm wondering what kind of new adventures await us. My New Year's Day Tarot reading didn't provide any immediate clues this year, but sometimes one just has to sit with a reading and contemplate. All in good time, right? I'm thinking specifically about what direction I want to take with my art this year.

I've been dreaming about mystical landscapes lately and that might be something to explore. I'm not usually a landscape painter, but hey you never know where the muse will lead you. The one thing I know for sure is that my inspiration is still very heavily tied to nature and all the beauty to be seen in our natural world.

May your new year be filled with joy and wonder, new adventures and beauty to discover wherever you wander.

Holiday Gift Market

At the last minute I decided to apply to the annual Gifted 2019 Holiday Market at Albany Barn and am happy to announce that I was selected. I'm looking forward to this event, as it's new to me and I can't wait to meet the other artists and artisans participating. There will be 20 + vendors, live holiday music, drinks and sweets, a holiday photobooth and much more! 

Date: Friday, December  6th

Time: 6-9 PM

Where: 56 Second Street, Albany, NY

Here you can find my art cards, mini journals and pendants and key rings. I will also have some unframed small paintings for sale, too. Stop by, enjoy a local holiday shopping experience!

Daily Practice

The 100 Day Project ended yesterday for me. Today I woke up thinking "What now?" Going into this project I had hoped to jump start daily painting again. I had let too many non-essential, but important, things hijack my painting time. Check! It was also wonderful to connect with other artists and creatives world-wide who were participating in the project. Check!

I created pages of river rocks from my imagination. There is something about rocks that resonates so deeply with me. I thought I would eventually get tired of painting them, but that didn't happen. The other paintings I worked on weren't river rocks though.

This has been a really good journey for me and I will keep to the daily practice of painting in my art journal. Here is the space to explore anything freely without a thought to the final product.

Christine brought cake and ice cream.

My daughter, Christine, (unspeakablevisions.com) is a very gifted writer. Life got in the way of her regular writing practice so she participated in this project, too. We decided to celebrate accomplishing our goals last night at our weekly Goddess Night Dinner with cake. Just ask all the grandkiddos - everything is a celebration when there's cake!

I look forward to participating in next year's #the100dayproject. New goals and a new project awaits.

Daily Practice

Today is Day 45 of #the100dayproject and happily it's well integrated into my daily life. This was the whole point of the project for me. Well, that and participating with a whole global community because I love the idea of that, too!  I look forward to each day's page and the meditation it brings. One might think rocks are an unusual choice, but it's simple really. The shapes, the painting, the designs all just flow organically leaving my mind out of it.

Days 3-15 #the100dayproject

Days 3-15 of The 100 Day Project with two guest appearances of budding artist and delightful granddaughter, Samantha. I love her work and enthusiasm.

#the100dayproject

#100daysofriverrocks

I'm enjoying this project, but am pretty sure I'll be adding other subjects as time goes on.

Follow along on Instagram

#The100DayProject

A friend said he was thinking of doing #the100dayproject. I didn't really know what this was all about, so I decided to check it out. For so many reasons this is just the thing I need to dive into right now. And it's a fun project for my new watercolor journal (See post below). So I'm off and running. Yes, I started a couple of days late, but it's not a race - it's a practice.

I chose river rocks because.........well because I am really fond of rocks; so this will be #100daysofriverrocks most likely. One of the beautiful things about The 100 Day Project is that there really aren't any rules. You decide what you want to do. You can change your mind mid-stream if you want to. Might you be interested in joining in too?  https://www.the100dayproject.org/

Here is Day 1 and Day 2

Hello Spring!

It's starting to feel like Spring here and that's always exciting in the northeast, right? And so it follows that my first springtime collage/painting has been completed. I started it on Monday with watercolor, added deep purple acrylic paint and a couple of stems and leaves. And the fun really started when it was time to add some texture via collage. Happy Spring! 

Looking ahead

In two days I'll be having surgery that I'm hopeful will improve the quality of my life. In anticipation of that, I purchased the most gorgeous watercolor journal created by Michael Vincent Bushy He is an all around talented artist and an amazing human being to boot.

My goal is to fill it with paintings and snippets of paintings making it my major project for 2019. I feel this is going to be a really significant project for me and I can't wait to get started. I will keep you posted!

Into 2019

Happy New Year! It's that time of year when it's colder and darker outside, the warm glow of the Holiday Season has passed. My thoughts turn to the year ahead and what I'd like to accomplish in my art and life. The line blurs most of the time for me.

I found an interesting and informative online gallery and resource for artists that I'd like to share with you.

Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery

Many of us could benefit from taking the time to step back and reflect on where we are and where we want to go. Are we making art that matters to us? Are we still aligned with our goals? Where do we want our art to take us? What steps are we taking to get us there?

7 Things an Artist Can Do to Kickstart 2019 is a good little jolt to help us align our goals with what we are doing to make them happen.

Wishing you a wonderful and creative New Year!