Visitors and Final Quote

I missed a day in the consecutive quote challenge but I am not sure that any one is getting notices of my posts so it probably isn't a big issue.

Before I get to the quote here are a few photos of recent visitors to my yard.

This photo was taken from inside the house with the zoom out to almost maximum as the deer was at the back of the yard at the edge of the forest.

This one was taken with less zoom so you can get some idea of the distance. The deer stayed for about an hour around lunchtime. When she left Bob notices that her udder was full so we weren't too surprised after dinner to see this:

Again, they were at the back of the yard, in shade and it was starting to get dark so the photo is not the best quality. These are welcome visitors - even when they eat my flowers - lol.

Now for today's quote!

                                     From your lips to God's ears.

I don't remember when I first heard this phrase but I have used it a lot since I started selling my art, doing Painting Parties and teaching. A friend would say 'That is great, it is sure to sell' or 'you should teach, you will get lots of students'. Statements like this make me think and say - 'from your lips to God's ears'

When I looked the saying up on Google, there was quite an involved supposed history but basically it came from Arabic or Hebrew then to Yiddish etc. It is also similar to Psalm 130:2. I have been surprised many times by the number of people who had never heard the saying before I used it in their presence. It is a good one and I hope God listens - not necessarily about my art but about the state of the world because I use it for those occasions too..

So Much Happening!

Life just seems to be full of chores, events, activities, opportunities and surprises.

The chores, of course, are house and yard work which never seem to end when you have a home in the country. Here are some pictures taken from inside the house.

front yard

back yard

I have all my flowers planted and am just waiting for some heat to make them pop. We are surrounded by forest here so we have lots of quiet and privacy with occasional visits from various wildlife.

Deer - April 2018

Turkeys - June 2018

There are a few new ventures in my area that are designed to promote tourism and art sales so I am hoping that this summer will be better for my home gallery. I hope you will have a look at this web site and let me know what you think. And, if you share the link with your friends that would be even better.
Creston Valley Kootenay Lake route

The local Arts Council has worked with the Chamber of Commerce and we once again have a public gallery space in the Chamber building. There is also a small Gift Shop although it is only open a few days a week and is manned by volunteers (like me).

Every week they get more art brought in and from what I have heard they are running out of space; we have so many artists here it doesn't take long to fill up a small space!

I have a Watercolour Painting Party planned for this coming Saturday and the following week I will be painting in a garden during the local Garden Tour. For the garden tour I have made up a few of my Cool Ties some with new designs using stamps from Art Foamies

art foamies

for the man in your life

for everyone!

I will also display some cards, my quilling and some small paintings - I might get lucky and actually sell something!

This summer I will have a few pieces of art in two different shows at Centre 64 in Kimberley BC. This entails a four hour round trip drive to deliver the art, another trip to see the display and then a third trip to retrieve the art - this for each show. I will be going up tomorrow with a friend to see the current display which is called Artrageous and I hope to take lots of photos to share.

And, finally, the surprise! We bought a new car! Bob saw a review for this vehicle and wanted to check it out and we ended up the proud new owners of a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle). Talk about a surprise!

It looks like the summer will continue to be interesting and busy - I am just hoping for time for art!

Thanks for stopping by!

Value Workshop part 2

We started the second class on Light with critiques of the still-life paintings that everyone did since the first class. I am happy to say that my painting "More than a Picnic" (see my blog 'Value Workshop') did not receive any negative comments and no suggestions for improvement were offered. I guess I got an A+ - lol.

I actually submitted two pieces for the critiques.

#1018 - Still-life with Oranges - 5 x 7 watercolour

my drawing of Still-life with Oranges

I did this piece mostly as a test for myself. My friends at Art Club were teasing me about my first painting for the workshop because I printed the photo and just transferred the image onto my watercolour paper before painting. I figured it was a class on value not drawing, so why not? But, Wednesday evening I decided I would do a drawing of the still-life from one of the photos on my computer. I was happy with the way it turned out so I painted it and submitted it for critique too. Everyone liked this piece as well and offered no suggestions for changes.

The remainder of the class was about Light and Mood and the instructor shared lots of photos as examples. It was very interesting and the notes will prove useful for future paintings. The instructor tried to show different moods on the still-life set-up by using coloured film over a spot light but the daylight in the room was too bright and the effects were limited.

We finished the class by starting work on another still-life with the new display. I took lots of photos but I also did a sketch.

drawing of still-life #2

 I do my sketches on newsprint in pencil then go over them with a pen. I really don't do enough drawing so working in pencil first is an indication of my lack of confidence. I plan to do a drawing every evening while watching TV to hone my skills and build that confidence. Being able to pause the TV is such a benefit. Here is a sketch I did from a commercial.

Deer sketch - about 6 x 8

This probably only took about 5 minutes to sketch, then another five to add the pen and some extra shading.

I think that the impetus to start sketching is one very special bonus of the  workshop I attended. I may not do many more still-life paintings but I will definitely do more sketching.