Ken had another appointment today and I am becoming good at picking up a magazine and selecting an image to sketch. This little guy was in a recent copy of Real Simple magazine. I couldn’t find out what he was but isn’t he cute? He was bright yellow with just a hint of orange around his beige beak.
Says Who?
WOW what a week…our biggest problem…a contractor was working on our roof in a high wind and his ladder crashed down taking out our cable, phone service and internet. Do you realize how much we depend on our phone and internet? I did use my cell to report the problem and schedule the repair…anyway we are finally back in communication with the outside world.
I had time to do a couple of small drawings while “out of touch”. We were in the office of Ken’s dentist who is an avid advocate of the Chicago Institute of Art. He had a book on the coffee table that described the origins of the museum. A driving force was Francis Hutchinson and her husband. I thought this early photo of her presented a face both sweet and curious so I couldn’t pass it up.
A Young Francis Hutchinson
Later the same day I was reading an article in the monthly magazine published by the Indiana Historical Society. The article was about the Ninth Indiana Infantry Regiment which was one of the original 3 month volunteer regiments later recommissioned to a 3 year regiment. They were active during the entire war and gained renown for their experience, bravery and effectiveness. I used a photo of one of the leaders of the regiment to set the outlines for this drawing but the eyes, nose and attitude are all mine. Hope you enjoy!
Civil War Warrior
Now that our End of Spring Challenge has been posted, I thought I would share a couple of paintings that I did three years ago. I was trying to learn about composition and design and was thinking about the golden mean. I divided my space using the golden mean rather than place my center of interest on the golden mean. Since we have been talking about and showing our visions of trees and leaves, I thought these works might be interesting.
With this painting entitled Tree I tried something new. I thought about a landscape plan and the symbols that are used to represent different shapes and types of trees in my books about landscaping. I loved this painting and it was the first one I ever sold at a “real” artist price. (PS…Only my photography is cock-eyed!)
Tree
After completing Tree, I was inspired by the red maple leaves carpeting the walking trails at Ft Harrison State Park. I used the same design aesthetic for Leaf. And I know you are thinking “How wildly creative Linda is when she names her paintings!” Right?
Leaf
Now to close my discussion of trees, I offer one more peom. This one is an excerpt from The Tree by Jones Very.
I love thee when thy swelling bud appears,
And one by one their tender leaves unfold,
As though they know that warmer suns were near,
No longer sought to hide from winter’s cold.
And when with darker ground thy leaves are seen,
To veil from view the early robin’s nest,
I love to lie beneath thy waving screen
With limbs by summer’ heat and toil oppressed.
As thunder rumbles and rain roars down here in Indiana, I am posting my painting for the end of Spring Challenge. I have been working on abstract paintings for several months and I feel like I had to learn to use a brush again. I thought I had lost the painting early in the process but I recovered enough to complete it. I was inspired by the dancing light I see when I walk through the ravines in Ft Benjamin Harrison State Park here in Indianapolis. The trees reach skyward and the light filters in giving a glow behind the back lit trees.
The Spirit of Trees Greenly Reaching
I can’t wait to see what everyone else has done!
I thought you might like a second reminder and also some inspiration!
Hi all you creative types! Last year we did three virtual paint-outs here on WordPress and boy were they fun. I am issuing the call for our first paint out of 2011. I am a devoted reader of Oprah magazine and this month I was captured, I was enchanted, I was gripped by six words from a poem by e. e. cummings. I am a farm girl who grew up among the green fields and forests of Indiana. The words that captured my imagination are “the leaping greenly spirits of trees”. I would like to offer these words as the inspiration for our first paint out. I hope everyone reading this realizes that the “Paint Out” is open to all artists whether you paint with a brush, a needle, or a word processor.
On the last day of Spring, Monday, June 20th, please post your creation on your blog and leave a comment on my post (the one with my contribution!). If you are not a blogger and would still like to participate, email me your creation and I will do a follow-up post with your work.
Thanks to all who join the community and accept the challenge. As inspiration I offer the following:
The oak is called the king of trees,
The aspen quivers in the breeze,
The poplar grows up straight and tall,
The pear tree spreads along the wall,
The sycamore gives pleasant shade,
The willow droops in watery glade,
The fir tree useful timber gives,
The beech amid the forest lives.
by Sara Coleridge, Trees
Here is a painting I completed late last summer. It is a HUGE old oak tree in our neighborhood. It is so old, so large and so weathered that it has become an icon. The neighborhood newsletter is entitled The Tree. Hope this gives you that last little bit of inspiration that pushes you to completion. (or post something you created before the challenge was issued – just have fun with this!)
The Giant
Now, as I move on to my “greenly reaching trees”, I want to thank all of you who have provided friendship, positive thoughts and support over the last few months. I feel blessed by your kindness. For me this has also been a period of growth. I feel like many of my paintings were created by a spirit flowing through me. Now that we are in a watch and wait mode I thought you might enjoy seeing my first and last paintings.
Blood Flow - First of the Cancer Series - 8" X 10" Acrylic on Claybord
What a change ocurred over the next three months.
O Happy Day - 12" X 16" watercolor on CP Kilimanjaro Paper
I’m sure this will not be my last painting inspired by cancer but Ken and I are now grateful for a pause so we can relax, rejuvenate and enjoy the summer for a few weeks.
I have not been blogging much for the last few days because our week which was almost entirely open suddenly filled up with appointments. Don’t you hate it when that happens? Anyway I did want to let everyone know that we DID get a third and final vaccine for Ken so he completed the entire Provenge program. Now we watch and wait! He has a full round of testing in six weeks to see how things have changed since the vaccine infusions began in March. It has been a long hard slog but we are very hopeful now. I have been trying to get this painting completed. It will probably be my last “cancer series” painting for awhile. I think I need to move on. I was thing about a sunny day when I started so I titled it “O Happy Day”. I’m not totally happy with it because it got a little dark top and bottom but, oh well, I’m happy with the painting and that this phase is over. Thanks to all of you for your positive thoughts, kindness and encouragement. I truly appreciate it.
O Happy Day
Just a reminder!
Hi all you creative types! Last year we did three virtual paint-outs here on WordPress and boy were they fun. I am issuing the call for our first paint out of 2011. I am a devoted reader of Oprah magazine and this month I was captured, I was enchanted, I was gripped by six words from a poem by e. e. cummings. I am a farm girl who grew up among the green fields and forests of Indiana. The words that captured my imagination are “the leaping greenly spirits of trees”. I would like to offer these as the inspiration for our first paint out. I hope everyone reading this realizes that the “Paint Out” is open to all artists whether you paint with a brush, a needle, a word processor.
On the last day of Spring, Monday, June 20th, please post your creation on your blog and leave a comment on my post. If you are not a blogger and would still like to participate, email me your creation and I will do a follow-up post with your work.
Thanks to all who join the community and accept the challenge.
Yikes! I recently realized that I did not have a single new drawing that I could enter in The Indiana State Fair fine art competition. The fair is near and dear to my heart because I was a long time 4-Her in my youth, because the people that run the fine arts area are incredibly nice and because I sold a drawing and a painting two years ago. Over 100,000 people tour the fine arts building. What an oppotunity to have your work seen!
While I was doing research for my American Modernism tour I became familiar with the B&W cloud photographs of Alfred Stieglitz (primarily titled Equivalents). During summers at his family home on Lake George, Stieglitz would go “a-skying” and that’s when he took most of these photos. They are beautiful and very special and after his death O’Keefe gave 19 of them to the Phillips Gallery in Washington DC. Duncan Phillips had been trying to buy them for years. I found the photos in the catalog for a show called In the American Grain: Marin, O’Keefe, Dove, Hartley & Steiglitz at the Phillips. I decided to see if I could draw clouds with graphite. My first drawing included a sunset – very hard to work with in graphite, dumb me – and was a mess but my second drawing came out better. It’s just a start and I may have to divert to get something ready for the fair but this is challenging and a great oppotunity for me to learn.
I have been MIA for several days. We have had holidays, sick dogs, heat and medical appointments. I hope to have more time this week although I am already a little frazzled. I think the heat makes it worse but it looks like it is here to stay…
Ken had his stem cell harvesting procedure yesterday. If we get a good vaccine this week, this run will finish the program. YEAH!!!! Keep your fingers crossed. As I thought, worried, fretted, behaved like a typical wife, I was caught up in the drama and significance of this program. I saw the machine running with its flashing lights, turning wheels, blood flowing. I saw blood carrying warrior cells and cells being separated. All of those thoughts led to this painting.
Cells 4
I think you can see the tension and emotion I was feeling. The painting is 12″ X 16″. The processing, after a bumpy start, went well so we are hopeful. I think you can see our hope and optimism in some of the colors and spots that glow.
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