Finally Finished It!

Back to watercolor painting!

I have been consumed with creating a home environment since purchasing my house this summer; painting, tiles, installing doors and windows, building a deck, and then there is the landscaping.

Needless to say, I have not kept to my daily disciplined of painting with watercolors. It was good to escaped to New England in October for a painting & yoga workshop to get the creative juices flowing again.

This watercolor painting of lupines was begun before moving. In fact, I had to carefully transport it in the moving truck because it was taped down on the drafting table. I thought it was finished a while back (and even posted it here), but as I kept passing by it on the drafting table, something was not right. Thankfully, I now have a studio within my home so that I can view art at any time. This method of occasional viewing art has been my measure for completion and composition.

I believe it is finished and I can move on to new creations.


Lupines Galore

What Makes a Good Art Teacher?

What are the characteristics of a good art teacher?

Most of us have had a teacher who at some point in our lives has a made a very real difference to who we are today.

What are the attributes of a good art teacher? What makes them somebody who can make a real difference in how their students develop and the art they make?

Do you think one or more of the following factors might be important?

active artist; produces good art
very knowledgeable ( art history / specific media)
good at demonstrations / explaining techniques
tightly focused classes (beginners; masterclass etc)
adapts teaching to student's learning style
enthusiastic/passionate about art
strong belief: everybody can make art/draw/paint
promotes originality/creativity (not just copying)
promotes learning and self-evaluation
sets appropriate / challenging goals
encouraging - provides constructive feedback
effective communicator

Most people will have very different experiences of art teaching. What's important is what YOU think makes a good art teacher.

So, what do you think?

Cannon Beach Gallery 2009 Miniature Show

The Cannon Beach Gallery's annual All Juried Miniatures Show begins this weekend and runs until the end of November.

The Cannon Beach Gallery, a program of the non-profit Cannon Beach Arts Association, is located at 1064 S. Hemlock Street and open Thursdays through Mondays from 10-4PM.

One of my New England encaustic painting was juried into the show. I used hot wax, craypas, and colored tissure paper and have several in the series.

Here is their selection:



New England Fall Colors #1

The Grand Canyon of the Pacific

Did you know there was another Grand Canyon?

Surprise! On the island of Kauai in Hawaii you can find a Grand Canyon look-a-like. I was amazed at the similarity of the two canyons. The red sand and stone formation look strikingly the same, but the greenness of the vegetation on Kauai is definitely a distinction. The Waimea Canyon is on the dry, western side of the island of Kauai.

The Grand Canyon of the Pacific, aka Waimea Canyon:











Beautiful, wouldn't you agree?

Wettest Place on Earth

The mountainous region on the island of Kauai, in Hawaii, receives 460 inches of rain in an average year. In Kauai, the wettest place on earth, it sometimes rains 350days out of the year!

Though Kauai has the highest average rainfall, other places on earth have received more than 460 inches of rain in a year.



Can you see all the waterfalls?



Elaine and I traveled by kayak down the Wailua River and hiked about a mile to see the "Secret Waterfall".





Not really a secret anymore!

Monet

After realizing I could view Van Gogh paintings at the Musée d'Orsay on YouTube, I decided to look for one of my favorite Impressionist painter, Claude Monet.

Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting.

I remember the Museum of Contemporary Art in Basel, France had one of Monet's huge waterlily painting taking up an entire wall. Across the room from it was a over sized, comfy couch for us Monet fans to sit and gaze for a good length of time. I was mesmerized!



I found a lovely video on YouTube featuring some of Monet's paintings called Through The Eyes of Monet.

Enjoy!

Van Gogh on YouTube

Have you visited the Musée d'Orsay, in Paris, France?

The museum is dedicated to artwork in the period 1848 to 1914 and is, in part, a temple to Impressionism. Essentially it starts where the Louvre leaves off. The artwork housed in the museum came from three different collections.

There is one room in the museum containing 18 Van Gogh paintings. Katherine Tyrell says, "It's certainly an experience to be in a room with quite so many Van Goghs. You'll note from the video that it's very crowded. However, that's what all the rooms are like on the top floor where the late nineteenth century and Impressionist paintings are displayed. However people always like to linger in the Van Gogh room......."



Like Rembrandt and Goya, Vincent van Gogh often used himself as a model; he produced over forty-three self-portraits, paintings or drawings in ten years.