Ask Me About My Grandson

I absolutely love being a Grandma!

My grandson, Haeden, is by far the cutest :)

I knew that one of these days I would be painting his portrait. Jayme, Haeden's Mom, sent me this photo of him smiling as he was on the swing at a park in Oregon. I like the play of light on his face, hat, and jacket and decided this photo would make a great watercolor painting.

Upon completion, I immediately matted and framed the painting.

Haeden's portrait now hangs in my living room where I get to see his smiling face on a daily basis.

Ask Me About My Grandson
Joanne Osband
watercolor

Addendum to the Mystery Person

Recently I blogged about the mysterious person who creates rock sculptures on the mile sign posts on the Chehalis Western Trail in Olympia, Washington.

Having returned from a skiing trip to Whistler, British Columbia, Ebony and I are back walking the Trail. I found two new rock sculptures by our artist. Both of which are worthy of distinction.

The first one includes EIGHT rocks and I believe to be the most elaborate of those created.


The second rock sculpture has a nice clean balance and look to it.


I will continue my surveillance of the Trail for the artist.
Stay tuned.......

Picture Worth a Thousand Words

Wonder where that comment originated? Do you know?

It is so true in respect to this photograph taken at Whistler, British Columbia on this awesome sunny day. I would not know how to describe the incredible vistas nor the phenomenal skiing. I skied five days and spent the time with my good friend, Elaine, and my son, Brian.


Another thousand words later.....





Brian on top of the world

Portrait Continues

Trying to get packed for a ski trip to Whistler, British Columbia, I managed to find a little time to continue the watercolor portrait painting of my darling grandson.

I feel like I am visiting with him when I paint and study his face. Friday, I actually get to spend a little time with him before I leave to ski. It will be another week before I return to the painting and get to see my grandson again.

Here is the progress....



I think I got the dimple and the eyes are getting closer to looking like his. I need to soften the highlights.

Until next time.....

Another Great Idea

A new blog to follow.....

Sketchers from around the world will be sharing their art on postcards.

The project has grown out of the Sketchercise group which was founded by Katherine Tyrrell.
Sketchercise is a group of people who enjoy sketching from life, have already developed the sketching habit, and have found ways of exercising with a sketchbook.

The idea of A Postcard From My Walk is that once a month an artist will mail a sketch done on one of their outings to one of the group of Sketchercise members who are participating in the project. That way they get to see the real sketch rather than just the image on the Internet.

The blog will record a monthly postal exchange of sketches on postcards between the 14 members of Sketchercise over the course of one year.

What a fun idea. Since I love to travel, I look forward to seeing the sketches from around the world.

Here is one of my sketches when I was traveling in Greece.

Kastraki Joanne Osband
watercolor & ink
September 2010

Mystery Person on the Trail

I have mentioned that Ebony and I are regular travelers on the Chehalis Western Trail in Olympia, Washington. In fact, I have made several good friends this way.

One interesting occurrence that I have notice ever since the new wooden mile post were put in place, is that some person enjoys creating rock sculptures on top of the posts. Now these are not the simple artistic stack of three rocks. These have been elaborate balancing acts.

Here is one for example:

Notice the intricacies of balance. This is a great art!

These other two I found today are artistically done, but do not have the grace of the first. What do you think?



Someday, I hope to meet up with the mystery rock artist.

Not A Portrait Painter

I have never considered myself a portrait painter, but every now and then I like the challenge of painting a portrait in watercolors.

Need I say my grandson is very cute?!

I have finally found a photograph of him that intrigues my "challenge quotient" and I find totally adorable. He is wearing his knit hat and donning his heart melting smile.

What I have learned so far is that I enjoy drawing; finding those shapes that define form. I began this watercolor painting with the base color of his skin. Waiting for the paint to dry before I continue.

I feel as if I am spending time with my grandson studying his features.

The first phase of the watercolor painting.....

A Return To Flowers

I took a break from painting images from Greece to capture the uniqueness of the poppy in watercolors.

Intrigued by the curves, shapes, and variations of color, I found myself transported in time as I painted. Interestingly enough I just finished reading a section from Thomas Moores' book, The Dark Nights of the Soul, where he talks about this phenomenon of loosing all sense of time when you are wrapped up in something which you enjoy. I could definitely relate!

Instead of calling this watercolor painting "Poppy", I will call it "Somewhere in Time".

Resiliency

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have experienced just about every kind of weather; snow, freezing temperatures, unusually warm temperatures, buckets of rain, wind, you name it.

Today as I survey my yard during a rather balmy break from the rain, I notice little shoots of daffodils poking their heads out from the ground. To my amazement, I found primrose in bloom and buds forming.

Talk about resiliency!



What a refreshing break from the drabness of winter.

Hope the slugs are hibernating :)

Blogs of Note

So much to learn!

Being relatively new to blogging, I just learned that there is a category in the blogger community that designates "Blogs of Note". When I found this I gravitated to the blog entitled Animal Art Adventures because of my love for animals.

Laura Hardie is a pet portrait artist who resides in Edinburgh. She especially loves drawing dogs in colored pencil or graphite. You must check out her website, too.

I will need to do more research about the criteria for which blogs are selected for this designation. Meanwhile, I will look at more "Blogs of Note".

By the way, as far as noteworthy items..........

Do you know the winter time substitution for a sun spot for a cat?

A heat vent

Much More To Learn

Joanne Osband
Fine Arts & Crafts Show
Olympia, Washington
I learned about Alyson Stanfield's book, "I'd Rather Be In The Studio," at the last artist workshop I attended.

Needless to say, it is pack with valuable information which I am slowly digesting. I was browsing through her blogs when I came across a post which educated me about creating a professional page also known as a "fan page" on Facebook.

Why?

Alyson lists five reasons:

1. There are over 500,000,000 users on Facebook.
2. A fan page is public; You do NOT have to be a member of Facebook to view a fan page.
3. You can have unlimited fans;
4. Facebook fan pages are indexed by Google and appear near the top of search engine results.
5. They are free!

Read her blog post to learn more.

I am in the process of creating albums of paintings on my "fan page". Although still in the creation phase, you are probably anxious to see what the page looks like. When you visit, at the top of the page you will see a "thumbs up" with the word "like." You can help me by clicking on "like" and adding your name. Thank you!

Check it out.........Joanne Osband Art Studio

Collective Visions Gallery Art Exhibit

Iris Family
Joanne Osband
watercolor
18" X 24"

This watercolor painting has been accepted into the 2011 CVG Show, a state-wide juried art show held at the Collective Visions Gallery in Bremerton, Washington. “Iris Family” is one of 129 artworks chosen from over 700 works submitted by artists throughout Washington State by exhibition juror Dennis Peacock. Mr. Peacock is a sculptor and Professor emeritus from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville who is now based in Shelton, Washington. Accepted artists will be competing for $6,000+ in cash prizes plus potential purchase awards and will be on display at CVG during the month of February.

The Collective Visions Gallery is located at 331 Pacific Avenue in downtown Bremerton and will be open 10 to 5 Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 on Sundays during the month of February. The public is invited to vote on a $300 People’s Choice award February 1 through 5, including the First Friday evening gallery walk, February 4.

For a complete schedule of events visit www.collectivevisions.com.

Three Words

While thinking of new year goals, I came across Chris Brogan's idea of focusing on three words for the year.

Chris Brogan works with large and mid-sized companies to improve online business communications.

Chris says, "The three words idea is built so that you can have something to reflect upon. As you know, goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely). The way you use the two together is that you think up goals that will match up to your words."

Easy, right? What are your three words for 2011?

Mine are CREATE, RELATIONSHIPS, LAUGHTER

I plan to create art.
Build and nurture relationships.
Find life's humor and laugh.

Excellent Advice

A fellow artist imparted this advice to me.

It is easy to be discouraged by everything left undone at the end of the year, but do not fall into that trap.

Rather than focus on the unfinished items on your list, count your accomplishments. Write down everything you achieved in 2010.

Congratulate yourself! Be grateful for the people you met, the energy you mustered, and the new experiences you had.

Do not allow yourself to be discouraged by all that remains undone. Just continue doing your best. Every step counts.

Try it!

New Year's Day

Another glorious, but cold, day in Olympia, Washington. I could NOT stay indoors. But unlike yesterday, Today I put on sunscreen.

Imagine, sunscreen in January in Washington!

Our early morning walk was on the Chehalis Western Trail, where my friend, Linda, and I came upon a ruby-crowned kinglet feeding on the side of the trail. The bird was frantically looking for food in the frozen foliage and did not care that we were so close to it. I tried to get photos, but the little guy was moving too fast.


This is what he looks like when not on the hunt.


At the ponds today, the hole in the ice was much smaller. I gather the Bufflehead ducks must have moved elsewhere to swim and dive.

A great view of the Olympics from the Trail.


When I returned home from walking the Chehalis Western Trail, another friend, Maxine, called wanting to go for a walk. Why not? It was such a beautiful day! Lunch was outside sitting in the sunshine soaking up some vitamin D. A picnic in January!

We decided on a beach walk from Burfoot Park. Check out the Olympics this time!


A blue heron was fishing along the shore.


We met Kitty out in her handmade kayak. Kayaking in January, another winter time miracle!



What a fabulous start to the New Year and an incredible January winter day in Olympia, Washington!