Sunday Sketches

I amazed myself!

With the excitement of travel and much to do, I managed to squeeze time for a sketch.

As promised, here is my favorite weed the foxglove.



I will be part of a delegation of artists creating murals in Gaza to bring awareness to the water crisis and need for water purification systems in the UNRWA schools. As soon as the website goes live, you can follow us each day at
http://www.maiamuralproject.org

I might be able to blog here, too.

Stay tuned........

I Love My Weeds!

As they say, one person's weed is another person's treasure.

I think?

In this case the Foxglove, also know as Digitalis, is a weed and many people pull them up. On the other hand, I have seen these flowers FOR SALE at garden stores.

I love them! But rather than buy the flower, I transplanted the plant from the woods to my garden and the patch is growing like a weed (pun intended!). Yes, I might have to pull some in the future, but for now I am enjoying this lovely weed.




I call the spots inside freckles :)


Foxgoves will be the subject matter for Sunday Sketches.

Watch for it.

Sunday Sketches

My first sketch of the lovely oriental dogwood that I planted last year. Each day the flowers seem to get more pink and today they are coral. Guess I will need to do another rendition of the flower.....

I have another watercolor painting in progress on my drafting table at the moment.

This is one GORGEOUS tree!

A Taste of France

Mont Ventoux

Four blogging buddies meet in Provence, France, to sketch and paint, enjoy French delights of food and wine, and good company.

I am enjoying their adventures and art posted at
Four Go Painting In Provence.

Check it out and experience a taste of France.

Oriental Dogwood Enchantment

I am totally in awe watching the daily transformation of the Oriental Dogwood Tree which a friend highly recommended I plant in my yard.

Not only are the flowers a study in grace dancing on top of the branches, but the color of the flowers have changed from a blush white to a dazzling pink in just a few days.

I see several watercolor paintings in the near future!

But for now, here are some photos of the beauty.....

The full tree is rather small; I am not sure how big it might get.


Check out the cluster of flowers!!!




And a close view of the flowers.




Subject matter for my Sunday Sketch....stay tuned!

Sunday Sketches

This is the most faithful clematis.

The plant looks rather scrawny and it was uprooted and moved, but it continues to put out a bunch of lovely flowers.

Mosaic Murals

Since I have been focusing on the impending Maia Mural Project, my friend Rebeccah sent me a link to Lewis Lavoie's Mural Mosaic.

Mural Mosaic is a process invented by artist Lewis Lavoie that takes individual paintings and places them in a specific order to create a large painting. In 2004, Lavoie took his process and involve other artists. He pre-prepares panels with color tones and shapes. Using the color guidelines on the prepared panels as inspiration artists create a painting using their own style within the "theme" of the mural subject. All the panels are reunited to create the final image which is kept a secret until the final unveiling.

Each tile is one foot square. At the website you can click on each tile to see them in detail. Truly amazing!

Watch him create a mural....

Murals

A new art expression for me......MURALS!

This July, thirteen artists, art therapists, teachers, organizers, and psychologists from Olympia, San Francisco and beyond will be traveling to Gaza in order to collaborate with Palestinian youth and artists to design, paint and document, A Tale of Two Cities - The MAIA Mural Project!

We will begin our trip with an orientation and training throughout Israel and the West bank, where we will meet with Jewish Israeli and Palestinian artists and activists.

The MAIA Mural Project will be a series of collaborative murals focusing on environmental justice, specifically water or ‘maia’ in Arabic. The group will work with youth and artists in Gaza to paint murals at sites of the water purification units that the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) is installing at schools and kindergartens. The quality of water in Gaza has been eroded, particularly in the Israeli assault of 2008-9, creating a severe health hazard to which children are most vulnerable.

You will be able to follow The MAIA Mural Project as it unfolds on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr! You will find uploaded video interviews with Palestinian partners, giving you a real sense of our experience and all of the amazing individuals involved. This extensive documentation will become part of a growing global conversation about resources, water, solidarity, cross-movement building and non-violent resistance to oppression.

Example of mural in Olympia which will be incorporated into the project.

The leaf near the upper right corner with the bird of peace, OM, and world is the one I created.

There are many ways that you can support this unique endeavor! Donations of any amount will help towards airfare and paint! All donations are tax deductible and can be made at www.olympiarafahmural.org – click, MAIA Murals.

If you live in Olympia.......The MAIA Mural Project Café and One Big Drawing will take place on Saturday, June 18th from 5-10pm at Mariah Art School, 1403 Garfield Ave, NW, Olympia WA. Come enjoy a nice meal and drinks, and live acoustic music will begin at 7pm. Susan Greene, director of ORSMP and Ziad Abbas, director of MECA will introduce the project and share images from past projects in Palestine as well as the process of ORSMP and the MAIA Water purification units.

This will truly be life changing experience!

Sunday Sketches

Planning ahead! I did my sketch during the week.

I spent the full weekend baby-sitting my fourteen month old grandson, Haeden. Need I say, I was BUSY!?!?!

Tried the paint first then draw technique once again. My garden patch of purple lupines are in full bloom. These are one of my favorite flowers because they remind me of the wild ones growing along the Metolious River in Oregon where I lived for many years.

Here is stage one....


And the final.....



Posted this evening. Grandma is retiring for the night!

Favorite Watercolor Painters Past & Present

Fumee d'Ambre Gris (Smoke of Ambergris)
John Singer Sargent
watercolor
1880

Today I received an e-mail from artist blogger, Katherine Tyrrell of Making A Mark, who queried about one's favorite watercolor artists.

I enjoy reading her blogs on a daily basis, but this one caught my eye because I had never seen paintings by the favorite British contemporary watercolor painter, Trevor Chamberlain. As Katherine indicates, Trevor Chamberlain says so much with minimal effort. My favorite painting is Sunbeds and Parasols.

Of course, Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent made the list of favorite watercolor artists of the past.

What a treat to visit the various websites and view watercolor paintings of all the artist Katherine listed as people's favorites.

Also the watercolor paintings of Kiff Holland caught my eye.