Oriental Dogwood Painting

I cannot believe that this painting has been sitting on my drafting table since spring! I was concerned that the tape which I use to adhere the watercolor paper down to prevent buckling would be permanently stuck to the table.

In a former blog, I shared my love affair with the Oriental Dogwood Tree which came highly recommended as an addition to my landscape plans.

I also posted a sketch of the lovely flowers which I drew as one of my Sunday Sketches.

Finally, the watercolor painting is done!

Ta Da.......here it is:

Sunday Sketches

Leaving LA after finishing college, I moved to Colorado to be a ski bum; ski everyday and work at night. I graduated to skiing all day when I became a ski instructor.

Living in Colorado, I began a love affair with aspens. In spring, you can watch the bright yellow-green little leaves appear and magically turn large before your eyes. Through the summer, the aspen leaves flutter in the breeze. Many times I sketched their white bark with the circular lines and "eyes". But the fall is awesome when you walk in the woods amongst the glow of the yellow and orange leaves. The leaves then make wonderful patterns on the ground when they fall. What a magnificent tree!

When I was planning what trees to include in my landscape, aspens were a definite. I bought little "twigs" from the conservation district and planted them. Unfortunately, the deer also like my aspens. The first year the little forest of aspens were pruned at the top. This year I put a few in cages, but the ones not caged were pruned by the deer this time the middle leaves as the trees were much taller than last year. I will cage them all! These aspens will definitely have some interesting shapes when they mature due to the selective deer pruning. The most exciting thing this year is that the bark on these aspens have turned white and no longer look like twigs.

I love the shape of the aspen leaves, and recently I noticed something unusual. Two of the leaves on opposite sides of the trunk had wonderful colorful designs; worthy of a painting. Hopefully it is not some sign of a bug. If so, what wonderful creative work the bug does!

Giant Dahlias

I will admit that I was a bit lost in Tacoma, Washington, when the Point Defiance Park sign appeared before me. Having taken a detour from the waterfront park, it was a welcome surprise.

Point Defiance Park is 702 acres of natural forest, saltwater beaches, awesome views and spectacular gardens. The rose garden caught my attention immediately upon entering the park.

After putting my nose in several roses, the huge dahlias in the Dahlia Trial Garden caught my eye.

I learned that the Dahlia Trial Garden at the Point Defiance Park is one of the largest official trial gardens in the US and Canada. The Dahlia Trial Garden is sponsored and maintained in cooperation with the Washington Dahlia Society. The garden is comprised of plants grown from tubers sent by dahlia growers from throughout America, Canada, England, New Zealand and Australia. Each year, the dahlias are scored by official judges of the American Dahlia Society. Dahlias receiving between 85 and 100 points are included in the annual classification book. They are then named and become available to the general public. Blooms begin in July, but August is the best time to view the garden in full bloom, when plants reach heights higher than 6 feet.

I took a few photos......










This one was the monster of the bunch

"Arts to Remember"

Today was my last day creating art with residents at various assisted living centers in Olympia as part of the "Arts to Remember" program. Selected art pieces will be on display at the annual Arts Walk in downtown Olympia October 7th and 8th.

This year I went to two locations, Merrill Gardens and Olympia West. We created mandalas and several different still lifes in craypas and watercolor. The challenge was to relate that everyone can do art and that the art does not need to be realistic. I even got to a point where I "outlawed" any negative talk about one's art creation. But, that was short lived.

Today, I brought a bouquet of strawflowers from my garden. First time I have grown them and what amazing plants. The shape of the leaves and flatness of the stems are as as unique as the flowers themselves.



Here is a close up view of the strawflowers



The bouquet that became the subject matter of today's session.


Closer view



I attempted to explain that we would be doing an Impressionistic version of this bouquet; my demonstration....


Anyways, they said that they had fun!

New Challenge

Thank heavens for good friends to stretch you! Thank you, Ellen.

I entered the 30 Day Art Challenge which is in its eleventh year. Artists who enter create 30 works of Art in 30 days, during the month of October, for the Annual December Show held at the T.K. Artist Lofts in Seattle, Washington.

The 30 Day Art Challenge is an open group show with at least 75 total spots available. Each artist is provided with 30 identical canvases (8” x 10” canvas board)and have 30 days to produce 30 pieces of new artwork.

The curators will sort, organize, photograph, and install the artwork for the annual Exhibition Sale Event at the Tashiro-Kaplan Artist Lofts. All displayed artwork will be for sale at the Annual Gift Show. The event will be held during the 1st Thursday Seattle Art Walk, December 1st 2011.

Canvas???

30 paintings!!!

S-T-R-E-T-C-H....

What shape will this artist return to?

Sunday Sketches

Have you had the opportunity to smell a Stargazer lily?

What a treat! The fragrance is delightful.

I must add, the color of the Stargazer is magnificent.

I cannot resist the Stargazer; the subject of this week's sketch.

Clever Posters

What to do with hands and a phone.....

Could this be a new genre, Phone Art?
























I apologize for the advertisement,
but the creativity and art is exceptional!

Sketchbook Project 2012

My good friend an gifted artist, Ellen Miffitt, encouraged me to enter the Sketchbook Project 2012 sponsored by the
Art House Co-op.

First you choose a theme for your sketchbook and Art House Co-op will send you a sketchbook. I picked "Along the Line" and not sure why, but it will unfold (pun intended!). Your sketchbook must be postmarked by January 31st 2012 in order to be on the 2012 Tour. The tour begins in April and thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at galleries and museums as they make their way on tour across the world.

You can find out the which cities are participating in the 2012 tour and a recap of the five month 2011 tour at the website.

After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be barcoded and available for the public to view. Many of the books will be available by digital image too.

2011 Sketchbook Project Tour Seattle from mightymoss on Vimeo.

Dream Time

Yes, being a new grandma my thoughts are centered around children and so are my friends who send me fabulous baby images.

Adele Enerson, is a computer specialist from Helsinki, Finland. While her baby daughter is sleeping soundly, Adele creates worlds from whatever she can find around her home.

Second Mural in Rafah

The Maia Mural Brigade was super charged at the end of our time in Gaza and painted two murals in one day. This one was created at Tuyou Al-Jenna school which is one of the sites of the water purification systems so badly needed in Gaza. Bringing awareness to this important issue was one of the main objectives of the
Maia Mural Project.







The Inspiration
Mohammad, Awesome Palestinian Artist