Saturday, April 23, 2011

Art Escape!

What a wonderful month is April!  It equals October for beautiful color in the mountains of West Virginia.  Right now we have blooming dogwood and redbud trees, azaleas and tulips here in the city.  In the countrysides, there are fields of yellow mustard and bright spring green sprouting plants.  It's a great time to escape work and the daily routine.  It's the month of Artiscape - a weekend art retreat in Columbus, Ohio.  This was my third year to attend.  Yet, I can hardly believe that it's only been two years that I have been making art after attending my first art class ever with Amy Flowers (see her web site here)at Artiscape in 2009.  What a journey it has been.


Last weekend was this year's "art escape" that I had been looking forward to through the long and nasty winter we had.  The gorgeous drive to Columbus through farm country got me in the spirit of thinking "color," and a reunion with my mentor was just the ticket to get my creativity flowing.  My first class, "Rocky Road Collage" was with Amy.  We prepared a 12 inch square canvas with tissue paper and cheesecloth to create a textured surface for a collage.  I didn't finish my painting during the class (I love to do layers and more layers), so I did most of the painting part when I got home.  I love the quote that I used from Amy's great collection of rubber stamps - "Everything happens for a reason.. it's just a matter of moving your point of view around until you see it." 

Another class that really inspired me to paint was "Landscape of Dreams" with Serena Barton.  She gave us instruction and examples of painting with a palette knife.  I really love impressionist art, so this technique was quite exciting.  I started a little painting on an 8x10 canvas and, as usual, finished it at home.  This little painting is my attempt to represent West Virginia Spring.  I have much to learn, but that (learning) is the part I love best!











4 comments:

  1. Sounds a marvelous time. Love that collage piece and the colors. I bet the West Virginia landscape is breathtaking with wild things. xox Corrine

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  2. Nice work. I really like the palette knife painting. Miss WV's spring and fall colors.

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  3. Just checking to see if you were drawing any birds, insects or flowers....miss your art...hope all is well with you and the kitties....we have two new kitties from ??? but they are sweet! We are having a VERY DRY AND HOT June so far....but no tornadoes...has been such a sad year with all the strange weather...Blessings to you and hope you are getting to be creative...

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  4. It's nice to be missed!! Sorry to say my art has taken a back seat to my real world that pays for art supplies and trips. Will catch up soon.

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