Category Archives: Art

A Purse and a Painting

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The first photo of the painting in progress. Just white canvas with a couple of blue lines.

A feather duster goes swimming

For months I had been watching the calendar at Austin’s Painting With A Twist, trying to find a time when I could take one of their classes. I finally found one: Van Gogh’s Tree.

The canvas with a blue sky (three shades of blue)

Blue skies, smiling at me .....

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The premise behind Painting With A Twist is that it’s a fun, social event where all the supplies are provided. They provide the space, instructor, apron, paint, canvas, brushes, everything! (It is not, however, an art school.)

The sky and background all filled in

Blue, lots of blue

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With two brushes, seven paint colors, a couple of paper plates and a few paper towels, we got down to the business of fun painting.

The tree painted in, with yellow, orange and green

A feather duster tree takes shape

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I walked in with a purse and two hours later I walked out with a purse and a painting.
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Now that’s my kind of art.

The finished tree painting

The finished tree

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I thought I had some orange in that tree, lots of orange, but it doesn’t look like it now.

Drawing, Lesson 07

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Learning to draw cubes

Here is one drawing in Lesson 07 from You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler. Lesson 07 is Advanced-Level Cubes. Ohh, I’m advanced now! With each chapter I learn a little bit more, but at this point I’m following step-by-step instructions for each drawing. Works for me.

Here’s the one from the book. Mine looks almost just like Mark’s! (Copyright belongs to the author Mark Kistler, his publishers, etc.)

Lesson 07 Advanced Level Cubes

New Year’s Resolutions

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I’m not much on New Year’s resolutions, mostly because I’m still working on mine from 1979. You know the one: eat right, exercise, get in shape. I figure I shouldn’t make any new ones until I finish that one.

Somehow last year I slipped up and made a new resolution anyway: No new hobbies. Flip side: Spend more time on already-in-progress hobbies.

My first watercolor painting: sunflowers in a terra cotta vase

My first watercolor

That lasted until February. That’s when I received an email from a friend inviting me to a watercolor class her sister was going to teach. She attached a photo of the sunflower, guaranteed the students would walk out with a finished product and then wrote “No drawing required.”

I threw my New Year’s resolution out the window and signed up. That’s six framed watercolor paintings ago and we have two classes already scheduled for this year. That’s 2011 new hobby #1.

A butterfly decorated with Zentangles

A Zentangle Butterfly

In April, the Austin Fiber Artists were displaying some of their art at the Wesley Gallery in Dripping Springs, Texas and I had a piece in the show. So did Diane Barney, who is a Zentangle artist (one of her many talents). Zentangles are created with a pen or a permanent marker and a piece of paper or fabric. Really? I stopped at an office supply store on the way home. New hobby #2.
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At least I waited until December for new hobby #3, drawing. As it is wont to do, Amazon.com recommended a book to me, based on all my art book purchases. (They love that I have new hobbies.) The book is You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less by Mark Kistler.

an art lesson in drawing spheres

Lesson 3: Spheres. I call it a pet rock colony.

That book practically leapt into my online shopping cart. I used a mechanical pencil and eraser that I already owned and off I went. (I love my eraser.) I’m trying to figure out how to bring up the subject of my being a newbie at drawing and getting someone to ask me, “When did you learn to draw?” I will respond: “December.”

As I don’t like to make new resolutions until I finish an old one, I used last year’s resolution for this New Year’s as well: no new hobbies. Today is Jan 7th and I already received two books from Amazon.com for my new 2012 hobby: knots. Photos to follow later, should I learn how to tie any knots.

These resolutions sure take a long time.