4/1/11

MIDDLETOWN ART CENTER

Soon after we first moved here 16 years ago (today!) the Middletown Fine Arts Center hung a solo show of my work. Their gallery is beautifully done, excellent lighting, lots of gracious space to show off art. Later, they sponsored yet another solo show for me, then another featuring works by people in one of the classes I taught.

The Middletown Fine Arts Center showcases nearly a dozen shows a year, and I've been blessed to not only teach a workshop there, but also win several prizes, including Best of Show, at some of their events. They hold workshops, classes and other art related opportunities throughout the year. It's a wonderfully nurturing place for artists of all ages. Next month, they are having their annual fund raiser.

This year will be different. Rather asking the people to donate a framed painting, they have asked us to paint an egg... a LARGE egg made of a special plaster/gesso mixture. After visiting a cave in the Dordogne Valley of France which had Cro Magnun's paintings on the cave walls, I was inspired to use that concept for the egg. 'Birthplace of art' - - - 'eggs are about birth ' - - - that was my thinking.

Hoping to capture the exquisite lines of the one bison that really impressed me in the cave, I began creating textures, first with more gesso and modeling paste, then with Fluid Acrylics. That bison on the cave wall was incredibly fabulous. Painted over 11,000 years ago, it had exquisite lines and shapes. No amateur painted it, but an early Michelangelo. It took my breath away because of its fluidity and sureness. My egg for Middletown didn't quite capture the mastery on the bison in that cave. Here's what I came up with -Eggtravantgantly Ancient! Fluid Acrylics on Gesso, Modeling Paste, and Plaster Surface, Sealed with Varnish. 6 x 10" Egg Donated To Be COLLECTED

3/27/11

PARIS

Here's a photo from one of the last days we were in Paris. Notre Dame was awesome, my favorite place to be in Paris. Breathtaking and incredible. Stepping inside, I could feel His presence strongly. Now to paint these shadows...can't wait to get started. Thank you, Roger and Sandra, for a wonderful time. What memories!