Quick Draw

Last night was the annual art auction at the museum. The annual event is a big deal for the museum. Artists from the region auction art and split the profit. The fundraiser is very important for the museum and it is a huge undertaking for the entire staff. Eric worked something like 15 hours yesterday and I am positive that much of the staff did the same.

The girls had a lovely evening/ sleep over with my parents last night so Eric and I were able to work at the event. Eric worked the whole night, meeting with event goers, speaking, moving art, talking with artists, etc. He was on his feet.

I worked too. I,along with four other artists, did a quick draw. Each artist made a completed work within an hour. For the weeks leading up to the event I worked to develop a piece that I could finish in a single hour. For those of you who are not artists, an hour is insanely fast turnover. All of the artists felt the pressure, because we knew that when our work was done it was immediately going to be auctioned off.

I set up in a gallery alongside fellow artist (and good friend) Gabrielle Reeves. A string quartet was in the next gallery.

We set right to work, talking with each other and the party goers filtered by, watching us paint and asking questions. It was fun, but definitely a strange experience.

I completed my piece right on the dot and as it was drying I was led up in front of the crowd. I had not expected to be up front for the auction. I was guided, holding my piece, in front of the crowd. I said something about the piece and then stood their awkwardly while it was bid upon. There was a moment of terror when I was afraid that nobody would bid on the piece, but thankfully it raised more than I had hoped! All of the profit went to the museum, so I was really happy to help contribute! All of the artists did so well!

Here Gabrielle and I are holding our completed works.

ALSO, if you have been following my blog  for a while then you know that Eric and I have a thing with newscasters. A sort of joking competition. Anyway...guess who was interviewed last night?

Yep, this lady was interviewed. I said stuff that mostly made sense, but in my head I kept thinking,"your face is moving in weird ways!!!"

The night was a great success, but I hardly saw Eric. We had hoped to have a photo taken together, but didn't have a moment alone the whole evening. When the night was over we came home and ate a ton of food and went to bed. We picked up the girls, who had such fun, and then I had to teach lessons.

On Painting

Do you remember when I started painting lessons here? I started those about a week before I found out I was pregnant with Cordelia....needless to say I totally dropped the ball. I went through the exhausting 1st trimester, followed by leaving my job, moving to Casper, completing my MA, 2 more moves and another baby. I totally lost track of the canvas and by the time it turned up again I think it was well over 2 years later. So, I decided that perhaps I will give it a try again someday, but I just needed to use the canvas. I decided to transform the work and make it my own.



P.S. The work is for sale if you're interested  in another like it just email me... maria  @ planetwimmer . com





I used a very loose brush stroke because I am trying to keep it loose as a painter. I am under the belief that this is my natural painterly state and I must embrace it. I already have two more paintings underway!

Project: Painting a Birdhouse with a Little One

Need something crafty to do today? I always like a nice project to work on with Cordelia. Here is one of our more recent projects...

You will need

• birdhouse, you can buy these pre-made or that require some assembly---you can diy if that is your thang.
• Drill---if you want to hang the birdhouse
• paint
• paintbrushes
• newspaper or something to lay down whilst painting is happening
• thick cord or string or wire, something to hang it with
• a willing artist

Directions

 

• First you will need to assemble the bird house

• Next drill a hole in the top, like so

 

• I painted the entire birdhouse a solid color (using leftover outdoor paint from previous projects) to give the thing some uniformity, but you can skip this step if you want. I assembled and painted during nap time so Cordelia didn't have any waiting time when we were ready to go.

• The best part. Lay out the newspaper and then give your little artist a brush or brushes and some paint and let them go to town. Cordelia spent the better part of an hour working on this---that is an eternity in 2 year old time.

• Wait for the paint to dry
• String your birdhouse with the cord or wire through the holes and hang it in a tree. Make sure to have your little one help to find the exact right location. Ours is near the bird feeder.

Painting Lesson!

Some of you may recall that I am giving an overseas painting lesson (click here to read) to my blogger friend Shellyfish (her blog is here). We were talking about the fact that some of you may want to join in on the painting lessons.

If you are interested, the first tutorial is up. It is about 5 minutes long, but it will get you rolling if you want to join us or just watch along.

You can see the first lesson by clicking right here.

If you decide to join in, I would be so happy to hear about it. However, if you want to participate from the dark corners of the blogging world I will understand as well.

Project

My blog friend Shelly, from Musings From the Fishbowl, and I are working on quite the undertaking and I thought I would share the project with you. A few weeks ago I read that she wanted to learn to paint. Well, my friends, I can paint. So, I thought to myself, how can I teach her to paint over the Internet? I approached her with the idea and she is more than game to give it a try. So, this weekend I am going to start pulling it together and hopefully I can teach her to paint.

I should mention that she lives in France and I live in the US, so we won't be cheating. I will keep you posted as this project progresses. Wish us luck!

Saturday and Fort Night

Yesterday , after our relaxing morning, we decided to head out on our morning walk with Miss Bumblebee. She was in a fantastic mood and was doing these bucking bronco kicks. So, Eric decided to capitalize on her mood. He began tossing a stick around for her, as you can see in the photo below. Eric has taken over the bulk of the stick tossing duties since the day I accidentally poked her in the eye with a stick.
Bumblebee doesn't really play fetch. Instead she chases the stick runs in circles with it, tosses it in the air and then settles down to chomp on it as you can see below. The sitting and chomping can be a bit of a problem, considering that she has all the time in the world to lay in the grass and do nothing. Sometimes we indulge her, but yesterday she was distracted by two yappie miniature collies.

After the collie encounter we finished up our lovely walk and then headed home.


We had some lunch and went to a few libraries around Denver. We found out that Emiliana Torrini had released a new album and listened to it as we ran a few errands. When we got home I decided that it was high time to get a little painting done.


I completed this giant canvas that I have been working on for quite some time! The photo below is of me signing the finished piece. Woo hoo. I will let you know when it is up on the web site.


Finally, we decided it was fort time. We had planned on making a fort Thursday night, but then switched to Saturday night.

We drew up some fort rules, made some fort snacks and settled in to watch several episodes of Lost.
I love days that go so well that my cheeks hurt from all the smiling!

Talking Chair

This is our talking chair, actually we have two of them. When we first moved to the city we had no furniture, we had ditched all but our bed before leaving Missoula. So, we spent the first month in the city living on lawn furniture. We were poor, yes, but we also didn't just want to buy any old furniture that we didn't love. So, we made many a trip to second hand shops in search of perfect furniture. Eric and I found the pair at a thrift store a couple of years ago. We managed to stuff them into our tiny car, in one go. They have since become the talking chairs.

I like to sit on this one in the guest room when I talk to my family on the phone. Sundays we have a marathon chat. I talk to my parents and brother, sometimes my middle brother as well. So I settle into this chair. Bumblebee, Ophelia and Mia (my animal family) will wander in and out from time to time. I will alternate between sitting in the chair and sprawling on the floor in front of the chair.

Eric will settle in on the chair and chat with my while I am working on a painting. I love working on art and talking with my hubby. He will sometimes offer perspective on my work, but just his presence is so great.

When we have company the chairs accommodate us or them as we talk.

Also, the chairs serve as dog and cats beds throughout the day. I can walk into the study and see one of our furry critters curled up on it.

Did you know?

Did you know that art is in my blood? My Grandma Grace is an amazing artist. You can see her work to the left.

Her paintings often depict the beauty in dilapidated homes that one regularly sights here in the West. You can't help but look at her painting and wonder where the owners of this home have gone? I always want to climb into her paintings and take a look around. Do you do that? I love to imagine what is just beyond the edge of the canvas. Is there an old barn or an overgrown garden?

Her brushwork infuses her art with emotion. You can tell that she really connects within her subject matter. She finds beauty where others find ruin. What an inspiration.