HAPPY 2012

As the new year begins, I'm realizing that I haven't added my good wishes here for any visitors.  Do hope the past month since Thanksgiving have been filled with your family/friend celebrations, and that you were blessed with a happy Christmastime.  Now we must look forward to the new year and what it might bring.

I have been busy not only with Christmas preparations, finishing some paintings for an exhibit, and getting those Valentines ready for Operation Write Home heroes which had to be on their way in time for them to write their love messages to family and friends as February is just a month away.

The Frederick County Art Association's exhibit begins the year at the local art center, and I am entering the Alaska oil landscape that I've posted here last July...it was finally dry and ready for entry.  

I've taken a photo of the small solo Foyer Gallery exhibit for you to see which has five of my pastel and acrylic paintings.

The new year is having a good beginning for me as far as exhibiting my art.
Here's hoping you all will be blessed with good health and happiness in this new year....and as always, would appreciate you comments and visits again.

                                               ~Dolores~

Summertime

We are in the midst of a scorching July summer here, and it's best to stay indoors to keep cool.    I've been keeping myself busy with painting, cardmaking, reading, etc.....anything that doesn't require much effort to stay cool.

Way back in October I posted a blog of some of my paintings, and in particular a work-in-progress of  Alaska--an oil on canvas.  It's been a frustrating piece that I've been picking away at all this time.  Well, being forced to stay in the cool house, I vowed to finish this painting, and happy to tell you that I did.  Here's the result:

It's still drying before I can frame it, but would appreciate any comments.   I feel it's finished and don't dare to touch it again. 

It's also been a good time to work on upcoming holiday cards for Operation Write Home, but all I can get in the mood for now are fall themes.

The "Grateful" card in front was actually done with a piece of an acrylic abstract painting I had set aside for more work, but decided instead to crop pieces of the rich fall colors as background for a couple cards.  Sure didn't need much embellishment, and I'm kinda happy with this.  May try it again
soon!

Thanks for stopping by..... hope you all are enjoying your summer.

~~Dolores~~

Welcome Spring!

Spring greetings everyone!

It is not officially spring...yet....but it is looking like it today as it's a pleasant 50 degree Sunny day here in Frederick, MD and hopefully, where you are as well.  

As many of you probably already know, the celebration of spring is being kicked off by Operation Write Home this Saturday, March 5th, with the Spring Bunny Hop on their Stars and Stamps blog,  and I'm sure all the cardmakers are geared up and ready for this marathon of inspiration.  I look forward to checking out as many of the blogposts as I can, but am not actually participating myself.  However, thought I'd better put out the welcome mat anyway in case some of my blog comments entice one of you to visit me here too.  And here's  my greeting card of welcome to you in honor of spring's lillies and approaching Easter season.  The photo doesn't really show up the green base or the gold embossed cardstock.

I believe I mentioned in a previous post that I had planned to attend a pastel painting studio at our local arts center, which I have been doing the past few weeks.  It's been great to get me motivated as I've been hibernating too much all winter and needed this inspiration to paint again.  So, thought I'd share a couple of the pieces that I created.

This is done from a photo of a fall scene with a chapel tower, and I liked the layout design so tried my best with it.  I haven't titled it as yet, or framed it, but plan to do that soon.

Another one I completed was also taken from a photo at Loch Lynn, Scotland, and the foreboding stormy sky inspired me to want to paint it.

I completed another woodland scene and am still working on a floral, but will share those with you at another time.   I was pleased that I was able to get these done in the past few weeks, and now with spring coming,  hope to keep this going. 

Thank you again for stopping by to visit me,  especially if you got here during the OWH Spring Bunny Hop, and hope you'll continue checking out the creativity there.  And in that spirit, here's a card using Sandy's great little

digi bunny.

Bye bye now!

~~Dolores~~                                  



Merry Christmas

Even though it is the day after, I feel it's only the beginning of celebrating the twelve days of Christmas to honor the birth of Jesus.

To me, it's sad to see the lights and decorations disappear so quickly after all the effort in preparing for this celebration.  It should go on until the Feast of the Magi who arrived to pay Him homage, and my lights will remain bright until then.  It's so depressing when taking down the tinsel and lights that warm the cold winter days, and being left with the bleak darkness of the coming winter weeks of hibernation.  I will have to keep myself occupied with my painting and cardmaking until the robins appear once more. 

I know it's been a while since I've added to this blog as it's been such a busy time with all the holidays arriving at the end of the year.  And, for me, it's such a chore to take photos or have something of interest to show on this blog.  But, perhaps now as I hibernate at home during these cold winter weeks, I'll find some time to visit with you.   So today I'll once again share with you some of my paintings of sunny landscapes to warm our winter hearts.

"Taos Mountainside" is a plein aire pastel painting made during a workshop in Taos, NM with Lorenzo Chavez, the noted western pastelist.  It brings fond memories of a beautiful October day on that mountainside.

 "Nature's Paintbox" is another pastel painting done from a photo of this beautiful desert sight in Bakersfield, CA and done as a gift to my sister, Lorraine, who lives in Pittsburgh, PA...my hometown.

"Cannes Sunset" was a pastel painting from a photo taken of this beautiful sight while on a Mediteranian cruise along the coast of Italy, Sicily, Spain and France, a most unforgettable trip.

Just seeing these paintings again makes me feel a bit warmer on this cold winter night with snowshowers outside.

I'll leave you now with these warm sights, until next time...and soon....so do come back!

Best wishes for the approaching new year.

~~Dolores~~

Painting Gallery

Thanks to everyone that left such wonderful comments about those first paintings I posted last month.  It always is encouraging to hear praises and is appreciated, but I'd also appreciate hearing what you might not have liked about one, or suggestions on a change.  I'll be posting them periodically here in my corner studio as it is a motivator to have a "gallery" to show one's work.

What have I been painting lately, you ask? Well, seems like whatever inspires me and at the moment I have a goal to enter some miniature paintings into a few exhibitions around the country. My favorite of them this year is the Alaskan scene below that I sketched from a friend's photo, and it's done in oil on a tiny canvas.  It's been accepted for the MSPGS juried show, 77th Annual International Exhibition of Fine Art in Miniature at the Strathmore Mansion in Bethesda, MD.

Denali Park, Alaska - Oil on canvas - 3 x 3

I was so happy with the way it turned out (though my photo could be better) and decided to try enlarging it to an 11 x 14.  I'm being brave enough to show you this work-in-progress below (ugh!)

This didn't go so well, and in fact, I set it aside for a while, and then tackled it again after scrubbing out a good portion of it. Oils are not my favorite medium as they take so much time, and I'm a very slow painter. I keep setting it aside and work at it between others that are works-in-progress.  However, I want to share this unfinished piece with you anyway to get your comments, and it will spur me on to finish it sometime soon, I hope.

 

Here's another miniature that turned out pretty well and I thought was worth an entry in the Miniature Art exhibit at the Art Gallery of Fells Point, Baltimore, MD. 

Surreybrook Gardens 

Pastel  2-1/2 x 3-1/2  

These gardens are designed as part of a local retail nursery here in Frederick and a beautiful place to visit.  I painted this miniature after I had done an 11 x 14 oil of the same scene.  I had entered the larger oil painting into the exhibit at Art in the Mill in Berryville, VA  last week, and it was sold.
By the way, have to mention that the paintings shown in this blog are originals and copyright protected, so am only displaying them here in my Corner Studio for you  ..... a gallery of sorts since they are for sale (if not so marked).  Just let me know if you have any comments or questions about any of them.

I'll be showing more of my recent work in the coming weeks, and I hope you'll check back to see them.    Plus, am now busily working on some handmade holiday cards to send to Operation Write Home (OWH) for the deployed troops.  Here's a few that I just mailed off to OWH.

   

I think that's enough for now, as I must get back to making more holiday cards that are urgently needed to ship soon.  There's also a big need for the handwritten letters to Any Hero that are included with every box of cards shipped to the troops.  Just go to the OWH website for info if you would also like to help.

Thanks for visiting here....and come back soon as I promise to have more to share with you.

~~Dolores~~



Paintings

If you've been looking for the next edition here, I'm finally getting around to it, and appreciate that you are visiting here again.

As I mentioned before, I've been busy during the day trying to get some paintings done to submit in upcoming shows, and evenings I try to get a few cards made for Operation Write Home.  But it's slow going as this has been a record hot summer in these parts, and seems to make me drag my feet, if you know what I mean.  However, I do want to share with you some good news.  I recently exhibited two paintings with our local art association in the Mary Condon Hodgson Gallery at the community college here, and learned that one of them SOLD! Here's a glimpse of it for you to see.   

Along the Riverbed, a 9x12 pastel.
This scene was painted from a reference photo given to me to use by my artist friend, Gail S., after her trip to Acadia National Park last fall.  The colors were so spectacular and were the only inspiration I needed.
Now if anyone is wondering just what is pastel, I'd like to explain that contrary to what many think, it is
NOT CHALK.  Pastels are a pure pigment hand shaped into sticks, from hard to soft,  for direct application to Canson paper, Wallis or hardboard sanded support that helps to hold many pastel  layers.  Pastels originated many years ago among the master painters and their works have endured over the years as well as any oil painting.  It is a very fragile medium  which  must be framed under glass when completed,  without any fixative as it tends to darken the colors.  It lost its popularity with the advent of newer mediums, but the past few years has found a resurgence among artists.   It is my preferred medium these days.
You can learn more about pastels from a blog by the  renowned pastelist,   Richard McKinley as well as in The Pastel Journal .
Below is the other painting I entered which wasn't sold but I'll show you my abstract side anyway.

Untitled, a 6x6 acrylic abstract. 
This was a fun painting that I did a year or so ago after taking a class with C.Edward Ramsburg, a genius in handling the paint and a great instructor.  I've had several of his sessions now, trying to get myself into this mode of painting to loosen up my realistic painting style. 

As easy as it may seem, it truly is not, and I know that many folks don't like abstracts because some of them are difficult to like or understand.   I had to call this "Untitled" because I'm not sure myself what I see in it other than the colorful shapes that appeared.  Maybe someone here can help me out by telling me what you see or think of it. 
Which brings to mind something I read by Dennis Dulton, a New Zealand philsopher, in his book "The Art Instinct" where he states:  "The most exquisite stuff is what we can't explain,  that's why we call it art."  Not that mine is exquisite, it's just different and unexplainable!  I've done many more since this one which I may share with you at another time.

Again, thank you for visiting and continuing to check on my progress here.

~Dolores