commission decision

Our dog groomer asked my husband if he or I would paint a picture of their well loved dog who is no longer alive.  He doesn't really have the time, but I think I might give it a whirl.  I hope I can do it justice since it is a memorial.  I think that is such a sweet thing to do in memory of a pet.  Pets become such a wonderful part of the family.  We sure love our pets, and still miss our old lab Gabrielle who was so dear to us.  I hope I can make something worthy for them.

cafepress

cafepress

I'm trying it out...  http://www.cafepress.com/Julia_Garnett

in progress

quilt girls

added faces to the quilt pictures tonight.  I think they're off to a good start...

Casey's happening

My husband and I have to take classes every few years for our jobs.  About 4 years ago we took a painting class- that's where we met Mary, and we've been friends ever since... Casey was in our class too.  Since then he went to EMU, where my daughter Cara met him in sculpture classes.  Well, he had his opening tonight for his solo senior show!  Yeah Casey.  We loved it!

the red truck, and quilts

Mary finished her painting tonight!  I love it!  It looks so real!  

...and I'm working on these quilt inspired paintings.  they're developing, this is the first layer.  Cara and I are using this pattern to unify our show in May.  It will be a part of each portrait and sculpture somehow.  

In Her Hands

http://www.herhands.com/ I looked up the site for "In Her Hands". I truly appreciate what these women are doing, and I want to help spread the word! Paola and Toby have traveled all over promoting Craftswomen who are supporting their families and their villages. It's very inspiring, check it out!

MAEA conference

Back home again... It was a great conference. Went to some nice workshops, learned some new techniques, have new ideas, learned more about brain research, and more... had a nice meal Friday night, topas! It's always wonderful to stay at the Amway- enjoyed the workout facilities, hot tub, and pool!

I especially loved hearing from 2 women who traveled around the world and photographed women who made handcrafted items and sold them to support their families. It's in the book "In Her Hands". The photography is beautiful, and the stories of the women were so touching! Lovely! I'm going to look back in my notes for their website. I really am inspired to do something to help support their projects.

Also went to Kendall School of Design, Grand Rapids Art Museum, and a Gallery walk. The weather was great, so we did a lot of walking outside which I love, love, love. Overall, very inspiring weekend.

Art Conference

I'm leaving in the morning to go to the State Art Teacher's Conference.  It's always inspiring!  I'm sure I'll come home with a head full of ideas!  I'll write about it when I get back.  Also- I can't wait to hear from Mary... she's in Pennsylvania at a big Car Swap.  She's trying to sell her car paintings!  I'm wishing her lots of luck!

Manistee Artist Group

Great Weekend! Great Women! Great scenic views! Great creativity!

Manistee Art Workshop

Mary and I had a wonderful time with 4 very fun ladies at the art workshop in Manistee!  The home was more beautiful than I ever imagined.  The weather was perfect.  The ladies were so gracious, and sweet, and fun!  We laughed, we ate, we created beautiful artwork, we ate some more, watched spectacular sunsets over Lake Michigan!  What more could you ask for?  Hot showers maybe??? (so sorry:( )

I'll upload pics tomorrow...  or as soon as I can...

More workshops are in the works....

Watch for news about dates.

Making More Cards

My Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn cards seem to be the most popular.  I'm going to try to make more.

3 upcoming events

Congrats to Mary, who had an awesome show last weekend at the "Freedom Festival"!  Her car art was fantastic, and a great addition to the Car Show.  - and hooray for winning the 50/50 drawing! :)

I have 3 upcoming events to get ready for, "Art and Flowers" next weekend at the local flower  greenhouse- Van Thorres.  I'm going to display the flowers I posted that I did this summer.  

Then, the next weekend we have our first Art Retreat in Manistee.  It will be in a beautiful house right on Lake Michigan.  It's geared for beginning artists.  Mary and I are really looking forward to it.  Some awesome gals have registered, so it will be a great time!  I'm excited to work with a small group so we can gear the lessons more individually.

The weekend of the 10th I will be gone on my annual art teacher's conference.  I always pick up some new ideas, and it's so nice to concentrate entirely on art for a whole weekend.  It's in Grand Rapids again, which was wonderful last year.

Of course, I still have to get going for the May show...

just posted pictures

The pictures I just posted were from our Tues. painting sessions. I tried to complete at least one painting each week, and my goal was to capture a flower that was in bloom. I was working from the actual flower as opposed to a photo. I began with a contour line drawing. They are on unstretched canvas.

more flowers

here's what I've been painting the last few weeks

Coming soon...

Hooray! Cara and I get to do a show together. She was asked to do a show of her sculptures at the Women's History Museum in Lansing in Feb. They asked if we would do a show together- a mother -daughter show. We have a lot to do, but it should be fun.
Also, Mary and I are doing a workshop in Manistee in Oct. It will be a weekend of creative fun!

Flower Show this weekend

This Saturday I'm in an Art Show with several other artists at a Flower - Green House!  I bought a new EZ up Tent!  I hope it's "EZ"!  I hope the whole show is EZ!  I hope it's EZ to sell something! As far as my painting, I've been trying something new.  I'm working on unstretched canvas.  I gesso it then lay down a color.  I draw with a sharpie then add more paint.  It's kinda fun to play around with. 

air bubbles

Back to painting air...

I can see a pattern. I like painting what I see out the window. I like painting air. The paintings I'm working on now are out the window at the Landmark Hotel in Marquette- we could see this beautiful steeple from our 3rd floor room.

and yesterday I started painting air again. I loved my concept behind my "Slices of Air" painting, and I really want to do a series on that. I love the idea of how full the air is, and no matter how you slice it, no matter how small, there is stuff in it. I love looking at sunshine through air and thinking about how full that air is. I believe the fullness of God is everywhere, and you couldn't reduce anything small enough to eliminate one iota of him. You couldn't even slice air small enough to cut any pieces of him out of it. and if God is love, and if God is in every little bit of air, then every piece of air is full of love. Air is in us, and around us, we smell it, we breathe it, we need it for our existence. It's there whether we believe in it or not, we need it whether we believe it or not. So, take a breath!

Easter Egg Factory

Have you ever wondered how all those Easter eggs get created???? First, the eggs are layed... The eggmobiles inspect then transport all good eggs to the eggwash. Next they go to the egg-o-matic that adds the shapes, lines, and color. The colors are selected from the rainbow. Meanwhile, baskets are stuffed with fun in the Basket Case machine. Bunnies deliver to the door.

newest

Here are the newest pairs I'm working on...  they are sideways- but oh well!

I'm trying to post a slideshow from Flickr- so far I've spent too much time and it hasn't worked right, oh well again- maybe later!

I didn't mean to leave you for so long

I haven't looked at this blog in so long I hardly remember how to do this!  I haven't blogged since school has been back in swing- I've been a little busy...  Also, our computer at home isn't working very well so I have to use my daughter's computer, we need to get up to speed!

Anyway, I'm still painting.  In Dec. I didn't do much because I was crocheting presents instead-I made a lot of hats!   but now I'm back at it on Tuesdays.  Mary and Julie are going to try to come as much as they can on "paint day", and Sandia will come as she can- she has a lot of other commitments.  Last week my 3 cutie pie interns came over to work on art with me!  I sure am going to miss them, they were with me all of January- they were fantastic!  They did a cool hieroglyphics lesson that the kids really loved!

By the way, my slides were accepted for the Art Guild standards review, so I was glad about that!  I don't know yet if I can participate in the show next summer- we might be on vacation then, we haven't booked tickets yet, but it looks like they are going to be during that time.  We'll see...

Did you see the comment I received on the last blog entry?  that was fun!  Jeff Krino's wife emailed his website- it's www.krinosnewjunk.com check it out!  I have to figure out how to write back...  I'm always in too much of a hurry for technology stuff lately...  I wish I could do this at work, during lunch break, but I can't- it's blocked.