I have painted some canvas!

This one still seems a bit pale but not as foggy as intended.

In progress on the easel.

Watercolor

.. of camp from memory in studio the day after. 

ROAD TRIP!

John and I traveled across the country beginning on April 2nd,

Snowing and 25 degrees in Vermont when we left

New York had no snow..

driving to Colorado, staying with family for a weekend or so then arriving home in the evening of April 18th.


We crossed a lot of states, and I took a lot of Photos -which I am still sorting.

Mural

The very first post I made on this blog was about an area in my house that I was wanting to paint a mural onto.
Well, I have finally gotten around to it.

This is what the process looked like:

 Now I am just having fun with the details in some of the birches!

The End of the world is Nigh. Not again!

 The world has threatened its own ending several times already in my life.

 

I was born somewhere near the Cuban Missile crisis, I remember gradeschool movies about what to do when they drop the bomb, which always seemed so abolutely futile in the face of global nuclear destruction.  I even remember being warned about scary killer bees, coming to get us, from a rather early age.

So perhaps you’ll forgive me if I am a bit skeptical of this latest doom and gloom attitude that seems so prevalent of late.

 

A second ice age, volcanoes. global warming, or continental drift,

 that’s even when you don’t count the really crazy stuff like

 Alien invasions and the Zombie apocalypse.

…nor the more likely options like car accidents, illness,

and the great equalizer: time.

Whatever our untimely, or timely end, I want to breathe deep of what is here and now.

I want to give thanks and express my gratitude for those people that I love, and who have shown me love, or kindness, or even how to be human.

So, with the end of the world coming and all, I thought I would send out my Christmas messages early, because I would hate to have it all end, without having told my friends and family how much I truly love them.

 

I decided I want to write a seperate note for each person I know.

This way I can tailor my notes to say in what way I have been inspired by them.

I want to tell each person what is unique and special about them.

All those things for which they don't get nearly enough appreciation.

 

So I start listing everyone: Mom, Dad, siblings, friends, coworkers.

I jot down feable notes as I go down the list, typing out a sentance or two to describe my kin, the ones I have known all my life.

 

This is harder than it sounds, once you sit down to write it.

 

I go back up to the top to start writing Dad's note,

" To me you have always been a bit of a hero. Not just because you're my Dad, but also because I respect you. You are honest and highly intelligent, and have a great sense of humor." Just as I am pondering how inadequately this describes him, a really great customer's name pops into my head and I have to go back down to the bottom of the list to add another name, and another.

Soon I have been writing for over an hour.

 

I notice some patterns emerging.
"Thank you ..."appears alot.  So do variations upon "Your faith has inspired me,"

as well as "impressed by your strength and intelligence." and "sweet and kind and gentle,". 

How lucky I am to know such fine people!

I found I wanted to say to anyone younger (and that populaton keeps growing!) something like: "I still look forward to seeing what you make of your portion of this amazing thing called life."

 Of course there are some people who just stump me. I can't express how much I appreciate, love - there are no words. Or they seem sappy. My heart is bigger than my keyboard.

Then I lean back a bit and review it all again.  It's mostly just a list.

 

I start laughing.

 I have barely written anything at all.

But it was worth the time; thinking of all these amazing people...loving them for who and what they are. My mentors, my family, my best friends in life, thinking of the way they talk or listen, or smile, and feeling how it swells my heart  and enlarges my life simply to think of them!

 

Thank you ALL once again for reminding me to be grateful for my good fortune. You give me hope.

 

Whatever holiday you do (or do not) celebrate during this time of year:

 Happy (it).

Or better yet: Grateful it.

 

From my heart (and not intended to be offensive)

I wish you a very Grateful Christmas.

Chelsea Lindner
manager Artists' Mediums Inc.

Quilting

Another thing I did last spring that I forgot to mention, was that I finished the center piece of a quilt that I had started many moons ago.  I've given it to Leah now - so perhaps some day it will be of some use to someone. I think it is finished enough that with a big border, it might be worth quilting.

The castle built with 1" squares for  I'm trying to narrow down the number of project that I have going. Age makes me recognize that I should consider carefully where my time is most needed.
I took some photos so I would have a record of having done it. I love that with fabric (or with paper collage) you can more easily include images inside of images..like the bee in the wall, or the gem in the doorway.

I feel like it gives an opportunity to tell stories. I guess that is one essential thing quilts do.

Autumn 2012

I've tried to get some photos of autumn...to paint from....but it has been raining a lot since the leaves turned, and of course I am still working a lot of hours.

 

I worry that the leaves will all be gone by the time I get a chance to see them in daylight when I have time off.

For example, when I woke up this morning, it looked like someone threw a party last night, and used leaves as confetti!

They were all over the ground.

I am not participating in Fall OPEN Studio this year, but we have the state maps at the store, (Artists Mediums) and I hope that if you are not participating, that you will at least go out and visit and support your local Vermont artists who are participating!

here's a link for maps if you can't stop by the store:

http://www.vermontcrafts.com/OSW/maps-directions.html

 

Plein Air

I had a wonderful time at the 2nd Annual Jericho Plein Air Festival -with many thanks to the organizers!
...and we were on the news, which I didn't know till sunday. Here's the link:
http://www.wcax.com/video?clipId=7529754&topVideoCatNo=63459&autoStart=true
Thank you to all the wonderful artists who participated too, it was an honor to paint near you all!

Watercolors

Getting the hang of it- I think.

Watercolors starting over

Everytime I switch from Oils back to Watercolors, I have some trouble.
Evidence  shows that I tend to cover all the paper with paint at first, as if painting with oils, then later I figure it out. Finally, I start to remember to leave some of the white of the paper.

I am going to post several watercolors that I have completed lately, and I will post chronologically, so you can see how I attempt to progress out of my over-use of paint.

These are the first:

Sunsets

I must admit the Belvidere Sunsets inspire me.

Gotta get back to art! ...aRRRt I mean...

 I must admit to having a lot of great and exciting plans for the store this year... so my time will be divided...but I haven't forgotten to do art.

The first thing coming to the store is the RE cycle show. Art with 3 R's. Artists Mediums REDUCE, RE-USE, RECYCLE  Exhibit.
There is  still a CALL for ARRRT! Go to the store's website at http://www.artistsmediums.com/ or the Artists' Mediums blog. (ALL artists are invited! ...nudge...nudge...)

 These shows have always been a lot of fun!
 You have to see it to believe what people can make out of garbage.
  I HAD two pieces that would fit the theme,but over the past few days, I have finished two more collages.
So I will have a total of four pieces in the show: 3 collage and one 3-D.
The collages are made from seed and bulb catalogs:

so fresh off the presses, I haven't even named them yet.

I seemed to have lost track of the phot of the other one...will post again soon.

-c

Featured Artist Shows in the future?



Winter Sunset Watercolor

  We are making space at the store, where - in the future - we would like to feature artists in a smaller show within our show.


Wintertree in snow Oil

Cold Morning in the sunroom in Rutland

 Right now we need to show art in these new places in the store, so you can see what it might look like.




 

These are some of the artworks (of mine) that are on display at the store. (http://www.artistsmediums.com/)

I used all the Small canvases...

So I am painting a winter farm landscape - on a 36" Square canvas.

(I don't know what else I could have been saving it for..)

I sure like having so much paint

When I have so many colors at my disposal, I can paint multiple pieces...
Here is one that I suppose has a bit of a cliche in it, but I like it anyway.

I called it the heart of the forest

I am scraping down  to find wet paint, but I am still painting with the same pallete that I mixed during the Fall Foliage Open Studio.

Starting another Oil Painting

Painting a sky first.

I really wish I had taken a photo of this when it was just sky.

I always seem to like the skies best for some strange reason.

I actually left it as sky only- on the canvas - for several days...I didn't want to mess up the sky.

Finally I got up my courage and have been adding muddy 'ol earth ever since...
It's ok.
Maybe I should paint a whole series of just skies?
Look at all the scrumptious PAINT!!!
:)

Here is another painting,

although it was not begun recently, it has been completed recently...

Some yellow paint addes to spark the light in the foreground...It's called "Lakeside".

I was not quite satisfied with it, which is why it was not shown during my last open studio.
It's better now!
Maybe it will be shown in the next show.

A record of the paintings...

Autumn in my Backyard

Morning Sky

I figured I would post photos of the other major pieces of art that I sold during the Open Studio Tour, and maybe this time I can get the photos to come out alright!?
:)
I think it's a bonus when the art that sells is the art you really like.

In a way it is sad, because I can't keep them anymore, but like a child who is grown and flown: that was the idea to begin with, you can't regret it...

A painting is finished

This painting:

called "A break in the storm"
was completed right ater the Open Studio Tour!
Visitors to my studio saw it nearly done, but I darkened the shadows and lightened the highlights- a Lot!

I mixed a huge batch of Oil paint, so lets see how many paintings I can get done while the paint is still wet enough to use!