"Transformation" Vine Arts Gallery Reception

"Walking Through The Fire"

"Good Hare Day"

Today after church at the Vineyard we had a reception for the new Vine Arts Gallery show called Transformation. The show consists of art, poetry and photography that depicts how the Lord has used other people and circumstances to transform and change you for the better and how the Lord has revealed Himself & changed you through his love.

I entered two pieces that fit the theme of the show very well: "Good Hare Day" and "Walking Through The Fire." Both of these pieces are shown above.

The reception lasted for about an hour. I had some very interesting conversations with some fellow artists that I don't get to chat with very often. I always am amazed at what happens when I get together with other artists. It is like one species connecting with another of the same species. We are alike. There is a common bond, a common way of thinking and a unique feeling of oneness that I really love. I connected with one artist who is actively pursuing getting her children's books published. She likes my art and wants me to be the illustrator. We are going to get together so I can read her stories and illustrate them. The challenge will be to get someone to publish us!

My First Week as a Boise State University Student

Last Tuesday (1/20) was the first day of my first Boise State University class, "Art Education Methods For Elementary School." It sounds like I will be mostly doing a lot of observing other art teachers in the process of teaching art classes to K-8th grade kids--30 hours worth to be exact! Part of my homework will be to plan a short series of art lessons for kids. That will probably be easy since I have already planned many lessons on paper and have already used them when teaching kids art lessons downstairs in my house.

Then last Thursday, our class when to the Boise Art Museum to observe a tour guide conduct a tour for a classroom of kids from Horizon Elementary school. The art that was being discussed was a series of works by a Japanese artist, Jun Kaneko. He specializes in large (7-9 feet) ceramic pieces called Dongos and other art work that focuses on various patterns of lines and circles. It was fun to observe the questions and comments that the kids would make about the art--questions like, "That looks like a big jelly bean." Then we observed the kids going into an art studio to make their own version of a Dongo. They had the kids make whatever kinds of patterns they wanted onto a large paper cup, which sort looked like a Dongo in miniature.

Leopard In a Tree is Finished

I have finished my "Leopard in a Tree" piece. It is posted above. I am very happy with how it turned out. What a pretty kitty!

I originally had done the entire leopard, including the back end and legs, but when I cropped it (as you see above) I thought it looked much better than what I actually had done, so I'm only going to use the first half of the piece instead of the whole thing. Sometimes it works better when you go with Plan B instead of sticking with Plan A!

Artistically, I think I learned something new doing this piece. I think I stretched myself a bit more with this and did some things with mixed media that I had never tried before. I really mixed it up with watercolor & salt plus colored pencil and turpenoid, then I added a bit of white acylic paint spatters over it.

School and The Leopard

I haven't blogged in a week because there has been very little to blog about! Things are slow right now and I am adjusting to a more normal, after the holidays schedule. I went back to work on January 5th and it is good to get back to some kind of routine again.

I am getting ready to go back to school January 2oth. My first class is Art Education Methods for Elementary School at Boise State University.

I had another Vocational Rehab appointment this week. They are going to pay for most of the tuition for my class and my parking permit! Yay! I have to pay for about $300.00 of tuition, but that it great considering that the total bill is about $1,100.00! And that is just for one class! Wow! College is expensive! For the next semester, I am hoping to take two classes per semester and it would be great to squeeze in one summer school class, but I don't know if that will work out. Another option that I have is I may take some courses from the new Idaho community college that recently opened up. It is much more affordable. I just have to make sure that the classes I take at the community college are transferrable credits for BSU.

I have been able to fit in some time for artwork now that holiday madness it over! I am still working on the leopard in the tree. It is turning out to be quite challenging, but I think it will be a good piece when it is done. When you are painting/drawing an animal with a spotted pattern like this one, it is a challenge to make it look 3-D and realistic instead of just looking like a flat graphic art piece. But that is why I wanted to do it. This piece is a good learning experience for me.

Abandoning The Old; Starting On The New--2009 Here I Come!

Holidays are officially over and I have even taken down most of my Christmas decorations. As to be expected, there has not been much time for art work because I have been preparing for parties, shopping after Christmas sales, cleaning & organizing my house, and getting my file drawers ready for 2009.

December 31st was the last day of my art exhibit at Dawson's, a downtown coffee shop. So I drove down there and took down my paintings.

I did a little work on a piece I was doing that is suppose to be an illustration for part of Isaiah 43:2, but I abandoned it because I wasn't happy with the composition and there were too many artistic problems that I couldn't solve. This illustration has to due with lots of water and being able to get through the water without it sweeping you away. I just haven't come up with something that works yet. I usually find that when I put something aside and go back to it several weeks (or months) later, I come up with a solution to my problem.

Since I have this week off from work, I decided to get a head start on painting rock animals. My next art show is in March, when have a art display booth at the Cat Show. I think I am going to focus on preparing for this show early so when March comes, I don't feel so pressured.

I also started a new piece. I am doing a leopard in a tree. I am intrigued with drawing and painting the big cats that have those lovely patterns on them (tigers and leopards). I think this is going to be a really good piece.