My Gallery

This is going to be my "public viewing" site for my "Make It Pretty" expert level badge requirement. I have several painting of various mediums that I have been working on after taking a beginner level series of classes at the Shirt Factory in Glens Falls (http://shirtfactorygf.com). I received training in pastels, oil, acrylic, and watercolor painting. Included in the fee was a beginner kit with paints and necessary materials. I learned a great deal, had fun, and met some wonderful people.



This first piece is in watercolor and is my attempt to recreate a painting that I found in an art magazine. It is a full sheet of paper, approx. 12x20.

This one is a pastel, and also a recreation of something I found by another aspiring artist. This is on a piece of beige pastel paper and is about 6x9. This is one of my favorites.

This pastel, still surrounded by tape which is used to keep the edges sharp and clean, is finished but not sealed with fixative yet. It is of a scene that I saw at my friend Claudia's in the Adirondack Mountains.

This is a pastel reproduction of a photo I took at the Adirondack Balloon Festival a few years ago. I was looking for a silhouette type image to try. The photo is above and the pastel is below. It is on a blue/gray pastel paper and is unfinished. I was having difficulty getting the right effect and the balloons need to be sharper. I'll work on this one more.

This one is a repo of another artist's work. I am not happy with this one as I could not get the color tone that I was after. It is acrylic paint on heavy paper. I couldn't get the right effect of the sun shining through the trees. This one is done because I kept trying to fix it and only made it worse.

This one is oil on heavy paper. I couldn't get depth into the bowl or the right color in the fruit. I am very happy with the flowers in the vase as they have nice depth and color tone. Even in this reproduction I can see the texture of the paint. That is what I love most about oil.

This next painting was a class project, and was the most interesting class with the best of the four teachers (see http://www.tmyottart.com/). Tom is a talented painter and gifted teacher. The label on the bottle of wine (not included in my painting) was designed by Tom for a special annual event and so we not only painted the bottle, but opened a few as well! I enjoyed about half of my glass of wine, then I mistakenly tried to clean my brush in it.

In this painting I practiced developing compliments with my colors. I like this painting even though it is simple.

This painting was another class project. I like my colors and perspective, but the painting is static. There is nothing happening in the scenery and I cannot think of anything to add to it to make it more interesting. Oh, well.

This is my chicken coop! I have a couple other paintings of my chicken coop, but this is the best one. I could make it better by darkening the outlines of the hens and the coop, but once again, each time I added to it I seemed to make it worse. Sometimes one needs to just call it "done."

I'm sure I'll do this one again as I am rather obsessed with recreating hens, roosters, and coops.

Busy Summer

Always my favorite time of the year...veggies growing, kids swimming, birds chirping, laundry waving in the wind...I love Summer!

New to me this year are eggplant, which I confess I do not know how to cook. My daughter brought home six plants from the organic vegetable farm that she works at, and I innocently put them into the garden. I now have about twenty almost ready to harvest. This is AFTER I picked a dozen and gave them friends who took pity on me. I googled some recipes and had a friend send me a tried and true from her own collection, so I am almost ready to take the plunge. Almost.

Also new to me this summer is the political process that I thought I knew so much about until I decided to run for local office. I learned a new meaning to the word "running" as used in "running for office"...because I have not stopped running since I started! I am on petition #2...58 signatures needed for each petition, with a few extras just in case. I've been through almost everyone I know in town, and I've been knocking on doors of people I have not met before. All in all, it has been a difficult but extraordinarily satisfying undertaking. I am receiving so much support and encouragement...even if I don't win the position, I will have been blessed by the process :-)