300 students paint 'Still Life With Goldfish' by Henri Matisse

Here is my school mural for the 2016 - 2017 year. This is the 12th mural I have made with my elementary students. The original artwork is Henri Matisse's 'Still Life With Goldfish' (also known as 'The Goldfish') painted in 1912. This ought to be a cheery and welcoming image to greet the students when they come back to school. I'm pleased with the results. It is the smallest student mural I have put together at 60" wide by 86.25" high. It's a gem!

I had a little help hanging the mural. Good dog!

Welcome August!

Welcome August! I'm just back from Southern California. I attended a lovely family wedding at the South Coast Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes. My family is large and wildly flung across the USA. This summer has fortunately given us a BIG birthday in Vermont, a wedding in California, and soon a wedding here in Maine. It's been great to be able to be with my family this much in one year.
Now I'm back in the studio, the OLD studio. Trying  to get three paintings done before school starts! These two paintings are almost done and will be in my Etsy shop soon. My new studio is making progress. We met with our builder yesterday. The construction will start in 3 weeks - yay!

 

Driving home from school in June I noticed a dead Blue Jay on the road in front of a friend's house. As the sweet bird was no longer living, I saved his or her feathers. I love Blue Jay feathers. I love the blue next to the black and gray. I'm thinking there is a painting that needs to happen with these. Time will unravel this for me. Maybe a painting of blues in nature. Happy August!

Here is why...

Here would be the WHY I need a larger studio space.

Summer ~ Painting and Planning

Summertime, summertime. Painting in my studio. Weeding my gardens. Knitting. Repeat. Add to the mix something new this summer: planning a new studio! Our 1 story garage is getting a second floor which will become my new studio.

The old cement slab is now gone and a new one will be poured this week. I think I've got the windows and their placement figured out. It's a tricky business guessing how many windows to put in a space that doesn't exist yet. There will be eight windows, in case you're guessing. In addition to creating a larger studio for me, we are trying to make our garage look more like a barn. I will include photos when it is done.

New paintings this summer include a monarch butterfly with milkweed, another rock and shell design, and California poppies.

It seems that the red poppies are begging to make their way into something, so there may be a red poppy painting before the summer is out. We'll see.

Happy summer!

Spring

Here is a recent sunrise from my studio overlooking the Sheepscot River. It's not often I see pink water at the start of the day. In the pics below, I've been working on a pathway through a new flower garden. The floral design (?) points north. I planted 16 different day lily varieties in this garden last summer. I believe they have all come back. I tried my hand at cross pollinating some of the day lilies and ended up with just 3 seeds. I've got the 3 seeds in potting soil, hopefully they will grow into new plants. Happy Spring!