This Friday, January 3rd at Capital Grounds in Montpelier, Terri Kneen and I will be on hand for a reception for our show “Shared Landscapes.” The show consists of photos by Terri and watercolors by me. There is one piece which I watercolored using a photo of Terri’s as a jumping off point, within which Terri contributed some of her sketched stick figures as well. The art will be up for all of January, after which it will move over to the Coffee Corner for February.

Reception is at the Green Bean Gallery, Capital Grounds, 27 State Street, Montpelier, VT05602
From 6-8pm. Come pick up a cup of coffee and a pastry and enjoy the show!

I got inspired last night after posting my newest sketch, so I kept working until the painting was done. OK, so I was up until 1 am and I had to go back to work today, but I’ve been pulling that stunt since high school, and I even managed to make it to work on time today.

The really cool thing that happened was that half way through the water color I finally got it. I stopped, took a breath, loaded up the brush with just a LITTLE paint and a lot of water and went to it. Suddenly the amazing luminescence of the paint was in MY PAINTING! The funny thing was, I started the background as awkwardly as I had all three other times I had painted this before (see my previous, “That Awkward Moment” post). Too dark, too purple-Easter-eggy just not what I wanted, but I like how it turned out, and, well, you know, there is always more paper, more paint…

Either way, here is the finished piece. Note how much clearer this photo is…ah, Honey, I took out your camera and started using it, uh… OK?

Terri and I will both have work up at the Green Bean Gallery through the month of January. As soon as the reception date is set, I will post it here for your viewing pleasure. 😉

I’d almost given up on this painting earlier this week. Three other failed attempts adorned my wall above my drawing desk. Many older sketches piled high in my portfolio, but when I went to paint them, ARGH! They looked terrible. Then I started one last time. I copied the elements I liked from the last two attempts and went second to the India ink.

Ahhhh… There is something so perfect for me about embellishing a sketch with ink.

That was it. This will be the one. At the same time, I am trying to get the light just right for photographing all of my pieces in preparation to make prints. Grrrr…this is a bitch. I think I’ll need to get theater lights on these bee-otches to get it right, but for now, here’s a sample of the sketch only… (She mumbles as she goes through the house stealing every light in sight and removing the shades.) wish me luck. Hope I don’t blow a fuse here… Anyone got one of those space age rescue blankets I can hold up to reflect the light?