Mercy me!! I can't believe how long it's been since this was updated. It is now March, 2011. The Rockies West 2011 national exhibition is hung at the Art Center in Grand Junction and it looks great. The red shoes painting was juried in. I named it "Stealing a Kiss" as the heels look like the wearer is leaning up toward the wearer of the sandals stealing a smooch. Check it out under New Paintings in the gallery section.

Our juror was Paul Jackson from Missouri. He was full of funny stories so it was a great workshop. I've had his book forever and always admired his reflective glass paintings. That's what we did in the workshop. Check out mine under the New Paintings.

Paul is a marvelous artist having won an American Watercolor Society award at the age of 19 and earned signature membership at age 30.

My Tuesday class studied color theory last fall and spent many weeks on composition and design. Now we are painting in the style of different artists. Our first artist is Charles Reid; and after practicing the strokes he uses, we painted two florals from his book.

Last week, we did a wine bottle and fruit and a simple landscape. I also demonstrated a very loose portrait of a lady. This week, the class is challenged to paint his style but from a photo of mine or their own.

The next artist we will be emulating will be Dan Burt with his very loose dropping in different colors to blend on the paper. I think the class is learning a lot through these studies, though I tell them to not try to mimic anyone else's style but to take a bit they like and apply it to their own.

I have been so busy that I hadn't updated my workshops for a long time so you can check out some of my new listings under events. I have the England-Ireland all booked and we are all excited for May 2nd to come. I haven't been to the Cornwall area of England so am especially looking forward to that part of the trip.

Jan and I and three other gals attended "Pollyanna" play in Paonia last night. It was an original musical written by a local artist. The cast, and especially the 7th grade girl who played the lead and other children in the cast were fantastic. A very professional production for a small town theater.

Time to think about Spring and spring flowers, although I have a commission portrait of a little brother and sister to do and still haven't finished the dancing girls from photos I took in Mexico. I will try to keep my posting more up to date from now on ..... I am BAD!

It is now April with daffodils and tulips in bloom! My students/friends are heading for Ireland and the Cornwall area of England on May 2. Watch for the next posting of our trip and plein air paintings.

P.S. I just posted a fun and different technique in potpouri. To really see the effect of the texture the webbing spray makes, click on each image to enlarge. That holds true for all the photos in the gallery too.