Julia and Bob - new portraits

Between classes I painted Julia from a n advertisement in a fashion magazine.     I love her wide mouth.     

She is in my new journal.   The former one is almost full.













At the class this week, John asked us to paint someone in our families.    I chose to paint my brother since I had already done Candis.   This is Bob.      BOB is an acronym for Best of Brothers.   Most of the students are painting grandchildren.   
 I think we are finished with the class now.

I give John a lot of credit for helping some of the artists who are basically landscape painters, get over their absolute fear of trying to paint  a face.     Some hare blossomed and are doing very well, others have struggled and probably will not continue, and others will take this and build from it.    It was well worth doing.      next week the Mayor will be there, so perhaps we will  impress him enough to get a little grant.  We hear his mother in interested in joining us.   Guess we'll have to stop talking trash about polities and polititions.    LOL  

One of the most meaningful conversations this week was about eyes.   With my own problem, and my brother's, now two more of the ladies in this group have had bad diagnosis.  About the same as mine or Bob's.    Another one had wonderful news about her cataract surgeries.    Both extremely successful and she's going without glasses except for reading.    Says she sees so much now, colors are brighter and clearer, distance vision is great.   But she sees things that she never noticed before.    Like her cleaing woman is not doing a very good job.    And she didn't know she had so many wrinkles.    LOL     hmmm... maybe that's why I though my wrinkles were looking better, - I guess I just can't see them.   LOL    Another friend had eye surgery last week and it was not successful.    In fact it did more harm than good.       You just never know.      

Another loss

Our mixed media group in Lodi just lost a wonderful friend.   We knew it was coming,, she was fighting bladder cancer that had moved to her bones,  but the finality struck home Sunday morning when she passed.     Suzanne was a phenomenal artist and person.   Direct and honest, she spent much of her working life teaching art for the California Youth Authority (prison).     It takes a special talent to do that.    And she found it very rewarding.     When she retired she joined out group and taught us a few things too.     Like origami, and making paste papers, and twisted wire beads.   You can tell she had a lot of resources and talents.    We will miss her terribly, but glad she no longer has to face days of discomfort and pain.    


I wish I had more pictures to share of the books she made.    And the prayer flags, and the jewelry made with origami.      She could do everything and did them all beautifully.   Wnd she made it all look so casual and easy.    I saw her teach children at the art shows, to do intricate folded things that I can't do.     Yet she could capture their interest and channel their energies into producing something lovely.    A rare talent.    

We will miss you Suzanne.


  

portraits class again

It was a long time between Mondays when the seniors meet to paint together.     John's class has grown each week.  We now have a water colorist painting in her own style.    We were a group of 10 yesterday.  This time I expected we would work on hair, but instead, we had a new assignment.       Do the same face as last time, but this time do two of them, as mirror images.      This is tough.   

I've never been able to think in reverse, so my brain was doing flip flops trying to do this.     I hate that.     So, this is as far as I got.   No one else did much  more than this.    It needs lots of work.     Hmmmm....Shall I continue or do something I like to do instead?     Frankly, I don't see any reason to continue this, as I'm never going to put myself through this particular hoop again.   But, I'll probably paint them, just not thinking about the reverse thing.  


So, I moved on to something close to my heart.     My youngest grandchild  Candis is graduating high school this week and I wanted to make a chock full of her childhood pics kind of book like I made for her brothers when they graduated.     But, had a school assignment that was similar and she's having fun doing it for herself.    So, I decided to paint her portrait.      I took it to show her mom and made a few little changes she suggested, so it's about ready to frame.        

I had purchased one of Robert's paintings to give her, as it also looks a lot like her in a different pose.     She'll get two paintings in stead of one.       Here is how it looks at the moment.    I already see something that needs to change.       I have one more day to go, so I'd better get at it.    

Visit with Tuff

A bunch of friends descended on Rosemary's new residence for her first get together there.      We had such a good time.    Here is a pic of a beautiful rose in her backyard.

 This is her new backyard with the landscaping finished.      Very low maintenance but with a lot of interesting textures, colors, and shapes.    It is charming.     

And here is the little king of the premises.     Although Rosemary's husband might dispute that statement.   LOL
This is Tuff, a soft, silly, independent little guy who was groomed for the day.      Looking good little fella.    Sorry I didn't bring the girls with me this time.    

New portrait in journal

This is the picture we worked on at the senior center on Monday.     John brought us each a color copy and his paints to use.     we will finish it when we meet in a couple weeks.   It's really hard not to finish it off.  I'm itching to get at it, but think I'll start another one so he won't be disappointed.     LOL

On another page I did the next in my series of "waiting". This one was at the eye surgeon's office at Kaiser.

Post cards k- incoming

My mail box has been delightful lately with post cards from art friends.      Here are some of my favorites.

This first artsy one is from Beth, made on the back of a vintage Bingo card. Beth is one of the CA ARTGIRLS.

This one is from Jennie Hinchcliff.     I'ts always a delight to see what she sends.

 This stylish spring card is from CA ARTGIRL Margaret.

 This cutie came from my friend Norma in Florida.

 This came from CAARTGIRL Peggy.   Remember these sweet little girls?

 This collaged card came from Punwit in New Hampshire, using a recycled box for base..

 This one came back to me with changes from Susanne in Sacrament.    The bird was not there when I sent it to her earlier.    

This card is from CA ARTGIRL Terrie.  On the back is a  photo of her beautiful, loving dog Jack who just passed away.      I'm so sorry to hear that because he was just a gentle soul and a fine animal friend.

This is another Spring card from Beth. She is the one who kickstarts our post card swaps in the CA ARTGIRL group.      

This last one is from Roberta.     She has been painting in styles of different artists so it's fun to see how she adapts some of their styles into her own.  Visit her blog by clicking on her name, and even pop over to her Etsy shop to see more of her work.  



You can see why I look forward to mail time here.   It's not all bills and political things, or requests for donations.   LOL    Sometimes it's ART.


Thanks for the mail art, my friends.

Simple post cards

I wanted to send a little thinking of you post card to a friend, and so made three.   LOL     Today I'm going to paint  more along this line as it was relaxing and fun, and I have more people I want to send them to.        Here's the group of three and the one I sent off today.