When I first got an iPad, I’d sit around the living room every night doodling whatever came into mind or view. After awhile, it occurred to me that I’d developed a prosaic tour of our living room from my sofa vantage, with hubby reading nearby, and a parade of accidental still lifes marching across the coffee table at my feet. None of these efforts is great art, but it was a fun way to gradually hone skills in this new medium.
Welcome to my living room!
The Kensington Armory/Town Hall is the site of my third show over Labor Day weekend. The hours are noon to 4 pm Saturday and Sunday, and 9:30 am to 4:30 pm on Labor Day. There will be a public reception Saturday evening from 6:00-7:30 pm.
For this exhibit, I plan to hang four framed paintings and show 10-12 matted originals and possibly prints of recent iPad images in a nearby rack. The slide show below gives a sense of these works — but they look much better ‘in person’. Come see them!
This one is the Yellow Barn‘s 2nd Annual Drawing Exhibition, which runs contemporaneously with the Glen Echo Park show in the Spanish Ballroom (12 pm to 5 pm Saturday, Sunday, Monday). We will have a reception at the Yellow Barn at 5 pm Labor Day evening, with beverages and munchies — so come join us!
I had two drawings in last year’s show. Unless I get busy today or tomorrow, I’ll only have one drawing on display this time — based on my Make Piece days/photos. Toddler Trishtan (Ms Naomi’s grandson) often accompanied his mom when she was helping out in Ms Naomi’s excellent food service. In his early months, he was usually asleep in his stroller, so, with his mom and grandmother’s ok, I was able to soak up his beauty, peace and lovely smile (on his face during every waking moment).
Trishtan – asleep on the job. Pencil on paper.
First up will be the 42nd Annual Labor Day Art Show at Glen Echo Park, to be held in the historic Spanish Ballroom from September 1 through September 3. The exhibition and sale includes a wide range of media, such as sculpture, painting and drawing, ceramics, glass, jewelry, and photography. It is open daily from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. There is also a public reception on Friday, August 31, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free.
Here are the two pieces I’ll be showing.
Atop the Arcade on a crisp October day. oil on canvas.
Dreaming in red and orange. Gouache on paper.
We had beautiful days in Vinales, sunrise to sunset. I took lots of photos and, while waiting for evening activities, made a couple more paintings. A gouache of the valley below our balcony (the black paper didn’t photograph well):
‘Gauzy’ gouache of the valley beneath our balcony.
and a watercolor of a lone palm tree presiding over the pool (painted happily with a Mojito at my elbow):
A proud palm by the pool at Los Jazmines,Vinales.
Here are a few more photos in and around Los Jazmines Hotel, made primarily to fix the place and its beauties in my memories:
Early sunrise at Los Jazmines.
Tobacco barn underway in the valley.
The cozy cafe-bar in the hotel.
We DID drink coffee in addition to plentiful Mojitos!
Pink hotel and blue pool made a cool combo.
A casual evening around the pool.
We sigh and snap a photo of our last Vinales sunset.
We pass a ‘colorful’ mural en route to the morning bus.
Goodbye, Vinales! Goodbye, Los Jazmines! On to Havana!
This past weekend two of my drawings were in the ‘First Annual Yellow Barn Drawing Exhibition’. Each member of the Yellow Barn was allowed to enter up to three drawings. No paintings allowed this time around.
With some trepidation over sensitivity and propriety, but with my husband’s blessing, I submitted two drawings I had made of his mother toward the end of her battle with cancer. I thought her patience and tranquility in the face of final illness were admirable and moving. We were blessed to host her in her last days.
Mom Mom knew I was making drawings of her, and occasionally peeked over at my progress before carefully resuming her position. She was satisfied with the results of our collaboration. I think she appreciated a record of her stoic suffering.
MomMom Resting, bic pen on paper
MomMom with Red Purse, bic pen on paper
Glen Kessler is another Yellow Barn teacher from whom I’ve learned a lot. Trained as a classical figurative artist at New York Academy of Art, Glen has a profound knowledge of the human figure in art. Glen teaches at Maryland Institute College of Art, as well as Yellow Barn. He draws high praise for his patience and his ability to coax improvement from his students, no matter how experienced or inexperienced.
Here is one of Glen’s many wonderful pet portraits:
Guinness & Ripley, oil on canvas, 36x24"
I’ve already posted the first two paintings I did in Glen’s ‘Painting Through the Lens’ class (Even the Skies Cry for Jody and Chef Chaouen’s Red Sea). Here’s a detail from a figurative painting I did from a live model in another class with Glen:
Detail, The Jazz Singer, acrylic and oil on paper
We got an iPad for Christmas and I’ve been having a lot of fun (after a fairly steep learning curve), roughing out realistic ‘drawings’ and abstract images. One of my Yellow Barn teachers said I was undercutting our art, while another (the chairman of the facility) suggested that I hold a workshop at ‘the barn’ on these digital media. A lot of the other students have been very curious about the process and the apps I’ve been using (primarily Art Rage and Sketchbook Pro).
Here are a couple of my works:
a realistic one — a still life on our kitchen table after 4 days without power in mid-winter
What is it with PEPCO?? Inept co!
and an abstract one. Until this past year I’d never tried my hand at abstraction, not having a single clue as to how to approach the task. The iPad apps have let my mind wander and have helped me develop some ideas.
triangles and lines