The First Class

Well, I taught my first watercolor class in about a 8 years yesterday (I last taught in 2006/2007) and it was SO much fun! I had a tiny class but it was fabulous.

We painted flowers and I taught my two students the techniques and process that I use for painting flowers. They seemed to really enjoy themselves. The class was long 11am - 4pm and we used almost every bit of time. We had a break in the middle for lunch....pizza from Second Street Pizza which is just a block away.

Here are some pics from the last bit of the class

We ran out of time to finish our pieces but here is the piece I was working on and giving demos of my technique. It's not finished but I'll be sure to finish it hopefully soon (after I finish all of those other pieces I have yet to finish!)

My next class will be a drawing class at the community center and it will be February 21st from 10am - 12:30pm. Yay for teaching!

Soup Du Jour

I know I haven't posted anything in awhile...it has been busy between the holidays and ongoing projects, but there will be several posts in the next couple of days. YAY!

Todays post is of a passion of mine. FOOD! I love love love to cook and eat delicious food. One of my favorite quick and easy dishes is Carrot Ginger Soup. While I began chopping the onion I started thinking about how often I've given this recipe out. I love it and I'm constantly sharing it. What better way to share than on my blog!

Soooooooooo, Here is Carrot Ginger Soup!

This is one of the easiest dishes to make. Just chop up some onions (recipe calls for one, but I like onions so I'll use two or three) and saute them for a bit.

Pour in some Veggie broth/stock (again the recipe calls for something different, chicken stock but I have a lot of vegetarian friends so I've just gotten in the habit of cooking with Veggie stock).

Put in 2-3lbs of Carrots, peeled and cut into 2" chuncks.

Grate 2 TBS of Ginger

and bring all of this to a boil and let it boil until the carrots are tender.

Then transfer it to a blender and puree to your hearts desire. Careful though....the heat can make it act like the mud pots in Yellowstone.

At this point I just dish it, grate some cheddar and eat up but again the recipe calls for something else...heavy whipping cream to make the soup creamier and pepper.

Thanks for letting me share my favorite soup to make with you. It's super easy and super delicious and easy to embellish and make your own.

Teaching Classes

Over the past several years I've been asked by all sorts of people if I teach watercolor classes &/or lessons. I haven't, partly because I have always had a couple of other jobs so it's hard to find the time and no space to adequately teach more than one person. Now that I only have one other job, in addition to my art, the only hang up was a space to teach.

I began brainstorming...where is a space large enough to set up a couple of tables where I could be able to freely walk around and teach? Think, think, think, where? And then it came to me! A community center! YES! Soooooooooo, I reached out to the local community center to see if it was even a possibility and sure enough it is. I can teach.

I'm so excited. It's been at least 6 years since I've taught. The classes I used to teach were only 2 hours so I didn't feel like I could really get into the painting with the students...I felt like I had to rush them along to teach them everything they needed to know, which is NO way to learn watercolor. The classes I'll teach will be a Saturday afternoon and will be 5 hours. (well, really 4 when you count break time for lunch!) I'm anxious to see how I'll do, since it has been 6 years...at least!

The first class will take place January 17th from 11am to 4pm at the Whitefish Community Center. They are located at 121 E 2nd Street. 406-862-4293.

I had the hardest time deciding on a subject for the first class. I decided to go with something rather simple, floral pieces. And by simple, I mean ease of getting a good reference. I'll bring a couple of bouquets so those that have a bad photo reference will still have an opportunity to have a good reference. Maybe the next class will be a snowy landscape? Maybe animals? rocks?

If you had the chance to take a class, what would you want to learn?

Angie

I took a photo of my friend Angie a couple of months ago. The moment I saw it I knew I had to paint it. Well, today, I finally painted that picture! It helped being a cold gloomy day out...although I can see some blue sky peaking through the clouds, so that is a nice treat from Mother Nature.

Here is when I first started....a detail of her face

and here is the finished piece. I thought of adding more embellishments to her coat and outfit but figured that would take away from what I have

And a detail of her face

Watermedia 2015

OHMYGOSH!!!!!!!!! Could Watermedia be any cooler this year??? *****Prepare yourselves....this is going to be a long blog post***** First things first. This was my first year as being part of the Montana Watercolor Society Board. Wow, what an experience. I decided last year that after being a member for a decade (I know, right....crazy how time flies) that I should give back and volunteer. There was a little box at the bottom of the membership renewal form that asked if you were interested in being part of the board. I checked it and boy did they put me to work! They stuck me as chair for Watermedia....the BIG annual show for MTWS! YIKES!

But thankfully, they all held my hand pretty much! LOL and I learned a LOT about what really goes on in MTWS and how much planning and preperation goes into it from all aspects. Very cool. Oh, and if any of you readers out there are ALSO MTWS members, you should volunteer and help out. It's actually a lot of fun. I've gained some awesome friendships by being on the board. Ok, back to the blog.

So, besides being part of the board and helping plan the event (I got to find the juror for next year, the banquet location for this year, reach out to vendors for merchandise awards, etc), I also entered the show. I've had a couple of people ask me if that was legal and I assure you it is. The Juror (Jean Pederson and she is AWESOME) is sent only the images with numbers....no indication of who painted them. There were over 200 paintings submitted this year and 47 paintings made the cut with 3 alternates. My piece 'The Edge' made it in!

Days before the opening reception, the juror spends time looking at the exhibit, getting to view the pieces in person instead of as a small digital image. I was able to watch the process. We cover up the name cards on the wall next to the paintings with sticky notes and she picks paintings off the wall and studies them, arranging them in order of ranking she sees fit for awards. I held my breath as I watched her pick 'The Edge' and put it with 20 or so other paintings. Would she put it back? Or would she keep it? And if she kept my piece, where would she rank it??? I was screaming inside my head. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH :D AGHHHHHHHHHHHH! We had SO many amazing awards from incredible vendors, I wanted to win them all (hey, starving artist here....I want a LOT of supplies! haha!) I ended up with a merchandise award from the University of Montana with $150 worth of art supplies! HOW COOL IS THAT???? WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It ended up being 11th place. Not bad out of 47 paintings :)

As part of Watermedia Chair, the board and as social media gal for MTWS I became a little fly on the wall and took a TON of pictures at the workshop and the banquet. I'll share some pics from the reception with you in a bit. My darling friend Angie agreed to be my date for the evening (I enticed her with a rocking free meal from Grille 459). It was such a wonderful evening. The opening reception was held again at the Bigfork Museum of Art and History and our Juror Jean Pederson gave a gallery talk and spoke about the award winning paintings and why she chose them. Jean mentioned that she really like the luminosity that was present in 'The Edge' and felt that I captured the essence of the sheep. She said she liked the look of the sheep standing in a hot sun. She felt there was a story and wanted to know did he just climb steep terrain to stand where he was? Where was he going? Why was he alone? She said my piece reminded her of Walter Phillips, a deceased canadian artist. She said to continue on my journey and to paint what I love because it shows in my work!!!! :D

After the gallery talk about 30 of us went to the Grille 459 which was just about a 1/2 block down the street from the exhibition. It was awesome. It couldn't have been a nicer venue, the staff was AMAZING, the food was divine (Mediterranean Chicken - pesto excrusted chicken with kalamata olives and feta served with grilled asparagus, White Cheddar mashed potatoes and ended with a Lava Cake! YUM

It was such a great evening to be spent with friends and fellow watermedia artists! I can't wait for next year! :D

More pics from the Chalk Festival

I meant to post these only a few days after the chalk festival, but then you get side tracked by working on your epic halloween costume, hanging out with girlfriends and working on some pieces I've been taking forever on (SORRY John, Algier, Shawna!!! they are coming, I promise!!!) soooooooooooooooooo, here are some more pics from some other pieces that were created on the street of Bigfork!

There was also a spot for kids to join in on the action too!

There was also a guest artist (this guy working on Captain America) and a featured artist (who did the charlie russell piece) They had squares twice as big as ours. It was really neat watching them create!

So many pieces!!! A lot of fun to look at, as well as be a part of! Hopefully, I'll get to do this again. It Rocked!

Drawing on the Street

This Saturday I'll be participating in the Chalk n' Rock Festival, a street art and musical event being held in downtown Bigfork, MT where professional artists from across the nation will be creating works of art with chalk on the street! There will be bands playing while the artists will be working. We each get an 8ftx8ft section on the street and we'll get to compete to create a work of art.

I'm so excited I was invited to do this. I think it will be SO much fun. But.....I've never created anything with chalk on a street before, unless you count drawing smiling suns and flowers and hopscotch for my niece and nephew. This is going to be quite the artistic adventure!!! LOL.

My biggest problem is trying to figure out what I want to do. A Bison, Two horses nuzzling each other, or a bear catching a fish in a raging river. Oh the agonizing decision! haha!

If any of you are in the area, be sure to stop by. The event will be on Saturday from 9am-7pm and again on Sunday from 10am - 5pm. It's gonna be SO much fun! :)

I'll be sure to post pictures from the event next week.

Summerfair 2014 and the rest of the Art Fair Season

Oh summerfair! How fair you were this year! For the first time in 5 years this show wasn't over 90 degrees! It made for the most pleasant experience. Plus, my booth wasn't in the main quad in the sun.... I was in the tree section. Ohmy! Love love loved that area!!! So going to be there again next year.

Those in charge also changed the layout of the booths this year. I thought there was a much better flow of traffic! As usual there were some great artists.

I met some fabulous jewelers who were both from Missoula!

One made these fabulous little flower earrings and necklaces that very much mirrored my mini poppy paintings. April Hale of April Hale Jewelry is fabulous!

The other is Mary of the Silver Hammer. Fabulous metal earrings. LOVE her work too! I got a pair of these (short ones)

Because my parents live in Billings, I had the help of my mom through the show. She is sooooo awesome to sit next to me and keep me company through the show and to not mind helping me pack up! It was great getting to spend some time with her and to have someone be with me during the show. It gets a little lonely at times!

The rest of the art fair season breezed by. I took pictures at other shows and had the intent of blogging about each and every show, but sadly it just never happened. Doing 6 shows in a row while working two part time jobs during the week really wears you out! Bigfork was amazing, as usual. Teton Village was fun but a bust monetarily. I'm really glad I have a break though. I can focus on some smaller pieces, a river rock series, finish a commission, and start working on some oils (yup, I've been itching to do some for awhile...it is time!)

I promise I won't neglect the blog for so long. It has been a long time since my last post! Geesh, how time flies by. I have some fun news about an event in a couple of weeks so stand by for that!

I hope you all had a wonderful summer. Thanks for helping to make mine lovely too with your support!

Whitefish Arts Festival on the 4th of July!

Last weekend, July 4-6th I had the opportunity to participate in the Whitefish Arts Festival for the first time and it was awesome! There were some incredible artists and I got to see some of my vendor friends! Johnathan with his copper coils Steve and Karen Boyd with Art of the Wild Side. Jesse and Jen Purdom of Pacific Metal Arts

and I made some new friends!!!!

This show was very similar to Huckleberry Days, which I have done the past three years and is always held in August. The only difference is that Huckleberry Days has more crafts than this show. It is great just being 6 blocks away from my house (so I can walk to the festival!). I was pretty close to the music stage and got to listen to some wonderful musicians. My favorite was Jameson and the Sordid Seeds. They are a local band and play around town a lot, but I haven't had the chance to check them out. They were SO fun to listen to that I had to check them out later Friday night (after the fireworks) at the Great Northern Bar.

It was a lot of fun doing a show on the 4th of July weekend. Here area some pictures from the show and of the 4th. I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July too!!!

Raffle Book Entry

It has been a busy couple of weeks. I've been working on a bunch of new paintings all at the same time as well as a commission...I know, I know, I really AM taking a year off from that so I can focus on my own thing, but it is for a friend and I said I would. The day jobs have gotten busy PLUS I've started training for a marathon again. I wish I had more time to paint!!!!!!!!!!!!

But I was able to finish this guy Sunday evening. It is for the raffle book for the Montana Watercolor Society. Every year they ask members of the society to paint an image on a much larger piece of paper that they then bound together in a book and raffle it off during Watermedia, the signature event!

This bison is the piece I'm doing....I may try to get another one done for the book but I don't know how realistic that will be! haha! Have a great week all!!!

Looming Deadlines

I have a LOT of deadlines approaching for art competitions so I'm painting like a mad man trying to get some more pieces done from which to choose (like I need more decisions to make!). Here is one that I finished just this morning. I have a couple more Bison I'm working on.

Where I Stood, 13x22

#32

Sooooooooooooooooo, It's my birthday tomorrow! Yup, Smack dab in the middle of May :) I'm a taurus (if you're into zodiac signs) and I AM my sign (yes I'm stubborn...I'll admit it). I LOVE birthdays. They are truely the best. I know getting older kinda bites in some ways (where is a vampire when you need one? LOL) But I love the celebration of life and new resolutions. Birthdays are awesome for that...helps you gauge what really happened the past year...more so than New Year's (I tend to think New Year's is a little overrated).

So back to my birthday. Today was a celebration of it. A pre-birthday celebration. A couple of days ago my boss, Jill, (at the day job) said this week is so busy that we'll celebrate next week when we'll all be around. I was totally fine with this. It is a busy week and she'll be gone a bit, I'm planning on doing some traveling so it was all good. Well, SURPRISE! Birthday party TODAY! Yup, my desk was decorated and prezzies were on it with cards and crinkle paper and candies and flowers.

Well as the day progressed it turned into the whole five star family and friends day. Jill's husband John, prepared a feast of homemade hamburgers (which I have been craving for a MONTH) and potato salad, coleslaw, and an amazing Carmel tresleche cake from (my favorite store) Costco! YUM!!!!!!!

It was so overwhelming and touching. I am so blessed with fabulous friends. I really just want to cry tears of joy and thankfulness. I really love life. It is beautiful. I'm so excited about #32 and can't wait to see what wonderful things I have to look forward to!

And, all you followers out there across the country and world, celebrate with me tomorrow! :) Go for a hike, Run a mile, Explore a new area you have been wanting to check out, Hug your friends, Take some time to sit in the sun and soak up the rays, Plant some herbs....Do something simple but fun tomorrow! It may be May 15th, but it is a start of a new year! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU!

Big 'Ol Bison

Welp, I'm pretty much finished. I just have a few minor tweaks and I'll be finished! SO excited about how this guy turned out. In the early stages of the piece, my friend, Amanda, said he looked like he had a 'fro. Buffa-fro? He does have some pretty fuzzy bangs going on!

Big 'Ol Bison, 35x22

And, on a fun note....I got to do the Color Me Rad 5K in Missoula with my two besties....Sami & Amanda. It was so much fun. If any of you haven't done this fun run before, you HAVE to! It is an absolute blast. So many people dressed up...I even saw a guy wearing angle wings, lots of tutus and a couple of girls were in wedding dresses. FUN!