Tucson Pima Arts Council "Open Studio Tour"

Again this year, I will be participating in the Open Studio Tour, November 8 & 9 from noon to 5 p.m. For information about the tour, go to www.tucsonpimaartscouncil.org/ost/

Recently I have been spending most of my time at the grade school and creating or dreaming lesson plans for the classes. The students are inspiring me to attempt things that I haven't done in awhile and I am learning or relearning as I work with them. They remind me of all the reasons that I love to paint...to remember, to inspire, to dream, to think, to focus, to play.

From All Sides Equal Gallery

CAMPUS CHRISTIAN CENTER

Fourteen of my paintings from my Luminous Gallery and the All Sides Equal Gallery are part of a show entitled "Inner Light" at the Campus Christian Center Art Gallery located at 715 N. Park Ave. at the UofA Campus. This is a joint show with my friend Mary Argueta who is exhibiting her beautiful acrylics and mixed media paintings. The show runs through October 10th. For additional information, including open hours, call 623-7575.

SAWG at Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

"Desert Grandfathers" and "Steppin' Out" were juried into the 12th annual exhibition of the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild in the Ironwood Gallery at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
The show runs from July 19th to September 7th and the gallery is open 10am-4pm. I spent the morning last Thursday at the museum and I especially enjoyed the hummingbird exhibit. I took many, many photos of them that may appear in future paintings. There was a hummingbird guard who "buzzed" around all who entered. I even caught a few "in flight" but just as many escaped my view finder. They were very busy considering the heat.

What have I been doing????

Thank you to my friends who have encouraged me to post again. I HAVE been painting but I also have been brushing up on my drawing skills. This fall I will be teaching art in grades 1-4 at the school my children attended. I always learn much from the kids as I challenge their creativity and imagination. I am really looking forward to the school year.

Art4God

These two images were chosen for honorable mention in the NCAC 2007 National Christian Art Competition. How thrilling for me! These and all the selected art can be seen at http://www.art4god.com.

collage

These collages were fun to create. I chose papers for their color and texture and just moved them around until I liked what I saw! They were selected to be part of the juried CASA show -Collage as a Way of Seeing "Beyond Kindergarten" -that can be seen at the Drawing Studio until March 29th.

Mandalas

Happy New Year to all! I can't believe that I haven't posted anything since November!
Since the holidays, I have been teaching grade school children about mandalas. I find it challenging to paint in a circle or square format and enjoy the meditative aspect of mandalas. The children and I are learning about mandalas in different culture, learning about "sacred geometry" and "story mandalas", as well as learning about shapes, design, and color.
In my "spare" time I have begun a spatter painting watercolor landscape and have almost completes a paper collage. Fun!

Desert Grandfathers

If only the mountains and the saguaro could tell us what they've seen...

Flagstaff Soloist

We went to NAU in Flagstaff to attend a choir concert and I also hoped to see the changing autumn colors. The red maple in the foreground and the various trees surrounding it reminded me of the NAU choir. The maple had just a little more to show.

My Very Own Palo Verde

In the spring and summer, I use to drive around Tucson looking for palo verde in bloom. For my birthday one year, my husband planted one in my front yard for me. Now I can enjoy it from my front window and paint it any time I like.

Looking for Poppies

Every year we wait to see how many wildflowers
the rains bring to Picacho Peak.

Mt Lemmon, Arizona

A couple of months ago I was walking along Loma Linda Vista Rd. on Mt Lemmon. Where once this road was canopied by trees, I was surprised by beautiful vistas.

Monoprint Workshop with Mina Tang Kan

This image was created at a monoprint workshop at Cochise College in Sierra Vista. The instructor was Mina Tang Kan who owns Tang Gallery in Bisbee. We put oil paints and inks on plexiglass and used their printing press to transfer the images to paper. I learned about embossing texture, ghost prints (second printings) and a fun way to use regular glue to make designs.

From Monoprints

watercolor inks

Last week I played with my watercolor inks. It was fun to watch the colors run and mix. Is it an eye...or a dragonfly...or a fairy...maybe just flowers?

Saints and Angels Among Us

I especially liked the stained glass effect that seemed to appear as I painted this.

A Place to Ponder the Past and the Future

This view from the top of a cliff in Sister Bay, Wisconsin attracted me because of the gentle tide in the bay and the trees that seemed to be just barely hanging on.

Open Studio Tour

Saturday, November 10th and Sunday, November 11th from noon until 5:00, I will be participating in an Open Studio Tour for the Tucson Pima Arts Council. I submitted an image from this series for their approval and promotion.

This summer I finally completed this spring desert scene that I enjoyed on a hike a few years ago. It has almost everything that I love about the desert...a blooming palo verde, brittlebush,globe mallows, the beautiful colors of cholla,prickly pear,