The Chair Project

The Lakewood Arts Council Gallery has a wonderful holiday show each year that runs through November and December.  Earlier this year artists were asked to embellish a found chair, adult or child sized, that would be donated to the gallery and sold as a fundraiser at the holiday show.  Several artists participated, and I enjoyed adding chairs to my weekly searches through the local thrift stores, finding four children's chairs over the months.  After re-gluing, screwing, and sanding the chairs as needed, I was ready for the ornamental painting.  Some also have details highlighted with gold penwork.  See the results below.  Next year it will be small table and I'm already on the lookout!

Apple Blossoms

Below is my latest acrylic, 18x24.  The subject is my backyard apple tree near my patio, blooming without frost interference for the first time in many years.  We did in fact, get a tree loaded with apples in the summer!

Out of My Comfort Zone

In June, several artists from the LAC, myself included, had a show at the gallery requiring each participating artist to specify up to three subjects, after which each artist had to select at least one topic from each artist to paint for the show.  This concept pushed most of us way out of our comfort zone, as we were allowed to interpret the topics as we deemed appropriate.  Subjects included architecture, fish, eggs, trees, wheels, and ribbons.  My results are shown below.  We all had such fun with this concept that we are having a repeat performance in October of 2013, with two additional artists and additional topics!  Watch for it!

16x20 acrylic

6x6 acrylic

                                     

12x12 acrylic

12x12 acrylic  "16 Wheeler"

16x20 acrylic

16x20 acrylic

Colors!

Adapting a similar previous style, I created my latest acrylic painting and revived my interest in painting horses.  This one is 16 x 20 on canvas and currently hangs at the LAC Gallery.

More Birds!

My mother-in-law shares my love of birds, so for Christmas I gave her four 6x6 acrylic paintings for her home.  They are such fun to paint and really add to our snowy Denver winter days indoors.

More!

Last month a small local newspaper printed an article about the Lakewood Arts Council Gallery and our current show.  Accompanying the article was a photo of the bird on the limb painting (shown in my  previous blog entry). The painting attracted the attention of Al and Linda who came to the gallery to see the painting.  Discovering that it was too small for their dining room wall, they asked me to paint another, larger piece in a similar style.  I visited their beautiful home to see what they had in mind.  What I made for them is a 30 x 24 acrylic and shown below. I called it 'Bird Talk'.  And I made some wonderful friends!  Thanks, Al and Linda!

I've been also printing my own greeting cards from the photos of my work, which my husband diligently corrects for color.  Now I wish that my friends and I wrote and mailed more notes!

Long Time Coming...

Wow!  so much time has gone by..I must be more diligent.  I have been busy with both painting and architecture...experimenting with different styles.  See these from the last few months. Each is an acrylic 12" x 12".  I'm loving the patterns and contrasting borders.  It's hard to tell here, but when the acrylic work is finished, I add linework with a silver gel pen.  Kinda like doodling!