Postcards from Paris

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to spend a couple weeks in Paris! My husband was going on a business trip and I was able to go along. He travels constantly, and usually I am not tempted to go with him. Some of the locations just aren't interesting enough. This time, I loved the destination- and my sons were already grown and out of the house. He had asked me to go on many of these business trips, but leaving 2 high school boys home alone for more than a day or two- need I say more?

Paris is a beautiful city with lots to see and a lots to paint! While my husband was in meetings, I ventured out and took pictures for future paintings. Our hotel was quaint and small and located perfectly a few blocks from the Eiffel Tower. It was on the Rue St. Dominique and VERY nearby were the Seine with the Pont Alexandre, Rue Cler, and the Eiffel Tower! I had so much fun walking around, and as long as I kept the Seine nearby, I figured I couldn't get too lost. I spent a day at the Rodin Museum- highlights being "The Thinker" and "The Gates of Hell" (a bit creepy, but a fascinating work of art). The food was awesome! Patisseries and boulangeries everywhere (like delis on Long Island-every corner). When my husband was not working, we definitely went all over and saw even more- The Louvre and Jardin des Tuileries, Notre Dame, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, and everything in between!

While we were there, I also mailed some watercolor postcards I had painted of some of my favorite places in Paris. I mailed them home to a few of my favorite people. I had seen an article in one of my watercolor magazines about an artist who did that wherever he travelled and loved the idea! The French woman working at the post office thought I was crazy when I insisted on putting the stamps on the painted side, but I figured I would never see her again anyway.. I had done a similar thing with our vacation to Italy, except didn't have the postcard idea until we were home. That time, I painted from our photos and had my wonderful son (who was stationed at Aviano airbase in Italy) take them to his post office in Italy. So, I didn't mail them myself, but still got my postcards!

Since that vacation, I often go through the gazillions of photos I took and find new ones to paint. Between the photos from Italy and the ones from Paris, I will be painting from them far into the future I am sure.

Thanks for looking!

Sheryl

Seahorse Stained Glass Window- Completed!

I finally finished my seahorse stained glass window project! When I first started taking stained glass classes last year, I was always in a huge hurry to finish my projects. I even worked on them at home, along with going to the glass studio one or more afternoons a week. After a few windows were completed, I realized I could slow down a bit. I already had an addiction to painting which took up most of my free time- alternating between watercolors, oils and acrylics was tricky enough. Adding a new time consuming art form had to be dealt with or I would go crazy trying to keep up with these various artistic endeavors! Now, I have settled down and I finish a window when I finish a window. Sometimes, I even skip a week in my stained glass classes! This seahorse window has been completed at a much slower, more relaxed pace. I made my own original pattern by drawing a large seahorse on a piece of pattern paper, dividing it up like a puzzle to get the colors of glass where I wanted them. After I made the pattern and cut all the pieces, it was time to cut all the glass. Then comes grinding, copper foiling each piece, and finally soldering and putting on the patina. This time, I chose copper patina since I really liked the way the window looked with the copper foil around the pieces of glass. It seems like it took forever- but it is done and I have been able to keep up with my painting, which I try to do most days. My husband got it hung up in one of our highest windows a mere few hours after I finished it!

Thanks for looking!

Sheryl

Using Art as a Teaching Tool

Literacyhead is an online magazine that uses art to help with teaching reading and writing. I just found out about it a few weeks ago when they asked about using one of my paintings in an upcoming issue. That upcoming issue is now! The site, Literacyhead.com, is really a good looking website and I am so happy to have my painting "Fire Island Deer" be included! I love that art can be used to teach- and they have some beautiful artwork on the site. They have used the art of many Etsy artists, so there is a lot of variety. Variety in painting subjects, as well as painting styles. Anyway, it looks like a wonderful resource for teachers, and I am excited to be a small part of it! I have included the link so you can take a look if you'd like.

http://www.literacyhead.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3499:write-starts&catid=355

Thanks for looking!

Sheryl

"An artist is somebody who produces things that people don't need to have." - Andy Warhol

These little 2X2" mini canvases make fun painting projects. Sometimes they are a good way to get my painting ideas flowing. You don't need to come up with any big concept for them, just something simple- a great way to not take painting too seriously! They even come with their own easel to display the painting. Sometimes, I like to paint something on them in small scale that I have done in larger scale already- just to change things up a bit.

Now that I have a few done, and plan to do more, I will start to list them in my Etsy shop.

Thanks for looking!

Sheryl

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." Pablo Picasso

I am having one of those weeks where everything goes right! This is starting to make up for that last week that went exactly the opposite way. I have gotten lots of painting done and that, in itself, makes for a perfect week. I am counting from the middle of last week when things started to turn around. I was soldering charms and couldn't seem to get anything right- after I got them all in the mail to their new owners, things started to go my way. I started on a group of canvases (mostly 4X4", a few 2X2", and a couple others). I like to put the base coat on a bunch at one time, so they are ready to go when I decide what to paint on them. I usually put the base coat/ background on in acrylic so it is dry and ready faster than if I use oils. In this case, I was planning some still life paintings with dark backgrounds- my favorite. When I really want to paint a serious still life, I start with gessoed masonite- these were for fun, and on canvas. When one painting is too wet to work on, I go to another- working on a group of paintings seems to work for me, and my attention span. Anyway, here are a few from my latest batch. I will be listing these on Etsy now, and then it is watercolor time again!

Thanks for looking!

Sheryl

This week in my studio....

I spent all week soldering charms to fill Etsy orders. I really do enjoy soldering the charms, but sometimes when I am in a rush to get the orders filled, I get a little crazy. The orders got filled and sent out, and this week is for painting. I work better when I can focus on one medium at a time and that means one mess at a time! Art is not neat and tidy - at least not in my world. It just doesn't work well when I have soldering to do, but also want to work on paintings. They both require lots of supplies and different types of work areas. I got my soldering things put away last night and my work area is already littered with paint tubes, canvases, dirty brushes, etc. At least now I can focus on oil painting for a day or two. I am working on a variety of canvas sizes- mainly one of my favorites- 4X4". I am concentrating on still life paintings for the most part (this week, anyway). Then, it will be on to the unfinished watercolors that are waiting a few feet away. Looks like this will be a fun painting week!

Thanks for looking!

Sheryl