New Orleans never disappoints!

Total blast was had by all!!!!

A blast at the Plein Air Convention

Reblogged from Lynn Whipple Plein Air Paintings:

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Way, way to much fun! I just spent 4 days in Las Vegas at the first annual Plein Air Convention and it was a fantastic experience. So many exceptional demos and talks, both extremely entertaining and informative. I soaked it up like a sponge along with 500+ others. A wonderful tribe of like minded folks who love the joy and challenge of attempting to capture the beauty of the great outdoors and make art at the same time.

Read more… 68 more words

The Jacksonville Arboretum Paint Out

What a wonderful experience! To be outside in a beautiful place, with fun and talented people and paint to raise awareness for a fantastic cause! The Jacksonville Arboretum is a piece of heaven! You will find streams, trails, marshes, wildlife, a pond and so much more. We saw a huge majestic and undaunted Owl, just allowing painters to paint him, an otter with big whiskers, fish, tons of birds, wild flowers and more. One of my favorite parts was all the small signs with the information about the different types of trees and vegetation. I love learning this! If you are a nature loves its definitely worth a trip!
Mindy Hawkins and her husband Lad have such enthusiasm and love for nature that overflows into all they do. They have rounded up the most amazing team of friends and volunteers that made our time there a pleasure. A special thanks to Kitty our hostess with the mostest. XOXOXOX

http://www.abrushwithnature.org/

Here are some photos from the event:

Stormysky chaser

I like the rainy days! Here are three quick studies of this softy sky. Since I live on a Florida lake, my view can often be a simplified series of horizontal bands of color (no pretty mountains to hang paint on) so l enjoy the cloudy fuzzy days, where the atmosphere is nice and thick like an Irish accent or raw honey or some other great analogy that I can’t think of right now…….thick as thieves?……..Nah……….anyhoozel, it’s so much fun to parade that brush all over my little canvases in the attempt to catch the feeling of the sky.
And, luckily, I have my trusty painting pal to cheer me on.

With love! Xoxox

Top Ten List of Signs that I Might be Addicted to Painting

So, I woke up all sleepy-ish to let the big dogs out, made a little coffee, stumbled out to see the sunrise and I was so taken by how beautiful it was that I immediately set up the easel to catch one quick painting……….

Warning: If you can recognize yourself in 3 or more of these statements, you may have a serious “Art Related Issue”

(Subtitle: How I spent yesterday)

1. Have you ever realized, at 4:30 in the afternoon that you still have your hair in that weird, spikey pony tail thing that you do in order to wash your face in the morning? Oh my.

2. Have you ever heard yourself mumbling, quite loudly, phrases such as: “Dang!!! What the hell color is that, anyway???” or “Maybe I should do just one more small one” or “CRAPIZOID! I think I nailed it!!!”

3. Have you ever caught yourself frantically rummaging through your drawers and cupboards, like a panicky crazy lady, in search of nail polish remover when you realize that you just ran out of solvent?  Its not a good look.

4. In your painting excitement, have you ever accidentally knocked over your easel, flipping paint, your painting, your coffee, solvent, brushes, wadded up paper towels, etc all over the entire yard and looked around quickly to make sure no one witnessed your clumsiness, and then told yourself that it must have been some freak wind gust??  I know, reiiight????

5. Have you ever experienced grandiose feelings of artistic brilliance and elation followed by crushing jabs of self doubt and “what was I thinking?” and then noticed that you repeat this cycle about every 10 minutes?   Perfectly normal, perfectly healthy……..

6. Have you ever become aware of your guilty feelings about your excessive use of paper towels?

7. Have you ever ripped apart your sketchbook so you could use the cardboard on the back of it to paint on?

8. Have you ever all the sudden realized, hey, wait…..wow, am I painting in the dark?

9. Noticed that after sunset you are still in your jammy-sweat pants and forgot to take a shower? Oops!

10. Found yourself happily eating cold cereal for breakfast………..then again for lunch………… and seriously considering it as a promising dinner, so you don’t waste any painting time?

I could go on……………but really it was a great day! I ended up with 7 small paintings, well, actually I call them studies because I always feel like I’m learning on each one. It’s nice to spend the entire day in your own backyard, completely unaware of the time, painting and hanging out with your sweet dogs, who, if you are lucky, will occasionally rest their cute golden retriever chin upon your left foot while you paint. All good!

Happy painting! xoxoo

 

Multitasking, or is that my paint brush in my coffee cup?

Whoops! I just put my paint brush in my fresh hot coffee! Dagnabit!!!
Nothing starts your day better than getting right into the creative process while still wearing your Jammies and enjoying your morning coffee. It was so lovely out, I set up my easel and began painting the light on the lake, this is perfect I thought, I can paint and drink coffee at the same time, multitasking!!
Of course here comes the dogs and the ever present tennis balls, no biggie, surely I can play fetch and paint and drink coffee…..at the same time, easy peasy! This could be my new morning routine! All good! Actually it was working pretty well, except for one little snag, I need to separate the coffee cup from the cup of solvent….. or get used to the taste of oil paint in my coffee……
XOXOXOX
As long as you are making stuff, I think that’s all that matters!
Enjoy your creativity today!

Happy valentines day!

Wishing you lots of love and chocolate today with the ones who make your heart go pitter patter!!
Xoxoxoxox

Don’t you love singing, especially with friends? I do!!

ditty of the day

I hope you all had amazing and joyous holidays that were filled with OH so much giving and laughter and delicious food, and sugar and fun and “Oh Be Joyful” (the family nog) and tender moments and music and twinkly lights and EVERYTHING your heart desires with just a teeny sprinkle of family nuttiness and a dollop of home made whipped cream (extra vanilla) to top it all off.

And now it’s time to begin a fresh NEW year! YAY!

Here is a goofy idea to kick off the good times. My brilliant, talented and beautiful pal Margo and I wanted to begin a little give and take, find and share, LOOK,SEE,DO spot where we can celebrate yummy visual goodness and delicious creative acts that inspire us and make us want to move our hands and engage our curious minds. Just two dopey friends, who live across the country, who want to chit chat and share things that we find exciting.

I say we start with a little somethin-somethin I am going to call “The Ditty of the Day” Margo said her new years resolution was to play the guitar 300 out of 365 days this year. I love that! Don’t you love that?? So this is a starting place to keep us in the game. Now, I am not saying which days this will happen, haaaaa, but at least lets let the dialogue begin!!

Also look for our new blog called lookseedoo.tumblr.com. Follow the fun

100 Bad Paintings! so you had better get started!

Hiya!! My favorite art teacher once told me that anything you are interested in will blossom if given a little time. Just because you are not a master at first, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it and enjoy it! In fact, it is supposed to look a little “off” at first, so relax and have fun with the process.
(my iffy video skills are a great example)

There is nothing better than learning and the gift of watching a new, wonderful thing unfold.
The creative act itself is just another way that art enhances the world!

Move your hands, play a song, learn a dance, bake a cake, try a new painting technique!

Here’s to making stuff and enjoying your day!

with lots of love,
xoxoxoxoxxooxoxoxxoxooxxoxoxoxoo

oh la la! a nice article in Winter Park Magazine!